The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity: Religion and Politics in Byzantium, Europe and the Early Islamic World (Library of Classical Studies)

Late Antiquity, the period of transition from the crisis of Roman Empire in the third century to the Middle Ages, has traditionally been considered only in terms of the "decline" from classical standards. Recent classical scholarship strives to consider this period on its own terms. Taking the reign of Constantine the Great as its starting point, this book examines the unique intersection of rhetoric, religion and politics in Late Antiquity. Expert scholars come together to examine ancient rhetorical texts to explore the ways in which late antique authors drew upon classical traditions, presenting Roman and post-Roman religious and political institutions in order to establish a desired image of a "new era." This book provides new insights into how the post-Roman Germanic West, Byzantine East and Muslim South appropriated and transformed the political, intellectual and cultural legacy inherited from the late Roman Empire and its borderlands. Contents......Page 7 Acknowledgements......Page 9 Foreword -- John W.I.Lee......Page 11 Introduction......Page 13 Part I: The Image of Political and Episcopal Authority......Page 23 1. The Adventus of Julian at Sirmium: The Literary Construction of Historical Reality in Ammianus Marcellinus -- Eric Fournier......Page 25 2. Butheric and the Charioteer -- Robert M.Frakes......Page 59 3. Calming an Angry Enemy: Attila, Leo I, and the Diplomacy of Ambiguity, 452 - Michael Blodgett......Page 75 4. "Patres Orphanorum": Ambrose of Milan and the Construction of the Role of the Bishop -- Michael Proulx......Page 87 Part II: The Function of Roman Tradition in Emergent Societies......Page 111 5. "Your Brothers, the Romans": Early Islamic History as a Turn of the Classical Page in Early Muslim Thought and Literature -- Thomas Sizgorich......Page 113 6. Spiritual Landscapes: The Late Antique Desert in Ireland -- Jim Tischen Emmons......Page 137 Part III: Civic Elites in the Byzantine East......Page 157 7. The World of St. Daniel the Stylite: Rhetoric, Religio, and Relationships in the Life of the Pillar Saint -- Miriam Raub Vivian......Page 159 8. Two Philosophers from Gaza......Page 179 Timotheos of Gaza and the Grande Caccia of Piazza Armerina -- Frank J. Frost......Page 180 Choricius of Gaza, Oration XIII: Religion and State in the Age of Justinian -- Roberto Mazza......Page 184 Part IV: Addressing Challenges to Sacred Texts and Rites......Page 207 9. Origen on the Limes: Rhetoric and the Polarization of Identity in the Late Third Century -- Elizabeth DePalma Digeser......Page 209 10. A Strange Consensus: Daemonological Discourse in Origen, Porphyry, and Iamblichus -- Heidi Marx-Wolf......Page 231 11. Torah, Torah, Torah: The Authorship of the Pentateuch in Ancient and Early Modern Times -- Paul Sonnino......Page 253 Conclusion -- Elizabeth DePalma Digeser & Robert M. Frakes......Page 289 List of Contributors......Page 293 Index......Page 295