Late antiquity

TheBarberini ivory,a lateLeonid/JustinianByzantineivoryleaf from an imperialdiptych,from an imperial workshop inConstantinoplein the first half of the sixth century (Louvre)

Late antiquityis sometimes defined as spanning from the end ofclassical antiquityto the local start of theMiddle Ages,from around the late 3rd century up to the 7th or 8th century inEuropeand adjacent areas bordering theMediterranean Basindepending on location.The popularisation of thisperiodizationin English has generally been credited to historianPeter Brown,who proposed a period between 150–750 AD.The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity defines it as "the period between approximately 250 and 750 AD".Precise boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate. In the West, its end was earlier, with the start of theEarly Middle Agestypically placed in the 6th century, or even earlier on the edges of theWestern Roman Empire.

Terminology

The termSpätantike,literally "late antiquity", has been used by German-speaking historians since its popularization byAlois Rieglin the early 20th century.It was given currency in English partly by the writings ofPeter Brown,whose surveyThe World of Late Antiquity(1971) revised theGibbonview of a stale and ossified Classical culture, in favour of a vibrant time of renewals and beginnings, and whoseThe Making of Late Antiquityoffered a new paradigm of understanding the changes in Western culture of the time in order to confront SirRichard Southern'sThe Making of the Middle Ages.

Late 4th-century Roman bust of a Germanic slave inAugusta Treverorum(Trier) inBelgica Prima,seat of thepraetorian prefecture of Gaul(Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier)

The continuities between thelater Roman Empire,as it was reorganized byDiocletian(r. 284–305), and theEarly Middle Agesare stressed by writerswho wish to emphasize that the seeds of medieval culture were already developing in theChristianizedempire, and that they continued to do so in the Eastern Roman Empire orByzantine Empireat least until thecoming of Islam.Concurrently, some migratingGermanic tribessuch as theOstrogothsandVisigothssaw themselves as perpetuating the "Roman" tradition. While the usage "Late Antiquity" suggests that the social and cultural priorities ofclassical antiquityendured throughoutEuropeinto theMiddle Ages,the usage of "Early Middle Ages" or "Early Byzantine" emphasizes a break with the classical past, and the term "Migration Period"tends to de-emphasize the disruptions in the former Western Roman Empire caused by the creation of Germanic kingdoms within her borders beginning with thefoeduswith theGothsin Aquitania in 418.

The general decline of population, technological knowledge and standards of living in Europe during this period became the archetypal example ofsocietal collapsefor writers from theRenaissance.As a result of this decline, and the relative scarcity of historical records from Europe in particular, the period from roughly the early fifth century until theCarolingian Renaissance(or later still) was referred to as the "Dark Ages".This term has mostly been abandoned as a name for a historiographical epoch, being replaced by" Late Antiquity " in the periodization of the late Western Roman Empire, the early Byzantine Empire and the Early Middle Ages.

Period history

The Roman Empire underwent considerable social, cultural and organizational changes starting with the reign ofDiocletian,who began the custom of splitting the Empire intoEasternand Western portions ruled bymultiple emperors simultaneously.The Sasanian Empire supplanted theParthian Empireand began a new phase of the Roman–Persian Wars, theRoman–Sasanian Wars.The divisions between theGreek East and Latin Westbecame more pronounced. TheDiocletianic Persecutionof Christians in the early 4th century wasendedbyGaleriusand underConstantine the Great,Christianitywasmade legalin the Empire. The 4th centuryChristianization of the Roman Empirewas extended by the conversions ofTiridates the GreatofArmenia,Mirian IIIofIberia,andEzana of Axum,who later invaded and ended theKingdom of Kush.During the late 4th century reign ofTheodosius I,Nicene Christianitywasproclaimedthestate church of the Roman Empire.

The city ofConstantinoplebecame the permanent imperial residence in the East by the 5th century and superseded Rome as the largest city in theLate Roman Empireand theMediterranean Basin.The longestRoman aqueductsystem, the 250 km (160 mi)-longAqueduct of Valenswas constructed to supply it with water, and the tallest Romantriumphal columnswere erected there.

