To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally

important to
the Roman Empire?

To evaluate Rome’s importance during the fourth century one needs to examine the

city’s1 status as imperial capital up to the beginning of the fourth century CE first.

As scholars agree, Rome’s position as political, economic and cultural capital

of the Republic and the Empire remained basically unchallenged by military crises such

as defeats at the hands of Persian and Germanic invaders between 235 CE and 284 CE,

financial dilemmas such as the debasement of coinage by Diocletian, among others,

natural disasters, such as the fires of 217 and 250 CE or dynastic contentions up to the

end of the third century.

Rome was the seat of the Senate, of ancient republican magistrates and the centre of

pagan worship; her cosmopolitan2 inhabitants were regarded as the embodiment of

Roman-ness. Yet, by the beginning of the fourth century, due to Diocletian’s

reorganization of the provinces and the permanent relocation of imperial authority to

cities closer to the frontiers, Rome had ceased to be the administrative centre of the

empire.

Temporary abandonment of Rome as imperial court as well as co-operation with an

imperial colleague had become progressively common in the first three centuries CE,

as, for example, manifest in Marcus Aurelius’ prolonged absence from Rome in mid-

second century, with Lucius Verus being his co-Augustus or Maximinus’ refusal to

receive the Roman senate’s approval of his designation in 235 CE.

1
For brevity’s sake, the city of Rome will be referred to as Rome henceforward.
2
Lançon, p.15

1
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

In the third century, a distinct possibility of other Romes gradually arose, as emperors

turned new cities into semi-permanent residences by furnishing them with monumental

buildings, such as palace-circus complexes built that were reminiscent of the imperial

palace and the Circus Maximus in Rome.

Cities such as Trier, Milan, Aquileia, Sirmium, Thessalonica, Nicomedia and Antioch,

to name a few, benefited from this development, because all of them were on the main

land route connecting the western, central, and eastern frontiers of the empire. With the

proper buildings as a backdrop and a huge bureaucratic apparatus at hand, emperors

didn’t have to spend time in Rome. Diocletian and Maximian’s anniversary celebrations

in 303 CE, however, established a pattern of returning to Rome occasionally to celebrate

major anniversaries or triumphs.

“Quibus sollemnibus celebratis cum libertatem populi Romani ferre non

poterat, impatiens et aeger animi prorupit ex urbe impendentibus Kalendis
Ianuariis, quibus illi nonus consultatus deferebatur.”3

Nevertheless, as Aurelius Victor laments in his brief, yet favourable mention of

Emperor Philip’s reign, this was by no means the rule, as the eleventh centenary of the

city in 348 CE passed without any of the customary festivities, and heralded a definite

decline of the capital’s importance as “[…] adeo in dies cura minima Romanae urbis.“4

Diocletian had not only divided Italy into eight districts which were grouped

into two regions and introduced taxation for parts of today’s Italy, he had also

redefined the public image of a Roman emperor. Whereas in the first two centuries

3
Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum 17,2
4
Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus 28,2

2
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

CE, ways of interaction between rulers and imperial nobility were governed by the

ideology of Republican monarchy, claiming that rulers were to be regarded as the first

magistrates of a restored Republic and senators to be considered friends, not subjects,

emperors didn’t bow to the tenets of patronage5 anymore. They were catering to a

different clientele at the frontiers and had morphed from magistrates, elected by the

Senate and the people of Rome, into superhuman beings who were appointed by

divine powers to defend the Empire against barbarians6. The political fate of the

Empire was no longer determined by the senatorial elite of Rome, but by the key

figures of military hierarchy, the comitatenses.

Just after Constantine was made emperor in 306 CE, the senate hoped that he

would rule in the manner befitting a traditional ruler and stay in Rome. Constantine,

however, only spent a total of four months there, as he continued to live at Trier,

Sirmium or Serdica7. He did not embark on adding to Rome’s monuments as his co-

ruler Maxentius had, either. The Arch of Constantine, which may have been part of

Maxentius’ extensive architectural projects, as it shows spoliated8 materials dating back

to the times of Hadrian and Commodus next to newly-made reliefs, as well the

rededication of Maxentius’ buildings in Constantine’s name were initiated by the

Roman senate.

5
see http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Cliens.html and
Dzara, p.12
6
see Boschung
7
see Jones, p. 185
8
see Elsner, J. (2000) From the Culture of Spolia to the Cult of Relics. The Arch of Constantine and
the Genesis of Late Antique Forms. Papers of the British School at Rome 68, pp. 149–184.

3
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

As scholars insist9, they must be read as symbols of a change in patronage in

Rome. Since emperors continued to show a lack of interest in endowing Rome with

monumental structures, senators and high-ranking magistrates, most of all the urban

prefect, stepped in as patrons, though their efforts10, due to their limited resources, could

not match those of their ancestors.

When Constantius II visits Rome in 357 CE, almost thirty years after

Constantine and about thirty years before Theodosius I, Ammian provides the reader

with the famous bird’s-eye view11 of the eternal city, although the panorama presented

is one only a visitor of the early Empire could have experienced. The emperor’s as well

as the reader’s first glance are directed to the Capitoline Temple12; the emperor’s visual

survey concludes with Trajan’s Forum, which leaves everyone lost for words13.

