Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the 2009 Single Volume Reference/Humanities & Social Sciences PROSE award granted by the Association of American Publishers. This authoritative Companion captures the vitality and diversity of scholarship that exists on the transformative time period known as late antiquity.
Trade Review"It is not a work of reference in the traditional sense: Rousseau compares it to a journey in the company of enthusiastic experts guiding the reader through their favourite areas. By including many younger contributors, and others in mid-career, enthusiasm, and a sense of the excitement of the (as yet) unexplored, are guaranteed…the
Companion maintains a generally high level of expertise and informed analysis throughout: the contributors have been well chosen. Production and editing are excellent, and there is an intelligently constructed index…researchers and specialists cannot afford to neglect this richly rewarding book.” (
Bryn Mawr Classical Review, February, 2010)
"This is a feast of a volume, but it ‘consolidates n academic field in its own right' (p. 12) rather than opening new horizons. That was Peter Brown's achievement." (Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April 2010)
"This companion digests the latest research, and is a worthwhile addition to any reference library."(CHOICE, 2009)
"Academics and researchers in any of the fields it covers will find this a valuable vade mecum to scholarly debate in both their own and peripheral subjects; undergraduates may use it selectively to enrich or clarify particular areas of study." (Reference Reviews, January 2010)
Table of ContentsList of Figures ix
List of Maps x
Notes on Contributors xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xviii
List of Abbreviations xxiii
1 Approaching Late Antiquity 1
Wendy Mayer
PART I The View from the Future 15
2 The Byzantine Late Antiquity 17
Stratis Papaioannou
3 Late Antiquity in the Medieval West 29
Conrad Leyser
4 Cities of the Mind: Renaissance Views of Early Christian Culture and the End of Antiquity 43
Mark Vessey
5 Narrating Decline and Fall 59
Clifford Ando
6 Late Antiquity in Modern Eyes 77
Stefan Rebenich
PART II Land and People 93
7 The Shapes and Shaping of the Late Antique World: Global and Local Perspectives 97
Mark Humphries
8 Mobility and the Traces of Empire 110
Blake Leyerle
9 Information and Political Power 125
Claire Sotinel
10 Mediterranean Cities 139
S. T. Loseby
11 The Archaeological Record: Problems of Interpretation 156
Olof Brandt
12 Inscribing Identity: The Latin Epigraphic Habit in Late Antiquity 170
Dennis E. Trout
13 Gender and the Fall of Rome 187
Kate Cooper
14 Marriage and Family Relationships in the Late Roman West 201
Judith Evans-Grubbs
15 The Church, the Living, and the Dead 220
Eric Rebillard
PART III Image and Word 231
16 The Value of a Good Education: Libanius and Public Authority 233
Raffaella Cribiore
17 Textual Communities in Late Antique Christianity 246
Kim Haines-Eitzen
18 Exegesis without End: Forms, Methods, and Functions of Biblical Commentaries 258
Karla Pollmann
19 Tradition, Innovation, and Epistolary Mores 270
Jennifer Ebbeler
20 Visual and Verbal Representation: Image, Text, Person, and Power 285
James A. Francis
21 Christianity and the Transformation of Classical Art 306
Felicity Harley
22 The Discourse of Later Latin 327
Philip Burton
23 Language and Culture in Late Antique Egypt 342
Malcolm Choat
24 Late Antique Historiography: A Brief History of Time 357
David Woods
PART IV Empire, Kingdom, and Beyond 373
25 Law in Practice 377
Caroline Humfress
26 The Mirror of Jordanes: Concepts of the Barbarian, Then and Now 392
Andrew Gillett
27 Beyond the Northern Frontiers 409
Guy Halsall
28 From Empire to Kingdoms in the Late Antique West 426
John Vanderspoel
29 Rome and the Sasanid Empire: Confrontation and Coexistence 441
Jan Willem Drijvers
30 Syria, Syriac, Syrian: Negotiating East and West 455
Christine Shepardson
31 Syria and the Arabs 467
David Cook
32 The Early Caliphate and the Inheritance of Late Antiquity (c. AD 610-c. AD 750) 479
Andrew Marsham
PART V The Sacred 493
33 Christianization, Secularization, and the Transformation of Public Life 497
Richard Lim
34 The Political Church: Religion and the State 512
Michael Gaddis
35 The Late Antique Bishop: Image and Reality 525
Rita Lizzi Testa
36 The Conduct of Theology and the "Fathers" of the Church 539
Thomas Graumann
37 Defining Sacred Boundaries: Jewish–Christian Relations 556
Naomi Koltun-Fromm
38 Pagans in a Christian Empire 572
Neil McLynn
39 "Not of This World": The Invention of Monasticism 588
Daniel F. Caner
Bibliography 601
Index 700
