Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical WorldBelknap Press
edited by G. W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar
ISBN: 0674511735
price: $49.95 hardcover
Winner of the 1999 Professional/Scholarly Publishing Award of
the Association of American Publishers, History Category
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.
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