Dominate - Knowledge (XXG)

1474:"while in all ancient monarchies religion and sacerdotalism were a political as well as a social power, the position of the Christian Church in the Roman Empire was a new thing in the world, presenting problems of a kind with which no ruler had hitherto been confronted and to which no past experience offered a key. The history of the Empire would have been profoundly different if the Church had remained as independent of the State as it had been before Constantine. But heresies and schisms and religious intolerance on one side, and the despotic instinct to control all social forces on the other, brought about a close union between State and Church which altered the character and spirit of the State, and constituted perhaps the most striking difference between the early and the later Empire." 771:

frontiers to defend. To govern a large state by two independent but perfectly similar machines, controlled not from one centre but from two foci, without sacrificing its unity was an interesting and entirely new experiment. These bureaucratic machines worked moderately well, and their success might have been extraordinary if the monarchs who directed them had always been men of superior ability. Blots of course and defects there were, especially in the fields of economy and finance. The political creation of the Illyrian Emperors was not unworthy of the genius of Rome.

734:. The stresses and strains of those years (chronic usurpations, military insurrections, simultaneous military conflicts across multiple frontiers) exposed the weaknesses in the Roman state under the Principate, and saw a gradual movement from the collegiate model of government that existed prior to AD 235 to a more formally autocratic version that begins after AD 285. In broad terms, it saw the gradual exclusion of the senatorial elite from high military commands and the parallel elevation of the 1612:

as the pagan temples had in granting asylum to any who requested it. Bishops were permitted to act as judges in civil cases when both parties had agreed, and no appeal was permitted once the Bishop had made their ruling. The state made increasing use of the ecclesiastical authorities in local administration due to the decline in the civic life of the urban communities, which coincided with the increasing local influence of the bishops. Finally, bishops were given the same role as the

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man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, or in his early forties for most others. If they were especially skilled or valued, they may even have achieved a second (or rarely, a third) consulate. Prior to achieving the consulate, these individuals already had a significant career behind them, and would expect to continue serving the state, filling in the post upon which the state functioned.

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Prefects were the Emperor's top administrators, ranking just below the Emperor himself in dignity. While initially serving as the Emperor's second in command in all matters of imperial administration (military, civil, judicial, taxation, etc.), during the course of the Dominate the Prefects gradually had portions of their authority stripped from them and given to other offices: the

1096:, including the diocesan and provincial governor's staffs, would have consisted of somewhere around 10,000 individuals. This figure did not include the staff of the military commanders, or the financial and other central ministries, and contrasts with the estimated 300 state bureaucrats that were employed across all the provinces during the period of the Julio-Claudian emperors. 1454:" or "border commanders"). These commanders were the closest in function to the Imperial Legates of the Principate. Most Dukes were given command of forces in a single province, but a few controlled more than one province. In the East, the Dukes reported to the Master of the Soldiers of their district whereas in the West they reported to their respective Military Count. 1959: 1811:) and were surrounded by a court of individuals who, only due to the favor and proximity of the Emperor, attained the highest honorific titles and bureaucratic functions. In fact, many offices associated with the palatine life and that suggested intimate relationship with royalty eventually developed connotations of power, such as the offices of 1203:, was the minimum qualification for membership of the Senate. It was automatically awarded as part of the governorship of a province, and to a myriad of other lesser officers. It was held by a large number of junior imperial public servants, as well as being awarded to them after their retirement. The generosity of the emperors in bestowing the 1408:, the Master of Both Services was the supreme military commander of the West, ranking only below the Emperor and above all other military commanders, and commander of half the Palace Troops. The Master of the Horse held command over half the Palace Troops and the Field Army of Gaul, but still under the command of the Master of Both Services. 1281:. During the Crisis of the Third Century, greater authority over imperial military matters was ceded to the Praetorian Prefects, while the imperial legates took advantage of weakened centralised authority to use the troops under their command to rebel against the emperor and claim the imperial title for themselves. 1520:

god. To avoid offending Christians, Constantine abandoned the emperor's formal claim to divinity and ceased to demand sacrifices to the emperor that formed part of the imperial cult. In an attempt to appeal to both Christians and pagans, Constantine adopted two new religious symbols into the imperial

1515:

It was under Constantine I that the religious transformation began to take its late Dominate shape, initially with Constantine officially favouring the worship of a single deity in the shape of Sol Invictus. During the course of his reign, the identification of Sol Invictus as the principal god began

1500:, but this was not officially encouraged during the Principate, and it was not introduced into Italy. It was Diocletian who altered this to have the worship of the living emperors as an official part of the religious framework of the entire empire. To facilitate this, Diocletian was linked to the god 1611:

The emperors had, over time, conceded many privileges to the clergy and the churches. Firstly, all clergy, like the holders of the pagan religious offices, were exempted from taxation. There were no restrictions placed on churches receiving bequests through wills, and they were given the same rights

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became unable to cope with multiple and simultaneous invasions and usurpations that required the emperor to be everywhere at once. Further, it was their absence which caused usurpations to occur in response to a local or provincial crisis that traditionally would have been dealt with by the emperor.

