Professor Peter Heather

Civilized people, the rational faculties have been developed sufficiently to control all those impulses that come from our physicality.

Civilized people, the rational faculties have been developed sufficiently to control all those impulses that come from our physicality.

Well, both things are true, of course. You know, there is the ideology and then there's the practicality. And the ideology is not an insignificant element in the way that relationships are constructed. So if you're a smart prince on the frontier, you know damn well how you're expected to behave when you're confronted with an emperor parading his standards through your territory.

Well, both things are true, of course. You know, there is the ideology and then there's the practicality. And the ideology is not an insignificant element in the way that relationships are constructed. So if you're a smart prince on the frontier, you know damn well how you're expected to behave when you're confronted with an emperor parading his standards through your territory.

Well, both things are true, of course. You know, there is the ideology and then there's the practicality. And the ideology is not an insignificant element in the way that relationships are constructed. So if you're a smart prince on the frontier, you know damn well how you're expected to behave when you're confronted with an emperor parading his standards through your territory.

Groveling is good. Gentle sobbing, excellent maneuver. Gentle sobbing. Gentle sobbing. There's a Sarmatian prince called Zizace in 358 who knows the script perfectly. So he lies down on the ground. He can't move. He's so full of awe in the face of the emperor. He sobs gently, and then he gets the deal he wants. I could make some modern parallels.

Groveling is good. Gentle sobbing, excellent maneuver. Gentle sobbing. Gentle sobbing. There's a Sarmatian prince called Zizace in 358 who knows the script perfectly. So he lies down on the ground. He can't move. He's so full of awe in the face of the emperor. He sobs gently, and then he gets the deal he wants. I could make some modern parallels.

Groveling is good. Gentle sobbing, excellent maneuver. Gentle sobbing. Gentle sobbing. There's a Sarmatian prince called Zizace in 358 who knows the script perfectly. So he lies down on the ground. He can't move. He's so full of awe in the face of the emperor. He sobs gently, and then he gets the deal he wants. I could make some modern parallels.

But you play the script, you get the deal you want. But the script is real. Every portrayal of an emperor in resplendent glory, well, it will usually have two things. It will have a victory in the top corner, an image of victory, and it will have a barbarian lying supine at the bottom. Because the other element to this Roman image of superiority is that this is divinely ordained.

But you play the script, you get the deal you want. But the script is real. Every portrayal of an emperor in resplendent glory, well, it will usually have two things. It will have a victory in the top corner, an image of victory, and it will have a barbarian lying supine at the bottom. Because the other element to this Roman image of superiority is that this is divinely ordained.

But you play the script, you get the deal you want. But the script is real. Every portrayal of an emperor in resplendent glory, well, it will usually have two things. It will have a victory in the top corner, an image of victory, and it will have a barbarian lying supine at the bottom. Because the other element to this Roman image of superiority is that this is divinely ordained.

So you have divine support for the empire because it is the one place that generates these properly civilized human beings, which is what we're all meant to be. And how does divine support manifest itself? Well, most obviously in victory. If you have the supreme omnipotent creator of the cosmos on your side, you ought to win.

So you have divine support for the empire because it is the one place that generates these properly civilized human beings, which is what we're all meant to be. And how does divine support manifest itself? Well, most obviously in victory. If you have the supreme omnipotent creator of the cosmos on your side, you ought to win.

So you have divine support for the empire because it is the one place that generates these properly civilized human beings, which is what we're all meant to be. And how does divine support manifest itself? Well, most obviously in victory. If you have the supreme omnipotent creator of the cosmos on your side, you ought to win.

We're seeing, by the fourth century, a shift, really, in the sense that if you look at the time of Castus in the first century, you've got lots of small-named groups on the Rhine and Danube in Europe. If we're talking about European frontiers, for my sins, I added them up once, and it's something like... It's over 60 named groups in Tacitus' Germania.

We're seeing, by the fourth century, a shift, really, in the sense that if you look at the time of Castus in the first century, you've got lots of small-named groups on the Rhine and Danube in Europe. If we're talking about European frontiers, for my sins, I added them up once, and it's something like... It's over 60 named groups in Tacitus' Germania.

We're seeing, by the fourth century, a shift, really, in the sense that if you look at the time of Castus in the first century, you've got lots of small-named groups on the Rhine and Danube in Europe. If we're talking about European frontiers, for my sins, I added them up once, and it's something like... It's over 60 named groups in Tacitus' Germania.

Yeah, they're tiny. You've got 60-odd groups in between what's now the Rhine and the Vistula in Poland. So each territory is small, and actually they don't like each other very much, and there's a strong implication that there's empty territory between the main concentrations of each of them.

Yeah, they're tiny. You've got 60-odd groups in between what's now the Rhine and the Vistula in Poland. So each territory is small, and actually they don't like each other very much, and there's a strong implication that there's empty territory between the main concentrations of each of them.

Yeah, they're tiny. You've got 60-odd groups in between what's now the Rhine and the Vistula in Poland. So each territory is small, and actually they don't like each other very much, and there's a strong implication that there's empty territory between the main concentrations of each of them.