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| daily life in late antiquity: Daily Life in Late Antiquity Kristina Sessa, 2018-08-09 This book introduces readers to lived experience in the Late Roman Empire, from c.250-600 CE. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice Richard Valantasis, 2018-06-05 This is an unprecedented collection of nearly seventy Late Antique primary religious texts. These texts--all in new English translation and many appearing in English for the first time--represent every major religious current from the late first century until the rise of Islam. Produced through the efforts of thirty-six leading scholars in the field, they constitute a comprehensive view of religious practice in Late Antiquity. Religious life and performance during this period comprised diverse, often unusual practices. Philosophical ascent, magic, legal pronouncement, hymnography, dietary and sexual restriction, and rhetoric were all part of this deeply fascinating world. Religious and political identity often intertwined, as reflected in the Roman persecution of Christians. And a fluid boundary between religion and superstition was contested in daily life. Many practices, including ascetic training, crossed religious boundaries. Others, such as incubation at specific temples and certain divination rites, were distinctive practices of individual groups and orders. Intrinsically interesting, the practice of religion in the Late Antique also edifies modern-day religious life. As this volume shows, the origins of the contemporary Western religious terrain can be gleaned in this period. Rabbinic Judaism flourished and spread. Christianity developed still-important theological categories and structures. And even movements that did not survive intact--such as Neoplatonism and the once-powerful Manichaean churches--continue to influence religion today. This rich sourcebook includes discussions of asceticism, religious organization, ritual, martyrdom, religion's social implications, law, and theology. Its unique emphasis on practice and its inclusion of texts translated from lesser-known languages advance the study of religious history in several directions. A strong interdisciplinary orientation will reward scholars and students of religion, theology, gender studies, classical literatures, and history. Each text is accompanied by an introduction and a bibliography for further reading and research, making the book appropriate for use in any university or seminary classroom. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World Christian Laes, Ville Vuolanto, 2016-11-10 Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World explores what it meant to be a child in the Roman world - what were children’s concerns, interests and beliefs - and whether we can find traces of children’s own cultures. By combining different theoretical approaches and source materials, the contributors explore the environments in which children lived, their experience of everyday life, and what the limits were for their agency. The volume brings together scholars of archaeology and material culture, classicists, ancient historians, theologians, and scholars of early Christianity and Judaism, all of whom have long been involved in the study of the social and cultural history of children. The topics discussed include children's living environments; clothing; childhood care; social relations; leisure and play; health and disability; upbringing and schooling; and children's experiences of death. While the main focus of the volume is on Late Antiquity its coverage begins with the early Roman Empire, and extends to the early ninth century CE. The result is the first book-length scrutiny of the agency and experience of pre-modern children. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Ostia in Late Antiquity Douglas Boin, 2013-07-22 'Ostia in Late Antiquity' narrates the life of Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient harbor, during the later empire. |
| daily life in late antiquity: A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity Douglas Boin, 2018-03-20 2019 PROSE Award finalist in the Classics category! A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity examines the social and cultural landscape of the Late Antique Mediterranean. The text offers a picture of everyday life as it was lived in the spaces around and between two of the most memorable and towering figures of the time—Constantine and Muhammad. The author captures the period using a wide-lens, including Persian material from the mid third century through Umayyad material of the mid eighth century C.E. The book offers a rich picture of Late Antique life that is not just focused on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity. This important resource uses nuanced terms to talk about complex issues and fills a gap in the literature by surveying major themes such as power, gender, community, cities, politics, law, art and architecture, and literary culture. The book is richly illustrated and filled with maps, lists of rulers and key events. A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity is an essential guide that: Paints a rich picture of daily life in Late Antique that is not simply centered on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity Balances a thematic approach with rigorous attention to chronology Stresses the need for appreciating both sources and methods in the study of Late Antique history Offers a sophisticated model for investigating daily life and the complexities of individual and group identity in the rapidly changing Mediterranean world Includes useful maps, city plans, timelines, and suggestions for further reading A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity offers an examination of everyday life in the era when adherents of three of the major religions of today—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—faced each other for the first time in the same environment. Learn more about A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity’s link to current social issues in Boin’s article for the History News Network. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Life in an Egyptian Village in Late Antiquity Giovanni Ruffini, 2018-10-11 The most detailed glimpse to date of daily life in a small town at the end of the Roman Empire. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Fifty Early Medieval Things Deborah Deliyannis, Hendrik Dey, Paolo Squatriti, 2019-03-15 This important book [...] is a helpful guide to thinking with things and teaching with things. Each entry challenges the reader to approach objects as historical actors that can speak to the changes and continuities of life in the late antique and early medieval world.― Early Medieval Europe Lavishly illustrated and engagingly written, Fifty Early Medieval Things demonstrates how to read objects in ways that make the distant past understandable and approachable. Fifty Early Medieval Things introduces readers to the material culture of late antique and early medieval Europe, north Africa, and western Asia. Ranging from Iran to Ireland and from Sweden to Tunisia, Deborah Deliyannis, Hendrik Dey, and Paolo Squatriti present fifty objects—artifacts, structures, and archaeological features—created between the fourth and eleventh centuries, an ostensibly Dark Age whose cultural richness and complexity is often underappreciated. Each thing introduces important themes in the social, political, cultural, religious, and economic history of the postclassical era. Some of the things, like a simple ard (plow) unearthed in Germany, illustrate changing cultural and technological horizons in the immediate aftermath of Rome's collapse; others, like the Arabic coin found in a Viking burial mound, indicate the interconnectedness of cultures in this period. Objects such as the Book of Kells and the palace-city of Anjar in present-day Jordan represent significant artistic and cultural achievements; more quotidian items (a bone comb, an oil lamp, a handful of chestnuts) belong to the material culture of everyday life. In their thing-by-thing descriptions, the authors connect each object to both specific local conditions and to the broader influences that shaped the first millennium AD, and also explore their use in modern scholarly interpretations, with suggestions for further reading. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Children in Antiquity Lesley A Beaumont, Matthew Dillon, Nicola Harrington, 2024-01-29 This collection employs a multi-disciplinary approach treating ancient childhood in a holistic manner according to diachronic, regional and thematic perspectives. This multi-disciplinary approach encompasses classical studies, Egyptology, ancient history and the broad spectrum of archaeology, including iconography and bioarchaeology. With a chronological range of the Bronze Age to Byzantium and regional coverage of Egypt, Greece, and Italy this is the largest survey of childhood yet undertaken for the ancient world. Within this chronological and regional framework both the social construction of childhood and the child's life experience are explored through the key topics of the definition of childhood, daily life, religion and ritual, death, and the information provided by bioarchaeology. No other volume to date provides such a comprehensive, systematic and cross-cultural study of childhood in the ancient Mediterranean world. In particular, its focus on the identification of society-specific definitions of childhood and the incorporation of the bioarchaeological perspective makes this work a unique and innovative study. Children in Antiquity provides an invaluable and unrivalled resource for anyone working on all aspects of the lives and deaths of children in the ancient Mediterranean world. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Objects in Context, Objects in Use Luke Lavan, Ellen Swift, Toon Putzeys, 2008-03-31 This book promotes the study of material spatiality in late antiquity: not just the study of buildings, but of the people, dress and objects used within them, drawing on all available source material. It seeks to explore the material world as it was lived in late antiquity, in an interpretative inquiry, rather than simply describing the evidence that has survived until today. The volume presents a series of comprehensive bibliographic essays which provide an overview of relevant literature, along with discussions of the nature of the sources, of relevant approaches and field methods. The main section of the book explores domestic space, vessels in context, dress, shops and workshops, religious space, and military space. Synthetic papers drawing on a wide range of archaeological, art-historical and textual sources are complemented by case-studies of context-rich late antique sites in the East Mediterranean and elsewhere, including Pella, Dura-Europos, Scythopolis, and Sagalassos. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Rome in Late Antiquity Bertrand Lançon, 2000 First Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity Thomas Sizgorich, 2009 Thomas Sizgorich seeks to understand why and how violent expressions of religious devotion became central to the self-understandings of both Christian and Muslim communities between the fourth and ninth centuries. He identifies a common pool of late ancient narrative forms upon which both communities drew. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Urban Centers and Rural Contexts in Late Antiquity Thomas S. Burns, John W. Eadie, 2012-01-01 Recent publications on urbanism and the rural environment in Late Antiquity, most of which explore a single region or narrow chronological niche, have emphasized either textual or archeological evidence. None has attempted the more ambitious task of bringing together the full range of such evidence within a multiregional perspective and around common themes. Urban Centers and Rural Contexts seeks to redress this omission. While ancient literature and the physical remains of cities attest to the power that urban values held over the lives of their inhabitants, the rural areas in which the majority of imperial citizens lived have not been well served by the historical record. Only recently have archeological excavations and integrated field surveys sufficiently enhanced our knowledge of the rural contexts to demonstrate the continuing interdependence of urban centers and rural communities in Late Antiquity. These new data call into question the conventional view that this interdependence progressively declined as a result of governmental crises, invasions, economic dislocation, and the success of Christianization. The essays in this volume require us to abandon the search for a single model of urban and rural change; to reevaluate the cities and towns of the Empire as centers of habitation, rather than archeological museums; and to reconsider the evidence of continuous and pervasive cultural change across the countryside. Deploying a wide range of material as well as literary evidence, the authors provide access not only into the world of élites, but also to the scarcely known lives of those without a voice in the literature, those men and women who worked in the shops, labored in the fields, and humbled themselves before their gods. They bring us closer to the complexity of life in late ancient communities and, in consequence, closer to both urban and rural citizens. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity Éric Rebillard, 2012-04-06 In this provocative book Éric Rebillard challenges many long-held assumptions about early Christian burial customs. For decades scholars of early Christianity have argued that the Church owned and operated burial grounds for Christians as early as the third century. Through a careful reading of primary sources including legal codes, theological works, epigraphical inscriptions, and sermons, Rebillard shows that there is little evidence to suggest that Christians occupied exclusive or isolated burial grounds in this early period. In fact, as late as the fourth and fifth centuries the Church did not impose on the faithful specific rituals for laying the dead to rest. In the preparation of Christians for burial, it was usually next of kin and not representatives of the Church who were responsible for what form of rite would be celebrated, and evidence from inscriptions and tombstones shows that for the most part Christians didn't separate themselves from non-Christians when burying their dead. According to Rebillard it would not be until the early Middle Ages that the Church gained control over burial practices and that Christian cemeteries became common. In this translation of Religion et Sépulture: L'église, les vivants et les morts dans l'Antiquité tardive, Rebillard fundamentally changes our understanding of early Christianity. The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity will force scholars of the period to rethink their assumptions about early Christians as separate from their pagan contemporaries in daily life and ritual practice. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity, 350-450 Maijastina Kahlos, 2020 Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity reconsiders the Christianization of the late Roman Empire. The focus is on the shifting position of dissenting religious groups ('pagans' and 'heretics'). The book shows that the narrative is more nuanced than the simple Christian triumph over the classical world. |
| daily life in late antiquity: A Social Archaeology of Roman and Late Antique Egypt Ellen Swift, Jo Stoner, April Pudsey, 2022 Artefact evidence has the unique power to illuminate many aspects of life that are rarely explored in written sources. This book presents the first in-depth study that uses everyday artefacts as its principal source of evidence to transform our understanding of the society and culture of Roman and Late Antique Egypt. |
| daily life in late antiquity: On Roman Time Michele Renee Salzman, 1991-03-25 Because they list all the public holidays and pagan festivals of the age, calendars provide unique insights into the culture and everyday life of ancient Rome. The Codex-Calendar of 354 miraculously survived the Fall of Rome. Although it was subsequently lost, the copies made in the Renaissance remain invaluable documents of Roman society and religion in the years between Constantine's conversion and the fall of the Western Empire. In this richly illustrated book, Michele Renee Salzman establishes that the traditions of Roman art and literature were still very much alive in the mid-fourth century. Going beyond this analysis of precedents and genre, Salzman also studies the Calendar of 354 as a reflection of the world that produced and used it. Her work reveals the continuing importance of pagan festivals and cults in the Christian era and highlights the rise of a respectable aristocratic Christianity that combined pagan and Christian practices. Salzman stresses the key role of the Christian emperors and imperial institutions in supporting pagan rituals. Such policies of accomodation and assimilation resulted in a gradual and relatively peaceful transformation of Rome from a pagan to a Christian capital. |
