Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity

482 Pages·2008·5.856 MB·English

by  Lucy Grig (editor), Gavin Kelly (editor)

Two Romes
OXFORD STUDIES IN LATE ANTIQUITY
Series Editor
Ralph Mathisen
L ate Antiquity has unifi ed what in the past were disparate disciplinary, chro-
nological, and geographical areas of study. Welcoming a wide array of method-
ological approaches, this book series provides a venue for the fi nest new
scholarship on the period, ranging from the later Roman Empire to the Byzan-
tine, Sasanid, early Islamic, and early Carolingian worlds.
Th e Arabic Hermes:
From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science
Kevin van Bladel
Two Romes
Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity
Edited by Lucy Grig and Gavin Kelly
Two Romes
Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity
Edited by Lucy Grig and Gavin Kelly
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grig, Lucy.
Two Romes / Lucy Grig and Gavin Kelly.
p. cm.—(Oxford studies in late antiquity)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-973940-0
1. Rome (Italy)—History. 2. Istanbul (Turkey)—History.
3. Rome—Historiography. 4. Istanbul (Turkey)—Historiography.
5. City and town life—Rome—History. 6. City and town life—Turkey—Istanbul—
History—To 1500. 7. Social change—Rome—History. 8. Social change—Turkey—
Istanbul—History—To 1500. 9. Rome (Italy)—Relations—Turkey—Istanbul.
10. Istanbul (Turkey)—Relations—Italy—Rome.
I. Kelly, Gavin, 1974- II. Title.
DG63.G75 2012
937′.6309—dc23 2011017620
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Preface
We fi rst thought of collaborating on the two Romes in 2005. Rome and Con-
stantinople in Late Antiquity had fi gured in our previous research, but it seemed
to us that there was surprising little eff ort made to look at the two greatest cities
of the late ancient Mediterranean together, despite the ideological and political
importance of their relationship and the many features they had in common.
I n the following summer, many of the contributors to this book met in Lam-
peter for a panel entitled “Two Romes” as part of the Celtic Classics Confer-
ence: we are grateful to Anton Powell, the inventor and organizer of the
conference, for accepting our panel and for providing a format that allowed
plenty of time for contributions to be heard and debated. Although the group
who had been brought together came from diff erent traditions and disciplines,
we found both that there was much to be gained from studying the two Romes
together and that we shared a revisionist dissatisfaction with the overly teleo-
logical approaches of much previous scholarship, whereby Rome was always
destined to decline and become a papal city, and Constantinople likewise was
always destined to take Rome’s place. By the end of three days, we knew that we
wanted to bring the project forward to publication, but felt that we had heard
too little on the New Rome compared to the old. Th is matched the survival of
evidence from antiquity and the trend of modern scholarship, but it lacked
balance; so we convened a short conference on early Constantinople in Edin-
burgh in spring of 2007 (opening on the birthday of the city, 11 May). Many of
the speakers from Lampeter also attended, and in general we have found the
experience of putting this book together one of sharing in an ongoing debate.
One additional chapter (John Vanderspoel’s) was subsequently invited on the
good advice of OUP’s readers.
Th e book is structured in sections: our general historical introduction,
which also contextualizes the individual contributions, is paired with intro-
ductory chapters on the representation of cities in Late Antiquity and on the
buildings and infrastructure of the two cities. Sections follow on topography
vi Preface
and archaeology; political history (as seen through the imperial presence in the
two cities in the fi ft h century); literary representation (focusing on the charac-
teristically late antique genre of panegyric); and religion. Th e epilogue, fi nally,
is a provocative and wide-ranging essay on the Romanness of Byzantium.
Within sections in particular, contributors have carefully read and refl ected on
each other’s chapters.
Colleagues and institutions alike make Edinburgh a fi ne place to research
Late Antiquity: we should particularly like to thank Tom Brown, Sara Parvis,
Ursula Rothe, and Karen Howie for various acts of assistance, and the School
of History, Classics, and Archaeology and the Centre for Medieval Studies for
