Transcript HOLY WAR IN EAST AND WEST

Dr Jamie Wood, University of Manchester
Aims of today’s session
To examine some primary sources on religion and
warfare in late antiquity and the early middle ages
 To appreciate the close relationship that was
understood to exist between military victory and
divine favour in the late- and post-Roman world
 To explore possible differences and similarities
between

 Eastern and western conceptions of ‘holy war’
 Christian and Islamic conceptions of ‘holy war’

To think about how the divine favour = victory
association developed over time
Structure of today’s session
Religion and the gods of victory in the Roman
army
 Primary source work
 Christianity and the later Roman military
 ‘Holy war’ in the early middle ages

 Western Europe
 Byzantium
 Islam and jihad
Religion in Byzantine military responses to
Islam
 Further developments in the West

Religion and the Roman imperial army

Read the calendar on the final page of your
handout and think about the following questions:
 What events are the soldiers celebrating in this




calendar?
What seems to be the focus of these celebrations?
What sorts of offerings are made?
Although this calendar is incomplete, how are the
celebrations organised or distributed throughout the
year?
What do you think would have been the effects of
these celebrations on the troops?
VICTORIA

Gold solidus
of
Constantine
II (337-340)
with Victoria
on reverse
‘To the victory of our Emperors and of Legion I
Adiutrix Loyal and Faithful Antoniniana, Publius
Marcius Sextianus, son of Publius, from Ephesus,
[set up this] at public expense through the decree
of the town council, dedicated by Egnatius Victor,
legate of the Emperors with propraetorian power,
and Claudius Piso, legate of the fifth legion, on 13
June, in the consulship of Aper and Maximus.’
○ CIL 3. 11082, inscription, Arrabona (Györ), Upper
Pannonia, 207 CE:
FORTUNA


Column of the Goths in
Constantinople; possibly
originally constructed in
3rd C;
Inscription:
 ‘To Fortuna, who returns
by reason of victory over
the Goths’
DOLICHENUS

Doliche: originates from Commagene in s.
Anatolia; tradition of Baal worship; associated with
other deities (e.g. Jupiter); popular in army,
possibly due to link with iron; decline in late 3rd
century (after Commagene taken by Sassanids)
 ‘To Jupiter Best and Greatest, of Doliche, and the spirits
of the Emperors, for the welfare of Emperor Caesar
Titus Aelius Hadrian Antoninus Augustus Pius, father of
the fatherland, and of Legion II Augusta, Marcus
Liburnius Fronto, centurion of the same legion, willingly
and deservedly fulfilled his vow.’
○ CIL 7. 506 = RIB 1330, inscription, Condercum (Benwell),
Britain, 2nd century CE
MITHRAS

Ancient Iranian spirit of light;
attributes include that of a
successful warrior;
increasingly popular with
troops from late 2nd C CE
 ‘To the invincible Sun-god
Mithras, Everlasting Lord,
Publicius Proculinus, centurion,
on behalf of himself and his son
Proculus, willingly and
deservedly fulfilled his vow, in
the consulship of our lords
Gallus and Volusianus.’
Mithras altar from frontier fort at
Osterburken in Germany
 CIL 7. 646 = RIB 1600, inscription,
Vercovicium (Housesteads), Britain,
252 CE
Third century crisis

Military play an increasingly prominent political
role:
 Militarisation of society = militarisation of religion?
 E.g. growing importance of cult of Sol Invictus in late 3rd
C; possible fusing of different elements of military
religion (Mithras, Jupiter) into a more monotheistic
system; supported by Diocletian and Constantine
(imperial warlords)

‘Crisis’ suggests to some that the gods have
abandoned Rome
 Leads to attempts to re-establish divine favour?
○ E.g. empire-wide religious uniformity: Decian (mid 3rd C)
and Great Persecutions (early 4th C)
Primary source work



How is the relationship between military
success and religion presented in these
sources?
Are there any differences between the eastern
and western sources?
What can these sources tell us about social,
political and religious thinking in late antiquity?
Constantine’s conversion

Source 1: on Milvian Bridge in
the Life of Constantine
 Constantine looking for a god to
aid his military campaign against
Maxentius
 Divine patronage by the Christian
God enables him to defeat
Maxentius, who relies on sorcery

