Late antiquity

Chronological boundaries

The temporal demarcation of late antiquity is a subject of scholarly debate, as the era represents a transitional phase between the classical Mediterranean world and the Middle Ages.^[6][7] Historians increasingly avoid rigid chronological boundaries in favor of region-specific transition periods.^[6][8] The term Spätantike was used in 1853 by the cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt as spätantike Zeit and was later adopted in the late nineteenth century by the Austrian art historian Alois Riegl.^[9] Max Weber established the term firmly within scholarly historical research.^[9] In English-language scholarship, the concept gained widespread currency following Peter Brown's 1971 study The World of Late Antiquity, which argued against Edward Gibbon's view of classical stagnation and presented the era as a dynamic time of renewal.^[10]

General periodization

The accession of Emperor Diocletian in 284 is widely accepted as the standard starting point of late antiquity, marking the transition from the Principate to the administrative framework known as the Dominate.^[11] Alternative opening boundaries extend back to the end of the Severan dynasty in 235 or the Crisis of the Third Century, while some cultural surveys date the beginning to around 200 or 250.^[2][12][13]

The closing date of late antiquity varies considerably across historiographical traditions. Cultural historians frequently advocate for a concept of a long late antiquity extending roughly from 200 or 250 to 750 or 800, encompassing both the Mediterranean and the Near East.^[2][8][12] In French historiography, terminal points range from 750 with the Abbasid revolution to 800 with the coronation of Charlemagne, or 809 with the death of Harun al-Rashid.^[14] In British scholarship, Arnold Hugh Martin Jones concluded his survey at the death of Emperor Maurice in 602, while Averil Cameron extended her study to 700.^[12] Other proposals place the terminus around the year 1000, connecting it to the restructuring of agrarian property and feudalization.^[15][16]

The question of the end of antiquity

In the traditional division of history into periods, antiquity ended with the Germanic invasions and the deposition of the last western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, in 476.^[17][18] Contemporary scholarship places less weight on 476, noting that contemporaries did not view the year as a decisive rupture; imperial authority over the West transferred formally to the Eastern emperor in Constantinople, a claim Justinian I subsequently sought to realize through reconquest.^[19] Furthermore, Roman administrative traditions, senatorial institutions, and legal practices endured in Italy under Odoacer and Theodoric the Great into the sixth century.^[20]

Other scholars place the end of the period at the death of Justinian I in 565 or the Lombard invasion of Italy in 568.^[9][21] Justinian was the last Roman emperor whose native tongue was Latin and who maintained a universal imperial policy aimed at recovering the western provinces.^[22] The Lombard invasion in 568 fragmented the Italian peninsula and marked the final wave of the Migration Period, ending direct Roman administrative continuity across much of Italy.^[23] In Gaul, the baptism of Clovis I around 500 and the consolidation of the Merovingian kingdom marked the regional beginning of the medieval era.^[24][25]

Many historians place the definitive end of late antiquity between 632 and 641, following the death of Muhammad and the initial Arab conquests.^[6][26] The early Islamic conquests severed Syria, Palestine, and Egypt from the Roman Empire and destroyed the Sasanian Empire by 651.^[26][27] This shift replaced the centuries-old geopolitical dualism between Rome and Persia with a new Mediterranean and Near Eastern order, ending the late Roman phase of the Eastern Empire under Emperor Heraclius.^[6][28] Henri Pirenne argued that the Arab conquests shattered the commercial and cultural unity of the Mediterranean world, though his thesis that Islamic piracy halted maritime trade has been substantially revised by modern research demonstrating continued regional exchange.^[6][29][30]

Continuity of the Eastern Roman Empire

The Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire continued in a relatively intact late antique form until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and its inhabitants continued to see themselves as Romans.^[19] For the eastern empire, the terms early Byzantine and late antique are practically synonymous.^[19] However, structural transformations in the seventh century created substantial differences between late Roman society and the middle Byzantine state.^[31][32]

Under Emperor Heraclius, Greek became the sole official language and language of command in the East.^[33] The territorial contraction following the loss of the Levant and Egypt led to the collapse of classical civic autonomy (the polis system) and the demise of the late antique senatorial aristocracy.^[31] Military and civil administrative powers, strictly separated since Diocletian, were reunited in the newly created theme system, marking the institutional emergence of medieval Byzantium.^[31]

Political history

The political trajectory of late antiquity was defined by structural crises, comprehensive imperial administrative reorganizations, and external military pressures along multiple frontiers.^[3][34] Over the course of four centuries, the unitary Roman Empire evolved into dual administrative spheres, experienced the fragmentation of its western half into post-Roman kingdoms, and witnessed the transformation of the eastern half into a centralized Greek-speaking imperial state facing the rise of the Islamic caliphate.^[3][32]

The crisis of the third century

Between 235 and 284, the Roman Empire experienced severe destabilization during the Crisis of the Third Century, characterized by recurring civil wars, rapid imperial successions, and external invasions.^[34] The established Principate founded by Augustus proved incapable of providing administrative stability following the death of Commodus in 192.^[34] Concurrently, the establishment of the Sasanian Empire in the 220s created an aggressive rival on the eastern frontier, while large tribal confederations, including the Alamanni and Franks along the Rhine and the Goths and Sarmatians along the Danube, increased military pressure.^[35][36] In 260, Shapur I defeated and captured Emperor Valerian, who died in Persian captivity.^[37]

The necessity of transferring legions to defend northern Mesopotamia against the Sasanians weakened the northern river frontiers.^[36] In the 250s and 260s, Goths, Heruli, and Borani launched sea and land raids reaching Greece and Asia Minor, events recorded in the fragments of the contemporary historian Dexippus.^[36] The empire temporarily fragmented into breakaway political entities, notably the Gallic Empire in the west and the Palmyrene Empire in the east.^[38] Diocletian later developed the reforms made under Gallienus and the Illyrian emperors from Aurelian to Probus, who had adapted the army to the needs of the crisis of the third century.^[39][40]

Diocletian and the Tetrarchy

Diocletian assumed the imperial title in 284, introducing reforms that stabilized the Roman state and defined the Dominate.^[40][41] In 285 he appointed Maximian as Caesar, elevating him to Augustus in 286 to oversee the West, while Diocletian governed the East.^[42] In 293, this diarchy was expanded into the Tetrarchy, or rule of four, by appointing Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as junior Caesares.^[43] The emperors abandoned Rome as an operational residence in favor of cities closer to the frontiers, including Trier, Milan, Sirmium, and Nicomedia.^[44] In 298, Galerius secured a decisive victory against the Sasanian Empire under Narseh, culminating in the Peace of Nisibis, which secured Roman territorial gains in northern Mesopotamia until 337.^[45]

Diocletian reorganized provincial administration by dividing roughly 50 provinces into over 100 smaller units, which were grouped into twelve dioceses governed by equestrian vicarii.^[46] Civil and military powers were separated, a division previously unknown in Rome that was only gradually abandoned from the sixth century onward.^[47] To stabilize state revenues, Diocletian instituted the capitatio-iugatio tax system, linking assessments of human labor and land productivity.^[48] He also attempted to halt currency depreciation and inflation through an Edict on Maximum Prices in 301, though price controls proved largely unenforceable.^[49][50] In 303, seeking ideological cohesion around traditional Roman deities, Diocletian launched the Great Persecution of Christians, which continued until Galerius issued the Edict of Serdica in 311.^[51]

Constantine the Great and the Christian turn

The tetrarchic mechanism collapsed following the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian in 305, as dynastic claims displaced the adoptive succession model.^[51][52] In 306, soldiers in York proclaimed Constantine, the son of Constantius Chlorus, as Augustus.^[53] Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, securing control of the West, and subsequently consolidated sole rule over the entire empire by defeating Licinius at Chrysopolis in 324.^[53] Constantine created the solidus, a stable gold coin that remained the standard currency of Mediterranean commerce for centuries, introduced the military office of magister militum, and completed the division of the army into field and border forces.^[54]

Constantine instituted the Christian turn by legalizing the faith through the joint agreement known as the Edict of Milan in 313, subsequently granting the Church extensive tax privileges and financial subsidies.^[55] He convened the First Council of Nicaea in 325 to resolve the Arian controversy, establishing imperial patronage over ecumenical councils.^[56][57] On May 11, 330, Constantine formally dedicated his new capital on the site of Byzantium, naming it New Rome, though it quickly became known as Constantinople.^[58] This foundation permanently shifted the empire's administrative and economic center of gravity toward the Greek East.^[59] Constantine died near Nicomedia in May 337 after receiving baptism from the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia.^[60]

The Constantinian dynasty and Julian

Constantine's death in 337 triggered dynastic purges that eliminated several potential claimants.^[61] His three sons divided the empire: Constantine II took Britain, Gaul, and Spain; Constans received Italy, Africa, and Illyricum; and Constantius II governed the East.^[61] After Constantine II was killed fighting Constans in 340, and Constans was murdered by the usurper Magnentius in 350, Constantius II defeated Magnentius in the Battle of Mursa Major in 351 and secured sole rule in 353.^[61] Constantius II actively supported the Homoians in the theological disputes surrounding the Trinity and campaigned with mixed success against Shapur II on the eastern frontier, notably during the Persian siege of Amida in 359.^[61][62]

Constantius II elevated his cousin Julian as Caesar in Gaul in 355.^[61] Julian, who had at least provisionally secured the Rhine frontier, was proclaimed Augustus by his troops in Paris in 360, and only the natural death of Constantius in November 361 spared the empire a new civil war.^[63] Julian (reigned 361–363), later labeled the Apostate by Christian authors, initiated an organized revival of pagan worship, stripped the Christian clergy of public privileges, and barred Christian teachers from instructing classical literature.^[64][65] In 363, Julian launched an invasion of the Sasanian Empire with approximately 65,000 men, one of the largest Roman operations of late antiquity, but was killed in retreat along the Tigris.^[64][66] His successor Jovian made peace with the Persians, and in the peace of 363 the territories around Nisibis conquered under Galerius returned to the Sasanians.^[67]

From Valentinian I to Theodosius I

Following Jovian's death in 364, Valentinian I (reigned 364–375) assumed control of the West and appointed his brother Valens (reigned 364–378) to rule the East.^[68][69] Valentinian fortified the Rhine and Danube frontiers, conducting operations against the Alamanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians.^[68][69] In the 370s, the arrival of the Huns from Central Asia destroyed the Gothic kingdom of Ermanaric in modern Ukraine, forcing Gothic populations toward the Roman border.^[70][71] The Tervingi under Fritigern were permitted to cross the Danube into Roman territory in 376, but logistical failures and exploitation by provincial officials sparked a Gothic rebellion.^[71] On August 9, 378, the Goths defeated the eastern field army at the Battle of Adrianople, killing Valens and destroying elite mobile units.^[71][72]

Gratian, who had succeeded Valentinian I in the West in 375, appointed Theodosius I as eastern emperor in 379.^[73][74] In 382, Theodosius concluded a treaty settling the Goths south of the Danube as autonomous foederati obliged to provide military service under their own commanders, establishing a precedent for foreign settlements within imperial territory.^[75][76] In 387 an agreement with Sasanian Persia divided Armenia, with Rome receiving about a fifth, and apart from two short conflicts there was peace between Romans and Sasanians until 502.^[77] Domestically, Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica in 380, declaring Nicene Christianity the official religion of the empire, and subsequently prohibited public and private pagan sacrifices between 391 and 392.^[74][78][79]

In the West, Gratian was murdered in Lyon in 383 following a revolt by Magnus Maximus, whom Theodosius defeated and executed at Poetovio in 388.^[80] Theodosius placed Valentinian II on the western throne under the supervision of the Frankish general Arbogast, but the young emperor died under unclear circumstances in 392.^[80] Arbogast elevated the Christian rhetorician Eugenius, who pursued a relatively tolerant policy toward adherents of pagan cults; Theodosius refused to accept the usurpation and defeated the western army at the Battle of the Frigidus in September 394.^[81] Theodosius unified the empire under his sole authority, but his death on January 17, 395, resulted in the permanent administrative division between his sons Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West.^[82]

The division of 395 and the sack of Rome in 410

The partition of 395 established two separate imperial courts: Arcadius (reigned 395–408) ruled from Constantinople, while Honorius (reigned 395–423) governed the West, moving the western capital to Ravenna in late 402.^[83][84] The magister utriusque militiae Stilicho held effective power in the West and sought jurisdiction over eastern Illyricum, creating persistent friction between the two courts.^[85] Goths under Alaric I revolted in the Balkans and invaded Italy in 402, demanding land and formal subsidies from the imperial government.^[86]

On New Year's Eve 406/407, a coalition of Vandals, Suebi, and Alans crossed the frozen Rhine, overwhelming frontier defenses and ravaging Gaul before pushing into Hispania.^[87][88] In Britannia, local legions revolted in 407, elevating Constantine III, who crossed into Gaul with the remaining field army, leaving the island to organize its own defense and effectively ending Roman administration there by 409/410.^[89][90] Stilicho was executed in Ravenna in August 408 with Honorius's knowledge, amid a purge of the army and administration that deprived Italy of effective defenders.^[85][88] After negotiations with the court of Ravenna failed, Alaric's Visigoths besieged and sacked Rome in August 410, an event that profoundly shocked contemporaries and inspired Augustine of Hippo to write De civitate Dei.^[91][92][93]

Collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Between 411 and 421, the western general Constantius III achieved temporary military stabilization, subduing usurpers and negotiating a foedus in 418 that settled the Visigoths in Aquitania Secunda in southwestern Gaul.^[84][94] After the deaths of Constantius III in 421 and of Honorius, renewed unrest and a usurpation followed in 423, until Theodosius II sent his young cousin Valentinian III to Italy with troops and installed him as western emperor at the end of 425.^[95] However, in 429, the Vandals and Alans under King Gaiseric crossed from southern Spain into North Africa, capturing Carthage in 439.^[95][96] This conquest deprived the Western court of its richest tax base and grain supply, forcing the recognition of an independent Vandal kingdom in 442.^[95][97]

