Papers by Elie de Rosen
In his Historia Ecclesiastica, Socrates places great emphasis on the role of the Roman Emperors i... more In his Historia Ecclesiastica, Socrates places great emphasis on the role of the Roman Emperors in history and, as a result, comes to pass judgment on their actions. In contrast to his fellow Church historians, Socrates avoids using sectarian differences as a justification for his disapproval of the actions of bad emperors, particularly in his critiques of Emperor Julian. Julian's treatment in the Church history is unusual as Socrates spares Julian direct criticisms of his Paganism but is instead critical of his supposed status as a philosopher. The purpose behind doing this is ultimately to disqualify Julian from being considered a philosopher at all, as part of a larger battle for the Greco-Roman intellectual tradition.
The "Boiotia and the Outside World" conference took place at the University of Fribourg from 7 Ju... more The "Boiotia and the Outside World" conference took place at the University of Fribourg from 7 June until 9 June 2017, and brought together 18 speakers and 7 posters from 11 countries. Thank you to all participants for making the event a very stimulating as well as friendly experience! A video interview of the keynote speaker, Prof. Hans Beck, is available here http://www3.unifr.ch/alma-georges/articles/2017/wir-sollten-das-lokale-ernster-nehmen WORK IN PROGRESS 471.0.02 Elie de Rosen (University of Birmingham) Livadia: a possible town in the Middle Byzantine period.
The Roman elite is considered fascinating by those who study it, and with good reason. Not only d... more The Roman elite is considered fascinating by those who study it, and with good reason. Not only did aristocrats maintain a remarkably lavish and varied lifestyle, which comes through in the archaeological record, but they have left a considerable amount of material evidence. And one of the more informative types of evidence-as I hope to demonstrate-is the townhouse. This was a key factor in my choosing this topic. That said, I have no illusions on the extent of my contribution. This essay is certainly not groundbreaking, nor is it meant to be. It simply gives a concise but well organized and far-reaching interpretation on the evolution of Late imperial urban houses. Broadly speaking, the paper is divided into four sections: scholarship, the domus in the Early Empire, the ways in which the domus changed in the Late Empire, and the ways in which it remained the same.
military campaigns, his personality, the Code which bears his name, and the cause of his death ha... more military campaigns, his personality, the Code which bears his name, and the cause of his death have prominently featured in these volumes. The attitudes of the British towards Napoleon, however, have been neglected. This is a flaw that must be remedied: the topic is no less fascinating and important than its counterparts. To that end, my dissertation focuses on British opinion regarding Napoleon, specifically those of the press and government. My objective will be two-fold: to provide more detail and accuracy on the subject, and to discuss the problems of the historians' methodology. The dissertation is divided into three main sections. The first resumes the schools of thought and its arguments. The second makes a case for what British sentiments were, and analyzes the persuasiveness of the historiography. The third section, using the previous analysis as a reference point, investigates the effectiveness of the historians' methodology.
Book Reviews by Elie de Rosen
Can there be any doubt that the quarter century following Manuel's death was a miserably unsucces... more Can there be any doubt that the quarter century following Manuel's death was a miserably unsuccessful time for Byzantium? From Serbia and Bulgaria's throwing off the imperial yoke, to provincial magnates repeatedly raising the banner of rebellion, to the emperors frittering away their subjects taxes on selfish pursuits, the period was surely a political and economic nadir for the Byzantines. And the responsibility for this outcome belongs mainly to the people then in charge of ruling the Empire. For a tim, this interpretation found general acceptance. But in the last three decades, it has been called into question by Savvas Neocleous, Michael Hendy, and Michael Angold. The current book represents a continuation of their undertaking, only on a greater scale.
Thesis Chapters by Elie de Rosen
Although there are enough studies on the economic history of late 8 th -early 13 th century Rhoma... more Although there are enough studies on the economic history of late 8 th -early 13 th century Rhomanian Greece (for my use of the term 'Rhomanian' rather than 'Byzantine', see the end of section I) to warrant years of intensive reading, few of them are regional or multi-regional in their scope. Largescale interpretations have been correspondingly few. The most noteworthy one -with regard to the regions that I am studying -is that Boeotia was home to one of the finest silk industries in the Empire in the late 11 th -12 th centuries. Using all available sources of information (ecclesiastical, hagiographical, geographic monographs, court chronicles, weather station statistics, archaeological monuments and artifacts, and so on), I proceeded to an examination of urban settlements based on five main criteria: the quality and pervasiveness of ceramic material, the distribution of currency, the presence of a Jewish population, the incidence of sigillographic data, the magnitude, quality, and frequency of architectural projects, and the size and number of settlements. I found that there is ample evidence for growth in the domains of demography, silk production (whose quantitative element still hangs in the balance, however), exports to Constantinople, religious construction projects, coin use, and highquality production imports/production. The most important growth spurts occurred before two episcopal registers, one dating to the early 10 th century and the other to the late 10 th -early 11 th century. These trends are then probed for natural and human explanations, before being compared to their equivalents in other regions of Roman Greece. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The focus and structure of this thesis are very different from what I set out in my last thesis proposal and my first outline, almost four years ago. I had intended that my project should encompass all of mainland Greece. The settlements in my regions of study were arbitrarily and sketchily selected -I had essentially chosen all towns known to have existed at some during the years of Rhomanian domination over Greece. I had hoped that relevant numismatic, sigillographic, and pottery finds would number in the thousands. My level of research competency was equally very different at the beginning of my doctorate,
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Papers by Elie de Rosen
Book Reviews by Elie de Rosen
Thesis Chapters by Elie de Rosen