Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity

Humphries, Mark

doi:10.1163/25425374-12340006

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Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity

Mark Humphries

Brill Research Perspectives in Ancient History, Volume: 2:4, Issue: 4, Pages: 1 - 112

Swansea University Author: Mark Humphries

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DOI (Published version): 10.1163/25425374-12340006

Abstract

The last half century has seen an explosion in the study of late antiquity, largely prompted by the influence of the works of Peter Brown. This new scholarship has characterised the period between the third and seventh centuries not as one of catastrophic collapse, but rather as one of dynamic and p...

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Published in:	Brill Research Perspectives in Ancient History
ISBN:	978-90-04-42260-5 978-90-04-42261-2
ISSN:	2542-5366 2542-5374
Published:	Leiden Brill 2019
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52342
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first_indexed	2019-10-22T19:02:31Z
last_indexed	2023-02-23T04:04:15Z
id	cronfa52342
recordtype	SURis
fullrecord	<?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2023-02-22T15:17:06.7725391</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>52342</id><entry>2019-10-04</entry><title>Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817</sid><ORCID>0000-0003-0674-6287</ORCID><firstname>Mark</firstname><surname>Humphries</surname><name>Mark Humphries</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2019-10-04</date><deptcode>ACLA</deptcode><abstract>The last half century has seen an explosion in the study of late antiquity, largely prompted by the influence of the works of Peter Brown. This new scholarship has characterised the period between the third and seventh centuries not as one of catastrophic collapse, but rather as one of dynamic and positive transformation. Where observers formerly had seen only a bleak picture of decline and fall, a new generation of scholars preferred to emphasise how the Roman Empire evolved into the new polities, societies, and cultures of the medieval West, Byzantium, and Islam. Yet research on the fortunes of cities in this period has provoked challenges to this increasingly accepted positive picture of late antiquity and has prompted historians to speak once more in terms that evoke Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This study surveys the nature of the current debate, examining problems associated with the sources historians use to examine late-antique urbanism, as well as the discourses and methodological approaches they have constructed from them. It aims to set out the difficulties and opportunities presented by the study of cities in late antiquity, how understanding the processes affecting them has issued challenges to the scholarly orthodoxy on late antiquity, and how the evidence suggests that this transitional period witnessed real upheaval and dislocation alongside continuity and innovation in cities around the Mediterranean.</abstract><type>Book</type><journal>Brill Research Perspectives in Ancient History</journal><volume>2:4</volume><journalNumber>4</journalNumber><paginationStart>1</paginationStart><paginationEnd>112</paginationEnd><publisher>Brill</publisher><placeOfPublication>Leiden</placeOfPublication><isbnPrint>978-90-04-42260-5</isbnPrint><isbnElectronic>978-90-04-42261-2</isbnElectronic><issnPrint>2542-5366</issnPrint><issnElectronic>2542-5374</issnElectronic><keywords>Late antiquity, cities, Christianity, transformation, decline and fall, spatial turn</keywords><publishedDay>4</publishedDay><publishedMonth>11</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2019</publishedYear><publishedDate>2019-11-04</publishedDate><doi>10.1163/25425374-12340006</doi><url>https://brill.com/view/title/56872?lang=en</url><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Classics</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>ACLA</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm/><funders/><projectreference/><lastEdited>2023-02-22T15:17:06.7725391</lastEdited><Created>2019-10-04T13:06:06.9711216</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - Classics, Ancient History, Egyptology</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Mark</firstname><surname>Humphries</surname><orcid>0000-0003-0674-6287</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling	2023-02-22T15:17:06.7725391 v2 52342 2019-10-04 Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817 0000-0003-0674-6287 Mark Humphries Mark Humphries true false 2019-10-04 ACLA The last half century has seen an explosion in the study of late antiquity, largely prompted by the influence of the works of Peter Brown. This new scholarship has characterised the period between the third and seventh centuries not as one of catastrophic collapse, but rather as one of dynamic and positive transformation. Where observers formerly had seen only a bleak picture of decline and fall, a new generation of scholars preferred to emphasise how the Roman Empire evolved into the new polities, societies, and cultures of the medieval West, Byzantium, and Islam. Yet research on the fortunes of cities in this period has provoked challenges to this increasingly accepted positive picture of late antiquity and has prompted historians to speak once more in terms that evoke Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This study surveys the nature of the current debate, examining problems associated with the sources historians use to examine late-antique urbanism, as well as the discourses and methodological approaches they have constructed from them. It aims to set out the difficulties and opportunities presented by the study of cities in late antiquity, how understanding the processes affecting them has issued challenges to the scholarly orthodoxy on late antiquity, and how the evidence suggests that this transitional period witnessed real upheaval and dislocation alongside continuity and innovation in cities around the Mediterranean. Book Brill Research Perspectives in Ancient History 2:4 4 1 112 Brill Leiden 978-90-04-42260-5 978-90-04-42261-2 2542-5366 2542-5374 Late antiquity, cities, Christianity, transformation, decline and fall, spatial turn 4 11 2019 2019-11-04 10.1163/25425374-12340006 https://brill.com/view/title/56872?lang=en COLLEGE NANME Classics COLLEGE CODE ACLA Swansea University 2023-02-22T15:17:06.7725391 2019-10-04T13:06:06.9711216 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - Classics, Ancient History, Egyptology Mark Humphries 0000-0003-0674-6287 1
title	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
spellingShingle	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity Mark Humphries
title_short	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
title_full	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
title_fullStr	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
title_full_unstemmed	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
title_sort	Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
author_id_str_mv	f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817
author_id_fullname_str_mv	f7849bdbf87f1d20664dfea957f5b817_***_Mark Humphries
author	Mark Humphries
author2	Mark Humphries
format	Book
container_title	Brill Research Perspectives in Ancient History
container_volume	2:4
container_issue	4
container_start_page	1
publishDate	2019
institution	Swansea University
isbn	978-90-04-42260-5 978-90-04-42261-2
issn	2542-5366 2542-5374
doi_str_mv	10.1163/25425374-12340006
publisher	Brill
college_str	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
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hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str	School of Culture and Communication - Classics, Ancient History, Egyptology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - Classics, Ancient History, Egyptology
url	https://brill.com/view/title/56872?lang=en
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description	The last half century has seen an explosion in the study of late antiquity, largely prompted by the influence of the works of Peter Brown. This new scholarship has characterised the period between the third and seventh centuries not as one of catastrophic collapse, but rather as one of dynamic and positive transformation. Where observers formerly had seen only a bleak picture of decline and fall, a new generation of scholars preferred to emphasise how the Roman Empire evolved into the new polities, societies, and cultures of the medieval West, Byzantium, and Islam. Yet research on the fortunes of cities in this period has provoked challenges to this increasingly accepted positive picture of late antiquity and has prompted historians to speak once more in terms that evoke Edward Gibbon’s History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This study surveys the nature of the current debate, examining problems associated with the sources historians use to examine late-antique urbanism, as well as the discourses and methodological approaches they have constructed from them. It aims to set out the difficulties and opportunities presented by the study of cities in late antiquity, how understanding the processes affecting them has issued challenges to the scholarly orthodoxy on late antiquity, and how the evidence suggests that this transitional period witnessed real upheaval and dislocation alongside continuity and innovation in cities around the Mediterranean.
published_date	2019-11-04T04:04:39Z
_version_	1763753359697772544
score	11.016258

Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity

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