The patrician and magister militum Flavius Aetius dominated the western government from 433 to 454, relying extensively on Hunnic mercenaries to suppress peasant revolts (Bagaudae) and contain Germanic confederations in Gaul.^[98][99] In 451, Attila the Hun invaded Gaul, but Aetius checked his advance at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains with a coalition primarily composed of Visigoths, Franks, and Alans.^[99][100] The loosely organised Hunnic empire disintegrated rapidly after Attila's death in 453.^[101]

In 455 the Vandals under Gaiseric sacked Rome for more than a month.^[102][103] For the next sixteen years, the Suebian-Visigothic magister militum Ricimer controlled western imperial appointments, deposing Avitus, Majorian, and Anthemius.^[104][105] A combined naval expedition by the Eastern and Western empires to retake North Africa failed catastrophically at Cape Bon in 468, leading Constantinople to recognize the Vandal kingdom in 474.^[105][106] In northern Gaul, a Roman enclave centered at Soissons persisted under Aegidius and later his son Syagrius until its conquest by Clovis I in 486.^[102][107]

On September 4, 476, the Germanic foederati general Odoacer deposed the young usurper Romulus Augustulus in Ravenna.^[108][109] Roman authority over the West was purely theoretical, exercised mainly through Odoacer as patricius of Italy, who represented imperial authority in the West.^[109] The last de jure western emperor recognized by Constantinople, Julius Nepos, survived in Dalmatia until his murder in 480.^[110] In 488, Zeno commissioned the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great to invade Italy; Theodoric defeated and killed Odoacer in 493, establishing an Ostrogothic kingdom that preserved Roman administrative organs, the senate, and the legal code while acknowledging nominal imperial suzerainty.^[111][112]

The Eastern Roman Empire in the fifth century

While the West fractured, the Eastern Roman Empire maintained territorial cohesion, administrative continuity, and financial solvency.^[113][114] The long reign of Theodosius II (408–450) was marked by the construction of the massive Theodosian Walls defending Constantinople, the promulgation of the Codex Theodosianus in 438, and substantial monetary payments that diverted Attila's Huns westward.^[114][115] Marcian (reigned 450–457) halted tribute payments to the Huns, consolidated the Danubian and eastern desert frontiers, and convoked the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which established the Christological dogma of Christ's two natures but exacerbated ecclesiastical rifts in Egypt and Syria.^[116]

Emperor Leo I (reigned 457–474) checked the political influence of the Alan magister militum Aspar by having him assassinated in 471, subsequently recruiting native Isaurian troops to replace Germanic federates in imperial service.^[117][118] The Isaurian chieftain Tarasicodissa assumed the imperial throne as Zeno (reigned 474–491), surviving civil wars and usurpers such as Basiliscus.^{[118][119][120]} Zeno issued the Henotikon in 482 to reconcile Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian factions, which instead produced the Acacian Schism with the papacy in Rome.^[120][121] Anastasius I (reigned 491–518) quelled the Isaurian Rebellion, eliminated the unpopular chrysargyron tax on trade, overhauled coinage, and accumulated an imperial surplus of 320,000 pounds of gold.^[122][123]

The sixth century and Eastern Roman hegemony

Justin I (reigned 518–527) resolved the Acacian Schism with Rome in 519 and allied with the Christian Kingdom of Aksum against Jewish Himyar in southern Arabia.^[124][125] His nephew Justinian I (reigned 527–565) initiated an expansive policy of territorial restoration (restauratio imperii).^[3][22][112] After brutally suppressing the Nika riots in 532, Justinian dispatched general Belisarius to conquer the Vandal kingdom in North Africa (533–534).^[3][22] Imperial forces subsequently invaded Italy in 535, initiating the devastating Gothic War against the Ostrogoths, which concluded only in 552–554 under Narses, leaving the peninsula economically exhausted.^[3][22][112] In 552, imperial armies also established the province of Spania along the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.^[22][112]

Justinian's domestic projects included the codification of Roman civil law into the Corpus Juris Civilis between 529 and 534 and the reconstruction of the monumental Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, completed in 537.^[3] However, the empire's resources were severely strained by the outbreak of the Justinianic Plague in 541, an outbreak of bubonic plague that caused widespread demographic contraction across the Mediterranean.^[3][126] Concurrently, climatic disturbances associated with the volcanic dust veils of 535–536 initiated the Late Antique Little Ice Age.^[127][128] On the eastern border, Khosrow I broke the 'Endless Peace' of 532 by invading Syria in 540, sacking Antioch and necessitating costly annual subsidies in the peace treaty of 562.^[129][130]

Justinian's successor, Justin II (reigned 565–578), inherited exhausted finances and confronted the Lombard invasion of Italy in 568 under Alboin, which wrested northern and central Italy from imperial control.^[131][132] Justin refused tribute to the Sasanians, reigniting war in 572 and establishing diplomatic ties with the Western Turkic Khaganate under Istämi (Sizabulos).^[132][133] Under Maurice (reigned 582–602), the Persian conflict ended favorably in 591 when Roman forces intervened to restore Khosrow II to the Sasanian throne following Bahram Chobin's usurpation.^[134][135] Maurice then campaigned against the Avars and Slavs along the Danube, creating the western exarchates of Ravenna and Carthage to consolidate administrative and military command.^[134]

The seventh century and the Islamic expansion

In 602, a military mutiny along the Danube overthrew and executed Maurice, elevating the centurion Phocas to the imperial throne.^[136] Khosrow II used the murder of his benefactor as a pretext to declare war, initiating the final Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628.^{[128][136][137]} Sasanian armies overran Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, advancing into central Anatolia.^[137][138] Heraclius overthrew Phocas in 610 and launched counter-offensives into the Sasanian heartland beginning in 622, allied with the Turks, while Constantinople withstood a joint Avar, Slav, and Sasanian siege in 626.^{[139][140][141]} After the Roman victory at the Battle of Nineveh in late 627, Khosrow II was deposed and murdered in 628, and the Sasanian regency restored all captured Roman provinces in 630.^{[141][142][143]}

Both empires were economically and militarily exhausted when Arab Muslim armies organized under the Rashidun Caliphate advanced from the Arabian Peninsula in the 630s.^{[128][144][145]} The Eastern Roman field army was shattered at the Battle of Yarmouk in August 636, resulting in the permanent loss of Syria and Palestine, followed by the fall of Egypt in 642.^[146] The Sasanian Empire suffered defeats at al-Qadisiyya in 636 and Nihawand in 642, collapsing completely when the last king of kings, Yazdegerd III, was murdered in 651. Arab forces advanced through North Africa, taking Carthage in 698 and crossing into Hispania in 711 to extinguish the Visigothic kingdom, while Constantinople survived maritime sieges in 674–678 and 717–718.^[147]

The post-Roman West and early medieval transition

The establishment of post-Roman regna throughout the western provinces involved accommodation and administrative borrowing rather than deliberate cultural eradication.^[94][148] Germanic ruling groups, representing small military minorities within romanized provincial populations, relied on Gallo-Roman, Hispano-Roman, and Italian senatorial elites to manage taxation, provincial administration, and local episcopacies.^{[149][150][151]} The concept of Romanitas remained significant as a cultural and social category; post-Roman kings sought honorary titles from Constantinople, issued legal codes based on Roman law, and respected imperial prerogatives, including restricting gold coinage portraits to the emperor until Theudebert I minted gold coins with his own likeness in the 540s.^[152]

The Merovingian kingdom emerged as the most durable western foundation, integrating Frankish military power with the Catholic Gallo-Roman aristocracy and the network of urban civitates.^[25][153] In Italy, the arrival of the Lombards in 568 fragmented the territory between the Lombard kingdom and imperial outposts controlled by the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Bishop of Rome.^[23] By around 600, traditional senatorial lineages had largely merged into regional ecclesiastical hierarchies, while lay literacy declined outside of monasteries.^[154][155] Urban manufacturing and long-distance Mediterranean trade networks contracted considerably by the seventh century, transitioning into localized agricultural exchange before the commercial reorientations of the Carolingian period in the eighth century.^[29][156]

The late antique world beyond the Roman Empire

Recent scholarship emphasizes that late antiquity was not confined to the Roman Mediterranean, but formed an interconnected Eurasian and Afro-Asiatic zone extending from western Europe across the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, and the western Indian Ocean.^[1][4][157] Commercial routes, nomadic migrations, religious missions, and diplomatic exchanges linked the Roman and Sasanian empires with the peripheral peoples of Arabia, the Eurasian steppes, and the Indian subcontinent.^{[4][158][159]}

Post-Roman kingdoms in the West

The transformation of the Roman West produced several distinct regional successor states. The Visigothic kingdom, settled initially in Aquitania in 418, expanded across the Iberian Peninsula before losing southern Gaul to Clovis I at the Battle of Vouillé in 507.^[160][161] Establishing their capital at Toledo, the Visigothic kings struggled with religious friction between their Arian warrior class and the Catholic majority until King Reccared I formally converted to Catholicism at the Third Council of Toledo in 589.^[162] King Leovigild had previously integrated the Suebic kingdom of northwestern Iberia in 585, establishing a unified realm that preserved Roman administrative practices until the Umayyad invasion of 711.^[162]

The Vandal kingdom in North Africa (429–534) maintained a centralized administrative and fiscal apparatus based in Carthage, operating a naval fleet that dominated the western Mediterranean.^[96][163] However, persistent religious conflicts between the Arian Vandals and Catholic provincial elites, combined with resistance from Berber tribes (Mauri), undermined its cohesion prior to Belisarius's reconquest in 533–534.^[103][163] In Sub-Roman Britain, centralized administration disintegrated rapidly following the withdrawal of Roman legions in 407, giving way to fragmented Brittonic polities and the Anglo-Saxon migrations of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, which displaced Roman urban structures and language far more thoroughly than occurred in continental Europe.^{[164][165][166][167]}

Sasanian Persia

The Sasanian Empire, founded in 224/226 by Ardashir I after overthrowing the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, was Rome's primary peer competitor throughout late antiquity.^[168][169] Extending across modern Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and adjacent territories, the empire was ruled by the 'king of kings of Eran and Aneran' from the capital at Ctesiphon on the Tigris.^{[168][170][171]} Diplomatic protocol between the two empires utilized metaphors such as the 'two brothers' or the 'two eyes of the world' to signify their mutual, peer status.^[172][173] Lower Mesopotamia, with its extensive irrigation systems and high agrarian yields, formed the financial core of the empire, supporting an administrative apparatus overseen by the wuzurg-framadar (prime minister).^[174][175]

Zoroastrianism (Mazdaism) served as the preeminent faith of the Sasanian court, overseen by a prominent priesthood, although the empire housed substantial Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean populations.^[176] The Church of the East achieved recognized status under royal patronage, demonstrating loyalty to the king of kings and establishing communities across the Iranian plateau and Central Asia.^[176][177] Sasanian architecture produced feats such as the monumental Taq Kasra vault at Ctesiphon.^[3] After reaching its maximum territorial expanse under Khosrow II between 603 and 619, the empire collapsed following Roman counter-attacks, internal civil wars, and the Arab Muslim conquests, terminating with the murder of Yazdegerd III in 651.^[178][179]

Central Asia and China

Central Asia in late antiquity was a dynamic, multicultural zone connecting the sedentary empires of China, Persia, and the Mediterranean.^[180][181] Successive waves of nomadic and semi-nomadic confederations, collectively termed Iranian Huns by modern scholars, emerged from the Eurasian steppes to challenge both Sasanian Persia and the Gupta Empire.^[182][183] The Chionites clashed with Shapur II in the fourth century, followed by the Kidarites and Alchon, and culminating in the Hephthalites, who established a centralized realm in Bactria, defeated the Sasanian king Peroz I in 484, and intervened directly in Persian dynastic politics.^{[183][184][185]}

Around 560, the Sasanian Empire under Khosrow I allied with the First Turkic Khaganate under Istämi to crush the Hephthalite kingdom, partitioning its territories along the Oxus River.^[186] The Göktürks, who had overthrown the Rouran Khaganate in 552, came to dominate the Eurasian steppes from the Aral Sea to Manchuria.^[187][188] Sogdian merchants, based in oasis city-states such as Samarkand and Panjakent, operated commercial networks along the Silk Road, controlling the overland trade in Chinese silk and acting as diplomatic envoys between the Turks, Sasanians, and Byzantines.^{[181][189][190]}

China's reunification under the Sui dynasty and the expansion of the Tang dynasty established a major imperial presence in Central Asia.^[191][192] Tang armies subjugated the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 630 and established the Protectorate General to Pacify the West in the Tarim Basin by the mid-seventh century, engaging in diplomatic ties with Persia and harboring Sasanian exiles following the Arab conquest.^{[193][194][195]} Direct competition between the Abbasid Caliphate and Tang China culminated in 751 at the Battle of Talas, stabilizing Muslim influence in Transoxiana while Tang attention turned inward due to the An Lushan Rebellion.^[196]

The Indian Ocean, Aksum, and South Arabia

Maritime commerce in the western Indian Ocean linked Egypt, the Red Sea, East Africa, South Arabia, and India in a network of luxury and bulk trade.^[159][197] Roman and Byzantine merchants imported black pepper, spices, gems, ivory, and Chinese silk through Red Sea ports like Berenike, while exporting glassware, pottery, and textiles.^[197][198] Persian Christian and Zoroastrian merchants dominated shipping in the Persian Gulf and established commercial outposts along the Malabar Coast of India and in Sri Lanka (Taprobane), competing directly with Roman trading interests.^{[199][200][201]}

The Kingdom of Aksum, situated in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea, adopted Christianity under King Ezana around the 340s, using the port of Adulis to control the Red Sea trade in ivory and slaves.^[202][203] In southwestern Arabia, the Kingdom of Himyar unified the region and adopted Judaism in the late fourth century.^[204][205] When the Himyarite king Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar massacred Christian communities in Najran around 523, the Aksumite king Kaleb (Ella Asbeha), supported by transport vessels provided by Emperor Justin I, launched a military invasion in 525, overthrowing Yusuf and establishing an Aksumite client government.^[125][206] The Aksumite general Abraha subsequently assumed royal power in Himyar, leading an unsuccessful expedition against Mecca around 552.^[207] Around 570, Sasanian naval forces conquered Yemen, placing South Arabia under Persian hegemony until the rise of Islam in the 630s.^[208][209]

