Social unrest in Early Byzantine Cities: from Konstantine to Feodosius I (According to «The Ecclesiastical History»)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the role of social unrest in the Early Byzantine period. Cities were the key centers of the political, socio-economic and cultural life of the empire. The authors of works in the genre of the Ecclesiastical History described urban conflicts in some detail in the context of religious and political realities. Works in this genre provide extensive material for a comprehensive analysis of the causes, course and consequences of instability in the cities of the Eastern Roman Empire. In early Byzantine times, unrest and conflicts began to occur more often. This was due both to internal processes – the uneven socio-economic development, the struggle for hegemony between different religious and political associations and ethno-confessional communities, and external factors – tensions with neighboring states, military clashes, etc. Unrest and conflicts in the eastern cities are a vivid manifestation of the contradictions of the Early Byzantine period.