Lenski N. Failure of Empire. Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D

Berkeley – Los Angeles – London: University of California Press, 2002. – 478 p.
ISBN: 0-520-23332-8 (alk. paper)Failure of Empire is the first comprehensive biography of the Roman emperor Valens and his troubled reign (A.D. 364–378). Valens will always be remembered for his spectacular defeat and death at the hands of the Goths in the Battle of Adrianople. This singular misfortune won him a front-row seat among history's great losers. By the time he was killed, his empire had been coming unglued for several years: the Goths had overrun the Balkans; Persians, Isaurians, and Saracens were threatening the east; the economy was in disarray; and pagans and Christians alike had been exiled, tortured, and executed in his religious persecutions. Valens had not, however, entirely failed in his job as emperor. He was an admirable administrator, a committed defender of the frontiers, and a ruler who showed remarkable sympathy for the needs of his subjects.
In lively style and rich detail, Lenski incorporates a broad range of new material, from archaeology to Gothic and Armenian sources, in a study that illuminates the social, cultural, religious, economic, administrative, and military complexities of Valens's realm. Failure of Empire offers a nuanced reconsideration of Valens the man and shows both how he applied his strengths to meet the expectations of his world and how he ultimately failed in his efforts to match limited capacities to limitless demands.MapsThe Pannonian Emperors
The Revival of Illyrian Emperorship
Pannonia …strong in men and prosperous in land
Pannonian Beginnings
The Imperial Courts: Illyrians and ProfessionalsThe Revolt of Procopius Procopius’s Uprising
Valens and the Ideal Emperor
The Long Shadow of Constantin
A Changing of the Guard: Punishment and ConcessionsValens’s First Gothic War
The Goths in the Fourth Century
The Gothic War of 367–69
Some Principles of Late Roman Foreign Policy
Dynastic Shifts and Roman ProvocationValens and the Eastern Frontier Romano-Persian Relations, A.D. 298–363
Valens’s Relations with Persia, Armenia, and Iberia
Festus and Eutropius: Historical Propaganda and the Eastern Frontier
Bandits and Barbarians of the East: Valens and the Maratocupreni, Isaurians, and SaracensReligion under the Valentiniani Valentinian, Valens, and the Pagans
The Magic Trials of Rome and Antioch
Chaos and Toleration: The Arian Crisis and Valentinian’s Response
Autocracy and Persecution: Valens’s Response to the Arian CrisisAdministration and Finance under Valentinian and Valens
The Interrelation of Valentinian’s and Valens’s Legislation
Paramount Concerns: Corruption, Civic Administration, the Masses, and Agriculture
Economics and Finance under the Valentiniani
Recruiting Laws and Military ManpowerThe Disaster at Adrianople
The Gothic Immigration of 376
The Collapse of the Gothic Settlement and the Disaster at Adrianople
The Reasons for the Collapse of the Gothic Settlement
The Reasons for the Disaster at AdrianopleEpilogueAppendix A. Datable Evidence for Valentinianic Fortiflcations
Appendix B. Shapur’s Administrative Structures in Armenia
Appendix C. Natural Disasters and the Reign of Valens
Appendix D. Civic Structures Built under Imperial Sponsorship, A.D. 364–378
Bibliography primary sources
Secondary sources