| daily life in late antiquity: An Introduction to the Roman Military Conor Whately, 2020-07-29 Follows the military lives of three soldiers across the Roman world, providing interesting, historical insight into the Roman military from the late republic to the end of antiquity in the west This book introduces readers to three historical Roman soldiers—Titus Pullo from the late republic, Aurelius Polion from the high imperial era, and Flavius Aemilianus from late antiquity. The three men inspire the themes and chronological organization of the text. Drawing on a wide and diverse body of evidence, the author charts their lives from enlistment to death or retirement, allowing students to envision the life of a Roman soldier who is on duty or experiencing adventures across the Roman world. An Introduction to the Roman Military: From Marius (100 BCE) to Theodosius II (450 CE) starts with a historical overview before introducing readers to the Roman soldier. It covers such things as the military hierarchy, soldierly origins, recruitment and training, and the soldier's appearance and identity. The next section looks at the Roman military during war—its environment, strategies, campaigns, and enemies. Their existence during times of peace follows that and focuses on how soldiers celebrated victory, mourned defeat, and readjusted to civilian life after a war. The book also features a timeline for readers to follow, as well as two glossaries—one filled with Roman military terms and the other with important names and events. Authentically captures the experiences of Roman soldiers Educates undergraduate or graduate students on Roman military history Describes Roman soldiers based on legal, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence Emphasizes the human side of the Roman military Moves through three Roman historical periods—the late republic, high imperial, and late antiquity An Introduction to the Roman Military is an engaging choice as a text for specific courses on the Roman military or army. It is also suitable for more general courses covering ancient warfare. In addition to university students, researchers and history enthusiasts will have the opportunity to follow the military lives of three Roman soldiers with this unique book. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Rome in Late Antiquity Bertrand Lançon, 2000 First Published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Readings in Late Antiquity Michael Maas, 2010 This volume seeks to make accessible to students a multiplicity of texts which illuminate the history, culture, medicine, philosophy, religion and peoples of late antiquity. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Families in the Roman and Late Antique World Lena Larsson Loven, Mary Harlow, 2012-02-02 This volume seeks to explain developments within the structure of the family in antiquity, in particular in the later Roman Empire and late antiquity. Contributions extend the traditional chronological focus on the Roman family to include the transformation of familial structures in the newly formed kingdoms of late antiquity in Europe, thus allowing a greater historical perspective and establishing a new paradigm for the study of the Roman family. Drawing on the latest research by leading scholars in the field the book includes new approaches to the life course and the family in the Byzantine empire, family relationships in the dynasty of Constantine the Great, death, burial and commemoration of newborn children in Roman Italy, and widows and familial networks in Roman Egypt. In short, this volume seeks to establish a new agenda for the understanding of the Roman family and its transformation in late antiquity. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Social and Political Life in Late Antiquity - Volume 3.1 William Bowden, Adam Gutteridge, Carlos Machado, 2006-12-31 This book examines a number of themes relating to social and political life in Late Antiquity. The first part of the book considers how the powers of the emperor, state and civic authorities were expressed in the phyiscal environment, and how coinage and material culture were caught up in the political life of the period. The second part investigates the middle classes and the poor, who are often less visible in archaeological, textual and epigraphic records. Other articles consider such topics as long term social evolution and the definition of time in Late Antiquity. Two extensive bibliographic essays provide an overview of published literature relating to social and political life. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne Pierre Riché, 1978 Detailed account of the common people's daily life in the time of Charlemagne and how politics and military struggle affected them. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Afterlife of the Roman City Hendrik W. Dey, 2014-11-17 This book offers a new perspective on the evolution of cities across the Roman Empire in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. |
