Overview

Late antique Corinth was on the frontline of the radical political, economic and religious transformations that swept across the Mediterranean world from the second to sixth centuries CE. A strategic merchant city, it became a hugely important metropolis in Roman Greece and, later, a key focal point for early Christianity. In late antiquity, Corinthians recognised new Christian authorities; adopted novel rites of civic celebration and decoration; and destroyed, rebuilt and added to the city's ancient landscape and monuments. Drawing on evidence from ancient literary sources, extensive archaeological excavations and historical records, Amelia Brown here surveys this period of urban transformation, from the old Agora and temples to new churches and fortifications. Influenced by the methodological advances of urban studies, Brown demonstrates the many ways Corinthians responded to internal and external pressures by building, demolishing and repurposing urban public space, thus transforming Corinthian society, civic identity and urban infrastructure. In a departure from isolated textual and archaeological studies, she connects this process to broader changes in metropolitan life, contributing to the present understanding of urban experience in the late antique Mediterranean.

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9781784538231

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'Amelia R.Brown's study of the transformation of Corinth from a late Roman to an early Byzantine city between the third and the sixth century CE is a singular achievement. Using all available evidence - written sources, inscriptions, archaeological materials - with enormous expertise, Brown presents a detailed analysis of the entire city, its public places, religious sites, commercial and domestic spaces, waterways and other infrastructure, to demonstrate how, where and when exactly the Greek-Roman city became a Greek, Roman and Christian one. This book will become a model for all interested in the late Roman world and its aftermath. Through her detailed focus on Corinth, one of the most connected cities in the Mediterranean, Brown has offered a signal contribution to the age-old question of the fate of cities at the end of the Roman empire: yes, there was decline and fall, but also practical continuity and, in the end, a transformed yet still recognizable Corinth.' - Susanna K. Elm, Sidney H. Ehrman Professor of European History, University of California, Berkeley

Corinth in late antiquity is an outstanding overview of the late antique development of one of the most important cities of the classical world. It is a must-have for anyone interested in the history of Corinth, late antique Greece or late antique urbanism. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *

Author Information

Amelia Brown is a senior lecturer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She has published widely on ancient Greece in the late antique and early Byzantine periods.

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