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in 312, as the full effects were not visible until paganism was prohibited at the end of the 4th century. Ultimately, however, as a result of the imperial patronage of Constantine and especially his sons, Christianity rapidly emerged as the official religion of the empire, although many vestiges of

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All important offices automatically carried with them admission into the Senate, thereby further eroding the standing of the traditional aristocratic Senatorial families of the Principate under the Dominate. This resulted in a senatorial body of around 2,000 members during the reign of Constantine,

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when they were later granted an ordinary consulship by the emperor. All this had the effect of further devaluing the office of consul, to the point that by time of the Dominate, holding an ordinary consulate was occasionally left out of the cursus inscriptions, while suffect consulships were hardly

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Consequently, the high regard placed upon the ordinary consulate remained intact, as it was one of the few offices that one could share with the emperor, and during this period it was filled mostly by patricians or by individuals who had consular ancestors. It was a post that would be occupied by a

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The style of Government so memorably described by Marcus, whereby the emperor sought to show himself as a model of correct aristocratic deportment, had given way to a style in which the emperor was seen to be distinct from all other mortals. His house could no longer be a grander version of houses

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consulship granted at an earlier age, to the point that by the 4th century, it was being held by men in their early twenties, and possibly younger. As time progressed, second consulates, usually ordinary, became far more common than had been the case during the first two centuries, while the first

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who initially divided the military administrative apparatus and the civil administration in order to mitigate the risk that future imperial governors or Praetorian Prefects might attempt to seize the throne through force, and then he reorganized both of them. During the Tetrarchy, the Praetorian

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to the senatorial order, with the larger or more important provinces handed over to those senators who had held an ordinary consulship. However, unlike the time of the Principate, the role of governor was much reduced, being a purely civil magistrate with no military functions, and with provinces

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as the supreme deity of the empire. Although the worship of Sol Invictus did not remove the veneration towards the traditional Roman gods, it was seen as a mark of imperial favouritism, and the emperors linked his cult to the well-being of the state and on-going military victories of the empire.

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One of the key changes in the management of the empire during the Dominate was the large scale removal of old-style senatorial participation in administrative and military functions. The process began with the reforms of Gallienus, who removed senators from military commands, placing them in the

1026:

The decline in the functions carried out by the old aristocratic senatorial families acting collegially with the emperor in the running of the empire was offset by the rise of an expanded imperial bureaucracy who served the emperor in a subordinate role. Interposed between the governors and the

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were under the authority of the emperor. The Praetorian Prefects had wide-ranging administrative, financial, judicial and legislative powers. The provincial governors were appointed at his recommendation, and with him rested their dismissal, subject to the Emperor's approval. The only civilian

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constructed with the most careful attention to details, was a solution of the formidable problem of holding together a huge heterogeneous empire, threatened with dissolution and bankruptcy, an empire which was far from being geographically compact and had four long, as well as several smaller,

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consuls who began in office at the start of the year. Throughout the Principate, the imperial consulate was an important position, albeit as the method through which the Roman aristocracy could progress through to the higher levels of imperial administration – only former consuls could become

988:(or super-provinces). The exclusion of the old Italian aristocracy, both senatorial and equestrian, from the political and military power that they had monopolised for many centuries was largely complete. The Senate became politically insignificant, although it retained great prestige. 984:). Hereditary senators were limited to administrative jobs in Italy and a few neighbouring provinces (Sicily, Africa, Achaea and Asia), despite the fact that senior administrative posts had been greatly multiplied by the tripling of the number of provinces and the establishment of 917:

was the highest elected magistracy in the Roman state, with two consuls elected annually. With the arrival of the Principate, although all real power was invested in the emperor, the consuls were still in theory the head of state, and the calendar year was identified by the two

