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G. W. BOWERSOCK, PETER BROWN, AND OLEG GRABAR, EDS., Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999. Pp. x + 780. $49.95.
Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World seeks to provide treatment of the late ancient period, one incorporating the latest fashions and tendencies in recent historical scholarship. It employs a rather mixed format. Edited by the wellregarded scholars G. W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar, the book features a body of major essays compiled from different contemporary historians, including the famous ecclesiastical historian Henry Chadwick, and Patrick Geary from The University of Notre Dame. It also includes an "Alphabetical Guide" that resembles other reference works along the lines of dictionaries, encyclopedias, or lexicons. Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World ultimately provides a very worthwhile volume, but one that nonetheless raises some profound issues.
Defined by the editors as the period spanning from 250 to 800, late antiquity admittedly ranks among the most influential ages. Late Antiquity rightly notes the vast achievements of this period, including the re-codification of Roman law under Justinian, major contributions made to the Judaic Talmudic traditions, and the sophisticated Islamic civilization that spanned much of the old Ancient Near East, and roughly one-third of the old Roman Empire. The age also saw the solidification of Christian establishments in both eastern and western Europe.
The book seems to realize what is at stake in any attempt to organize the past by geography, period, or culture: historical memory. In this sense, perhaps the academic culture wars of the contemporary age bear some similarity to the period...