The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome by Anthony Kaldellis (review)
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Level 5 by design analogy (book review and qualitative scholarly commentary)
OpenAlex W2204113753 · doi:10.1353/jla.2015.0022
What was done
This publication is a scholarly book review by Warren Treadgold evaluating Anthony Kaldellis's 2015 monograph, The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome. The review analyzes Kaldellis's historiographical arguments concerning Byzantine political ideology, the conceptual continuity of the Roman res publica, imperial legitimacy, and the role of popular consent in governance.
What was found
The abstract contains no quantitative data. It outlines Kaldellis's argument that the Byzantine Empire was a Roman legal polity where imperial authority depended on popular consent, public opinion, and the threat of rebellion rather than absolute divine right alone. The reviewer finds that while Kaldellis's emphasis on Roman continuity, public opinion, and limits on imperial power is largely justified, he overstates how closely emperors followed written laws and over-reduces divine imperial ideology to mere rhetoric.
Why it matters
The review examines a major revisionist thesis in Byzantine studies that reframes imperial rule as an evolving continuation of Roman republican sovereignty constrained by public consensus and revolts.
Limits
As a book review, the text represents qualitative expert commentary and critique rather than an empirical or systematic study. It evaluates historical interpretation and terminology without quantitative data or formal primary-source testing.
Cited by
- supports Over the approximately 1,000-year history of the East Roman Empire, there were approximately 120 civil wars.