Representation and Legitimation of Power of Valentinian and Valens according to Contemporary Panegyrics

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hartmut Leppin
• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 269647092

The legitimation of rule of the late antique emperors has already been examined in many different ways. However, the special challenges the emperors Valentinian (364--375) and Valens (364--378) had to face have not been sufficiently taken into account. Compared to most of the other rulers, these emperors reveal singularities in four different respects. On one hand, these singularities sharpen the problem of the legitimation of rule. On the other hand they hark a change in the emperors' self-representation. These emperors formed a new dynasty and therefore their rule was under a higher pressure of legitimacy. Further, they were of mean birth and did not have paideia (in the sense of that time) at their disposal. In addition, they ruled as Christian emperors in a transitional phase of religious politics, which had begun with the Constantinian dynasty and had been accentuated by the break connected with the workings of Julian. Moreover, they performed a pragmatic division of the empire, which conflicted with the traditional belief of the indivisibility of the empire.Panegyrics form the basis of this reevaluation, of which a comparatively large number survive. The panegyrics were written by two orators, Themistios from the east and Symmachus from the west. Therefore, it is possible to carve out differences between the emperors or the publica. In this way, the project is able to show the Valentinian dynasty's potential for innovation for the legitimation of the rule of Roman emperors in a historically unique time of crisis and transition. Furthermore, it can in an exemplary way reconstruct the meaning of panegyrics as an indicator and factor in such processes. Hence, a gap in the historical research of the representation of late antique emperors can be closed.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants