Remembering Trajan in fourth-century Rome : memory and identity in spatial, artistic, and textual narratives

The Resource Remembering Trajan in fourth-century Rome : memory and identity in spatial, artistic, and textual narratives

Label

Remembering Trajan in fourth-century Rome : memory and identity in spatial, artistic, and textual narratives

Title remainder

memory and identity in spatial, artistic, and textual narratives

Statement of responsibility

by Eric M. Thienes

Language

eng

Summary

In this study I examine how fourth-century authors, senators, and emperors used, memorialized, and emulated the emperor Trajan (98117 CE) from the time of Constantine to the Theodosians. More importantly, I prove that the figure of Trajan was selected in order to signal narratives of cultural renewal for the senatorial aristocracy and emperors seeking to establish their cultural identity. Rather than reading Trajan as an artifact of history, this study is about the processes of social memory in the context of space, art, and text through which Trajan is used to tell a story. Trajans career made a substantial impact on Rome, and he was important for fourth-century Romans who wanted to connect the fourth century to the second century indicating the fulfilment of the 2Age of Restoration.3 Therefore, Trajan was an exemplum invoked by elites in order to praise or critique his imperial successors. His monuments were used and copied by emperors in order to project an identity of familial heritage and military distinction. He also served the narrative of Christian authors, who were establishing their history in the fourth century and viewed Trajan as having a reasonable policy towards Christians. This study applies theories of social and public memory and uses them to examine fourth-century Roman society. The first chapter specifies terminology and lays out historical background for Trajan. In the second chapter, I study the use and function of Trajanic monuments and art in Rome as evidence for the perpetuation of Trajans legacy for the capital. Likewise, I demonstrate that the incorporation of Trajan into new art and space established a connection with himthe Arch of Constantine being a prime example. In addition, Trajans Forum was singularly the most important space for commemorating members of the senatorial aristocracy with statues and inscriptions, which unified the new social class. In the third chapter, I survey fourth-century literature, specifically histories (Ammianus Marcellinus, Festus, and Eutropius), biographies (the Historia Augusta, Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus, Julian, and Ausonius), and panegyrics (the Panegyrici Latini, Claudian, and Sidonius Apollinaris) to observe how Roman elites of this period treated Trajan and used the memory of his tradition to form written narratives to praise or critique past and current emperors. In the final chapter, I explore Trajans legacy as it was received by Christian authors seeking to write the history of the church. From the Christian point of view, Trajan was problematic because of his paradoxical response to Christian practice. Eusebius, writing in the fourth century, is the foremost author to establish the canonical historical interpretation of Trajan. Eusebius Trajan is regarded as a virtuous emperor, who decreases Christian persecution across the empire. Subsequent authors, Orosius, Jerome, and Sulpicius Severus, for example, maintain the 2Eusebian version3 of Trajan, setting up Trajan to be an exemplary 2noble pagan.3 By the time of Gregory the Great, tradition arose that Trajan was posthumously baptized by the popes tears and released from Hades. Trajan, an exemplar in his own right, served the needs of later Romans telling their own story

Cataloging source

MUU

Degree

PhD

Dissertation note

Thesis

Dissertation year

2015.

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Granting institution

University of Missouri--Columbia

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries
bibliography
theses

Context

Context of Remembering Trajan in fourth-century Rome : memory and identity in spatial, artistic, and textual narratives

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