MigrationsofGermanic,Hunnic,andSlavictribes disrupted Roman rule from the late 4th century onwards, culminating first in theSack of Romeby theVisigothsin 410 and subsequentSack of Romeby theVandalsin 455, part of the eventualcollapse of the Empire in the Westitself by 476. The Western Empire was replaced by the so-calledbarbarian kingdoms,with theArian ChristianOstrogothic Kingdomruling Rome fromRavenna.The resultant cultural fusion ofGreco-Roman,Germanic, and Christian traditions formed the foundations of the subsequentculture of Europe.

In the 6th century, Roman imperial rule continued in the East, and theByzantine-Sasanian warscontinued. The campaigns ofJustinian the Greatled to the fall of the Ostrogothic and Vandal Kingdoms, and their reincorporation into the Empire, when the city of Rome and much of Italy andNorth Africareturned to imperial control. Though most of Italy was soon part of theKingdom of the Lombards,the RomanExarchate of Ravennaendured, ensuring the so-calledByzantine Papacy.Justinian constructed theHagia Sophia,a great example ofByzantine architecture,and the first outbreak of the centuries-longfirst plague pandemictook place. AtCtesiphon,the Sasanians completed theTaq Kasra,the colossaliwanof which is the largest single-spanvaultof unreinforcedbrickworkin the world and the triumph ofSasanian architecture.

The middle of the 6th century was characterized by extreme climate events (the volcanic winter of 535–536and theLate Antique Little Ice Age) and a disastrous pandemic (thePlague of Justinianin 541). The effects of these events in the social and political life are still under discussion. In the 7th century the disastrousByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628and the campaigns ofKhosrow IIandHeracliusfacilitated the emergence ofIslamin theArabian Peninsuladuring the lifetime ofMuhammad.SubsequentMuslim conquest of the LevantandPersiaoverthrew the Sasanian Empire and permanently wrested two thirds of the Eastern Roman Empire's territory from Roman control, forming theRashidun Caliphate.TheByzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynastybegan themiddle Byzantine period,and together with the establishment of the later 7th centuryUmayyad Caliphate,generally marks the end of late antiquity.

Religion

Main article:Christianity in late antiquity

One of the most important transformations in late antiquity was the formation and evolution of theAbrahamic religions:Christianity,Rabbinic Judaismand, eventually,Islam.

Modern statue ofConstantine IatYork,where he was proclaimedAugustusin 306

A milestone in thespread of Christianitywas the conversion of EmperorConstantine the Great(r. 306–337) in 312, as claimed by his Christian panegyristEusebius of Caesarea,althoughthe sincerity of his conversion is debated.Constantine confirmed the legalization of the religion through the so-calledEdict of Milanin 313, jointly issued with his rival in the East,Licinius(r. 308–324). By the late 4th century, EmperorTheodosius the Greathad made Christianity the State religion, thereby transforming the Classical Roman world, which Peter Brown characterized as "rustling with the presence of manydivine spirits."

Constantine I was a key figure in many important events inChristian history,as he convened and attended the first ecumenical council of bishops atNicaeain 325, subsidized the building of churches and sanctuaries such as theChurch of the Holy SepulchreinJerusalem,and involved himself in questions such as the timing ofChrist's resurrectionand its relation to thePassover.

The birth ofChristian monasticismthe 3rd century was a major step in the development of Christian spirituality.While it initially operated outside the episcopal authority of the Church, it would become hugely successful and by the 8th century it became one of the key Christian practices.Monasticismwas not the only new Christian movement to appear in late antiquity, although it had perhaps the greatest influence and it achieved unprecedented geographical spread.It influenced many aspects of Christian religious life and led to a proliferation of various ascetic or semi-ascetic practices.Holy FoolsandStylitescounted among the more extreme forms but through such personalities likeJohn Chrysostom,Jerome,AugustineorGregory the Greatmonastic attitudes penetrated other areas of Christian life.

