Precedential Reasoning and Dynastic Self-Fashioning in the Rescripts of Severus Alexander

Zachary Herz

doi:10.25162/historia-2020-0006

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Precedential Reasoning and Dynastic Self-Fashioning in the Rescripts of Severus Alexander

Herz, Zachary

From the journal Historia Historia, Volume 69, March 2020, issue 1

Published by Franz Steiner Verlag

article, 11563 Words
Original language: English
Historia 2020, pp 103-125
https://doi.org/10.25162/historia-2020-0006

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Abstract

This article argues that the rescripts of Severus Alexander (r. 222-235 C. E.) preserved within the Codex Iustinianus are markedly idiosyncratic in their reasoning; specifically, they are disproportionately likely to analogize Alexander’s decisions to those of earlier emperors. This tendency suggests a conscious effort to portray Alexander as hewing to earlier Severan and Antonine models of governance, and conforms with Alexander’s public image in other media more commonly understood as ideologically charged.

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Zachary Herz

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References

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