The Roman Imperial Court in the Principate and Late Antiquity

The Roman Imperial Court in the Principate and Late Antiquity examines the Roman imperial court as a social and political institution in both the Principate and Late Antiquity. By analysing these two periods, which are usually treated separately in studies of the Roman court, it considers continuities, changes, and connections in the six hundred years between the reigns of Augustus and Justinian.

Thirteen case studies are presented. Some take a thematic approach, analysing specific aspects such as the appointment of jurists, the role of guard units, or stories told about the court, over several centuries. Others concentrate on specific periods, individuals, or office holders, like the role of women and generals in the fifth century AD, while paying attention to their wider historical significance. The volume concludes with a chapter placing the evolution of the Roman imperial court in comparative perspective using insights from scholarship on other Eurasian monarchical courts. It shows that the long-term transformation of the Roman imperial court did not follow a straightforward and linear course, but came about as the result of negotiation, experimentation, and adaptation.

Caillan Davenport, Associate Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies, The Australian National University,Meaghan McEvoy, Senior Lecturer in History, The Australian National University

Caillan Davenport is Associate Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies at The Australian National University. He was educated at the University of Queensland and the University of Oxford before holding posts at Queensland, Macquarie University, and ANU. He has received an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award and an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship for Experienced Researchers. He is the author of A History of the Roman Equestrian Order (2019), which won the Royal Historical Society's Gladstone Prize.

Meaghan McEvoy is Senior Lecturer in History at The Australian National University. She is a graduate of the University of Adelaide and the University of Oxford, and has held fellowships at the British School at Rome and Dumbarton Oaks. Prior to joining ANU, she was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (Oxford), an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow (Frankfurt), and a Senior Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at Macquarie University. She is the author of Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367-455 (Oxford, 2013) and co-editor of special editions of the journals Antiquité Tardive and the Journal of Late Antiquity.

Introduction: Connecting Courts, Caillan Davenport and Meaghan McEvoy
Part I: Ritual and Spatial Dynamics
1. Great King or civilis princeps? Monarchical Ideals and Daily Interaction in the Reign of Antoninus Pius, Christoph Michels
2. Changing the Guard: Guard Units and Roman State Ceremonial in the First to the Fourth Century, Christian Rollinger
3. Cities, Palaces, and the Tetrarchic Imperial Courts, Verena Jaeschke and Caillan Davenport
4. The Court in Constantinople Facing the Death of the Emperor, Audrey Becker
Part II: Individual and Community at Court
5. Was the Roman Imperial Court an 'Emotional Community'?, Benjamin Kelly
6. Jurists as Courtiers from Augustus to Justinian, Jill Harries
7. Court Construction and Regime Change in the Mid-Fourth Century, Kevin Feeney
8. Representatives and Co-Rulers: Sharing the Imperial Limelight: The Age of the Magister Militum, Meaghan McEvoy
9. Representatives and Co-Rulers: Imperial Women and the Court in Late Antiquity, Anja Busch
Part III: The Politics of Access
10. Dynamics of Power: The Nestorian Controversy, the Council of Beyond the Veil: Athanasius at the Court of Constans, Fabian Schulz
11. Dynamics of Power: The Nestorian Controversy, the Council of Ephesus of 431, and the Eastern Imperial Court, Daniëlle Slootjes
12. Splendid Isolation: Secluded Emperors and the Spectre of 'Oriental' Despotism, Martijn Icks
13. Envisioning Audiences at the Roman Imperial Court, Caillan Davenport
Part IV: Comparative Perspectives
14. The Evolution of the Roman Imperial Court in Historical Context, Caillan Davenport and Meaghan McEvoy
Bibliography