Cameron - The Mediterranean world in late antiquity, 395-700 AD

THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITY AD 395700

This thoroughly revised and expanded edition of The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, now covering the period AD 395700, provides both a detailed introduction to late antiquity and a direct challenge to conventional views of the end of the Roman empire. Leading scholar Averil Cameron focuses on the changes and continuities in Mediterranean society as a whole before the Arab conquests. Two new chapters survey the situation in the east after the death of Justinian and cover the Byzantine wars with Persia, religious developments in the eastern Mediterranean during the life of Muhammad, the reign of Heraclius, the Arab conquests and the establishment of the Umayyad caliphate.

Using the latest in-depth archaeological evidence, this all-round historical and thematic study of the west and the eastern empire has become the standard work on the period. The new edition takes account of recent research on topics such as the barbarian invasions, periodization, and questions of decline or continuity, as well as the current interest in church councils, orthodoxy and heresy and the separation of the miaphysite church in the sixth-century east. It contains a new introductory survey of recent scholarship on the fourth century AD, and has a full bibliography and extensive notes with suggestions for further reading.

The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity AD 395700 continues to be the benchmark for publications on the history of late antiquity and is indispensable to anyone studying the period.

Averil Cameron was until recently Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford and Warden of Keble College Oxford.

ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Series Editor: Fergus Millar

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST C.3000330 BC

Amlie Kuhrt

GREECE IN THE MAKING 1200479 BC

Second Edition

Robin Osborne

THE GREEK WORLD 479323 BC

Fourth Edition

Simon Hornblower

THE GREEK WORLD AFTER ALEXANDER 32330 BC

Graham Shipley

THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME ITALY AND ROME FROM THE BRONZE AGE TO THE PUNIC WARS

(C.1000264 BC)

Tim Cornell

THE ROMAN WORLD 44 BCAD 180

Martin Goodman

THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT BAY, AD 180395

David S. Potter

THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITY AD 395600

Averil Cameron

Forthcoming

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 26444 BC

Edward Bispham

THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD IN LATE ANTIQUITY 395700 AD

Second Edition

Averil Cameron

First published 1993.

This second edition published 2012

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1993, 2012 Averil Cameron

The right of Averil Cameron to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN: 9780415579629 (hbk)

ISBN: 9780415579612 (pbk)

ISBN: 9780203809082 (ebk)

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF MAPS

Acknowledgements

Unless otherwise stated, the images are the authors own. The following images have been reproduced with permission:

Preface to the First Edition

The shape and parameters of this book are explained by the fact that it was conceived as part of a series designed to replace the earlier Methuen History of the Ancient World, though of course the latter had no volume with the present scope, and the concept of late antiquity still lay firmly in the future. As it happens, while the present volume (the last chronologically in the series) antedates the writing of that projected on the fourth century, it follows on from my own book in another series, the Fontana History of the Ancient World. Though entitled simply The Later Roman Empire, the latter effectively ends where the present book begins, with Augustine as the bridge. The effect therefore is that despite minor differences of format and scale between the two, the reader will find in them an introduction to the whole period of late antiquity from, roughly, the reign of Diocletian (AD 284305) to the late sixth century AD, where A.H.M. Jones also ended his great work, The Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1964).

As most people will be well aware, this period has been the focus of a great upsurge of interest in the generation that has passed since the publication of Joness massive work; in the past twenty years it has found its way for the first time on to ancient history syllabuses in many universities, with corresponding effects on courses in medieval history and (where they exist) Byzantine studies. The addition of two extra volumes to the new edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (now in progress) is also symptomatic of this changed perspective; together, they will cover the period from the death of Constantine (AD 337) to the late sixth century. Peter Browns small book, The World of Late Antiquity (London, 1971), still provides an exhilarating introduction from the perspective of cultural history. The influence of that book has been enormous, yet despite this tremendous growth of interest in the period, and despite a mass of more specialized publications, many of them excellent, it is still difficult to find a book or books in English which provide a general introduction for students to the many and varied aspects of the period about which they need to know. The present book adopts an approach that is part chronological and part thematic. No real attempt can be made in such a compass to provide a full narrative of events, and I have tried to do this only in those parts where it seemed particularly necessary or where the evidence was particularly difficult of access. Luckily, a useful brief narrative is provided in Roger Collinss recent