Urban And Religious Spaces In Late Antiquity And Early Byzantium

Professor Spieser deals here with a number of the transformations that took place in the world of Late Antiquity - and early Christianity - focusing upon notions of space. The first set of articles, opening with a newly-written introductory essay, addresses the development of urban landscapes from the Roman period up to the iconoclast era in Byzantium. In particular, he looks at the consequences of christianisation, and argues that the changing fortunes of the town cannot be attributed to a few causes, such as war or natural disaster, but resulted from a complex interplay between the economy and ideology, religion and politics. A second group, concerned with the relationship of 'late antique' man with his surroundings, and therefore his perception of space, sets out to explain how the decoration of churches - on apses, for example, or on doors - reflects new senses of how religious spaces should be organised. Six of these studies have been translated into English for this volume, and it ends with an important section of additional notes and comment.

This book discusses social, religious and medical attitudes towards bathing in Late Antiquity. It examines the place of bathing in late Roman and early Byzantine society as seen in the literary, historical, and documentary sources from the late antique period. The author argues that bathing became one of the most important elements in defining what it meant to be a Roman; indeed, the social and cultural value of bathing in the context of late Roman society more than justified the efforts and expense put into preserving bathing establishments and the associated culture. The book contributes a unique perspective to understanding the changes and transformations undergone by the bathing culture of the day, and illustrates the important role played by this culture in contributing to the transitional character of the late antique period. In his examination of the attitudes of medical professionals and laymen alike, and the focus on its recuperative utility, Zytka provides an innovative and detailed approach to bathing.

Dieser Band vereinigt die Beitr�ge zu einem internationalen Kolloquium, das am 30. und 31. Mai 2003 an der LMU Muenchen stattgefunden hat. Er widmet sich der Frage, ob die Entwicklung des sp�tantiken St�dtewesens durch das Modell eines langsamen, jedoch nicht notwendigerweise negativ belegten �Wandels� oder doch eher durch das Paradigma des �Niederganges� der sp�tantiken Stadtkultur zu beschreiben ist. Er enth�lt deshalb sowohl �berblicke zur Situation des sp�tantiken St�dtewesens in ausgesuchten Kernregionen des Imperium Romanum als auch Beitr�ge zu wichtigen Strukturen und Institutionen innerhalb der St�dte, die fuer eine Beurteilung der Fragestellung von entscheidender Bedeutung sind. Inhaltsverzeichnis J.U. Krause/C. Witschel: Vorwort I. Die sp�tantiken St�dte im Westen des r�mischen Reiches: C. Lepelley: La cit� africaine tardive, de l'apog�e du IVe si�cle � l'effondrement du VIIe si�cle F. Marazzi: Cadavera urbium, nuove capitali e Roma aeterna: l'identit� urbana in Italia fra crisi, rinascita e propaganda (secoli III-V ) S.T. Loseby: Decline and Change in the Cities of Late Antique Gaul J. Guyon: La topographie chr�tiennes des villes de la Gaule M. Kulikowski: The Late Roman City in Spain II. Die sp�tantiken St�dte im Osten des r�mischen Reiches: P. van Minnen: The Changing World of the Cities of Later Roman Egypt S. Westphalen: �Niedergang oder Wandel?� - Die sp�tantiken St�dte in Syrien und Pal�stina aus arch�ologischer Sicht M. Waelkens et al.: The Late Antique to Early Byzantine City in Southwest Anatolia. Sagalassos and its Territory: A Case Study W. Tietz: Die lykischen St�dte in der Sp�tantike III. St�dtische Eliten und Institutionen in der Sp�tantike: G.A. Cecconi: Crisi e trasformazioni del governo municipale in Occidente fra IV e VI secolo A. Laniado: Le christianisme e l'�volution des institutions municipales du Bas-Empire: l'exemple du defensor civitatis N. Lenski: Servi Publici in Late Antiquity C. Witschel: Der epigraphic habit in der Sp�tantike: Das Beispiel der Provinz Venetia et Histria J.U. Krause: �berlegungen zur Sozialgeschichte des Klerus im 5./6. Jh. n. Chr. M. Whitby: Factions, Bishops, Violence and Urban Decline IV. Ausblick: J.H.W.G. Liebeschuetz: Transformation and Decline: Are the Two Really Incompatible? Register: Sachregister, Geographisches Register.

Sacred Thresholds. The Door to the Sanctuary in Late Antiquity offers a far-reaching account of liminal spaces within Christian and pagan sanctuaries, with interdisciplinary and diachronic perspectives on the experience of those who crossed from the worldly to the divine, both physically and symbolically.

This volume in the ongoing Late Antique Archaeology series draws on material and textual evidence to explore the diverse religious world of Late Antiquity. Subjects include Jews and Samaritans, orthodoxy and heresy, pilgrimage, stylites, magic, the sacred and the secular.

Lander provides a new understanding of ancient notions of ritual space by analyzing literary along with archaeological evidence.

When Emperor Constantine triggered the rise of a Christian state, he opened a new chapter in the history of Constantinople and Jerusalem. In the centuries that followed, the two cities were formed and transformed into powerful symbols of Empire and Church. For the first time, this book investigates the increasingly dense and complex net of reciprocal dependencies between the imperial center and the navel of the Christian world. Imperial influence, initiatives by the Church, and projects of individuals turned Constantinople and Jerusalem into important realms of identification and spaces of representation. Distinguished international scholars investigate this fascinating development, focusing on aspects of art, ceremony, religion, ideology, and imperial rule. In enriching our understanding of the entangled history of Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, City of Caesar, City of God illuminates the transition between Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.

Christianity in the late antique world was not imposed but embraced, and the laity were not passive members of their religion but had a central role in its creation. This volume explores the role of the laity in Gaul, bringing together the fields of history, archaeology and theology. First, this book follows the ways in which clergy and monks tried to shape and manufacture lay religious experience. They had themselves constructed the category of 'the laity', which served as a negative counterpart to their self-definition. Lay religious experience was thus shaped in part by this need to create difference between categories. The book then focuses on how the laity experienced their religion, how they interpreted it and how their decisions shaped the nature of the Church and of their faith. This part of the study pays careful attention to the diversity of the laity in this period, their religious environments, ritual engagement, behaviours, knowledge and beliefs. The first volume to examine laity in this period in Gaul – a key region for thinking about the transition from Roman rule to post-Roman society – The Religious Worlds of the Laity in Late Antique Gaul fills an important gap in current literature.