Resumen de Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics by Noel Lenski (review)
[...]in Chapter Three he highlights Constantine’s unambiguous self-identification as a convert in communications directed at Christians. Lenski makes his case largely on the examples of Orcistus (Chapter Four), whose citizens aligned themselves with the emperor’s Christianizing agenda and were granted their request for civic autonomy; and Hispellum (Chapter Five), a deep-rooted “pagan” community that was granted both an imperial name and permission to establish a cult to Constantine’s dynasty, but with a crucial prohibition on sacrifice. [...]in the process of fulfilling expectations as a civic leader, Constantine was able to elevate Christian polities and avoid alienating “pagan” ones even as he began the long-term process of converting them. By making civic discourse and urban politics his focus, Lenski is able to put forward a compelling framework for coming to terms with Constantine’s multiple personalities: the contradictory representations of the emperor allowed him to take steps towards his goal to convert the empire without provoking strong reactions against even his claims to civic authority, while his contradictory actions can be explained as part of a process of negotiation with his subjects over the limits of his power (and theirs) as he broke new ground. [...]Lenski is able to reconcile the practical politics of Constantine in a way that does not cast the sincerity of his conversion into doubt and overrides the traditional dichotomy of “political opportunist” versus “militant missionizer.”
