Ruling an Empire in a Changing World

Ruling an Empire in a Changing World reassesses the Notitia Dignitatum, a key source for the later Roman Empire. Through 21 interdisciplinary studies, it examines the text’s manuscripts, illustrations, administration, military organisation and frontier systems, highlighting its importance for understanding Late Antiquity.

The Notitia Dignitatum remains one of the most important yet enigmatic sources for understanding the administration, military organisation, and frontier systems of the later Roman Empire. Bringing together twenty-one contributions from leading international specialists, Ruling an Empire in a Changing World offers an exhaustive scholarly reassessment from an unprecedented range of academic disciplines.

Originating from a 2019 conference held in Freiburg – the first devoted to the Notitia Dignitatum since that in Oxford in 1974 – the volume approaches the text from the perspectives of Ancient History, Epigraphy, Papyrology, Archaeology, Art History, and Medieval Studies. Following an extensive introduction by Peter Brennan, contributors examine the transmission and reception of the Notitia, discuss its manuscript tradition, and offer art historical analyses of its illustrations and how they differ between manuscripts. Subsequent chapters explore the document’s value as a source for the military, administrative, and political history of the late Roman Empire, including studies of frontier defence, administrative structures, and comparisons with contemporary written and archaeological evidence.

Concluding with a wide-ranging assessment of the fifth-century Roman world by Jeroen Wijnendaele, the volume demonstrates the crucial significance of the Notitia for our understanding of this period. As the first publication to unite such a broad range of disciplinary approaches, it will become an essential point of reference for all scholars of Late Antiquity.

List of Figures and Tables

The Main Manuscripts Containing the Notitia Dignitatum

1. Introduction

The Compilation ‘Notitia Dignitatum’: The Hidden History and Riddles of a Late Roman Register of Dignities and Administrations – Peter Brennan

2. Document and Transmission History

Spätantike Schriftlichkeit und neuzeitliche Verschiebung. Zur Überlieferung und zum Kürzungssystem der Notitia Dignitatum – Kirsten Wallenwein

The Codex Spirensis and the Use of Roman Geographical and ‘Administrative’ Documents in the Early Medieval West – Charles Mériaux

Herausforderungen des Ungleichzeitigen. Die Kopien der Notitia Dignitatum zwischen dem 9. und 19. Jahrhundert – Joris Corin Heyder

Notitia Dignitatum und Tabula Peutingeriana vor dem Hintergrund der römischen Kartographie – Silke Diederich

3. Illustrations

The Illustrations in the Notitia Dignitatum – Stephen Johnson

Largitiones. Die Originale der Spätantike und ihre Darstellungen in der Notitia Dignitatum – Barbara Niemeyer

Animal Imagery as Topographical Allusions in the Insignia of Notitia Dignitatum in Partibus Orientis – Jacek Wiewiorowski

A Tale of Many Cities and their Copies: Depictions of ‘Cities’ and ‘Forts’ in the Notitia Dignitatum – Karl Dahm

4. ND as a Source in Military History

Military Documents in the Later Roman Empire: the Evidence of Ammianus Marcellinus, the Notitia Dignitatum, and Vegetius – Conor Whately

Das Ordnungssystem der Notitia Dignitatum für die Listen der Limitantruppen am Beispiel der norischpannonischen Donaudukate. Mit einem Blick auf die Militärschematismen der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie – Hannsjörg Ubl†

Unit Lists and Roman Bureaucratic Traditions in the Notitia Dignitatum (pars Orientis) – Michael A. Speidel

Brecantia/Bregenz: A Synopsis of the Archaeological Evidence in the 4th and Early 5th Century in Relation to the Notitia Dignitatum – Karl Oberhofer and Andreas Picker

5. Border Defence and Organisation

The North African Military Commands – Alan Rushworth

The Roman Military Presence in Egypt’s Western Desert in Light of the Notitia Dignitatum – Paul Kucera

Notitia Dignitatum and the Limes of Moesia Prima: Strategic Relevance and Landscape – Vujadin Ivanišević and Ivan Bugarski

6. Administration and Structure

Die militärischen Abteilungen des Grenzheeres in der Notitia Dignitatum – Michael Zerjadtke

Hierarchy and Administrative Geography in the Laterculus Veronensis and the Notitia Dignitatum – Daniëlle Slootjes

Sub Dispositione: Assessing a Phrase in the Notitia Dignitatum – Maxime Emion

The Command of the Dux Britanniarum: Reconstructing a Late Roman Army from Text and Material Culture – Rob Collins

7. Conclusion

An Anti-user’s Guide to the Notitia Dignitatum – Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele

8. Bibliography

• Edited by Marko Jelusić
• Edited by Silvio Roggo
• Edited by Anna-Maria Kaiser
• Edited by Alexander Heising