Noël Duval et l'architecture aulique durant l'Antiquité tardive
Résumé
Among the various research themes explored by Noël Duval throughout his rich career, one of the most important concerned the architecture and identification of Late Antiquity palaces. Since his time at the École française de Rome, Duval opposed the idea that there was a typical palatial architecture and argued that what distinguished an imperial residence from a rich contemporary aristocratic residence was not so much the plan as the means used. He devoted some thirty articles to this issue, but unfortunately his planned monograph, Les palais impériaux et royaux de l’Antiquité tardive, has never been published. This historiographical contribution traces the evolution of Duval’s theories, the ways in which they were accepted by contemporary scholars, and finally the that his ideas had on the current conception of aulic architecture in Late Antiquity.