Late antiquity marks the decline ofRoman state religion,circumscribed in degrees by edicts likely inspired by Christian advisors such as Eusebius to 4th-century emperors, and a period of dynamic religious experimentation and spirituality with manysyncreticsects, some formed centuries earlier, such asGnosticismorNeoplatonismand theChaldaean oracles,some novel, such ashermeticism.Culminating in the reforms advocated byApollonius of Tyanabeing adopted byAurelianand formulated byFlavius Claudius Julianusto create an organized but short-lived pagan state religion that ensured its underground survival into the Byzantine age and beyond.

MahāyānaBuddhismdeveloped in India and along theSilk RoadinCentral Asia,whileManichaeism,aDualistfaith, arose inMesopotamiaand spread both East and West, for a time contending with Christianity in the Roman Empire.

Many of the new religions relied on the emergence of theparchmentcodex(bound book) over thepapyrusvolumen(scroll), the former allowing for quicker access to key materials and easier portability than the fragile scroll, thus fueling the rise of synopticexegesis,papyrology.Notable in this regard is the topic of theFifty Bibles of Constantine.

Laity vs clergy

Within the recently legitimized Christian community of the 4th century, a division could be more distinctly seen between thelaityand an increasinglycelibatemale leadership.These men presented themselves as removed from the traditional Roman motivations ofpublicandprivate lifemarked by pride, ambition and kinship solidarity, and differing from the married pagan leadership. Unlike later strictures onpriestly celibacy,celibacy in late antique Christianity sometimes took the form ofabstinence from sexual relationsafter marriage, and it came to be the expected norm for urbanclergy.Celibate and detached, the upper clergy became an elite equal in prestige to urban notables, thepotentesordynatoi.

The rise of Islam

The Byzantine Empire after theArabs conqueredthe provinces of Syria and Egypt – the same time theearly Slavssettled in the Balkans

Islam appeared in the 7th century, spurring Arab armies to invade the Eastern Roman Empire and theSassanian EmpireofPersia,destroying the latter. After conquering all ofNorth AfricaandVisigothic Spain,the Islamic invasion was halted byCharles Martelat theBattle of Toursin modernFrance.

On the rise of Islam, two main theses prevail. On the one hand, there is the traditional view, as espoused by most historians prior to the second half of the twentieth century (and after) and by Muslim scholars. This view, the so-called "out of Arabia" -thesis, holds that Islam as a phenomenon was a new, alien element in the late antique world. Related to this is thePirenne Thesis,according to which theArabinvasions marked—through conquest and the disruption of Mediterranean trade routes—the cataclysmic end of late antiquity and the beginning of theMiddle Ages.

On the other hand, there is a more recent thesis, associated with scholars in the tradition of Peter Brown, in which Islam is seen to be a product of the late antique world, not foreign to it. This school suggests that its origin within the shared cultural horizon of the late antique world explains the character of Islam and its development. Such historians point to similarities with other late antique religions and philosophies—especially Christianity—in the prominent role and manifestations of piety in Islam, in Islamic asceticism and the role of "holy persons", in the pattern of universalist, homogeneous monotheism tied to worldly and military power, in early Islamic engagement with Greek schools of thought, in the apocalypticism ofIslamic theologyand in the way theQuranseems to react to contemporary religious and cultural issues shared by the late antique world at large. Further indication that Arabia (and thus the environment in which Islam first developed) was a part of the late antique world is found in the close economic and military relations between Arabia, theByzantine Empireand the Sassanian Empire.In recent years, the period of late antiquity has become a major focus in the fields ofQuranic studiesand Islamic origins.

Political transformations

The Favourites of theEmperor Honorius,1883:John William Waterhouseexpresses the sense of moral decadence that coloured the 19th-century historical view of the 5th century.

The late antique period also saw a wholesale transformation of thepoliticalandsocialbasis of life in and around theRoman Empire.

