Description
Book SynopsisOstia in Late Antiquity is the first book to narrate the life of Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient harbor, during the later empire, a period often synonymous in popular imagination with the 'fall of Rome'. Drawing on new archaeological research, including the author's own, this book offers a dynamic picture of what it was like to live during this transformative period.
Trade Review'… a very welcome development and begins to fill an important gap in the study of ancient Ostia. Boin skilfully weaves together material and textual evidence to show theories that Ostia experienced 'decline' or rapid Christianization in the third and fourth centuries are generally unfounded.' Bryn Mawr Classical Review
'In this compelling study, Boin eschews a catastrophic view of the transformation of Roman urban space during Late Antiquity in favor of a more nuanced and gradualist model … By embracing nuance, and through his frank acknowledgement that both continuity and change characterized urban life in this period, Boin has produced a forceful riposte to the catastrophic school. Highly recommended. Graduate students/faculty.' G. I. Halfond, Choice
'This very readable and carefully edited book is dedicated to daily life in Rome's ancient harbour town of Ostia between c.AD 200 and 800. The content is rich and thought provoking … [This book] will certainly interest a wide range of readers.' L. Bouke van der Meer, The Journal of Roman Studies
Table of ContentsPart I. Background: 1. New approaches to daily life in Late Antique Ostia; 2. The new urban image of Rome's ancient harbor; Part II. Foreground: 3. The third century: Roman religions and the long reach of the emperor; 4. The fourth century: proud temples and resilient traditions; 5. The fifth century: history seen from the spaces in between; 6. The sixth and seventh centuries: a city in motion, shifting traditions.
