Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (review)

G. W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar, editors. Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999. Pp. xiii + 780. $49.95.

The editors of Late Antiquity have compiled it "on the frank assumption that the time has come for scholars, students and the educated public in general to treat the period between 250 and 800 as a distinctive and quite decisive period that stands on its own" (ix). Far more than either the declining years of the classical era or the prelude to the Middle Ages, it was a period of empires which saw the rise of Christianity and Islam as world religions, the emergence of the rabbinate and codified Talmud in Judaism, and the formation of Zoroastrian religious literature. This guide positively embraces a broader perspective on the flow of history among the various time periods and regions incorporated into late antiquity, including the Sassanian empire and early Islamic cultures. As the editors also make clear in their introduction, a consideration of late antiquity for its own particular achievements helps the reader to become more aware of its perduring consequences.

Unlike a standard encyclopedia or dictionary, Late Antiquity is comprised of eleven essays followed by the more traditional alphabetical listings of key terms, persons, and areas. Each essay and alphabetical entry is followed by a brief bibliography, while cross references are consigned to an index at the end of the book. The editors and contributors form an impressive collaboration of international scholars with a wide range of expertise. Illustrations in color and black-and-white further enrich the reader's appreciation of late antiquity.

The first essay, "Remaking the Past" by Averil Cameron, aptly illustrates late antiquity's search for its own connection to a revered past, whether classical or biblical. Two essays, "Sacred Landscapes" by Beatrice Caseau and "Religious Communities" by Garth Fowden, are clear, well written treatments of the contact and competition among the diverse religions of late antiquity and their social implications. In "Empire Building," Christopher Kelly discusses Constantine's imperial vision, "one God, one emperor" (171), as well as the adaptation of classical learning by Christians of late antiquity. Richard Lim's "Christian Triumph and Controversy" shows that the universal vision of the church in the empire was monolithic in name only, and includes the recent scholarship showing imperial intervention replacing a search for compromise in church disputes. The development of Islam from its Arabian roots and its gradual growth throughout the world of late antiquity inherited by Muslims is the focus of the essay "Islam" by Hugh Kennedy. Henry Chadwick's essay, "Philosophical Tradition and the Self" is a good summation of the complex understanding of the self that evolved through the philosophy of late antiquity. In his essay, "Barbarians and Ethnicity," Patrick J. Geary offers a striking account of ethnic identity and is true to the guide's purpose of expanding the horizons of its readers. In a veritable "who's who" of the Eurasian peoples, Geary shows that "barbarians" had their own histories aside from the empire, and some actually worked in the Roman provincial government. "The Good Life" by Henry Maguire and "Habitat" by Yizhar Hirschfeld both give a fine portrayal of certain lifestyles in late antiquity and demonstrate the ways in which spiritual beliefs and changing worldviews influenced art and architecture. With references to sources such as Ammianus and Procopius, "War and Violence" by Brent D. Shaw proves "a great deal of the violence consisted of attacks that were deliberately planned to terrorize civilian populations" (133).

There is some overlapping information among the essays, something inevitable given the topics chosen. Perhaps a different delineation of pertinent aspects of late antiquity would have prevented this. Although there are good brief entries for topics such as women, children, and families, the lack of representation of the social world and issues of late antiquity...