The Empire of the Tetrarchs
Imperial Pronouncements and Government AD 284-324 (Oxford Classical Monographs)
The era of Diocletian and Constantine is a significant period for the Roman empire, with far-reaching administrative changes that established the structure of government for three hundred years, and the time when the Christian Church passed from persecution to imperial favour. It is also a complex period of co-operation and rivalry between a number of co-emperors, the result of Diocletian's experiment of government by four rulers (the tetrarchs). This book examines imperial government at this crucial but often neglected period of transition, through a wide study of the pronouncements that the emperors and their officials produced, drawing together material from a wide variety of sources: the law codes, Christian authors, inscriptions, and papyri. The study covers the format, composition, and promulgation of documents, and includes chronological catalogues of imperial letters and edicts, as well as extended discussions of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes, and the ambitious Prices Edict. Much of this has had little detailed coverage in English before. There is also a chapter that elucidates the relative powers of the members of the imperial college. Finally, Dr Corcoran assesses how effectively the machinery of government really matched the ambitions of the emperors.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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Nonfiction
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Balanced tone · Steady pace
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
A good fit if…
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- ISBN-13
- 978-0-1981-5304-7
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL7396972M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
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- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
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