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Books by Byron Waldron
Edinburgh University Press 2022; https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-dynastic-politics-in-the-age-of-diocletian-ad-284-311.html, 2022
Papers by Byron Waldron
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2025
In J. Kreiner & G. Wrightson (eds), Ancient Warfare, Volume II: Introducing Current Research (Cambridge Scholars Press), 2024
In F. Carlà-Uhink & C. Rollinger (eds), The Tetrarchy as Ideology: Reconfigurations and Representations of an Imperial Power (Franz Steiner Verlag), 2023
I've uploaded the cover, table of contents and first page of my chapter. Please DM me if you'd li... more I've uploaded the cover, table of contents and first page of my chapter. Please DM me if you'd like an offprint.
Journal of Late Antiquity, 2021
In the imperial succession of 305, the persecuting emperors Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, an... more In the imperial succession of 305, the persecuting emperors Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, and the sons of the reigning emperors were prevented from succeeding to imperial power. The Christian author Lactantius describes this event in chapters 17 to 19 of De Mortibus Persecutorum (henceforth DMP), a work that ostensibly narrates the decline in power and deaths of persecutors to demonstrate God’s uirtus and maiestas. However, DMP is remarkable for the fact that it combines sustained invective against its subjects, the persecutors, with a detailed history of events from 303 to 313. This article considers DMP as a work of invective history and focusses on the account of the succession to demonstrate how Lactantius’s vituperative characterizations, historical narrative and thesis of divine judgement complement one another. It argues that the succession creates a sophisticated and subversive juncture for his characterizations. Lactantius’s Galerius is a power-hungry barbarian, his Maximinus a perfidious barbarian, and, subverting a topos, his Diocletian is an impotent coward. Over the course of chapters 17 through 19, their combined personalities create the circumstances that will govern their collective loss of power, their deaths and the damnatio memoriae of their regime.
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2020
The consulships offer insights into the collapse of the Diocletianic imperial college and the ris... more The consulships offer insights into the collapse of the Diocletianic imperial college and the rise of Constantine. For the year 308 modern reconstructions have Constantine accept the consular appointments of Galerius: Diocletian X, Galerius VII. However, contrary to scholarly consensus, a close reading of the consular fasti reveals that there was disagreement among the sources over whether Diocletian or rather Maximian was regarded as consul for the tenth time in Constantine’s territories. This article aims to demonstrate the existence of this disagreement, to argue that in 308 Constantine did indeed regard Maximian as consul, and to consider how this changes our understanding of the period.
Ancient History: Resources for Teachers, 2017
Papers of the British School at Rome, 2015
Encyclopaedia Articles by Byron Waldron
In I. T. Cinemre & C. Pilevneli (eds), Institutions and Concepts in Late Antiquity (224-651) (Turkish Historical Society), 2025
Book Reviews by Byron Waldron
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2024
The Classical Review, 2022
The Classical Review, 2020
Melbourne Historical Journal, 2014
Web Articles by Byron Waldron
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/08/20/fabius-maximus-rullianus-meet-romes-first-military-superstar/, 2024
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/05/02/shapur-i-meet-the-third-century-persian-king-who-crushed-three-roman-emperors/, 2024
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/01/24/khushnawar-meet-the-fifth-century-hun-warlord-who-surpassed-even-attila/, 2024
Ph.D. Dissertation by Byron Waldron
At the turn of the fourth century, four soldiers ruled the Roman Empire: Diocletian, Maximian, Co... more At the turn of the fourth century, four soldiers ruled the Roman Empire: Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius and Galerius. This Tetrarchy, as modern scholars call it, was the brainchild of Diocletian, and under this emperor's leadership, the regime brought stability to an empire shaken after a half-century of political and military convulsions. These Tetrarchs defeated the resurgent enemies of the empire, they ended an epidemic of military rebellion that had lasted decades, and they attempted numerous reforms in an effort to better the empire both economically and spiritually.
This dissertation examines the Tetrarchy as an imperial dynasty, and it uses the concept of dynasty to highlight how the Tetrarchic regime was often at odds with imperial precedents. Like other Roman dynasts, the Tetrarchs employed adoption, marriage and shared nomenclature in the expression of their rule, but they also ignored certain dynastic norms. Diocletian and Maximian presented themselves as brothers despite being unrelated, and they used the names Jovius and Herculius to imply a close connection to Jupiter and Hercules. Diocletian and Galerius repeatedly excluded the sons of the Tetrarchs from the succession, and the sons themselves were variously hostages, symbols of imperial unity and targets of assassination. Moreover, for most of the Tetrarchic period, imperial women were neither empresses nor deified.
