All Genres
Annotated Library of Late Antiquity
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent
Elaine Pagels
Vintage,
1989
(Christianity)
The evolution of Christian attitudes toward sex. Similar in theme to Brown's The Body and Society.
Adrianople AD 378: The Goths Crush Rome's Legions
Simon MacDowall
Osprey Military,
2002 (Campaign)
(Warfare)
Makes as much as it can from the sketchy historical facts about the battle, most of which are in Ammianus. Well illustrated.
The Age of Attila: Fifth-Century Byzantium and the Barbarians
C. D. Gordon
University of Michigan Press,
1992
(General History, Primary Sources)
Barnes & Noble reprint. Translated excerpts from fragmentary historians, with interleaved narrative.
Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict
Christopher Haas
Johns Hopkins University Press,
2006 (Ancient Society and History)
(Cities, Social History & Culture)
Well-written and interesting book that manages to bring the city alive, despite our lack of detailed knowledge about its topography.
Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital
Neil B. McLynn
University of California Press,
1994
(Biography, Christianity)
I enjoyed reading this book as much for its footnotes as for its lively and engaging text. McLynn has done a superb job of piecing together bits of information from many sources to provide a new interpretation of Ambrose's career, especially his relations with the imperial court. The basic argument, that Ambrose didn't win all the battles he himself presented as victories, is refreshing but not always convincing. Of necessity the author must speculate a great deal, and at times his arguments border on special pleading -- as, for example, when he insists on reading Theodosius's famous law of 391, usually interpreted as the final blow against the public practice of pagan rites, as a minor statute directed only at a few officials. All in all, though, this is a masterly work of scholarship, and bound to give the reader new insight into the life and character of a key figure in the advance of Christianity as a political force.
Ambrose of Milan: Political Letters and Speeches
Ambrose
trans.
J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz
Liverpool University Press,
2005 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Ammianus Marcellinus: A Selection with Introduction, Notes and Commentary
Ammianus Marcellinus
trans.
Roger Blockley
Bristol Classical Press,
1981
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
A small selection of excerpts in Latin only, with commentary in English.
Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus
trans.
J.C. Rolfe
Harvard University Press,
1935 (Loeb Classical Library)
(General History, Primary Sources)
Rolfe's translation succeeds in capturing the gnarled character of Ammianus's prose yet remains readable. These three volumes have long been good companions to me.
Rolfe is at at sea, though, when it comes to astronomy. For instance, at 31.13.7 he interprets the statement that the sun was passing into Virgo as meaning that it was the hottest part of the day, rather than the hottest part of the year. There is similar confusion about eclipses.
This is the only full translation in print. The 19th-century translation by Yonge is available online.
Ammianus Marcellinus and the Representation of Historical Reality
T.D. Barnes
Cornell University Press,
1998 (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology)
(Literature & Historiography)
An attempt to recover information about Ammianus and his perspectives. Much of it is in the nature of a scholarly dogfight, but it has significance since we rely so much on the Res Gestae for our understanding of the fourth century.
The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome
Peter Connolly, Hazel Dodge
Oxford University Press,
2000
(Art & Architecture, Cities, Social History & Culture)
Excellent drawings of major monuments, together with other fine photos and illustrations. Some basic information on daily life.
Ancient Mosaics
Roger Ling
Princeton University Press,
1998
(Art & Architecture)
An excellent, well-illustrated survey.
Ancient Rome: The Archaeology of the Eternal City
ed.
Jon Coulston, Hazel Dodge
Oxford University School of Archaeology,
2000
(Cities, Social History & Culture)
Somewhat misnamed, as it is more about the economics and infrastructure of the the city than about its physical remains. Good information about the food and water supplies, the soldiery, entertainment, etc. Has a chapter on the late empire, and also one on the modern revival.
Animals in Roman Life and Art
J.M.C. Toynbee
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1996
(Art & Architecture, Social History & Culture)
Everything from elephants to toads. With an appendix on veterinary medicine by R.D. Walker.
Astrology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans
Franz Cumont
Dover,
1960
(Social History & Culture)
Originally published in 1912.
Atlas of the Roman World
Tim Cornell, John Matthews
Facts On File,
1982
(Art & Architecture, Cities, Reference, Social History & Culture)
More an illustrated survey of Roman history and culture than an atlas, though it does have maps. Contains short descriptions of many cities.
Augustine of Hippo: A Biography
Peter Brown
University of California Press,
2000
(Biography, Christianity)
This new edition of Brown's classic biography contains additional material based on writings of Augustine that have recently come to light.
Augustine's City of God: A Reader's Guide
Gerard O'Daly
Oxford University Press, USA,
2004
(Christianity, Literature & Historiography)
A valuable introduction and summary, written from a scholarly point of view.
Ausonius
Ausonius
trans.
Hugh G. Evelyn White
Harvard University Press,
1968 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Poetry, Primary Sources)
Autobiography and Selected Letters Volume 1
Libanius
trans.
A.F. Norman
Harvard University Press,
1992 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Biography, Primary Sources)
The Barbarian Invasions
Hans Delbruck
trans.
Walter J. Renfroe
Bison,
1990 (History of the Art of War)
(General History, Warfare)
An opinionated and entertaining view of military aspects of the invasions. Delbruck argues that the numbers of barbarians were far less than usually assumed. His account of the Adrianople campaign is detailed but, in my opinion, wildly inaccurate.
Based on the third German edition of 1921.
The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire Vol. 1: The Visigothic Invasion
Thomas Hodgkin
Folio Society,
2000
(General History)
A retitled (why?) edition of "Italy and Her Invaders", with some reduction in the scholarly apparatus. Color plates. First of eight volumes, which take the story to the time of Charlemagne. Each volume contains a useful introduction and assessment of Hodgkin's work by Peter Heather.
The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire Vol. 2: The Huns and the Vandals
Thomas Hodgkin
Folio Society,
2000
(General History)
See notes on vol. 1.
The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire Vol. 3: The Ostrogoths
Thomas Hodgkin
Folio Society,
2001
(General History)
See notes on vol. 1.
The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire Vol. 4: The Imperial Restoration
Thomas Hodgkin
Folio Society,
2001
(General History)
See notes on vol. 1.
Vol. 4 is chiefly devoted to the reconquest of Italy by Belisarius and Narses.
Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius
Alan Cameron, Jacqueline Long
University of California Press,
1993 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
(General History)
A minute examination of the Gothic rebellion and massacre of 399-400.
Barbarians Within the Gates of Rome: A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians, ca. 375-425 AD
Thomas S. Burns
Indiana University Press,
1994
(General History, Warfare)
Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World
ed.
Richard J.A. Talbert
Princeton University Press,
2000
(Reference)
Folio-sized topographical maps showing every known major feature from the Greek up to the early Byzantine periods: roads, canals, mines, etc. The only true reference atlas for the ancient world. Includes CD-ROM with notes on the mapping of each area, and sources of data.
The scale of these maps is huge. There is a gorgeous overview map of the Mediterranean, spread over two folds, at 1:5,000,000. Most regional maps are at 1:1,000,000, and some important areas such as Latium get an even more generous treatment. Except for a couple of overviews of Roman provinces, the maps are strictly geographical and show no boundaries, battlefields, or migrations.
The contours are shown in fine detail, together with a host of other topographical features, just as in any fine modern atlas. Human works are assigned to eras by the use of different fonts and underlining. In addition to the engineering works mentioned above, a representative number of villas is shown.
At the price it's certainly not for everyone, but map-lovers will find it hard to resist.
Beacon at Alexandria
Gillian Bradshaw
Soho Press,
1994
(Fiction)
There are not many historical novels about late antiquity (with the exception of the ages of Attila and Justinian), so I was eager to find what Bradshaw had made of the years leading up to the Gothic incursion in 378. In fact, she has done quite well, turning out a very readable story told from the point of view of an interesting if somewhat unlikely character, while being true to the facts as we know them. She has obviously done her homework, which makes it all the more surprising that (judging from her introduction to the original edition) she was completely unaware of J.C. Rolfe's 20th-century translation of Ammianus Marcellinus, the contemporary historian whose influence, as she acknowledges, is evident on every page.
At times it does feel as if the author is manipulating the story to cram in as many historical characters as possible (are we to think, for example, that the slave boy Alaric in the last chapters grows up to be the sacker of Rome?), but in general the scholarship is woven effortlessly into the background, and we get a reasonably accurate picture of fourth-century Roman and Gothic society.
As for the sensibilities, though, I don't find the book so convincing. Not that feminism was a complete impossibility in that era (one need only think of Hypatia), but Charis is just too modern in her outlook, to say nothing of her understanding of infectious diseases. And the world she moves through, despite its institutions of slavery and torture, simply doesn't feel foreign enough. The illusion that we're reading history rather than romance is shattered completely in the last chapter, where the awful catastrophe of Adrianople fades to insignificance beside the too-neat resolution of Charis's conflicting emotional needs.
I recommend the book as a good read, and you will learn something about the tumultous and fascinating fourth century, as long as you don't mind a little Harlequin mixed in.
Biblia Sacra Vulgata
ed.
Robert Weber
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft,
1994
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
The accepted reference edition of the Latin Bible, as translated largely by Jerome. Note that the "Clementine" Vulgate available in various editions has been much revised over the centuries. Weber's text is based on the earlier sources.
