A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity
Wiley-Blackwell (Verlag)
978-1-119-07700-8 (ISBN)
A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity examines the social and cultural landscape of the Late Antique Mediterranean. The text offers a picture of everyday life as it was lived in the spaces around and between two of the most memorable and towering figures of the time—Constantine and Muhammad. The author captures the period using a wide-lens, including Persian material from the mid third century through Umayyad material of the mid eighth century C.E. The book offers a rich picture of Late Antique life that is not just focused on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity.
This important resource uses nuanced terms to talk about complex issues and fills a gap in the literature by surveying major themes such as power, gender, community, cities, politics, law, art and architecture, and literary culture. The book is richly illustrated and filled with maps, lists of rulers and key events. A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity is an essential guide that:
Paints a rich picture of daily life in Late Antique that is not simply centered on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity
Balances a thematic approach with rigorous attention to chronology
Stresses the need for appreciating both sources and methods in the study of Late Antique history
Offers a sophisticated model for investigating daily life and the complexities of individual and group identity in the rapidly changing Mediterranean world
Includes useful maps, city plans, timelines, and suggestions for further reading
A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity offers an examination of everyday life in the era when adherents of three of the major religions of today—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—faced each other for the first time in the same environment.
Learn more about A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity’s link to current social issues in Boin’s article for the History News Network.
Douglas Boin is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the author of Ostia in Late Antiquity and Coming Out Christian in the Roman World.
Illustrations x
Boxed Texts xii
Preface: The Magic of History xv
Acknowledgments xix
Annotated List of Abbreviations and a Note on Citations from Secondary Literature xxi
Timeline xxv
Map: The Late Antique World At-A-Glance xxviii
Part I The “Vanishing” of Rome 1
1 Who and What is Late Antiquity? 3
1.1 An Overview of the Book 4
History from the ground‐up, all the way to the top 4
A top‐down view of Rome in the fifth century CE 9
1.2 Three Lives and the “Fall of Rome” 10
Victorinus, vicarius of Britain 11
Palladius, the law student from Gaul 13
Rufius Volusianus, the prodigy who went to Constantinople 14
2 When Does Late Antiquity Begin? When Does it End? 19
2.1 The Third through Fifth Centuries CE: A Narrated Timeline 20
The third‐century crisis 20
The fourth‐century crisis 24
The fifth‐century crisis 29
2.2 A Warning about Periodization 32
3 How Do We Do Late Antique History? 35
3.1 Evaluating Sources, Asking Questions 36
Comparing and contrasting 36
Incorporating textual and material culture 37
3.2 The Past in the Past 39
3.3 Acquiring Cultural Competence: The Study of Religion in History 43
3.4 Linking, not Disconnecting, Different Periods of Early Christianity 45
Paul and the context of the late Second Temple period 46
Paul’s legacy, forged texts, and the rise of Christianity 47
3.5 Pre‐Modern vs. Early Modern History: A Note on Sources 50
Part II Late Antiquity Appears 53
4 Power 55
4.1 Third‐Century Politics 55
4.2 Mithras and a Roman Fascination with the Mysteries of Persia 56
4.3 The Material Culture of Sasanian Persia 58
4.4 Rome and Sasanian Persia in Conflict 60
Weighing the accounts, making a decision 63
4.5 The Roman World of the Third Century CE 69
Empire‐wide citizenship is decreed 69
Rome’s birthday is celebrated, a saeculum is renewed 70
New walls and city borders are constructed 72
5 Worship 75
5.1 The Civic Sacrifice Policy of 250 CE 76
Implementation of the policy 77
The historian’s delicate task: writing about the policy 78
5.2 How Did Romans Worship Their Gods? Text and Material Culture, c. Third Century CE 82
Traditional worship 85
Mystery cults 87
Emperor worship 90
6 Social Change 93
6.1 Rome’s Laws Against Christians 94
Emperor Valerian, 257–258 CE 94
Christian sacrifice in context on the eve of the Rule of Four 95
6.2 The End of the Third Century and the Rise of the Rule of Four 97
6.3 A View from Thessaloniki, Roman Greece, Late Third Century CE 99
Galerius’ urban investments 99
The political messages of Galerius’ arch and palace vestibule 99
6.4 Diocletian’s Edict against Followers of Mani, 296 CE or 302 CE 105
6.5 The Rise of Christianity: Assumptions and Starting Points 106
“Christianization” and evangelization 106
Christian demographics and faith‐based narratives of rapid conversion 108
Recognizing political disagreement among Rome’s Christian community 110
7 Law and Politics 113
7.1 Roman Law: History from the Ground‐Up, Top‐Down, and Sideways 114
Petitions from Roman Egypt 115
Roman legal texts in Late Antiquity 116
The history of Roman law as a story of “horizontal relations” 119
