The interaction of secular public institutions and provincial communities in the political and economic spheres in late antiquity
Studies of Byzantine regional history, including Macedonia's, have not normally engaged with overarching problems of economic history, yet regional case studies are essential to their exploration. Five avenues of enquiry are explored to create a framework for the discussion of the economic history of Late Antique Macedonia: (1) the pre-modern configuration of Aegean Macedonia's landscapes, the range of exploitations practised within them, and the fluctuating levels of their intensity; (2) the organization of the imperial and civic administration, and army, and the appearance and demise of their institutions; (3) stability, instability, and the response to invasion, migration and barbarian settlement; (4) the typology and distribution of four categories of Late Antique successors to the Greco-Roman towns and cities of the region; (5) five case-studies of distributions of categories of ~successor settlement~ relative to distributions of rural settlements or rural churches, to landscape-types, to landscape-archaeology, and to politico-administrative history. It is argued that only this interdisciplinary approach unlocks the economic, but also social and cultural, history of even a ~core~ province and region such
Dunn, Archibald
The interaction of secular public institutions and provincial communities in the political and economic spheres in late antiquity. Studies of Byzantine regional history, including Macedonia's, have not normally engaged with overarching problems of economic history, yet regional case studies are essential to their exploration. Five avenues of enquiry are explored to create a framework for the discussion of the economic history of Late Antique Macedonia: (1) the pre-modern configuration of Aegean Macedonia's landscapes, the range of exploitations practised within them, and the fluctuating levels of their intensity; (2) the organization of the imperial and civic administration, and army, and the appearance and demise of their institutions; (3) stability, instability, and the response to invasion, migration and barbarian settlement; (4) the typology and distribution of four categories of Late Antique successors to the Greco-Roman towns and cities of the region; (5) five case-studies of distributions of categories of ~successor settlement~ relative to distributions of rural settlements or rural churches, to landscape-types, to landscape-archaeology, and to politico-administrative history. It is argued that only this interdisciplinary approach unlocks the economic, but also social and cultural, history of even a ~core~ province and region such
interaction secular public institution provincial community political_economic sphere late_antiquity studies byzantine regional history include macedonia normally engage overarch problem economic_history yet regional_case study essential exploration avenue enquiry explore create framework discussion economic_history late antique macedonia pre_modern configuration aegean macedonia landscape range exploitation practise within fluctuate level intensity organization imperial civic administration army appearance demise institution stability instability response invasion migration barbarian settlement typology distribution four_category late_antique successor greco_roman town_city region five_case studies distribution category successor settlement relative distribution rural_settlement rural church landscape types landscape_archaeology politico administrative history argue interdisciplinary economic also social_cultural history even core province region