Readings in Late Antiquity

History 594

Call #: 13994

Room 217 R 7:00-9:00 pm

William Caraher Office: Merrifield 209 a/b

Department of History Office Phone: 777-6379

william.caraher@und.nodak.edu Office Hours: MWF 12:00-1:00

Introduction and Welcome:

Hello! And I hope you all had a pleasant and relaxing summer vacation. The following syllabus outlines the philosophy, procedures, and standards for this class.

The study of Late Antiquity is a burgeoning field in the discipline of history. As recently as forty years ago, it was dominated by the study of the “Decline and Fall” of the Roman Empire. That is to say, how, why and exactly when, the Roman state and associated ancient culture ceased to be the dominant influence over life in the Mediterranean basin. Today, the field has ranged far beyond the study of politics, institutions, and analytical paradigms rooted in such simplistic concepts as “decline and fall.” Over the last two decades, in particular, the study of Late Antiquity has shown particular enthusiasm for complex analyses of cultural, social, and religious change, interpreting the construction of regional and social identities, and unpacking the motives for age old historical periodization schemes which sought to separate “Antiquity” from later, less esteemed periods. These sustained research foci are complemented by an explosion of interest in the archaeology of Late Antiquity which has produced enormous quantities of challenging archaeological data.

Goals:

The primary goal of this class is to familiarize you with some of the basic material and trends in the study of Late Antiquity. We will focus in particular on the relationship between the material, cultural, and social world of the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean. It is my hope that this focus will provide a deep enough survey of primary and secondary sources to allow students to feel confident using Late Antiquity as a point of comparison for other periods and trends, while, at the same time, maintaining a broad enough view of the discipline to provide a solid basis for future study or teaching.

Course Structure:

The basic course structure will revolve around five, three-week long Modules. The first four modules will focus on particular issues in Late Antique scholarship. Each module will have three books, several primary sources, and a supplemental bibliography. We will develop the final module as a class and produce a short reading list of books in an area that the class wants to explore more deeply or that the current reading list does not cover in sufficient detail. While each student is expected to read the book assigned for each week, the supplemental readings and primary sources should be read or, perhaps better, explored as a group. Depending on the number of students enrolled in the class, I would prefer to have one student lead the discussion each week. Once the class starts, we can determine how best to approach these supplemental and primary source readings.

Assignments and Grading:

4 x 20% Book Reviews

The primary assignment in this class is a series of book reviews. Three reviews should be of the books assigned for weekly reading and one review should come from the supplemental readings.
Each review should include a brief description of the book and its thesis, a critique of the author’s efforts to support his thesis with evidence, and some effort to place the book in its broader historiographic context both within the study of Late Antiquity and the study of history more broadly. I would encourage the students to become familiar with other scholars’ review of the book, but not become overly dependant on these reviews for formulating one’s own opinion. I would also encourage the student to attempt to find connections between the book and books read outside of this seminar.

20 % Discussion

For a seminar to work, people must discuss. This class will undoubted have energetic and well-informed discussion and analysis of both the secondary and primary sources. My inclination is to leave most of the organization of the in class discussion for the seminar to decide as a group on the first day of class. I would like to include an online discussion component in the class to allow in class discussions to range beyond formal class time. This will also open the possibility for scholars outside the seminar to participate in discussion.

Readings in Late Antiquity

This is the reading list for the first 9 weeks. Each “module” includes the required reading and a list of supplemental readings. The supplemental readings should be combined with the primary sources available on the class’s Blackboard web page and explored collectively as a group or selectively. Ultimately these readings should provide some ideas for the topics or books we will read for the final 3 weeks of class, and one book from the supplemental list should be reviewed in addition to the 3 books from the required reading list. As you might notice, some of the bibliography for the supplemental readings is obscure or even incomplete. Please contact me if you are having any difficulty finding any of the supplemental (or required!) readings. In many cases, I can provide copies or redirect your exploration of this bibliography!! Otherwise you are responsible for finding the required readings and I strongly recommend that you plan ahead in you use of Inter Library Loan or ordering books online.