The Birth of the Middle Ages: 395-814
H.St.L.B. Moss
Oxford University Press,
1969
(General History)
First published 1935. Still useful as a brief survey.
The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity
Peter Brown
Columbia University Press,
1988 (Lectures on the History of Religions)
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
An important study of a defining characteristic of Christianity that was especially strong in Late Antiquity.
Byzantium
John Julius Norwich
Folio Society,
2004
(General History)
Popular history (insofar as three thick volumes can be called "popular") from Constantine to the final triumph of the Ottomans.
I've always had a hard time grasping much of Byzantine history, it is so vast and full of Greek names. The scholarly works such as that by Ostrogorsky have never managed to engage me. Norwich manages to cover a lot of ground while telling a fluid story.
The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. 13: The Late Empire AD 337-425
ed.
Averil Cameron, Peter Garnsey
Cambridge University Press,
1997
(General History, Social History & Culture)
Comprehensive, with a chronological summary as well as sections on government, religion, economy, etc. One of the essential reference histories.
The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. 14: Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, AD 425-600
ed.
Averil Cameron, Bryan Ward-Perkins, Michael Whitby
Cambridge University Press,
2001
(General History, Social History & Culture)
The final volume in this massive history.
The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine
ed.
Noel Lenski
Cambridge University Press,
2005 (Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World)
(General History)
A good survey. I have grown leery of books with the word "Companion" in the title, as they tend to be miscellaneous collections of essays by friends of the editor. This one, however, can properly be called a history, and covers all the basics.
The Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization
ed.
Graham Shipley, et al.
Cambridge University Press,
2006
(Reference)
Inevitably this new reference work from Cambridge invites comparison with the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Indeed, the editors themselves acknowledge their debt to the OCD and publish a list of headwords contained in the CDCC but not the OCD. This list clearly shows that their emphasis is much more on what might be called social history: entries, for example, on shoes, shopping, singers, and soap. Of course, the book also offers coverage of places and people, but OCD definitely has the edge in this respect, with many more entries on minor figures and much fuller coverage of some (not all) of the major ones: eleven columns on Vergil, for example, versus CDCC's two.
The debt to OCD is in places a bit too plain. Compare these two passages in the articles on mime: "Mime actresses like Arbuscula and Dionysia won wealth and notoriety" (OCD); "Female performers like Dionysia and Arbuscula achieved both notoriety and great wealth" (CDCC).
Another avowed aim of the editors was to make the work "accessible". Does this mean dumbed-down? To some extent, yes -- for example, Latin and Greek are not much used, and the writing style at times borders on the chatty: "Walking through an ancient Greek town or village, we would not recognize the gardens." Compare OCD's introduction to the same topic: "Two strands of landscape management coalesce in ancient Mediterranean garden culture".
Part of making a reference book more approachable is to illustrate it. Fortunately, the illustrations here have, with a few exceptions, been carefully chosen and do provide useful information or insight rather than simply ornamenting the text. All are in black and white; there are photographs, but the majority are line drawings. There are also maps and tables. One might question whether too much space has been given to such matter at the expense of text: for instance, almost two full pages showing the different styles of amphorae.
Some articles dealing with modern approaches to the classical world -- for example, "Marxism" -- are of questionable value in a book that most will turn to for information about the classical world itself. (To be fair, OCD also has an article under this head.) "Comic strips" deals with modern-day comics and graphic novels. As much as I enjoy Asterix (who also gets an entry of his own), I didn't expect to find him in these pages. And why on earth is there an article on "Imperialism, modern", in which no attempt is even made to link the topic to the ancient world? This seems nothing if not an editorial blunder.
Speaking of editing, the text is pretty clean, but apparently the copy editors were unaware of the concept of the dangling participle. They also seem to think that declarative sentences are more effective when ended with exclamation points. One expects better from a university press of the stature of Cambridge.
For now, CDCC is probably the better choice for a school library, but I don't see it replacing OCD on the shelves of scholars, though it is certainly a useful complement with its generally fuller coverage of everyday life. If it ever sees a second edition with a tighter focus, I imagine it will belong in the first rank of references for the ancient world.
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: II Latin Literature
ed.
E.J. Kenney
Cambridge University Press,
1982
(Literature & Historiography)
An uneven collection of essays by various hands. Some articles (notably those on Vergil) are very good, others smack of "literary criticism" as practised in the ivory tower (e.g. J.C. Bramble on Martial and Juvenal). An "Appendix of Authors and Works" does provide a handy summary, but as a general reference or overview of the progress of Latin literature, this is not to be preferred to cheaper alternatives.
The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire
ed.
Philip Sabin, et al.
Cambridge University Press,
2007
(Warfare)
Vol 2 of 2. Very expensive, but undoubtedly the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on ancient warfare. The chapter on battle in late antiquity is essential.
Cassell's New Latin-English English-Latin Dictionary
D.P. Simpson
Cassell,
1964
(Reference)
Still in print, and still perhaps the best desk dictionary.
Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries
Ramsay MacMullen
Yale University Press,
1997
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
A study of the suppression and assimilation of paganism by Christianity.
Christianizing the Roman Empire: A.D. 100-400
Ramsay MacMullen
Yale University Press,
1986
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
An interesting discussion of the reasons for conversion and its extent. As usual, MacMullen's sympathies are not with the Christians.
A Chronicle of the Last Pagans
Pierre Chuvin
trans.
B.A. Archer
Harvard University Press,
1990 (Revealing Antiquity)
(General History, Social History & Culture)
A brief and very readable account of the destruction of paganism.
Church Histories
Socrates, Sozomenus
William B. Eerdmans,
1980 (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series)
(Christianity, General History, Primary Sources)
Important sources for the fourth and early fifth centuries.
The Church History of Rufinus of Aquileia: Books 10 and 11
Rufinus
trans.
Philip R. Amidon
Oxford University Press,
1997
(Christianity, General History, Primary Sources)
The continuation into his own times of Rufinus's Latin version of Eusebius. Includes useful notes by Amidon.
Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium
Alan Cameron
Clarendon Press,
1976
(Social History & Culture)
Sandpiper reprint, 1999.
An essential book that exploded many misconceptions about the factions.
City of God (Concerning the City of God Against the Pagans)
Augustine
trans.
Henry Bettenson
Penguin,
2003
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Originally published in 1972. The most readily available unabridged translation. It's unfortunate that for the 2003 edition the introduction was dumbed down; the one in the previous edition was more interesting.
The City of God Against the Pagans
Augustine
trans.
W.M. Green, et al.
Harvard University Press,
(Loeb Classical Library)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Complete in 7 volumes.
The City of God Against the Pagans
Augustine
trans.
R.W. Dyson
Cambridge University Press,
1998 (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
The most recent translation. Dyson asserts that his rendering is more literal than most and does not skirt the difficulties of the Latin. Apart from a biographical glossary, there are no extras here: the footnotes are mostly just citations for Augustine's many quotations and allusions. And Cambridge deserves a slap on the wrist for having issued this as one of the ugliest hardcovers I've ever seen, with a glossy and garish textbook-style finish. The paperback is marginally less offensive.
As might be deduced from the fact that I have three translations, including a bilingual edition, in my library, I have a sort of fascination with this sprawling work. Every now and again I can dip into it and find some illuminating detail of life or some curious digression. But the nuggets are contained in an insidious mass of rationalization. Here we have a great mind using reason to explain away the ramifications of a fable. (I am reminded of Michael Shermer's dictum that "smart people believe weird things because they are skilled at defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.") For instance, Augustine takes as literal, and doctrinal, some words in the New Testament that suggest the resurrection of the flesh in the likeness of Christ. Then he neatly disposes of all the questions: do aborted fetuses get resurrected as what they are, or as what they might have been? Do women get to keep their sex? Are giants trimmed to fit? What about people who have been eaten by other people? It all seems ridiculous to the non-fundamentalist, and it goes on for page after page.
Still, the City of God helped cement the authority of the church as much as Ambrose in his tyranny over Theodosius, or the tribes of club-wielding monks (blackshirts rather) who demolished temples and enforced orthodoxy. It was largely Augustine who established faith-based belief as a branch of philosophy, thus making it more palatable to literate people. (When I studied Philosophy 100 at a Catholic college, the curriculum started with the early Greeks and ended, appropriately enough, with Augustine.)
Claudian: Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius
Alan Cameron
Oxford University Press,
1970
(Biography, General History, Literature & Historiography)
Oxbow/Powell's reprint.
Despite its ostensibly narrow scope, this is an important book that adds much to our understanding of events in the decade preceding the sack of Rome.
Claudian
Claudian
trans.
Maurice Platnauer
Harvard University Press,
1963 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Poetry, Primary Sources)
As well as being Rome's last great poet, Claudian is also an important source for the events of Stilicho's years in power. See the study by A. Cameron, and the novel by H. Haasse.
Collins Latin Gem Dictionary: Latin-English English-Latin
D.A. Kidd
Collins,
1964
(Reference)
Shirt-pocket size. Although still in print, the book in today's cheap binding will not stand up to the kind of use my old stitched copy has taken over the years.
Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death
Peter Connolly
BBC Books,
2003
(Art & Architecture, Cities, Social History & Culture)
A good illustrated history of the arena and the events that took place in it. The information on the architecture, and in particular the substructures, somewhat overlaps what Connolly gives in The Ancient City.
