The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late AntiquityA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In this book, Susanna Elm radically changes our understanding of imperial rule in the later Roman Empire. As she shows, the so-called eastern decadence of the Emperor Theodosius and his successors was in fact a calculated revolution in masculinity and the representation of imperial power. Here, the emperor's hard yet soft, mature yet youthfully gorgeous beauty was central. Because the Theodosian emperors were divine—gods one could see—so was their beauty: their manliness was the face and body of God. The emperors' gorgeousness, their sparkling regalia, how they wished their bodies to be seen by their elite subjects—who authored the texts on which Elm's analysis is based—were as important as laws, taxes, and armies. Their vir-ness strategically deployed male same-sex erotic desire to enhance the unity of the realm in times of tension, incorporate the signifying potency of child emperors, and create a flexible yet stable model of Christian sovereignty. |
Contents
Pacatuss Panegyric | 35 |
Beauty Desire | 60 |
The Life of Heliogabalus in the Historia Augusta | 79 |
Claudians Panegyrics | 93 |
Theodosius in Constantinople | 119 |
Other editions - View all
The Importance of Being Gorgeous: Gender and Christian Imperial Rule in Late ... Susanna Elm No preview available - 2025 |
Common terms and phrases
Achilles Aelia Aelia Flaccilla affectionate love Ambr Ambrose Ammianus Arcadius Arcadius's audience augustus barbarians beauty bishop Cameron chapter Child Emperor Rule Christian Chrys church civil Claud Claudian clemency Cons Constantine Constantinople consul court divine eastern elite empress eunuch Eutr Eutropius Eutropius's father Flaccilla French trans gender Gothic Goths Gratian Gregory Heliogab Heliogabalus Historia Augusta homily Honorius Honorius's illustris vir imperial virtue John Chrysostom John's Kaiser Kelly Kiilerich Late Antiquity late Roman less-than-manly love of mankind Magnus Maximus male manliness Marc Masterson McEvoy McLynn Milan military Nicomachus Noreña oration Pacatus panegyric philanthropy praised Roman emperors Roman Empire Roman imperial Rome Rome's ruler Scythians Senate sexual slaves soft status Stilicho Synesius Synesius's Themistius Theod Theodosian Theodosius Theodosius II Theodosius's trabea tyrant Valentinian Valentinian II victory vir-ness viri western young youthful γὰρ δὲ ἐν καὶ τὰ τὴν τῆς τὸ τοῖς τὸν τοῦ τῶν