Week 1 August 25-27

Introduction

Module 1: Introduction and Basic Historiography of Late Antiquity

Week 2 August 30-September 3

Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity AD150-750: from Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad. London 1971.

Week 3 September 8-10

A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey. 3 Vols. Oxford 1964.

Week 4 September 13-17

G. Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in late antiquity. Princeton 1993.

Supplemental Readings

Various Authors, “SO Debate: The World of Late Antiquity Revisited,” Symbolae Osloenses 72 (1997), 5-90.

G. Bowersock, et al., Interpreting Late Antiquity: Essays on the Postclassical World. Cambridge, MA 2001.

P. Brown, The Making of Late Antiquity. Cambridge, MA 1978.

A. Cameron, The Later Roman Empire AD 284-430. London 1993.

A. Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD 395-600. London 1993.

F. M. Clover and R. S. Humphreys, “Towards a definition of Late Antiquity,” Tradition and Innovation in Late Antiquity (London 1989), 3-26.

P. Garnsey and C. Humfress, The Evolution of the Late Antique World. Cambridge 2001.

E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. New York 1776-88.

A. Kazhdan, et al. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford 1991.

T. E. Gregory, History of Byzantium, 306-1453. Oxford 2005.

J. Herrin, The Formation of Christendom. Princeton 1987.

M. Rostotzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire. Oxford 1966.

A. Murry, “Peter Brown and the Shadow of Constantine,” JRS 73 (1983), 191-203.

Module 2: The Social and Physical World of Late Antiquity

Week 5 September 20-24

J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz, Decline and Fall of the Roman City. Oxford 2001.

Week 6 September 27-October 1

M. Rautman, A Cypriot Village of Late Antiquity: Kalavassos-Kopetra in the Vasilikos Valley. Portsmouth, RI 2003.

Week 7 October 4-8

C. Kosso, Public Policy and Agriculture in Late Antique Greece.

Supplemental Readings

The Late Roman City:

R. Alston, The City in Roman and Byzantine Egypt. London 2002.

N. Christie et al. ed. Towns in Transition. London 1996.

D. Claude, Die byzantinische Stadt im 6. Jahrhundert. Munich 1969.

R. Cormack, “Byzantine Aphrodisias. Changing the Symbolic Map of a City,” PCPhS 216 (1990), 26-41.

J.R. Curran, Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century. Oxford 2000.

C. Foss, History and Archaeology of Byzantine Asia Minor. Hampshire 1990.

G. Fowden, “The Athenian Agora and the Progress of Christianity,” JRA 3 (1990), 494-501

G. Fowden, “Late Roman Achaea: Identity and Defence,” JRA 8 (1995), 549-567.

A. Frantz, Late Antiquity: A.D. 267-700. Athenian Agora 24 Princeton, 1988.

T. E. Gregory, “Cities and Social Evolution in Roman and Byzantine South East Europe,” in European Social Evolution. Archaeological Perspectives. ed J. Bintliff, (Bradford 1985), 267-276.

C. Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity. Baltimore 1997.

L.J. Hall, Roman Berytus. London 2003.

A.H.M. Jones, The Greek City from Alexander to Justinian. Oxford 1940.

O. Karagiorgou, “Demetrias and Thebes: the fortunes and misfortunes of two Thessalian port cities,” in Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism, 182-215.

H. Kennedy, "The Last Century of Byzantine Syria: A Reinterpretation," ByzFor 10 (1985), 141-183.

C. H. Kraeling, ed., Gerasa: City of the Decapolis. New Haven 1938.

R. Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Berkeley 1983.

L. Lavan, ed., Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism. JRA Supp. 42 Portsmouth, RI 2001.

D. Pallas, “Corinth et Nicopolis pendant le haut moyen-âge,” FR 18 (1979), 93-142.

P. Petrides, “Delphes dans l’antiquité tardive: premiére approache topographique et céremologique,” BCH 121 (1997), 681-695.