Commentary on the Dream of Scipio
Macrobius
trans.
William Harris Stahl
Columbia University Press,
1990 (Records of Western Civilization)
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
Of interest as perhaps the most influential book from late Roman antiquity, transmitting neoplatonic ideas through the Middle Ages.
Confessions
Augustine
trans.
Henry Chadwick
Oxford University Press,
1991
(Biography, Christianity, Primary Sources)
A good translation with useful footnotes.
Count Belisarius
Robert Graves
Literary Guild,
1938
(Biography, Fiction)
The story of Justinian's great general. Like "I Claudius" and "Claudius the God", this is fiction firmly based on the sources -- other than in accepting some poorly attested legends, especially concerning Belisarius's final ignominy.,
The Day of the Barbarians: The Battle that Led to the Fall of the Roman Empire
Alessandro Barbero
Walker & Co.,
2007
(General History, Warfare)
A popular history of the events leading up to the Battle of Adrianople that adds nothing new.
De Caesaribus
Aurelius Victor
trans.
H.W. Bird
Liverpool University Press,
1994 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Primary Sources)
A brief survey of the emperors of Rome from Augustus to Constantius II. As usual in this excellent series from LUP, there is ample commentary, indeed far exceeding the text itself. This text, largely cribbed from a no longer extant work mined by other late antique historians, succeeded in bringing Victor to the attention of the emperor, and ultimately led to a distinguished career. It is not terribly important as a historical source, and might well have perished -- indeed it survived to the age of print in only two poor manuscripts. But it must have been a best seller in its day, after it had received the emperor's stamp of approval.
See the online review at BMCR for some penetrating comments about the quality of the editing and proofreading in this edition.
This work is not the same as the Epitome de Caesaribus, which covers the emperors up to Theodosius the Great. That work, which is available in translation online, is by an unknown author, though it has frequently been associated or simply confused with Victor's work.
The Decline of the Ancient World
A.H.M. Jones
Longman Publishing Group,
1975 (A General History of Europe)
(General History, Social History & Culture)
A "shortened and simplified" version of the author's great Later Roman Empire, and an excellent introduction to the late antique world.
The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestian Monasticism Under the Christian Empire
Derwas J. Chitty
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press,
1997
(Christianity)
Originally published in 1966.
William Harmless, in his Desert Christians, says of Chitty's book: "[It is] a dense network of names and places and events -- too dense, I believe, for the real beginner. It is also full of brilliant passing insights and wonderful throwaway lines whose cogency is lost on most. And so I find Chitty's work not so much an introduction, but rather a wise road map for those who are already knee-deep in the literature. "
Chitty writes from a believer's point of view, which may explain why he discusses only the traditions of Anthony and Pachomius, leaving in darkness the discreditable and short-lived (but important) ascendancy of the White Monastery.
Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism
William Harmless
Oxford University Press,
2004
(Christianity)
The best general introduction to early monasticism I have been able to find. There are several modern collections of the sayings of the Desert Fathers, but Harmless goes much further in examining the way of life and currents of thought as revealed by the literature. He is candid about the gaps in our knowledge, but does his best to include elements from outside the mainstream, such as the Manichean communities.
Harmless, a Jesuit, writes clearly and engagingly without loss of scholarly authority.
The Desert Fathers
Helen Waddell
University of Michigan Press,
1957
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Lives and sayings of the 4th-century Egyptian monks. First published 1936.
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities: Third American Edition, Carefully Revised and Containing Numerous Additional Articles etc.
ed.
William Smith, Charles Anthon
Harper,
1855
(Reference)
The densely packed pages of this aged work contain much information not readily found elsewhere, e.g. details about dress and architecture. Illustrated with woodcuts. Unfortunately it is not easy to use, as many of the headwords are in Greek or Latin; for example, the article on hammers is under Malleus, and there is no general article on tools.
Various editions are available online, in whole or in part.
Dictionary of the Vulgate New Testament
J.M. Harden
Simon Wallenburg Press,
2007
(Reference)
A very poor (but usable) photographic reprint of the 1921 edition, intended for use with the Oxford Vulgate of 1911.
The Early Church
Henry Chadwick
Dorset Press,
1986
(Christianity)
A good introduction. Available in Penguin.
Egypt in Late Antiquity
Roger S. Bagnall
Princeton University Press,
1995
(Social History & Culture)
Good study of the economy and daily life.
The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition: 100-600
Jaroslav Pelikan
University of Chicago Press,
1975 (The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine)
(Christianity)
Emperors and Gladiators
Thomas Wiedemann
Routledge,
1995
(Social History & Culture)
As the author himself states, if you are interested in learning about the different kinds of gladiators or getting a vivid picture of the arena, you would do better to turn to one of the popular surveys such as that by Michael Grant. This book is a study of the role the games played in Roman society -- how they arose, what purpose they served, and why they ultimately disappeared (not, as you might think, because of some new humanitarianism accompanying the rise of Christianity). The author frequently broadens his scope to include the wild-beast shows as well. Much documentary and monumental evidence is discussed. Although scholarly, the book is written in a very readable style and should be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about how the Romans thought.
Empire of Pleasures: Luxury and Indulgence in the Roman World
Andrew Dalby
Routledge,
2000
(Social History & Culture)
Food, entertainments, etc., in a region-by-region survey based primarily on the literature of the classical period. Unfortunately makes little or no use of secondary sources.
Engineering in the Ancient World
J.G. Landels
University of California Press,
1978
(Technology & Transport)
Chapters on energy sources, water supply, pumps, cranes, catapults, and transport. Use in conjunction with K.D. White's Greek and Roman Technology.
Epitome of Military Science
Vegetius
trans.
N.P. Milner
Liverpool University Press,
1995 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Primary Sources, Warfare)
Good introduction and copious footnotes.
Everyday Life in Ancient Rome
Lionel Casson
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1999
(Social History & Culture)
Rev. ed. of The Horizon book of Daily Life in Ancient Rome (1975).
Concise treatment with emphasis on the second century AD. As usual, Casson writes enthusiastically and well.
Everyday Life in the Roman Empire
Joan Liversidge
Batsford, Putnam's,
1976
(Social History & Culture)
Everyman's Classical Atlas: With an Essay on the Development of Ancient Geographical Knowledge and Theory
J. Oliver Thomson
Dent,
1961 (Everyman's Reference Library)
(Reference)
First ed. published in 1907 as Atlas of Ancient and Classical Geography. A no-nonsense book of maps with some b/w plates chiefly of ancient remains.
Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D.
Noel Lenski
University of California Press,
2003
(General History)
Comprehensive study of Valens's reign; a fine work of scholarship.
The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
Peter Heather
Oxford University Press,
2005
(General History)
Heather is unquestionably one of our foremost authorities on the role of the barbarian invasions in the fall of Rome, and this book is a welcome overview of the subject. However, the writing style is simply weird.
One can almost imagine Heather sitting down with his publishers for a preliminary chat about how the work might be popularized, then going away determined to use a more chatty and colorful style than in his previous, more specialized studies. The result is simply jarring. He goes along for a paragraph or two in a more or less standard scholarly style, and then introduces some slang phrase: ambassadors "do their stuff", or people "bang on about" something instead of insisting on it. He uses trite metaphors ("banana skins" for hazards) and silly allusive chapter titles like "Out of Africa". None of this adds to the readability of the book but it does take away from its credibility -- and its permanency. That's unfortunate, because it really is an excellent narrative of the last years of the western empire and a welcome reminder that, whatever other reasons might be advanced for the fall of Rome, the barbarian invasions were the proximate cause.
The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: II. Text, Translation and Historiographical Notes
Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus, Malchus
trans.
R.C. Blockley
Francis Cairns,
1983
(Primary Sources)
The companion volume to Blockley's study of these important sources, which have survived primarily in quotation and plagiarism. Blockley does not include any of the text of Zosimus, an important source for Eunapius and Olympiodorus.
Available in an extravagantly priced on-demand reprint but otherwise almost impossible to find. A cheaper alternative, if a selection is all you need, is C.D. Gordon's The Age of Attila. Note also that Olympiodorus is available in the fine volume by Chaffin.
Generalissimos of the Western Roman Empire
John Michael O'Flynn
University of Alberta Press,
1983
(General History)
The shift in power from military emperors to men like Stilicho, Aetius, and Ricimer.
Gestures and Acclamations in Ancient Rome
Gregory S. Aldrete
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1999 (Ancient Society and History)
(Social History & Culture)
Reads too much like a dissertation, and tends to belabor the obvious, but it's nonetheless a useful study of a little-known aspect of Roman public life. For acclamations in the later empire, should be supplemented by Cameron's Circus Factions.
Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar
B.L. Gildersleeve, Gonzalez Lodge
Macmillan,
1965
(Reference)
Third edition, originally published in 1895.
A reference grammar, not a primer. I have always taken great delight in the typography -- no one knows how to use different faces and sizes like this any more.
A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.
Alexander Souter
Oxford University Press,
1949
(Reference)
Reprinted by Sandpiper 1996.
Supplements the Oxford Latin Dictionary, glossing terms found only in writings after ca. 180 A.D. Should be used with caution, as some of the definitions are speculative.
Gnosis: The Nature and History of Gnosticism
Kurt Rudolph
Harper,
1983
(Social History & Culture)
Translated from the German by various hands. This remains an important book, but keep in mind that scholarship has moved a long way since 1977, with even the concept of gnosticism being called into question.
