A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity, 1 by Boin, Douglas -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Table of Contents Illustrations Boxed Texts Preface: The Magic of History Acknowledgments Annotated List of Abbreviations and a Note on Citations from Secondary Literature Timeline Map: The Late Antique World At‐A‐Glance Part I: The “Vanishing” of Rome

1 Who and What Is Late Antiquity?

1.1 An Overview of the Book 1.2 Three Lives and the “Fall of Rome” Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

2 When Does Late Antiquity Begin? When Does it End?

2.1 The Third through Fifth Centuries CE: A Narrated Timeline 2.2 A Warning about Periodization Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

3 How Do We Do Late Antique History?

3.1 Evaluating Sources, Asking Questions 3.2 The Past in the Past 3.3 Acquiring Cultural Competence: The Study of Religion in History 3.4 Linking, not Disconnecting, Different Periods of Early Christianity 3.5 Pre‐Modern vs. Early Modern History: A Note on Sources Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

Part II: Late Antiquity Appears

4 Power

4.1 Third‐Century Politics 4.2 Mithras and a Roman Fascination with the Mysteries of Persia 4.3 The Material Culture of Sasanian Persia 4.4 Rome and Sasanian Persia in Conflict 4.5 The Roman World of the Third Century CE Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

5 Worship

5.1 The Civic Sacrifice Policy of 250 CE 5.2 How Did Romans Worship Their Gods? Text and Material Culture, c. Third Century CE Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

6 Social Change

6.1 Rome’s Laws Against Christians 6.2 The End of the Third Century and the Rise of the Rule of Four 6.3 A View from Thessaloniki, Roman Greece, Late Third Century CE 6.4 Diocletian’s Edict against Followers of Mani, 296 CE or 302 CE 6.5 The Rise of Christianity: Assumptions and Starting Points Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

7 Law and Politics

7.1 Roman Law: History From the Ground‐Up, Top‐Down, and Sideways 7.2 The “Edict of Milan,” 313 CE 7.3 Individual Laws and the Collection of Legal Texts 7.4 Law and Politics in the Fourth Century CE Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

8 Urban Life

8.1 Daily Life in the Fourth Century CE and Beyond: Starting Points and Assumptions 8.2 The Archaeology of Rome 8.3 The Archaeology of Constantinople Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

9 Community

9.1 Mystery Cults 9.2 Christian Communities and Christian Law 9.3 The Jewish Community: Shared Values and Social Diversity 9.4 The Communities of Roman Egypt, Fourth–Fifth Centuries CE Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

10 Economy

10.1 Egypt beyond Its Borders 10.2 The Arena and Racing Culture 10.3 Economic Realities, Third–Sixth Centuries CE 10.4 The Crypta Balbi Excavations, Rome: The Story of a Social Safety Net, Third Century–Sixth Century CE Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

11 The Household and Family

11.1 Home as a Place 11.2 House‐Churches in the Long History of Christianity 11.3 Family and Household Relations, c.405–551 CE 11.4 Slaves and Slavery 11.5 Households and the Emergence of the Papacy in Rome Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

12 Ideas and Literary Culture

12.1 The “One” and the Many: Philosophical and Anthropological Perspectives 12.2 Literature and Ideas after the “Vanishing” of Rome 12.3 The Literary Culture of Justinian’s Roman Empire 12.4 Literature as a Source for the Study of Medicine and Disease 12.5 The Rise of a Book Culture 12.6 Latin Poetry and Christian Communities in Rome, c.366–600 CE 12.7 Looking Ahead: “People of the Book” Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

Part III: The Illusion of Mediterranean History

13 Geography and Society

13.1 Seeing the Sixth Century Through the Eyes of an Emperor and a Traveler 13.2 Cosmas’ Christian World 13.3 Beyond Rome’s Christian Empire in the Sixth Century CE 13.4 Sixth‐ and Seventh‐Century South Asia 13.5 Sixth‐ and Seventh‐Century China and Central Asia Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

14 A Choice of Directions

14.1 Jerusalem in the Sixth and Early Seventh Centuries CE 14.2 The Social World of the Arabian Peninsula in the Sixth Century CE 14.3 The Believers Movement Summary Study Questions Suggested Readings

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