The Roman citizen elite in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, under the pressure of taxation and the ruinous cost of presenting spectacular public entertainments in the traditionalcursus honorum,had found under theAntoninesthat security could be obtained only by combining their established roles in the local town with new ones as servants and representatives of a distant emperor and his traveling court. After Constantine centralized the government in his new capital ofConstantinople(dedicated in 330), the late antique upper classes were divided among those who had access to the far-away centralized administration (in concert with thegreat landowners), and those who did not; although they were well-born and thoroughly educated, a classical education and the election by the Senate to magistracies was no longer the path to success. Room at the top of late antique society was more bureaucratic and involved increasingly intricate channels of access to the emperor; the plain toga that had identified all members of theRepublican senatorial classwas replaced with the silk court vestments and jewelry associated with Byzantine imperial iconography.Also indicative of the times is the fact that the imperial cabinet of advisors came to be known as theconsistorium,or those who would stand in courtly attendance upon their seated emperor, as distinct from the informal set of friends and advisors surrounding theAugustus.

The ruins of theTaq KasrainCtesiphon,capital of the Sasanian Empire, photographed in 1864

Cities

The later Roman Empire was in a sense a network of cities. Archaeology now supplements literary sources to document the transformation followed by collapse of cities in theMediterranean Basin.Two diagnostic symptoms of decline—or as many historians prefer, 'transformation'—are subdivision, particularly of expansive formal spaces in both thedomusand the publicbasilica,and encroachment, in which artisans' shops invade the public thoroughfare, a transformation that was to result in thesouk(marketplace).Burials within the urban precincts mark another stage in dissolution of traditional urbanistic discipline, overpowered by the attraction of saintly shrines and relics. InRoman Britain,the typical 4th- and 5th-century layer ofdark earthwithin cities seems to be a result of increased gardening in formerly urban spaces.

The city of Rome went from a population of 800,000 in the beginning of the period to a population of 30,000 by the end of the period, the most precipitous drop coming with the breaking of theaqueductsduring theGothic War.A similar though less marked decline in urban population occurred later in Constantinople, which was gaining population until the outbreak of thePlague of Justinianin 541. In Europe there was also a general decline in urban populations. As a whole, the period of late antiquity was accompanied by an overall population decline in almost all Europe, and a reversion to more of a subsistence economy. Long-distance markets disappeared, and there was a reversion to a greater degree of local production and consumption, rather than webs of commerce and specialized production.

View west along the Harbour Street towards theLibrary of CelsusinEphesus,present-dayTurkey.The pillars on the left side of the street were part of thecolonnadedwalkway apparent in cities of late antiqueAsia Minor.

Concurrently, the continuity of the Eastern Roman Empire atConstantinoplemeant that the turning-point for theGreek Eastcame later, in the 7th century, as the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire centered around theBalkans,North Africa (EgyptandCarthage), andAsia Minor.The degree and extent of discontinuity in the smaller cities of the Greek East is a moot subject among historians.The urban continuity of Constantinople is the outstanding example of the Mediterranean world; of the two great cities of lesser rank,Antiochwas devastated by the Persian sack of 540, followed by theplague of Justinian(542 onwards) and completed by earthquake, whileAlexandriasurvived its Islamic transformation, to suffer incremental decline in favour ofCairoin the medieval period.

Justinian rebuilt his birthplace inIllyricum,asJustiniana Prima,more in a gesture ofimperiumthan out of an urbanistic necessity; another "city", was reputed to have been founded, according toProcopius' panegyric on Justinian's buildings,precisely at the spot where the generalBelisariustouched shore in North Africa: the miraculous spring that gushed forth to give them water and the rural population that straightway abandoned their ploughshares for civilised life within the new walls, lend a certain taste of unreality to the project.

