Title The Byzantine Republic : people and power in New Rome / Anthony Kaldellis

Published Cambridge, Massuchetts : Harvard University Press, 2015 ©2015

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Description 1 online resource (xvi, 290 pages) Contents Introducing the Byzantine Republic -- The emperor in the republic -- Extralegal authority in a lawful polity -- The sovereignty of the people in theory -- The sovereignty of the people in practice -- The secular republic and the theocratic "imperial idea." Summary "Although Byzantium is known to history as the Eastern Roman Empire, scholars have long claimed that this Greek Christian theocracy bore little resemblance to Rome. This book reconnects Byzantium to its Roman roots, arguing that from the fifth to the twelfth centuries CE the Eastern Roman Empire was essentially a republic, with power exercised on behalf of the people and sometimes by them too. Kaldellis recovers for the historical record a less autocratic, more populist Byzantium whose Greek-speaking citizens considered themselves as fully Roman as their Latin-speaking 'ancestors.' He shows that the idea of Byzantium as a rigid imperial theocracy is a misleading construct of Western historians since the Enlightenment. With court proclamations often draped in Christian rhetoric, the notion of divine kingship emerged as a way to disguise the inherent vulnerability of each regime. The legitimacy of the emperors was not predicated on an absolute right to the throne but on the popularity of individual emperors, whose grip on power was tenuous despite the stability of the imperial institution itself. Kaldellis examines the overlooked Byzantine concept of the polity, along with the complex relationship of emperors to the law and the ways they bolstered their popular acceptance and avoided challenges. The rebellions that periodically rocked the empire were not aberrations, he shows, but an essential part of the functioning of the republican monarchy"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Anthony Kaldellis is Professor and Chair of the Department of Classics at The Ohio State University In English Print version record Subject Legitimacy of governments -- Byzantine Empire Power (Social sciences) -- Byzantine Empire Republicanism -- Byzantine Empire Monarchy -- Byzantine Empire Authority -- History -- To 1500 HISTORY -- Europe -- General. HISTORY -- Medieval. Authority Legitimacy of governments Monarchy Politics and government Power (Social sciences) Republicanism SUBJECT Byzantine Empire -- History -- 527-1081. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85018488 Byzantine Empire -- Politics and government -- 527-1081. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85018521 Subject Byzantine Empire Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2014011695 ISBN 9780674735866 0674735862

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