999:, a role which had acted as a form of apprenticeship for an ambitious senator during the Principate, it was downgraded during the Dominate and assigned to the sons of senators, with the legal qualifying age lowered to sixteen. This was followed by a suffect consulship and/or a 1301:

The next reforms were undertaken by Constantine I, who reorganised the supreme military command. Two significant parts of the reform are apparent: the separation of military commanders from civil administration and the division of the army into two classes: the Field Armies

1857:) that has come to be a prerogative of the Imperial position. Originally an exceptional honour awarded by the Senate to an Emperor posthumously, the elevation had devolved to an expected convention for still-living Caesars. To dissuade the rebellions and usurpations of the 1652:

Rome was increasingly seen to be too distant a residence for the emperor when troubles could erupt along any of the borders of the empire. In the west, Mediolanum was seen to be a much better strategic city for the emperor to be based at, as it gave good access through the

738:, the reorganisation of the armed forces and the creation of mobile field armies, changes in imperial dress and ceremonial displays, a religious policy aiming at religious unity, large scale monetary reforms, and the creation of an empire-wide civil bureaucracy. 1297:

for central civilian administration. These reforms were the result of both the lack of officials suitable for the prefect's wide-ranging tasks, and of the desire to reduce the potential challenge to the Emperor's authority posed by a powerful Prefect.

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were given an escalating importance in the administration of Rome and the empire." Not all the changes that produced the 'Dominate' were completed by the time of Diocletian's abdication in AD 305; many changes were either introduced or modified by

1018:; during this period the office gained in effective power, as the imperial court was removed from the city of Rome, meaning that the prefects were no longer under the emperor's direct supervision. The most significant change was the return of 1618:, who was responsible for protecting the poor against exploitation by government officials and defending them from other powerful individuals, during the course of which the bishop could bring cases of illegality directly to the emperor. 1081:

The increasing administrative machinery surrounding the emperor resulted in an explosion of bureaucratic offices. These state officials were paid originally both in food and with money, but over the course of the Dominate, the

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Although Diocletian is commonly thought of as creator of the Dominate, its origins lie in the innovations of earlier emperors, principally those undertaken by Aurelian (AD 270–275). Some reforms stretch back to the reigns of

1088:(or food ration) was converted into money. Their salaries therefore consumed a considerable chunk of the imperial budget. Although precise numbers are not available, it has been speculated that the state bureaucracy in the 2007:

Kuhoff, Wolfgang (2002). "Die diokletianische Tetrarchie als Epoche einer historischen Wende in antiker und moderner Sicht". International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 9 (2): 177–178. doi:10.1007/BF02898434 JSTOR

1116:(officer responsible for managing the secretarial departments in the palace, the conduct of court ceremonies, and controlling the special department which dealt with ceremonial arrangements and Imperial audiences) 1351:. Over time, the numbers and types of Masters would vary across the empire. The establishment of solely military officials provided for a more professional military leadership. The Masters were all ranked as 1433:

Within the West, there were six such Military Counts, one for each of the five Field Armies in Illyria, Africa, Tingitania, Hispania, and Britannia. The sixth military count, the Count of the Saxon Shore

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issued legislation that greatly restricted the rights of the coloni and tied them to the land. Coloni and lower-ranking plebeians were no longer allowed to change their occupation. Ultimately, with the

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At the Imperial court, Christians began indiscernibly to rise in favour, to the detriment of pagans. This did not begin to immediately hamper the advancement of pagan courtiers after the defeat of

1704:, it finally replaced Nicomedia as the site of the emperor's residence in the east in 330. Constantinople would remain the capital of the eastern provinces throughout the period of the Dominate. 1490:

Next, it was during Diocletian's reign that emperor worship was fully adopted by the emperors, as a method of expressing loyalty to the state. Previously, deceased emperors had been worshiped as

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consulship was usually a suffect consulate. Also, the consulate during this period was no longer just the province of senators – the automatic awarding of a suffect consulship to the equestrian

1760:(reigned 284–305) assessed taxes based both on land and on the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where the census counted them. 654:

dynasties, between the years 565 and 641. In form, the Dominate is considered to have been more authoritarian, less collegial and more bureaucratic than the Principate from which it emerged.