R. Rothaus, Corinth: The First City of Greece. Leiden 2000.

C. Roueché, Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity: the Late Roman and Byzantine Inscriptions Including Texts from the Excavations at Aphrodisias Conducted by Kenan T. Erim. JRS Monographs 5. London 1989.

G.D.R. Sanders, “Corinth,” in The Economic History of Byzantium, vol. 2. A. Laiou ed., 639-646.

H. Saradi, “The demise of the ancient city and the emergence of the medieval city in the Eastern Roman Empire,” Echos du monde classique 32 (1988), 365-401.

J.-P. Sodini, “L’habitat urbain en Grèce à la veille des invasions,” in Villes peuplement dan l’Illyricum protobyzanin, 341-396.

J. M. Spieser, "The Christianization of the City in Late Antiquity," in Urban and Religious Space in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium, 49-55.

J. M. Spieser, “Le Ville en Grèce du IIIe au VIIe siècle” in Urban and Religious Space, 315-340.

J. Rich, ed., The City in Late Antiquity. London 1996.

H. Thompson, “Athenian Twilight: A.D. 267-600,” JRS 49 (1959), 61-72.

B. Ward-Perkins, From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Public Building in Northern and Central Italy AD 300-850. Oxford 1984.

M. Whittow, “Ruling the Late Roman and Early Byzantine City,” Past and Present 129 (1990), 3-29.

Regional Studies of the Countryside and Surveys

A. Avremea, Le Péloponnèse du IVe au VIIIe siècle. Paris 1997.

S. Alcock, Graecia Capta. Cambridge 1993.

R. Bagnall, Egypt in Late Antiquity. Princeton 1993.

W. Bowden, Epirus Vetus: The archaeology of a late antique province. London 2003.

W.Cavanagh, J. Crouwel, R.W. Catling, G. Shipley, The Laconia Survey. Vol. 2 (London 1996).

M. Hahn,”The Early Byzantine to Modern Periods” in The Berbati-Limnes Archaeological Survey 1988-1990, 345-451.

H. Forbes and C. Mee eds., A Rough and Rocky Place. Liverpool 1997.

G. Fowden, “City and Mountain in Late Roman Attica,” JHS 108 (1988), 48-59.

T. E. Gregory, “An Early Byzantine Complex at Akra Sophia near Corinthia,” Hesperia 54 (1985), 411-428.

M. Humphries, Communities of the Blessed: Social Environment and Religious Change in North Italy, AD 200-400. Oxford 1999.

M. H. Jameson, Runnels, C. N. , van Andel, C. N., A Greek Countryside. Stanford 1994. 101-111.

S. Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor. vol. 2: The Rise of the Church. Oxford 1993.

G. Tate, Les Campagnes de la Syrie du nord, IIe au VIIe siecles, I, Bibl. Archeologique et historique 133. Paris 1992.

F. Trombley, “Boeotia in Late Antiquity: Epigraphic Evidence on Society, Economy, and Christianization,” BOIOTIKA. H. Beister and J. Buchler eds. Munich 1989. 215-228.

M. Whitby, “The Balkans and Greece 420-620,” in The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 14, A. Cameron, B. Ward-Perkins, M. Whitby, eds. Cambridge 2000. 701-730.

Module 3: The Christian World of Late Antiquity

Week 8 October 11-15

F. Trombley, Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529. 2 vols. Leiden 1993.

Week 9 October 18-22

T. Mathews, The Clash of Gods. Princeton 1993.

Week 10 October 25-29

A. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire. Princeton 1991.

Supplemental Readings

Christianization and Conversion:

C. Babcock, “Ramsay MacMullen on conversion: a response,” The Second Century, 5 (1985/6) 82-9.

S.J.B. Barnish, S.J.B., “Religio in stagno: Nature, Divinity, and the Christianization of the Countryside in Late Antique Italy,” JECS 9 (2001), 387-402.