In mainland Greece, the inhabitants ofSparta,ArgosandCorinthabandoned their cities for fortified sites in nearby high places; the fortified heights ofAcrocorinthare typical of Byzantine urban sites in Greece. In Italy, populations that had clustered within reach ofRoman roadsbegan to withdraw from them, as potential avenues of intrusion, and to rebuild in typically constricted fashion round an isolated fortified promontory, orrocca;Cameron notes similar movement of populations in the Balkans, 'where inhabited centres contracted and regrouped around a defensibleacropolis,or were abandoned in favour of such positions elsewhere. "

Roman cavalryfrom amosaicof theVilla Romana del Casale,Sicily,4th century CE

In the western Mediterranean, the only new cities known to be founded in Europe between the 5th and 8th centurieswere the four or fiveVisigothic"victory cities".Reccopolisin theprovince of Guadalajarais one: the others wereVictoriacum,founded byLeovigild,which may survive as the city ofVitoria,though a 12th-century (re)foundation for this city is given in contemporary sources;Lugo id est Luceoin theAsturias,referred to byIsidore of Seville,andOlogicus(perhapsOlogitis), founded usingBasquelabour in 621 bySuinthilaas a fortification against the Basques, modernOlite.All of these cities were founded for military purposes and at least Reccopolis, Victoriacum, and Ologicus in celebration of victory. A possible fifth Visigothic foundation isBaiyara(perhaps modernMontoro), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the 15th-century geographical account,Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar.The arrival of a highly urbanized Islamic culture in the decade following 711 ensured the survival of cities in theHispaniaeinto the Middle Ages.

Beyond the Mediterranean world, the cities ofGaulwithdrew within a constricted line of defense around a citadel. Former imperial capitals such asCologneandTrierlived on in diminished form as administrative centres of theFranks.InBritainmost towns and cities had been in decline, apart from a brief period of recovery during the fourth century, well before the withdrawal of Roman governors and garrisons but the process might well have stretched well into the fifth century.Historians emphasizing urban continuities with theAnglo-Saxon perioddepend largely on the post-Roman survival of Romantoponymy.Aside from a mere handful of its continuously inhabited sites, likeYorkandLondonand possiblyCanterbury,however, the rapidity and thoroughness with which its urban life collapsed with the dissolution of centralized bureaucracy calls into question the extent to whichRoman Britainhad ever become authentically urbanized: "inRoman Britaintowns appeared a shade exotic, "observesH. R. Loyn,"owing their reason for being more to the military and administrative needs of Rome than to any economic virtue".The other institutional power centre, theRoman villa,did not survive in Britain either.Gildaslamented the destruction of the twenty-eight cities of Britain; though not all in his list can be identified with known Roman sites, Loyn finds no reason to doubt the essential truth of his statement.

Classical antiquitycan generally be defined as an age of cities; the Greekpolisand Romanmunicipiumwere locally organised, self-governing bodies of citizens governed by written constitutions. When Rome came to dominate the known world, local initiative and control were gradually subsumed by the ever-growing Imperial bureaucracy; by theCrisis of the Third Centurythe military, political and economic demands made by the Empire made the service in local government to be an onerous duty, often imposed as punishment.Harassed urban dwellers fled to the walled estates of the wealthy to avoid taxes, military service, famine and disease. In the Western Roman Empire especially, many cities destroyed by invasion or civil war in the 3rd century could not be rebuilt. Plague and famine hit the urban class in greater proportion, and thus the people who knew how to keep civic services running. Perhaps the greatest blow came in the wake of theextreme weather events of 535–536and subsequentPlague of Justinian,when the remaining trade networks ensured the Plague spread to the remaining commercial cities. The impact of this outbreak of plague has recently been disputed.The end ofclassical antiquityis the end of the polis model. While there was a decline of urban life in late antiquity (especially in the West) the epoch brought with it new forms of political participation in the urban spaces as well.Especially the role of crowds and masses in cities has increased, leading to new levels of tension.

Column of Arcadius,Constantinople (built 401–421)

Library ofTrinity College, Cambridge:ms. O.17.2 (the "Freshfield album" ), folios 11–13

Public building

In the cities the strained economies of Roman over-expansion arrested growth. Almost all new public building in late antiquity came directly or indirectly from the emperors or imperial officials. Attempts were made to maintain what was already there. The supply of free grain and oil to 20% of the population of Rome remained intact the last decades of the 5th century. It was once thought that the elite and rich had withdrawn to the private luxuries of their numerousvillasand town houses. Scholarly opinion has revised this. They monopolized the higher offices in the imperial administration, but they were removed from military command by the late 3rd century. Their focus turned to preserving their vast wealth rather than fighting for it.

