Project description DEENESFRITPL Understanding late antique constitutions Late antique laws (constitutions) are composed in a challenging, rarefied prose, hiding their legal core in the thick of a rambling text. In a world devoid of television or newspapers, the freshly arriving constitutions arguably provided the most important connection to the wider world. One might expect their expansive introductions to be propagandistic, which is however not the case: several emperors preferred a candid approach, admitting that barbarian attacks were indeed to be feared or that an earlier law was wrong. The EU-funded ERC project AntCoCo will investigate these constitutions from various viewpoints. The texts will be scrutinised by linguists, historians, and legal historians. Modern communication theory will provide the methodological means for an understanding of their communicative function. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The genre of late antique law texts, “constitutions”, appears puzzling to the modern observer: contrary to our expectations of clarity and brevity, they are astoundingly voluminous, hiding away the actual legal core—which can be quite short—in a lengthy and elaborate text. They are composed in an accomplished style, and we actually know that their authorship was entrusted to some of the best contemporary literati. Thanks to a sophisticated system of transmission, these texts would reach each and every town in the area of their intended diffusion. Eagerly attended public readings as well as postings at well-frequented places (sometimes permanently as inscriptions) ensured that vast portions of the population would come to know their contents. These texts’ importance in Late Antiquity contrasts starkly with the current state of research. Nobody has investigated the full imperial constitutions as prime examples of late antique Kunstprosa, nor has much effort been put into appreciating the various subjects raised in their complex introductions. Their communicative role, spanning huge geographic as well as social distances from the very center of power to the remotest corners of the vast empire, has been tentatively interpreted by some scholars as “propaganda”, a simplistic explanation which fails to convince. Clearly, these extraordinary texts are in dire need of reassessment. This project has a twofold purpose: first, on the basis of the evidence from the full constitutions, it will yield the methodically most sophisticated study of top-down communication in Late Antiquity, embracing important conclusions and methods of modern communication theory. Second, in order to obtain reliable results, the full constitutions must be collected, sorted, verified, emended, and published anew. Both the resulting collection itself as well as the completely novel methodology employed to ensure its soundness will have a major impact on other research in Classics, Law, and beyond. Fields of science humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistoryancient historysocial scienceslaw Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution OTTO-FRIEDRICH-UNIVERSITAET BAMBERG Net EU contribution € 1 998 625,00 Address KAPUZINERSTRASSE 16 96047 Bamberg Germany See on map Region Bayern Oberfranken Bamberg, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 625,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all OTTO-FRIEDRICH-UNIVERSITAET BAMBERG Germany Net EU contribution € 1 998 625,00 Address KAPUZINERSTRASSE 16 96047 Bamberg See on map Region Bayern Oberfranken Bamberg, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 625,00
