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Kann die Annahme der weltlichen Kriege in die spätantike Kirchengeschichten als diese Gattung der Geschichtsschreibung an die Mustern der militärisch-politischen Zeitgeschichten annähernd bewertet werden? Der Fall des Kirchenhistorikers Sokrates

100%

Stachura M.

Res Gestae. Czasopismo Historyczne

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2017

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vol. 5

7-24

PL

The specific nature of Late Antique Church histories in comparison with Greco-Roman historiography is understood as both the outcome of the difference in the narrative’s subject and the particular method of its performance. Apparently, the Church historians’ growing interest in the traditional theme of wars seems to account for this approaching to the “classical” patterns and the blurring of the genre’s specific character. The author argues that this “assimilation” phenomenon was essentially the consequence of the proximity of the main subject of the narration, the history of the Church represented as a story of conflict, while – as the present analysis of some relevant sections from the work of the Church historian Socrates has demonstrated – the narrative of the history of wars would rather play the role of a digression in this narration and the “Divine” commentary on the events being depicted, thus hindering rather than facilitating the assimilating of the “Church History” to the norms determined by the so-called Zeitgeschichten.

2

The role of religion in the foreign affairs of Sasanian Iran and the Later Roman Empire (330-630 A.D.)

75%

ZOUBERI J.

Historia i Świat

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2017

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issue 6

121-132

EN

Religion’s role was prominent in the foreign relations of Byzantium and Iran. The religious element prevails throughout the entire struggle with Persia. The two empires were not just rivals on the battlefield. Along with the real war an ideological war was conducted between them, as both tried to convert people to their own religion. Zoroastrian Magi and Christian bishops became rivals in a war of propaganda where all means were used. When Constantine became Christian he created a golden opportunity to unite a wholeheartedly universalist religion and its abundance of scriptural authority and missionary impetus, with empire’s forces of political, military and economic expansion in order to create a genuine world empire. Constantine the Great was the first to use religion as a weapon to assimilate people to the Roman Empire. The dream of global domination could become a reality through the spread of Christianity. During the Sasanian era Iran was Zoroastrianized in great extent. The doctrine of Zarthustra became the privileged religion and developed into a supporting pillar of Sasanian kingship. Persecutions of Christians in Iran followed Constantine’s the Great proclamation of being the leader of all Christians in the oikoumeni. Church historians accused the Zoroastrian priests called Magi in the West as responsible for tortures and death penalties against the Christians of Iran, while Martyrologies illustrated them as having diabolical forces and immoral practices in their private lives. On the contrary secular Byzantine historians praised them as simple priests and holy men who lived in peace following their own customs. Roman propaganda, through history writing, presented the shahs Yazdegerd I, Xusrō I, and Xusrō II as having converted to Christianity or at least as Christian sympathizers. The impossibility of Persian subjects existing under the rule of any Roman prelate, had decreed the independence of the Persian Church. It was a common belief that Christian Orthodoxy was loyalty to the Roman Emperor, not to Christ, and heresy was not the display of a special variety of unchristian spirit, but an offence against the Roman State order. Christians of Persia were soon obliged to follow the customs of their own country. The King of Kings would always have the last voice, and frequently the first also in the choice of Catholicos. Byzantine historians often proceed to a religious mythmaking to justify the emperors’ policy towards the Persian rulers. During the sixth and seventh centuries religion propaganda was used in extent by both countries. In Byzantium during Heraclius’ reign we can trace a tendency to interpret events in terms of biblical prototypes.

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Attila the Hun and the Failure of the Divide et impera Roman Policy

63%

Mestek O.

Prague Papers on the History of International Relations

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2022

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issue 1

43-62

EN

Throughout the whole existence of their Empire, the Romans used the divide et impera polity against the European barbarians. The Romans tried to prevent the establishment of larger and more powerful political entities which could endanger them. Simultaneously, they supported rivalry amongst the tribal chieftains and provided the friendly ones with gold and goods. The arrival of the Huns into Europe did not initially bring any change to this international system. Since the 420s the Huns unified their own tribe and created close alliances with other tribes in Middle and Eastern Europe. This alliance had at last the military power to clash with the Romans and disrupt Roman international order across Europe. Because the Hunnic military power was not sufficient, their state was more of a tribal confederacy than a hierarchical and tightly controlled empire. The Hunnic Empire was also a short-termed affair limited to Attila’s life.

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1 Historia i Świat

1 Prague Papers on the History of International Relations

1 Res Gestae. Czasopismo Historyczne

1 Mestek O.

1 Stachura M.

1 ZOUBERI J.

1 2022

2 2017

Kann die Annahme der weltlichen Kriege in die spätantike Kirchengeschichten als diese Gattung der Geschichtsschreibung an die Mustern der militärisch-politischen Zeitgeschichten annähernd bewertet werden? Der Fall des Kirchenhistorikers Sokrates

The role of religion in the foreign affairs of Sasanian Iran and the Later Roman Empire (330-630 A.D.)

Attila the Hun and the Failure of the Divide et impera Roman Policy