The Gnostic Discoveries: The Impact of the Nag Hammadi Library
Marvin Meyer
HarperOne,
2006
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
The subtitle is misleading; Mayer's focus is on the texts themselves, not the progress of gnostic studies since 1945. That said, this is a good introduction to the Nag Hammadi find by the man who translated much of it into English.
The Gnostic Gospels
Elaine Pagels
Vintage,
1981
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
A pioneering study.
Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom, Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop
J.N.D. Kelly
Baker Books,
1998
(Biography, Christianity)
Originally published 1995 by Cornell University Press.
This is a superb, thorough, scholarly life of one of the key figures in the political-religious turmoil of late antiquity. Like Kelly's equally fine biography of Jerome, it is not a hagiography or a critical study of John's voluminous works; rather it concentrates on telling the story of his eventful life as revealed through often fragmentary sources. As a narrative it succeeds very well indeed.
My only criticism is that the book gives very little sense of the tremendous secular upheavals against which the turmoil in the church was taking place; it is perhaps significant, in this respect, that the one time the Gothic sacker of Rome is mentioned, he is called "Alaric the Hun." However, that is a very rare lapse in a work that I can recommend without hesitation to anyone with an interest in this fascinating period.
The Gothic History
Jordanes
ed.
Charles C. Mierow
Evolution Publishing & Manufacturing,
2006 (Christian Roman Empire)
(General History, Primary Sources)
Reprint of the 1915 edition. The translation is widely available online, but this edition includes Mierow's introduction and commentary.
The Goths
Peter Heather
Blackwell,
1997 (The Peoples of Europe)
(General History)
A good survey, somewhat broader in scope than Heather's earlier book, but the focus is still on historical events.
Goths and Romans 332-489
Peter Heather
Oxford University Press,
1991 (Oxford Historical Monographs)
(General History)
Good narrative history.
The Goths in the Fourth Century
Peter Heather, John Matthews
Liverpool University Press,
1991 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Primary Sources)
A miscellaneous collection of translated texts, with much accompanying material including a chapter on the archaeology of the Goths in eastern Europe.
Greece and Rome at War
Peter Connolly
Greenhill,
1998
(Warfare)
An illustrated survey.
Greek and Roman Religion: A Source Book
John Ferguson
Noyes Press,
1980
(Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
Many translated excerpts and inscriptions. A couple of errors to note: the word "reacting" on the second line, page 189, should be "redacting"; and the list of periodicals at the end has nothing to do with the book but was inserted by mistake.
Greek and Roman Technology
K.D. White
Cornell University Press,
1984 (Aspects of Greek and Roman Life)
(Technology & Transport)
Comprehensive survey of agriculture, building, engineering, mining, transport, and hydraulics.
Guida Archeologica di Roma
Filippo Coarelli
Arnoldo Mondadori,
1974
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
Handbook of Ancient Greek and Roman Coins
Zander H. Klawans
ed.
K.E. Bressett
Whitman,
1995 (An Official Whitman Guidebook)
(Reference)
A very nice introduction to ancient coins, with guidance for deciphering inscriptions, and a short dictionary of emperors with their obverse images. Other than those photos, there are not too many specimens for the Roman period, so this should be considered the merest introduction to an intricate topic.
It is interesting to speculate why, around the time of Arcadius and Honorius (early fifth cent. CE), the emperor begins to appear in three-quarter or even head-on view rather than in profile. I never thought the likeness was very flattering to Honorius. But it does look good on Anthemius, the first example in this book; for once you feel you are looking at a real personality.
A Handbook of Latin Literature: From the Earliest Times to the Death of St. Augustine
H.J. Rose
Methuen,
1954
(Literature & Historiography)
The Historians of Late Antiquity
David Rohrbacher
Routledge,
2002
(Literature & Historiography)
The first half is devoted to overviews of Ammianus, Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, Festus, Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus, Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Orosius; the rest is about how these historians saw their world and their past.
History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity
Charles W. Hedrick Jr.
University of Texas Press,
2000
(Social History & Culture)
This wide-ranging book starts with the argument that damnatio memoriae was intended to dishonor the memory, not to erase it. The great senator Virius Nicomachus Flavianus is a case study. Hedrick then takes us down many byways that ought to be far less interesting than he makes them -- devoting an entire chapter, for instance, to textual emendation as practised by Flavian's descendants. Occasionally there are warning signals that he is heading off into intellectual fairyland, but he always comes back to the evidence.
It's odd, though, that this careful scholar should so completely misunderstand (at the bottom of p. 200) the difference between editing and proofreading, Granted that proofreaders don't exist any more (their job being solely to compare the proof to the copy -- i.e. the typeset version to the original text). But as his argument revolves around textual correction rather than revision, it is a complete tangent to talk about editors turning peculiarities of style into pablum. Perhaps the author has had a bad experience.
See the lengthy review in the online Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
A History of Private Life: From Pagan Rome to Byzantium
Peter Brown, et al.
ed.
Paul Veyne
Harvard University Press,
1987 (A History of Private Life )
(Social History & Culture)
First in a fine series; contains many useful essays including a section on Late Anquity by Peter Brown (which has also been published separately as Late Antiquity, ISBN 0674511700).
Originally published in 1985 as Histoire de la Vie Privee: De l'Empire romain a l'an mil.
A History of Rome
M. Cary, H.H. Scullard
Macmillan,
1979
(General History)
Comprehensive.
History of the Byzantine State
George Ostrogorsky
trans.
Joan Hussey
Blackwell,
1968
(General History)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
ed.
J.B. Bury
Methuen,
1909
(General History)
AMS Press reprint, 1974. Seven volumes.
If Gibbon is to be really useful you need Bury's edition, which corrects and supplements his scholarship by the lights of what was understood in the early twentieth century. The AMS edition is very handsome and fairly easy to find.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon
ed.
David Womersley
Penguin,
1995
(General History)
This three-volume set lacks any commentary such as that found in the Bury edition. However, the text has been redacted, and there is a lengthy appreciation of the work by way of introduction. Nice extras are the original index, a bibliographic index (sources are cross-referenced to the pages where they are mentioned, and Gibbon's evaluations are quoted), and Gibbon's "Vindication". It might be said that this is the edition to have if you are more interested in the historian than in his subject.
History of the Goths
Herwig Wolfram
trans.
Thomas J. Dunlap
University of California Press,
1990
(General History)
Revised from the German edition.
The History of the Greek and Roman Theater
Margarete Bieber
Princeton University Press,
1961
(Art & Architecture, Social History & Culture)
The standard work on the theaters, actors, stage machinery, etc., especially as evidenced by the archaeological remains. Beautifully illustrated with hundreds of drawings and b/w photographs.
History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian
J.B. Bury
Macmillan,
1923
(General History)
Still one of the best narratives.
Two volumes. Widely available in the Dover reprint.
History of the Wars
Procopius
trans.
H.B. Dewing
Press at Toad Hall,
(General History, Primary Sources)
This is a print-on-demand reissue of the English text of the Loeb edition, and includes the Persian and Vandal wars in two volumes. The text has been cleanly scanned and reset, but in my copies the printing has clearly been done on an inkjet printer, Now that the Dewing translation is out of copyright, other editions are appearing; and besides, it's just about as cheap to get the Loeb.
History of the Wars: Books V and VI
Procopius
trans.
H.B. Dewing
BiblioBazaar,
2007
(General History, Primary Sources)
Decent reprint of the English text from the Loeb edition.
History of the Wars, Secret History, Buildings
Procopius
trans.
Averil Cameron
Washington Square Press,
1967 (The Great Histories)
(General History, Primary Sources)
A handy one-volume abridgement.
The Huns
E.A. Thompson
Blackwell,
1995 (The Peoples of Europe)
(General History)
Originally published in 1948 as A History of Attila and the Huns. This new edition includes Peter Heather's revisions according to the author's wishes and an afterword that places Thompson's work in the context of modern scholarship.
Hypatia of Alexandria
Maria Dzielska
trans.
F. Lyra
Harvard University Press,
1995 (Revealing Antiquity)
(Biography)
Pretty much everything we know about this remarkable woman.
Hypatia of Alexandria: Mathematician and Martyr
Michael A.B. Deakin
Prometheus Books,
2007
(Biography)
Deakin is a mathematician, not a classical historian, and apart from his discussion of Hypatia's place in Alexandrian mathematics, this biography contains little that is not already to be found elsewhere, most notably in Maria Dzielska's study. Deakin does a reasonable job of putting Hypatia in a cultural context, but his understanding of late antiquity is superficial and admittedly garnered largely from encyclopedias. On the other hand, he has closely studied the sources for Hypatia's life (which he includes in an appendix) and the meagre evidence for her influence on philosophy and science. His introduction to astrolabes and conic sections is of some intrinsic interest and helps illuminate the state of knowledge in the fifth century, but since we have not one shred of writing that is inarguably Hypatia's work, the connection is rather tenuous.
Nonetheless Deakin's conclusions give a valuable new perspective on this best-known of female Hellenists: one of a teacher with a wide range of interests, if not an original thinker.
Imperial Rome
Anthony Birley
Lutterworth Press,
1970
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
Rome as she appeared at the time of Constantine, with wonderful drawings by Alan Sorrell.
