Constantine and Eusebius
Published on 15. August 1984
Book
Paperback/Softback
466 pages
978-0-674-16531-1 (ISBN)
Description
This study of the Roman Empire in the age of Constantine offers a thoroughly new assessment of the part Christianity played in the Roman world of the third and fourth centuries.
Timothy D. Barnes gives the fullest available narrative history of the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine. He analyzes Constantine's rise to power and his government, demonstrating how Constantine's sincere adherence to Christianity advanced his political aims. He explores the whole range of Eusebius' writings, especially those composed before Constantine became emperor, and shows that many attitudes usually deemed typical of the "Constantinian revolution" were prevalent before the new Christian empire came into existence. This authoritative political and cultural history of the age of Constantine will prove essential to students and historians of the ancient world.
Timothy D. Barnes gives the fullest available narrative history of the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine. He analyzes Constantine's rise to power and his government, demonstrating how Constantine's sincere adherence to Christianity advanced his political aims. He explores the whole range of Eusebius' writings, especially those composed before Constantine became emperor, and shows that many attitudes usually deemed typical of the "Constantinian revolution" were prevalent before the new Christian empire came into existence. This authoritative political and cultural history of the age of Constantine will prove essential to students and historians of the ancient world.
Reviews / Votes
An original work of scholarship, rich in detail and minute researches, liberally supplied with fresh observations and new interpretations... The work is characterized by an astonishing mastery of evidence... Barnes is lucid and concise. * Classical Outlook * This remarkable and exemplary work of scholarship will be read with pleasure and profit...a gripping and complex story told in fresh and lucid prose. * History Today * Already an acknowledged expert on the history of the later Roman Empire and early Christianity, Barnes now offers a narrative account of the reigns of the two most important emperors after Augustus... The portrait of Constantine is realistic and convincing. (A main value of the book lies in its assessment of the intellectual, doctrinal, and political activities of the early Christians... Essential reading. * Choice * A book that scholars would be very ill-advised to neglect on any topic treated in it. It is marked at every turn with Barnes' magnificent obsession with getting the record straight. Its implications for the role of Christianity in the Roman Empire are quite revolutionary. -- Peter BrownMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 map
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
798 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-16531-1 (9780674165311)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Timothy D. Barnes is Professor of Classics at the University of Toronto.
Content
PART ONE: Constantine 1. Diocletian and Maximiam 2. Galerius and the Christians 3. The Rise of Constantine 4. The Christian Emperor of the West 5. Constantine and Licinius PART TWO: Eusebius 6. Origen and Caesarea 7. Biblical Scholarship and the Chronicle 8. The History of the Church 9. Persecution 10. Eusebius as Apologist PART THREE: The Christian Empire 11. Before Constantine 12. The Council of Nicaea 13. Ecclesiastical Politics 14. The New Monarchy 15. Eusebius and Constantine Epilogue Chronological Table Editions and Translations of Eusebius Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index of Passages of Eusebius Discussed General Index