The Emperor and the Army in the Later Roman Empire, AD 235-395

With The Emperor and the Army in the Later Roman Empire, AD 235?395 Mark Hebblewhite offers the first study solely dedicated to examining the nature of the relationship between the emperor and his army in the politically and militarily volatile later Roman Empire. Bringing together a wide range of available literary, epigraphic and numismatic evidence he demonstrates that emperors of the period considered the army to be the key institution they had to mollify in order to retain power and consequently employed a range of strategies to keep the troops loyal to their cause. Key to these efforts were imperial attempts to project the emperor as a worthy general (imperator) and a generous provider of military pay and benefits. Also important were the honorific and symbolic gestures each emperor made to the army in order to convince them that they and the empire could only prosper under his rule.

List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgements
Selected Roman Emperors and Usurpers
Abbreviations

Introduction

Fides, the Army and the Emperor

The Ancient Sources

Modern Perspectives

Chapter 1 – Dawn of the Warrior Emperor

Dynastic Rule Redefined?

A Dynastic Resurgence?

The Emperor as Commilito?

Chapter 2 –Advertising Military Success

Coinage and the Projection of Military Power

Virtus, Victoria and an empire in crisis

Virtus: The courage to lead

Victoria: An emperor’s duty

Emperors Armed for battle

Diocletian to Theodosius the Great: new messages for a new age

Portraits of Power

The Titulature of Military Success

Projecting success in crisis

Tetrarchs and dynasts: the titulature of shared military success

Chapter 3 – Praemia Militiae

Praemia Militiae of the Republic and Early Empire

A Severan Mercenary Army?

Praemia Militiae 235-395

Donativa

Regular donativa

Irregular donativa

Ceremony and the donativum

Fides guaranteed?

Stipendium: A Dying Praemium?

The Annona Militaris: Dona

Praemia Veteranorum

The Economics of Praemia Militiae

Chapter 4 - The Emperor, The Law and Disciplina Militaris

Legal Benefits

The later empire

Soldiers and their families

Barbarians in a citizen army

Disciplina Militaris

Chapter 5 – Rituals of Identity

Acclamatio: The First Act of Fidelity?

Acclamatio in the age of the soldier emperors

Ceremonial legitimisation

Adlocutio: Presence and Power

The ceremony of adlocutio

The impact of adlocutio

Sacramentum Militiae: The Military Oath of Fidelity

Empty words in an age of chaos

The imperial perspective

An oath honoured?

Chapter 6 – Symbols of Power

Signa Militaria and Imagines

Signa Militaria: Heart of the Unit?

Imperial Co-option of the signa militaria

Images of Identity, Images of Power

Potestas Purpurae?

Christ’s Emperor?

Epithets of Identity

Emperors of the Third Century Crisis: Caracalla’s Heirs?

Diocletian, Constantine and the honorific epithets of the Notitia Dignitatum

Honorific Coinage

Concordia, Fides and Crisis

Virtus, Gloria and the Fourth Century Army

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Mark Hebblewhite completed his PhD at Macquarie University, Australia, in 2012 and has taught widely in the field of Ancient History. His research interests centre on the ideology and politics of the later Roman Empire, with particular reference to the role of the army. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Lecturer at the University of New South Wales, Australia.