Customer Reviews

Late Roman Spain and Its Cities (Ancient Society and History)

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I ordered this monograph after reading the informative review by Leonard Curchin in the on-line Bryn Mawr Classical Review. The book is as advertised. A well-argued, extremely well-documented contribution to our understanding not just of late antique Spain, but of urbanism and civil societies throughout the later eras of the Roman empure.

Professor Kulilowski makes use of recent archeology to chart the course of the rise and fall (or transformation rather) of cities in Spain. And not just the towns themselves, but the larger territories that were part and parcel of the Roman 'civitas'. He argues interestingly and well that the timing and pace of transformation in Spain from classic to Christian, from Roman to Visigothic requires this updating. He notes that archeological evidence in Spain has been allowed to speak for itself only in the last 20 years or so, and it now paints a different picture than the one held for most of the 20th century. He also authoritatively reviews the literature, around which a certain narrative has been built in the past, in light of the new archeological evidence.