Garth Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth

Garth Fowden. Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Pp. xvii and 205. 14 Illustrations and 1 Map. ISBN 0-691-06989-1. Softcover.

Sean Guynes, Western Washington University

The period of Late Antiquity – roughly the second century to the ninth century CE – stands as one of Western Civilization’s most innovative periods of history, the link between the polytheistic, non-universalist empires of the Classical world and the monotheistic, universalist culture inherited by the medieval and early-modern world. Thus, in short, is the purpose of Garth Fowden’s Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity, which attempts a generalization of the significance of the conjoining of monotheism, particularly Christianity and Islam, with the cultures of Rome and the Arab world, and also displays the integral role of the “Mountain Arena” in Western history, and defines and outlines the history of a universality empire. While Fowden covers many topics, such as the status of various religions in Late Antique Persio-Roman society, the splintering of various Christian groups (i.e. the Armenian Orthodox Church), and histories of notable figures, Empire to Commonwealth is recommended only for the highly-advanced student of Classical, Late Antique, Byzantine, Islamic, and Religious history, as the work presupposes knowledge of events, works, and people that are not otherwise described. This work would be a valuable asset to the advanced undergraduate or graduate student for its welcome, but little-practiced combining of historical and geographical areas that are often taught separately of one another, and for its thesis, which displays the vision of an avid researcher who has recognized the need for such useful scholarship.
Though advanced, Fowden’s Empire to Commonwealth is organized in a manner that is chronological, easily accessible, and which allows the progression of his thesis with increasingly useful historical examples. The first half of his work concerns his thesis and an overview of the politico-religious situations of Rome and the Fertile Crescent from the onset of polytheist cults and Judaism to the second century CE. The latter half uses Constantine’s Rome, the First Byzantine “Commonwealth,” and the Islamic caliphate to exemplify the trend towards commonwealth following the adoption of monotheism in an imperial setting.
Fowden first established his thesis: that the knowledge and belief in one god justified and made more effective imperial power and thus made possible a “universal empire,” and subsequently that that the nature of monotheist doctrine naturally gave birth to heresies, and (the “consequence”) the creation of commonwealths united not in religion, culture, and history. One of his main focuses is on the ancient idea of world empire, the definition of orbis terrarum or oikoumene, and the possibility of a politico-cultural world empire (he lists Cyrus the Great, Alexander of Macedonia, and Mohammed as the only men before the medieval era to achieve a politico-cultural world empire by his definition). At the center of such ideas, according to Fowden, is the idea of universalism (political, cultural, and/or religious), and how the idea of orbis terrarum can make or break politico-cultural aspirations; as such, the world as the Classical and Late Antiquity was concerned, consisted of two spheres: Iran and Rome – each of which vied concurrently for “world” domination and universal empire. Ultimately, it is figures suchas Cyrus, Alexander, and Mohammed who shattered the one-sided views of each group to united the two theatres of East and West under one kosmokrator. The sections of Fowden’s work on polytheist Rome and the Fertile Crescent ultimately posit that, while polytheism allows for the ability to recognize gods and goddesses in foreign lands and to adopt them to one’s needs – and as a result the gods of the urban areas universalize those on the periphery – the too numerous cults, traditions, customs, and attachments of various sects could prove harmful to imperial universalism; on the other hand, monotheism allowed the universal worship of one god, in one empire, under one emperor (though, as in the case of Judaism, this did not always presuppose universalism) – Christianity and Islam provided that bond, under the right leaders, to unite the orbis terrarum and its various polities, cultures, and ethnicities under that God.
The next half of Fowden’s work focuses on the role of Constantine, the Byzantines, and the Muslims in creating powerful empires that dissolve into commonwealths as a result of religious, cultural, and political tensions. For Constantine, becoming Christian was a welcome relief to the Roman Empire, which, having reached its peak, was spiraling into decline. As Fowden states, “…when it came to politics, the Christian Church had an organization and an impetus that no one could rival” and “Constantine does not just Christianize the Roman Empire; he unifies it too” (87-88). While Judaism had been cautious to accept converts and had remained a largely ethnic religion due to its scriptural restriction to the Hebrew people, and because it was generally non-proselytizing, Christianity was an all-inclusive doctrine that stressed salvation of all, and the belief that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to” Christ merely backed the idea of a singular world empire under the Romans. On the other hand, the Byzantine Commonwealth inherited the eastern half of an empire ravaged by barbarian invasions and, as Fowden posits, was no more than a loosely bound polity linked by the universal idea of Christianity – inherited from Constantine’s Rome – more so than a single political unit. However, areas such as Armenia, Iberia (Georgia), the Arabian Peninsula, Nubia, and Iran proved a difficulty to control, at least in terms of religious orthodoxy, and thus led to the formation of more or less independent polities within the larger “Byzantine” category. However, for Fowden, the onset of Islam – Mohammed’s universalist, monotheist religious doctrine – allowed the creation of one of histories most successful world empires, combining the Mountain Arena, Africa, Anatolia, and Iran into a conglomeration of ethnic groups bound together, at least eventually, by Islam. However, as with Rome and Byzantium, the nature of such a culturally broad empire and of monotheism led to the separation of the Islamic caliphate into multiple successor states – commonwealth. The separation of Islam into multiple groups was largely the result of legitimate succession of the title of Caliph and the creation of multiple Islamic power bases.
Garth Fowden’s extraordinarily perceptive Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of monotheism in Late Antiquity is a cautiously recommended work of scholarship, which should be approached only by the reader with a wealth of knowledge in the afore-mentioned disciplines or with the time and patience to slowly digest the complicated background information presented in the defense of the work’s thesis. It is ultimately an argument for the idea that monotheism helped create strong imperial bases around a universal religious ideal that polytheism fruitlessly attempted, and the results ofsuch a unity: heresy, factionalization, and, ultimately, political entities bound in by religious preference.