Noel Lenski
Noel Lenski studied Classics at The Colorado College (BA 1989) and Classics and Ancient History at Princeton (MA, PhD 1995).
Lenski focuses on Roman history and particularly the history of the later Roman Empire. He is interested in power relations as these played themselves out at all levels of society, from emperors to slaves. His research ranges broadly across Late Antiquity and includes studies in political, military, social, economic, religious, cultural and art history. His two monographs, on the emperors Valens and Constantine, explore the limits of imperial power in light of reader response theory and life-worlds theory. He has also published extensively on the history of slavery in antiquity and is currently working on monographs on slavery in Late Antiquity and another on the global history of slavery in premodernity. His study of ancient law will soon result in a co-authored translation and commentary of the Liber Iudiciorum or Laws of the Visigoths, to appear with Liverpool University Press. And he is also working on a monograph on human migration in the late Roman period.
Click here for CV.
Recent Articles
- “The Constantinian Frieze on the Arch of Constantine – the Weight of the Evidence,” Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen instituts, Römische Abteilung 129 (2023) 336-90 (with Michael Koortbojian)
- “Ammianus and Constantius’ Obelisk. Genre Play and Poiltical Critique,” in Noel Lenski, Roger Rees, and Onno van Nijf, eds. From East to West in Late Antiquity: Studies in honor of Jan Willem Drijvers. Munera, Studi storici sulla Tarda Antichità 56 (Edipugila 2024) 99-110.
- “The Late Roman Colonate – A New Status between Slave and Free,” in S. Hodkinson, M. Kleijwegt, and K. Vlassopoulos (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries (Oxford 2022) C24.P1–C24.S8, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199575251.013.24
- “Moving the Mail: The Status and Operations of Letter Carriers in the Collectio Avellana,” in R. Lizzi Testa, G. Marcone, and A. Giomma, eds. The Collectio Avellana and the Development of Notarial Practices in Late Antiquity, GIFBIB, 31 (Turnhout 2023) 507-63.
- “Law and Language in the Roman and Germanic Traditions: A Study of Liber Iudiciorum 6.4.3 and the Idea of iniuria in Visigothic Law”, in Carlo Lorenzi and Marialuisa Navarro, eds. Atti dell’Accademia Romanistica Costantiniana, 25, La costruzione del testo giuridico tardoantico (2023), 355-427.
- “Slavery in the Roman Empire”, in Damian Pargas and Julianne Schiel, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Global Slavery Throughout History (Palgrave 2023) 87-107 - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-13260-5_5
Books Authored or Co-Authored
- Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press 2016)
- Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State In the Fourth Century AD (University of California Press 2002; paper 2014)
- A Brief History of the Romans, second edition (Oxford University Press, 2013) (with M.T. Boatwright, D. Gargola, and R. Talbert)
- The Romans: From Village to Empire, second edition (Oxford University Press, 2011) (with M.T. Boatwright, D. Gargola, and R. Talbert)
Books Edited
- From East to West in Late Antiquity: Studies in honor of Jan Willem Drijvers. Munera, Studi storici sulla Tarda Antichità 56 (Edipugila 2024) (co-edited with Roger Rees and Onno van Nijf)
- The Fifth Century: Age of Transformation. Proceedings of the 12th Biennial Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity Conference. Munera, Studi storici sulla Tarda Antichità 46 (Edipuglia 2019) Pp. 320 (co-edited with Jan Willem Drijvers)
- What is a Slave Society? The Study of Slavery in Global Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2018) (co-edited with Catherine M. Cameron)
- Costantino prima e dopo Costantino — Constantine before and after Constantine (Edipuglia, 2012) (co-edited with G. Bonamente and R. Lizzi Testa)
- The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine (Cambridge University Press 2006; revised edition 2011)
- The Power of Religion in Late Antiquity (Ashgate Press, 2009) (co-edited with Andrew Cain)