In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini
C.E.V. Nixon, Barbara Saylor Rodgers
University of California Press,
1995 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
(Primary Sources)
Text, translation, and commentary. The speech of Pacatus to Theodosius (the only one in this collection dating from the late fourth century) is surprisingly entertaining, and with Nixon's copious annotations is one of the best sources for the reign or usurpation of Magnus Maximus.
An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon: Founded upon the Seventh Edition of Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon
H.G. Liddell
Oxford University Press,
1945
(Reference)
The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians
J.B. Bury
W.W. Norton & Company,
2000
(General History)
Based on a series of lectures that, as the preface by F.J.C. Hearnshaw notes, "contained little or nothing which was not being incorporated in greater detail...in the larger works which were being produced simultaneously with them.... [But] as summaries of Professor Bury's opinions on a number of long-debated problems they are of great interest and enduring value." The greater works referred to include Bury's edition of Gibbon, and his History of the Later Roman Empire.
Italy and Her Invaders 376-476: Vol. 1 Book 1: The Visigothic Invasion
Thomas Hodgkin
Clarendon Press,
1880
(General History)
Russell & Russell reprint, 1967, The subtitle is a bit confusing; in fact, Volume 1 covers the whole period 376-476 in two separate volumes, called books. Book 1 covers the period 376-450. Oddly, this reprint is of the original 1880 edition, not the much revised edition of 1892. The revised text is available in the Folio Society edition (see The Barbarian Invasions of the Roman Empire).
Despite its age, this is still a useful narrative. Hodgkin was a sort of Victorian Gibbon and tells a darn good story.
Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies
J.N.D. Kelly
Duckworth,
1975
(Biography, Christianity)
Hendrickson reprint.
It's hard to imagine a more thorough treatment of the events in Jerome's life, and it's quite readable despite the author's overuse of parenthetical phrases. But at times I found myself wishing Kelly had spent less time speculating on details like the exact location of Jerome's monastery in Bethlehem, and more on the historical and religious context. For instance, the theological issues in the controversies that Jerome became embroiled in are hardly discussed at all -- it is the personal elements of the controversy that seem to have interested Kelly most. Also, despite the fact that most of our knowledge of Jerome comes from his own writings, they are never quoted except in brief snippets. Extended quotes would have made the portrait of the man -- one of the most interesting and outspoken characters of late antiquity -- far more vivid. This book should probably be read with a selection of Jerome's letters nearby, perhaps along with a survey of early Christian thought.
Jerome
Stefan Rebenich, Jerome
trans.
Stefan Rebenich
Routledge,
2002 (The Early Church Fathers)
(Biography, Christianity, Primary Sources)
Selected writings, with a biography and bibiliography. I would recommend this over Kelly's as a first book on Jerome; the biographical introduction is brief but well reasoned, and Jerome is best understood from his own writings, a broad selection of which is given here.
One service Rebenich performs is casting into perspective Jerome's days in the desert. Indeed, Jerome probably did perform some retreats into the Syrian wilderness, but most of the time he was hosted at an estate with a retinue of copyists.
The Journey of Theophanes: Travel, Business, and Daily Life in the Roman East
John Matthews
Yale University Press,
2006
(Primary Sources, Social History & Culture, Technology & Transport)
In his later writings, Matthews has narrowed his scope. This volume deals entirely with the contents of the papyrus records of a journey from Egypt to Antioch. Provides an interesting glimpse into daily diet and the routines of travel, but not much more.
Julian
Gore Vidal
Little, Brown,
1964
(Biography, Fiction)
Well-researched and intelligent novel about the last pagan emperor.
Julian the Apostate
G.W. Bowersock
Duckworth,
1978 (Classical Life and Letters)
(Biography)
A brief and incisive biography.
The Last Poets of Imperial Rome
trans.
Harold Isbell
Penguin,
1983
(Poetry, Primary Sources)
Selections by Ausonius, Claudian, Prudentius, and others, along with "De Reditu Suo" by Rutilius Namatianus, an important glimpse of life after the sack of Rome.
Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World
ed.
G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, Oleg Grabar
Harvard University Press,
1999
(Reference, Social History & Culture)
This is an odd book that gives the appearance of being a general reference, but in fact it is just a collection of essays in two parts: longer articles such as "Religious Communities" and "War and Violence", and an alphabetic section of short articles on a wide variety of topics. This second part is maddeningly arbitrary: three columns on the Himyar tribe, for example, but no entry for the Alans. Entries for people are particularly spotty, with the emphasis on religious rather than secular figures. Anyone looking for a late-antique version of the Oxford Classical Dictionary will be disappointed. Nonetheless there is a wealth of information here, covering a wide variety of subjects. The scope includes the growth of Islam, which is well represented in both sections.
The long essays in this book have been published separately as Interpreting Late Antiquity: Essays on the Postclassical World.
The Late Roman Army
Pat Southern, Karen R. Dixon
Yale University Press,
1996
(Warfare)
Strong on equipment and fortifications, with many plates and diagrams. I wish, though, that the authors had not chosen to leave all references inline instead of in footnotes; it makes the text hard to read.
See also the very critical review in BMCR (online).
The Later Roman Empire (AD 354-378)
Ammianus Marcellinus
trans.
Walter Hamilton
Penguin,
1986 (Penguin Classics)
(General History, Primary Sources)
An abridgment, with notes. Most of the omissions are Ammianus's interesting digressions. Hamilton's translation is preferable to that in the Loeb edition.
The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social Economic and Administrative Survey
A.H.M. Jones
Blackwell,
1974
(General History, Social History & Culture)
A two-volume reference history that should be the starting-point for most investigations.
A Latin Grammar
James Morwood
Oxford University Press, USA,
2000
(Reference)
This is not a course in Latin but on the other hand it is not a reference grammar either. As the introduction says, "it aims to be a 'primer' (a first book) and at the same time something more than that." In fact, it is a short introduction to all the major grammatical points of the language as well as a handy reference for the accidence, without covering all the fine points you would expect to find in a true reference grammar like Gildersleeve.
I particularly like the convenient groupings of things like place words (ubi, hic, illic, inde, etc.) and some of the confusing adverbs and conjunctions like quidem, quin, quominus, and quamuis (not quamvis, note; the letter "v" is not used in this book).
There are a few short exercises, but no keys. Appendices cover dates, money, Roman names, literary terms, and weights and measures. A short vocabulary includes only words used in the exercises. All in all, a surprising amount of information is packed into less than 200 pages, yet the book does not feel at all dense or cramped.
Latin Literature: A History
Gian Biagio Conte
trans.
Joseph Solodow
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1999
(Literature & Historiography)
Translated and revised from the Italian. This is a true reference history, replete with facts as well as interpretation, more useful than the Cambridge "History" which is in fact just a collection of essays "varying in approach and critical acumen...while presupposing the reader's command of all the elementary facts" (as the foreword to this book says). Good coverage of the later period, up to the early Middle Ages.
Latin Literature of the Fourth Century
ed.
J.W. Binns
Routledge,
1974 (Greek and Latin Studies: Classical Literature and Its Influence)
(Literature & Historiography)
Studies of Symmachus, Prudentius, Ausonius, Claudian, and Paulinus of Nola.
Law and Empire in Late Antiquity
Jill Harries
Cambridge University Press,
2001
(Social History & Culture)
Laying Down the Law: A Study of the Theodosian Code
John Matthews
Yale University Press,
2000
(Social History & Culture)
This is an investigation into the making of the Code, interesting in its own right, but not a study of the laws themselves.
Libanius and the Dancers
Margaret E. Molloy
Olms-Weidmann,
1996
(Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
A close study of Libanius' oration 65, with much information on the late-antique pantomime.
Libanius Selected Works I: The Julianic Orations
Libanius
trans.
A.F. Norman
Harvard University Press,
1969 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Primary Sources)
Libanius Selected Works II: Selected Orations
Libanius
trans.
A.F. Norman
Harvard University Press,
1977 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Primary Sources)
Libraries in the Ancient World
Lionel Casson
Yale University Press,
2001
(Social History & Culture)
One of the "facts" everyone knows about the ancient world is that the great library of Alexandria was burned, leading to the loss of much ancient literature. This event is placed in various periods; Casson dates it to ca. 270 CE, when part of the city burned during the quelling of a rebellion. However, we really know nothing about how many of its holdings were not also held elsewhere; and in any case, the great library would have withered away just as others did, the manuscripts would have dispersed and crumbled, and the net loss to classical literature would have been about the same.
Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome
J.P.V.D. Balsdon
Phoenix Press,
2002
(Social History & Culture)
Life and Letters in the Fourth Century
Glover, T.R.
Russell & Russell,
1968
(Literature & Historiography, Social History & Culture)
Reprint of the 1901 ed. Studies of writers from Ammianus to Synesius.
The Life and Times of St. Ambrose
F. Homes Dudden
Oxford University Press,
1935
(Biography, Christianity, General History, Social History & Culture)
An excellent study of the man and the world he lived in.
The Life and Times of St. Ambrose
P. de Labriolle
B. Herder,
1928
(Biography, Christianity)
Not to be confused with Homes Dudden's much more interesting work by the same name. De Labriolle's study is not especially significant, but the book has some value as containing extensive excerpts from Ambrose's writings not readily available elsewhere.
The Life of Shenoute
Besa
trans.