7.2 The “Edict of Milan,” 313 CE 119
The Roman constitution in context 120
Expanding the idea of being Roman 121
7.3 Individual Laws and the Collection of Legal Texts 123
The Edict on Maximum Prices, 301 CE 123
The Edict against Christians, 312 CE 124
The creation of the Theodosian Code, 429–438 CE 124
7.4 Law and Politics in the Fourth Century CE 125
8 Urban Life 130
8.1 Daily Life in the Fourth Century CE and Beyond: Starting Points and Assumptions 131
8.2 The Archaeology of Rome 135
The city center and the imperial fora 135
The communities of Rome’s Aventine Hill 137
Funerary banquets on the Via Appia 140
8.3 The Archaeology of Constantinople 142
A new city but with a forgotten history 143
Constantine’s Forum 145
Urban infrastructure and neighborhood residences 148
9 Community 152
9.1 Mystery Cults 155
The cult of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis 155
Anthropological perspectives on initiation 156
9.2 Christian Communities and Christian Law 156
9.3 The Jewish Community: Shared Values and Social Diversity 159
Synagogues 159
The importance of Jewish place and time 160
9.4 The Communities of Roman Egypt, Fourth–Fifth Centuries CE 163
Antony and the monastic communities 166
Roman army members and military families 166
Disaffected communities: “God’s soldiers,” c.391–392 CE 168
10 Economy 171
10.1 Egypt beyond Its Borders 172
Porphyry and the economy of marble 172
Egyptomania in Rome and Constantinople 175
10.2 The Arena and Racing Culture 177
10.3 Economic Realities, Third–Sixth Centuries CE 179
The two economic corridors of the state 180
The importance of ceramic evidence 182
The importance of the wooden legal texts from Vandal North Africa 183
10.4 The Crypta Balbi Excavations, Rome: The Story of a Social Safety Net, Third Century–Sixth Century CE 184
Ceramics from the Crypta Balbi excavations 185
Two final details from the Crypta Balbi excavations 188
11 The Household and Family 191
11.1 Home as a Place 193
Apartments 193
Houses 194
11.2 House‐Churches in the Long History of Christianity 196
Tituli and the transformation of the Caelian Hill, Rome 198
House‐churches and church leadership 200
11.3 Family and Household Relations, c.405–551 CE 201
Jerome and the lives of two Christian women in Gaul: c.405 CE 201
Procopius tells of a scandalous Christian empress, c.550–551 CE 203
11.4 Slaves and Slavery 203
11.5 Households and the Emergence of the Papacy in Rome 206
12 Ideas and Literary Culture 209
12.1 The “One” and the Many: Philosophical and Anthropological Perspectives 210
12.2 Literature and Ideas after the “Vanishing” of Rome 212
12.3 The Literary Culture of Justinian’s Roman Empire 215
Justinian’s Latin Laws 215
Justinian’s Greek‐speaking Christian state 215
12.4 Literature as a Source for the Study of Medicine and Disease 218
12.5 The Rise of a Book Culture 219
Books and patrons 220
Books and beliefs 222
12.6 Latin Poetry and Christian Communities in Rome, c.366–600 CE 222
12.7 Looking Ahead: “People of the Book” 224
Part III The Illusion of Mediterranean History 229
13 Geography and Society 231
13.1 Seeing the Sixth Century Through the Eyes of an Emperor and a Traveler 232
Emperor Justinian, 527–565 CE 233
Justinian’s Christian architecture 235
13.2 Cosmas’ Christian World 235
Geography 236
The centrality of scripture 237
Apocalyptic thinking 238
Religious minorities 241
13.3 Beyond Rome’s Christian Empire in the Sixth Century CE 242
13.4 Sixth‐ and Seventh‐Century South Asia 244
Sri Lanka and the economy of the Indian subcontinent 244
“Buddhism” and “Hinduism” 245
13.5 Sixth‐ and Seventh‐Century China and Central Asia 247
The nature of trade along the Silk Roads 248
Coins as evidence for shared customs in Rome and Sasanian Persia 248
14 A Choice of Directions 253
14.1 Jerusalem in the Sixth and Early Seventh Centuries CE 254
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem at the dawn of the seventh century CE 254
Jesus’ end‐time preaching and Jerusalem before the seventh century CE 258
End‐time preaching and Jerusalem during the seventh century CE 259
14.2 The Social World of the Arabian Peninsula in the Sixth Century CE 260
Merchant oases and desert sanctuaries 261
14.3 The Believers Movement 262
The Constitution of Medina 264
An apocalyptic component 267
An initial focus on Jerusalem 269
Glossary 273
Index 276
| Erscheinungsdatum | 13.06.2018 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Wiley-Blackwell Social and Cultural Histories of the Ancient World |
| Verlagsort | Hoboken |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 185 x 259 mm |
| Gewicht | 680 g |
| Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike | |
| Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte | |
| Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Sozialgeschichte | |
| Schlagworte | Altertum • Ancient & Classical History • Ancient & Classical History • Ancient Culture • Antike • Antike u. klassische Geschichte • Classical Studies • Geschichte • Geschichte des Altertums u. der klassischen Antike • History • Humanistische Studien • Klassisches Altertum |
| ISBN-10 | 1-119-07700-1 / 1119077001 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-119-07700-8 / 9781119077008 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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