Overview
Late Antiquity marked one of the most significant transitions in European history-one that saw the rise of Christianity and the transformation of the classical Mediterranean world of ancient Rome. The richness of its art and the wealth of its archaeological remains have increasingly been recognised in recent decades and new discoveries and ongoing research are currently altering the ways in which we perceive the period. These two volumes provide a wide-ranging guide to the art and archaeology of the period 300-700 CE. Key monuments and artifact-types are discussed and placed in their historical contexts, but significant attention is also paid to the main cities, regions and peoples playing a prominent role in the history of the period as well as to some key issues and debates in its study. The chapters are written by leading experts and will be invaluable for any student or scholar interested in the period.
Full Product Details
Author: Leonard V. Rutgers (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands) ,
Neil Christie (University of Leicester) ,
Robin M. Jensen (University of Notre Dame, Indiana) ,
Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781009535106
ISBN 10: 1009535102
Pages: 520
Publication Date: 31 July 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Availability: Not yet available
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Author Information
LEONARD V. RUTGERS is Professor of Late Antiquity in the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University. He is an archaeologist and a historian of religion. He is the author of the award-winning Jews in Late Ancient Rome: Evidence of Cultural Interaction in the Roman Diaspora (2000) and several other books, including The Hidden Heritage of Diaspora Judaism (1998), Subterranean Rome (2000), and, most recently, Making Myths: Jews in Early Christian Identity Formation (2009). He directs fieldwork in Italy where his projects include the use of radiocarbon dating, stable isotope analysis, GPR, 3D digital imaging and work in the field of aDNA. Major publications in that area include articles in Nature (2005) and the Journal of Archaeological Science (2009) and Cell (2022). NEIL CHRISTIE is Professor of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Leicester in England. His research focuses on towns and rural development from late Roman to medieval times, especially in Italy, but also within Britain. Other interests cover defences and church archaeology. He is closely engaged with the Society for Medieval Archaeology (SMA) and is reviews editor for two UK-based journals. Recent publications include: A. Carneiro, N. Christie & P. Diarte-Blasco (eds), Urban Transformations in the Late Antique West: Materials, Agents, and Models (2020); P. Diarte-Blasco & N. Christie (eds), Interpreting Transformations of People and Landscapes in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: Archaeological Approaches and Issues (2018); The Fall of the Western Roman Empire. An Archaeological and Historical Perspective (2011). ROBIN JENSEN is the Patrick O'Brien Professor in the Department of Theology, and concurrent faculty in Art History and Classics, at the University of Notre Dame. She is also the author of From Idols to Icons: The Emergence of Christian Devotional Images in Late Antiquity (2022) and The Cross: History, Art and Controversy (2017), co-editor of The Routledge Handbook to Early Christian Art (2018), and co-author of Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs (2014). She recently completed a revised version of her first book, Understanding Early Christian Art (2023, originally 2000). JODI MAGNESS is the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has published thirteen books, three of them award-winning, and dozens of articles in journals and edited volumes. Magness has participated on twenty excavations in Israel and Greece, including co-directing the 1995 excavations in the Roman siege works at Masada. Since 2011, she has directed excavations at Huqoq in Galilee. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary (Past) President of the Archaeological Institute of America.
