Dr Adrastos Omissi
- Lecturer (Classics)
telephone:
0141 330 5872
email:
Adrastos.Omissi@glasgow.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3021-8444Research interests
I am a specialist in the later Roman Empire (3rd-5th centuries AD), and my research has focussed on three key themes: the late Empire's civil wars, the corpus of late Roman panegyric, and the question of collective memory and of attempts to control or prohibit memorialisation (the so called damnatio memoriae).
My book Emperors and Usurpers: Civil war, panegyric, and the construction of legitimacy in the Later Roman Empire (Oxford Studies in Byzantium. Oxford: 2018), unites these three interests and constitutes an exploration of the civil wars of the Roman Empire, from the accession of the emperor Diocletian (284) until the death of the emperor Theodosius (395). The book approaches this work with an eye on the question of memory and memorialisation, and takes as its starting point the considerable problem that all Roman civil wars are described in sources written by the victors. Embracing this problem, rather than attempting to overcome it, the book explores how victorious regimes sought to blacken their defeated enemies and to control the way that the past was remembered and commemorated. I use panegyric as my primary source and not only provide the first comprehensive account of the late Empire's civil wars, but advance a detailed thesis for how legitimacy and imperial authority were conceived in the Roman Empire.
My interest in panegyric has also led me to co-edit a volume on panegyric in the later Roman Empire, Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius (Liverpool University Press, 2020). This book, a collection of articles from an international body of leading scholars in the field of panegyric studies, unites this rather disparate field through its comparative approach, bringing together scholars working on every author and collection within the corpus of late Roman panegyric and exploring what was distinct about the medium in this period.
For the future, my work will explore the role of civil war in the unravelling of Roman imperial power in the western Mediterranean.
Publications
2023
Omissi, A. (2023) Late Roman Italy in Latin Panegyric: From the Panegyrici Latini to Ennodius (289–507). In: Wijnendaele, Jeroen W. P. (ed.) Late Roman Italy: Imperium to Regnum. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 454-474. ISBN 9781399518024
Omissi, A. (2023) Hamstrung horses: dating Constantine’s departure from the court of Galerius. Journal of Late Antiquity, 16(1), pp. 4-26.
Omissi, A. (2023) The enemies of the tetrarchs: Barbarians, rebels, and usurpers in the ideology of Diocletian’s tetrarchy. In: Carla-Uhink, Filippo and Rollinger, Christian (eds.) The Tetrarchy as Ideology: Reconfigurations and Representations of an Imperial Power. Series: Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien (64). Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart, pp. 247-266. ISBN 9783515134002
2022
Omissi, A. (2022) Simon Swain (ed. and tr.): Themistius and Valens. Orations 6–13. Plekos, 24, pp. 435-442. [Book Review]
Omissi, A. (2022) Two letters of the usurper Magnus Maximus (Collectio Avellana 39 and 40). Classical Quarterly, 72(1), pp. 391-415. (doi: 10.1017/S000983882200043X)
2021
Omissi, A. (2021) Catherine Ware (ed. and tr.): A Literary Commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI(7). An Oration Delivered before the Emperor Constantine in Trier, ca. AD 310. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021. X, 396 p. £ 100.00/$ 130.00. ISBN: 978-1-107-12369-4. Plekos, 23, pp. 297-304. [Book Review]
2020
Omissi, A. (2020) Depth, what is it good for? The problem of the many ranks. Ancient Warfare, XIV(1), pp. 52-55.
Omissi, A. and Ross, A. J. (Eds.) (2020) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Omissi, A. (2020) Civil war and the late Roman panegyrical corpus. In: Omissi, Adrastos and Ross, Alan J. (eds.) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Omissi, A. and Ross, A. J. (2020) Imperial panegyric from Diocletian to Theodosius. In: Omissi, Adrastos and Ross, Alan J. (eds.) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Omissi, A. (2020) Rhetoric and power: how imperial panegyric allowed civilian elites to access power in the fourth century. In: Manders, Erica and Slootjes, Daniëlle (eds.) Leadership, Ideology and Crowds in the Roman Empire of the 4th Century AD. Series: Heidelberger Althoistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien (62). Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart. ISBN 9783515124041
2018
Omissi, A. (2018) Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy. Series: Oxford studies in Byzantium. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198824824 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198824824.001.0001)
2016
Omissi, A. (2016) Damnatio memoriae or creatio memoriae? Memory sanctions as creative processes in the Fourth Century AD. Cambridge Classical Journal, 62, pp. 170-199. (doi: 10.1017/S1750270516000038)
Omissi, A. (2016) The cap of liberty: Roman slavery, cultural memory, and magic mushrooms. Folklore, 127(3), pp. 270-285. (doi: 10.1080/0015587X.2016.1155371)
2015
Omissi, A. (2015) Johannes Wienand (ed.): Contested Monarchy. Sehepunkte, 15(11), [Book Review]
Omissi, A. (2015) Art as history by the first historian of art: Giorgio Vasari’s Ritratto di sei poeti toscani. Oxford Historian, 13, pp. 34-37.
2014
Omissi, A. (2014) Caput imperii, caput imperatoris: the display and mutilation of the bodies of emperors, in Rome and beyond; 296-416. In: Lau, Maximilian, Franchi, Caterina, Di Rodi, Morgan and Frankopan, Peter (eds.) Landscapes of Power: Selected Papers from the XV Oxford University Byzantine Society International Graduate Conference. Series: Byzantine and neohellenic studies (10). Peter Lang: Oxford ; New York. ISBN 9783034317511 (doi: 10.3726/978-3-0353-0566-1)
Articles
Omissi, A. (2023) Hamstrung horses: dating Constantine’s departure from the court of Galerius. Journal of Late Antiquity, 16(1), pp. 4-26.
Omissi, A. (2022) Two letters of the usurper Magnus Maximus (Collectio Avellana 39 and 40). Classical Quarterly, 72(1), pp. 391-415. (doi: 10.1017/S000983882200043X)
Omissi, A. (2020) Depth, what is it good for? The problem of the many ranks. Ancient Warfare, XIV(1), pp. 52-55.
Omissi, A. (2016) Damnatio memoriae or creatio memoriae? Memory sanctions as creative processes in the Fourth Century AD. Cambridge Classical Journal, 62, pp. 170-199. (doi: 10.1017/S1750270516000038)
Omissi, A. (2016) The cap of liberty: Roman slavery, cultural memory, and magic mushrooms. Folklore, 127(3), pp. 270-285. (doi: 10.1080/0015587X.2016.1155371)
Omissi, A. (2015) Art as history by the first historian of art: Giorgio Vasari’s Ritratto di sei poeti toscani. Oxford Historian, 13, pp. 34-37.
Books
Omissi, A. (2018) Emperors and Usurpers in the Later Roman Empire: Civil War, Panegyric, and the Construction of Legitimacy. Series: Oxford studies in Byzantium. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198824824 (doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198824824.001.0001)
Book Sections
Omissi, A. (2023) Late Roman Italy in Latin Panegyric: From the Panegyrici Latini to Ennodius (289–507). In: Wijnendaele, Jeroen W. P. (ed.) Late Roman Italy: Imperium to Regnum. Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, pp. 454-474. ISBN 9781399518024
Omissi, A. (2023) The enemies of the tetrarchs: Barbarians, rebels, and usurpers in the ideology of Diocletian’s tetrarchy. In: Carla-Uhink, Filippo and Rollinger, Christian (eds.) The Tetrarchy as Ideology: Reconfigurations and Representations of an Imperial Power. Series: Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien (64). Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart, pp. 247-266. ISBN 9783515134002
Omissi, A. (2020) Civil war and the late Roman panegyrical corpus. In: Omissi, Adrastos and Ross, Alan J. (eds.) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Omissi, A. and Ross, A. J. (2020) Imperial panegyric from Diocletian to Theodosius. In: Omissi, Adrastos and Ross, Alan J. (eds.) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Omissi, A. (2020) Rhetoric and power: how imperial panegyric allowed civilian elites to access power in the fourth century. In: Manders, Erica and Slootjes, Daniëlle (eds.) Leadership, Ideology and Crowds in the Roman Empire of the 4th Century AD. Series: Heidelberger Althoistorische Beiträge und Epigraphische Studien (62). Franz Steiner Verlag: Stuttgart. ISBN 9783515124041
Omissi, A. (2014) Caput imperii, caput imperatoris: the display and mutilation of the bodies of emperors, in Rome and beyond; 296-416. In: Lau, Maximilian, Franchi, Caterina, Di Rodi, Morgan and Frankopan, Peter (eds.) Landscapes of Power: Selected Papers from the XV Oxford University Byzantine Society International Graduate Conference. Series: Byzantine and neohellenic studies (10). Peter Lang: Oxford ; New York. ISBN 9783034317511 (doi: 10.3726/978-3-0353-0566-1)
Book Reviews
Omissi, A. (2024) Anthony Kaldellis – Marion Kruse, The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361–630. Cambridge – New York: Cambridge University Press 2023. xviii+205 pp. – ISBN 978-1-009-29694-6. Byzantine Review, 6, pp. 159-167. (doi: 10.17879/byzrev-2024-5549)[Book Review]
Omissi, A. (2022) Simon Swain (ed. and tr.): Themistius and Valens. Orations 6–13. Plekos, 24, pp. 435-442. [Book Review]
Omissi, A. (2021) Catherine Ware (ed. and tr.): A Literary Commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI(7). An Oration Delivered before the Emperor Constantine in Trier, ca. AD 310. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021. X, 396 p. £ 100.00/$ 130.00. ISBN: 978-1-107-12369-4. Plekos, 23, pp. 297-304. [Book Review]
Omissi, A. (2015) Johannes Wienand (ed.): Contested Monarchy. Sehepunkte, 15(11), [Book Review]
Edited Books
Omissi, A. and Ross, A. J. (Eds.) (2020) Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius. Series: Translated texts for historians. Liverpool University Press: Liverpool. ISBN 9781789621105
Grants
2020-21
British Academy Small Grant
2019
Principal’s Early Career Mobility Scheme, University of Glasgow
Institute of Classical Studies Public Engagment Grant
2014-2017
British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in History
Supervision
I would be very keen to supervise students working in any aspect of late Roman, Late Antique, or early Byzantine history, particularly students working on political culture, imperial representation, or the military establishment. My own future work will be exploring the emergence of Romano-Germanic culture and the interactions between Romans and barbarians, and I would likewise be particularly interested to support individuals looking to do research in these areas.
Current PhD topics:
- The Suicide Taboo: The Emergence of Suicidal Shame in Christian Late Antiquity
Completed projects:
- Rituals of Power: The Roman Imperial Admission from the Severans to the Fourth Century
Teaching
Classical Civilisation 1B (pre-honours)
Classical Civilisation 2B (pre-honours)
Latin Level 1 (pre-honours)
Latin Level 2 (pre-honours)
Roman Warfare (honours)
Ancient Warfare (honours)
The Later Roman Empire, 270-400 (honours)
Imperium Indivisum: The Collapse of the West Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD (honours)
