Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty

Download or read book Political Memory and the Constantinian Dynasty written by Rebecca Usherwood and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-03-21 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an exploration of political memory and disgrace in the reigns of Constantine and his sons. It uses the conditions of the early to mid-fourth century to argue that the deconstruction of political legitimacy should be viewed, first and foremost, as a collective phenomenon, the result of the actions of a diverse range of people responding to political change. It also challenges many positivist and teleological narratives of the ‘Age of Constantine’. Shifting the focus from the emperor and his sons onto their rivals and opponents, the Constantinian dynasty is placed back into the messy and ambiguous political environment from which it emerged.