Now available
Listen to the first episode of the new podcast
'Tales from the end of times'
with Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides and Peter Edwell
episode one: the Sibylline oracles (listen on simplecast)
episode one at Spotify
Image: the Delphic Sibyl, Sistine Chapel
*coming soon*
'The Antichrist and Apocalyptic, Past and Present' with Peter Edwell and Bronwen Neil
image: Ludwig Meidner Apocalyptic City 1913
CRISES OF LEADERSHIP
IN THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
(250-1000 CE)
A project funded by the Australian Research Council
In 250 CE, after Rome was defeated in the Persian wars, the Roman empire seemed on the brink of destruction. By 1000 CE it had collapsed, due to multiple crises including: waves of mass migration, increasing demands for Roman citizenship, populism in government, religious extremism and food shortages due to war and climate change.
These crises arose from complex problems that required strong and strategic leadership. There is a convergence between the challenges faced by Roman leaders then and those facing our leaders today.
Our project aims to:
- provide new knowledge about the successful and not so successful practical strategies adopted by leaders in times of crisis;
- highlight rhetorical discourses used by leaders and those they used to exaggerate or minimize threats;
- promote intercultural understanding of religious reactions to historical crises that are relevant to the issues facing political and community leaders in democratic societies nowadays.
Image: big game hunt - Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy (3rd-4th CE)
