Project description
Understanding law enforcement in the Roman Empire
Between the 5th and 7th centuries, the Roman Empire struggled as governors found it increasingly difficult to exercise their powers due to the rise of a new, economically and militarily superior landowning class. Additionally, invasions by nomadic groups and conflict with the Persian Empire sharpen these challenges. The ERC-funded PeriPolis project aims to study Roman provincial capitals in Late Antiquity, focusing on Antinoopolis, Ravenna, and Petra, as well as similar centres in the Mediterranean. The objective is to create a model for justice administration and law enforcement in this era. The research will examine how provincial capitals communicated with the imperial court in Constantinople, analysing the transmission of law and shared legal culture that supported provincial governance.
Objective
This project proposes a comprehensive multi-disciplinary study of a Roman provincial capital in the period of the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. It is based on a case study of three of the most richly-documented provincial capitals, Antinoopolis, Ravenna and Petra, but encompasses similar provincial centers across the Mediterranean world and beyond in order to build a model of the administration of justice and enforcement of law in Late Antiquity. This topic is closely linked to communication between the provincial capitals and the imperial court in Constantinople and will shed light on the dynamics of the transmission of laws. It also contributes to the understanding of the shared legal culture of Late Antique provincial capitals, a major factor in the successful administration of provinces.
The model of provincial government will be based on the formal juridical, legislative and executive powers of the governor, his official staff, and the city council, and an elucidation of their capacity to carry out their functions successfully in the context of new social and cultural realities. Furthermore, it will provide insight into the dynamics of power between the central administrative apparatus, the city apparatus, and prominent landowners, religious institutions and clergy, and the villages.
The study focuses on the period between the 5th and 7th c., when it became increasingly challenging for governors and other officials to exercise the powers conferred upon them by the emperors. This was a pervasive phenomenon across the entire Empire, resulting from the emergence of a new landowning class who possessed economic and military capabilities that far exceeded those of their predecessors. Moreover, there were persistent incursions from nomadic groups in the south, as well as a prolonged conflict with the Persian Empire. The project offers a multi-disciplinary and ground-breaking approach to the government of Empire and its legal culture.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00-927 WARSZAWA
Poland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.