Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

by Judith Herrin, Phyllida Nash (Narrated by)

Overview

A riveting history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman Empire

At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital. Bringing this extraordinary history marvelously to life, Judith Herrin rewrites the history of East and West in the Mediterranean world before the rise of Islam and shows how, thanks to Byzantine influence, Ravenna played a crucial role in the development of medieval Christendom.

Drawing on deep, original research, Herrin tells the personal stories of Ravenna while setting them in a sweeping synthesis of Mediterranean and Christian history. She narrates the lives of the Empress Galla Placidia and the Gothic king Theoderic and describes the achievements of an amazing cosmographer and a doctor who revived Greek medical knowledge in Italy, demolishing the idea that the West just descended into the medieval "Dark Ages."

Beautifully illustrated and drawing on the latest archaeological findings, this monumental book provides a bold new interpretation of Ravenna's lasting influence on the culture of Europe and the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691201979
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	44,253
File size:	100 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Judith Herrin is professor emeritus in the Department of Classics at King’s College London. Her books include Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire; Unrivalled Influence: Women and Empire in Byzantium; Margins and Metropolis: Authority across the Byzantine Empire; Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium; and The Formation of Christendom (all Princeton). She lives in Oxford, England.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations xiii

A note on spellings xvii

Maps xviii

Table of competing powers in Ravenna xxiii

Introduction xxix

1 The emergence of Ravenna as the imperial capital of the West 1

Part 1 390-450 Galla Placidia

2 Galla Placidia, Theodosian princess 17

3 Honorius (395-423) and the development of Ravenna 24

4 Galla Placidia at the western court (416-23) 33

5 Galla Placidia, builder and empress mother 46

Part 2 450-93 The Rise of the Bishops

6 Valentinian III and Bishop Neon 63

7 Sidonius Apollinaris in Ravenna 72

8 Romulus Augustulus and King Odoacer 77

Part 3 493-540 Theoderic the Goth, Arian King of Ravenna

9 Theoderic the Ostrogoth 89

10 Theoderic's kingdom 101

11 Theoderic's diplomacy 116

12 Theoderic the lawgiver 125

13 Amalasuintha and the legacy of Theoderic 137

Part 4 540-70 Justinian I and the campaigns in North Africa and Italy

14 Belisarius captures Ravenna 151

15 San Vitale, epitome of Early Christendom 160

16 Narses and the Pragmatic Sanction 174

17 Archbishop Maximian, bulwark of the West 184

18 Archbishop Agnellus and the seizure of the Arian churches 191

Part 5 568-643 King Alboin and the Lombard conquest

19 Alboin invades 203

20 The exarchate of Ravenna 214

21 Gregory the Great and the control of Ravenna 223

22 Isaac, the Armenian exarch 230

23 Agnellus the doctor 239

Part 6 610-700 The expansion of Islam

24 The Arab conquests 247

25 Constans II in Sicily 256

26 The Sixth Oecumenical Council 268

27 The Anonymous Cosmographer of Ravenna 276

Part 7 685-725 The two reigns of Justinian II

28 The Council in Trullo 287

29 The heroic Archbishop Damianus 297

30 The tempestuous life of Archbishop Felix 306

Part 8 700-769 Ravenna returns to the margins

31 Leo III and the defeat of the Arabs 317

32 The beginnings of Iconoclasm 326

33 Pope Zacharias and the Lombard conquest of Ravenna 335

34 Archbishop Sergius takes control 341

Part 9 756-813 Charlemagne and Ravenna

35 The long rule of King Desiderius 353

36 Charles in Italy, 774-87 363

37 Charles claims the stones of Ravenna 375

Conclusion: The glittering legacy of Ravenna 387

Notes 401

Acknowledgements 491

Index 493

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Magisterial—an outstanding book that shines a bright light on one of the most important, interesting, and under-studied cities in European history. A masterpiece."—Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

"A meticulous guide to a fascinating historical period. Particularly impressive is Herrin's treatment of some of the great characters associated with Ravenna, whose lives she examines with insight, empathy, and an eye for revealing detail."—T. S. Brown, author of Gentlemen and Officers: Imperial Administration and Aristocratic Power in Byzantine Italy, AD 554–800

"A masterwork by one of our greatest historians of Byzantium and early Christianity. Judith Herrin tells a story that is at once gripping and authoritative and full of wonderful detail about every element in the life of Ravenna. Impossible to put down."—David Freedberg, author of The Power of Images

"This brilliant biography of Ravenna is essential reading for anyone who would understand the transformation of the Roman world."—Patrick Geary, author of The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe

"A wonderful new history of the Mediterranean from the fifth to eighth century through a lens focused on Ravenna, gracefully and clearly written, which reconceptualizes what was 'East' and what was 'West.'"—Caroline Goodson, author of The Rome of Pope Paschal I

"This is a masterful study as splendid as Ravenna's mosaics. Bringing to new life the city and the people who shaped it, Herrin explores Ravenna's role as a rival of Rome, a Byzantine outpost in the West, and a model for Charlemagne's imperial aspirations—in short, as a crucible of Europe."—Claudia Rapp, author of Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium: Monks, Laymen, and Christian Ritual

Editorial Reviews

"Judith Herrin explains in her lively, startling book, Ravenna really did deserve ‘the most noble’ title bestowed by this anonymous admirer. From its origins as a refuge in a dying empire, it went on to host kings and prelates, physicians and lawyers—and ultimately help shape Europe."

The Economist

Winner of the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize

Winner of the PROSE Award in European History, Association of American Publishers

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize, Wolfson Foundation

Shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize, The Hellenic Centre

Longlisted for the Cundill History Prize, McGill University

From the Publisher

"Bold. . . . elegantly argue[d]."

New Yorker

2020-05-11
The early life and times of an Italian city that sometimes threatened to overshadow Rome.

Ravenna, on the Adriatic coast near Venice and Bologna, served as an outpost in the days of the Roman Republic. When Visigoths and other outlanders descended on Rome, Ravenna seemed a promising stronghold, “partly because it was considered impregnable and partly because of its large port,” as emerita professor of classics Herrin writes. After the fall of Rome, it steadily gained importance, first as a center of Gothic power and then as a tributary city of Byzantium and an entrepôt with strong ties to the Eastern Roman empire. “This strength,” Herrin observes, “was rooted in its threefold combination of Roman law and military prowess, Greek education and culture and Christian belief and morality.” She examines each of these pillars in turn. Roman power steadily declined over the centuries until Alaric stormed the gates in 410 C.E., but Ravenna remembered the lessons of its rule, eventually establishing colonies of its own in many parts of the former empire, especially in Sicily. More powerful than any other institution was the church, so strong that rivalries with the papal headquarters in Rome were not uncommon. Of particular interest to students of early Christian history is Ravenna’s emergence as a node of Arian worship—though, Herrin writes, eventually that “heresy” would be suppressed at the order of Byzantine Emperor Justin, “a symptom of the much greater intolerance that would later result in outright persecution of minorities.” The bonds with the Eastern Roman Empire would eventually break, but the centuries of affiliation explain why even today so many people travel to Ravenna to see Byzantine art, so widely destroyed elsewhere. Even in later medieval times, adds the author, “the mosaicked churches of Ravenna…continued to inspire transalpine visitors as they became monastic centres, ensuring their preservation while all around the palaces of secular power crumbled.”

Aficionados of early medieval history—and of course Ravenna itself—will learn much from Herrin’s work.

Kirkus Reviews