Rome in Late Antiquity : AD 313 - 604

Rating:
Summary: A splendid work of impeccable scholarship
Review: Ably Translated by Antonia Nevill and with an introduction and guide to further reading by Mark Humphries, Bertrand Lancon's Rome In Late Antiquity surveys Roman life from the third to the seventh centuries AD, from the Rome's acknowledge position as the center of Western Civilization, the greatest city in the world, and whose vast revenues supplied its huge populations with food, wine, and at least one hundred days of spectacular entertainment each year. When Pope Gregory died in Rome in 604, Rome had become a Papal power, the center of Western Christianity, the pantheon had been transformed into a church, and the city had experienced both Gothic and Vandal incursions of great violence and rapacity. Lancon's superbly presented history also covers changes in sexuality, the role of women, education, the family, calendars of games and festivals, the role of the Senate, the rise of the papacy, and more. Rome In Late Antiquity is a splendid work of impeccable scholarship that is to be commended to all academic reading lists and reference collections in the study of Roman history.