The Later Roman Empire AD 235-430

Module code: AH3551

Late Antiquity was a period of dramatic change. Shaken by civil war in the third century, the Roman Empire was reborn under the emperor Diocletian (284-306), and refashioned under his successors into a grand and tyrannical military state. As new challenges appeared on the frontiers, the empire was also convulsed from within. Christianity, once a scattered and persecuted religion became a dominant political force over the fourth century, and reshaped the empire further in its own image.

In this module we will examine this changing world in all of its glorious variety. Using a range of textual primary sources, art, architecture and archaeology we will consider the new political and administrative systems that developed, the military challenges facing the state, and the extraordinary position of the church within this. We will look at the emperors Diocletian and Constantine, and their contrasting approaches to the crises of empire, and their unlikely successor Julian, who sought to turn back the clock to a better (and happier time). We will ponder how Christianity transformed the empire, but also how power transformed Christianity, as new opportunities became available to powerful churchmen and women. The primary evidence for the period is rich in both content and variety. There is a huge corpus of literary and documentary evidence and surviving archaeology and material culture that point to vibrant and creative societies across the empire. The period is often defined as one of decline but this module will present a very different picture of the later Roman world.

Topics covered

• Late Antiquity or ‘Decline and Fall’?
• The third-century ‘crisis’
• Diocletian and the restoration of Empire
• Constantine and Christian conversion
• Julian swims against the tide
• Challenges on the frontier
• Changes to womanhood in the Later Roman Empire
• Poverty and wealth in a Christian world
• 410 and All That