http://hdl.handle.net/10468/26 2017-09-06T15:59:05Z 2017-09-06T15:59:05Z Wijnendaele, Jeroen Willy Petrus http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1992 2016-10-17T15:20:32Z 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z

The contribution of warlordism to the disintegration of the western Roman army (c. AD 395-480) Wijnendaele, Jeroen Willy Petrus My thesis investigates the dynamics behind the changing nature of the leadership of the western Roman army in the fifth century through the concept of ‘warlordism’. I carried this out by analyzing those cases of insubordination and military unrest in the officer class of the western Roman army, which can be shown to be linked to the slow decline of central authority and the imperial office in the period 395-480. My thesis demonstrates that theories of ‘Warlordism’, as developed in social sciences, can be useful for both the late Imperial west as for other eras of ancient history, such as the late Roman republic. Warlordism was a way of continuing politics, if necessary by military means, when commanders found themselves outside the legitimate framework. Unlike the case of usurpation of the imperial office, when there was little hope of achieving permanent recognition and acceptance, it offered insubordinate officers a chance of returning to the ruling imperial regime depending on circumstances and the success of their resistance. I propose that warlordism functioned as an alternative to usurpation, a tool for military dissidence, fuelled by an economy of violence. Contrary to modern warlordism, the warlordism of the fifth century AD represented a transient phase which no imperial commander was willing to prolong indefinitely. At some stage, given the means, warlords in the western Roman army wanted to become part of the imperial echelon again. Yet these alternative methods of violent opposition, and the acquisition of force through private means, ensured the breakdown of the state’s monopoly on violence and the disintegration of centralized armies. What started as an accidental revolution became a new form of military rule.

2014-01-01T00:00:00Z Woods, David http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1272 2017-09-06T11:37:35Z 2012-12-01T00:00:00Z

Postumus and the three suns: neglected numismatic evidence for a solar halo Woods, David The coinage of the emperor Postumus (AD260-69) included an aureus of unique reverse type depicting three draped and radiate busts in a row, with the centre bust facing forward while the two busts on either side face sideways towards it. It is argued that this depicts three busts of Sol and was intended to symbolize the apparent appearance of three suns in the sky, as described, for example by Pliny the Elder (NH 2.99), that is, the occurrence of a solar halo. A number of other coins almost certainly commemorate similar events, although not in the same way, from issues by Mark Antony in 42BC to issues under Constantine I from 310.

2012-12-01T00:00:00Z Woods, David http://hdl.handle.net/10468/731 2017-09-06T11:37:35Z 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Numismatic evidence and the succession to Constantine I Woods, David

2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Woods, David http://hdl.handle.net/10468/451 2017-09-06T11:37:35Z 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z

Caligula's quadrans Woods, David The Roman emperor Caligula issued the same type of quadrans throughout his reign, where the obverse depicted a pileus, a type of cap given to former slaves upon their manumission, and the reverse the letters RCC. Eckhel suggested that the obverse referred to the restoration of liberty as represented by his return of the elections to the popular assembly from the Senate, and the reverse referred to a remission of the sales-tax. Barrett has recently argued that both sides probably referred to the execution in late 39 of Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, the governor of Upper Germany. This note argues that Caligula chose to depict the pileus on his quadrans in order to celebrate his new policy of strictly enforcing the rules for granting citizenship and that he aimed the design at the urban mob in particular in order to emphasise that he was protecting them against those seeking to encroach upon their privileges

2010-12-01T00:00:00Z