On the Indian subcontinent, the Gupta Empire (c. 320–550) dominated northern India during a period of classical Sanskrit literary and artistic development.^[210][211] Samudragupta and Chandragupta II expanded direct authority across the Ganges Basin and established tributary relations with adjacent rulers, claiming the status of Chakravartin.^[211][212] In the mid-fifth century, the empire faced invasions by the Alchon Huns (known in Indian sources as Hunas), whose rulers Toramana and Mihirakula conquered Gujarat and parts of Malwa, disrupting trade networks with the West and contributing, alongside structural weaknesses that had already set in, to the collapse of the Gupta Empire by the mid-sixth century.^{[213][214][215]}

Society and administration

Late Roman society underwent extensive restructuring aimed at securing agrarian production, tax revenues, and military manpower.^[40] The legal status of citizens became increasingly stratified, bureaucratic administration expanded significantly, and local civic governance transformed as imperial oversight and episcopal authority grew.^[216][217]

Social hierarchy and social mobility

Following Caracalla's Constitutio Antoniniana of 212, which extended Roman citizenship to virtually all free inhabitants, the primary social division shifted from citizen versus non-citizen to the legal distinction between honestiores (the upper classes) and humiliores (the lower classes).^{[216][218][219]} The honestiores, comprising senators, equestrians, municipal elites, and higher bureaucrats, enjoyed legal protections against corporal punishment, torture, and capital execution, whereas humiliores were subject to severe punitive measures, including compulsory labor and execution.^[216]

The senatorial order expanded substantially in the fourth century, increasing from approximately 600 members to over 2,000 in Rome, alongside the creation of a parallel 2,000-member Senate in Constantinople under Constantius II.^{[219][220][221]} The senatorial class was subdivided into three descending ranks: illustres, spectabiles, and clarissimi.^[220][221] By 450, actual participation in the senatorial assemblies was restricted to the highest rank of illustres, transforming the body into a gathering of senior active and retired imperial officials numbering roughly 100 individuals.^[222] Despite laws attempting to fix professions and social status hereditarily, late antiquity witnessed substantial social mobility, with individuals from peasant or provincial backgrounds, such as Justin I and Justinian I, rising to the imperial throne.^[223] Women retained civil equality under Roman private law regarding property ownership and inheritance, though imperial legislation imposed stricter restrictions on divorce and severe penalties for adultery.^[224][225]

Imperial rule and court administration

The late Roman emperor occupied a sacralized position, functioning conceptually as God's representative on earth.^[226][227] Imperial iconography moved away from individualized naturalism toward stylized, frontal depictions emphasizing divine majesty, with rulers wearing jeweled diadems, purple mantles, and nimbuses.^{[228][229][230]} Elaborate court ceremonial (proskynesis), heavily influenced by eastern and Sasanian precedents, isolated the emperor within the palace.^[228][231] However, imperial authority remained legally bounded; emperors were constrained by Roman civil law, and arbitrary governance risked military usurpation or popular revolt, as seen in the overthrow of Phocas in 610.^[232][233]

The imperial court (comitatus) served as the central executive hub of government.^[234][235] The consistorium, or sacred council, advised the emperor on policy and legislation.^[235][236] Key court dignitaries included the magister officiorum, who supervised the palace bureaucracy, the public post (cursus publicus), weapon manufactories, and the imperial secret police (agentes in rebus); the quaestor sacri palatii, the chief legal draftsman responsible for imperial rescripts; the comes sacrarum largitionum, who administered the public treasury and mines; the comes rerum privatarum, managing the emperor's private estates (res privata); and the praepositus sacri cubiculi, usually an influential eunuch overseeing the imperial household.^{[235][236][237]}

The civilian administrative hierarchy was headed by four praetorian prefectures: Gaul and Italy in the West; Illyricum and the East (Oriens) in the East.^[47][238] Prefectures were subdivided into dioceses directed by vicarii, which were in turn divided into provinces under civilian governors (praesides, correctores, or consulares).^{[47][238][239]} Around the year 400, the imperial civil administration comprised approximately 30,000 officials serving an estimated population of 60 million people, meaning that the late Roman state remained relatively under-administered by modern standards, with bureaucratic oversight concentrated primarily in urban centers.^[240][241]

Cities and civic administration

The municipal curiae, or city councils composed of decurions (curiales), experienced structural transformation during late antiquity.^{[242][243][244]} Historically responsible for local administration and tax collection from their personal fortunes, curiales faced escalating financial liabilities as emperors extracted mandatory revenues.^{[242][243][245]} Many wealthy municipal elites sought exemption by securing offices in the imperial administration, entering the Christian clergy, or retiring to fortified rural estates, a phenomenon termed 'curial flight' (Kurialenflucht).^{[242][243][246][247]} Imperial legislation repeatedly attempted to tie curiales to their councils hereditarily, though by the sixth century municipal autonomy had largely waned, with authority shifting to imperial governors and urban bishops.^{[242][248][249]}

Urban landscapes across the Mediterranean reflected this transition through the encroachment of artisanal shops onto classical colonnaded avenues, the subdivision of public basilicas and private townhouses, and the introduction of burials within city walls near martyr shrines.^[250] Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Carthage were the five largest cities of late antiquity, and the last three had an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 inhabitants each.^[251] The great cities flourished for a long time, declining in the West only after repeated plundering by Germanic warriors and in the East even later.^{[252][253][254][255]} In Rome, the population collapsed from approximately 800,000 in 400 to around 30,000 by the late sixth century, precipitated by the destruction of the aqueducts during the Gothic War and the loss of North African grain shipments in 439.^{[253][256][257]}

Circus factions (the Blues and the Greens) emerged as prominent institutions of urban popular organization, particularly in Constantinople and other eastern cities.^[258] Serving as chariot-racing supporters' clubs, civic militias, and channels for public petitioning, they occasionally coordinated violent urban disturbances, most notably the Nika riots of 532, which resulted in the destruction of central Constantinople and the execution of over 30,000 participants.^[22][258]

Economy and agrarian structures

Agriculture constituted the predominant sector of the late antique economy, centered around the Mediterranean triad of grain, olive oil, and wine.^[259] While regional economies in northern Gaul and Britain contracted markedly during the fifth century, areas such as southern Spain, southern Gaul, and particularly North Africa and the Levant prospered well into the fifth and sixth centuries.^[260][261] The annexation of Africa by the Vandals in 439 severed the fiscal backbone of the Western Empire, depriving Italy of critical grain supplies and tax revenues.^[95][96]

To secure steady agricultural output and fiscal returns, imperial legislation tied tenant farmers (coloni) to the soil in a hereditary arrangement known as the colonate (colonatus).^[262][263] While coloni remained legally free persons distinct from chattel slaves, their legal and economic condition increasingly resembled that of unfree laborers, as landlords collected taxes on behalf of the state and exercised private jurisdiction.^[263][264] Chattel slavery endured throughout late antiquity in domestic service and agricultural labor, particularly in Italy and Hispania, though free hired labor was more prevalent in Egypt and Asia Minor.^[265][266] Rural revolts broke out at times, as seen in the Bagaudae rebellions in Gaul and the Circumcellions in North Africa; they have been read as protests against imperial demands such as taxation, though their causes are disputed.^{[262][267][268]}

Constantine maintained the value of the gold solidus, a coin that only the wealthy could hoard.^[269][270] In contrast, Constantine let the copper coinage needed for everyday exchange lose value, which reduced the purchasing power of the common people.^[269][270] State-controlled arms manufactories (fabricae), weaving mills, and dye-works provided military equipment, while compulsory trade guilds (collegia) maintained essential civic infrastructure and transportation networks under state requisition.^{[259][271][272]}

The late Roman army

The late Roman army evolved significantly from the early imperial legions of the Principate.^[273][274] Diocletian and Constantine restructured armed forces into a mobile field army (comitatenses and elite palatini), assigned to accompany the emperors or regional commanders, and stationary border troops (limitanei or ripenses), stationed in fortresses along the frontier rivers and limes systems.^{[275][276][277]} Traditional 5,000-man legions were reduced to tactical units averaging 1,000 infantrymen, while cavalry formations (vexillationes) grew in both proportion and tactical importance, particularly heavily armored cataphracts (cataphractarii) and mounted horse-archers.^[278][279]

Estimates of late Roman troop strength vary widely in the sources.^[278][280] While Lactantius claimed Diocletian quadrupled the army's size, modern calculations estimate fourth-century strength at approximately 400,000 to 500,000 soldiers, rising nominally toward 600,000 in the Notitia Dignitatum around 400.^[280] Under Justinian, according to Agathias, only 150,000 men served in the eastern Roman army, a figure that was probably set too low.^[281] Field armies deployed for major expeditions were frequently modest in size; Belisarius embarked for the Vandal campaign in 533 with approximately 15,000 to 16,000 troops, while Narses led roughly 30,000 men into Italy in 552.

In the West, financial exhaustion following the loss of North African revenues led to the dissolution of the regular field army during the fifth century, forcing the court of Ravenna to rely almost exclusively on Germanic foederati serving under their own chieftains.^[282][283] Private armed retinues maintained by generals and wealthy magnates (bucellarii) proliferated, further undermining centralized military command.^[284] In the East, emperors successfully suppressed autonomous warlords, maintained reliable tax revenues to fund regular recruitment, and eventually restructured provincial forces into the indigenous, land-grant theme system under Heraclius and his successors.^[117][285]

Religious developments

Late antiquity was an era of intense religious transformation marked by the ascendance of monotheism across the Mediterranean and Near East.^[5][286] Christianity transformed from a persecuted minority into the official imperial religion, rabbinic academies canonized the foundations of modern Judaism, and Islam emerged in seventh-century Arabia, while traditional polytheistic cults, Manichaeism, and Zoroastrianism experienced shifting fortunes.^{[5][145][157][286]}

The Christian Church and doctrinal disputes

The legalization of Christianity under Constantine and its establishment as the Roman state religion under Theodosius I transformed the Church into an institution possessing extensive legal, fiscal, and judicial privileges.^[79][287] Constantine granted bishops civil arbitration powers (episcopalis audientia) and allowed churches to inherit property, enabling ecclesiastical estates to amass wealth that financed charitable poor relief and urban basilicas.^[288][289] The administrative structure of the Church mirrored imperial civic divisions, with dioceses led by bishops, metropolitan provinces led by archbishops, and five preeminent patriarchal sees (the Pentarchy): Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem.^[290][291]

Doctrinal unity proved difficult to attain, as intense theological disputes mobilized broad segments of the urban population.^{[287][292][293]} The fourth century was dominated by the Arian controversy regarding the relationship of God the Son to God the Father, addressed at the First Council of Nicaea (325) and the First Council of Constantinople (381), which formulated the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed affirming that the Son is consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father.^{[287][294][295]} In the fifth century, Christological debates shifted to the relationship between Christ's divine and human natures.^[296] The Council of Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorianism, which separated Christ's two natures and rejected the title Theotokos (Mother of God) for the Virgin Mary, while the Council of Chalcedon (451) condemned Monophysitism (Miaphysitism), proclaiming that Christ exists in two unconfused, undivided natures.^{[287][296][297]}

The Chalcedonian definition caused enduring theological and political rifts.^[287][297] Miaphysite communities in Egypt (Copts) and Syria rejected the council, establishing autonomous ecclesiastical hierarchies resistant to imperial interference from Constantinople.^[298] Subsequent imperial attempts to bridge the schism, including Zeno's Henotikon (482), Justinian's condemnation of the Three Chapters at the Second Council of Constantinople (553), and Heraclius's promotion of Monothelitism in the 630s, failed to secure reconciliation and alienated both western Chalcedonians and eastern Miaphysites.^{[120][121][144]}

Monasticism and holy persons

Christian monasticism originated in the Egyptian desert in the late third and early fourth centuries, providing an alternative ascetic expression of faith following the end of state persecution.^[299][300] Anthony the Great popularized the eremitic (solitary) monastic life, while Pachomius established the cenobitic (communal) model around 320 at Tabennisi along the Nile, composing the earliest written monastic rule.^[300] Basil of Caesarea adapted cenobitic monasticism to urban and regional settings in Asia Minor, establishing rules that emphasized communal prayer, charitable medical work, and theological study.