Of course, the topography presented is thoroughly tinged by the author’s enthusiasm as

he makes Constantius II emphasize Rome’s uniqueness14.

9
see Chenault, R. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/60773/rchenaul_1.pdf, (12
November 2016)
10
see
11
see Favro,
http://journals.cambridge.org/fulltext_content/supplementary/urban_icons_companion/atlas/content/0
2_favro.htm#p7 (12 November 2016)
12
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae XVI,10,14
13
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae XVI,10,14 “Verum cum ad Traiani forum venisset,
ingularem sub omni caelo structuram, ut opinamur, […] haerebat adtonitus per giganteos
contextus circumferens mentem, nec relatu effabiles nec rursus mortalibus adpetendos.“
14 Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae XVI,10,17 “[…]imperator in fama querebatur, ut
invalida vel maligna, quod augens omnia semper in maius, erga haec explicanda, quae Romae
sunt, obsolescit.”

4
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

Favro15 maintains that any literary depiction of imperial Rome necessarily must contain

a plethora of sights to drive home the fact that Rome is basically “indescribable and

immeasurable”16.

“Tityrus et fruges Aeneiaque arma legentur

Roma triumphati dum caput orbis erit.” 17

Thus, Pliny the Elder18 complains about the difficulty of accurately measuring the extent

of so great a city for his readers, Aelius Aristides19 insists that the city of Rome

encapsulates the οἰκουμένη20, the then-known world, and Ovid likens the size of Rome

to that of the world21.

Carlos Machado22, among others, has successfully pointed out that the physical

and political withdrawal of the emperor and his court from Rome also modified the

relationship between public and private space in Rome. The number of senators had

increased from about 600 at Caesar’s times to over 400023 by 400 CE. Most of the new

senators did not come from Rome, nor did they relocate there24. Still, as stated in

regional accounts such as the Notitia25, a surge in the number of private buildings such

15
see Favro
http://journals.cambridge.org/fulltext_content/supplementary/urban_icons_companion/atlas/content/0
2_favro.htm#p7 (12 November 2016)
16
see Favro
http://journals.cambridge.org/fulltext_content/supplementary/urban_icons_companion/atlas/content/0
2_favro.htm#p3 (12 November 2016)
17
Ovid, Amores, I, 15, 25-26; see also Lucan, Pharsalia II, 655-656 “ipsa, caput mundi, bellorum
maxima merces/ Roma capi facilis […]”
18
Plinius Maior, Naturalis Historiae, III, 5.66–67
19
Publius Aelius Aristides, On Rome 6
20
http://biblehub.com/greek/3625.htm
21
Ovid, Fasti 2, 684 “Romanae spatium est Urbis et orbis idem”
22
Machado, p.22
23
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Senate-Roman-history (12 November 2016)
24
see Weisweiler, p.17-41
25
see Machado, p.147

5
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

as domus must be noted. Machado contends that the re-adaptation of insulae26 was

neither specific to Rome, as there are numerous, contemporary examples to be found in

Ostia as well, nor to the fourth century CE, as manifest in residences on the Caelian

hill27 that go back to remodelled second-century insulae structures. The senatorial

appropriation of public space to build private houses must be interpreted as a determined

push-forward into the void created by imperial absence.

I do not fully agree with Krautheimer28, who tries to explain away the change

in Rome’s topography by Christianization. He even suggests that Rome’s refusal to

become Constantine’s Christian capital was the main reason for the emperor’s

founding of Constantinople. One should keep in mind, however, that Constantine’s

commission of religious buildings, such as the Lateran Basilica, or the basilica raised

on the site of St Peter’s tomb, which exceeded the non-religious structures he ordered

to be built, were the first architectural signs of the existence of Christian communities,

which had not had set buildings until the end of the fourth century.

Even if Christians protested that traditional readings of the topography of Rome were

wrong and therefore needed to be rewritten29, Rome still was a “sprawling imperial

mass”30 housing about a million people by the end of the fourth century.

26
for the meaning of insula and domus here see Machado, pp.113
27
see Spinola,G. (1993) La domus de Gaudentius, Pavolini, C., et al. La topografia antica della
sommità del Celio. Gli scavi nell’Ospedale Militare.RömMitt 100, 443–505.
28
Krautheimer, R. (1983) p. 25; pp. 39-40 and Krautheimer, R. (2000) p. 22.
29
see Koenig, Curran, Fraschetti, Roberts
30
Heather, p.15

6
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

Although Herodian put the words into Marcus Aurelius’ mouth almost one

and a half centuries earlier, I believe they aptly benchmark Rome’s status as imperial

residence throughout the fourth century since “[…] ἐκεῖ τε ἡ Ῥώμη, ὅπου ποτ' ἂν ὁ

βασιλεὺς ᾖ.”31

31
Ηρωδιανός, Της μετά Μάρκον βασιλείας ιστορίαι Αρχίζει από τον θάνατο του Μάρκου
Αυρηλίου I,6,5

7
To what extent is it true that the fourth century CE proved that the city of Rome was no longer vitally important to
the Roman Empire?

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