David N. Bell
Cistercian Publications,
1983 (Cistercian Studies Series)
(Biography, Christianity, Primary Sources)
As the foreword says, "The life of Shenoute is not one of the brightest pages of Christian monasticism." Nonetheless he was a formidable figure in Egypt for close to a century. This biography by his successor as Abbot of the White Monastery is translated from the Coptic, with ample notes. One can only shake one's head at the credulity, or the duplicity, of Besa, who asserts that Shenoute regularly conversed with the saints and the prophets, and with Christ himself, as well as taking the occasional long-distance journey by cloud.
Life, Death, and Entertainment in the Roman Empire
ed.
D.S. Potter, D.J. Mattingly
University of Michigan Press,
1999
(Social History & Culture)
Essays by various hands on aspects of culture and daily life.
The Lives of the Desert Fathers: The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto
trans.
Norman Russell
Cistercian Publications,
1981
(Biography, Christianity, Primary Sources)
Ample introduction and notes.
Lives of the Later Caesars: The First Part of the Augustan History, with Newly Compiled Lives of Nerva and Trajan
Anonymous
trans.
Anthony Birley
Penguin,
1976
(Biography, Primary Sources)
The so-called Historia Augusta, up to Heliogabalus, with supplementary lives of Nerva and Trajan.
Lives of the Later Caesars
Anonymous
ed.
Anthony Birley
trans.
David Magie
Folio Society,
2005
(Biography, Primary Sources)
The so-called Historia Augusta, thought to date from the late fourth century. This volume is based on the English text of the complete Loeb Classical Library edition; there are some revisions, especially in the footnotes. It also includes supplementary chapters on Nerva and Trajan, reprinted from Birley's Penguin translation of the early lives.
Wonderful engravings by Sue Scullard, inspired by ancient works of art.
Magic and Magicians in the Greco-Roman World
Matthew W. Dickie
Routledge,
2002
(Social History & Culture)
Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation in Shenoute of Atripe
Caroline T. Schroeder
University of Pennsylvania Press,
2007 (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)
(Christianity)
This is a welcome and well-written study of an important figure in the history of monasticism who remains practically unknown outside the Coptic church. So far as he is treated in western literature, Shenoute has come to be seen as a harsh authoritarian, laying on the lash within his monastery and doing pitched battle with pagans outside it. Schroeder reveals another side of the man, one founded on an ideology developed in his own writings.
This is not a comprehensive biography, but it is of broader interest than the only other major work, Rebecca Krawiec's Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery. As Schroeder herself points out, her book is only a first step in scholarship on this interesting figure, whose brand of monasticism proved to be a dead end but who nonetheless played a major role in stamping out freedom of thought in late antiquity.
The Mysteries of Mithra
Franz Cumont
trans.
Thomas J. McCormack
Dover Publications,
1956
(Social History & Culture)
A pioneering study of a religion that was significant in the later empire. Includes plates and a foldout map. The text is available online.
Mystery Religions in the Ancient World
Joscelyn Godwin
Harper,
1982
(Social History & Culture)
A popular survey, with many illustrations.
The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition
ed.
Marvin Meyer
HarperOne,
2007
(Christianity, Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
Supersedes The Nag Hammadi Library edited by James Robinson (1977 and 1990). Complete translated text of the primarily Gnostic documents found in Egypt in 1945, along with some related works. Interpretive material. Good value for money in a well-constructed hardback.
New History
Zosimus
trans.
Ronald T. Ridley
Australian Association for Byzantine Studies,
1982
(General History, Primary Sources)
With commentary. Although expensive and disappointingly presented in typescript form, this is the only good modern translation. The translation available online dates from 1814 and is of questionable authority.
A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome
Lawrence Richardson
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1992
(Art & Architecture, Cities, Reference)
There is much fascinating textual information in this book, together with about a hundred illustrations, mostly architectural plans or fragments of the ancient marble plan. The author states that it was a deliberate decision not to include drawings or photographs, since these are available in Nash's Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome -- but that work is very rare and expensive. His decision is understandable, but it is harder to account for the complete absence of maps. A couple of flyleaf maps of the ancient and modern city would have been very helpful in orienting the reader.
Olympiodorus of Thebes and the Sack of Rome: A Study of the Historikoi Logoi, with Translated Fragments, Commentary and Additional Material
Christopher Chaffin
Edwin Mellen Press,
1993
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
A reconstruction of Olympiodorus's history, as far as is possible from the fragments quoted by later writers. Ample commentary.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary
ed.
Simon Hornblower, Anthony Spawforth
Oxford University Press,
2003
(Reference)
An essential reference. Not bad on the later empire. Note that the Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization and at least two other Oxford reference books are derived from this.
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
ed.
M.C. Howatson
Oxford University Press,
1989
(Reference)
Revision of the original work of 1937 by Sir Paul Harvey. An alphabetical reference of authors, works, and general knowledge.
The book has charm as an old-style Oxford reference book, but it's not of much value if you already have the OCD, which has articles of equal or greater length on most of the topics found here.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
ed.
F.L. Cross, E.A. Livingstone
Oxford University Press,
1974
(Christianity, Reference)
A valuable reference for persons, doctrines, and institutions; good coverage of the early church.
Oxford Grammar of Classical Greek
James Morwood
Oxford University Press, USA,
2003
(Reference)
Similar in scope to Morwood's Latin grammar. A good place to start for someone like me who has some Latin but can barely spell out a Greek word.
The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World
ed.
John Peter Oleson
Oxford University Press,
2008
(Technology & Transport)
In most ways this is an Oxford book of the kind I have come to love: well designed and printed, handsomely bound, and chock-full of information. (Opening it at random, I see that goat hair was of minor commercial value but in some places was used in making tents and sacks.) The scope includes practically all aspects of applied knowledge in the Greek and Roman worlds, from mining to publishing. Even warfare is given a brief treatment.
Clearly this volume must supplant older and lesser works like those of White and Landels as the first place to turn for the current state of knowledge in this field.
I have a couple of gripes, though. First, the copyediting is not quite up to Oxford standards: a mistake like "has lead to" makes me cringe, and at times the text inclines to excessive polysyllabicism.
Second, the editor has chosen to use in-line references instead of footnotes, on the grounds that this enables a "smoother presentation." But there's nothing smooth about prose that's riddled with parenthetic references. In places, such as the middle of p. 4, it's almost impossible even to parse the text. Stop the madness!
Indeed, the proliferation of scholars' names in the inline references, together with an approach that emphasizes the current state of study as much as the subject itself, makes the book seem an exercise in mutual self-gratification at times.
However, there's no denying the scholarly credentials of the authors, and this book will take a place among the great Oxford reference works for the classical period.
Oxford Latin Dictionary
P.G.W. Glare
Oxford University Press,
1982
(Reference)
Reprinted with corrections 1996.
The authoritative dictionary for usage up to ca. 180 A.D. Still curiously reticent on the sexual vocabulary, where it is vague on who is doing what to whom -- a rather important element of Roman thinking about sex.
For later Latin, must be supplemented by A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 AD by Alexander Souter.
Pagan City and Christian Capital : Rome in the Fourth Century
John R. Curran
Oxford University Press,
2000 (Oxford Classical Monographs)
(Cities)
A specialized study of certain aspects of Roman life and topography during the transition from pagan to Christian city.
Paganism in the Roman Empire
Ramsay MacMullen
Yale University Press,
1983
(Social History & Culture)
The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History
Colin McEvedy
Penguin,
1961 (Penguin Historical Atlas)
(Reference)
A series of maps of the classical world at intervals from AD 362 to 1478, showing the areas occupied by peoples and states. The text facing each map is an excellent summary of the history. (Reportedly this text was revised for later editions, and not for the better.) This is an excellent book for getting a quick look at the rise and fall of empires.
Performers and Partisans at Aphrodisias in the Roman and Late Roman Periods
Charlotte Roueche
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies,
1993 (Journal of Roman Studies Monograph)
(Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
Theater in the late empire is a poorly documented field. This book contains Greek inscriptions and translations from the excavations at Aphrodisias (in Asia Minor), as well as an attempt to put them in context.
Poems and Letters
Sidonius
trans.
W.B. Anderson
Harvard University Press,
1980 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Poetry, Primary Sources)
If, as Gibbon said, the poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of his age, then the mere survival of the execrable poems of Sidonius performs the execution. The letters, however, are full of interest.
Politics, Philosophy and Empire in the Fourth Century: Select Orations of Themistius
Themistius
trans.
Peter Heather, David Moncur
Liverpool University Press,
2001 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Primary Sources)
With full commentary. Note that these are the public orations. The private orations, which are also available, contain almost nothing of interest to the modern reader.
Porphyrius the Charioteer
Alan Cameron
Oxford University Press,
1973
(Social History & Culture)
Sandpiper reprint, 1999. A companion to Cameron's Circus Factions, but much more specialized, being almost wholly concerned with the monuments erected to a single charioteer.
Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire
Peter Brown
University of Wisconsin Press,
1992 (The Curti Lectures)
(Social History & Culture)
How imperial power was mitigated by the artistocracy, clergy, and mob.
Prefect and Emperor: The Relationes of Symmachus A.D. 384
Symmachus
trans.
R.H. Barrow
Oxford University Press,
1973
(Primary Sources)
A glimpse into the duties and troubles of a fourth-century administrator.
Symmachus is poorly represented in translation. By all accounts, the hundreds of personal letters that have survived because of their perceived eloquence are not a rich mine of information; nonetheless it would be good to have a sampler.
