This book presents a series of critical analyses of the structure, historical development, and composition of the elite strata of late Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic societies in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Elite culture and elite strata in societies leave an unmistakable record in the literature and in the visual and material culture of the world. The contributors to this volume set out to analyze aspects of these phenomena in the late ancient and early medieval eastern Mediterranean world. Culture change, economic foundations, political roles and function, social composition, and background and origins of old and new elites are the focus of the contributions by scholars who deal with the fate of the later Roman elite and its successors. The ways in which elites perceived themselves and how they created, maintained, and enhanced their identity, and the ways in which others both within and outside of their own society and culture saw them are important! themes. The structure of new Byzantine elites and the role of late Roman and Byzantine provincial elite society, the development of new elites in early Islamic society, the role played by pre-state elites and their fluctuating identities in the context of clan and tribal social organizations are all treated.
In addition, the volume includes important studies of the ways in which elite culture expressed itself in these different socio-cultural environments, both through literary as well as visual media. Contributors include: Hugh Kennedy, Leslie Brubaker, Zeev Rubin, Nadia-Maria El-Cheikh, William Lancaster and Felicity Lancaster, Averil Cameron, Claudia Rapp, Michael Morony, Elizabeth Jeffreys, and John Haldon.
