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Noel Emmanuel Lenski
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Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. (Volume 34) (Transformation of the Classical Heritage) Paperback – June 26, 2014

by Noel Lenski (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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Failure of Empire is the first comprehensive biography of the Roman emperor Valens and his troubled reign (a.d. 364-78). Valens will always be remembered for his spectacular defeat and death at the hands of the Goths in the Battle of Adrianople. This singular misfortune won him a front-row seat among history's great losers. By the time he was killed, his empire had been coming unglued for several years: the Goths had overrun the Balkans; Persians, Isaurians, and Saracens were threatening the east; the economy was in disarray; and pagans and Christians alike had been exiled, tortured, and executed in his religious persecutions. Valens had not, however, entirely failed in his job as emperor. He was an admirable administrator, a committed defender of the frontiers, and a ruler who showed remarkable sympathy for the needs of his subjects.

In lively style and rich detail, Lenski incorporates a broad range of new material, from archaeology to Gothic and Armenian sources, in a study that illuminates the social, cultural, religious, economic, administrative, and military complexities of Valens's realm. Failure of Empire offers a nuanced reconsideration of Valens the man and shows both how he applied his strengths to meet the expectations of his world and how he ultimately failed in his efforts to match limited capacities to limitless demands.
Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Transformation of the Classical Heritage
  2. Print length
    470 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    University of California Press
  5. Publication date
    June 26, 2014
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0520283899
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0520283893
  9. Lexile measure
    1670L
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

This book will be a hard act to follow. W. H. C. Frend, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Splendid book . . . Lenski offers an extraordinarily suggestive description . . . information is presented without fanfare, but with style and much good sense. Clifford Ando, American Historical Review

In this energetically reasoned and learned book, Noel Lenski links the imperial biography to the administrative, military, and religious history of the late Roman State The result is a thought-provoking and enduring contribution to what we know about late antiquity: a book to be welcomed. Sabine MacCormack, author of The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine

Failure of Empire is exceptionally well organized: one gets the sense of a guiding intellect behind every paragraph Lenski brings coherence to a reign that has long seemed to lack anything of the sort. Hal Drake, author of Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance

From the Back Cover

“This book will be a hard act to follow.”―W. H. C. Frend, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

“Splendid book . . . Lenski offers an extraordinarily suggestive description . . . information is presented without fanfare, but with style and much good sense.”―Clifford Ando, American Historical Review

“In this energetically reasoned and learned book, Noel Lenski links the imperial biography to the administrative, military, and religious history of the late Roman State…The result is a thought-provoking and enduring contribution to what we know about late antiquity: a book to be welcomed.”―Sabine MacCormack, author of The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine

“Failure of Empire is exceptionally well organized: one gets the sense of a guiding intellect behind every paragraph…Lenski brings coherence to a reign that has long seemed to lack anything of the sort.”―Hal Drake, author of Constantine and the Bishops: The Politics of Intolerance

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of California Press; First Edition (June 26, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 470 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0520283899
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0520283893
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1670L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.3 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

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Noel Emmanuel Lenski

Noel Emmanuel Lenski

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4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Arch Stanton
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on a Not-So-Excellent Emperor
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2009
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For those who don't know, the Emperor Valens was the man who lost the Battle of Adrianople to the Goths thus allowing them to establish themselves on Roman territory. They never left it for the rest of the history of Rome. Many historians see this as the battle that led to the end of Rome 98 years later. So essentially Valens is remembered as a great failure. If you're wondering why someone would want to read a book on a failure then the author has an answer for you. The book is designed to show what qualities were needed in an emperor by showing the qualities that Valens had and the ones he was lacking. And Valens did have good qualities. He wasn't one of those despotic tyrants that show up from time to time in Roman history. He was just a man of average abilities who found himself unable to cope with events. He's also well documented for a fourth century emperor. Ammianus Marcelinus describes his as consisting of "equal parts good and bad qualities," which is another advantage to a historian. The man is not obscured by propaganda in this era of high religious tensions. Nobody tries to make him a saint or a villain, he's just... a man.