Procopius and the Sixth Century
Averil Cameron
Routledge,
1996
(General History, Literature & Historiography)
Procopius is a mysterious figure, because the three books attributed to him (Histories, so-called Secret Histories, and Buildings) are so hugely different in outlook and purpose. Cameron's is the best study of this multifaceted man in his relations with the people, places, and events that he wrote about.
The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Vol. 1 A.D. 260-395
A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale, J. Morris
Cambridge University Press,
1971
(Biography, Reference)
Just about everything we know about every important person whose name has come down to us, even fragmentary names. Corrigenda have been published, and it has been argued that the database ought to be kept current online; I'm sure it's inevitable, considering what an amazing resource this series is.
The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Vol. 2 A.D. 395-527
J.R. Martindale
Cambridge University Press,
1980
(Biography, Reference)
See the notes for the previous volume.
A subsequent volume extends to 641 CE.
Prudentius
Prudentius
trans.
H.J. Thomson
Harvard University Press,
1961 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Christianity, Poetry, Primary Sources)
Q. Aurelius Symmachus: A Political Biography
Cristiana Sogno
University of Michigan Press,
2006
(Biography, Literature & Historiography)
Focuses on the political and social life of Symmachus, who up till now has been best known as the last great defender of paganism. Contains perhaps the fullest view of the man available, but suffers from poor editing. It's also curious that Sogno states in her introduction that the Relationes have been translated only into Italian, but immediately contradicts herself by mentioning R.H. Barrow's English translation in a footnote -- and then gets the title of his book (Prefect and Emperor) wrong in the bibliography.
Readings in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook
Michael Maas
Routledge,
2000
(Primary Sources)
An anthology of short excerpts covering a wide range of topics. I can't make up my mind about the usefulness of books like this.
Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance
David Frankfurter
Princeton University Press,
2000
(Social History & Culture)
Primarily concerned with the survival and evolution of the native Egyptian religion. Unfortunately somewhat turgid.
Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice
ed.
Richard Valantasis
Princeton University Press,
2000 (Princeton Readings in Religions)
(Christianity, Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
Miscellaneous texts in translation, both pagan and Christian, under the headings Biography, Asceticism, Organizations, Law, Ritual, Hymnody, Martyrology, and Philosophy and Theology.
The Religions of the Roman Empire
John Ferguson
Thames & Hudson,
1985 (Aspects of Greek and Roman Life)
(Social History & Culture)
Mostly concerned with the non-Christian religions.
Res Gestae
Ammianus Marcellinus
ed.
W. Seyfarth
Teubner,
1978 (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana)
(Primary Sources)
The standard edition.
Roma Urbs Imperatorum Aetate
Francisco Scagnetti, Giuseppe Grande
Didattica e Metodo SRL,
2005
(Cities, Reference)
This is a wonderful map of Rome at its peak, showing the known monuments and streets, fragments of the marble plan, topography, the walls, and the 14 regions, overlaid on a modern street plan. Insets show more detail for the Palatine and the Forum, as well as the general outlines of the early city. Revised regularly, and available in two sizes; the smaller size is sold by the American Classical League.
The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History
Pat Southern
Oxford University Press,
2007
(Warfare)
A solid, up-to-date survey which, despite its subtitle, does go into weapons and tactics as well.
Roman Circuses: Arenas for Chariot Racing
John H. Humphrey
B.T. Batsford,
1984
(Art & Architecture, Social History & Culture)
Although the emphasis is on the archaeological remains, this is as close as we have to a general study of chariot-racing, a subject that still retains its mysteries.
The Roman Empire of Ammianus
John Matthews
Michigan Classical Press,
2007
(General History, Literature & Historiography)
In two parts: a view of the events narrated by Ammianus, and "descriptions of a range of topics for which Ammianus is a chief source, and on which his views are of interest." An essential companion to this greatest of Late Antique historians.
Originally published in 1989; the 2nd edition has a new introduction, and a few minor corrections.
Roman Military Equipment: From The Punic Wars To The Fall Of Rome
M.C. Bishop, J.C.N. Coulston
Oxbow Books,
2006
(Warfare)
An important survey of the archaeological evidence, without much in the way of reconstruction. The scope includes weapons, armor, tents, musical instruments, and field artillery, but not siege engines.
A Roman Reformer and Inventor: Being a New Text of the Treatise De Rebus Bellicis
E.A. Thompson
Oxford University Press,
1952
(Primary Sources)
The anonymous De Rebus Bellicis ("one of the most curious documents that have survived from the ancient world," in Thompson's words) is an illustrated pamphlet submitted to the emperors (perhaps Valens and Valentinian), proposing governmental reforms and the adoption of new weapons, such as animal-powered paddlewheelers. It is not of great historical significance, but does provide a rare peek at Roman inventiveness, and seems to have been known by Leonardo. The very fact that it survived is astonishing, as it seems not to have been published when written; it must have been rescued from a pigeonhole by some civil servant.
Thompson provides the text together with a translation, plates, and a comprehensive introduction.
Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire
Samuel Dill
Macmillan,
1906
(Literature & Historiography, Social History & Culture)
A broad view of religion and culture in the fourth and fifth centuries. Still a very good read.
Roman Sports and Spectacles: A Sourcebook
Anne Mahoney
Focus Publishing/R. Pullins,
2001
(Primary Sources, Social History & Culture)
A slender but useful collection of literary sources and a few inscriptions. Doesn't have much from the later period -- for instance, no sampling of Christian attitudes.
The Roman Theatre and Its Audience
Richard C. Beacham
Harvard University Press,
1996
(Social History & Culture)
Some coverage of the later period, for which evidence is scanty.
The Roman Vergil and the Origins of Medieval Book Design
David H. Wright
British Library Publishing Division,
2001
(Art & Architecture, Literature & Historiography)
A beautiful study of an illuminated manuscript of Vergil from ca. 500. All the surviving illuminations are reproduced at 80 percent scale, along with other works for comparison, and the accompanying text is very interesting.
Wright has written a similar study of the even older (and finer) Vatican Vergil, but it is very difficult to find.
Roman Warfare
Adrian Goldsworthy
Cassell,
2000 (Cassell History of Warfare)
(Warfare)
Nicely illustrated survey that extends into the fourth century.
Roman Women: Their History and Habits
J.P.V.D. Balsdon
Bodley Head,
1975
(Social History & Culture)
Those looking for a feminist approach will be disappointed. What we have here is a survey of the private and public life of Roman women up to the time of Constantine, together with many interesting anecdotes of particular women and their families. Balsdon, as always, writes intelligently and engagingly.
Romans and Aliens
J.P.V.D. Balsdon
University of North Carolina Press,
1979
(Social History & Culture)
"The purpose of the book is to enquire how the Romans regarded other peoples and indeed how they regarded themselves, and how other peoples regarded the Romans; how they communicated and how they infected one another, given the marked differences in their background and customs."
Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308
Richard Krautheimer
Princeton University Press,
1980
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
A history of the city as seen through her monuments.
Rome: The Biography of a City
Christopher Hibbert
Penguin,
1988
(Cities, General History)
A history of the city from the Etruscans to Mussolini. Brief on the classical period.
Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide
Amanda Claridge
Oxford University Press,
1998
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
A site-by-site guidebook with many floor plans and elevations.
Rome in Late Antiquity: Everyday Life and Urban Change, AD 312-609
Bertrand Lancon
trans.
Antonia Nevill
Routledge,
2000
(Cities, Social History & Culture)
The best of the "everyday life" books for the later empire.
Rome: The Late Empire: Roman Art, AD 200-400
Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli
trans.
Peter Green
Thames & Hudson,
1971 (The Arts of Mankind)
(Art & Architecture)
Translated from the French. Many good plates.
The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome
Rodolfo Lanciani
Bell,
1979
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
Valuable record of archeological discoveries up to the end of the nineteenth century.
Saint Augustine Select Letters
Augustine
trans.
James Houston Baxter
Harvard University Press,
1980 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Saturnalia
Macrobius
trans.
D.P. Vaughan
Columbia University Press,
1969 (Records of Civilization Sources & Study)
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
The only modern translation of this interesting, somewhat fragmentary work, which sheds light on the intellectual life of early fifth-century aristocrats -- or at least the ideal. Expensive and hard to find.
Saturnalia
Macrobius
ed.
Iacobus Willis
Teubner,
1970
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
The authoritative Latin edition. One would not expect to get a chuckle out of scholarly apparatus, but I do enjoy Willis's outrage at the "neque doctus neque honestus" scribe who produced one manuscript, and whom he accuses of interpolating words "perquam impudenti mendacio".
Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature
L.D. Reynolds, N.G. Wilson
Oxford University Press,
1991
(Literature & Historiography)
This is an informative book on a subject which is not well covered outside the scholarly world of textual criticism. It's a dry read, though, and would have benefited from more colorful detail and anecdote, such as the story of the humanist who rushed to the cathedral library in his nightgown and slippers when he heard of the discovery of a trove of ancient manuscripts. Leo Duel's "Testaments of Time: The Search for Lost Manuscripts and Records" covers some of the same ground in a much more vivid style.
The Secret History
Procopius
trans.
G.A. Williamson
Folio Society,
1990
(General History, Primary Sources)
Translation originally published by Penguin.
Select Letters of St. Jerome
Jerome
trans.
