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Late Antiquity and World History

Mark Humphries Orcid Logo

Studies in Late Antiquity, Volume: 1, Issue: 1, Pages: 8 - 37

Swansea University Author: Mark Humphries Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.8

Abstract

The flourishing of late-antique studies in the last half-century has coincided with the rise of “world history” as an area of academic research. To an extent, some overlap has occurred, particularly with Sasanian Persia being considered alongside the late Roman Empire as constituting an essential co...

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Published in: Studies in Late Antiquity
ISSN: 2470-6469 2470-2048
Published: Berkeley University of California Press 2017
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30084
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spelling 2020-06-24T14:11:54.6005993 v2 30084 2016-09-16 Late Antiquity and World History f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817 0000-0003-0674-6287 Mark Humphries Mark Humphries true false 2016-09-16 ACLA The flourishing of late-antique studies in the last half-century has coincided with the rise of “world history” as an area of academic research. To an extent, some overlap has occurred, particularly with Sasanian Persia being considered alongside the late Roman Empire as constituting an essential component in what we think of in terms of the “shape” of late antiquity. Yet it is still the case that many approaches to late antiquity are bound up with conventional western narratives of historical progress, as defined in Jack Goody’s The Theft of History (2006). Indeed, the debate about whether late antiquity was an age of dynamic transformation (as argued by Peter Brown and his disciples) or one of catastrophic disruption (as asserted, most recently, by Bryan Ward-Perkins) can be regarded as representing two different faces of an essentially evolutionary interpretation of western historical development. This article argues, however, that we can challenge such conventional narrative frameworks by taking a world historical perspective on late antiquity. It will show, first, that our interpretation of late antiquity depends on sources that themselves are representative of myriad local perspectives. Secondly, it will argue that since Gibbon’s time these sources have been made to serve an essentially western construct of and debate about history. The final section will consider how taking a more global perspective allows us to challenge conventional approaches to and narratives of late antiquity. Journal Article Studies in Late Antiquity 1 1 8 37 University of California Press Berkeley 2470-6469 2470-2048 1 2 2017 2017-02-01 10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.8 COLLEGE NANME Classics COLLEGE CODE ACLA Swansea University 2020-06-24T14:11:54.6005993 2016-09-16T11:28:54.6906506 Mark Humphries 0000-0003-0674-6287 1 0030084-16092016113558.pdf Lateantiquityworldhistoryfinal.pdf 2016-09-16T11:35:58.5970000 Output 287131 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2017-02-28T00:00:00.0000000 true
title Late Antiquity and World History
spellingShingle Late Antiquity and World History
Mark Humphries
title_short Late Antiquity and World History
title_full Late Antiquity and World History
title_fullStr Late Antiquity and World History
title_full_unstemmed Late Antiquity and World History
title_sort Late Antiquity and World History
author_id_str_mv f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817
author_id_fullname_str_mv f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817_***_Mark Humphries
author Mark Humphries
author2 Mark Humphries
format Journal article
container_title Studies in Late Antiquity
container_volume 1
container_issue 1
container_start_page 8
publishDate 2017
institution Swansea University
issn 2470-6469
2470-2048
doi_str_mv 10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.8
publisher University of California Press
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/sla.2017.1.1.8
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The flourishing of late-antique studies in the last half-century has coincided with the rise of “world history” as an area of academic research. To an extent, some overlap has occurred, particularly with Sasanian Persia being considered alongside the late Roman Empire as constituting an essential component in what we think of in terms of the “shape” of late antiquity. Yet it is still the case that many approaches to late antiquity are bound up with conventional western narratives of historical progress, as defined in Jack Goody’s The Theft of History (2006). Indeed, the debate about whether late antiquity was an age of dynamic transformation (as argued by Peter Brown and his disciples) or one of catastrophic disruption (as asserted, most recently, by Bryan Ward-Perkins) can be regarded as representing two different faces of an essentially evolutionary interpretation of western historical development. This article argues, however, that we can challenge such conventional narrative frameworks by taking a world historical perspective on late antiquity. It will show, first, that our interpretation of late antiquity depends on sources that themselves are representative of myriad local perspectives. Secondly, it will argue that since Gibbon’s time these sources have been made to serve an essentially western construct of and debate about history. The final section will consider how taking a more global perspective allows us to challenge conventional approaches to and narratives of late antiquity.
published_date 2017-02-01T03:36:42Z
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score 11.030187

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