The Roman Revolution of Constantine by Raymond Van Dam

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 421 Roth has written a very imaginative and provocative study that brings a new perspective to the debate on the nature of Roman slavery. Whether or not one agrees with all her conclusions, this is an important contribution that alerts us to the important role that women played as producers in the Roman economy. Tulane University Dennis P. Kehoe The Roman Revolution of Constantine. By Raymond Van Dam. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press. 2007. Pp. xii,441,1 map. The title's evocation of Ronald Syme's famous Roman Revolution guides the reader toward the book's purpose: reorienting the study of a pivotal emperor in Roman history. But inplace of Syme's emphasisupon theoligarchyaroundAugustus,which yieldeda compelling portrait of a terrorizing ruler, Van Dam attempts to undo the preordained characteristics of Constantine's rule to reveal an emperor in flux. The Roman Revolution of Constantine is thus a book fully cognizant of contingency among Romans and Christians; for contemporaries of this revolution, the novelty of an apparently Christian emperor opened up an array of possibilities for interpreting religion as well as emperorship. The first section of the book approaches the succession of new cities to Rome's dominance as well as the succession of a new family of emperors. Chapters One and Two consider the adjustments of Roman Italy and Rome itself to their decreased importance in lateRoman political geography. Van Dam firstexplains the inscribedpetition of the Umbrian city of Hispellum as an opportunity for Constantine the conservative to restore traditional Italian civic institutions by imperial rescript. By contrast, Constantine's itinerary of strategically locatedimperial capitals, which included Trier, Serdica,and finally Constantinople, followed an imperial trend of avoiding the traditional seat of power at Rome, but he cemented new focal points?and not only in Constantinople, his New Rome. Trier was the preferred residence ofmany of Constantine's successors, and the city was only finally eclipsed when, as Van Dam pointedly observes, the usurper Magnus Maximus failed in his attempt to reproduce Constantine's successful coup of 312. Constantine's invention of theFlavian dynastyisthesubjectofChapterThree, analyzingaConstantiniandecision with broad consequencesboth forimperial politicsand thealmost innumerable Flaviiwho populate late antique prosopography. Chapter Four treats Constantine's contributions to the landscape of Rome with close attention to how Romans related to and relocated the remains of the famous head and hand of Constantine's colossal statue. Van Dam's skill in focused, context-sensitive readings of the evidence is even more apparent in the second sectionof thebook, Chapters Five toEight,where he develops themesof imperialreligiousand linguistic policyfromthepetitionsof thetownspeopleof Orcistus in Phrygia. Recalling the author's previous work on Cappadocia, the reader might have expecteda superbtreatment of a littletownin Asia, andVan Dam expertly describes theperiloussituation of Orcistus facingan acquisitive neighboringcitythroughits multiple petitionsto theemperorforrelief. The chaptersalso linkthe web of smalltownsand cities with thediversity of fourth-century religion.Orcistus could addressConstantinewith the proper imperial titulature, but the town councilors were seemingly wary of presuming the emperor'sreligiouspreferencein a petition. Reviewing the inscriptionsinOrcistus that preserved the dialogue between emperor and town, Van Dam discusses the utility of Latin among Greek-speaking provincials, and he notes thatwhile Constantine understood Greek, thisman fromNaissus thoughtinLatin, and thepeople ofOrcistus did well 422 PHOENIX to present themselves as Romans who used Latin. In language, then, Constantine was certainly an emperor after the heart (or tongue) ofDiocletian or Galerius. In his final section, Van Dam examines the complex relationship of Constantine and Christianitythroughtheprism of the "Christianemperor."Here again he recalls the tetrarchic legacy ofDiocletian to explain the options of Constantine and those who created political theologyaround him. Divine legitimation was a vital part of imperial self definition, but Van Dam goes further in proposing the usefulness of particular strands of Christian thought in explaining how God and his emperor were connected. Just as Jupiter and Hercules had modeled the new order of the tetrarchs, the subordinationist theology (laterclassifiedasArianism) ofEusebius ofCaesarea and Eusebius ofNicomedia could assist in creating a Christian imperial persona similarly reflective of the supernatural order. By reading Constantine's political theory with contemporary fourth-century theology and vice versa, Van Dam makes a significant contribution to anchoring the ideas and affairs of bishops within the rest of the late antique

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