Monasticism spread rapidly to the Western provinces through texts like Athanasius's Life of Anthony and the travels of John Cassian, Jerome, and Martin of Tours, who founded monasteries at Ligugé and Marmoutier. In early-fifth-century southern Gaul, Honoratus established the influential monastery of Lérins, while in sixth-century Italy, Benedict of Nursia founded Monte Cassino around 529 and authored the Rule of Saint Benedict, which became the standard framework for western medieval monasticism. Extreme ascetic practices also emerged in the East, notably the stylites (pillar-saints) initiated by Simeon Stylites in Syria, who lived atop elevated columns, and holy fools, whose unconventional behavior served as spiritual critique.^[301]

Traditional cults and paganism

Traditional polytheism (paganism) did not disappear abruptly with Constantine's conversion, but experienced gradual contraction over the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries.^{[302][303][304]} While Constantine prohibited private divination and sacrifices, Constantius II enacted stricter bans on daytime temple sacrifices and magic in 356.^[304][305] In 382, Gratian renounced the traditional title of Pontifex Maximus, stripped pagan priesthoods and the Vestal Virgins of public subsidies, and removed the Altar of Victory from the Roman Senate house, prompting an eloquent but unsuccessful protest by the urban prefect Quintus Aurelius Symmachus against Bishop Ambrose of Milan in 384.^[81][306]

Theodosius I enacted comprehensive legislation in 391 and 392 banning all public and private pagan worship, libations, and domestic sacrifices under capital penalty.^{[81][304][306]} Pagan temples were subsequently closed, converted into Christian churches, or demolished by local zealots, including the Serapeum of Alexandria in 391 and the temples of Gaza under Bishop Porphyry in 402.^[305][307] In 415, the Neoplatonist philosopher Hypatia, a friend of Orestes, then governor of Alexandria, was murdered by a faction opposed to him; the gangs and factions involved included both pagans and Christians, and the background was more political than religious.^[308] Justinian closed the Neoplatonic Academy in Athens in 529, barring pagans from civil office and public teaching, and closed the final officially sanctioned pagan sanctuary, the Temple of Isis at Philae in Upper Egypt, around 537.^[302][309]

Despite official prohibitions, pagan traditions and popular religious practices persisted in rural regions and intellectual circles.^{[302][303][310]} Mystery cults, notably the worship of Mithras and Isis, maintained adherents well into the fifth century, while devotion to Sol Invictus influenced Christian iconography, contributing to the identification of Christ as the 'Sun of Righteousness' and the celebration of Christmas on December 25.^{[303][311][312]} In 579, an insurrection involving pagan adherents occurred in Syria under Tiberius II, and Pope Gregory the Great recorded forced conversions of polytheistic populations in rural Sardinia as late as 599.^[302]

Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism

Manichaeism, founded in third-century Mesopotamia by the prophet Mani (216–276), developed into a major dualistic world religion contending with Christianity and Zoroastrianism.^{[313][314][315]} Teaching an absolute cosmological struggle between the realms of Light and Darkness, it spread along trade networks from Hispania to Central Asia and China.^[314][315] Diocletian issued an edict persecuting Manichaeans in 297, a policy continued by Christian emperors who viewed the sect as heretical and treasonous.^[51][314] Augustine of Hippo was an adherent of Manichaeism for nine years before converting to Catholic Christianity, later writing extensive polemical treatises refuting its doctrines.^[314]

In the Sasanian Empire, Zoroastrianism (Mazdaism) maintained institutional supremacy, enjoying royal patronage while enduring domestic challenges.^[316] In the late fifth and early sixth centuries, the Mazdakite movement, led by the reformer Mazdak, shook the Sasanian realm as a religious and social-revolutionary movement, gaining temporary support from King Kavadh I before being violently suppressed under Khosrow I.^[316] In the Roman Empire, Judaism retained its status as a religio licita (permitted religion), making it the sole lawful non-Christian faith after 392.^[317][318] However, several Christian emperors restricted Jewish religious practice or banned the building of new synagogues.^[317][319] The office of the Jewish Patriarch (Nasi) in Tiberias was abolished by the imperial government in 429, while the Samaritan population of Palestine staged major revolts against Roman rule under Zeno and Justinian, culminating in bloody suppressions.^[317]

The emergence of Islam

Islam emerged in the early seventh century within the religious and political milieu of western Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 570–632).^{[145][320][321]} The traditional 'out of Arabia' thesis, associated with earlier scholarship and Henri Pirenne, viewed the rise of Islam as an external, alien shock that shattered the late antique Mediterranean world.^[6][30] In contrast, modern scholarship following Peter Brown emphasizes that early Islam developed within the shared cultural, theological, and apocalyptic horizon of late antiquity, deeply informed by contemporary biblical, rabbinic, and Christian traditions and linked to the broader imperial struggles between Rome and Persia.^{[145][322][323]}

The rapid expansion of the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates overthrew the Sasanian Empire, absorbed the Roman provinces of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa, and incorporated Visigothic Hispania after 711.^{[27][146][321]} Early Islamic administration retained Greek and Coptic in the former Roman territories and Middle Persian in the former Sasanian lands, utilizing experienced Christian and Zoroastrian bureaucrats, such as Sarjun ibn Mansur (father of John of Damascus).^[324] Only under the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik were imperial administration and coinage systematically Arabized, solidifying the institutional transition from late antiquity to the classical Islamic era.^[324]

Culture and intellectual life

Intellectual and artistic life in late antiquity exhibited creative vitality rather than simple decadence.^[325] While classical Greek and Latin literary traditions adapted to Christian themes, distinct vernacular literatures expanded across the Near East, book technology shifted fundamentally from the roll to the codex, and new architectural and visual forms emerged to serve civic and ecclesiastical needs.^{[325][326][327]}

Literature and historiography

Late antique secular historiography maintained high stylistic and analytical standards modeled on classical Greek and Latin exemplars.^[328] Ammianus Marcellinus composed his Res Gestae in Latin in the late fourth century, covering the years 96 to 378 with detailed accounts of Constantius II and Julian.^[329] In the sixth century, Procopius of Caesarea authored the Wars, Buildings, and Secret History in classicizing Greek, providing contemporary records of Justinian's military campaigns, architecture, and court politics.^[330] Classicizing secular history was continued in Constantinople by Agathias, Menander Protector, and Theophylact Simocatta into the early seventh century.^[328][331]

Concurrently, Christian authors established distinct genres, beginning with Eusebius of Caesarea's Church History and Chronicle, which were continued by Socrates Scholasticus, Sozomen, and Evagrius Scholasticus.^[330][332] Latin patristic literature produced major theological works, notably Augustine's De civitate Dei and Confessions, Jerome's Vulgate translation of the Bible, and Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care and Dialogues.^[330][333] In addition, universal chronicles such as the Chronicon Paschale and the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes flourished alongside encyclopedic compilations, exemplified by Martianus Capella's On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury, Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, and Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae.^[330]

Beyond Greek and Latin, vibrant regional literatures emerged in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and Georgian.^{[326][334][335]} Syriac literature flourished through the theological hymns and commentaries of Ephrem the Syrian, Jacob of Serugh, and Philoxenus of Mabbug, as well as the historical chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite.^{[334][336][337]} In Egypt, Shenoute of Atripe authored extensive monastic treatises and sermons in Sahidic Coptic, while Armenian historical writing developed through the works of Movses Khorenatsi and Pseudo-Sebeos.^[335]

Languages in East and West

The traditional Greco-Latin bilingualism that characterized the elite culture of the early empire deteriorated significantly after 400.^[338][339] In the Western provinces, knowledge of Greek became exceptional, limited to scholars such as Jerome and Boethius, while colloquial Latin diverged from literary norms into regional vulgar Latin dialects that evolved into the Romance languages.^[339][340] In the East, Greek remained the dominant cultural lingua franca, although Latin continued to function as the official language of the military, legal administration, and the imperial court in Constantinople until the mid-sixth century.^[338][341]

Justinian was the final emperor whose native language was Latin; his major legal codification, the Corpus Juris Civilis of 534, was written primarily in Latin, although subsequent legislation (the Novellae) was issued predominantly in Greek.^[341] Under Heraclius around 625, Greek was formally established as the sole administrative language of the empire.^[341] The growing linguistic divergence hindered theological dialogue between the Greek East and the Latin West, as demonstrated during the Christological disputes where differing translations of terms such as persona, substantia, hypostasis, and physis exacerbated ecclesiastical divisions.^{[335][342][343]}

Art, sculpture, and mosaics

Late antique art transitioned from classical idealized naturalism toward symbolic, stylized, and spiritual representation.^{[229][344][345]} Freestanding public statuary declined noticeably after the fourth century, replaced by relief sculpture, architectural carving, and elaborate mosaics.^[344] Imperial portraiture, visible in the porphyry Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs in Venice and the Colossus of Constantine in Rome, discarded individual verism in favor of rigid frontality, geometric abstraction, and hierarchical scaling emphasizing the authority of imperial office rather than the person.^[229][346]

Relief sculpture achieved high expression in carved marble sarcophagi, such as the mid-fourth-century Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus and the Dogmatic Sarcophagus, which arranged biblical narratives across multiple architectural registers.^[347] Luxury arts flourished in the form of carved ivory consular and imperial diptychs, such as the sixth-century Barberini ivory and the pagan Symmachi–Nicomachi diptych, as well as elaborate hoards of silver plate, including the Mildenhall, Esquiline, and Hoxne treasures and the Missorium of Theodosius I.^[348][349]

Mosaics shifted from floor decoration to wall and vault coverings in monumental Christian basilicas, utilizing reflective glass tesserae to illuminate ecclesiastical interiors with symbolic and biblical imagery. Outstanding cycles of late antique mosaics survive in Rome (Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Pudenziana) and Ravenna (the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, and San Vitale).^[350] Over time, representations of Jesus shifted from the classical youthful 'Good Shepherd' or philosopher figure to the enthroned, bearded Pantokrator, clothed in imperial purple and holding an orb and sceptre.^[230]

Public architecture and the basilica

Civic building priorities shifted markedly in late antiquity away from luxury structures like theaters and amphitheaters toward defensive walls, baths, and sacred ecclesiastical architecture.^[351] The Christian basilica, adapting the architectural form of Roman civic basilicas, became the predominant public religious building.^{[350][351][352]} Characterized by a longitudinal central nave, flanking aisles, a clerestory providing natural light, and a semicircular apse where the bishop's throne (cathedra) echoed the magistrate's tribunal, it symbolized Christ's spiritual sovereignty.^{[350][352][353]}

Major fourth-century foundations sponsored by Constantine and his successors included the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran and Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.^[56][353] Centralized domed architecture developed alongside basilicas for martyria, mausolea, and baptisteries, exemplified by Santa Costanza in Rome and San Lorenzo Maggiore in Milan.^[350] The culmination of late antique architecture occurred under Justinian with the construction of the new Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (532–537), designed by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, which combined a longitudinal basilica plan with a soaring 31-meter central dome supported by pendentives.^[3][350]

Education and philosophical schools

The traditional late antique educational system (paideia) retained a three-tier structure: elementary reading and writing, grammatical instruction in classical poetry and mythology, and advanced training in rhetoric and law.^[354][355] Mastery of paideia remained the defining credential for elite status, shared by both pagans and Christians, and served as the primary qualification for civil service appointments.^{[325][355][356]} Major centers of learning flourished across the empire, including rhetoric and philosophy at Athens and Constantinople, law at Beirut (Berytus) and Rome, and medicine and mathematics at Alexandria.^[357]

Neoplatonism was the predominant philosophical current of late antiquity, developed by Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus.^[358][359] While Christian intellectuals such as Augustine integrated Platonic concepts into Christian theology, pagan philosophical schools faced growing municipal and imperial hostility.^[358][360] Following Justinian's decree in 529 prohibiting pagans from teaching in Athens, philosophers from the Athenian Academy, including Damascius and Simplicius, briefly sought asylum at the court of Khosrow I in Persia before returning to the empire.^[309] The philosophical school of Alexandria endured into the early seventh century under Christian commentators like John Philoponus and Stephanus of Alexandria, while pagan philosophical circles persisted in Harran (Carrhae) well into the Islamic period.^[358]

Sources and modern historiography

The historical study of late antiquity relies on a diverse corpus of textual and material evidence, while modern interpretations continue to debate whether the era is best understood in terms of decline or of cultural and social transformation.^[17][361]

Historical sources and archaeology

Late antiquity provides the richest collection of documentary, epigraphic, and literary sources of any period in ancient history.^[362] Secular historical narratives by Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius, and Theophylact Simocatta are complemented by Christian church histories, universal chronicles (such as Marcellinus Comes and the Chronicon Paschale), legal compilations (Codex Theodosianus and Corpus Juris Civilis), administrative handbooks (Notitia Dignitatum and John Lydus's De Magistratibus), and thousands of surviving letters by Libanius, Symmachus, Augustine, Sidonius Apollinaris, and Gregory the Great.^[333][363]

Epigraphic evidence provides valuable data, with approximately 50,000 surviving late antique Latin inscriptions, although secular inscriptions declined sharply in the West after 380 and in the East after 565.^[364] Numerous papyri are also important sources.^[365] In recent decades, archaeological excavations and material survey have become fundamental, often presenting evidence of urban contraction, ceramic trade disruption, and climate-induced settlement changes that contrast with the more stable depictions found in literary sources, posing a central interpretive challenge for contemporary historians.^[365][366]

Modern historiographical debates

Modern historiography was long dominated by the decline-and-fall model established by Edward Gibbon in the eighteenth century and continued in the early twentieth century by Otto Seeck, which portrayed late antiquity as a period of moral, cultural, and political decadence.^[10][361] The scholarship of John Bagnell Bury, Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, and Henri-Irénée Marrou began to challenge this negative characterization, leading to the major paradigm shift initiated by Peter Brown in the 1970s, which emphasized the cultural vitality, spiritual innovation, and institutional transformation of the late antique world.^{[10][361][367][368]}

Bryan Ward-Perkins and Peter Heather, whose accounts partly read as a counter to the reinterpretation associated with Peter Brown and Averil Cameron, have stressed that the transformations of the Migration Period were in many respects also accompanied by violence, destruction, and economic decline, and Ward-Perkins described the fifth century in the West as an end of civilization.^[18][369] Contemporary research increasingly contextualizes these historical debates within environmental history, analyzing the socioeconomic disruptions caused by the volcanic dust veils of 535–536, the Late Antique Little Ice Age, and recurring outbreaks of the Justinianic Plague from 541 onward, while expanding the geographic framework to incorporate Eurasia and the Indian Ocean.^{[127][128][370][371]}