OK, onto the book. Aside from the kudos due to the choice of such an awesome topic, there are many reasons to read this book. As far as I know, there aren't any other biographies of Valens out there so you're pretty much stuck with this one anyways. But that's OK, because this book is all you'll need. As mentioned above the book's main purpose is to analyze Valens' abilities and find out what he had and what was lacking. The information on this is fascinating, but it's also arranged in chronological order which means that it reads like a biography and not just some scholarly thesis. The book is written very well on the whole. It maintains your interest all the way through. It also includes probably the most in-depth analysis of the Battle of Adrianople to be found anywhere. Another good reason to check this out. This is one of those books where you really feel an understanding for this era. The world comes to life, as does Valens in all his glory/infamy.

Now, the downside. First and most obvious is the price. This book goes for about $80. If you see it for under $40 grab it! It'll be worth it. For those of us who have no money, there is another excellent book on the battle of Adrianople called  The Day of the Barbarians . It's a short book but it covers the battle almost as well as this one and for a fraction of the price. It doesn't include more than a minimal sketch of Valens but that's the price you have to pay for cheapness I suppose. The only other problem is the author's tone. It never gets in the way of the story, but the author's tone tends to be really cocky. Ridiculously so at times. Again, it isn't enough to interfere with the story but it can get on your nerves. Fortunately, most of that comes in the Introduction and the Conclusion. In conclusion I can recommend this book VERY strongly, but due to price considerations it's probably a rental and not a buy. If money is no object to you then I'd say buy it, and could you possibly talk to me about my college loans Rich Boy?
15 people found this helpful
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JPS
5.0 out of 5 stars A struggling Emperor who was out of his depth
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2012
This book is a masterpiece in several respects. Drawn from the author's dissertation, but with a couple of additional chapters, it retraces the troubled reign of Valens (AD 364-378) up to his death on the battlefield of Adrianople. This relatively obscure Emperor of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire is mostly known for this disastrous defeat, which many historians have seen - perhaps a bit too quickly - as the beginning of the terminal decline of the Roman Empire. He is also known as the younger brother of the energetic Emperor-soldier Valentinian the First (AD 364-375), who ruled the Western part of the Roman Empire while his brother ruled the East.

The first quality of this book is its relative originality. Most books written on Roman Emperors concentrate on either the great ones or the ones that turned out to be monsters, or were painted to be so after their death. This book is about an Emperor who was neither one nor the other, who struggled during his whole reign, and who finally failed.

As the author shows so well, he was a "misfit". Although he was far from incapable and was a talented administrator, he was out of his depth. His lack of education - he neither read nor spoke Greek although this was the main language spoken in the Eastern part of the Empire - put him at a disadvantage. Neither was he a relentless soldier, like his elder brother. He was perseverant, he struggled and he tried his best, but this was not enough.

The third remarkable point made in this book is to list in a seamless way through a mostly chronological narrative the series of challenges that Valens had to face one after the other. From Procopius' revolt, which he dealt with alone, to his first Gothic war that he had to break-off because of growing pressure from the Sassanids on his Eastern frontier, to his conflict with the latter which he also had to put on hold as the Gothic crisis was mishandled by his generals and climaxed. During that time, both the Isaurians and the Arab tribes stirred up trouble and major military efforts had to be organized against them with troops which were badly needed elsewhere.

The impression you get throughout the book is that of an overwhelmed fireman running from one fire to another without being able to put out any of them entirely.

