This dissertation analyzes the struggle between the imperial court and the periphery in the context of Justinian’s reforms in the early A.D. 530s. The reforms targeting select Roman provinces sought to reduce the size of the imperial bureaucracy while simultaneously attempting to maintain imperial vertical authority. The reforms epitomize the imperial court’s struggle to rein in the imperial bureaucracy in the provinces of the Roman Empire. The analysis is framed within the cultural, social, political and economic evolution occurring in Late Antiquity. It shall be proposed that the reforms are one example of the imperial court’s attempt to limit the distance between itself and its provincial resources, particularly with regard to fiscality. The reforms also embody the political dynamics between the emperor and his bureaucracy, which is composed of the Roman elite. Roughly two centuries earlier, the Tetrarchic reforms fundamentally changed the relationship between both parties. Specifically, the upper stratum of the aristocracy saw the balance of power tilt in its favor substantially.

<p>This thesis examines the Christian context of the former pagan sanctuary of Zeus Labrandeusin Caria during the Early Byzantine period, ca. 325-730 A.D. The focus is on the church, positioned outside the pagan sanctuary’s temenos area. The architecture of the church has been empirically analysed. It is argued that the church shows strong Syrian influences. The Syrian features are a tripartite sanctuary enclosed by a straight back wall, an interior supported by pilasters and a west part with two towers. The study of the architecture has also been used in an attempt to discuss the liturgy at Labraunda.The finds from the excavations of 1951-2005 have been categorized and examined in order to establish a <em>terminus post quem</em> for the Christian presence at the site of the church. This has been crucial for the dating of the church. Furthermore, the finds illustrate the social and economic conditions that prevailed at Labraunda during the Early Byzantine period. Finally, this study tries to enlighten the process of transition from a pagan sanctuary into a Christian place of worship.</p>

This thesis examines the Christian context of the former pagan sanctuary of Zeus Labrandeusin Caria during the Early Byzantine period, ca. 325-730 A.D. The focus is on the church, positioned outside the pagan sanctuary’s temenos area. The architecture of the church has been empirically analysed. It is argued that the church shows strong Syrian influences. The Syrian features are a tripartite sanctuary enclosed by a straight back wall, an interior supported by pilasters and a west part with two towers. The study of the architecture has also been used in an attempt to discuss the liturgy at Labraunda.The finds from the excavations of 1951-2005 have been categorized and examined in order to establish a terminus post quem for the Christian presence at the site of the church. This has been crucial for the dating of the church. Furthermore, the finds illustrate the social and economic conditions that prevailed at Labraunda during the Early Byzantine period. Finally, this study tries to enlighten the process of transition from a pagan sanctuary into a Christian place of worship.

In 533, Justinian I ordered the conquest of the former Roman provinces of Africa, which had been lost to the Vandals a century earlier. The 'reconquest' has been regarded, by contemporaries and modern scholars alike, as one of the defining successes of the reign. However, despite the evident achievements of the campaign, Roman victory over the Vandals marked little more than the beginning of the Eastern Roman Empire's attempt to consolidate its position in Africa. The unanticipated threat posed by hostilities from the Berber tribes would continue until 548. Roman-Berber relations, unlike other aspects of Justinian's foreign relations, have received comparatively little attention, and this study aims to reassess the establishment of Roman authority in Africa and the Eastern Roman Empire's response to the Berber threat. In particular, it considers whether this response should be seen as a series of ad hoc reactions to immediate circumstances, or whether it is possible to identify a coherent Roman policy vis-à-vis the Berbers. The major conclusions of this study fall in two areas. First, it argues that Roman objectives in Africa were far more limited than has generally been supposed, with the empire's territorial ambitions not extending beyond key coastal positions which offered strategic and commercial advantages, and from which the empire could project its limited authority into the interior. Second, this study concludes that the Eastern Roman Empire's actions with respect to the Berber tribes lacked coherence. Attempts to implement a system of client rulers were unsuccessful, partly as a result of the competition between individual Berber leaders as they sought to establish independent polities within the frontiers of the former Roman Empire; and partly as a result of an increasing lack of resources, as well as the instability caused by constantly changing leadership within the African civil and military administrations, which prevented the development of coherent long term strategies for addressing the Berber threat.

