Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict by Christopher Haas (review)

528BOOK reviews worse, he forged the letter which Constantine supposedly sent in 335 to the bishops assembled at Tyre (pp. 4 and 315-316). In his final paragraph Elliott describes Constantine as "a great warrior and an able administrator who carried out his extraordinary mission with deliberate speed, indefatigable industry, and great generosity of spirit" (p. 336). Great warrior , yes. Able administrator, yes. Extraordinary mission, yes. Deliberate speed, yes. Indefatigable industry, yes. Great generosity of spirit, no. In 306/307 he fed two Frankish kings to the beasts in the amphitheater of Trier. He had the severed head of Maxentius fixed to a pike and carried through the streets ofRome. He ordered the execution of the Licinii, father and son, breaking his solemn promise. The executions of his son Crispus and of his wife Fausta certainly are not to his credit, whatever the circumstances may have been. He had a fierce temper. He specified horribly cruel punishments for certain kinds of offenders. Elliott does not seem to consider these things in his assessment of Constantine 's personality; he does not "see much wrong with the personal character" of Constantine (p. 329). He insists that Constantine's relationship with Minervina was one of legitimate marriage (pp. 29, n. 8, and 233), although several ancient sources call her Constantine's concubine and many modern scholars have concurred . He says that Maximian committed suicide (p. 43); he does not say that Constantine forced Maximian to do so. He does not fault Constantine for the presumptuous, if not blasphemous, arrangements which he made for his own burial (p. 258). And is it really possible to see Constantine as a man of peace (p. 336)? Did he not spend the most productive years ofhis life in the quest for sole power, and was war not the principal means toward that goal? Elliott's book is not the first attempt to view Constantine in such a favorable light. Paul Keresztes, in his Constantine: A Great Christian Monarch andApostle (Amsterdam , 1981), was not more successful than Elliott is now. Strangely, Keresztes' book is not found in Elliott's bibliography. Because it issues a challenge to much ofprevailing scholarly opinion on Constantine , Elliott's book belongs in every college or university library. I would not use it as a class text. The book provides a selective bibliography and a good index; there are no maps or illustrations. The book is well produced; I have noticed very few misprints. The price is reasonable. Hans A. Pohlsander State University ofNew York atAlbany (Emeritus) Alexandria in LateAntiquity.Topography and Social Conflict. By Christopher Haas. [Ancient Society and History.] (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1997. Pp. xviii, 494. $45.00.) When one looks at the pathetic archaeological remains so far uncovered at Alexandria, it is difficult to imagine the magnificent city described by ancient BOOK REVIEWS529 literary sources. Add to this the paucity of documentary evidence from Alexandria and the Delta, the result of the destruction of papyri by the dampness of those areas. To do a comprehensive study oflate antique Alexandria, it is necessary to rely heavily on literary sources. Christopher Haas's attempt to present a comprehensive history of Alexandria highlights all these problems. But the book is also an example of what can be accomplished when limitations are recognized , and the surviving data are carefully scrutinized for what can be recovered from the history of this center of trade, church politics, and intellectual life, the political capital of one of Rome's richest and most volatile regions. A noteworthy strength of the book lies in its successful attempt to locate historical events in both their physical and social contexts. For the former this is difficult because so much of ancient Alexandria has been obliterated, and clues to the plan of the city remain hidden under subsequent construction, with a few exceptions like the excavated portion of KOm el-Dikka, a modest neighborhood that gives some insight into the lives of people lower on the social ladder than those we usually encounter in literary documents. Following a topographical account of the city, Haas moves to an analysis of its social structures, and closes the chapter by positing the effects...