K. Bradley, K., “Contending with Conversion: Reflections on the Reformation of Lucius the Ass,” Phoenix (1998), 315-334.

P. Brown, “Aspects of the Christianization of the Roman Aristocracy,” JRS 51 (1961), 80-101.

P. Brown, Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renuntiation in Early Christianity. New York 1988.

P. Brown, Authority and the Sacred: Aspects of Christianisation of the Roman World. Cambridge 1995.

C.E. Caffin, C.E., “The Martyrs of Val di Non: An Examination of Contemporary Reactions,” Studia Patristica, 10 (1970) 263-269.

G. Dagron, “le christianisme dans la ville byzantine,” DOP 31 (1977) 1-26.

E. R. Dodds, Pagans and Christians in an Age of Anxiety. Cambridge 1965.

R. Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371-1386 AD_ Harper Collins 1997

G. Fowden, “The Athenian Agora and the Progress of Christianity,” JRA 3 (1990), 494- 501.

A. Frantz, “From Paganism to Christianity in the Temples of Athens,” DOP 19 (1965), 185-205.

P. Fredriksen, “Paul and Augustine: Conversion Narrative, Orthodox Tradition, and the Retrospective Self,” JTS 37 (1986) 21-37.

R. P. C. Hanson, Review of R. MacMullen’s Christianizing the Roman Empire, CR 35 (1985), 335-337.

A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries. 2^nd ed. trans. J. Moffatt. London 1908.

K. Hopkins, A World Full of Gods. London 1999.

D. Hunt, “Christianizing the Roman Empire: the evidence of the Code,” in The Theodosian Code. 143-158.

W. James, The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York 1961.

A.H.M. Jones, A.H.M., Constantine and the Conversion of Europe. New York 1948.

A. Kreider, The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom. Harrisburg, PA, 1999

R. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians. New York 1987.

R. Lizzi, “Ambrose’s Contemporaries and the Christianization of Northern Italy,” JRS 80 (1990), 156-173.

R. MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (AD 100-400). New Haven 1984.

R. MacMullen, Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries. New Haven 1997.

C. Mango, “The Conversion of the Parthenon into a Church: The Tübingen Theosophy,” DCAE 18 (1995), 201-203.

R. A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity. Cambridge 1990.

W. Meeks, The First Urban Christians. The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven 1983.

A.D. Nock, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo. Oxford 1933.

D. Praet, “Explaining the Christianization of the Roman Empire: Older Theories and Recent Developments,” Sacris Erudiri: Jaarboek voor Godsdienstwetenschappen 33 (1991-1993), 7-119.

L. M. White, “Adolf Harnack and the ‘Expansion’ of Christianity: A Reappraisal of Social History,” The Second Century 5 (2) (1985-1986), 97-127.

Material Culture and Conversion:

P. Brown, Review of T. Mathew’s Clash of Gods. Art Bulletin (1995)

W. Bowden, “A new urban elite? Church builders and church building in Late Antiquity,” in Recent Research in Late Antique Urbanism, 57-68.

B. Caseau, “Sacred Landscapes,” in Late Antiquity, 21-59.

R. Cormack, “Byzantine Aphrodisias. Changing the Symbolic Map of a City,” PCPhS

216 (1990), 26-41.

J. Elsner, Imperial Rome and Christian Triumphy. Oxford 1998.

C. Finney ed., Art, Archaeology, and Architecture of Early Christianity. New York 1993.

G. Fowden, “The Athenian Agora and the Progress of Christianity,” JRA 3 (1990), 494-501.

D. Genakoplos, “Church Building and ‘Caesaropapism’ AD 312-365,” GRBS 4 (1966), 168-182.

D. Janes, God and Gold in Late Antiquity. Cambridge 1998.

A. Karivieri, "The So-Called Library of Hadrian and the Tetraconch Church in Athens" in Post-Herulian Athens, 89-114

E. Kitzinger, Byzantine Art in the Making. Cambridge, MA 1977.

R. Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Berkeley 1983.

K. Lehmann, “The Dome of Heaven”, AB 27 (1945), 1-28.

H.-P. L’Orange, H.-P., Art Form and Civic Life in the Later Roman Empire. Princeton 1965.