References

1. Vgl. etwa die Definition in The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Band 1. Oxford 2018, S. VI–VIII und die Beiträge in Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford u. a. 2012.
2. Nicholson, Oliver, ed. (2018). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
3. Gaudio, Andrew. "Research Guides: Late Antiquity: A Resource Guide: Introduction". guides.loc.gov. Archived from the original on 2023-11-05. Retrieved 2024-08-13.
4. Vgl. einführend Scott Fitzgerald Johnson: Preface: On the Uniqueness of Late Antiquity. In: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford u. a. 2012, S. XI ff.
5. Anthony, Sean W. (2020). Muhammad and the empires of faith: the making of the prophet of Islam. Oakland (Calif.): University of California press. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-520-97452-4.
6. Vgl. dazu auch Mischa Meier: Ostrom–Byzanz, Spätantike–Mittelalter. Überlegungen zum „Ende“ der Antike im Osten des Römischen Reiches. In: Millennium 9, 2012, S. 187–253.
7. Brown, Peter; Brown, Peter (1998). Late antiquity. Cambridge, Mass. London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 1. ISBN 978-0-674-51170-5.
8. Vgl. dazu Arnaldo Marcone: A Long Late Antiquity? Considerations on a controversial Periodization. In: Journal of Late Antiquity 1, 2008, S. 4–19, sowie Steffen Patzold: Der lange Schatten der Spätantike und das Ende des Frühmittelalters. Ein Versuch über die Mittelmeerwelt des ersten Jahrtausends. In: Jan-Hendryk de Boer, Marcel Bubert, Katharina Ulrike Mersch (Hrsg.): Die Mediävistik und ihr Mittelalter, Berlin/Boston 2024, S. 201–215.
9. Max Weber: Soziologie – Weltgeschichtliche Analysen – Politik. Stuttgart 1968, S. 58 (zuerst erschienen 1909); Jacob Burckhardt: Die Zeit Konstantins des Großen. Leipzig 1853, S. 313. Vgl. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. XVII und 587f.
10. Glen W. Bowersock, "The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome", Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49.8 (May 1996:29–43) p. 34.
11. Lançon 1997, p. 4.
12. Vgl. Arnaldo Marcone: A long late antiquity? Considerations on a controversial periodization. In: Journal of Late Antiquity 1, 2008, S. 4–19.
13. Brown, Bowersock, Graber, Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World (Harvard University Press Reference Library) 1999年
14. Peter Brown, Le monde de l'Antiquité tardive de Marc Aurèle à Mahomet, Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2011, 208 p. (ISBN 978-2-8004-1626-7), p. 179
15. Iñaki Martín Viso, Poblamiento y estructuras sociales en el norte de la Península Ibérica. Siglos VI-XIII, p.19, Universidad de Salamanca, 2000. ISBN 84-7800-914-0.
16. Paul Freedmam,La servidumbre catalana y el problema de la revolución feudal, p.427, en revista Hispania, vol. 56, n.º 193 (1996): 425-446.
17. L’idée d’une décadence de la civilisation romaine est exposée dans deux ouvrages célèbres, les Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence de Montesquieu en 1734 et, en 1776, le Decline and fall of the Roman Empire d’Edward Gibbon.
18. Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence de Montesquieu en 1734 y, en 1776, Decline and fall of the Roman Empire de Edward Gibbon.
19. Zur Geschichte von Byzanz vgl. einführend unter anderem Falko Daim (Hrsg.): Byzanz. Historisch-kulturwissenschaftliches Handbuch (Der Neue Pauly, Supplemente, Bd. 11). Stuttgart 2016; Ralph-Johannes Lilie: Byzanz – Das zweite Rom. Berlin 2003.
20. Zu Theoderich siehe nun vor allem Hans-Ulrich Wiemer: Theoderich der Große. König der Goten, Herrscher der Römer. München 2018. Vgl. des Weiteren Frank M. Ausbüttel: Theoderich der Große. Darmstadt 2004; Wilhelm Enßlin: Theoderich der Große. 2. Auflage. München 1959. Zu den Quellen und deren Bewertung siehe Andreas Goltz: Barbar – König – Tyrann. Das Bild Theoderichs des Großen in der Überlieferung des 5. bis 9. Jahrhunderts. Berlin/New York 2008.
21. Pierre Grimal écrit ainsi : « L’Empire subsiste matériellement, mais Constantin crée une seconde capitale : Constantinople (330), installée au centre de l’Orient où s’est formée et d'où rayonne la pensée chrétienne, nourrie de l’hellénisme et du judaïsme. La civilisation romaine n’est pas morte, mais elle donne naissance à autre chose qu’elle-même, appelé à assurer sa survie », La Civilisation romaine, Flammarion, Paris, 1981, réédité en 1998, (ISBN 2-08-081101-0), p. 63.
22. Grundlegend über Justinian und die neuere Forschung informiert Hartmut Leppin: Justinian. Das christliche Experiment. Stuttgart 2011. Siehe daneben die englischen Biographien von James Evans: The Age of Justinian (London u. a. 1996) und Peter Sarris: Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (New York 2023) sowie die Beiträge in Michael Maas (Hrsg.): The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge 2005.
23. Jörg Jarnut: Geschichte der Langobarden. Stuttgart 1982; Wilfried Menghin: Die Langobarden. Stuttgart 1985; Peter Erhart, Walter Pohl (Hrsg.): Die Langobarden: Herrschaft und Identität. Wien 2005.
24. Mischa Meier: Die Spätantike: Perspektiven auf eine junge Epoche der Alten Welt. In: Geschichte für heute 5, 2012, S. 5–17.
25. Allgemeiner Überblick bei Sebastian Scholz: Die Merowinger. Stuttgart 2015.
26. Zur Einordnung der persischen Geschichte im spätantiken Rahmen siehe etwa Touraj Daryaee: The Sasanians and the Late Antique World. In: MIZAN 3 (2018).
27. Robert G. Hoyland: In God’s Path. The Arab Conquests and the Creation of an Islamic Empire. Oxford 2015, S. 86ff.
28. Vgl. James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. Oxford 2010, S. 488 ff.
29. Vgl. allgemein Michael McCormick: Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, A. D. 300–900. Cambridge 2001.
30. Pirenne, Henri; Halsey, Frank Davis; Pirenne, Henri (1980). Medieval cities; their origins and the revival of trade (3. print., renewed 1980 ed.). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-691-00760-1.
31. Vgl. zum Übergang des spätrömischen ins byzantinische Reich das grundlegende Werk von John F. Haldon: Byzantium in the Seventh Century. The Transformation of a Culture. Cambridge 1997. Vgl. nun auch John F. Haldon: The Empire That Would Not Die. The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740. Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2016.
32. Le terme rétrospectif d'« Empire byzantin » est dû à l’historien Jérôme Wolf dans son ouvrage Corpus historiæ byzantinæ : cf. Georg Ostrogorsky (trad. Jean Gouillard), Histoire de l'État byzantin, Payot, coll. « Le Regard de l'histoire », 1996 (1re éd. 1977) (ISBN 978-2-228-07061-4), p. 27.
33. Vgl. zu dieser Entwicklung Haralambie Mihăescu: Die Lage der zwei Weltsprachen (Griechisch und Latein) im Byzantinischen Reich des 7. Jahrhunderts als Merkmal einer Zeitwende, in: Friedhelm Winkelmann u. a. (Hrsg.), Studien zum 7. Jahrhundert in Byzanz, Berlin 1976, S. 95–100.
34. Zur Reichskrise siehe vor allem die Beiträge in Klaus-Peter Johne (Hrsg.): Die Zeit der Soldatenkaiser. 2 Bde. Berlin 2008. Ob man tatsächlich von einer Reichskrise sprechen kann, ist seit den 1990er Jahren umstritten. Allgemein zur frühen und hohen Kaiserzeit siehe Hartwin Brandt: Die Kaiserzeit. Römische Geschichte von Octavian bis Diocletian. 31 v. Chr.–284 n. Chr. München 2021; Rene Pfeilschifter: Rom. Geschichte einer Weltmacht. München 2026, S. 515 ff.
35. Vgl. allgemein David S. Potter: The Roman Empire at Bay. AD 180–395. London u. a. 2004, S. 217 ff. Zu den römisch-germanischen Beziehungen siehe aktuell Thomas Fischer: Gladius. Roms Legionen in Germanien. München 2020.
36. Gunther Martin: Dexipp von Athen. Edition, Übersetzung und begleitende Studien. Tübingen 2006, ergänzt durch Christopher Mallan, Caillan Davenport: Dexippus and the Gothic invasions: interpreting the new Vienna Fragment (Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192v-193r). In: The Journal of Roman Studies. Band 105, 2015, S. 203–226 und Gunther Martin, Jana Grusková: „Dexippus Vindobonensis“ (?). Ein neues Handschriftenfragment zum sog. Herulereinfall der Jahre 267/268. In: Wiener Studien. Band 127, 2014, S. 101–120.
37. Vgl. zur Diskussion Henning Börm: A Threat or A Blessing? The Sasanians and the Roman Empire. In: Carsten Binder u. a. (Hrsg.): Diwan. Festschrift für Josef Wiesehöfer, Duisburg 2016, S. 615 ff.
38. Udo Hartmann: Das palmyrenische Teilreich. Stuttgart 2001.
39. Acta Maximiliani: in sacro comitatu dominorum nostrorum Diocletiani et Maximiani, Constantii et Maximiani (= Galerio) milites christiani sunt et militant.
40. Einführend zu Diokletian Alexander Demandt: Diokletian. Kaiser zweier Zeiten. Eine Biographie. München 2022. Überblick mit weiterer Literatur bei Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 57ff.; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015, S. 51ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 18ff.
41. Allgemein zur folgenden politischen Geschichte siehe (vor allem aufgrund der Quellennähe, aber auch der detaillierten Darstellung) die Überblickswerke von Ernst Stein [in deutscher Sprache bis 476, in der französischen Fassung bis 565], Otto Seeck [bis 476], John Bury [395 bis 565] und A.H.M. Jones [knapper als die anderen, aber quellennah: 284 bis 602], auf die nicht mehr im Einzelnen verwiesen wird (siehe Literaturangaben); allerdings sind sie in Einzelfragen veraltet und für ein Gesamtbild der Epoche nicht mehr geeignet. Neuere Überblicksdarstellungen sind unter anderem: Douglas Boin: A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity. Hoboken (NJ) 2018; Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft III.6. 2. Auflage. München 2007; Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018; Reinhold Kaiser: Die Mittelmeerwelt und Europa in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter. Frankfurt am Main 2014; A. D. Lee: From Rome to Byzantium Ad 363 to 565: The Transformation of Ancient Rome. Edinburgh 2013; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. AD 284–641. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015 (nun auch in überarbeiteter und erweiterter Form, siehe Stephen Mitchell, Geoffrey Greatrex: A History of the Later Roman Empire. AD 284–700. 3. Auflage. Hoboken 2023); Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014; The Cambridge Ancient History. 2. Auflage. Bände 12–14, Cambridge 1997–2005. Daneben sei auf die einschlägigen Biographien der Kaiser verwiesen.
42. Michael Grant, Gli imperatori romani: storia e segreti, Roma, Newton Compton, 1984, p. 265; Christopher Scarre, Chronicle of the roman emperors: the reign-by-reign record of the rulers of Imperial Rome, New York, Thames and Hudson, 1995, pp. 197-198. ISBN 978-0-500-05077-4
43. Le Bohec 2008, p. 33. (Yann Le Bohec, Armi e guerrieri di Roma antica. Da Diocleziano alla caduta dell'impero romano, Roma, Carocci, 2008, ISBN 978-88-430-4677-5.)
44. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 206.
45. Vgl. auch Bruno Bleckmann: Der Bericht des Petros Patrikios über den Frieden von 298. Eine historiographische Analyse. In: Andreas Goltz, Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen (Hrsg.): Das Zeitalter Diokletians und Konstantins. Bilanz und Perspektiven der Forschung. Festschrift für Alexander Demandt. Wien/Köln 2022, S. 73 ff.
46. Lançon 1997, p. 32.
47. Vgl. zum Verschwinden im Osten Wolfram Brandes: Finanzverwaltung in Krisenzeiten. Untersuchungen zur byzantinischen Administration im 6.–9. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt am Main 2002, S. 48 ff.
48. Roger Remondon, La crise de l’Empire romain, PUF, collection « Nouvelle Clio – l’histoire et ses problèmes », Paris, 1964 (2e édition 1970), p. 129-130.
49. Karl Strobel: Geldwesen und Währungsgeschichte des Imperium Romanum im Spiegel der Entwicklung des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. – Wirtschaftsgeschichte im Widerstreit von Metallismus und Nominalismus. In: Karl Strobel (Hrsg.): Die Ökonomie des Imperium Romanum: Strukturen, Modelle und Wertungen im Spannungsfeld von Modernismus und Neoprimitivismus. St. Katharinen 2002, ISBN 3-89590-135-0, S. 115–120 (119 f.).
50. «Diocleziano non era certo un economista. Era sinceramente convinto che il disordine monetario fosse dovuto a una perversa combinazione di una moneta e di uomini entrambi cattivi. Una volta messe in circolazione delle buon monete e ristabilite le condizioni della fiducia occorreva castigare gli uomini cattivi con le maniere forti: quelle sulle quali in ultima analisi, da soldato rude, Diocleziano contava» (Ruffolo 2004, p. 139). (Giorgio Ruffolo, Quando l'Italia era una superpotenza: il ferro di Roma e l'oro dei mercanti, Torino, Einaudi, 2004, ISBN 88-06-16804-5.)
51. Petit 1974, p. 554-556.
52. Vgl. Henning Börm: Born to be Emperor. The principle of Succession and the Roman Monarchy. In: Johannes Wienand (Hrsg.): Contested Monarchy. Oxford 2015, S. 239 ff.
53. Überblick mit weiterer Literatur bei Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 75ff.; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015, S. 66ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 47ff. Siehe außerdem unter anderem: Timothy D. Barnes: Constantine. Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire. Chichester 2011; Bruno Bleckmann: Konstantin der Große. Reinbek 1996; Noel Lenski (Hrsg.): The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. 2. Auflage. Cambridge 2012; Klaus Rosen: Konstantin der Große. Kaiser zwischen Machtpolitik und Religion. Stuttgart 2013.
54. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 214.
55. A. H. M. Jones, Constantine and the Conversion of Europe (University of Toronto Press, 2003), p. 73 ISBN 0-8020-6369-1.
56. Eusebius of Caesarea, Vita Constantini 3.5–6, 4.47
57. Christianisme et stoïcisme, X-Passion, 2001 dans
58. Dam, Raymond Van (2015). "Big Cities and the Dynamics of the Mediterranean During the Fifth Century". In Maas, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Attila. Cambridge University Press (published 201). p. 80.
59. Memo, le site de l’histoire, Hachette Multimédia dans
60. Paul Petit et Yann Le Bohec, « L’Antiquité tardive », Encyclopædia universalis, DVD 2007.
61. Zur Regierungszeit der Söhne Konstantins siehe nun Nicholas J. Baker-Brian, Shaun Tougher (Hrsg.): The Sons of Constantine, AD 337-361. In the Shadows of Constantine and Julian. New York 2020; zu Constantius II. vgl. zudem Pedro Barceló: Constantius II. und seine Zeit. Die Anfänge des Staatskirchentums. Stuttgart 2004. Allgemeine Überblicke mit weiterer Literatur bei Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 103ff.; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015, S. 75ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 83ff.
62. Vgl. John Matthews: The Roman Empire of Ammianus. Baltimore/London 1989, S. 57ff.
63. Vgl. Daniel den Hengst: Ammianus Marcellinus. In: The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Band 1 (2018), S. 62f. Grundlegend ist John Matthews: The Roman Empire of Ammianus. Baltimore/London 1989.
64. Umfassender Überblick bei Klaus Rosen: Julian. Kaiser, Gott und Christenhasser. Stuttgart 2006; ergänzend siehe auch Stefan Rebenich, Hans-Ulrich Wiemer (Hrsg.): A Companion to Julian the Apostate. Leiden 2020.
65. Robert Turcan, « L. Jerphagnon, Julien dit l’Apostat », Revue de l’histoire des religions (1987) no 3.
66. An der gescheiterten Militäroperation des Anthemius gegen die Vandalen sollen 468 laut Prokopios sogar 100.000 Mann beteiligt gewesen sein (Bella 3,6,1); angesichts der gut belegten gewaltigen Kosten der Aktion ist diese Angabe nicht unglaubwürdig.
67. Jovian (ca 332 – 17. februar 364) var romersk kejser fra 26. juni 363 til sin død.
68. Jan den Boeft, Jan Willem Drijvers, Daniel den Hengst, Hans C. Teitler (Hrsg.): Ammianus after Julian. The Reign of Valentinian and Valens in Books 26–31 of the Res Gestae. Leiden 2007. Überblick mit weiterer Literatur bei Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 136ff.; Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 119ff.; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015, S. 84ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 100ff.
69. Ammien Marcellin, Res gestæ, 28, 2 ; 28, 5 ; 29, 4 ; 29, 6 et 30, 3.
70. Mischa Meier: Die Hunnen. Geschichte der geheimnisvollen Reiterkrieger. München 2025; Walter Pohl: Hunnen. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. 2. Auflage. Band 15, Berlin/New York 2000, S. 246–261; Klaus Rosen: Attila. Der Schrecken der Welt. München 2016; Michael Schmauder: Die Hunnen. Ein Reitervolk in Europa. Darmstadt 2009; Timo Stickler: Die Hunnen. München 2007; vgl. auch (sehr problematisch) Hyun Jin Kim: The Huns. New York 2016.
71. Charles Diehl, Histoire de l’Empire Byzantin, P., Picard, 1920,1;2.
72. Noel Lenski: Failure of Empire. Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. Berkeley 2002, S. 320 ff.
73. Gunther Gottlieb: Gratianus. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Band 12. Stuttgart 1983, Sp. 718–732.
74. Hartmut Leppin: Theodosius der Große. Darmstadt 2003.
75. Vgl. auch Thomas S. Burns: Barbarians within the Gates of Rome. A Study of Roman Military Policy and the Barbarians (ca. 375–425). Bloomington 1994.
76. Hydace, Chronique, an. 382 ; É. Demougeot, De l’unité à la division de l’Empire romain, 395-410. Essais sur le gouvernement impérial, Paris, 1951, p. 22-24.
77. Persarmenien, se Persarmenia (engelsk) og Persarmenien (tysk)
78. "Christianity in the Roman Empire (article)". Khan Academy. Archived from the original on 2024-04-29. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
79. Code Théodose, 16, 5, 5.
80. Vgl. Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 138ff.
81. Jelle Wytzes: Der letzte Kampf des Heidentums in Rom. Leiden 1977.
82. Ce partage est considéré traditionnellement comme la séparation définitive de l’Empire en deux entités mais en réalité la séparation est plus ancienne puisqu’en 364 l’empereur Valentinien se voit adjoindre, sous la pression de ses soldats, un collègue, son propre frère Valens. À partir de ce moment, ’Empire ne sera plus jamais réunifié si l’on excepte trois mois à la fin du règne de Théodose, de fin septembre 394 à janvier 395.
83. Überblick zur Entwicklung im Ostreich mit weiterer Literatur bei Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 191ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 121ff.
84. Überblick bei Henning Börm: Westrom. Von Honorius bis Justinian. 2. Auflage. Stuttgart 2018.
85. Chris Doyle: Honorius. The Fight for the Roman West AD 395–423. London/New York 2019.
86. Saint Jérôme, Lettres, 60, 17.
87. Zum Rheinübergang und dessen Folgen vgl. etwa Peter J. Heather: Why Did the Barbarian Cross the Rhine? In: Journal of Late Antiquity 2, 2009, S. 3–29; Michael Kulikowski: Barbarians in Gaul, Usurpers in Britain. In: Britannia 31, 2000, S. 325–345.
88. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 251.
89. John F. Drinkwater: The Usurpers Constantine III (407–411) and Jovinus (411–413). In: Britannia. Band 29, 1998, S. 269–298.
90. Vgl. Peter Salway: A History of Roman Britain. Oxford 2001, S. 323ff.
91. Henriette Harich-Schwarzbauer, Karla Pollmann (Hrsg.): Der Fall Roms und seine Wiederauferstehungen in Antike und Mittelalter. Berlin/Boston 2013; Mischa Meier, Steffen Patzold: August 410 – Ein Kampf um Rom. Stuttgart 2010.
92. Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian migrations and the roman West, 376–568. Cambridge medieval textbooks. Cambridge, GB New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43491-1.
93. Saint Augustin, Sermons, 81, B.
94. For the invasion of the Goths, the Huns, and the Rhine invaders of 406 (Alans, Suevi, Vandals) as direct causes of the crippling of the Western Roman Empire, see Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: a New History of Rome and the Barbarians (Oxford University Press, 2005).
95. Zu den Vandalen siehe Roland Steinacher: Die Vandalen. Aufstieg und Fall eines Barbarenreichs. Stuttgart 2016.
96. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 19.
97. Balard, Genêt et Rouche 1973, p. 17.
98. Timo Stickler: Aëtius. Gestaltungsspielräume eines Heermeisters im ausgehenden Weströmischen Reich. München 2002.
99. Aetius a été otage à la cour des Huns pendant son enfance. Il y est devenu un ami du jeune Attila.
100. Vgl. dazu Mischa Meier: A Contest of Interpretation: Roman Policy toward the Huns as Reflected in the „Honoria Affair“ (448/50). In: Journal of Late Antiquity 10, 2017, S. 42–61; Timo Stickler: Aëtius. Gestaltungsspielräume eines Heermeisters im ausgehenden Weströmischen Reich. München 2002, S. 125ff.
101. Zu den römisch-germanischen Kontakten vgl. einführend Thomas Fischer: Gladius. Roms Legionen in Germanien. Eine Geschichte von Caesar bis Chlodwig. München 2020; zur Problematik des Germanen-Begriffs siehe auch die Beiträge in Matthias Friedrich, James Harland (Hrsg.): Interrogating the ‘Germanic’. A Category and its Use in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Berlin/New York 2020.
102. Balard, Genêt et Rouche 1973, p. 19.
103. Vgl. auch Jonathan Conant: Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediterranean, 439–700. Cambridge 2012.
104. Henning Börm: Schattenkaiser? Handlungsoptionen und Spielräume der letzten weströmischen Kaiser. In: Timo Stickler, Umberto Roberto (Hrsg.): Das Weströmische Reich und seine Erforschung. Stuttgart 2024, S. 95 ff.
105. Friedrich Anders: Flavius Ricimer. Macht und Ohnmacht des weströmischen Heermeisters in der zweiten Hälfte des 5. Jahrhunderts. Frankfurt am Main u. a. 2010.
106. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 217ff.
107. Penny MacGeorge: Late Roman Warlords. Oxford 2002, S. 69ff.
108. Vgl. Timo Stickler: 476 n. Chr. – Das Ende des Imperiums? Der Putsch des Odoaker und seine Folgen. In: Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz (Hrsg.): Der Untergang des Römischen Reiches. Darmstadt 2022, S. 119–123.
109. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 20.
110. Henning Börm: Westrom. Von Honorius bis Justinian. 2. Auflage. Stuttgart 2018, S. 124 ff.
111. Aktueller und umfassender Überblick bei Hans-Ulrich Wiemer: Theoderich der Große. König der Goten, Herrscher der Römer. München 2018.
112. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 18.
113. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 191ff. Vgl. für die nun folgende Zeit auch Paul Stephenson: New Rome. The Roman Empire in the East, AD 395–700. London 2021.
114. Lançon 1997, p. 39.
115. Fergus Millar: A Greek Roman Empire. Power and Belief under Theodosius II (408–450). Berkeley 2006.
116. Timo Stickler: Marcianus. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Band 24. Stuttgart 2012, Sp. 76–89.
117. Vgl. umfassend zur Einführung Gereon Siebigs: Kaiser Leo I. Das oströmische Reich in den ersten drei Jahren seiner Regierung (457–460 n. Chr.). Berlin/New York 2010.
118. Ostrogorsky 1996, p. 91.
119. Adolf Lippold: Zenon 17. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (RE). Band X A, Stuttgart 1972, Sp. 149–213.
120. Zusammenfassend zum späten 5. Jahrhundert vgl. etwa Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 195ff.
121. Lançon 1997, p. 64.
122. Mischa Meier: Anastasios I. Die Entstehung des Byzantinischen Reiches. Stuttgart 2009.
123. Ostrogorsky 1996, p. 94-95.
124. Klaus Rosen: Justin I. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Bd. 19 (1999), Sp. 763–778.
125. Glen W. Bowersock: The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford 2013, S. 92 ff.; Norbert Nebes: Die Märtyrer von Nagrān und das Ende der Himyar. Zur politischen Geschichte Südarabiens im frühen sechsten Jahrhundert. In: Aethiopica 11, 2008, S. 7–40; Timothy Power: The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000. Cairo 2012, S. 63 ff.; Christian Julien Robin: Arabia and Ethiopia. In: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford 2012, hier S. 281 ff.
126. Michal Feldman u. a.: A High-Coverage Yersinia pestis Genome from a Sixth-Century Justinianic Plague Victim. In: Molecular biology and evolution. Band 33, Nr. 11,1 (2016), S. 2911–2923, doi:10.1093/molbev/msw170, PMID 27578768, PMC 5062324 (freier Volltext). Zu den Folgen vgl. Mischa Meier: The „Justinianic Plague“. The Economic Consequences of the Pandemic in the Eastern Roman Empire and its Cultural and Religious Effects. In: Early Medieval Europe 24 (2016), S. 267–292 (mit weiterer Literatur).
127. Kyle Harper: The Fate of Rome. Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton 2017.
128. Gaudio, Andrew. "Research Guides: Late Antiquity: A Resource Guide: Introduction". guides.loc.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-22.
129. Geoffrey B. Greatrex: Rome and Persia at War, 502–532. Leeds 1998, S. 213ff.
130. Henning Börm: Der Perserkönig im Imperium Romanum. Chosroes I. und der sasanidische Einfall in das Oströmische Reich 540 n. Chr. In: Chiron 36, 2006, S. 299–328.
131. Klaus Rosen: Iustinus II. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Bd. 19 (1999), Sp. 778–801. Vgl auch Paul Stephenson: New Rome. The Roman Empire in the East, AD 395–700. London 2021, S. 219ff.
132. Zur folgenden Zeit vgl. etwa Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 283ff.; Stephen Mitchell: A History of the Later Roman Empire. 2. Auflage. Oxford u. a. 2015, S. 433ff.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 242ff.
133. Li Qiang, Stefanos Kordosis: The Geopolitics on the Silk Road. Resurveying the Relationship of the Western Türks with Byzantium through Their Diplomatic Communications. In: Medieval Worlds 8, 2018, S. 109–125.
134. Michael Whitby: The Emperor Maurice and his Historian. Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare. Oxford 1988. Siehe auch den Überblick bei Paul Stephenson: New Rome. The Roman Empire in the East, AD 395–700. London 2021, S. 223ff.
135. Vgl. auch Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 293 ff.
136. Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 300 f. Zur folgenden Zeit siehe auch Paul Stephenson: New Rome. The Roman Empire in the East, AD 395–700. London 2021, S. 236ff.
137. Übersetzte Quellenauszüge bei Geoffrey B. Greatrex, Samuel N.C. Lieu: The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars. Part II AD 363–630. A narrative sourcebook. London/New York 2002, S. 182 ff. Moderne Darstellungen etwa bei Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 331 ff.; James Howard-Johnston: The Last Great War of Antiquity. Oxford 2021 (die derzeit wichtigste Studie); James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. Oxford 2010, S. 436 ff.; Peter Sarris: Empires of Faith. Oxford 2011, S. 242 ff.
