Fossili e contraddizioni dell’èra costantiniana: i dignitari del culto imperiale nella Tarda Antichità e il loro ruolo nelle “riforme religiose” di Massimino Daia e Giuliano

The imperial cult in Late Antiquity (4th-6th cent. AD) can be interpreted as a significant juridical fossile, which conveys the inner contradictions of the so called “era of Constantine”. An epigraphic and prosopographic analysis of the high priests of the imperial cult (flamines, sacerdotes and coronati in the West, ἀρχιερεῖς in the East) would point out the lasting importance of these dignitaries between the ages of Diocletian and Justinian, especially in the case of provincial high priests, who were in the same time presidents of federal assemblies (concilia, κοινά) and played a primary role in the “religious reforms” planned by Maximinus Daia and Julian the Apostate.