The chaotic events of A.D. 395-400 marked a momentous   turning point   for the Roman Empire and its relationship to the barbarian peoples under   and   beyond its command. In this masterly study, Alan Cameron proposes a   complete   rewriting of received wisdom concerning the social and political history   of   these years.   Our knowledge of the period comes to us in part through   Synesius   of Cyrene, who recorded his view of events in his De regno and De   providentia.   By redating these works, Cameron offers a vital, new interpretation of   the   interactions of pagans and Christians, Goths and Romans.  In 394/95, during the last four months of his life, the emperor   Theodosius I   ruled as sole Augustus over a united Roman empire that had been divided   between   at least two emperors for most of the preceding one hundred years. Not   only did   the death of Theodosius set off a struggle between Roman officeholders   of the   two empires, but it also set off renewed efforts by the barbarian Goths   to sieze   both territory and office. Theodosius had encouraged high-ranking Goths   to enter   Roman military service; thus well placed, their efforts would lead to   Alaric's   sack of Rome in 410. Though Cameron's interest is in the particularities   of   events, the book conveys a wonderful sense of the general time and   place.   Cameron's rebuttal of modern scholarship, which pervades the narrative,   enhances   the reader's engagement with the complexities of interpretation. The   result is a   sophisticated recounting of a period of crucial change in the Roman   Empire's   relationship to the non-Roman world.

Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius PDF

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