The destruction of imperial writings in late-antique historiographic narratives

Abstract

Lactantius and Eusebius of Cæsarea wrote about a man who was executed for tearing down an imperial writing said to contain the order for the destruction of Christian scriptures. The chapter addresses the relation of their historiographic narratives to the polemical characterisation of imperial authority in topoi about the materiality of writing which reflect various concepts of language. Referring to similar incidents in Greek and Rabbinic literature, the plausibility of the accounts is assessed with regard to fourth- and fifth-century Roman law, the unfolding of the Diocletianic Persecution and the production and reception of traditions about the enforcement of measures against religious practices and groups. The chapter shows that the passages underline the relevance of texts for the imperial identity of the provinces, in Christianity and in the structure of Eusebius’ and Lactantius’ works. Their stylised accounts would reveal to audiences steeped in the the reception of the Roman literary and political past the contribution of their historiographies as material conveyors of a reasoning which could buttress the imperial and religious identity of their world.