Statistics and the Conversion of the Roman Aristocracy

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9288232
AutoresT D Barnes (University of Toronto, autor de correspondencia)
Año1995
Volumen85
Páginas135-147
Fecha de publicación1995-11-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Roman Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0075-4358 • E-ISSN: 1753-528X
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/301060
OpenAlexW2124735208
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas63
Referencias citadas15

In a justly famous paper published in 1961, Peter Brown set out a model for understanding the historical process whereby the formerly pagan aristocracy of imperial Rome became overwhelmingly Christian during the course of the fourth and fifth centuries. Brown's paper has deeply influenced all who have subsequently studied this historical phenomenon, at least in the English-speaking world. Since this article argues that the Roman aristocracy became Christian significantly earlier than Brown and most recent writers have assumed, it must begin by drawing an important distinction. Brown's paper marked a major advance in modern understanding because it redirected the focus of scholarly research away from conflict and confrontation, away from the political manifestations of paganism culminating in the ‘last great pagan revival in the West’ between 392 and 394, away from episodes which pitted pagan aristocrats of Rome against Christian emperors, away from ‘the public crises in relations between Roman paganism and a Christian court’, towards the less sensational but more fundamental processes of cultural and religious change which gradually transformed the landowning aristocracy of Italy after the conversion of Constantine. This change of emphasis was extremely salutary in 1961, it has permanently changed our perception of the period, and it entails a method of approaching the subject which remains completely valid. Unfortunately, however, Brown also adopted prevailing assumptions about the chronology of these changes which are mistaken, on the basis of which he asserted that the ‘drift into a respectable Christianity’ began no earlier than the reign of Constantius. The evidence and arguments set out here indicate that the process began much earlier and proceeded more rapidly than Brown assumed, but they in no way challenge the validity of his approach to understanding the nature of the process

Ancient history · Archaeology · Aristocracy (class · Christianity · Paganism · Political science · Politics · Reign · Roman Empire · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Historical and Literary Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy