Still Caput Mundi? The Role of Rome between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in the Mediterranean Area. Part 2: Different Forms of Urban Competition, Università Roma Tre and Online, February 15–17, 2023
Rome's fortunes have always been closely linked to the fortunes of the Roman Empire: a city flourishing during the period of expansion and at the apogee of the Empire, a city in decline during the disintegration phase of the Roman Empire, particularly the Pars Occidentis. It was precisely the crisis of the Western Roman Empire that slowly marked a turning point in the history of Rome, as, in the various dioceses, some cities gradually assumed a leading role in the Mediterranean area, clearly challenging the hitherto undisputed primacy of the ancient capital city.
Following in the footsteps of the March 2022 meeting, in which the role of Rome in the context of its transition from the city of the emperor to the city of the pope was discussed, this conference aims to investigate the development of all those urban realities that, for various reasons and in different ambers, entered in competition with Rome.
Unlike the 2022 meeting, which focused exclusively on the Western Mediterranean, this workshop also looks to the Eastern Roman Empire, where the evolution of certain cultural, political, and religious phenomena entails the rise of as many cities, primarily Constantinople, that are bidding for the role of caput mundi.
Workshop of the Center for Advanced Study “RomanIslam – Center for Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies (Universität Hamburg) and the Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici (Università degli Studi Roma Tre).