1st Edition
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: Pr
Biography
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.
"Hebblewhite does an admirable job of presenting the ofttimes contradictory literary, epigraphic, and numismatic evidence (both inscriptional and iconographic), confronting the issues it raises, and coming to conclusions [...] The book is clearly written and well organized."
- R. T. Ingoglia, Saint Thomas Aquinas College, USA, CHOICE Reviews
"This is a stimulating work that provides an easy-to-use catalogue of the coinage and legal sources showing the relationship between the Emperor and the Roman army [...] If they’d read Hebblewhite’s book, many late Roman emperors might have been more successful."
- Hugh Elton, Trent University, Canada, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2017
"Au total, nous pensons que ce livre aura sa place dans toutes les bibliothèques bien composées."
-Yann Le Bohec, Paris-Sorbonne University, France, Sehepunkte Rezensionsjournal für die Geschichtswissenschaften 2017
"Hebblewhite made a masterful study, being able to bring together a wide range of literary, epigraphic, as well as numismatic evidence, and present us with a convincing and concise analysis of nature of the relationship between the emperor and the army in what was politically and militarily turbulent period for the Later Roman empire [...] Hebblewhite’s book is a valuable contribution to the field that nicely complements Campbell’s earlier work and provides us with a badly needed insight into the emperor’s relationship with the military in the late antiquity. As such, it should be a mandatory addition to every university library"
- Vedran Bileta, De Re Militari, The Society for Medieval Military History
"….Hebblewhite’s study is filled with new materials and original viewpoints, especially in the economic, monetary and numismatic spheres relating to the Roman
