Eternal Cities: Rome, Constantinople, and their Antecedents as Symbolic Images and Centres of the World

Abstract

Using insights from the history and phenomenology of religions, and the history of mentalities, this thesis explores the construal of the ‘eternal cities’ of Rome and the New Rome, Constantinople, as images and centres of the world between the reigns of Constantine the Great (reign 306-337) and Theodosius II (c. 408-450). It will, however, focus predominantly on the former; especially in his role as ‘Christianiser’ of the old Rome and founder of the New. This investigation is prefaced by an assessment of the relevant ideas pertaining to the antecedent civilisations that influenced the textual and material culture of the two Romes, including: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Israel. The preliminaries will end with the exploration of the understanding of the city in the early Christian Church. Specifically, the thesis operates along the lines of Jacques Le Goff’s concept of the longue durée in order to account for the diachronic nature of the study; with its cross-cultural dimension based on insights from the religious phenomenology advanced by Mircea Eliade. The concepts of imago mundi (image of the world) and axis mundi (centre of the world), as articulated by Eliade, have been used consistently throughout to describe the way in which the cities under investigation recapitulated the three main layers of the cosmos – the celestial, terrestrial, and subterranean – within themselves. Since these cosmic tiers were manifested in both natural features and artefacts within or near the precincts of these cities, including, on the one hand, mountains, trees, and vines, and, on the other hand, temples, palaces, and imperial monuments (to name a few), then all of these items are included in the assessment of the aforementioned cultures. The concept of the ecosystemic intelligence or agent, advanced by Ioan P. Couliano, has also been used throughout in relation to the rulers of these ancient civilisations, who, as gods or demigods, bridged the three cosmic tiers in their maintenance of a cosmic order that was constantly threatened by chaos. Hence, this thesis assesses the recapitulation of heaven, earth and the underworld within both the rulers and the eternal cities/territories governed by them in the selected antecedent civilisations that impacted upon Rome and Constantinople, either directly or indirectly. In relation to the latter two, it focuses especially on the role of the ‘Christian’ Roman emperor Constantine, who construed himself (and was construed) as a cosmic mediator in relation to both of these Roman imagines et axes mundi. What is especially significant in the application of the concepts of imago mundi and axis mundi to the two Romes under Constantine, as well as the ecosystemic agent in relation to his person, is Eusebius of Caesarea’s (c. 255-339) representation of this particular emperor’s relationship to Rome, which not only borrowed some concepts from the antecedent cultures under analysis, but which became paradigmatic in later descriptions of the founding of Constantinople by the early Byzantine historians Socrates Scholasticus (c. early fifth century) and Salamanes Hermias Sozomen (c. 400-50) who wrote during the reign of Theodosius II; himself modelled on Constantine. In fact, the final section of the thesis consults later Byzantine sources that, like Socrates and Sozomen, also inherited the ‘Eusebian Constantine,’ including (but not restricted to) the Chronicle of John Malalas (c. 491-578), the sixth century Chronicon Paschale, and the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai that was compiled along with the Patria Constantinoupoleos of the tenth century. These sources are important insofar as they refer to events and monuments in Constantinople that were not mentioned by writers contemporary to the period between the reigns of Constantine and Theodosius II. Whilst these Byzantine sources are mainly chronographical and historiographical, the thesis also addresses – in relation to all of the cultures it analyses – epic poetry, literature, scripture and imperial panegyrics, and frequently contrasts them to the positivism inhering within much contemporary historiographical scholarship. In addressing this positivist trend from the point of view of the history of religions and mentalities, it is demonstrated that the former functions within the parameters of the dissociation between cosmos and history which is unable to sufficiently account for the manner in which the aforementioned civilisations viewed their cities as imagines et axes mundi. In other words, in its assessment of the ancient sources mentioned above, this thesis undertakes a critical engagement of modern approaches so as to achieve a more nuanced, holistic, and authentic depiction of Rome, Constantinople, and their antecedent cultures as images and centres of the world.