138. Zum Kriegsverlauf siehe (mit Hinweisen auf Quellen und moderne Literatur) James Howard-Johnston: The Last Great War of Antiquity. Oxford 2021, S. 22ff.
139. Zu Herakleios siehe Walter E. Kaegi: Heraclius. Cambridge 2003. Zur Lage des Reichs bis zum Ende des Perserkriegs siehe nun auch Theresia Raum: Szenen eines Überlebenskampfes. Akteure und Handlungsspielräume im Imperium Romanum 610–630. Stuttgart 2021.
140. James Howard-Johnston: The Last Great War of Antiquity. Oxford 2021, S. 192ff.; James Howard-Johnston: Heraclius’ Persian Campaigns and the Revival of the East Roman Empire 622–630. In: War in History 6, 1999, S. 1–44.
141. Martin Hurbanič: The Avar Siege of Constantinople in 626. History and Legend. Cham 2019.
142. James Howard-Johnston: The Last Great War of Antiquity. Oxford 2021, S. 321ff.
143. Touraj Daryaee: When the End is Near: Barbarized Armies and Barracks Kings of Late Antique Iran. In: Maria Macuch u. a. (Hrsg.): Ancient and Middle Iranian Studies. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, S. 43–52.
144. John Haldon: Byzantium in the Seventh Century. 2. Auflage. Cambridge 1997.
145. Glen W. Bowersock: Die Wiege des Islam. Mohammed, der Koran und die antiken Kulturen. München 2019.
146. Vgl. Robert G. Hoyland: In God’s Path. Oxford 2015; Hugh Kennedy: The great arab conquests. Philadelphia 2007; wichtiger Überblick mit detaillierter Quellenkritik bei James Howard-Johnston: Witnesses to a World Crisis. Oxford 2010.
147. Vgl. Marek Jankowiak: The first Arab siege of Constantinople. In: Travaux et Mémoires du Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance. Bd. 17. Paris 2013, S. 237–320.
148. Zum Folgenden siehe allgemein Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 204ff.; Hugh Elton: The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. A Political and Military History. Cambridge 2018, S. 151ff.; Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz (Hrsg.): Der Untergang des Römischen Reiches. Darmstadt 2022; vgl. auch Guy Halsall: Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568. Cambridge 2007, S. 220ff.
149. Vgl. auch Hans-Ulrich Wiemer: Die Goten in Italien. Wandlungen und Zerfall einer Gewaltgemeinschaft. In: Historische Zeitschrift 296, 2013, S. 593–628, hier S. 598: Es handelte sich um mobile Kriegergruppen und damit um eine Form der Gemeinschaftsbildung, die in vielen Kulturen und Epochen begegnet; sie lässt sich dem Oberbegriff der Gewaltgemeinschaft subsumieren, wenn man darunter soziale Gruppen versteht, für deren Konstitution und Reproduktion Gewalt eine zentrale Rolle spielt.
150. Zu diesem Transformationsprozess siehe etwa Hans-Werner Goetz, Jörg Jarnut, Walter Pohl (Hrsg.): Regna and Gentes. The Relationship between Late Antique and Early Medieval Peoples and Kingdoms in the Transformation of the Roman World. Leiden u. a. 2003; Thomas F. X. Noble (Hrsg.): From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms. London/New York 2006; Walter Pohl (Hrsg.): Kingdoms of the Empire. Leiden u. a. 1997.
151. Balard, Genêt et Rouche 1973, p. 27.
152. Vgl. dazu Andrew Gillett: Telling off Justinian. Theudebert I, the Epistolae Austrasicae, and communication strategies in sixth-century Merovingian-Byzantine relations. In: Early Medieval Europe 27, 2019, S. 161–194.
153. Bonnie Effros, Isabel Moreira (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World. Oxford u. a. 2020; Eugen Ewig: Die Merowinger und das Frankenreich. 5. Auflage. Stuttgart 2006; Ian N. Wood: The Merovingian Kingdoms. London 1994; Sebastian Scholz: Die Merowinger. Stuttgart 2015. Siehe auch die Beiträge in Stefan Esders u. a. (Hrsg.): The Merovingian Kingdoms and the Mediterranean World. Revisiting the Sources. London u. a. 2019; Stefan Esders u. a. (Hrsg.): East and West in the Early Middle Ages. The Merovingian Kingdoms in Mediterranean Perspective. Cambridge 2019.
154. Vgl. Walter Pohl: Introduction. Early medieval Romanness – a multiple identity. In: Walter Pohl u. a. (Hrsg.): Transformations of Romanness. Early Medieval Regions and Identities. Berlin/Boston 2018, S. 37 f.
155. Balard, Genêt et Rouche 1973, p. 28.
156. Zusammenfassend Michael McCormick: Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, A. D. 300–900. Cambridge 2001, S. 115ff.
157. Cameron 2012. (Cameron، Averil (2012). The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395-700 (ط. 2nd). Routledge.)
158. Nicola Di Cosmo, Michael Maas (Hrsg.): Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750. Cambridge 2018.
159. Vgl. grundsätzlich Matthew Adam Cobb (Hrsg.): The Indian Ocean Trade in Antiquity. London/New York 2018; Roderich Ptak: Die maritime Seidenstrasse. München 2007.
160. Zum Folgenden allgemein Herwig Wolfram: Die Goten. Von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts. 5. Auflage. München 2009.
161. Allgemein zum Westgotenreich ab dem 6. Jahrhundert siehe Gerd Kampers: Geschichte der Westgoten. Paderborn 2008, S. 140ff.; Roger Collins: Visigothic Spain 409–711. Oxford 2004, S. 38ff.
162. Gerd Kampers: Geschichte der Westgoten. Paderborn 2008, S. 173ff.
163. Helmut Castritius: Die Vandalen. Stuttgart u. a. 2007; Andy Merrills, Richard Miles: The Vandals. Oxford/Malden, MA 2010; Roland Steinacher: Die Vandalen. Aufstieg und Fall eines Barbarenreichs. Stuttgart 2016; Konrad Vössing: Das Königreich der Vandalen. Darmstadt 2014.
164. Vgl. David Dumville: Sub-Roman Britain: History and Legend. In: History 62, 1977, S. 173–192.
165. Zu den Angelsachsen siehe einführend Michael Lapidge, John Blair, Simon Keynes, Donald Scragg (Hrsg.): The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. 2. Auflage. Chichester 2014; James Campbell (Hrsg.): The Anglo-Saxons. Oxford 1982 (mehrere NDe); Nicholas J. Higham, Martin J. Ryan: The Anglo-Saxon World. New Haven 2013; Harald Kleinschmidt: Die Angelsachsen. München 2011; Henrietta Leyser: A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons. London/New York 2017.
166. Fafinski, Mateusz (2021). Roman infrastructure in early medieval Britain: the adaptations of the past in text and stone. Early medieval North Atlantic. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 87–91. ISBN 978-90-485-5197-2. Archived from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2024-04-15.
167. Loyn 1991:15f.
168. Vgl. einführend Michael G. Morony: Should Sasanian Iran be Included in Late Antiquity? (PDF; 385 kB). In: E-Sasanika 1 (2008) und Touraj Daryaee: The Sasanians and the Late Antique World. In: MIZAN 3 (2018). Zur Geschichte des Sassanidenreichs siehe unter anderem: Michael Bonner: The Last Empire of Iran. Piscataway 2020; Henning Börm: Prokop und die Perser. Untersuchungen zu den römisch-sasanidischen Kontakten in der ausgehenden Spätantike. Stuttgart 2007; Matthew P. Canepa: The Two Eyes of the Earth. Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Berkeley 2009; Touraj Daryaee: Sasanian Iran 224–651 CE. Portrait of a Late Antique Empire. Costa Mesa (Calif.) 2008; Touraj Daryaee: Sasanian Persia. The Rise and Fall of an Empire. London 2009; Touraj Daryaee (Hrsg.): Sasanian Iran in the context of Late Antiquity. The Bahari lecture series at the Oxford University. Irvine 2018; Engelbert Winter, Beate Dignas: Rom und das Perserreich. Zwei Weltmächte zwischen Konfrontation und Koexistenz. Berlin 2001; James Howard-Johnston: East Rome, Sasanian Persia and the End of Antiquity: Historiographical and Historical Studies. Aldershot 2006; Khodadad Rezakhani: ReOrienting the Sasanians. East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh 2017; Zeev Rubin: The Sasanid Monarchy. In: Averil Cameron u. a. (Hrsg.): The Cambridge Ancient History 14. Cambridge 2000, S. 638ff.; Eberhard Sauer (Hrsg.): Sasanian Persia. Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. Edinburgh 2017; Klaus Schippmann: Grundzüge der Geschichte des sasanidischen Reiches. Darmstadt 1990. Vgl. auch die neue Fachzeitschrift Sasanian Studies: Late Antique Iranian World. / Sasanidische Studien: Spätantike iranische Welt.
169. Zu den Königen des 3. Jahrhunderts siehe vor allem die Prosopographie des Sasanidenreiches im 3. Jahrhundert n. Chr., die aber noch nicht abgeschlossen ist.
170. Josef Wiesehöfer: The Late Sasanian Near East. In: Chase Robinson (Hrsg.): The New Cambridge History of Islam. Bd. 1. Cambridge 2010, hier S. 114f. Siehe auch Matthew P. Canepa: The Two Eyes of the Earth. Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Berkeley 2009, S. 53ff.
171. Rezakhani 2017، صفحات 27-36. (Rezakhani، Khodadad (2017). ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh University Press.)
172. Ammianus Marcellinus 17, 5.
173. Vgl. Katarzyna Maksymiuk: The Two Eyes of the Earth: The Problem of Respect in Sasanid-Roman Relations. In: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 58, 2018, S. 591–606.
174. Josef Wiesehöfer: The Late Sasanian Near East. In: Chase Robinson (Hrsg.): The New Cambridge History of Islam. Bd. 1. Cambridge 2010, hier S. 117ff.
175. Vgl. einführend Touraj Daryaee: Middle Persian (Pahlavi). In: Scott McGill, Edward Watts (Hrsg.): A Companion to Late Antique Literature. Hoboken, NJ 2018, S. 103 ff.; Kevin T. Van Bladel: Written Middle Persian literature under the Sasanids. New Haven 2024.
176. Peter Brown: The World of Late Antiquity AD 150–750. London 1971, S. 160; Matthew P. Canepa: The Two Eyes of the Earth. Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Berkeley 2009, S. 143 (mit englischer Übersetzung der betreffenden Quelle).
177. Max Deeg: Along the Silk Road: From Aleppo to Chang’an. In: Nicholas J. Baker-Brian, Josef Lossl (Hrsg.): A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity. Hoboken (NJ) 2018, S. 233–253.
178. Zu Details siehe Lutz Berger: Die Entstehung des Islam. Die ersten hundert Jahre. München 2016, S. 154ff.; Robert G. Hoyland: In God’s Path. Oxford 2015, S. 49ff.; Hugh Kennedy: The Great Arab Conquests. Philadelphia 2007, S. 98ff. und 169ff.
179. Matteo Compareti: The last Sasanians in China. In: Eurasian Studies 2 (2003), S. 197–213.
180. Vgl. einführend und zusammenfassend Étienne de la Vaissière: Central Asia and the Silk Road. In: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford u. a. 2012, S. 142 ff.; weiterführende spezielle Informationen bieten unter anderem Nicola Di Cosmo, Michael Maas (Hrsg.): Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750. Cambridge 2018; Douglas Haug: The Eastern Frontier. Limits of Empire in Late Antique and Early Medieval Central Asia. London/New York 2019. Allgemein zur Geschichte Zentralasiens in diesem Zeitraum siehe auch Christoph Baumer: The History of Central Asia. Bd. 2. London 2014; Peter Frankopan: Licht aus dem Osten. Berlin 2016; Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road. A History with Documents. Oxford 2016.
181. Vgl. allgemein Johannes Preiser-Kapeller: Jenseits von Rom und Karl dem Großen. Aspekte der globalen Verflechtung in der langen Spätantike, 300–800 n. Chr. Wien 2018, S. 143 ff.
182. Vgl. Walter Pohl: Die Völkerwanderung. 2. Auflage. Stuttgart 2005, S. 104–106; Timo Stickler: Die Hunnen. München 2007, S. 24–26.
183. Grundsätzlich zu den iranischen Hunnen siehe Michael Alram u. a. (Hrsg.): Das Antlitz des Fremden. Die Münzprägungen der Hunnen und Westtürken in Zentralasien und Indien. Wien 2016; Khodadad Rezakhani: ReOrienting the Sasanians. East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh 2017.
184. Nikolaus Schindel: The Sasanian Eastern Wars in the 5th Century. The Numismatic Evidence. In: A. Panaino, A. Piras (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the 5th Conference of the Societas Iranologica Europaea. Volume I. Mailand 2006, S. 675–689.
185. Khodadad Rezakhani: ReOrienting the Sasanians. East Iran in Late Antiquity. Edinburgh 2017, S. 125 ff.
186. Vgl. Patricia Crone: The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran. Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism. Cambridge 2012, S. 33; Geoffrey B. Greatrex: Procopius of Caesarea: The Persian Wars. A Historical Commentary. Cambridge 2022, S. 79.
187. Zu den Kök-Türken siehe einführend Mark Dickens: Türks. In: The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Band 2 (2018), S. 1533 f.; Denis Sinor: The Establishment and Dissolution of the Turk Empire. In: Denis Sinor (Hrsg.): The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. Cambridge 1990, S. 285–316; Bertold Spuler: Geschichte Mittelasiens seit dem Auftreten der Türken. In: Karl Jettmar (Hrsg.): Geschichte Mittelasiens. Leiden 1966, S. 123 ff. Zu den chinesisch-türkischen Beziehungen in dieser Zeit siehe Pan Yihong: Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan. Sui-Tang China and its Neighbors. Bellingham 1997; Wang Zhenping: Tang China in multi-polar Asia. A history of diplomacy and war. Honolulu 2013, S. 21 ff.
188. Nikolay N. Kradin: From Tribal Confederation to Empire: The Evolution of the Rouran Society. In: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 58, 2005, S. 149–169.
189. Vgl. zu den diplomatischen Kontakten Sebastian Kolditz: Barbarian emperors? Aspects of the Byzantine Perception of the qaghan (chaganos) in the Earlier Middle Ages. In: Jan Clauss, Torben Gebhardt, Christian Scholl (Hrsg.): Transcultural Approaches to the Concept of Imperial Rule in the Middle Ages. Frankfurt am Main 2017, S. 41–76; Li Qiang, Stefanos Kordosis: The Geopolitics on the Silk Road. Resurveying the Relationship of the Western Türks with Byzantium through Their Diplomatic Communications. In: Medieval Worlds 8, 2018, S. 109–125; Mark Whittow: Byzantium’s Eurasian Policy in the Age of the Türk Empire. In: Nicola Di Cosmo, Michael Maas (Hrsg.): Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750. Cambridge 2018, S. 271 ff.