This study investigates these issues through the lens of the Roman army, and it presents the Tetrarchic dynasty as a military experiment, created by and tailored to soldiers. At the beginning of Tetrarchic rule, Rome's armies exerted an unprecedented influence over imperial politics, and the Tetrarchs themselves were products of these armies. This thesis shows that the Tetrarchs gave their sons and the imperial women important but subdued roles within their regime. It proposes that these approaches to dynasty and the decision to create the Tetrarchy came about because of military experience and responded to the pressing need to forestall army rebellion. Furthermore, the study argues that the regime represented the Augusti and their Caesars as pairs of brothers, and that it did so to appeal to the army. It is concluded that friendship, namely the camaraderie of Diocletian and Maximian, was central to dynastic cohesion and imperial unity during the Tetrarchic period. Whatever the intentions of the Tetrarchs, their dynastic junta could only be temporary, since the friendship of the Augusti could not be replicated.
Panels by Byron Waldron
International Medieval Congress, 2024
Edinburgh University Press 2022; https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-dynastic-politics-in-the-age-of-diocletian-ad-284-311.html, 2022
Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2025
In J. Kreiner & G. Wrightson (eds), Ancient Warfare, Volume II: Introducing Current Research (Cambridge Scholars Press), 2024
In F. Carlà-Uhink & C. Rollinger (eds), The Tetrarchy as Ideology: Reconfigurations and Representations of an Imperial Power (Franz Steiner Verlag), 2023
I've uploaded the cover, table of contents and first page of my chapter. Please DM me if you'd li... more I've uploaded the cover, table of contents and first page of my chapter. Please DM me if you'd like an offprint.
Journal of Late Antiquity, 2021
In the imperial succession of 305, the persecuting emperors Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, an... more In the imperial succession of 305, the persecuting emperors Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, and the sons of the reigning emperors were prevented from succeeding to imperial power. The Christian author Lactantius describes this event in chapters 17 to 19 of De Mortibus Persecutorum (henceforth DMP), a work that ostensibly narrates the decline in power and deaths of persecutors to demonstrate God’s uirtus and maiestas. However, DMP is remarkable for the fact that it combines sustained invective against its subjects, the persecutors, with a detailed history of events from 303 to 313. This article considers DMP as a work of invective history and focusses on the account of the succession to demonstrate how Lactantius’s vituperative characterizations, historical narrative and thesis of divine judgement complement one another. It argues that the succession creates a sophisticated and subversive juncture for his characterizations. Lactantius’s Galerius is a power-hungry barbarian, his Maximinus a perfidious barbarian, and, subverting a topos, his Diocletian is an impotent coward. Over the course of chapters 17 through 19, their combined personalities create the circumstances that will govern their collective loss of power, their deaths and the damnatio memoriae of their regime.
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2020
The consulships offer insights into the collapse of the Diocletianic imperial college and the ris... more The consulships offer insights into the collapse of the Diocletianic imperial college and the rise of Constantine. For the year 308 modern reconstructions have Constantine accept the consular appointments of Galerius: Diocletian X, Galerius VII. However, contrary to scholarly consensus, a close reading of the consular fasti reveals that there was disagreement among the sources over whether Diocletian or rather Maximian was regarded as consul for the tenth time in Constantine’s territories. This article aims to demonstrate the existence of this disagreement, to argue that in 308 Constantine did indeed regard Maximian as consul, and to consider how this changes our understanding of the period.
Ancient History: Resources for Teachers, 2017
Papers of the British School at Rome, 2015
In I. T. Cinemre & C. Pilevneli (eds), Institutions and Concepts in Late Antiquity (224-651) (Turkish Historical Society), 2025
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2024
The Classical Review, 2022
The Classical Review, 2020
Melbourne Historical Journal, 2014
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/08/20/fabius-maximus-rullianus-meet-romes-first-military-superstar/, 2024
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/05/02/shapur-i-meet-the-third-century-persian-king-who-crushed-three-roman-emperors/, 2024
Military History Now, https://militaryhistorynow.com/2024/01/24/khushnawar-meet-the-fifth-century-hun-warlord-who-surpassed-even-attila/, 2024
At the turn of the fourth century, four soldiers ruled the Roman Empire: Diocletian, Maximian, Co... more At the turn of the fourth century, four soldiers ruled the Roman Empire: Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius and Galerius. This Tetrarchy, as modern scholars call it, was the brainchild of Diocletian, and under this emperor's leadership, the regime brought stability to an empire shaken after a half-century of political and military convulsions. These Tetrarchs defeated the resurgent enemies of the empire, they ended an epidemic of military rebellion that had lasted decades, and they attempted numerous reforms in an effort to better the empire both economically and spiritually.
