A Man Facing the Challenges of the Postclassical Epoch: Noel Lenski’s Book about Emperor Valens. Review of: Lenski, N. (2014). Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. (The Transformation of the Classical Heritage). Berkeley: University of California Press. 470 p.

2018

Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки, Vol 20, Iss 1(172), Pp 220-225 (2018)

In classical historiography, there exists a negative image of Valens, the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire. This emperor used to be portrayed as an ordinary person, despot, unable to cope with problems of the state. In the reviewed book, an American historian N. Lenski puts forward a different view of the events of the second half of the 4th century. The structure of the study is traditional: the chapters are devoted to foreign, religious, financial, and administrative policies of Valens. At the same time, this approach is combined with the author’s desire to unravel the human dimension of history, to show what role the emperor himself played in the events of 364–378. In N. Lenski’s interpretation, Valens appears as a conscientious administrator who took care of the prosperity of the state, but whose possibilities to adequately react to numerous threats the Empire faced were limited due to a lack of resources.

article

Russian

Ural Federal University Press, 2018.

поздняя Римская империя, историческая антропология., History (General) and history of Europe, Language and Literature