Thebasilica,which had functioned as a law court or for imperial reception of foreign dignitaries, became the primary public building in the 4th century. Due to the stress on civic finances, cities spent money on walls, maintaining baths and markets at the expense of amphitheaters, temples, libraries, porticoes, gymnasia, concert and lecture halls, theaters and other amenities of public life. In any case, as Christianity took over, many of these buildings which were associated with pagan cults were neglected in favor of building churches and donating to the poor. The Christian basilica was copied from the civic structure with variations. The bishop took the chair in the apse reserved in secular structures for the magistrate—or the Emperor himself—as the representative here and now ofChrist Pantocrator,the Ruler of All, his characteristic late antiqueicon.These ecclesiastical basilicas (e.g.,St. John LateranandSt. Peter'sin Rome) were themselves outdone by Justinian'sHagia Sophia,a staggering display of later Roman/Byzantine power and architectural taste, though the building is not architecturally a basilica. In the former Western Roman Empire almost no great buildings were constructed from the 5th century. A most outstanding example is theBasilica of San Vitalein Ravenna constructedc. 530at a cost of 26,000 goldsolidior 360Roman poundsof gold.

City life in the East, though negatively affected by the plague in the 6th–7th centuries, finally collapsed due to Slavic invasions in the Balkans and Persian destructions in Anatolia in the 620s. City life continued in Syria, Jordan and Palestine into the 8th. In the later 6th century street construction was still undertaken inCaesarea Maritimain Palestine,andEdessawas able to deflectChosroes Iwith massive payments in gold in 540 and 544, before it was overrun in 609.

Sculpture and art

The Four Tetrarchs,inporphyry,later sacked fromConstantinople,St. Marks, Venice

The stylistic changes characteristic of late antique art mark the end of classicalRoman artand the beginnings ofmedieval art.As a complicated period bridging between Roman art and later medieval styles (such asthat of the Byzantines), the late antique period saw a transition from the classical idealizedrealismtradition largely influenced by ancient Greek art to the more iconic, stylized art of the Middle Ages.Unlike classical art, late antique art does not emphasize the beauty and movement of the body, but rather, hints at the spiritual reality behind its subjects.Additionally, mirroring the rise of Christianity and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, painting and freestanding sculpture gradually fell from favor in the artistic community. Replacing them were greater interests in mosaics, architecture, and relief sculpture.

As the soldier emperors such asMaximinus Thrax(r. 235–238) emerged from the provinces in the 3rd century, they brought with them their own regional influences and artistic tastes. For example, artists jettisoned the classical portrayal of the human body for one that was more rigid and frontal. This is markedly evident in the combinedporphyryPortrait of the Four TetrarchsinVenice.With these stubby figures clutching each other and their swords, allindividualism,naturalism,Romanverism,and Greekidealismdiminish.TheArch of Constantinein Rome, which re-used earlier classicisingreliefstogether with ones in the new style, shows the contrast especially clearly.In nearly all artistic media, simpler shapes were adopted and once natural designs were abstracted. Additionally hierarchy of scale overtook the preeminence of perspective and other classical models for representing spatial organization.

Fromc. 300Early Christian artbegan to create new public forms, which now includedsculpture,previously distrusted by Christians as it was so important in pagan worship.Sarcophagicarved in relief had already become highly elaborate, and Christian versions adopted new styles, showing a series of different tightly packed scenes rather than one overall image (usually derived from Greekhistory painting) as was the norm. Soon the scenes were split into two registers, as in theDogmatic Sarcophagusor theSarcophagus of Junius Bassus(the last of these exemplifying a partial revival of classicism).