The emperor Justinian's religious policy has sometimes been characterized as haphazard or incoherent. This dissertation examines religious policy in the Roman Empire from the accession of the emperor Justin to the inception of the Three Chapters controversy in the mid 540's AD. It considers the resolution of the Acacian Schism, Justinian's apparent ambivalence with regard to the Theopaschite formula, the attempt to court the anti-Chalcedonians in Constantinople in the period leading up to the Council of 536, and the relationship between the genesis of the Three Chapters and Second Origenist controversies. Even during these seemingly disparate episodes, this dissertation argues that it is possible to account for the apparent incoherence of this period. To do so, we create an account which includes and appreciates the embeddedness of imperial policy within a social context with two key features. First, we must bear in mind the shifting interests and information available to the individual agents through and over whom the emperor hoped to project influence. Second, we must identify the shifting and hardening symbolic and social boundaries established through the interactions of these same, competing agents. These form the basis for in- and out-group categorization. The individual interests of individual people—whether Justinian, Vitalian, Dioscorus, Leontius, Eusebius, Theodore Askidas, or Pelagius—within complex networks must always be accounted for to give a complete picture. When this social context is accounted for, Justinian's approach appears as that of a rational actor, having incomplete information, with consistent policy goals, working within inconsistent constraints to achieve those goals.

[pt] A pesquisa recorda as três maiores pandemias da Era Cristã: a Peste Justiniana, no século VI, a Peste Negra, no século XIV e a Gripe Espanhola, no século XX. Investiga-se em cada moléstia a natureza da doença, sua origem, sintomas, percursos e impactos. Enfatiza-se a maneira como a Igreja atravessou cada período pandêmico, revelando suas crenças e interpretações para as pragas, a forma como tentava afastar o mal e a assistência que fornecia aos enfermos e enlutados. A pesquisa revela ainda se os cristãos amadureceram suas respostas às crises, se aspectos litúrgicos foram adaptados e se interpretações escatológicas sofreram alguma alteração. Seguindo a ordem cronológica em que as pestilências se sucederam, dedica-se o primeiro capítulo ao estudo da Peste Justiniana, revelando, por exemplo, como o contexto geográfico e social da época contribuía para a disseminação de doenças. A pesquisa avança até a Baixa Idade Média, quando Europa, Ásia e África são assoladas pela Peste Negra, e mostra, entre outras coisas, as frustrantes tentativas médicas e religiosas de lidar com a praga. Finalmente, o último capítulo explora a maior pandemia da história, a Gripe Espanhola, dissertando sobre sua alta letalidade e a maneira diversa como os cristãos oriundos de diferentes denominações reagiram. / [en] The research recalls the three greatest pandemics of the Christian Era: the Jus-tinian Plague, in the 6th century, the Black Death, in the 14th century and the Spanish Flu, in the 20th century. The nature of the disease, its origin, symptoms, routes and impacts are investigated in each sickness. It emphasizes how the Church went through each pandemic period, revealing its beliefs and interpretations for the plagues, the way it tried to ward off evil and the assistance it provided to the sick and mourning. The survey also reveals whether Christians have matured their responses to crises, whether liturgical aspects have been adapted and whether eschatological interpretations have undergone any changes. Following the chronological order in which the pestilences followed one another, the first chapter is devoted to the study of the Justinian Plague, revealing, for example, how the geographic and social context of the time contributed to the spread of diseases. The research advances to the Late Middle Ages, when Europe, Asia and Africa were ravaged by the Black Death, and shows, among other things, the frustrating medical and religious attempts to deal with the plague. Finally, the last chapter explores the greatest pandemic in history, the Spanish Flu, discussing its high lethality and the diverse way in which Christians from different denominations reacted.

Le présent mémoire se donne pour fin d'étudier, en les replaçant au sein du contexte politique de leur époque, deux textes importants de la pensée politique de Justinien : l'Ekthesis d'Agapète le diacre, et le Dialogue de science politique. Ces deux textes représentent le point de vue de deux groupes d'acceptation de Constantinople – à savoir des groupes qui peuvent participer à l’élévation ou à la destitution d’un empereur : le clergé, et l'élite des sénateurs et des hauts-fonctionnaires. À partir de ce cadre conceptuel, il s'agira, pour ce mémoire, de définir les problématiques ayant trait à la fonction et la conception du pouvoir impérial et à la forme de l'État, telles que les présentent ces deux textes. À terme, devra émerger comme cadre interprétatif l'affrontement de deux tendances: d'une part, un hellénisme politique christianisé (associé au clergé), et, d'autre part, une romanité conjuguée à une vision néoplatonicienne du monde (associée à l'élite sénatoriale et fonctionnaire). Ces deux traditions posent des questions différentes. D'un côté, celle de l'orthodoxie de l'empereur et de la nécessité, pour ce dernier, de suivre les préceptes de l'éthique chrétienne, de se montrer digne de Dieu, dont il est le serviteur; de l'autre, celle de la sauvegarde de l'héritage romain, portant notamment sur le rôle du Sénat et l’importance de la loi, de même que le lien entre empereur et philosophe. / The object of this thesis is to study two important texts of the political thought of the Age of Justinian by replacing them in the political context of the Age. The two texts represent the point of view of two acceptation groups of Constantinople – groups that can participate in the election or the destitution of an emperor : the clergy and the elite of the senators and the high spheres of the bureaucracy. What will emerge is a clash between two tendencies : on the one hand a christianised political hellenism (associated with the clergy) and on the other a roman vision mixed to neoplatonician metaphysics (associated with senators and the high spheres of the bureaucracy). The two tendencies/traditions ask different questions. The first one asks the questions of the orthodoxy of the emperor and of the necessity for him to follow the rules of christian ethics, as well as to show himself worthy of God, of whom he is the servant; the other, the question of the preservation of the roman heritage, particularly in regards of the role of the Senate and the importance of the law, and of the relation between imperial power and philosophy.

