John Lydus and the Roman Past : Antiquarianism and Politics in the Age of Justinian

John Lydus and the Roman Past offers a new interpretation of the emergence of Byzantine society as viewed through the eyes of John Lydus, a sixth-century scholar and civil servant. Maas show that control of classical inheritance was politically contested in the reign of Justinian. He demonstrates how the past could be used to convey legitimacy and social definition at a time of profound change. BOOK COVER......Page 1 HALF-TITLE......Page 2 TITLE......Page 3 COPYRIGHT......Page 4 DEDICATION......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 8 INTRODUCTION: JOHN LYDUS AND THE SILVER HEIRLOOM......Page 10 THE BOOKS......Page 16 1 CHANGES IN THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN......Page 20 THE EMPEROR AT THE CENTER......Page 21 Economic factors......Page 24 The plague......Page 28 Christianization......Page 29 CHANGES IN CONSTANTINOPLE......Page 30 CHANGES IN THE PRAETORIAN PREFECTURE......Page 31 2 PORTRAIT OF A BUREAUCRAT......Page 33 3 THE IDEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF TRADITION......Page 41 The weight of tradition......Page 42 The importance of the past to the expression of imperial power......Page 43 Classical emphasis......Page 46 JUSTINIAN THE CHRISTIAN RESTORER......Page 47 FROM ZOSIMUS TO LYDUS......Page 49 4 DE MENSIBUS AND THE ANTIQUARIAN TRADITION......Page 54 ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION......Page 56 Book II: the days of the week......Page 57 Book III......Page 60 Book IV......Page 61 5 PAGANISM AND POLITICS......Page 66 THE OFFICIAL VIEW OF PAGANISM......Page 67 THE PURGES......Page 69 WHO WERE THE PAGANS?......Page 70 Ideological reasons......Page 71 Political reasons......Page 74 PHOCAS......Page 76 6 DE MAGISTRATIBUS AND THE THEORY OF IMPERIAL RESTORATION......Page 80 THE HUMILIATION OF THE PREFECTURE......Page 83 THEORY OF DECLINE AND RESTORATION......Page 84 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PREFECTURE......Page 85 THE EMPEROR’S ROLE IN THE THEORY OF CHANGE AND RESTORATION......Page 88 7 LYDUS AND THE PHILOSOPHERS......Page 92 CHRISTIAN ATTACKS......Page 95 LYDUS AND PTOLEMY......Page 98 THE ENEMIES OF PTOLEMY......Page 102 CONCLUSIONS......Page 104 9 CONCLUSION: COLLUSION......Page 106 APPENDIX: AUTHORITIES CITED BY LYDUS......Page 110 NOTES......Page 144 PRIMARY SOURCES......Page 186 INDEX......Page 207

John Lydus, a retired official at Justinian's court in the mid-sixth century, is an important, neglected source for the study of the fate of the classical legacy in the newly Christianized Roman empire, Byzantium. Torn between devotion to an urban-based intellectual tradition, which had its roots in classical antiquity, and allegiance to a despotic emperor whose policies he knew to be undercutting that tradition, Lydus nevertheless hoped for a restoration.

Lydus' dilemma is representative of the tensions of his age. His intellectual debts were to classical secular antiquity, a body of knowledge which was under attack on a number of fronts. In particular, it was easily confused with paganism. Although a Christian himself, Lydus based his most important arguments on material that was demonstrably pagan, and his political patron was accused of paganism.

Examining his work (On Portents, On the Months, and On Magistracies), Michael Maas establishes Lydus as a credible witnessto the political and cultural milieu in the age of Justinianat the moment when the state re-historicized itself and its Roman legacy in Christian terms. Within a few generations, addressing antiquity from a non-Christian viewpoint will be unthinkable. But from his place on the edge of a shifting paradigm, Lydus sees, and helps us see the emergence of medieval Byzantium through Roman eyes.

__John Lydus and the Roman Past__