fi nancial sponsorship. Our contributors joined in the spirit of collective enter-
prise and generously commented on each other’s work, and patiently endured
the wait for publication. We should also like to thank the various conference
speakers whose work is appearing elsewhere.
OUP’s reviewers made many valuable suggestions, and we are grateful to
Stefan Vranka and his team at OUP New York for their help in bringing the
book to publication. We are also grateful to those institutions and individuals
who shared photographs and plans and waived reproduction rights, where ap-
plicable. Elif Keser-Kayaalp deserves special acknowledgement for producing
such excellent plans and drawings.
A lthough this is a large book, we are aware there are many important topics
that could have been investigated and have not been: the subject could have
fi lled many large books. We hope that others will be stimulated to write them.
Lucy Grig
Gavin Kelly
Edinburgh, 21 April 2011
Contents
Preface v
List of Figures ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Contributors xiii
Part I Introduction: Rome and Constantinople in Context
1. Introduction: From Rome to Constantinople 3
Lucy Grig and Gavin Kelly
2. Competing Capitals, Competing Representations: Late Antique Cityscapes in
Words and Pictures 31
Lucy Grig
3. Old and New Rome Compared: Th e Rise of Constantinople 5 3
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Part II Urban Space and Urban Development in Comparative Perspective
4. Th e N otitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae 81
John Matthews
5. Water and Late Antique Constantinople: “It would be abominable for the
inhabitants of this Beautiful City to be compelled to purchase water.” 116
James Crow
6. Aristocratic Houses and the Making of Late Antique Rome
and Constantinople 1 36
Carlos Machado
Part III Emperors in the City
7 . Valentinian III and the City of Rome (425–55): Patronage, Politics, Power 1 61
Mark Humphries
vii
viii Contents
8. Playing the Ritual Game in Constantinople (379–457) 1 83
Peter Van Nuff elen
Part IV Panegyric
9. Bright Lights, Big City: Pacatus and the Panegyrici Latini 203
Roger Rees
10. A Tale of Two Cities: Th emistius on Rome and Constantinople 2 23
John Vanderspoel
11. Claudian and Constantinople 241
Gavin Kelly
12. Epic Panegyric and Political Communication in the Fift h-Century West 265
Andrew Gillett
Part V Christian Capitals?
13. Th ere but Not Th ere: Constantinople in the I tinerarium Burdigalense 2 93
Benet Salway
14. Virgilizing Christianity in Late Antique Rome 3 25
John Curran
15. “Two Romes, Beacons of the Whole World”: Canonizing Constantinople 3 45
Neil McLynn
16. Between Petrine Ideology and Realpolitik: Th e See of Constantinople in Roman
Geo-Ecclesiology (449–536) 364
Philippe Blaudeau
Part VI Epilogue
17. From Rome to New Rome, from Empire to Nation-State: Reopening the
Question of Byzantium’s Roman Identity 387
Anthony Kaldellis
Bibliography 405
Index 437
Index Locorum 449
List of Figures
1.1 Map of late antique Rome. Drawn by Elif Keser-Kayaalp xiv
1.2 M ap of late antique Constantinople. Drawn by Elif Keser-Kayaalp xv
2.1 Th e Madaba map: vignette of Jerusalem. Photograph: Ursula Rothe 35
2.2 City Gate coin from Laodicea ad Mare. HCR 8020. Ashmolean Museum,
University of Oxford 43
2.3 R oma and Constantinopolis coin, minted in Rome 355–57. HCR 8021.
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 45
2.4 R oma and Constantinopolis coin, minted in Constantinople in 415.
©Trustees of the British Museum 45
2.5 R oma and Constantinopolis diptych. Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna 46–47
2.6 Rome at the center of the Peutinger map, from Angerer and Göschl,
Tabula Peutingeriana itineraria. Image created by the Ancient World
Mapping Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 49
3.1 Th e columns of Arcadius and Marcus Aurelius, reproduced to the same
scale (based on Konrad, “Arkadiossäule,” 369 Abb. 39, combined with
Piranesi’s engraving of the Marcus column, and an anonymous drawing
of that of Arcadius.) 58
3.2 Th ree obelisks in Constantinople, and some of those of Rome, all
reproduced to the same scale. (For the full image of the obelisks of
Rome, from an engraving of 1823 by G. B. Cipriani, see D’Onofrio,
Obelischi , pl. 3.) 61
3.3 Th e early fi ft h-century walls of Rome and Constantinople compared.
Drawn by Elif Keser-Kayaalp 63
3.4 Th e “Long Walls” (from Silivri to Evcik) and aqueducts of Constanti-
nople. Courtesy of James Crow 64
3.5 Th e aqueducts of Rome and Constantinople compared. Drawn by Elif
Keser-Kayaalp 65
ix