East and West in the Roman Empire of the Fourth Century: An End to Unity?

East and West in the Roman Empire of the Fourth Century asks how far the Roman Empire remained a meaningful political, cultural and ideological unity during a century increasingly associated with separate eastern and western courts. The contributors examine the problem from several perspectives, challenging any simple assumption that the empire was already moving inevitably toward a permanent division culminating in 395 CE.

Chapters consider the army and taxation, geography, the Church, the division of imperial rule in 364 and the language through which Romans imagined imperial concord. Focused studies of the apostles Peter and Paul, athletic culture, eunuchs and the poet Prudentius show how ideas of Roman unity operated across different areas of late antique society. This scholarly collection is particularly useful for readers interested in fourth-century government, imperial identity and the transition from the later Roman Empire to the distinct political worlds of Late Antiquity.