Date Available
12-11-2015
Year of Publication
2015
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
History
First Advisor
Dr. David M. Olster
Second Advisor
Dr. David Hunter
Abstract
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.
Recommended Citation
Karantabias, Mark-Anthony, "The Struggle Between the Center and the Periphery: Justinian's Provincial Reforms of the A.D. 530s" (2015). Theses and Dissertations--History. 31.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/history_etds/31
Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Byzantine and Modern Greek Commons, European History Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Medieval History Commons, Political History Commons