F.A. Wright
Harvard University Press,
1975 (Loeb Classical Library)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Selected Letters of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian
Libanius
trans.
Scott Bradbury
Liverpool University Press,
2004 (Translated Texts for Historians)
(Primary Sources)
No overlap with the Loeb selection.
Servius and Commentary on Virgil: Occasional Papers (Centrer for Medieval & Renaissance Studies)
Peter K. Marshall
Pegasus Press,
1997
(Literature & Historiography)
A lecture on Servius and Donatus, the Vergilian commentators.
Servius' Commentary on Book Four of Virgil's "Aeneid": An Annotated Translation
Servius
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers,
2002
(Literature & Historiography, Primary Sources)
Anyone who has spent any time studying Vergil's Aeneid has encountered the name of Servius, the late fourth or early fifth century commentator who also appears in person in Macrobius's Saturnalia. However, the commentary itself has been mostly inaccessible to the casual student. This volume gives a large enough selection to reassure us that we're not missing that much.
Servius's approach is a minute examination of the phrasing, with a view to resolving ambiguities in grammar and vocabulary and pointing out parallels elsewhere in the Aeneid and in other classical authors. Some of his interpretations seem obvious, some perverse, and a few are really useful. It can be interesting to check modern translations against his reading of certain passages; for example, where he points out that magical herbs gathered "ad lunam" are not gathered "by moonlight" but rather "according to the phases of the moon". All in all, though, I'd have to say that there's not much here to add to one's insight into the poem.
This is a nicely presented edition, but there are enough typographical errors in the English to make me wonder about the reliability of the Latin. And there is at least one place (at line 174) where the translation (by the insertion of a "not") has made nonsense of what Servius wrote.
The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
Orosius
trans.
Roy J. Deferrari
Catholic University of America Press,
2002 (The Fathers of the Church)
(Christianity, General History, Primary Sources)
This mediocre work of Orosius has survived mainly because it was commissioned by Augustine of Hippo. It is of some interest, perhaps, as the view of history from Biblical times to the present available to a lettered man of the fifth century -- albeit passed through a lens of tendentiousness.
Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery: Egyptian Monasticism in Late Antiquity
Rebecca Krawiec
Oxford University Press,
2002
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
Shenoute was a force to be reckoned with in Egypt for many decades, but this book is far too specialized to bring him to life. Of interest chiefly to students of monastic life or the status of women in late antiquity. For a more general study of Shenoute's brand of asceticism, see Monastic Bodies by Caroline Schroeder.
Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times
Lionel Casson
University of Texas Press,
1994
(Technology & Transport)
This is a popular treatment, well illustrated. A more scholarly approach is taken by Casson in his Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World.
Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World
Lionel Casson
Princeton University Press,
1971
(Technology & Transport)
Definitive. Many plates and drawings.
Soldier and Civilian in the Later Roman Empire
Ramsay MacMullen
Harvard University Press,
1963 (Harvard Historical Monographs)
(Social History & Culture, Warfare)
Mostly concerned with the non-military role of the soldiery in civic affairs.
The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire
J. Innes Miller
Oxford University Press,
1969
(Social History & Culture)
Good info on the spices themselves as well as trade routes, etc.
Sport In Greece and Rome
H.A. Harris
Cornell University Press,
1972 (Aspects of Greek and Roman Life)
(Social History & Culture)
Good survey of Greek and Roman athletics, including chariot-racing but not gladiatorial contests.
Sulpitius Severus. Vincent of Lerins. John Cassian
William B. Eerdmans,
1991 (A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series)
(Christianity, Primary Sources)
Sulpitius Severus's hagiography of Martin of Tours is an interesting glimpse into the Christianization of Gaul.
The texts in this series are available online, but the Eerdman editions are cheap and well made.
The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions
trans.
Clyde Pharr
Lawbook Exchange,
2001
(Primary Sources)
Originally published by Princeton University Press, 1952.
The Theodosian Code is an amazing resource for understanding the social history of the later Roman empire. Although Pharr's translation has been criticised as inaccurate by some scholars, it is nonetheless a monumental achievement, and the full Latin text is available online if you need to check any of the fine points.
The Lawbook Exchange reprint is of good quality, superbly bound and well scanned and printed, though I did find one page that was off center and hence missing the ends of lines. On balance, well worth the price for any serious student of this fascinating period of history.
Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity
Kenneth G. Holum
University of California Press,
1989 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
(Biography, General History)
More than the title implies; actually an excellent dynastic history for AD 379-452.
Theodosius: The Empire at Bay
Stephen Williams, Gerard Friell
Yale University Press,
1998
(Biography, General History)
Good general history for 378-408.
Theophilus of Alexandria
Norman Russell
Routledge,
2006 (The Early Church Fathers)
(Biography, Christianity, Primary Sources)
A short biography, together with translations of Theophilus's homilies and letters.
There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
Michael Gaddis
University of California Press,
2005 (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
(Christianity, Social History & Culture)
The title is taken from a remark by Shenoute, and it is chilling: rather like modern assurance that "We don't torture, therefore anything we do is not torture." Gaddis explores the evolution of (and opposition to) Christian violence against pagans and those they viewed as heretics, with particular attention to the way concepts of martyrdom and persecution were tailored to the cause of the day: even perfectly reasonable demands by the emperor for restitution after property crimes were represented as persecutions by clever Christian propagandists
This would have been a better book if it had been a shorter one; Gaddis goes down too many byways and is heavy on footnotes; one feels belaboured rather than inspired by the scholarship. But there is a lot of good information here.
Three Christian Capitals: Topography and Politics
Richard Krautheimer
University of California Press,
1983
(Art & Architecture, Cities)
Rome, Constantinople, Milan. From lectures originally given at the University of California, Berkeley, in May 1979.
Threshold of Fire: A Novel of Fifth Century Rome
Hella Haasse
Academy Chicago Publications,
1993
(Fiction)
One of the few novels set in the early fifth century, and a very good one.
The story focuses on two characters: Hadrian, the chief magistrate of Rome, and Claudian, the greatest poet of the age. Of Claudian's life we in fact know little, other than that he hailed from Egypt, had a meteoric career writing panegyrics and invective for the court, and then disappeared from view around the time that his patron at court, Stilicho, was executed by the emperor. For the sake of her story, Haasse assumes that Claudian's origins were humble, that his success was largely due to the help of Hadrian, and that he has lived illegally in Rome for a decade after his fall from court favor. She also postulates that he is fundamentally sympathetic to the pagans, who by this time must practice their rituals in the utmost secrecy, on pain of exile and confiscation of property. When he is implicated in an illegal rite, he appears before the magistrate, and the story is about what happens between them, and in their thoughts, over the course of a day.
Although this is very much an "interior" sort of book, the sense of historical reality is very strong indeed. As much as I have studied this period, I have never felt such a vivid sense of what it was actually like to be alive then. The religion that defined the state for centuries is now a hole-and-corner affair; Rome is still under the shadow of the Gothic sack that took place a few years earlier; actors who formerly packed the theaters are reduced to playing obscene mimes at private parties. Claudian, living furtively in a tenement, typifies the coming state of classical civilization itself.
There are lapses. One of the remembered characters plays chess, a game that was certainly not invented till two centuries later. The magistrate cites the Theodosian Code -- the law he refers to exists, but the codification didn't come until later. These are, however, minor quibbles. The historical foundation is firm, and the insights are profound.
Travel in the Ancient World
Lionel Casson
Johns Hopkins University Press,
1994
(Social History & Culture, Technology & Transport)
Vergil in the Middle Ages
Domenico Comparetti
trans.
E.F.M. Benecke
Princeton University Press,
1996
(Literature & Historiography)
The 1885 translation of a work first published in Italian in 1872. Good information about Vergil's place in the culture of Late Antiquity as well as the Middle Ages.
Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350-425
Hugh Elton
Clarendon Press,
1998 (Oxford Classical Monographs)
(Warfare)
Probably the best work on Roman and barbarian military organization, strategy, etc. for the period.
Warfare in the Classical World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons, Warriors and Warfare in the Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome
John Warry
University of Oklahoma Press,
1995
(Warfare)
Originally published by Salamander Books, 1980, and has appeared in other guises as well. Good illustrations of military equipment. Weak on the imperial period.
Warhorse: Cavalry in the Ancient World
Philip Sidnell
Hambledon Continuum,
2007
(Warfare)
A welcome addition to the growing body of work on the mechanics of battle, covering the role of chariots and cavalry from the earliest times to the middle ages.
Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, AD 364-425
John Matthews
Oxford University Press,
1975
(General History)
This is Matthews's earliest major work and still, I think, his best -- an essential study of the political history of the period.
Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles
Gillian Clark
Oxford University Press,
1994
(Social History & Culture)
An interesting study of the status of women, their health concerns, domesticity and ascetism, etc. Clark writes well and without an agenda; but her prose is badly marred by that bane of modern scholarship, inline references instead of footnotes.
The World of Late Antiquity: 150-750
Peter Brown
W.W. Norton & Company,
1989 (Library of World Civilization)
(General History, Social History & Culture)
Beautifully illustrated, concise introduction to the late Roman world up to the rise of Islam. The book that started the flood of scholarship on this period.
The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture
Otto Maenchen-Helfen
University of California Press,
1973
(General History, Social History & Culture)
Still the leading scholarly work, although the author left it unfinished at his death.