Problem – this is not the only
version of events:
 What about the vision on the eve
of the battle? What message
does that convey?
Military martyrs
Idea developed in Christian discourse of 2nd and
3rd Cs that martyrs are soldiers of Christ (miles
Christi)
 Army as place where persecution began because
of need to sacrifice (e.g. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History, 7.15.1-5 on Marinus)
 Tertullian, On the military crown: Christian divine
oath is in tension with military oath so Christians
shouldn’t really be in the army
 Martyrdom in general – and military martyrdom in
particular – contribute to idea that victory can be
gained by dying for the faith

nd
2
Christians in the
C army:
The thundering legion
‘It is reported that Marcus Aurelius Caesar […], being about to
engage in battle with the Germans and Sarmatians, was in great
trouble on account of his army suffering from thirst. But the
soldiers of the so-called Melitene legion, through the faith which
has given strength from that time to the present, when they were
drawn up before the enemy, kneeled on the ground, as is our
custom in prayer, and engaged in supplications to God. […] The
lightning drove the enemy to flight and destruction, but a shower
refreshed the army of those who had called on God, all of whom
had been on the point of perishing with thirst. […] Among these is
Apolinarius, who says that from that time the legion through
whose prayers the wonder took place received from the emperor
a title appropriate to the event, being called in the language of the
Romans the Thundering Legion.’
 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.5
Christianity in the later Roman army
Assumption that Christianisation of the army
proceeded more slowly than of rest of society
in 4th C due to strong influence of traditional
military cults
 Yet by end of 4th C increasing Christian
presence in the army

 Source 3: Vegetius on inducting new troops into the
army
○ Oath sworn to God, Christ, Holy Spirit and Emperor
○ Soldiers serve God and the Roman state
○ Signals used in battle include ‘God with us’
Violent barbarians
Increasing barbarisation of
the Roman army in late
antiquity
 Conversion of the
barbarians brings its own
problems for imperial
power:

 Source 2: Conversion of the
Goths to Arianism
○ The Goths are so violent that
Ulfila chose not to translate
the Book of Kings into Gothic
(contains too much war)
Divine punishment

Victories of barbarian heretics over imperial
armies interpreted as divine punishment
 E.g. death of Valens at Adrianople (378): ‘his
punishment should bear even greater witness to, and
provide an even more terrible example of, Divine Wrath
for future generations, he did not even have a common
grave.’ (Paulus Orosius, Histories)

Similarly, the sack of Rome by the Visigoths (410)
 Some pagans argue that it is punishment for the
abandonment of traditional cults in favour of Christianity
 Refutation of these opinions is one of reasons for
Augustine writing City of God
Theodosian Triumphalism

Altar of victory controversy
 Between Symmachus and Ambrose of Milan over
removal/ replacement of the altar of victory in the
senate house in Rome
 One of S’s arguments is that altar has protected
Rome from barbarians in the past and enabled it to
prosper

Theodosius
 Becomes a strong proponent of Nicene orthodoxy:
banning of paganism
 Victory over (pagan) usurpers and (heretical)
barbarians proves righteousness of his religious
policies
Early medieval west:
Developing Constantine’s model?
Conversion of barbarian peoples from ‘paganism’ (e.g. Franks)
or Arianism (e.g. everyone else) to Nicene orthodoxy
 Enables deals with Nicene bishops and ‘Roman’ nobles
 Church can offer bureaucratic support
 Churchmen write histories of ‘convert kings’ (Higham, 2007)
○ E.g. source 4: Gregory of Tours on Clovis: a battlefield
conversion

○ Source 10: Bede on Anglo-Saxon kings:
 heretical Britons receive God’s punishment from pagan Anglo-Saxons
 Christian Anglo-Saxon kings impose Christianity on defeated pagan
enemies (Christianity as a tool of empire)
 (not in source pack) King Edwin’s standard (= Constantine’s
labarum?)
Visigothic Spain

Conversion from Arianism to Nicene
Christianity in 587/9 leads to increasing
cooperation with bishops:
 Campaign to end heresy and strong anti-Judaism
 Prayers for the king while on campaign (Council of
Mérida, 666)
 Clerics in the Visigothic army for protection of the
kingdom (source 8)

Religious and political triumphal ideology:
 Leander of Seville (589): Homily on the triumph of
the Church for the conversion of the Goths
 Isidore of Seville (625): In praise of the Goths
6th-7th C East

Justinian
 Reconquest of the West
(against heresy)
 Eradication of heresy at home

Maurice
Tremissis of Justinian; reverse shows victory advancing
with wreath and globe
 Generals should ensure God is
on side and troops should
demonstrate their Christianity
in battle (source 6)
 God protects Edessa against
the Persians (source 5)

Heraclius
 Anti-Jewish measures
 George of Pisidia, court poet,
emphasises repeatedly the
divine nature of H’s campaign
against Persia
Half follis of Justinian; obverse shows him wielding a
cross
Rise of Islam and Jihad




