Fritz Sullivan
I am primarily interested in studying the relationship between government and religion in the Later Roman Empire.
I recently finished my master's thesis entitled: Tempeldämmerung - Pagan Temple Destruction in the Context of the Institutionalized Incentive Structures of Governors in the Eastern Provinces of the Later Roman Empire
I argue that pagan temple destruction of the eastern provinces in the Later Roman Empire should not be understood as Götterdämmerung, a cataclysmic, sudden, and violent destruction of pagan shrines and temples, but rather what I call Tempeldämmerung, the gradual ruin of temples as provincial governors’s “benevolent light” of public funding no longer shined on these pagan temples — a fade into twilight.
This work uses Rational Choice Theory from economics to analyze and explain the incentive structures that led provincial governors to prioritize the funding of other public buildings over the temples, resulting in their collapse from lack of maintenance. To understand this incentive structure, I examine the relationship between governors and their subjects, how they communicate with one another, and these groups bargaining power over the other.
Phone: +45 53 77 35 54
I recently finished my master's thesis entitled: Tempeldämmerung - Pagan Temple Destruction in the Context of the Institutionalized Incentive Structures of Governors in the Eastern Provinces of the Later Roman Empire
I argue that pagan temple destruction of the eastern provinces in the Later Roman Empire should not be understood as Götterdämmerung, a cataclysmic, sudden, and violent destruction of pagan shrines and temples, but rather what I call Tempeldämmerung, the gradual ruin of temples as provincial governors’s “benevolent light” of public funding no longer shined on these pagan temples — a fade into twilight.
This work uses Rational Choice Theory from economics to analyze and explain the incentive structures that led provincial governors to prioritize the funding of other public buildings over the temples, resulting in their collapse from lack of maintenance. To understand this incentive structure, I examine the relationship between governors and their subjects, how they communicate with one another, and these groups bargaining power over the other.
Phone: +45 53 77 35 54
less
InterestsView All (12)
Uploads
Papers by Fritz Sullivan
This work uses economic theory to analyze and explain the incentive structure that would have led a provincial governor to prioritize the funding of other public buildings over the temples, resulting in their collapse from lack of maintenance. Economic theory is well suited to a study of how a provincial governor in general would have governed since a governor had to manage an allocation of finite resources and in doing so, was engaged in exchanges with his subjects. A governor interacted with his local elite through a system of mutual benefaction. This involved an exchange of offering benefactions, which could be honorific or practical, both being desirable nonetheless. This work asks the question, “Was the fall of pagan temples a result of rational behavior on the part of these governors?”"
This work uses economic theory to analyze and explain the incentive structure that would have led a provincial governor to prioritize the funding of other public buildings over the temples, resulting in their collapse from lack of maintenance. Economic theory is well suited to a study of how a provincial governor in general would have governed since a governor had to manage an allocation of finite resources and in doing so, was engaged in exchanges with his subjects. A governor interacted with his local elite through a system of mutual benefaction. This involved an exchange of offering benefactions, which could be honorific or practical, both being desirable nonetheless. This work asks the question, “Was the fall of pagan temples a result of rational behavior on the part of these governors?”"