The Warlords

Abstract

The establishment of the seat of power in Constantinople transformed Cappadocian society just as it deeply affected the rest of the East. Constantinople exerted a tremendous gravitational pull over the eastern provinces and drew to it the talented and ambitious men who earlier might have been content to remain at home. Prior to the fourth century, the people of the region had played little role in Roman political or cultural life, but during Late Antiquity we see Cappadocians advancing through the triad of avenues common throughout the empire — service to the state, the church, or the army. Cappadocians like Gregory of Nazianzos attained the highest of clerical offices; the circle of Basil and Gregory of Nazianzos included the Cappadocians Aburgios, who rose to Quaestor sacri Palatii or Comes rei Privatae, and Martinianus, who was Consularis Siciliae, Vicarius Africae, and Praefectus Urbs Romanus.² Philagrios rose to Praefectus Aegypti and Vicar Ponticae while Sophronios earned the positions of Magister Officiorum and Praefectus urbis Constantinoplis. Most famous of course was John the Cappadocian, who ascended to the pinnacle of the civil administration under Justinian.³