Henry Hopwood-Phillips
The Capitoline Temple of Rome
“Here is the Capitol where in the old days a human head was found and declared to be an omen, for in that place would be fixed the...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 27, 2021
- 7 min
The Six Face of Rome
Rome has boasted many titles (from caput mundi to urbs sacra) over the centuries. Some are bombastic, several true, and almost all play...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- May 20, 2021
- 10 min
The Greatest Greek Artists of the Ancient World
My book draft contains large passages on the statuary of Constantinople. As I scribbled them up I realised that few – unless they...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 29, 2021
- 4 min
Sacred Geography: the Rise of the Peregrini
“Those who came for the spectacle left instructed in the divine.”[1] Theodoret of Cyrrhus The Jews had a handful of holy places worthy of...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 22, 2021
- 6 min
Desertion: Realpolitik vs Ideology
Defectio shared a seat with high treason in Roman law, a crime which usually resulted in ignominious forms of punishment followed by the...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 5, 2021
- 4 min
Leo III: Double Agent or Saviour of the Romans?
“The Power of God’s words… shall never pass away.” Leo III, Ecloga [1] In 705, the noseless Justinian II returned to Constantinople and...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Apr 1, 2021
- 5 min
The Road from Heraklios to Islam
“Since the days of Scipio, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire.”...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 26, 2021
- 4 min
Ex Occidente Lux: The Byzantine Reception of St Aquinas
Aquinas arrived on the Byzantine literary scene on 24th December, 1354, when Kydones completed his translation of Summa contra gentiles....
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 25, 2021
- 4 min
Golinduch: the Iranian Living Martyr
Few will have heard of Golinduch.[1] She’s not in the western canon and – despite her extraordinary life and “death” – she is not a...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 18, 2021
- 6 min
Who Were the Excubitores?
The sixth-century bureaucrat John Lydus wrote that Roman military dress had changed over time but that there were still some troops who...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 11, 2021
- 4 min
What year is it? From Archons to Anno Domini: Early Western Dating Systems
Around 500 BC the Greeks began dating events by reference to the name of an important local office holder e.g. the priestess of Hera at...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Mar 4, 2021
- 4 min
Sacred Geography: The Development of Relics
Around the late 340s Cyril – the future bishop of Jerusalem – announced that the city’s church was in possession of the “wood of the...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Feb 25, 2021
- 3 min
Top Roman Sites in Britain
I’ve tried to omit some of the obvious big ticket items like Aquae Sulis (modern Bath, which is Roman only really up to the stylobate)...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Feb 18, 2021
- 4 min
Germanic Assemblies in the Post-Roman West
A parenthesis about Clovis in a passage I wrote here inspired this article. I outlined how Clovis’ appointment as consul by Anastasius...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Feb 11, 2021
- 5 min
St. Pantaleon of Cologne: Theophanou’s Final Resting Place
Bruno of Cologne was appointed to the court of his older brother Otto the Great at the age of fifteen. Thirteen years later he was made...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Feb 4, 2021
- 3 min
Volk Auf Dem Weg: Ethnogenesis in the West
Having recently written about Russian and English ethnogenesis, it’s time to alight on what ethnicity meant in the medieval period....
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jan 28, 2021
- 3 min
Nicaea: the Ecumenical Council the West Ignored
As with the Arian controversy (318-) Nicaea took place without any considerable Western involvement, a trend that continued until roughly...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jan 21, 2021
- 3 min
The Birth of the British Church
It’s not certain how Christianity got to Gaul let alone Britain. Perhaps the most prominent theory is that the faith entered Marseilles...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jan 14, 2021
- 3 min
The Night Watch: Hadrian's Wall in the Dark Ages
There has always been the assumption that Roman Britain became post-Roman (or “sub-Roman”) the moment it was denuded of Roman troops (by...
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Henry Hopwood-Phillips
- Jan 1, 2021
- 4 min
The First Ottoman Patriarch: Scholarios on the Throne
George Scholarios was about fifty years old when Constantinople fell in 1453. Three years earlier he had taken the name of Gennadios on...
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