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Under Diocletian, the military equestrian transformation was taken a stage further, with the removal of hereditary senators from most administrative, as well as military, posts (such as the

936:

into the traditional senatorial administrative and military functions meant that senatorial careers virtually vanished prior to their appointment as consuls. This had the effect of seeing a

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to the west. Further, it was well positioned to guard against incursions through the alpine passes. This decision was confirmed when Diocletian established the Tetrarchy, and his colleague

1834:

describes the transformation of government under Diocletian when describing the shifts in imagery the Emperor used to display his power (in this case the building of a huge new palace at

1314:"). The Field Armies served as the Empire's strategic reserve to respond to crisis where it may arise whereas the Frontier Troops were permanently stationed along the Empire's borders (" 3166: 3005:

borník Prací Filosofické Fakulty Brnenské University = Studia minora Facultatis Philosophicae Universitatis Brunensis. Rada archeologicko-klasicka = Series archaeologica et classica

1377:. Each of these three Masters exercised independent command over one of the three Field Armies of the Eastern Empire. There were also two Masters of the Soldiers in the Presence ( 1003:. The office of Praetor had also lost much of its influence, as it had been stripped of its legal functions, so that during the Dominate its purpose was primarily to organise the 759:. Consequently, just as the Principate emerged over the period 31 BC through to 14 AD, it is only by AD 337 that the reforms that resulted in the Dominate were largely complete. 1727:, the governor who represented the emperor in Italy. Ravenna would retain this position until 751, when the Byzantine Empire finally lost the central Italian provinces to the 590: 1926:

In contrast to the situation in the Principate, however, emperors in the Dominate could not be deified as it was, excepting the two initial decades and the reign of

813:

was conferred onto that person was the point when imperial authority could be exercised. Over the course of the Principate, it became common for the emperor (or

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was autonomous within each portion of the empire they managed, all laws that were introduced by any emperor were valid across the entirety of the empire.

3684: 1430:"). Unlike the Military Counts of the West, this Count commanded the Frontier Troops stationed in Egypt and reported directly to the Eastern Emperor. 5018: 5013: 5008: 3600: 5003: 4998: 4972: 3610: 4917: 3605: 3339: 1931: 793:. Augustus and his successors usually took great care to disguise the autocratic nature of the office by hiding behind the institutions of the 583: 187: 866:), each of whom shared in the imperial power. This original power sharing model lasted from AD 289 through to AD 324, being undone during the 4887: 3712: 3239: 2900: 1972: 1605: 177: 1466:

Principate origins. Its principal feature was the elevation of a supreme deity that all peoples in the empire were to worship. According to

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in 402. Ravenna remained the western imperial capital until the loss of Italy in 476. Although Rome was reincorporated into the empire by

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All the higher officials in the imperial bureaucracy belonged to one of the three classes or ranks introduced by Constantine I – the

4897: 3657: 3224: 3219: 3195: 3046: 1601: 1529:. By the time of Constantine's death in AD 337, this process was largely complete, with Constantine being baptized on his deathbed. 1381:) who accompanied the Eastern Emperor and who each commanded half of the Palace Troops. Each of the five Masters were of equal rank. 1373: 1089: 576: 148: 4912: 3585: 3234: 3161: 1827:, after the loss of every residue of political power they had had in the Principate, became mere honorifics in the later Empire. 1549: 891: 639: 165: 3178: 3111: 1023:

greatly reduced in size, and the number increasing from the roughly fifty pre-existing provinces to approximately one hundred.

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Vitiello, Massimiliano. 2015. "Blaming the Late Republic: Senatorial Ideology and Republican Institutions in Late Antiquity."

3932: 3857: 3615: 2864: 1880:, were venerated after death. In the Eastern Roman Empire after 476 AD, the symbiotic relation between the Imperial Crown in 1589: 1392: 1219:. This inflationary pressure resulted in the creation of a new senatorial rank before the middle of the 6th century, that of 690:

throughout the Principate, usually in the form of excessive flattery (or political invective) when referring to the emperor.

1147:

and these numbers only increased when there were two senatorial bodies in existence, one at Rome and one at Constantinople.

4428: 1897: 1386: 4268: 3872: 3324: 3039: 1896:

on his death (518 AD). The title appears to have been abandoned thereafter on grounds of its spiritual impropriety (see

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colleagues and successors openly displayed the naked face of Imperial power. They ceased using the more modest title of

1492: 1273: 1164:, all of whom were automatically members of the senatorial order. The heads of the great central civil ministries, the 563: 4967: 844:

Under the Dominate, the burden of the imperial position was increasingly shared between colleagues, referred to as the

4892: 4651: 3707: 3590: 3136: 1858: 1396:. Over time, it became more common for the offices (foot and horse) to be combined under a single person, then styled 867: 833: 731: 1937:

Another clear symptom of the upgrading of the imperial status was the notion of the emperor as an incarnation of the

1665:

informally established Mediolanum as the senior western emperor's official residence. Diocletian, conscious that the

1326:"), who accompanied the Emperor as he travelled around the Empire, functioning as the successor to the Principate's 1142:(the emperor's chamberlain, who exercised a general authority over all officers associated with the imperial court). 4927: 4591: 4483: 4253: 4025: 3847: 3755: 3620: 3563: 1669:

threat to the eastern provinces required a continuous imperial presence, placed his eastern capital in the city of

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across the empire. Living emperors had been worshiped as gods in the eastern half of the empire since the time of

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and reported to the Count of Britannia. The five regular Military Counts reported to the Master of Both Services.

1322: 426: 128: 4548: 4458: 3967: 3947: 3942: 3927: 3880: 3820: 3775: 3577: 1436: 30: 3003:

Melounová, Markéta. 2012. "Trials with Religious and Political Charges from the Principate to the Dominate." S

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were under the proconsular authority of the emperor, who managed those provinces through designated legates (

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Emperors imported rituals such as kneeling before the Emperor, and kissing of the hem of the Imperial robe (

1744: 1597: 1339:"), who were the supreme military commanders of the empire. Beginning with the head of the foot troops, the 1067: 1063: 730:

The Dominate system of government emerged as a response to the 50 years of chaos that is referred to as the

706:

encouraged its use, but none of the emperors used the term in any semi-official capacity until the reign of

464: 878:, lasting until AD 350. The model became a permanent feature of the empire in AD 364 with the accession of 4962: 4952: 4902: 4882: 4696: 4671: 4636: 4518: 4243: 3890: 3652: 3183: 2644: 1862: 1808: 1104: 4932: 4862: 4686: 4438: 4238: 4233: 4030: 3937: 3862: 3825: 3810: 3785: 3765: 3667: 1749:

Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as tenant farmers to provide labor.

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was adopted as part of the emperor's official titulature, forming part of Diocletian's radical reforms.

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Social Dynamics in the Northwest Frontiers of the Late Roman Empire: Beyond Transformation or Decline.

1418:"). There were six such Military Counts throughout the Empire. The Military Counts were all ranked as 966:

Roman Emperor Constantine, who adjusted many of the civil and military reforms initiated by Diocletian

789:, the position of emperor saw the concentration of various civil and military offices within a single 4942: 4907: 4596: 4586: 4463: 4363: 4288: 4153: 4116: 3492: 3156: 1889: 1812: 1724: 1333:

Around the same time, Constantine established the new military roles of the Master of the Soldiers ("

1316: 1038: 856: 815: 643: 635: 106: 2958: 4872: 4721: 4523: 4393: 4343: 3662: 3259: 1964: 1927: 1764: 1674: 1634:. This precedent had already been established by Gallienus in 260, who moved the imperial court to 1561: 1501: 1294: 1112: 1108:(the officer responsible for drafting the laws, and the Imperial rescripts responding to petitions) 809: 686:, traditionally used by Roman slaves to address their masters, was sporadically used in addressing 241: 1772:, non-Patrician Roman citizens themselves would find themselves displaced and would become serfs. 1626:

One of the most visible signs of the changes brought about by the Dominate was the downgrading of

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its end is disputed, with the majority of opinions placing it around the transition between the

1707:

In the west, Mediolanum continued to be the imperial residence until the repeated invasions by

1207:

witnessed the gradual erosion in its value. As a consequence, the emperors began to raise many

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did not have access to the powers of the emperor, nor was he delegated any official authority.

4556: 4408: 4163: 4123: 4101: 3309: 2906: 2896: 2860: 1920: 1467: 1367: 418: 411: 214: 995:, basing the magistracies on previous offices but with changed functions. Beginning with the 4621: 4581: 4513: 4448: 4373: 4368: 4140: 4063: 4010: 3805: 3800: 3689: 3548: 3497: 3457: 3427: 3422: 3417: 3407: 3329: 3276: 3269: 3254: 3249: 3173: 3101: 1753: 1538: 1335: 1327: 1290: 1166: 981: 735: 540: 534: 527: 513: 342: 321: 266: 251: 246: 231: 115: 20: 1584:'s authority extended over the whole western or Latin half of the Empire, and included the 4716: 4528: 4508: 4468: 4403: 4353: 4348: 4223: 4173: 4081: 3915: 3895: 3815: 3264: 3089: 2840: