Philip Rousseau is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Early Christian Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Early Christianity at the Catholic University of America. He is the author of The Early Christian Centuries (2002), Basil of Caesarea (1994), Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt (1985), and Ascetics, Authority and the Church in the Age of Jerome (1978). He is the joint editor (with Tomas Hägg) of Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity (2000).

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• List of Figures ixList of Maps xNotes on Contributors xiPreface and Acknowledgments xviiiList of Abbreviations xxiii  1 Approaching Late Antiquity 1Wendy MayerPart I The View from the Future 152 The Byzantine Late Antiquity 17Stratis Papaioannou3 Late Antiquity in the Medieval West 29Conrad Leyser4 Cities of the Mind: Renaissance Views of Early Christian Culture and the End of Antiquity 43Mark Vessey5 Narrating Decline and Fall 59Clifford Ando6 Late Antiquity in Modern Eyes 77Stefan RebenichPart II Land and People 937 The Shapes and Shaping of the Late Antique World: Global and Local Perspectives 97Mark Humphries8 Mobility and the Traces of Empire 110Blake Leyerle9 Information and Political Power 125Claire Sotinel10 Mediterranean Cities 139S. T. Loseby11 The Archaeological Record: Problems of Interpretation 156Olof Brandt12 Inscribing Identity: The Latin Epigraphic Habit in Late Antiquity 170Dennis E. Trout13 Gender and the Fall of Rome 187Kate Cooper14 Marriage and Family Relationships in the Late Roman West 201Judith Evans-Grubbs15 The Church, the Living, and the Dead 220Éric RebillardPart III Image and Word 23116 The Value of a Good Education: Libanius and Public Authority 233Raffaella Cribiore17 Textual Communities in Late Antique Christianity 246Kim Haines-Eitzen18 Exegesis without End: Forms, Methods, and Functions of Biblical Commentaries 258Karla Pollmann19 Tradition, Innovation, and Epistolary Mores 270Jennifer Ebbeler20 Visual and Verbal Representation: Image, Text, Person, and Power 285James A. Francis21 Christianity and the Transformation of Classical Art 306Felicity Harley22 The Discourse of Later Latin 327Philip Burton23 Language and Culture in Late Antique Egypt 342Malcolm Choat24 Late Antique Historiography: A Brief History of Time 357David WoodsPart IV Empire, Kingdom, and Beyond 37325 Law in Practice 377Caroline Humfress26 The Mirror of Jordanes: Concepts of the Barbarian, Then and Now 392Andrew Gillett27 Beyond the Northern Frontiers 409Guy Halsall28 From Empire to Kingdoms in the Late Antique West 426John Vanderspoel29 Rome and the Sasanid Empire: Confrontation and Coexistence 441Jan Willem Drijvers30 Syria, Syriac, Syrian: Negotiating East and West 455Christine Shepardson31 Syria and the Arabs 467David Cook32 The Early Caliphate and the Inheritance of Late Antiquity (c. AD 610–c. AD 750) 479Andrew MarshamPart V The Sacred 49333 Christianization, Secularization, and the Transformation of Public Life 497Richard Lim34 The Political Church: Religion and the State 512Michael Gaddis35 The Late Antique Bishop: Image and Reality 525Rita Lizzi Testa36 The Conduct of Theology and the ‘‘Fathers’’ of the Church 539Thomas Graumann37 Defining Sacred Boundaries: Jewish–Christian Relations 556Naomi Koltun-Fromm38 Pagans in a Christian Empire 572Neil McLynn39 ‘‘Not of This World’’: The Invention of Monasticism 588Daniel F. CanerBibliography 601Index 700