Late Antiquity II: Barbarians, Communication, and Frontiers
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Society for Late Antiquity
Organizer Name
Ralph W. Mathisen
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Presider Name
Genevra Kornbluth
Presider Affiliation
Kornbluth Photography
Paper Title 1
Incommodae Viae: Sidonius and Ennodius on Post-Roman Travel
Presenter 1 Name
Jonathan J. Arnold
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Univ. of Tulsa
Paper Title 2
The Prosopography of Communication in Merovingian Gaul, ca. 560-610
Presenter 2 Name
Bernard S. Bachrach
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Paper Title 3
Circles of Trust: Late Antique Byzantine Generals and Their Officers
Presenter 3 Name
David Parnell
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Indiana Univ. Northwest
Paper Title 4
A Cultural Basin between Empires: Geography and Identity in Late Roman Arabia
Presenter 4 Name
David Harris
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Univ. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Start Date
12-5-2013 8:30 AM
Session Location
Fetzer 2030
Description
During the past 40 years Late Antiquity (ca. 200-800 CE) has become recognized as a new historical period with its own unique characteristics. With regard to religion, Late Antiquity is the first age of monotheistic religions represented by people seeking spiritual and emotional, not to mention material, satisfaction in religion. With regard to politics, Late Antiquity brought a retreat from centralized governments and a the tendency toward ever-larger empires that had been underway ever since the Bronze Age, and a movement toward localism even in the face of putatively strong central powers. Late Antiquity brought an expanded role of an underlying belief in the rule by law, seen in secular, canon, and vulgar law, at the same time that central authority seemed to be breaking down. Culturally, Late Antiquity is represented by artistic trends that focused on idealization, and the privileging of content/message over form. And with regard to literature, contrary to many past assumptions, Late Antiquity was marked by a great flowering of literary production, much of which survived because of the switch from the use of papyrus to parchment as the primary writing material. These sessions sponsored by the Society for Late Antiquity demonstrate how these, and other factors, give Late Antiquity its unique identity.
Ralph Mathisen
Late Antiquity II: Barbarians, Communication, and Frontiers
Fetzer 2030
During the past 40 years Late Antiquity (ca. 200-800 CE) has become recognized as a new historical period with its own unique characteristics. With regard to religion, Late Antiquity is the first age of monotheistic religions represented by people seeking spiritual and emotional, not to mention material, satisfaction in religion. With regard to politics, Late Antiquity brought a retreat from centralized governments and a the tendency toward ever-larger empires that had been underway ever since the Bronze Age, and a movement toward localism even in the face of putatively strong central powers. Late Antiquity brought an expanded role of an underlying belief in the rule by law, seen in secular, canon, and vulgar law, at the same time that central authority seemed to be breaking down. Culturally, Late Antiquity is represented by artistic trends that focused on idealization, and the privileging of content/message over form. And with regard to literature, contrary to many past assumptions, Late Antiquity was marked by a great flowering of literary production, much of which survived because of the switch from the use of papyrus to parchment as the primary writing material. These sessions sponsored by the Society for Late Antiquity demonstrate how these, and other factors, give Late Antiquity its unique identity.
Ralph Mathisen