R. A. Markus, “How in the world do places become Holy?” JECS 2 (1994), 257-271.

H. Maguire, Earth and Ocean: The Terrestrial World in Early Byzantine Art. University Park, PA 1987.

H. Maguire, “Christians, Pagans, and the Representations of Nature,” Begegnung von Heidentum und Christentum im spätantiken Ägypten. Reggisberg 1993. 131-160.

H. Maguire, “Magic and Geometry in Early Christian Floor Mosaics and Textiles,” in Andrias: Herbert Hunger zum 80 Geburtstag. W. Hörandner, J. Koder and O. Kresten eds. Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik 44 (1994), 265-274.

H. Maguire, “Magic and the Christian Image,” in Byzantine Magic. H. Maguire ed.. 51-72.

T. Mathews, “Cracks in Lehmann’s ‘Dome of Heaven,’” Source: Notes in the History of Art 1 (1982), 12-16.

K.E. McVey, “Domed Churches as Microcosm: Literary Roots of an Architectural Symbol,” DOP 37 (1983), 91-121.

R. Rothaus, Corinth: The First City of Greece. Leiden 2000.

J.M. Spieser, Urban and Religious Space in Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium, (Aldershot, 2001)

F. Trombley, “Paganism in the Greek World at the End of Antiquity: The Case of Rural Anatolia and Greece,” HTR 78 (1985), 327-352.

D. Trout, “Town, Countryside, and Christianization,” in Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity. R. W. Mathisen and H.S. Sivan eds. Brookfield, VT 1996. 175-186.

O. von Simpson, Sacred Fortress: Byzantine Art and Statecraft in Ravenna. Chicago 1948.

K. Weitzmann ed., The Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York 1979.

A. Wharton, Refiguring the Post Classical City : Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem, and Ravenna. New York 1995.

L.M. White, Building God’s House in the Roman World. Baltimore 1990.

G. Vikan, Byzantine Pigrimage Art. Washington, DC 1984.

Culture, Ritual, and Christianization:

J. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship. OCA 2??. Rome 1987.

T. Barnes, “Christians and the Theater,” in Roman Theater and Society. E. Togo Salmon Papers, 161-180.

P. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of the Christian Worship. Oxford 1992.

P. Brown, Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renuntiation in Early Christianity. New York 1988.

P. Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire. Princeton 1992.

D. Caner, Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity. Berkeley 2002.

S.A. Harvey, “The Stylite’s Liturgy: Ritual and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity,” JECS 6 (1998), 523-539.

S. R. Holman, The Hungry are Dying: Beggars and Bishops in Roman Cappadocia. Oxford 2001.

B. Leyerle, Theatrical Shows and Ascetic Lives: John Chrysostom’s Attack on Spiritual Marriage, Berkeley 2001.

R. Lim, Public Disputation, Power, and Social Order in Late Antiquity. Berkeley 1995.

S. MacCormack, Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity. Berkeley 1981.

M. McCormick, Eternal Victory: Triumphal rulership in Late Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Medieval West. Paris 1987.

R. Ousterhout. ed., The Blessings of Pilgrimage. Chicago 1990.

E. Patlagean, Pauverté économique et pauverté sociale à Byzance, 4e-7e siècles. Paris 1977.

E. Patlagean, Structure sociale, famille, chrétienne à Byzance: IVe- XIe siècle. London 1981.

M. Salzman, On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity. Berkeley 1991.

R. F. Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History. Collegeville 1992.

P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses: Historical Sociology and Political Pluralism. trans. B.

Pearce. London 1990.

Module 4: Antiquity and the Classical Past

Week 11 November 1-5

G. Bowersock, Hellenism in Late Antiquity. Ann Arbor 1990.

Week 12 November 8-12

P. Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire. Madison 1992.

November 11 Holiday

Week 13 November 15-19

G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Princeton 1986.

Supplemental Reading:

TBA!

Module 5: TBA

Week 14 November 22-24

Week 15 November 29-December 3

Week 16 December 6-8