Spätantiker Staat und religiöser Konflikt: Imperiale und lokale Verwaltung und die Gewalt gegen Heiligtümer ed. by Johannes Hahn (review)

This volume contains the proceedings of the second of two international conferences on religious violence in Late Antiquity held by the editor (in collaboration with others) at the University of Münster in 2002 and 2005. The first volume concerns the phenomenon of temple destruction, especially as it appears in literary sources (J. Hahn, S. Emmel, U. Gotter, eds., From Temple to Church: Destruction and Renewal of Local Cultic Topography in Late Antiquity [Leiden, 2008], on which see the detailed review by J.H.F. Dijkstra, in BiOr 66 [2009], 255-262). This new volume deals with the top-down perspective of the state on violence against temples, a topic never discussed before in a single volume. The main focus is on the emperor and imperial policy, but the position of local high officials, such as governors, toward this kind of religious violence, and the communication between both layers of government, is also addressed. As our most important source for this topic is the Codex Theodosianus, most contributions cover the period between the reigns of Constantine and Theodosius II.

The volume includes eight contributions, six in German and two in English. In the introduction (pp. 1-5), J. Hahn briefly sets out the theme of the book and places it in the context of recent scholarship, which looks at the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity not as a highly centralized Zwangsstaat but as primarily responding to stimuli from within the empire. In an apologia at the end, Hahn remarks that unfortunately it has taken far too long for this book to materialize. As a result, the manuscripts of two contributions (H.-U. Wiemer, B. Ward-Perkins) were completed as long ago as 2004, two (M. Wallraff, E. Meyer-Zwiffelhoffer) were finalized in 2006, and the bibliographies of the other contributions have only been updated sparingly, with all but Hahn's own contribution not extending beyond 2008. Thus, for example, we encounter the bizarre situation that on pp. 10-11 (n. 9) Wallraff refers to his edition of the Chronographiae of Julius Africanus as "in preparation," whereas it has long since appeared (M. Wallraff, ed., Iulius Africanus, Chronographiae: The Extant Fragments, GCS NF 15 [Berlin/ New York, 2007]). Even if it is a setback that this volume does not reflect the most recent scholarship, most pertinently, on the Codex Theodosianus (see, e.g., the new introduction to J. Harries, I. Wood, eds., The Theodosian Code: Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity, 2nd ed. [London, 2010], vii-x, which lists several studies missed in the present volume), this does not detract from the importance of several contributions.

In the short but valuable first contribution (pp. 7-18), Wallraff reconsiders Constantine's so-called "anti-pagan" measures. He convincingly argues that Eusebius' representation of these measures in the Life of Constantine, which tries to create the impression that the emperor adopted a coherent "anti-pagan" policy, is to be treated with considerable skepticism. Among the examples discussed, Constantine's law on sacrifice is particularly instructive (pp. 9-10). Eusebius (VConst. 2.45) states that Constantine promulgated a general ban on sacrifice, but this law has not been preserved. We know that Constantine did promulgate a measure of some sort concerning sacrifice, as it is referred to in the first unambiguously attested general ban on sacrifice by his son Constantius II (CTh 16.10.2, 341 CE). However, it seems highly likely, as Wallraff argues, that Constantine's measure only dealt with one aspect of sacrifice and in response to a specific situation, which was then made into a general ban by Eusebius to fit his narrative (as also argued recently from a specifically legal point of view by J. Harries, "Superfluous Verbiage? Rhetoric and Law in the Age of Constantine and Julian," JECS 19...