Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press Reference Library) [Hardcover]

G. W. Bowersock (Editor), Peter Brown (Editor), Oleg Grabar (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674511735 | ISBN-13: 978-0674511736 | Publication Date: November 18, 1999

The first book of its kind, this richly informative and comprehensive guide to the world of late antiquity offers the latest scholarship to the researcher along with great reading pleasure to the browser. In eleven comprehensive essays and in over 500 encyclopedic entries, an international cast of experts provides essential information and fresh perspectives on the history and culture of an era marked by the rise of two world religions, unprecedented political upheavals that remade the map of the known world, and the creation of art of enduring glory.

By extending the commonly accepted chronological and territorial boundaries of the period--to encompass Roman, Byzantine, Sassanian, and early Islamic cultures, from the middle of the third century to the end of the eighth--this guide makes new connections and permits revealing comparisons. Consult the article on "Angels" and discover their meaning in Islamic as well as classical and Judeo-Christian traditions. Refer to "Children," "Concubinage," and "Divorce" for a fascinating interweaving of information on the family. Read the essay on "Barbarians and Ethnicity" and see how a topic as current as the construction of identity played out in earlier times, from the Greeks and Romans to the Turks, Huns, and Saxons. Turn to "Empire Building" to learn how the empire of Constantine was supported by architecture and ceremony.

Or follow your own path through the broad range of entries on politics, manufacturing and commerce, the arts, philosophy, religion, geography, ethnicity, and domestic life. Each entry introduces readers to another facet of the postclassical world: historic figures and places, institutions, burial customs, food, money, public life, and amusements. A splendid selection of illustrations enhances the portrait.

The intriguing era of late antiquity emerges completely and clearly, viewed in a new light, in a guide that will be relished by scholars and general readers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Late antiquity--that period of history between 250 and 800 C.E.--was a unique and notable era, when the Roman and Sassanian empires spanned a great arc from the Atlantic coasts of Europe and Morocco across the Mediterranean, into the Balkans, and through the Middle East as far as Afghanistan. Historians have tended to dismiss this era as the decline and fall, and little more. In contrast, the editors of Late Antiquity (all esteemed professors at Princeton) make a great case for this era as the source from which our modern culture sprung. During that time, Constantinople and Baghdad came into being, and paganism took hold of people's imaginations so strongly that it's still with us today. "Much of what was created in that period still runs in our veins," they say, such as the codification of Roman law, the Jewish Talmud, the basic structure and doctrine of the Christian church, and the birth of Islam.

There are learned essays on topics such as Islam, the Christian triumph, and sacred landscapes; habitat, war, and violence; and empire building; as well as a timely piece on barbarians and ethnicity. But these essays, fine though they are, make up but a small fraction of the volume. The lion's share belongs to the alphabetical guide, an A-to-Z encyclopedia of more than 500 entries on items such as almsgiving, angels, bathing, circus factions, contraception, eunuchs, dendrites, Huns, monks, prayer, and pornography. With erudition and clarity, these editors redefine late antiquity, and provide a remarkable source of information for students, sages, history buffs, and antiquity enthusiasts. --Stephanie Gold

From Library Journal

The editors of this work, all Princeton scholars, have accomplished a worthy goal in broadening our understanding of a significant period of history; through inclusion of the early expansion of Islam, they have extended late antiquity by some 150 years. Their new time line begins around 250 C.E., when the Roman Empire was in crisis and the Sassanians, a militant new dynasty, had arisen in Iran. By 313, the Roman Empire's civil and military institutions had been totally transformed, and a strong central goverment with imperial aspirations had also altered Iran and Iraq. By the year 800, the Church in Europe drew its organization from the civil institutions of the late Roman Empire, the Islamic Caliphate of the Abbasids had adopted the court ceremonies of the Sassanians to reinforce their authority, and Byzantium was ruled by the direct successors of Caesar Augustus. Making extensive use of new archaeological discoveries, this work challenges old assumptions and should help renew interest in this era. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.ARobert James Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 802 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (November 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674511735
• ISBN-13: 978-0674511736
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #667,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Distinctive and Quite Decisive" Indeed, May 8, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press Reference Library) (Hardcover)

Frankly, I have a concern that this book's subject, length, and (perhaps) cost will deter certain readers from purchasing it. I urge those readers to read this and other reviews provided by Amazon.com first before making that decision. The authors focus on the period roughly between 250 and 800, treating it as a "distinctive and quite decisive period of history that stands on its own." The material is organized as follows: first a brilliant Introduction which will convince almost any reader of the unique importance of Late Antiquity to human history; then a series of essays by various authors, each followed by an immensely useful bibliography (more about one of those essays later); and then a comprehensive Alphabetical Guide which combines many of the most valuable benefits of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and a lexicon. The commonly accepted chronological and territorial boundaries of the period -- which encompass Rome, Byzantine, Sassanian, and early Islamic cultures -- are extended by the authors so that "new connections" can be established and "revealing comparisons" (and contrasts) are permitted.

There are eleven individual essays whose titles suggest the scope of Late Antiquity: Remaking the Past (Averil Cameron), Sacred Landscapes (Beatrice Caseau), Philosophical Tradition and the Self (Henry Chadwick), Religious Communities (Garth Fowden), Barbarians and Ethnicity (Patrick J. Geary), War and Violence (Brent D. Shaw), Empire Building (Christopher Kelly), Christian Triumph and Controversy (Richard Lim), Islam (Hugh Kennedy), The Good Life (Henry Maguire), and Habitat (Yizhar Hirschfeld). I think all are first-rate and especially appreciate what I learned from Kelly's essay. Here is how he begins and then concludes it:

"On 11 May 330, Rome ceased to be the most important place in the Roman empire. Five hundred miles east of the Eternal City, on a site occupied by modern Istanbul, a new imperial capital was dedicated and (like Rome before it) named after its founder: Constantinople, the city of Emperor Constantine."

Following Constantine's death, his son and heir arranged for him to be buried ("splendidly and sumptuously adorned with gold") in the Church of the Apostles. Amidst twelve shrines, "in a glittering catafalque, lay the magnificent sarcophagus of Constantine, the self-proclaimed thirteenth apostle of Christianity -- a new official religion capable, when linked to proper reverence for the classical past, of both justifying and sanctifying a striking shift toward a more autocratic and highly centralized pattern of Roman rule."

The quality of thought and expression in these brief excerpts is representative of the entire book. Illustrations (when appropriate) supplement the text. For me, some books based on historical material become "magic carpets" which transport me back in time to places and people to which I might not otherwise have access. For example, Schama's Rembrandt's Eyes. Other books based on historical material enable me to make all manner of direct connections between past and current human achievements. For example, Mokyr's The Lever of Riches and Williams' A History of Invention. I was reminded of works such as these as I proceeded through Late Antiquity. Friends have accused me of what could be called "intellectual wanderlust." I plead guilty. If you are similarly afflicted, you will also thoroughly enjoy Late Antiquity.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be fooled by the title, November 2, 1999

By 

Donald B. Straus (Somesville, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press Reference Library) (Hardcover)

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.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, December 7, 1999

By 

H. Fuller (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press Reference Library) (Hardcover)

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.