The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Wider Mediterranean World in Conversation

The Good Christian Ruler in the First Millennium: Views from the Wider Mediterranean World in Conversation 

Edited by: Philip Michael Forness, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer and Hartmut Leppin

 

Volume 92 in the series Millennium-Studien / Millennium Studies

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110725612

• Language: English
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Copyright year: 2021
• Audience: historians, mediaevalists, theologians
• Pages
  • Front matter: 9
  • Main content: 464
• Illustrations
  • Maps: 1
• Keywords: Monarchy; Christianity; Cultural exchange; Late antique world

eBook

• Published: July 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9783110725612

The late antique and early medieval Mediterranean was characterized by wide-ranging cultural and linguistic diversity. Yet, under the influence of Christianity, communities in the Mediterranean world were bound together by common concepts of good rulership, which were also shaped by Greco-Roman, Persian, Caucasian, and other traditions. This collection of essays examines ideas of good Christian rulership and the debates surrounding them in diverse cultures and linguistic communities. It grants special attention to communities on the periphery, such as the Caucasus and Nubia, and some essays examine non-Christian concepts of good rulership to offer a comparative perspective. As a whole, the studies in this volume reveal not only the entanglement and affinity of communities around the Mediterranean but also areas of conflict among Christians and between Christians and other cultural traditions. By gathering various specialized studies on the overarching question of good rulership, this volume highlights the possibilities of placing research on classical antiquity and early medieval Europe into conversation with the study of eastern Christianity. 

Frontmatter
Open Access

I

Preface Open Access

V

Contents Open Access

VII

Introduction: Expanding the Discourse on Good Christian Rulership Philip Michael Forness, Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer and Hartmut Leppin Open Access

1
A. The Good Christian Ruler in the Roman Empire
Finding a Common Cause: Fourth-Century Greek Discourses on Rulership Hartmut Leppin Open Access

39

The Good Sinful Ruler: Ambrose of Milan and Theodosius I Mikhail A. Boytsov Open Access

65

The Emperor’s Two Cities: Augustine’s Image of the Good Christian Ruler in De civitate Dei 5.24 Kai Preuß Open Access

87

Pious and Impious Christian Rulers According to Egyptian Historiography and Hagiography: A First Survey of the Evidence Alberto Camplani Open Access

109

Faithful Rulers and Theological Deviance: Ephrem the Syrian and Jacob of Serugh on the Roman Emperor Philip Michael Forness Open Access

141
B. The Good Christian Ruler between Persia and Rome
Images of the Good Ruler in Sasanian Iran: An Emic View Josef Wiesehöfer Open Access

171

Representations of Rulership in Late Antique Armenia Tim Greenwood Open Access

181

The Depiction of the Arsacid Dynasty in Medieval Armenian Historiography Azat Bozoyan Open Access

205

Vakhtang I Gorgasali (r. 447–522) as a Christian Monarch in Georgia: His Depiction in the Life of Kartli Udo Reinhold Jeck Open Access

221

The Creation of a “Pious” Image of King Vačʽagan II (r. c. 485–523) of Caucasian Albania in the Tale of Vačʽagan (Early Sixth Century) Aleksan Hakobyan Open Access

239

Concerning Four Kings From the Land of ‘Deep Ravines, Dense Forests and Dark Thickets’ Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev Open Access

249
C. The Good Christian Ruler in Post‐Roman Traditions
The Good Ruler from a Papal Perspective: Continuities and Discontinuities in Papal Letters from the Fourth to Eighth Centuries Florian Hartmann Open Access

291

The Image of the Christian Ruler in the Catholic Monarchy of Visigothic Spain: Julian of Toledo’s Historia Wambae Wolfram Drews Open Access

311

Goodness and Cruelty: The Image of the Ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Period of Christianisation (Ninth Century) Daniel Ziemann Open Access

327

A Christian King in Africa: The Image of Christian Nubian Rulers in Internal and External Sources Adam Łajtar and Grzegorz Ochała Open Access

361
D. The Good Ruler under Islamic Rule
Justice and Good Administration in Medieval Islam: The Book of the Pearl of the Ruler by Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih (860–940) Isabel Toral-Niehoff Open Access

383

Images of Emperors and Emirs in Early Islamic Egypt Phil Booth Open Access

397

Shaping the Good Christian King under Muslim Rule: Constantine and the Torah in the Melkite Arabic Chronicle of Agapius of Mabbug (Tenth Century) Maria Conterno Open Access

421

Index of Persons and Places Open Access

443

Subject Index Open Access

457