Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

470 17. armies and society in the later roman world
cities 2 – not surprisingly, since the civilian ideals enshrined in urban life
were being challenged by the militarization of local élites, while this
process of militarization reflected the changing social and economic balances
within individual communities.
This chapter investigates the ways in which the army, as well as less
official types of military force, influenced political and social change in the
fields of imperial or royal authority, the preservation of public order, the
relationships of core and periphery, and the links between soldiers and
civilians. In most of these aspects it is a case of pointing to and explaining
the separate development of eastern and western parts of the empire
(though with the Balkan provinces regularly being close to the western
model).
i. military power and authority
At the very centre of society the military played a key role in determining
who wielded power, by involvement in accession ceremonies or usurpations,
and by maintaining law and order; those who commanded and
deployed military force on such occasions naturally expected to reap
benefits in terms of increased influence and status. Within the Roman
empire the army (or groups purporting to represent it) participated in the
choice and confirmation of new emperors. For the east, where imperial
succession was relatively well-ordered until the bloody usurpation of
Phocas, many of the accession ceremonies are recorded in Constantine
Porphyrogenitus’ Book of Ceremonies or in contemporary writers. 3 The succession
of Marcian to Theodosius II in 450 was performed at the parade
ground at the Hebdomon, and the new emperor was probably elevated ceremonially
by soldiers, in spite of the fact that his betrothal to Theodosius’
sister Pulcheria provided dynastic legitimacy. 4 The ceremonies for Leo’s
accession in 457 also demonstrate the centrality of the army: Leo was
crowned first by Busalgus, a quartermaster (campiductor), at which point the
military standards that had been placed on the ground were lifted up; Leo
attributed his selection to ‘God the almighty and your decision, most brave
fellow soldiers’. The responding acclamations from the spectators emphasized
the position of the army – ‘The army, with you as ruler, victorious;
the army, with you as ruler, fortunate’ – and Leo’s first thoughts were about
rewarding the troops. 5
Subsequent eastern accessions were centred on the Hippodrome and the
adjacent palace, and units of the palace guards, the scholae, candidati and excubitores,
naturally played a more prominent part, even to the extent of
2 Cf. ch. 8 (Liebeschuetz), pp. 207,10 above. 3 MacCormack (1981) iii.9; Olster (1993) 159–63.
4 Chron. Pasch. 590.8–12; cf. Burgess (1993/4). 5 De Caer. i. 91, pp.410–12.
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