Theoderic and the Roman Imperial Restoration by Jonathan J. Arnold (review)

Against the traditional interpretation of Theoderic “the Great” as a “barbarian” king, ruler of “Ostrogothic Italy,” Jonathan Arnold presents the bold argument that, rather (as the title of the book indicates), Theoderic restored and continued the Roman Empire in the West. He thus implicitly sees the reign of Theoderic’s predecessor, Odovacer (r. 476–93), as a parenthetical anomaly in the history of the late fifth-century West, against the notion of decline or of the end of the Western Roman Empire. This historiographical positioning contrasts with recent attempts to revive catastrophist interpretations and particularly with the most recent interpretation of Theoderic’s reign (S. Lafferty, Law and Society in the Age of Theoderic the Great, Cambridge: CUP, 2013). Arnold also wishes to look at these events from a contemporary, Italian viewpoint, purposefully leaving aside knowledge of the (re-)conquest of Italy by the eastern Roman armies of Justinian (r. 527–65). Rather than a synthesis or a biography, this book is, in the author’s own words, “a study of Romanness and the Roman Empire that fully accepts Theoderic’s reign (489/93–526) as a continuation of Roman history” (6–7).

In order to support this thesis, Arnold shows the malleability of terminology associated with terms such as “Roman” and “barbarian,” which late antique authors typically deployed in order to suit their specific rhetorical purposes. Raised in Constantinople, Theoderic was as “Roman” as he was “barbarian,” and he was well integrated in the Roman political and military hierarchy, as his consulship of 484 indicates. Arnold understands Theoderic’s political ideology as harkening back to Augustus’s “Principate,” and takes seriously his efforts to appeal to republican ideals and sensibilities. He further argues that contemporary writers attest to the positive reception of Italians toward Theoderic’s rule as Roman princeps, considering Ennodius and Cassiodorus as representative of this viewpoint. As such, the book’s principal quality is the close readings of these two authors that it presents, with numerous important new insights.

The book is divided in five parts of two chapters each, for ten chapters in total. The first part (“An Empire Turned Upside Down”) is devoted to Ennodius (Chapter One) and Cassidorus (Chapter Two). It argues that both authors saw more continuity than decline in the reign of Theoderic, whom they praised as a good Roman ruler who restored imperial rule to the West following the “anomaly” created by Odovacer’s return of imperial insignia to Constantinople in the period 476–97 (55). Part II (“Emperor Theoderic”) analyzes the early military and political career of Theoderic, as well as the context leading to his takeover of Italy, which Arnold sees as legitimized by Anastasius’s return of imperial insignia in 497 (Chapter Three). This is further nuanced by his analysis of Theoderic’s visual propaganda, which for Arnold expressed imperial unity with the East as well as independence and preeminence to the king’s local, Italian audience (Chapter Four). The malleability of Roman and Gothic identities is explored in Part III (“Italo-Romans and Roman Goths”), in which Chapter Five explains how the Goths became “idealized as Italy’s defenders” (118), and Chapter Six further analyzes the (Eastern) “Roman” background of Theoderic himself.

With the last two parts of the book, Arnold presents two specific case studies of what he considers as Theoderic’s “imperial restoration.” In Part IV (“Italia Felix”), he looks at Theoderic’s positive impact on the imperial heartland in attempts to revive the economy, repair infrastructural damage done by decades of warfare, and renovate decayed buildings. Through Ennodius’s Life of Epiphanius, Arnold focuses on Liguria as an example of Theoderic’s benevolence to Italy (Chapter Seven). Despite residing mainly in Ravenna throughout his reign, Theoderic possessed a political ideology that required him to pay particular attention to Rome, caput imperii. The ruler’s relationship with, and attention to, Rome, and particularly its senatorial class, are the focus of Chapter Eight. Yet, despite all of Theoderic’s...