The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity

by Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald

• ISBN13: 9780195336931
• ISBN10: 0195336933
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-10-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquityoffers 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, Ireland, and Scandinavia in the West. Furthemore, 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 Antiquityengages 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.

Author Biography

Scott Fitzgerald Johnson is Dumbarton Oaks Teaching Fellow in Byzantine Philology at Georgetown University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
List of Illustrations
Preface
Scott F. Johnson, Georgetown University and Dumbarton Oaks
Introduction: Late Antique Conceptions of Late Antiquity
Hervé Inglebert, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense (Paris X)

Part I. Geographies and Peoples
1. The Western Kingdoms, Michael Kulikowski
2. Barbarians: Problems and Approaches, Michael Maas
3. The Balkans, Craig H. Caldwell III,
4. Armenia, Tim Greenwood
5. Central Asia and the Silk Road, Étienne de la Vaissière
6. Syriac and the "Syrians,"Philip Wood
7. Egypt, Arietta Papaconstantinou
8. The Coptic Tradition, Anne Boud'hors
9. Ethiopia and Arabia, Christian Julien Robin

Part II. Literary and Philosophical Cultures
10. Latin Poetry, Scott McGill
11. Greek Poetry, Gianfranco Agosti
12. Historiography, Brian Croke
13. Hellenism and its Discontents, Aaron Johnson
14. Education: Speaking, Thinking, and Socializing, Edward Watts
15. Monasticism and the Philosophical Heritage, Samuel Rubenson
16. Physics and Metaphysics, Gregory Smith
17. Travel, Cartography, and Cosmology, Scott Fitzgerald Johnson

III. Law, State, and Social Structures
18. Economic Trajectories, Jairus Banaji
19. Agriculture and Other, "Rural Matters," Cam Grey
20. Marriage and Family, Kyle Harper
21. Health, Disease, and Hospitals: The Case of the "Sacred House," Peregrine Horden
22. Concepts of Citizenship, Ralph Mathisen
23. Justice and Equality, Kevin Uhalde
24. Roman Law and Legal Culture, Jill Harries
25. Communication: Use and Reuse, Andrew Gillett

Part IV. Religions and Religious Identity
26. Paganism and Christianization, Jaclyn Maxwell
27. Episcopal Leadership, David M. Gwynn
28. Theological Argumentation: The Case of Forgery, Susan Wessel
29. Sacred Space and Visual Art, Ann Marie Yasin
30. Object Relations: Theorizing the Late Antique Viewer, Glenn Peers
31. From Nisibis to Xi'an: The Church of the East across Sasanian Persia, Joel Walker
32. Early Islam as a Late Antique Religion, Robert Hoyland
33. Muhammad and the Qur'an, Stephen J. Shoemaker

Part V. Late Antiquity in Perspective
34. Comparative State Formation: The Later Roman Empire in the Wider World, John Haldon
35. Late Antiquity in Byzantium, Petre Guran
36. Late Antiquity and the Italian Renaissance, Christopher Celenza