This dissertation examines the Tetrarchy as an imperial dynasty, and it uses the concept of dynasty to highlight how the Tetrarchic regime was often at odds with imperial precedents. Like other Roman dynasts, the Tetrarchs employed adoption, marriage and shared nomenclature in the expression of their rule, but they also ignored certain dynastic norms. Diocletian and Maximian presented themselves as brothers despite being unrelated, and they used the names Jovius and Herculius to imply a close connection to Jupiter and Hercules. Diocletian and Galerius repeatedly excluded the sons of the Tetrarchs from the succession, and the sons themselves were variously hostages, symbols of imperial unity and targets of assassination. Moreover, for most of the Tetrarchic period, imperial women were neither empresses nor deified.
This study investigates these issues through the lens of the Roman army, and it presents the Tetrarchic dynasty as a military experiment, created by and tailored to soldiers. At the beginning of Tetrarchic rule, Rome's armies exerted an unprecedented influence over imperial politics, and the Tetrarchs themselves were products of these armies. This thesis shows that the Tetrarchs gave their sons and the imperial women important but subdued roles within their regime. It proposes that these approaches to dynasty and the decision to create the Tetrarchy came about because of military experience and responded to the pressing need to forestall army rebellion. Furthermore, the study argues that the regime represented the Augusti and their Caesars as pairs of brothers, and that it did so to appeal to the army. It is concluded that friendship, namely the camaraderie of Diocletian and Maximian, was central to dynastic cohesion and imperial unity during the Tetrarchic period. Whatever the intentions of the Tetrarchs, their dynastic junta could only be temporary, since the friendship of the Augusti could not be replicated.
International Medieval Congress, 2024
The Classical Association Conference, Swansea 2022, Apr 18, 2022
Australasian Society for Classical Studies Conference, 2024
15th Biennial Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity Conference, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
The Many Faces of Crisis in Late Antiquity, Macquarie University, 2023
Dynasty and Place, Cardiff University, 2023
International Medieval Congress 2023, University of Leeds, 2023
International Ancient Warfare Conference, South Dakota State University & University of Bonn, 2023
“Meet the New Gods, Same as the Old Gods?” Roman Religion, Mass Media and Imperial Power, University of Newcastle, Australia, 2023
Australasian Society for Classical Studies 44, University of Canterbury, 2023
Constantinian Propaganda, University of Exeter, 2022
International Ancient Warfare Conference, 2022
24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Università Ca’Foscari Venezia, 2022
16th International Federation of the Societies of Classical Studies Congress, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2022
Classical Association 2022, Swansea University, 2022
International Medieval Congress 2022, University of Leeds, 2022
Australasian Society for Classical Studies 43, University of Tasmania, 2022
Second Annual South West and Wales Late Antique, Early Medieval, and Byzantine Network Postgraduate-Early Career Researcher Colloquium, Digital Conference, 2021
The Virtual Leeds International Medieval Congress 2021, Jul 2021
The Australasian Society for Classical Studies Conference 42, Feb 8, 2021
The Classical Association Conference, Swansea 2020 (cancelled due to COVID19), Apr 18, 2020
The Virtual Leeds International Medieval Congress, Jul 9, 2020
Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar Series, University of Sydney, 2023
The Cambridge Late Antique Network Seminar Series, Mar 9, 2021
The St Andrews Centre for Late Antique Studies Seminar Series, Jan 27, 2021
The University of Nottingham Classics and Archaeology Research Seminar Series, Feb 11, 2021
The Australian National University Centre for Classical Studies Public Seminar Series, May 12, 2021
The University of Leicester Archaeology and Ancient History Research Seminar Series, Nov 18, 2020
The University of Queensland Classics and Ancient History Seminar Series, Oct 9, 2020
The University of Sydney Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar Series, Sep 26, 2019
The University of Sydney Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar Series, 2017
The University of Sydney Classics and Ancient History Research Seminar Series, 2015
The Macquarie Ancient History Research Seminar Series, 2014
The University of Queensland Classics and Ancient History Podcast
