The Justice of Constantine: Law, Communication, and Control

Preface

Preface The present book is the revision, largely accomplished in Heidelberg, Germany , of my doctoral dissertation, “The Legislation of Constantine the Great: Justice, Administration, and Reform,” which I submitted at Yale University in October 2008. I was blessed to call the Yale Department of Classics my academic home, and I am profoundly grateful to Yale University for supporting my graduate education. I owe special thanks to John Matthews, my dissertation advisor, who brought me to the world of Late Antiquity. The choice of the subject of this book resulted from the coincidence of my interest in Roman law and government, his expertise in the vibrant field of Late Antiquity, and the irresistible draw of Constantine himself. I realized only later, when well into the project, that the 1,700-year jubilee of Constantine ’s elevation to emperor was imminent. I am grateful to all my friends at Yale, Heidelberg, and beyond, who have helped me reach this point. It is my honor to thank the Fulbright Program of the United States Department of State for sponsoring my first year of research, at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, from 2005 to 2006. I am indebted to Jens Uwe-Krause at the Historisches Seminar, who supported my Fulbright application, encouraged my work, and acted as my Ersatzdoktorvater during my stay; and to Alfons Bürge and his colleagues at the Leopold-Wenger-Institut für Rechtsgeschichte, who took me in as one of their own. Munich still holds a special place in my heart. I am moreover grateful to the Mrs. Gales Whiting Foundation for the generous funding I received while finishing my dissertation, 2007–2008. It is humbling to think of all those who have helped me complete this book. First of all, I thank the readers of my dissertation: Bill Metcalf, Michael Peachin, and Anders Winroth. I owe a special debt to Claudia Kreuzsaler. I further thank fellow Yale students Felix Racine and Tristan Taylor, whose advice and insights, and even patience, bore me up as I struggled to write a μέγα βιβλίον that was not a μέγα κακόν. Heidelberg was an ideal place for revising the work and preparing it for publication. I am grateful to the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften , which sponsored my current research project on the Roman Republic in the WIN-Kolleg “Raumordnung, Norm und Recht in historischen Kulturen Europas und Asiens” and enabled me to live and work in Heidelberg . I moreover wish to express my gratitude to Kai Trampedach and Christian Witschel, under whose auspices I worked as a postdoc in the outstanding Seminar für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik in Heidelberg. I am happy to acknowledge the debt of gratitude I owe Ted Lendon, whose comments and criticism of my work we often discussed at the Heidelberg Mensa. Johannes Wienand, Harold Drake, and Noel Lenski each read the manuscript; their comments and criticism have been very valuable. I am particularly grateful to Alexandra Eppinger, who generously helped check and chase stray references in Heidelberg. Ellen Baurlee and Mary Hashman at the University of Michigan Press have been wonderful guides through the publication of my first book. Yii-Jan Lin has done more than her fair share of reading, discussing, and commenting both on the dissertation and on its revision; I owe it to her if I have become a smarter reader and a better scholar. Finally, and above all, I thank my friend and colleague, Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner, who patiently read and commented on the entire text and gladly discussed with me the most diverse historical questions. His thoughts and advice have been invaluable. To my parents, John and Mary Ellen Dillon, I owe everything. ...