The fourth element is that he also had to face other major political and economic issues within his Empire. As Lenski shows, the division that Valentinian had imposed in AD 364 left him with one third of the Empire (Thrace and Oriens) with his elder brother taking the Gauls (Britain, Gaul, Spain), Italy, Africa and Illyria. Initially, the mobile army seems to have been divided more equally although the author claims that the elder brother, who was very much the senior Emperor, required from Valens that he return 16 units to him half-way through their respective reigns. This did not help Valens who seems to have struggled even more than Valentinian to find sufficient recruits to fill the ranks of his armies. As always, Valens complied, collaborated and was fully loyal to his elder brother.

A second difficulty was that, unlike in the West, the East was rift with religious conflicts between the Nicene and various strands of "Arians" which, together, made up the vast majority of Christians. Unlike his elder brother, Valens got sucked into these conflicts, took sides, and never really managed to solve them and restore order entirely. Finally, there were the financial policies of the two brothers, what we would call today their economic policies. Both fought vigorously against corruption and, according to Lenski, they seem to have been relatively successful through their harsh laws. Note, however, that some historians argue, on the contrary, that these harsh and increasingly strident laws show on the contrary that the Emperors were getting increasingly desperate (see, for instance Jones or McMullen). The reform of the currency, where the pureness of silver and gold coins was increased, while efficient to fight against corruption, was deflationary. The huge debts inherited from Julian's failed Persian expedition followed by the large expenses related to the Emperor's building and fortification program (just like that of Valentinian) made sure that public expenses stayed high. Because of growing internal and external security threats, Valens' expenses grew further, so that, at a time when there were no financial markets for government bonds, he was forced to start selling imperial property. It was as these difficulties were growing that the Gothic crisis developed.

The final chapter tells the story of "The Disaster at Adrianople", with is rather well known but also well told here, in particular when the author gets to analyse the various causes of the disaster. Interestingly, he believes that, contrary to the accepted version that has Valens rushing to seek battle without awaiting his nephew and his forces, the Eastern Emperor waited for as long as he could while Gratian was delayed and only slowly came with limited reinforcements.

Lenski also sides with those who believed that the Roman army that was destroyed and the Barbarian forces were both on the high side (about 30000 against perhaps some 50000 warriors), as opposed to the significantly lower numbers that had become accepted (some 15000-18000 against 20000-25000). Although all these numbers are educated guesses, the author's choice in this respect is perhaps the main weakness of the book. After having demonstrated and insisted so much on the army's recruiting difficulties and shown that most units were understrength and that the army had taken significant losses already, arguing for the higher numbers at Adrianople creates a bit of tension, especially given that significant forces had to be left behind to garrison the East. Another limitation of this book is, of course, its high price. However, it is worth every penny of it.

A superb read which I cannot recommend too much for anyone interested in the twilight of the Roman Empire.
7 people found this helpful
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Falcon6
4.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2017
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Well written and researched. I would disagree with some conclusions, but a book of this type should spark discussion.
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Top reviews from other countries

alan penn
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2015
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Excellent really pleased
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Romulus Augustus
4.0 out of 5 stars Good for referencing, with some caveats.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 10, 2015
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Whilst there is much to admire from Lenski's 'Failure of Empire', he unfortunately at times makes rather sensational statements without evidence to back such statements up. I find this one, on page 127 particularly annoying and based on Lenski's own speculation-
'Valens arrived with his army the following spring, when he is attested at Marcianople from May 10. There, he supplemented his rather deficient strategic knowledge with the new manual 'De rebus bellicis', written for him in the period following the Procopius revolt. The manual not only recommended the sort of border fortifications that he soon built and the manufacture of the ballistae with which he equipped these forts, it also had advice on shirts to protect his men from cool and damp weather, and portable bridges, which would have been ideal for the marshy territory in which he was about to campaign'.

There is no evidence to support Valen's even knew of the existence of the 'De Rebus Bellicis' let alone took a copy of it on campaigns, and even if he had done so it would not have given him any real strategic or tactical knowledge and was full of untested and fanciful idea's to boot, especially those around the scythed chariots and ballista's.

There are similar such issues in the book which prevents me otherwise giving it a five star rating.
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