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The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey. 2 Vol. Set (Volume 1 and 2) [Paperback]

A. H. M. Jones
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Paperback: 1546 pages
  • Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (June 1, 1986)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0801832853
  • ISBN-13: 978-0801832857
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 3 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #744,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars "Exhaustive and Informative" January 24, 2002
A.H.M. Jones' exhaustive and resourceful two-volume work on the "Later Roman Empire," is a definite recommendation for anyone seeking a deeper perspective of the times, although for informal reading it is not suggested. Over three hundred years are covered elaborately in twelve-hundred pages, and also the appendix itself is roughly five-hundred pages, though much of it will not be intelligible to general readers, since much of the information in it is preserved in the original Latin. Jones' work is a fountain head of research material, broken into two parts: the first is a basic overview of the religious, political, and military conditions of the empire; and the second part, which is more bulky and detailed, is an overview of the social, economic, and administrative aspects of the empire. With this, and J.B. Bury's two-volume work on the "Later Roman Empire," one may boast of holding two of the greater achievements in scholarship on this particular area of study.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A titanic source of reference June 29, 2001
This mammoth work guides the reader through all aspects of the later Roman Empire showering facts and sources upon him. It is better, perhaps, as a source of reference than as bedtime reading, for its sheer size and density of fact would exhaust all but the most avid and concentrated historians of the period.

The most useful aspect of it must be the incredibly detailed source references, which comprise the fourth volume of his work. This enables those who have not the time or energy to wade through the entire book to use it as the definitive piece of reference for the period.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Still a major reference, despite its age May 26, 2012
By JPS
This is the second tome of AHM Jones massive Survey of the Latter Roman Empire. It should best be read together with the first volume, if only because it includes all of the notes and annexes for both volumes. However, its six chapters could possibly be read on their own, although I would not advise this.

It is often been said of these volumes that they are "seminal", which is perfectly true, although readers might not realize to what extent this is the case. I tried to provide a number of answers in my review of volume I and will try to do the same here, and add a couple of things that I forgot to mention previously.

First, and despite being published in 1964, much of the issues raised, the book's contents and the conclusions made are still valid, or have become areas of (often heated) discussions among historians. A typical example is the debate about the causes of the Fall of the (West) Roman Empire. Jones provided one of the first in-depth analysis of these causes and factors, which two generations of historians have then explored, one cause at a time. To give a few examples, A. Ferrill insisted on the (most traditional) military explanation (1986) while a couple of years latter, Ramsey Mc Mullen rather insisted on "Corruption and the Decline of Rome" (the title of his book), believing, contrary to Jones, that the internal weakening of the Empire was a key reason for the Fall. More recently, this divide has been, yet again, illustrated by the books of Goldsworthy, insisting on the internal causes, and of Heather, more inclined to put more weight on the pressure from the BArbarians in general, and on Attila, in particular.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Seminal Survey of the Later Empire February 23, 2012
These books are the seminal works on Late Roman history. All historiography of the past fifty years has begun here. Much like Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire inspired writers of the 18th and 19th Century, this book inspired the authors who would create the field of Late Antiquity. Not that I would take the comparison too far: Gibbon's book is infinitely better written and quotable. But this one has the benefit of taking advantage of years of research and development in the historical arts. It may be slightly outdated in some areas (the inevitable result of inspiring research rather than benefiting from it), but nobody has yet written anything which can replace it. I'll list at the bottom a few general histories which do cover some of the same material, in better or worse ways, for those who have an interest in the period but cannot find/afford this book which has gone sadly out of print.

The basic purpose of this book is not to tell a narrative history, but to analyze the various features of Roman life and administration which changed in Late Antiquity. There is a narrative included for clarity's sake (which takes up the first 317 pages) but it is not the primary focus. Looking at the narrative, it is a clear and concise guide to the era. Perhaps more time could be spent on the first three centuries (especially the third since without it it's impossible to understand the reason for much of what is to come), but that's a minor quibble. The focus here is on the changed empire and its governance. This section will be rather confusing to the beginner. It doesn't include much about political events except as they indicate changes in the way the empire was shaped or run.
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