Le gouverneur romain a l'époque tardive : orientations de l'enquête

This presentation of the subject matter of the current volume attempts to set out - neither systematically nor exhaustively - recent and emerging trends in the study of Late Roman governors. As well as this bibliographic overview, two aspects are discussed more directly: the operation of provincial adjudication, and the dialectic of the triangular relationship between governor, public opinion and imperial authority. It is suggested that, in the failures of its local representatives - which went unnoticed more often than we might think - the central government was frequently confronted with its own failures, which were not resolved by piecemeal territorial reorganisation. On the other hand, although there are no reasons to query the negative image of governors and their exercise of power which is frequently presented by contemporaries — even by emperors — we should treat the texts criticising governors with no less rigorous caution than any other sources.