Usurpation and the construction of legitimacy in imperial panegyric, 289-389
This thesis is an attempt to address the surprising lack of study into the question of usurpation in late antiquity. During a period defined by a textual corpus (289-389), the thesis looks at how usurpers and usurpation were presented in the panegyrics delivered to emperors and their courts. That usurpation features very heavily in this corpus should tell us something in itself, but it is a feature of these texts which has hardly been observed. The thesis shows how the panegyrics employed aggressive rhetorical tactics that sought not to bury usurpers in silence but rather to glory in their destruction and to create characters for the usurpers and their regimes that were designed to reinforce the legitimacy claims of the victorious emperor. The language of the panegyrics concerning usurpers and usurpation is thus virtually worthless as a tool to reconstruct the historical actualities of the people and times that they discuss. It cannot be used, as some scholars have done, to give insight into the working of particular usurpations. But the study also demonstrates that the panegyrics are far too valuable a body of sources to simply ignore, as many more scholars have tended to do. The panegyrics demonstrate the
Omissi, Adrastos
History ; Late antiquity and the Middle Ages ; usurpation ; legitimacy ; panegyric ; civil war ; later Roman Empire
Usurpation and the construction of legitimacy in imperial panegyric, 289-389. This thesis is an attempt to address the surprising lack of study into the question of usurpation in late antiquity. During a period defined by a textual corpus (289-389), the thesis looks at how usurpers and usurpation were presented in the panegyrics delivered to emperors and their courts. That usurpation features very heavily in this corpus should tell us something in itself, but it is a feature of these texts which has hardly been observed. The thesis shows how the panegyrics employed aggressive rhetorical tactics that sought not to bury usurpers in silence but rather to glory in their destruction and to create characters for the usurpers and their regimes that were designed to reinforce the legitimacy claims of the victorious emperor. The language of the panegyrics concerning usurpers and usurpation is thus virtually worthless as a tool to reconstruct the historical actualities of the people and times that they discuss. It cannot be used, as some scholars have done, to give insight into the working of particular usurpations. But the study also demonstrates that the panegyrics are far too valuable a body of sources to simply ignore, as many more scholars have tended to do. The panegyrics demonstrate the
usurpation construction legitimacy imperial panegyric attempt_address surprising lack study question usurpation late_antiquity period define textual corpus look usurpation present panegyric deliver emperor court usurpation feature heavily corpus tell something feature text hardly observe show panegyric employ aggressive rhetorical tactic seek bury silence rather glory destruction create character regime design reinforce legitimacy claim victorious emperor language panegyric concern usurpation thus virtually tool reconstruct historical actuality people time discuss use scholars give_insight work particular usurpation study also_demonstrate panegyric far valuable body source simply ignore many_scholar tend panegyric