Based on your independent research and the
Sizgorich reading from last week, think about
the following questions:
How many different conceptions of jihad can you
identify?
What does jihad have to do with holy war?
Is there a difference between medieval and modern
conceptions of jihad?
Jihad

Root (classical definition):
 ‘exerting one’s utmost power, efforts, endeavours, or
ability in contending with an object of disapprobation’

Often categorised as deriving from 1 of 3 sources:
 a visible enemy; the devil; aspects of one’s own self

Most kinds of jihad have nothing to do with war
 Can include defending Islam / propagating the faith
(though not necessarily by war)
 References to war often focus on war between Muslims
(rather than against other faiths)
 So, meaning is much broader than ‘holy war’
 See Rueven Firestone, Jihad: The Origin of Holy War in Islam
(Oxford: 1999), pp. 16-18
Byzantine response: God’s anger

Last week’s sources
 Arab-Muslim
expansion as God’s
divine punishment for
the emperor and/or his
people (see source 9,
inscription 1)
 As a sign of the end of
days: apocalyptic
interpretations of ArabMuslim expansion
Byzantine responses: Let’s get
God on our side
Source 11: prayers and communion before
battle, appeals to Christ and Mary during
battle (cf. source 6)
 Source 9: 2nd inscription at St. Sergius –
the cross acts as a conduit of divine power
for the Christian armies against Muslims
(see previous sources on labarum/ icons)

Byzantine responses: God’s
on our side!

Divine forces fight on the side of the Byzantine
instead of punishing them
 E.g. Persian-Avar siege of Constantinople in 626: Mary
repeatedly intervenes against the attackers
○ ‘But the All-Powerful Virgin, after having made known to
him her own power by experience, revealed to him the
presages of the fall which quickly awaits the sinner.
Because she attracted a great number of soldiers of the
Khagan into a trap before of one of her churches, being in
front of the wall of the city.’ (Theodore the Syncellus,
Homily on the siege of Constantinople, 19)
Arab-Muslim sieges of Constantinople

First siege (674-8)
 Theodosian Walls, Byzantine
naval supremacy and use of
Greek Fire

Second siege (717-8)
 Same factors
 In addition, Byzantines call on
support of Bulgars
 Historical significance – seen
as eastern counterpart to
battle of Poitiers in west;
halting Arab-Muslim
expansion into Europe
Way out west: Charlemagne’s ‘holy wars’
Christmas Day 800: Frankish King Charlemagne
crowned Roman Emperor by Pope
 Connection between empire and holy war?
 Not really:

 Close relationship with papacy (but before C’s time)
 Campaigns of expansion in the east, esp. against
Saxons are justified in religious terms – as against
pagans (but before deal with papacy)
 Also, C does deals with Muslim powers against
Christian political enemies, e.g. in Spain

Religion and empire connected, but holy war only
when it suits C
Way out west: the reconquista in Spain

Original conquest seen as
punishment for sins of Christians
and disunity of Visigothic
leadership
 Source 7: Isidore of Seville – Huns &
Persians as divine punishment
 Used to explain the conquests
Covadonga: god saves Pelayo &
his followers (source 12)
 Religion as justification for
conquest (or reconquest)


Santiago Matamoros and Battle of
Clavijo (844)
Conclusion and questions

Very close relationship between divine favour and military
victory/ political success
 Reciprocal: divine support leads to military victory, but military victory is
proof of divine support...
 Similar to relationship that was believed to exist between military defeat
and divine displeasure
Christianisation of ideas already present in Roman thinking
about warfare
 Development: direct intervention of God’s agents in battle
 Next step: those who are fighting = God’s agents


Questions:
 Does religious violence within communities lead to aggression outwards?
 Is there a connection between empire-building and monotheistic violence
(inward and outward)?
 Are jihad, reconquista (& crusade) related to Roman/ late antique holy
war or are they something new?
For the week after Easter

rd
(23
April)
The fall of the Roman Empire on film
Read your assigned article, from the list below:
1.
Monica Cyrino, ‘Gladiator and Contemporary American
Society’ in Gladiator: Film and History, ed. Martin M. Winkler
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), pp. 124-149
b. Martin M. Winkler, ‘Cinema and the Fall of Rome’,
Transactions of the American Philological Association 125
(1995), pp. 135-154
c. Martin M. Winkler, ‘The Roman Empire in American Cinema
after 1945’, The Classical Journal 93.2 (1997-1998), pp. 167196
a.
Find and watch a clip relating to the reading or to the ‘fall
of Rome’ on YouTube (or similar)
3. Send the link to the clip and a brief (100-200 word)
discussion of your reason for choosing it to
[email protected] by Tuesday 17th April
2.