Nearly all of these more abstracted conventions could be observed in the glittering mosaics of the era, which during this period moved from being decoration derivative from painting used on floors (and walls likely to become wet) to a major vehicle of religious art in churches. The glazed surfaces of thetesseraesparkled in the light and illuminated the basilica churches. Unlike theirfrescopredecessors, much more emphasis was placed on demonstrating a symbolic fact rather than on rendering a realistic scene. As time progressed during the late antique period, art become more concerned with biblical themes and influenced by interactions of Christianity with the Roman state. Within this Christian subcategory of Roman art, dramatic changes were also taking place in theDepiction of Jesus.Jesus Christ had been more commonly depicted as an itinerant philosopher, teacher or as the "Good Shepherd", resembling the traditional iconography of Hermes. He was increasingly given Roman elite status, and shrouded in purple robes like the emperors with orb and scepter in hand — this new type of depiction is variously thought to be derived from either the iconography ofJupiteror of classical philosophers.

As for luxury arts, manuscript illumination on vellum and parchment emerged from the 5th century, with a few manuscripts of Roman literary classics like theVergilius Vaticanusand theVergilius Romanus,but increasingly Christian texts, of whichQuedlinburg Itala fragment(420–430) is the oldest survivor. Carved ivorydiptychswere used for secular subjects, as in the imperial andconsular diptychspresented to friends, as well as religious ones, both Christian and pagan – they seem to have been especially a vehicle for the last group of powerful pagans to resist Christianity, as in the late 4th centurySymmachi–Nicomachi diptych.Extravaganthoardsof silver plate are especially common from the 4th century, including theMildenhall Treasure,Esquiline Treasure,Hoxne Hoard,and the imperialMissorium of Theodosius I.

Literature

TheVienna Dioscurides,an early 6th-centuryilluminated manuscriptofDeMateria MedicabyDioscoridesin Greek, a rare example of a late antique scientific text

In the field of literature, late antiquity is known for the declining use ofclassical GreekandLatin,and the rise of literary cultures inSyriac,Armenian,Georgian,Ethiopic,Arabic,andCoptic.It also marks a shift in literary style, with a preference for encyclopedic works in a dense and allusive style, consisting of summaries of earlier works (anthologies, epitomes) often dressed up in elaborate allegorical garb (e.g.,De nuptiis Mercurii et Philologiae[The Marriage of Mercury and Philology] ofMartianus Capellaand theDe arithmetica,De musica,andDe consolatione philosophiaeofBoethius—both later key works in medieval education). The 4th and 5th centuries also saw an explosion ofChristian literature,of which Greek writers such asEusebius of Caesarea,Basil of Caesarea,Gregory of NazianzusandJohn Chrysostomand Latin writers such asAmbrose of Milan,JeromeandAugustine of Hippoare only among the most renowned representatives. On the other hand, authors such asAmmianus Marcellinus(4th century) andProcopius of Caesarea(6th century) were able to keep the tradition of classical Hellenistichistoriographyalive in the Byzantine empire.

One genre of literature among Christian writers in this period was theHexaemeron,dedicated to the composition of commentaries, homilies, and treatises concerned with the exegesis of theGenesis creation narrative.The first example of this was theHexaemeron of Basil of Caesarea,with the first occurrence in Syriac literature being theHexaemeron of Jacob of Serugh.

Poetry

Greek poets of the late antique period includedAntoninus Liberalis,Quintus Smyrnaeus,Nonnus,Romanus the MelodistandPaul the Silentiary.

Latin poets includedAusonius,Paulinus of Nola,Claudian,Rutilius Namatianus,Orientius,Sidonius Apollinaris,CorippusandArator.

Jewish poets includedYannai,Eleazar ben KillirandYose ben Yose.

