Synopses & Reviews
This innovative study uses one well-documented moment of violence as a starting point for a wide-ranging examination of the ideas and interactions of pagan philosophers, Christian ascetics, and bishops from the fourth to the early seventh century. Edward J. Watts reconstructs a riot that erupted in Alexandria in 486 when a group of students attacked a Christian adolescent who had publicly insulted the students' teachers. Pagan students, Christians affiliated with a local monastery, and the Alexandrian ecclesiastical leaders all cast the incident in a different light, and each group tried with that interpretation to influence subsequent events. Watts, drawing on Greek, Latin, Coptic, and Syriac sources, shows how historical traditions and notions of a shared past shaped the interactions and behavior of these high-profile communities. Connecting oral and written texts to the personal relationships that gave them meaning and to the actions that gave them form, Riot in Alexandria draws new attention to the understudied social and cultural history of the later fifth-century Roman world and at the same time opens a new window on late antique intellectual life.
Review
and#8220;A noteworthy contribution to the study of Late Antiquity.and#8221;
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and#8220;Watts makes the people and events vivid and relevant to the reader.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A commendable account of campus life, student Christian activism, and episcopal oversight in Alexandria.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;There is much here to admire.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Edward Watts has written a wide-ranging, thoughtful, and stimulating exploration of what can be learned from a single episode.and#8221;
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and#8220;Watts deftly weds a minutely detailed examination of a specific event to wider macro-history.and#8221;
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"Well-researched [and] carefully argued. . . .and#160;Watts has an excellent sense ofand#160;what needs to be explained for non-specialists."
Review
and#8220;A learned study of how the writings of two religious rivals . . . were products of the same cultural koine, Hellenism. . . . Recommended.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The refined corrective [Elms] brings to the dominant portrayals of her two protagonists is itself noteworthy, but her book does much more.and#8221;
Synopsis
"An extremely important work on the shaping of historical identities in late antiquity, Riot in Alexandria solidifies Watts' position as one of the leading commentators on late antique intellectual life."and#151;Christopher Haas, author of Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict
Synopsis
This groundbreaking study brings into dialogue for the first time the writings of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and his most outspoken critic, Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a central figure of Christianity. Susanna Elm compares these two men not to draw out the obvious contrast between the Church and the Emperorand#8217;s neo-Paganism, but rather to find their common intellectual and social grounding. Her insightful analysis, supplemented by her magisterial command of sources, demonstrates the ways in which both men were part of the same dialectical whole. Elm recasts both Julian and Gregory as men entirely of their times, showing how the Roman Empire in fact provided Christianity with the ideological and social matrix without which its longevity and dynamism would have been inconceivable.
Synopsis
and#147;In this magisterial study, Susanna Elm illuminates fresh and persuasive connections between intellectual life and imperial politics in the late Roman empire, describing complex concepts with consummate ease and in a splendidly fluent style.
Sons of Hellenism is a model of what a history of ideas should be.and#8221;and#151;John Anthony McGuckin, Professor of Byzantine Christian History, Columbia University
and#147;With this book, Susanna Elm has blown an irreparable hole in the wall that has long separated the study of philosophy, theology, and politics in the ancient world. Sons of Hellenism is an intellectual tour de force and a master work in every respect.and#8221;and#151;H.A. Drake, author of Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance
About the Author
Edward J. Watts, Associate Professor in the Department of History at Indiana University, is the author of City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, winner of the Outstanding Publication Award from the Classical Association of the Midwest and South.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Universalism and Governance
Julian the Emperor and Gregory the Theologian
Gregory and the Bishops
Julian and Gregory in Context
Part I
1. Nazianzus and the Eastern Empire, 330and#150;361
Nazianzus and Gregory: The Personal and the Local
Constantinople: Emperor, Cosmopolis, and Cosmos
Constantiusand#8217;s Triumph: Unity and Harmony, 358and#150;360
Reversal: Constantius and Julian Augustus, 360and#150;361
2. Julian, from Caesar to Augustus: Paris to Constantinople, 355and#150;362
Toward Constantinople: From Caesar to Augustus, 360and#150;361
Julianand#8217;s Concepts of Leadership: Philosopher and King
3. Philosopher, Leader, Priest: Julian in Constantinople, Spring 362
The Context of Julianand#8217;s Concepts of the True Philosophical Life
A Philosopher as Leader, in Julianand#8217;s Own Words: Against the Cynic Heraclius
A Universal Divinity for a Universal Empire; or, How to Interpret Myth: Hymn to the Mother of the Gods
How to Achieve True Philosophy: Against the Uneducated Cynics
The Law Regarding Teachers
Part II
4. On the True Philosophical Life and Ideal Christian Leadership: Gregoryand#8217;s Inaugural Address, Oration 2
A High-Wire Act: The True Philosophical Life as the Model of Priesthood in Late Antiquity
The Codes of Aptitude
5. The Most Potent Pharmakon: Gregory the Elder and Nazianzus
The Other High-Wire Act: Fathers and Sons
The Royal Road: Gregory the Elderand#8217;s Opponents at Nazianzus
6. Armed like a Hopliteand#151;Gregory the Political Philosopher at War: Eunomius, Photinus, and Julian
Oikeiosis pros Theon as Political Philosophy
The Enemy on the Inside: Photinus and Eunomius
What Do Words Mean?
Oikeiosis pros Theon: Oration 2 against Eunomius
Part III
7. A Health-Giving Star Shining on the East: Julian in Antioch, July 362 to March 363
The Emperor as Priest
Julianand#8217;s Divine Mandate
The Platonic Philosopher-King: The Misopogon and Julianand#8217;s Universal Vision
8. The Making of the Apostate: Gregoryand#8217;s Oration 4 against Julian
The Pillar of Infamy: An Inverted Fand#252;rstenspiegel
Imperial Decrees and Divine Enactments: Julian and Constantius
9. A Bloodless Sacrifice of Words to the Word: Logoi for the Logos
Myth and Allegory
Logoi: The Theological Implications
Apostasis versus Theosis; or, True Oikeiosis pros Theon
Oration 6, On Peace: Unity and Concord
10. Gregoryand#8217;s Second Strike, Oration 5
The Pagan Context
Gregoryand#8217;s Second Strike against the Pagans
Procopius versus Valens
Conclusion: Visions of Rome
Governing the Oikoumene
Authority and Kinship of the Elites
Competing Universalisms
Notes
Bibliography
Index