The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 14: Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, AD 425-600 [Hardcover]

Averil Cameron (Editor), Bryan Ward-Perkins (Editor), Michael Whitby (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521325919 | ISBN-13: 978-0521325912 | Publication Date: April 16, 2001

With Volume 14 The Cambridge Ancient History concludes its story. This latest volume embraces the wide range of approaches and scholarship which have in recent decades transformed our view of Late Antiquity. In particular, traditional political and social history has been enormously enhanced by integrating the rich evidence of Christian writing, and the constantly expanding results of archaeological research. A picture emerges of a period of considerable military and political disruption, but also of vibrant intellectual and cultural activity. The volume begins with a series of narrative chapters. These are followed by sections on government and institutions, economy and society, and religion and culture. A section on the provinces and the non-Roman world marks the rise of new and distinct political and cultural entities. This volume, and the CAH, ends in around AD 600, before the Arab conquests shattered for ever what remained of the unity of the Roman world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One can only be immensely impressed on opening this book....An immmediately apparent and most attractive feature of the volume under review is its generous supply of maps which are not only excellently produced but put to imaginative use....The volume is generous around the margins of the ancient world....But it is the interpretative discussions that are of most interest....Perhaps this issue can most clearly be seen with reference to women....No one who reads it will fail to be daunted by how much there is to know, nor grateful for the skill and style with which its authors lay so much before us. And the book stands as a suoerb vindication of the new field of late antiquity: unknown until recently." Classical Bulletin

Book Description

With Volume 14 The Cambridge Ancient History concludes its story. This volume embraces the wide range of approaches in scholarship which have in recent decades transformed our view of Late Antiquity. A picture emerges of a period of military and political disruption, but also of vibrant intellectual and cultural activity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1186 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521325919
• ISBN-13: 978-0521325912
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #556,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Readable, December 7, 2006

By 

Bruce Brocka (Quad Cities) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC-AD 69 (Volume 10) (Hardcover)

Being an armchair historian, I found this work to be highly readable and entertaining. The bibliography is exhaustive (about 100 pages), as one might expect, and their are numerous maps and genealogy tables. Despite numerous authors, it does not backtrack nor contradict itself. For a scholarly work, it is impressive for its contribution, compactness (yes, even at 1,000 pages, it could have been 1,000 more) and ease of reading.

That said, it's not for those unfamiliar with the "story" of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. It more or less assumes you're quite familiar with Suetonius, Cassius Dio, Plutarch, et al, and various long standing controversies in interpretation. So if you've read a few books on the subject, you'll be quite comfortable with this work. If you've read the Routledge and Yale Press Imperial Biography series, then this work helps with context, providing the latest (and perhaps alternative) views on current scholarship.

Don't let the price scare you off. It's well worth several other books one might consider, combined.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good, up-to-date overview, July 23, 2001

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 14: Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, AD 425-600 (Hardcover)

This review concerns the volume of the Cambridge Ancient history covering 425-600.

This was a very readable book, that I have just completed. I read about eighty percent of it, only skipping or skimmimg a few sections. Admittedly, this would not make a good introductory book, and probably not even a good second book, on the period, but if you are interested in the period and have a working knowledge of it, I am sure you will find much of interest. The book begins with an evocative 150 pages or so of narrative historical overview, with the latest interpretations of chronology. Some of this material is then covered in a more thematic way, and also in an area-by-area manner, later in the book. There are also many sections on various social aspects. One such that I gained much from was the one on education. Interestingly, there was no separate section on women. The bibliography is 100 pages long, so the reading matter itself is about 1000 pages. The book was worth the money to me.