The Triumph of Empire: The Roman World from Hadrian to Constantine

Michael Kulikowski

Book

The Triumph of Empire

The Roman World from Hadrian to Constantine

Michael Kulikowski

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2016

Published by

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This book is in the series

History of the Ancient World

About this book

Michael Kulikowski takes readers into the political heart of imperial Rome, beginning with the reign of Hadrian, who visited the farthest reaches of his domain and created stable frontiers, and spanning to the decades after Constantine the Great, who overhauled the government, introduced a new state religion, and founded a second Rome.

Reviews

A genuinely bracing and innovative history of Rome.
-- Times Literary Supplement

This was an era of great change, and Kulikowski is an excellent and insightful guide.
-- Adrian Goldsworthy Wall Street Journal

A breezy and animated, yet authoritative look at this remarkable time… Sure to be of interest to anybody with a taste in character-driven history.
-- Military History Review

[A] sweeping history.
-- Pennsylvania Literary Journal

This is a wonderfully broad sweep of Roman history. It tells the fascinating story of imperial rule from the enigmatic Hadrian through the dozens of warlords and usurpers who fought for the throne in the third century AD, to the Christian emperors of the fourth—after the biggest religious and cultural revolution the world has ever seen.
-- Mary Beard, University of Cambridge

A lively, accessible, up-to-date account of the ancient world during the critical period of Rome’s domination of her powerful and diverse empire.
-- Alan Bowman, University of Oxford

Kulikowski provides an energizing depiction of the Roman Empire at its height. His light prose style masks a deep engagement with the period and the problems posed to the Empire from within and beyond its borders.
-- Hugh Elton, Trent University

Kulikowski’s great triumph is to present, in an engaging and lively manner, a new historical narrative with a clear, distinctive line of interpretation for the crucial and complex era of transformation from the world of the high empire to late antiquity.
-- R.W. Benet Salway, University College London

An impressive book with an incisive, fresh exposition of how Rome’s rulers triumphantly remade their empire in response to relentless pressures over two and a half centuries. A page-turner set on a vast physical canvas stretching from Scotland to Ethiopia and China.
-- Richard Talbert, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A fascinating account showing just what it was like to be a Roman emperor—the endless court politics, the shock of outside events, the need to bring in reforms, and, above all, the constant struggle to stay alive and keep your place on the throne.
-- Jerry Toner, University of Cambridge

Kulikowski’s lucid narrative deftly navigates one of the most tangled periods of Roman imperial history. Triumphing over treacherous source material, he shows Rome’s third century nightmare as part of a sequence of events that convulsed the whole of Eurasia. The Triumph of Empire is a dramatic and a revealing history of cataclysm and recovery.
-- Greg Woolf, University of London

Topics

Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Classical Studies Ancient History

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	viii
List of Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	x
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
1. The Early Years of Hadrian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	13
2. The Late Reign and the Succession Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	23
3. Peace and War at Mid-Century Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	37
4. The Last of the Antonines Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	56
5. Septimius Severus and His Rivals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	72
6. The Reign of Severus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	85
7. The Later Severans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	98
8. Eurasian History and the Roman Empire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	117
9. From Gordian III to Valerian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	137
10. Valerian and the Generals Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	159
11. The Last of the Soldier Emperors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	179
12. Diocletian, Constantine and the Creation of the Later Roman Empire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	194
13. The Failure of the Tetrarchy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	219
14. Constantine and Licinius Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	229
15. The Structure of Empire Before and After Constantine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	245
16. The Constantinian Empire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	265
17. The Children of Constantine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	282
18. Constantius, Julian and the Empire to Come Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	299
The Roman Emperors from Augustus to Julian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	310
Persian Kings from Ardashir to Shapur II Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	312
Further Reading Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	313
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	320
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	334

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

March 6, 2017

eBook ISBN:

9780674974227

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

500

Other:

35 color illustrations, 14 maps

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674974227

eBook ISBN: 9780674974227

Audience(s) for this book

General/trade;

The Triumph of Empire

Overview

About this book

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

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