Biblical justification narratives in the late antique environment – the role of imperial women

Project leader: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Leppin

One of the most astonishing phenomena of late antique history is how quickly a Christian narrative of justification helped to re-legitimize the centuries-long rule of Roman emperors. The aim of this project was to investigate how the Christian narrative of justification of rule, which emerged on the periphery of the Roman Empire and then developed further, with its universal claims, encountered the Roman system of rule and merged with it surprisingly quickly, so that the differences in political language seemingly disappeared.

The focus here was on the demands placed on the emperor, who in late antique society could be measured against the justification narrative of pagan imperialism as well as those of the Old Testament and the concept of the holy man (Francis Dvornik, Peter Brown). This led to a change in imperial behavior, but also in the power structure, as representatives of Christianity such as monks or bishops were now considered competent to judge imperial behavior due to their spiritual authority (Claudia Rapp). The relationship between these personal authorities and the authority of texts in which norms were handed down has not yet been sufficiently considered; in late antiquity, for example in the writings of Ambrose and John Chrysostom, norms were often derived from the Old Testament and in some cases applied directly to their own time. As developments in the east and west of the Roman Empire differed, the development of the Christian justification narrative could be observed comparatively under different social conditions. In particular, the role of imperial women was examined, in close cooperation with a parallel project in the International Research Training Group “Political Communication from Antiquity to the Present”.

The main topic of the project was examined from very different perspectives. The project leader, Hartmut Leppin, dealt primarily with the question of the extent to which the late antique Christian empire, which he assessed as a surprising phenomenon, a paradox of European history, took up biblical justification narratives. It became clear that both Christocentric and Old Testament, in a sense Davidic, interpretations were derived from the Bible, but that there was also a tendency to develop a hierocratic empire. The considerable impact of the biblical justification narrative also revealed its limitations.

Both doctoral theses begun in the project were successfully completed:
Jan-Markus Kötter dealt with the so-called “Acacian Schism”, the first fundamental schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople in the years 484 to 519. His aim here was to investigate how the various actors used arguments of biblical-apostolic provenance to assert their dogmatic and hierarchical claims (i.e. their idea of an adequate ecclesiastical order). The close analysis of the conflicts and their broad embedding in historical contexts made it possible to gain a new perspective both on the development of the late antique ecclesiastical order and on the constant conflicts over the further development of this order.
Michaela Dirschlmayer examined the power-political position of imperial women in the late antique Christian empire from the 4th to the 6th century. After critically analyzing ancient texts, she was able to establish that the influence of imperial women during this period was particularly evident in matters of religious policy. Church foundations by imperial women are closely related to this, as they can be interpreted as a visible expression of their influence and in the sense of communication between the imperial court and the acceptance groups that supported it. The results of this study provide an important contribution to a better understanding of the scope of action of an imperial woman, which cannot be legally defined. They also suggest that previous theories of research on late antique/early Byzantine empresses should be reconsidered.

The most important publications in the research project include Hartmut Leppin (2011): Justinian – Das christliche Experiment, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta; Hartmut Leppin (2010): Das Erbe der Antike (C.H. Beck Geschichte Europas), Munich: Beck; and Jan-Markus Kötter (2013): Between emperors and apostles. The Akian Schism (484-519) as an ecclesiastical conflict of order in late antiquity Stuttgart: Steiner; Michaela Dirschlmayer (2015): Kirchenstiftungen römischer Kaiserinnen vom 4. bis zum 6. Jahrhundert – die Erschließung neuer Handlungsspielräume, (JbAC Ergänzungsband Kleine Reihe 13) Münster: Aschendorff.

The most important events in the project were an international workshop on “The Spread of Religions and the Neutralization of Social Spaces” (25-27.6.2010), a lecture and seminar by Hans Beck on “Interstate Relations in Classical Greece. Sociocentrism and the Limit of Normative Order” (21.-2.6.2010) and “Normative Aspects in the Form and Function of Greek Hagiography in Late Antiquity”, lecture and seminar with Prof. Claudia Rapp (UCLA, 27.3.-8.4.2009).