Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Shepardson offers a compelling and insightful take on the transformation of the empire’s cultural terrain in the decades after Constantine’s conversion and the Nicene Council." * CHOICE *
"The synthesis presented in Controlling Contested Places is exciting and very welcome ... [Shepardson’s] work provides a clear template for further inquiry about geography and memory beyond Antioch in the world of Late Antiquity, and useful tools to address them." -- Edward Schoolman * Journal of Historical Geography *
"S. has the ability to take complex concepts in spatial theory and apply them creatively to ancient contexts without burdening the reader with dense theoretical jargon, adding thus both strength and clarity to her arguments, and also making the book accessible to not only specialists in the field—who will certainly find her applications intriguing—but also intermediate students of Late Antiquity." * Vigiliae Christianae *
"This book presents readers with both a wide-ranging overview of diverse spatial dynamics at play in Antioch and some productive new insights on the development of early Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean." * Reading Religion *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
List of Roman Emperors and Bishops of Antioch
Timeline of Key Events
Introduction: The Lay of the Land
1. The Power of Prestigious Places: Teaching and Preaching in Fourth-Century Antioch
2. Burying Babylas: Place-Marketing and the Politics of Memory
3. Being Correctly Christian: John Chrysostom’s Rhetoric in 386–87
4. Transformative Transgressions: Exploiting the Urban/Rural Divide
5. Mapping a Textured Landscape: Temples, Martyrs, and Ascetics
6. Elsewhere in the Empire
Conclusion: Controlling Contested Places
Bibliography
Index