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La iuris prudentia ou « prudence du droit » désignait le savoir des jurisconsultes romains. Bien que son importance soit capitale pour l’histoire de notre droit, nous n’en connaissons qu’une seule et unique définition inscrite aux Institutes et au Digeste de l’empereur Justinien. L’auteur originaire en serait Ulpien qui définit cette « jurisprudence » comme « la connaissance des choses divines et humaines, la science du juste et de l’injuste » (iuris prudentia est diuinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, iusti atque iniusti scientia). Face à cette définition, les commentateurs ont souvent considéré que seul le second élément (« la science du juste et de l’injuste ») formait le véritable critère épistémologique de la science juridique en cause, diminuant ainsi la fonction de la connaissance des choses divines et humaines (diuinarum atque humanarum notitia). Or, nous pensons qu’au contraire cette rerum notitia n’est pas un simple accessoire rhétorique mais qu’elle réfère à une forme éminente du savoir antique : la sagesse. Forme suprême de l’intelligence et du vécu antique, elle n’est pas le fruit particulier d’une école philosophique ou d’une pensée religieuse. Relative à un savoir générique, la référence à la « sagesse » dans la définition de la iuris prudentia désigne la pensée même du jurisconsulte. Car comment abstraire les règles (regulae) depuis les cas (res) sans une médiation intellective entre les choses et le droit ? Comment opérer le choix entre le juste et l’injuste sans une forme de savoir conceptuel ? Toute science a besoin d’une théorie de la connaissance pour fonder sa méthode. Toutefois, la iuris prudentia dont l’objet était le droit d’une cité devenu empire, ne pouvait faire reposer sa pensée sur une doctrine philosophique déterminée. De même, léguée par les jurisconsultes païens aux princes législateurs chrétiens, elle ne pouvait se définir à travers le prisme d’une religion particulière. Or, la référence à la sagesse, but suprême de la connaissance, permet de neutraliser les différences dogmatiques pour faire ainsi de la « prudence du droit » la seule connaissance antique véritablement universelle. Ce qui explique selon nous que cette fameuse iuris prudentia connaîtra une longue postérité qui fera la fortune historique de la sagesse du droit d’origine romaine dont nous ressentons encore aujourd’hui les échos dans notre propre système juridique. / The iuris prudentia or wisdom in matters of law referred to Roman jurists’ knowledge. Even though its importance was primordial for the history of our law, we only know one and unique definition written in the Institutes and inside Emperor Justinian’s Digest. The original author could be Ulpian who defines this jurisprudence as “the awareness of divine and human things, knowledge of what is just or unjust” (iuris prudentia is diuinarum atque humanarum rerum notitia, iusti atque iniusti scientia). Faced with this definition, many critics have often considered that only the second element (knowledge of what is just and unjust) formed the genuine epistemic criteria of the legal science in question, thus decreasing the duty of the knowledge in divine and human things (diuinarum atque humanarum notitia). On the contrary, we believe that this rerum notitia is not only a simple rhetorical accessory but it refers to an eminent antique knowledge: wisdom. As the ultimate form of the antique intelligence and background, it is not the particular result of a philosophical school or a religious thought. Relating to a generic knowledge, reference to “wisdom” in the definition of iuris prudentia refers to Roman jurist real thinking. Indeed how to allow for abstract rules (regulae) for cases (res) without a spiritual mediation between things and the law? How to operate a choice between just and unjust without a kind of ideational knowledge? Every science needs a theory of knowledge to have a basis for its method. Nevertheless, the iuris prudentia (whose purpose was the law of a city-state which became an empire) was not able to base its way of thinking on a determined philosophical doctrine. Likewise, bequeathed by pagan Roman jurists to Christian Imperators, it could not define itself through the prism of a particular religion. Yet reference to wisdom, the ultimate goal of knowledge, allows neutralizing dogmatic differences. Wisdom in matters of law is the only truly universal antique knowledge. This therefore makes it clear to us why iuris prudentia will continue to have such an influence in posterity and why we still hear echos today of a legal system established by the Romans. [Tr. PHILIPPE JULLIEN]