| daily life in late antiquity: A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity Douglas Boin, 2017-12-18 2019 PROSE Award finalist in the Classics category! A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity examines the social and cultural landscape of the Late Antique Mediterranean. The text offers a picture of everyday life as it was lived in the spaces around and between two of the most memorable and towering figures of the time—Constantine and Muhammad. The author captures the period using a wide-lens, including Persian material from the mid third century through Umayyad material of the mid eighth century C.E. The book offers a rich picture of Late Antique life that is not just focused on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity. This important resource uses nuanced terms to talk about complex issues and fills a gap in the literature by surveying major themes such as power, gender, community, cities, politics, law, art and architecture, and literary culture. The book is richly illustrated and filled with maps, lists of rulers and key events. A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity is an essential guide that: Paints a rich picture of daily life in Late Antique that is not simply centered on Rome, Constantinople, or Christianity Balances a thematic approach with rigorous attention to chronology Stresses the need for appreciating both sources and methods in the study of Late Antique history Offers a sophisticated model for investigating daily life and the complexities of individual and group identity in the rapidly changing Mediterranean world Includes useful maps, city plans, timelines, and suggestions for further reading A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity offers an examination of everyday life in the era when adherents of three of the major religions of today—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—faced each other for the first time in the same environment. Learn more about A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity’s link to current social issues in Boin’s article for the History News Network. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Late Antiquity in Contemporary Debate Rita Lizzi Testa, 2017-03-07 Late Antiquity, once known only as the period of protracted decline in the ancient world (Bas-Empire), has now become a major research area. In recent years, a wide-ranging historiographic debate on Late Antiquity has also begun. Replacing Gibbon’s categories of decline and decadence with those of continuity and transformation has not only brought to the fore the concept of the Late Roman period, but has made the alleged hiatus between the Roman, Byzantine and Mediaeval ages less important, while also driving to the margins the question of the end of the Roman Empire. This has broadened the scope of research on Late Antiquity enormously and made the issue of periodization of crucial significance. The resulting debate has escaped the confines of Europe and now embraces almost all historiographic cultures around the world. This book sheds new light on this debate, collecting papers given at the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences (CISH/ICHS) in Jinan, China. They recall key moments of the discovery of the world of Late Antiquity, and show how it is possible to reach a definition of an age, analysing different sectors of history, using disparate sources, and with the guidance of very varied interpretative models. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity Jairus Banaji, 2002-01-04 The economy of the late antique Mediterranean is still largely seen through the prism of Weber's influential essay of 1896. Rejecting that orthodoxy, Jairus Banaji argues that the late empire saw substantial economic and social change, propelled by the powerful stimulus of a stable gold coinage that circulated widely. In successive chapters Banaji adduces fresh evidence for the prosperity of the late Roman countryside, the expanding circulation of gold, the restructuring of agrarian élites, and the extensive use of paid labour, above all in the period spanning the fifth to seventh centuries. The papyrological evidence is scrutinized in detail to show that a key development entailed the rise of a new aristocracy whose estates were immune to the devastating fragmentation of partible inheritance, extensively irrigated, and responsive to market opportunities. A concluding chapter defines the more general issue raised by the aristocracy's involvement in the monetary and business economy of the period. Exploiting a wide range of sources, Agrarian Change in Late Antiquity weaves together different strands of historiography (Weber, Mickwitz, papyrology, agrarian history) into a fascinating interpretation that challenges the minimalist orthodoxies about late antiquity and the ancient economy more generally. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Daily Life in Ancient Rome - The People and the City at the Height of the Empire Jerome Carcopino, 2011-04-20 Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. |
| daily life in late antiquity: On Old Age Christian Krötzl, Katariina Mustakallio, 2011 Research into old age and dying in the pre-modern world has examined not only the demographic aspects of ageing populations but also the social role of aged people. The volume, with its diverse topics, cuts across traditional scholarly barriers and provides valuable analytical tools for further studies on the subject. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Popular Culture in the Ancient World Lucy Grig, 2017 This book adopts a new approach to the classical world by focusing on ancient popular culture. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Dress and Personal Appearance in Late Antiquity Faith Pennick Morgan, 2018-01-22 This book examines the dress and personal appearance of members of the middle and lower classes in the eastern Mediterranean region during the 4th to 8th centuries. Written, art historical and archaeological evidence is assessed with a view to understanding the way that cloth and clothing was made, embellished, cared for and recycled during this period. Beginning with an overview of current research on Roman dress, the book looks in detail at the use of apotropaic and amuletic symbols and devices on clothing before examining sewing and making methods, the textile industry and the second-hand clothing trade. The final chapter includes detailed information on the making and modelling of exact replicas based on extant garments. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Spaces in Late Antiquity Juliette Day, Raimo Hakola, Maijastina Kahlos, Ulla Tervahauta, 2016-05-26 Places and spaces are key factors in how individuals and groups construct their identities. Identity theories have emphasised that the construction of an identity does not follow abstract and universal processes but is also deeply rooted in specific historical, cultural, social and material environments. The essays in this volume explore how various groups in Late Antiquity rooted their identity in special places that were imbued with meanings derived from history and tradition. In Part I, essays explore the tension between the Classical heritage in public, especially urban spaces, in the form of ancient artwork and civic celebrations and the Church's appropriation of that space through doctrinal disputes and rival public performances. Parts II and III investigate how particular locations expressed, and formed, the theological and social identities of Christian and Jewish groups by bringing together fresh insights from the archaeological and textual evidence. Together the essays here demonstrate how the use and interpretation of shared spaces contributed to the self-identity of specific groups in Late Antiquity and in so doing issued challenges, and caused conflict, with other social and religious groups. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Dark Side of Childhood in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages Katariina Mustakallio, Christian Laes, 2011 This volume examines conceptions, ideas and habits connected with children in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, focusing on the dark sides of childhood in the pre-modern world. The authors investigate the long-term attitudes of people, as well as ruptures in habits and customs. The book is divided into three parts. Unwanted deals with parents who were unable to bring up their baby and handed it over to other people or the cruel whims of destiny. Disabled addresses what we would label as children's illnesses since disability was a concept largely unknown to ancient people. Nearly Lost examines demons, viewed as destructive forces with the ability to destroy children or young people, sometimes by literally sucking their lives away. The articles are written by an international team of specialists from Belgium, Finland, Italy and the United States and were presented at conferences organised by the research project Religion and Childhood. Socialisation from the Roman Empire to Christian World, funded by the Academy of Finland (2009-2012, directed by Dr. Katariina Mustakallio), at the University of Tampere, Finland. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Housing in Late Antiquity Luke Lavan, Lale èOzgenel, Alexander Constantine Sarantis, 2007 This collection of papers, arising from the conference series Late Antique Archaeology, examines the housing in the late antique period, through thematic and regional syntheses, complemented by cases studies and two bibliographic essays. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Life and Death of Ancient Cities Greg Woolf, 2020 The human race is on a 10,000 year urban adventure. Our ancestors wandered the planet or lived scattered in villages, yet by the end of this century almost all of us will live in cities. But that journey has not been a smooth one and urban civilizations have risen and fallen many times in history. The ruins of many of them still enchant us. This book tells the story of the rise and fall of ancient cities from the end of the Bronze Age to the beginning of the Middle Ages. It is a tale of war and politics, pestilence and famine, triumph and tragedy, by turns both fabulous and squalid. Its focus is on the ancient Mediterranean: Greeks and Romans at the centre, but Phoenicians and Etruscans, Persians, Gauls, and Egyptians all play a part. The story begins with the Greek discovery of much more ancient urban civilizations in Egypt and the Near East, and charts the gradual spread of urbanism to the Atlantic and then the North Sea in the centuries that followed. The ancient Mediterranean, where our story begins, was a harsh environment for urbanism. So how were cities first created, and then sustained for so long, in these apparently unpromising surroundings? How did they feed themselves, where did they find water and building materials, and what did they do with their waste and their dead? Why, in the end, did their rulers give up on them? And what it was like to inhabit urban worlds so unlike our own - cities plunged into darkness every night, cities dominated by the temples of the gods, cities of farmers, cities of slaves, cities of soldiers. Ultimately, the chief characters in the story are the cities themselves. Athens and Sparta, Persepolis and Carthage, Rome and Alexandria: cities that formed great families. Their story encompasses the history of the generations of people who built and inhabited them, whose short lives left behind monuments that have inspired city builders ever since - and whose ruins stand as stark reminders to the 21st century of the perils as well as the potential rewards of an urban existence. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, 2015-11 The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity offers an innovative overview of a period (c. 300-700 CE) that has become increasingly central to scholarly debates over the history of western and Middle Eastern civilizations. This volume covers such pivotal events as the fall of Rome, the rise of Christianity, the origins of Islam, and the early formation of Byzantium and the European Middle Ages. These events are set in the context of widespread literary, artistic, cultural, and religious change during the period. The geographical scope of this Handbook is unparalleled among comparable surveys of Late Antiquity; Arabia, Egypt, Central Asia, and the Balkans all receive dedicated treatments, while the scope extends to the western kingdoms, and North Africa in the West. Furthermore, from economic theory and slavery to Greek and Latin poetry, Syriac and Coptic literature, sites of religious devotion, and many others, this Handbook covers a wide range of topics that will appeal to scholars from a diverse array of disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity engages the perennially valuable questions about the end of the ancient world and the beginning of the medieval, while providing a much-needed touchstone for the study of Late Antiquity itself. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity Jeremy M. Schott, 2013-04-23 In Christianity, Empire, and the Making of Religion in Late Antiquity, Jeremy M. Schott examines the ways in which conflicts between Christian and pagan intellectuals over religious, ethnic, and cultural identity contributed to the transformation of Roman imperial rhetoric and ideology in the early fourth century C.E. During this turbulent period, which began with Diocletian's persecution of the Christians and ended with Constantine's assumption of sole rule and the consolidation of a new Christian empire, Christian apologists and anti-Christian polemicists launched a number of literary salvos in a battle for the minds and souls of the empire. Schott focuses on the works of the Platonist philosopher and anti- Christian polemicist Porphyry of Tyre and his Christian respondents: the Latin rhetorician Lactantius, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, and the emperor Constantine. Previous scholarship has tended to narrate the Christianization of the empire in terms of a new religion's penetration and conquest of classical culture and society. The present work, in contrast, seeks to suspend the static, essentializing conceptualizations of religious identity that lie behind many studies of social and political change in late antiquity in order to investigate the processes through which Christian and pagan identities were constructed. Drawing on the insights of postcolonial discourse analysis, Schott argues that the production of Christian identity and, in turn, the construction of a Christian imperial discourse were intimately and inseparably linked to the broader politics of Roman imperialism. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Alexandria in Late Antiquity Christopher Haas, 2006-11-15 Haas explores the broad avenues and back alleys of Alexandria's neighborhoods, its suburbs and waterfront, and aspects of material culture that underlay Alexandrian social and intellectual life. Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Second only to Rome in the ancient world, Alexandria was home to many of late antiquity's most brilliant writers, philosophers, and theologians—among them Philo, Origen, Arius, Athanasius, Hypatia, Cyril, and John Philoponus. Now, in Alexandria in Late Antiquity, Christopher Haas offers the first book to place these figures within the physical and social context of Alexandria's bustling urban milieu. Because of its clear demarcation of communal boundaries, Alexandria provides the modern historian with an ideal opportunity to probe the multicultural makeup of an ancient urban unit. Haas explores the broad avenues and back alleys of Alexandria's neighborhoods, its suburbs and waterfront, and aspects of material culture that underlay Alexandrian social and intellectual life. Organizing his discussion around the city's religious and ethnic blocs—Jews, pagans, and Christians—he details the fiercely competitive nature of Alexandrian social dynamics. In contrast to recent scholarship, which cites Alexandria as a model for peaceful coexistence within a culturally diverse community, Haas finds that the diverse groups' struggles for social dominance and cultural hegemony often resulted in violence and bloodshed—a volatile situation frequently exacerbated by imperial intervention on one side or the other. Eventually, Haas concludes, Alexandrian society achieved a certain stability and reintegration—a process that resulted in the transformation of Alexandrian civic identity during the crucial centuries between antiquity and the Middle Ages. |
| daily life in late antiquity: The Archaeology of Late Antique 'Paganism' Luke Lavan, Michael Mulryan, 2011-06-22 Papers from the conference The Archaeology of Late Antique Paganism held in 2005 in Leuven. |
| daily life in late antiquity: Women in Antiquity Stephanie Lynn Budin, Jean MacIntosh Turfa, 2016 This volume gathers brand new essays from some of the most respected scholars of ancient history, archaeology, and physical anthropology to create an engaging overview of the lives of women in antiquity. |
| daily life in late antiquity: A Cultural History of Education in Antiquity Christian Laes, 2023-04-20 A Cultural History of Education in Antiquity presents essays that examine the following key themes of the period: church, religion and morality; knowledge, media and communications; children and childhood; family, community and sociability; learners and learning; teachers and teaching; literacies; and life histories. The book balances traditional approaches towards education with the new history of education that tackles the topic from a much broader scope. The chapters integrate evidence from the Greek and the Roman world, next to Christian evidence from late antiquity. An essential resource for researchers, scholars, and students in history, literature, culture, and education. |
Why “daily” and not “dayly”? - English Language & Usage Stack ...
