The Tragedy of Empire: From Constantine to the Destruction of Roman Italy (History of the Ancient World) - Hardcover

Kulikowski, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674660137 ISBN 13: 9780674660137

Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2019

Synopsis

A sweeping political history of the turbulent two centuries that led to the demise of the Roman Empire.

The Tragedy of Empire begins in the late fourth century with the reign of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman emperor, and takes readers to the final years of the Western Roman Empire at the end of the sixth century. One hundred years before Julian’s rule, Emperor Diocletian had resolved that an empire stretching from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, and from the Rhine and Tyne to the Sahara, could not effectively be governed by one man. He had devised a system of governance, called the tetrarchy by modern scholars, to respond to the vastness of the empire, its new rivals, and the changing face of its citizenry. Powerful enemies like the barbarian coalitions of the Franks and the Alamanni threatened the imperial frontiers. The new Sasanian dynasty had come into power in Persia. This was the political climate of the Roman world that Julian inherited.

Kulikowski traces two hundred years of Roman history during which the Western Empire ceased to exist while the Eastern Empire remained politically strong and culturally vibrant. The changing structure of imperial rule, the rise of new elites, foreign invasions, the erosion of Roman and Greek religions, and the establishment of Christianity as the state religion mark these last two centuries of the Empire.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael Kulikowski is the author of Rome’s Gothic Wars, Late Roman Spain and Its Cities, and The Triumph of Empire (Harvard). Kulikowski has appeared in a number of documentaries on the History Channel, including Barbarians Rising, Rome, and Criminal History: Rome, and writes frequently for the Wall Street Journal and London Review of Books. He is the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Classics at Pennsylvania State University.

Review:

“A tour de force history of the inner workings of the late Roman Empire. Kulikowski tells a vivid, compelling story of the humans who fought to control the machinery of the empire until the entire system could no longer hold.”―Kyle Harper, author of The Fate of Rome

“Kulikowski pairs his comprehensive understanding of late Roman politics with an uncanny eye for spatial and material details as he reconstructs an empire in a downward spiral of self-destruction. Roman emperors and barbarian kings, pagan aristocrats and Christian bishops, loyal soldiers and self-serving condottieri are woven into the brilliantly dramatized story of The Tragedy of Empire.”―Noel Lenski, author of Constantine and the Cities

“Kulikowski’s lively and engaging account brings clarity to the murky world of the late Roman Empire. It lets us understand the endless infighting between imperial hopefuls, the profound reforms of Diocletian, and the social transformation that expressed itself in Christianity. It explains the many forces which led to the western empire’s disintegration and expertly guides us through a post-Roman world which was eventually to give rise to modern Europe.”―Jerry Toner, author of Infamy: The Crimes of Ancient Rome

“Michael Kulikowski tells the story of the Roman Empire from the fourth to the sixth century. He writes boldly and fluently about imperial politics, incorporating the latest scholarship yet avoiding getting bogged down in academic controversies. Highly recommended as an introduction to the political history of this period.”―Hugh Elton, author of The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity

About this edition

• Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0674660137
• ISBN 13: 9780674660137
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 424