See also

• Byzantine Empire
• Peter Brown
• Henri Pirenne
• Fall of the Western Roman Empire
• Early Middle Ages
• Migration Period
• Roman–Persian Wars
• Church of the priest Félix and baptistry of Kélibia
• Low Roman Empire

References

• Perry Anderson,Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism,NLB, London, 1974.
• Peter Brown,The World of Late Antiquity: from Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad (CE 150–750),Thames and Hudson, 1989,ISBN0-393-95803-5
• Peter Brown,Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World,Routledge, 1997,ISBN0-521-59557-6
• Peter Brown,The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity 200–1000 CE,Blackwell, 2003,ISBN0-631-22138-7
• Henning Börm,Westrom. Von Honorius bis Justinian,2nd ed.,Kohlhammer Verlag,2018,ISBN978-3-17-023276-1.(Review in English).
• Averil Cameron,The Later Roman Empire: CE 284–430,Harvard University Press, 1993,ISBN0-674-51194-8
• Averil Cameron,The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity CE 395–700,Routledge, 2011,ISBN0-415-01421-2
• Averil Cameron et al. (editors),The Cambridge Ancient History,vols. 12–14, Cambridge University Press 1997ff.
• Gilian Clark,Late Antiquity: A Very Short Introduction,Oxford University Press, 2011,ISBN978-0-19-954620-6
• John Curran,Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century,Clarendon Press, 2000.
• Alexander Demandt,Die Spätantike,2nd ed., Beck, 2007
• Peter Dinzelbacher and Werner Heinz,Europa in der Spätantike,Primus, 2007.
• Mateusz Fafinski, and Jakob Riemenschneider.Monasticism and the City in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.Elements in Late Antique Religion 2. Cambridge: Camabridge University Press, 2023.
• Fabio Gasti,Profilo storico della letteratura tardolatina,Pavia University Press, 2013,ISBN978-88-96764-09-1.
• Tomas Hägg (ed.) "SO Debate: The World of Late Antiquity revisited," inSymbolae Osloenses(72), 1997.
• Scott F. Johnson ed.,The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity,Oxford University Press, 2012,ISBN978-0-19-533693-1
• Arnold H.M. Jones,The Later Roman Empire, 284–602; a social, economic and administrative survey,vols. I, II, University of Oklahoma Press, 1964.
• Kitzinger, Ernst(1977).Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century.Faber & Faber.ISBN0-571-11154-8.
• Bertrand Lançon,Rome in Late Antiquity: CE 313–604,Routledge, 2001.
• Noel Lenski (ed.),The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine,Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Samuel N.C. LieuandDominic Montserrat(eds.),From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views, A Source History,Routledge, 1996.
• Josef Lössl and Nicholas J. Baker-Brian (eds.),A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity,Wiley Blackwell, 2018.
• Michael Maas (ed.),The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian,Cambridge University Press, 2005.
• Michael Maas (ed.),The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila,Cambridge University Press, 2015.
• Robert Markus,The end of Ancient Christianity,Cambridge University Press, 1990.
• Ramsay MacMullen,Christianizing the Roman Empire C.E. 100–400,Yale University Press, 1984.
• Stephen Mitchell,A History of the Later Roman Empire. CE 284–641,2nd ed., Blackwell, 2015.
• Michael Rostovtzeff (rev. P. Fraser),The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire,Oxford University Press, 1979.
• Johannes Wienand (ed.),Contested Monarchy. Integrating the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century CE,Oxford University Press, 2015.
• Gasper, Giles (2024). "On the Six Days of Creation: The Hexaemeral Tradition". In Goroncy, Jason (ed.).T&T Clark Handbook of the Doctrine of Creation.Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 176–190.

External links

• New Advent – The Fathers of the Church,a Catholic website with English translations of the Early Fathers of the Church.
• ORB Encyclopedia's section on Late Antiquity in the MediterraneanfromORB
• Overview of Late Antiquity,fromORB
• Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics,a collaborative forum of Princeton and Stanford to make the latest scholarship on the field available in advance of final publication.
• The End of the Classical World,source documents from theInternet Medieval Sourcebook
• Worlds of Late AntiquityArchived2005-06-06 at theWayback Machine,from theUniversity of Pennsylvania
• Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh centuryfrom The Metropolitan Museum of Art