University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting
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REASSESSING HISTORIOGRAPHY IN LATE ANTIQUITY: PHILOSTORGIUS ON RELIGION AND EMPIRE By ANNA LANKINA A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2014 1 © 2014 Anna Lankina 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been writing these acknowledgments in my head for seven years. Now that it is time to put them down on paper I feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of individuals and institutions stored away in the notes of my mind. In the end, it is impossible to write a dissertation or complete a graduate program without the help of lots of people. They will not all be thanked here; there is not enough time and space to mention them all and some, sadly, have been forgotten. Nevertheless, as I reflect on the years of my graduate career I find that the most important gift and value I obtained from the entire experience was the people; the people who were a witness to my life during this time and whom it was a joy to get to know. First, I would like to thank those who helped me succeed in graduate school from afar. I will never forget the lessons I learned in academic rigor from the departments of History, Classics, and English at Hillsdale College. In particular, I will always be grateful to professors Harold Siegel, Lorna Holmes, Lucy Moye, Mark Kalthoff, Joseph Garnjobst, and Gavin Weaire for supporting me and giving me a head start in my graduate career with their excellent teaching. My family remained far away all around the world during my pursuit of the PhD. I am grateful to my entire family for their various kinds of support, without which I would not have been able to attend or complete this program. My ever-faithful mother, Natasha Lankina unfailingly cheered me on and made numerous sacrifices to ensure my academic success. During the writing stage of my project, my father, Vladimir Lankin encouraged me with stories of writing his own dissertation on a typewriter in a smoke- filled Soviet kitchen. My sister, Rada Lankina consistently provided all kinds of support, in particular a welcoming place to stay during a research trip to D.C. My sister Tomila 3 Lankina’s success in academia long served as a source of inspiration and healthy competition. Olga Dimchevskaya’s friendship over skype and rare but much cherished visits got me through the difficult times and reminded me about life outside graduate school. I would also like to thank Marilee Harris and her family for their unceasing support and for being a home away from home. My research and writing have been generously supported by various institutions at the University of Florida: the Department of History, The Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere, the Graduate School, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Student Council, and the Office of Research. I also had the opportunity to complete my research as a Reader at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, and I am thankful to the community of scholars there. In particular, my dissertation greatly benefited from insights gained through conversations with Scott Fitzgerald Johnson. I would also like to thank everyone involved in all the conferences I have had the pleasure of attending over the years. I am thankful to all those who offered constructive criticism, intellectual stimulation, and spirited conversation. I would especially like to thank my conference friend and colleague Joseph Reidy for his shared interest in fragmentary “heretical” early Byzantine historiography and willingness to collaborate. I would like to extend my wholehearted gratitude to the entire community of the University of Florida Department of History, its faculty, graduate students, staff, and undergraduate students. This place is truly special and I have been blessed to be a part of a department which fosters a collegial, encouraging, and scholarly environment. Over the years, numerous friends and colleagues have offered their support and commented 4 on my research and writing. Specifically, Alana Lord, Chris Bonura, Robert McEachnie, and Diana Reigelsperger have been with me throughout my graduate journey. I could not have written the dissertation without our countless conversations about graduate school, academia, and life in general. I would also like to thank the “Dissertation Support Group” which met during my final year of writing. The entire group provided a necessary setting for accountability, encouragement, and feedback, but I would like to especially thank Rebecca Devlin, Reid Weber, Andrew Welton, Tim Fritz, Rob Taber, and Chris Woolley. Penultimately, I would like to express enormous gratitude to the faculty who were involved in my project. My committee members Dr. Andrea Sterk, Dr. Nina Caputo, Dr. Bonnie Effros, Dr. Stuart Finkel, Dr. Kostas Kapparis all offered excellent critiques and suggestions throughout my graduate career. I would also like to thank them for an excellent dissertation defense conversation. I would like to especially thank Dr. Caputo for her revisions and thoughtful comments on the dissertation. I am grateful to Dr. Florin Curta who has helped me throughout my time in the program; his revisions were especially valuable at a crucial stage of the project. Finally, I would like to thank three people who helped me the most. Each individual’s type of support was completely different but all were indispensable. I will always be extremely thankful for Gizem Toska’s role in my life. Her insight, support, and understanding were exactly what I needed as a graduate student and as a person. My husband Conway Carter witnessed perhaps some of the worst moments of my graduate career and created some of the best moments. He was there for me throughout my dissertation journey—from late night writing sessions to conference presentations 5 around the country. Through it all, his encouragement, support, enduring patience, and humor continuously revealed him to be the amazing man that he is. Finally, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to my advisor Dr. Andrea Sterk. In every way she is everything an advisor ought to be. She has spent countless hours editing and revising this dissertation, improving significantly both the style and the content. She has always been supportive, even when I faced seemingly unconquerable challenges as a graduate student. She was always available for guidance, conversation, and advice on my graduate studies and my academic career. She has worked tirelessly and faithfully to improve this project and to help me become a better writer and scholar. I would dedicate this dissertation to her if I didn’t believe that she deserves much better. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 11 Philostorgius and His Ecclesiastical History ............................................................ 11 Historiographic Overview ........................................................................................ 18 Photius and the Text of Philostorgius’s History ....................................................... 27 Methodology and Approach .................................................................................... 31 2 PHILOSTORGIUS AND HISTORY WRITING IN LATE ANTIQUITY ...................... 38 In the Wake of Momigliano: Approaches to Late Antique Historiography ............... 38 Philostorgius and the Fifth-Century Church Historians ........................................... 50 Philostorgius and the Writing of His History ............................................................ 54 3 IN THE WAKE OF NICAEA: REASSESSING HEROES AND VILLAINS ............... 61 The Problem of “Arianism” ...................................................................................... 61 Emperors, Empire, and Bishops ............................................................................. 63 Nicaea and its Aftermath ......................................................................................... 66 The Accession of Athanasius .................................................................................. 73 The Arian Controversy during the reign of Constantius .......................................... 79 Interpreting the Arian Controversy in Philostorgius’s History .................................. 86 4 SPREADING THE FAITH: PHILOSTORGIUS ON MISSION AND MISSIONARIES ...................................................................................................... 88 The Missions of Theophilus and Ulfila in Non-Nicene Memory ............................... 88 Interpreting The Non-Nicene Narrative: History and Memory ................................. 90 Connecting the Missions of Theophilus and Ulfila .................................................. 94 Representation versus Reality .............................................................................. 100 Philostorgius’s Understanding of Mission in Christian History .............................. 104 Nicene vs. Non-Nicene Accounts of Missionaries ................................................. 111 5 EMPERORS AND BISHOPS: LEADERSHIP FOR THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE .... 124 Assessing Philostorgius’s View of Empire ...........................................................