Apr 16, 2014 · Checking how adjectives related to time are created, I see: year → yearly month → monthly week → weekly day → daily Why has “day” been derived into “daily” with an ‘i’ instead …
time - What's the Best English word for 6 months in this group: …
Thanks jwpat7, the fact is I'd vote up your answer. One word appearing in two different questions don't make it duplicates. While one question could be about what does bi- stand for, my …
What is the meaning of the phrase “The morning constitutional”?
I have understood it to be Cockney Rhyming Slang. Constitutional-> Constitutional Right -> Word that rhymes with "right" which means poop. To such an extent, if someone said they were …
phrase requests - More professional word for "day to day task ...
May 24, 2023 · Stack Exchange Network. Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for …
Weekly, Daily, Hourly - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Sep 16, 2010 · "Hourly," "daily," "monthly," "weekly," and "yearly" suggest a consistent approach to creating adverbial forms of time measurements, but the form breaks down both in smaller …
recurring events - A word for "every two days" - English Language ...
Aug 23, 2014 · In regular conversation, the phrase is simply every other day.Technically, however, one could use bidiurnal.It appears the word may have been coined by Ursula M. …
word choice - What is the collective term for "Daily", "Weekly ...
May 20, 2016 · Stack Exchange Network. Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for …
time - Is there any difference between "monthly average" and …
Nov 24, 2014 · Suggestions to Authors of the Reports of the United States Geological Survey, Fifth Edition, 1958, page 44, says, "The terms "daily mean" and "mean daily" should not be …
Is there a word which means "having a frequency of decades" or …
Apr 12, 2011 · I have a document with the headings: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and decadely. Google Chrome, Google Docs, and Dictionary.com insist that "decadely" is not a word. …
word choice - Day vs Daily vs One-day vs Full day - English …
May 18, 2018 · Daily; One-day; Full day; Day; Any help would be appreciated. I am referring to activities that cannot be held overnight, eg. from 8pm to 6am, but can be done anytime inside …
Why “daily” and not “dayly”? - English Language & Usage Stack ...
Apr 16, 2014 · Checking how adjectives related to time are created, I see: year → yearly month → monthly week → weekly day → daily Why has “day” been derived into “daily” with an ‘i’ instead …
time - What's the Best English word for 6 months in this group: …
Thanks jwpat7, the fact is I'd vote up your answer. One word appearing in two different questions don't make it duplicates. While one question could be about what does bi- stand for, my …
What is the meaning of the phrase “The morning constitutional”?
I have understood it to be Cockney Rhyming Slang. Constitutional-> Constitutional Right -> Word that rhymes with "right" which means poop. To such an extent, if someone said they were …
phrase requests - More professional word for "day to day task ...
May 24, 2023 · Stack Exchange Network. Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for …
Weekly, Daily, Hourly - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Sep 16, 2010 · "Hourly," "daily," "monthly," "weekly," and "yearly" suggest a consistent approach to creating adverbial forms of time measurements, but the form breaks down both in smaller …
recurring events - A word for "every two days" - English Language ...
Aug 23, 2014 · In regular conversation, the phrase is simply every other day.Technically, however, one could use bidiurnal.It appears the word may have been coined by Ursula M. Cowgill in her …
word choice - What is the collective term for "Daily", "Weekly ...
May 20, 2016 · Stack Exchange Network. Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for …
time - Is there any difference between "monthly average" and …
Nov 24, 2014 · Suggestions to Authors of the Reports of the United States Geological Survey, Fifth Edition, 1958, page 44, says, "The terms "daily mean" and "mean daily" should not be …
Is there a word which means "having a frequency of decades" or …
Apr 12, 2011 · I have a document with the headings: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and decadely. Google Chrome, Google Docs, and Dictionary.com insist that "decadely" is not a word. …
word choice - Day vs Daily vs One-day vs Full day - English …
May 18, 2018 · Daily; One-day; Full day; Day; Any help would be appreciated. I am referring to activities that cannot be held overnight, eg. from 8pm to 6am, but can be done anytime inside …
