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In this book, Susanna Elm radically changes our understanding of imperial rule in the later Roman Empire. As she shows, the so-called eastern decadence of the Emperor Theodosius and his successors was in fact a calculated revolution in masculinity and the representation of imperial power. Here, the emperor's hard yet soft, mature yet youthfully gorgeous beauty was central. Because the Theodosian emperors were divine—gods one could see—so was their beauty: their manliness was the face and body of God. The emperors' gorgeousness, their sparkling regalia, how they wished their bodies to be seen by their elite subjects—who authored the texts on which Elm's analysis is based—were as important as laws, taxes, and armies. Their vir-ness strategically deployed male same-sex erotic desire to enhance the unity of the realm in times of tension, incorporate the signifying potency of child emperors, and create a flexible yet stable model of Christian sovereignty.
By:
Susanna Elm
Imprint: California Uni Pr Trade
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 66
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780520413344
ISBN 10: 0520413342
Series: Transformation of the Classical Heritage
Pages: 338
Publication Date: 12 February 2026
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Preface Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Forever Young: Theodosius and Honorius in the 380s and 390s 1. Civil War Triumphs and Delicate Men: Pacatus's Panegyric for Theodosius 2. The Importance of Being Splendid: Beauty, Desire, and Child-Emperor Rule 3. Top Boys: The Life of Heliogabalus in the Historia Augusta 4. Epic Warriors and Imperial Father (Figure)s: Claudian's Panegyrics on the Consulships of Honorius and Stilicho 5. Love of Mankind: Theodosius in Constantinople Part II. Soft Power: Arcadius and Eutropius in Constantinople, 399 6. Eutropius the Consul, Eutropius the Eunuch: Claudian's Palimpsest Against Eutropius 7. Eutropius the Scythian, Arcadius the Jellyfish: Synesius's On Kingship 8. The Adornment of the Altar: John Chrysostom on the Fallen Eutropius Conclusion References Index
Susanna Elm, FBA, is Sidney H. Ehrman Chair and Distinguished Professor of History and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome.
