Late Antiquity

by Peter Brown

Book Overview

In this history of the late antique period, which appeared earlier in the five-volume series A History of Private Life , Peter Brown shows the slow shift from one form of public community to another--from the ancient city to the Christian church. In the four centuries between Marcus Aurelius (161-180) and Justinian (527-565), the Mediterranean world passed through a series of profound transmutations that affected the rhythms of life, the moral sensibilities,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674511700
• ISBN13: 9780674511705
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A useful historical guide

The book 'Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World', edited by G.W. Bowerstock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar, is a wonderful collection of essays and encyclopedic articles on the period on a fascinating period of transition and change in the history of the West. This is a period often overlooked and neglected, for it is a period of confusion and uneasy description; the Roman Empire has fallen, but the medieval world has yet to rise. Literature from this historical period is rare, both in terms of history and literary output; the medieval world looms large over late antiquity due to the rise of literature that is more easily accessible to those in the modern world. The first section of the book consists of interesting essays, as listed below:Remaking the Past, by Averil CameronSacred Landscapes, by Beatrice CaseauPhilosophical Tradition and the Self, by Henry ChadwickReligious Communities, by Garth FowdenBarbarians and Ethnicity, by Patrick J. GearyWar and Violence, by Brent D. ShawEmpire Building, by Christopher KellyChristian Triumph and Controversy, by Richard LimIslam, by Hugh KennedyThe Good Life, by Henry MaguireHabitat, by Yizhar HirschfieldTo give but one example, in the article 'Sacred Landscapes', Caseau traces the development away from public sacred spaces such as temples to the god to a resacralisation of Christian spaces, which had originally grown up in house-church environments with communal meals short on exclusively sacred spaces, particularly in light of early Christian apologists who saw distinct paganism in the sacralisation of space. The remaining two-thirds of the book consists of an encyclopedia of late antiquity, including articles on places, events, people, and ideas. This is a wonderful reference, and, sitting next to my Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, a much-valued collection and much-used book.Sometimes called 'The Dark Ages', in fact the historical period between the classical Roman Imperial times and the Medieval period was a period of transition and disarray, but was far from the uncultured, unlettered and uninspiring period it sometimes seems. This volume will help historians and others reclaim a little more of their own past.

One of the Best

I don't usually lay out the cost of such a book, but I could not resist on this one. It was well worth it! It has some of the best discussions of such areas as the Gnostics that I have seen in a a non-specialized work and better than in most specialized works in that they don't continue the early Christian feud with the Gnostics, but merely describe it. The format is roughly 50/50 of essays and encyclopedia. The essays include discussions of Christianity and its problems, military matters, economic matters, etc. and the encyclopedia part is quite complete and very clear in its discussions.

Don't let the title of this book put you off

This is really a scholarly encyclopedia edited under the auspices of one of the world's foremost think-tanks -- the Institute for Advanced Study. But it was compiled by three top scholars who are endowed with an insatiable drive for discovering the human details of ancient civilizations, a wonderful style for sharing their excitement with their readers, and, most surpising of all, a sense of humor seldom associated with this level of erudition.

Don't be fooled by the title

This is a scholarly book -- realy an encyclopedia of culture in the post Roman Empire period. It is edited by three scholars associated with one of the worlds most prestigous think-tanks -- the Institute for Advanced Study. So if you are a scholar yourself and interested in this period, this is a book for you. But if, like me, yoare simply interested in this period without true scholarly credentials, don't be fooled by the title -- it is a thoroughly delightful and readable book for browsing. Its authors have an obiously insatiable appetite for human details, they have that rare gift of being able to transmit their excitement to their readers, and even more remarkable, they mix their erudition with frequent and surprising bursts of humor.