190. Étienne de la Vaissière: Sogdian Traders. A History. Leiden/Boston 2005.
191. Mark Edward Lewis: China’s Cosmopolitan Empire. The Tang Dynasty. London/Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2009.
192. Materialreicher Überblick auf Grundlage chinesischer Quellen bei Otto Franke: Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches. Band 2. Berlin/Leipzig 1936, S. 439 ff.
193. Pan Yihong: Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan. Sui-Tang China and its Neighbors. Bellingham 1997, S. 176 ff.
194. Domenico Agostini, Sören Stark: Zāwulistān, Kāwulistān and the land Bosi – On the question of a Sasanian court-in-exile in the southern Hindukush. In: Studia Iranica 45, 2016, S. 17–38.
195. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller: Jenseits von Rom und Karl dem Großen. Aspekte der globalen Verflechtung in der langen Spätantike, 300–800 n. Chr. Wien 2018, S. 40.
196. Christopher Beckwith: The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton 1987, S. 138–140.
197. Vgl. Matthew Adam Cobb: Rome and the Indian Ocean Trade from Augustus to the Early Third Century CE. Leiden/Boston 2018, S. 128 ff.; Raoul McLaughlin: Rome and the Distant East. Trade Routes to the Ancient Lands of Arabia, India and China. London/New York 2010, S. 25 ff.
198. Vgl. Raoul McLaughlin: The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean. The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India. Barnsley 2014, S. 88 ff.
199. Gary K. Young: Rome’s Eastern Trade. London/New York 2001, S. 78.
200. James Howard-Johnston: The India Trade in Late Antiquity. In: Eberhard Sauer (Hrsg.): Sasanian Persia. Between Rome and the Steppes of Eurasia. Edinburgh 2017, S. 284 ff., hier S. 295 f.
201. Pius Malekandathil: Maritime India: Trade, Religion, and Polity in the Indian Ocean. Delhi 2010, S. 4–9.
202. Zur Geschichte Aksums siehe etwa Glen W. Bowersock: The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford 2013, S. 44 ff.; Francis Breyer: Das Königreich Aksum. Geschichte und Archäologie Abessiniens in der Spätantike. Mainz u. a. 2012; Klaus Dornisch: Sagenhaftes Äthiopien. 2. durchgesehene und aktualisierte Auflage. Darmstadt 2019; Stuart Munro-Hay: Aksum. An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh 1991; Christian Julien Robin: Arabia and Ethiopia. In: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford 2012, speziell S. 273 ff.
203. Timothy Power: The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000. Cairo 2012, S. 47 f.
204. Yosef Yuval Tobi: Ḥimyar, kingdom of. In: The Oxford Classical Dictionary Online (5. Auflage); Christian Julien Robin: Arabia and Ethiopia. In: Scott Fitzgerald Johnson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford 2012, speziell S. 263 ff.; Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.): Jemen. Kunst und Archäologie im Land der Königin von Saba. Wien 1998.
205. Vgl. Glen W. Bowersock: The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford 2013, S. 78 ff.
206. Vgl. Norbert Nebes: The Martyrs of Najrān and the End of the Himyar: On the Political History of South Arabia in the Early Sixth Century. In: Angelika Neuwirth (Hrsg.): The Qurʾān in Context. Leiden 2010, S. 27ff.
207. Glen W. Bowersock: The Throne of Adulis: Red Sea Wars on the Eve of Islam. Oxford 2013, S. 120.
208. Timothy Power: The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000. Cairo 2012, S. 76 ff.
209. Timothy Power: The Red Sea from Byzantium to the Caliphate: AD 500–1000. Cairo 2012, S. 89 ff.
210. Fred Virkus: Politische Strukturen im Guptareich (300–550 n. Chr.). Wiesbaden 2004. Vgl. daneben (jeweils mit weiterer Literatur) Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund: Geschichte Indiens. Von der Induskultur bis heute. 3., aktualisierte Auflage der Sonderausgabe. München 2018, S. 106 ff.; Tej Ram Sharma: A Political History of the Imperial Guptas. From Gupta to Skandagupta. New Delhi 1989; Romila Thapar: The Penguin History of Early India. London 2002, S. 280 ff.
211. Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund: Geschichte Indiens. Von der Induskultur bis heute. 3., aktualisierte Auflage der Sonderausgabe. München 2018, S. 106 f.
212. Vgl. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller: Jenseits von Rom und Karl dem Großen. Aspekte der globalen Verflechtung in der langen Spätantike, 300–800 n. Chr. Wien 2018, S. 22 f.
213. Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967; Fred Virkus: Politische Strukturen im Guptareich (300–550 n. Chr.). Wiesbaden 2004, S. 85 f.
214. Robert Göbl: Dokumente zur Geschichte der iranischen Hunnen in Baktrien und Indien. Band 2. Wiesbaden 1967, S. 68; Upendra Thakur: The Hunas in India. Varanasi 1967, S. 132.
215. Vgl. Fred Virkus: Politische Strukturen im Guptareich (300–550 n. Chr.). Wiesbaden 2004, S. 85.
216. Vgl. Rolf Rilinger: Humiliores – Honestiores. Zu einer sozialen Dichotomie im Strafrecht der römischen Kaiserzeit. München 1988.
217. Lançon 1997, p. 33.
218. Vgl. zur spätrömischen Gesellschaft allgemein Géza Alföldy: Römische Sozialgeschichte. 4. Auflage. Stuttgart 2011, S. 273–306.
219. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 221.
220. Symmachus, epistulae 1,52.
221. Peter Brown, Pouvoir et persuasion dans l’Antiquité tardive : vers un Empire chrétien, Seuil, 1998, p. 37.
222. Vgl. zum spätantiken Senat den Überblick bei Stefan Rebenich: melior pars humani generis. Aristokratie(n) in der Spätantike. In: Hans Beck u. a. (Hrsg.): Die Macht der Wenigen. München 2008, S. 153–175.
223. Elisabeth Herrmann-Otto: Die Gesellschaftsstruktur der Spätantike. In: Alexander Demandt, Josef Engemann (Hrsg.): Konstantin der Große. Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantinus. Mainz 2007, S. 183ff., hier S. 188.
224. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 354.
225. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 354f.
226. Vgl. Hartwin Brandt: Konstantin der Große. 3. Auflage. München 2011, S. 123 ff.; Manfred Clauss: Kaiser und Gott. Herrscherkult im römischen Reich. München/Leipzig 1999, speziell S. 443 ff.; Klaus Martin Girardet: Der Kaiser und sein Gott. Berlin/New York 2010, S. 98 ff.
227. Eusèbe de Césarée, La théologie politique de l’empire chrétien, Cerf, 2001.
228. Vgl. dazu eingehend Christian Rollinger: Zeremoniell und Herrschaft in der Spätantike. Die Rituale des Kaiserhofs in Konstantinopel. Stuttgart 2024.
229. Lançon 1997, p. 100.
230. Lançon 1997, p. 101.
231. Vgl. dazu ausführlich Matthew P. Canepa: The Two Eyes of the Earth. Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran. Berkeley 2009.
232. Nov.Theod. 23. Zu den kaiserlichen Reisen siehe insgesamt Sylvain Destephen: Le voyage impérial dans l’Antiquité tardive. Paris 2016.
233. Vgl. zu diesem Phänomen ausführlich Joachim Szidat: Usurpator tanti nominis. Kaiser und Usurpator in der Spätantike, Stuttgart 2010. Wichtige Beobachtungen bietet daneben Egon Flaig: Für eine Konzeptionalisierung der Usurpation im spätrömischen Reich. In: François Paschoud, Joachim Szidat (Hrsg.): Usurpationen in der Spätantike (= Historia Einzelschriften. Band 111), Stuttgart 1997, S. 15–34.
234. Vgl. Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 225.
235. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 22.
236. Vgl. zum Hof einführend Michael McCormick: Emperor and Court. In: Averil Cameron u. a. (Hrsg.): The Cambridge Ancient History 14, Cambridge 2000, S. 135–163: Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 217ff.
237. Siehe dazu übersichtlich Karl Leo Noethlichs: Hofbeamter. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Band 15. Stuttgart 1991, Sp. 1111–1158.
238. Notitia Dignitatum, Occ., I.
239. Notitia Dignitatum, Orien., I.
240. Vgl. A. H. M. Jones: The Later Roman Empire. 2 Bde. Baltimore 1986, S. 1057.
241. Jens-Uwe Krause: Geschichte der Spätantike. Eine Einführung. Tübingen 2018, S. 86.
242. Jens-Uwe Krause: Geschichte der Spätantike. Eine Einführung. Tübingen 2018, S. 255ff.
243. Baumann, Alexander (2014). Freiheitsbeschränkungen der Dekurionen in der Spätantike (Thesis). Hildesheim: Olms. ISBN 9783487151540.
244. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 223.
245. Lançon 1997, p. 105.
246. Vgl. zusammenfassend Jens-Uwe Krause: Geschichte der Spätantike. Eine Einführung. Tübingen 2018, S. 260f.
247. Lançon 1997, p. 106.
248. Vgl. zu diesen Entwicklungen John Haldon: Byzantium in the Seventh Century. 2. Auflage. Cambridge 1997, S. 93–99.
249. Lançon 1997, p. 107.
250. "The changing city" in "Urban changes and the end of Antiquity", Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, CE 395–600, 1993:159ff, with notes; Hugh Kennedy, "From Polis to Madina: urban change in late Antique and early Islamic Syria", Past and Present 106 (1985:3–27).
251. Bertrand Lançon, Rome dans l’Antiquité tardive, 312-604 après J.-C., Paris, Hachette, 1995, p. 15-16, 18, 22, 25 et 36.
252. Vgl. Jens Uwe Krause, Christian Witschel (Hrsg.): Die Stadt in der Spätantike – Niedergang oder Wandel? Akten des internationalen Kolloquiums in München am 30. und 31. Mai 2003. Stuttgart 2006.
253. See Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, OUP 2005
254. Lançon 1997.
255. Dans Le Proche-Orient médiéval publié en 1978 aux éditions Hachette U
256. Lançon 1997, p. 49.
257. «Tra i 700 000 e il milione di abitanti sembra un ordine di grandezza del tutto plausibile per l'Urbs imperiale fino all'inizio del V secolo». Cit. da Andrea Giardina (a cura di), Roma antica, Milano, Mondadori, 2002, p. 92 su licenza della Laterza (Roma-Bari, Giuseppe Laterza & figli, 2000). Richard Krautheimer, per la stessa epoca, fissa il numero di 800 000 abitanti (cfr. Rome, Profile of a City, 312-1308, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1980, p. 4).
258. Michael Whitby: The violence of the circus factions. In: Keith Hopwood (Hrsg.): Organized Crime in Antiquity. Swansea 1999, S. 229–253.
259. Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin et Yann Le Bohec, Histoire romaine, Paris, PUF, 1995, p. 505.
260. Vgl. Mark Whittow: The Middle Byzantine Economy. In: Jonathan Sheperd (Hrsg.): The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire. Cambridge 2008, S. 465ff. Zur wirtschaftlichen Situation des Mittelmeerraums in dieser und der folgenden Zeit siehe Michael McCormick: Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Commerce, A. D. 300–900. Cambridge 2001; Chris Wickham: Framing the Early Middle Ages. Oxford 2005.
261. Heather 2005, p. 146. (Peter J. Heather, La caduta dell'Impero romano: una nuova storia, Milano, Garzanti, 2005, ISBN 88-11-69402-7.)
262. Skeptisch zu den Unruhen der Spätantike als sozialen Bewegungen etwa Zeev Rubin: Mass movements in Late Antiquity – Appearances and realities. In: Irad Malkin, Z. W. Rubinsohn (Hrsg.): Leaders and masses in the Roman world. Studies in honour of Zvi Yavetz. Brill, Leiden u. a. 1995, ISBN 90-04-09917-4, S. 129–187.
263. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 30.
264. Ruffolo 2004, p. 113. (Giorgio Ruffolo, Quando l'Italia era una superpotenza: il ferro di Roma e l'oro dei mercanti, Torino, Einaudi, 2004, ISBN 88-06-16804-5.)
265. Vgl. Jens-Uwe Krause: Geschichte der Spätantike. Eine Einführung. Tübingen 2018, S. 285 ff.
266. Lançon 1997, p. 108.
267. François Décret, « L’Afrique chrétienne, de la « grande persécution » à l’invasion vandale », Bibliothèque en ligne, Clio.fr
268. Legare il colono alla terra mediante la coercizione non era certo un modo per aumentare la produttività o per migliorare la sorte dei lavoratori (Ruffolo 2004, p. 102). (Giorgio Ruffolo, Quando l'Italia era una superpotenza: il ferro di Roma e l'oro dei mercanti, Torino, Einaudi, 2004, ISBN 88-06-16804-5.)
269. Anonyme, De rebus bellicis, 2.
270. Petit 1974, p. 591.
271. Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 419f.
272. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 224.
273. Grundlegend zum spätantiken Heer – speziell des 4. Jahrhunderts – ist Yann Le Bohec: Das römische Heer in der Späten Kaiserzeit. Stuttgart 2010; siehe nun auch (vor allem für die Ostarmee) Anthony Kaldellis, Marion Kruse: The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361–630. Cambridge u. a. 2023.
274. Le Bohec 2008, p. 110. (Yann Le Bohec, Armi e guerrieri di Roma antica. Da Diocleziano alla caduta dell'impero romano, Roma, Carocci, 2008, ISBN 978-88-430-4677-5.)
275. Digesten 16,4,10.
276. Zosimo, II, 34. (Zosimo, Ἱστορία νέα (Storia nuova).)
277. Cascarino, op. cit., p. 52.
278. Vgl. dazu unter anderem A. H. M. Jones: The Later Roman Empire. 2 Bde. Baltimore 1986, S. 679ff., und Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 303ff.
279. Le Bohec 2008, p. 41. (Yann Le Bohec, Armi e guerrieri di Roma antica. Da Diocleziano alla caduta dell'impero romano, Roma, Carocci, 2008, ISBN 978-88-430-4677-5.)
280. Secondo Giorgio Ruffolo la cifra di un milione di uomini sotto Costantino è esagerata (Ruffolo 2004, p. 137). (Giorgio Ruffolo, Quando l'Italia era una superpotenza: il ferro di Roma e l'oro dei mercanti, Torino, Einaudi, 2004, ISBN 88-06-16804-5.)
281. Agathias, 5,15
282. Vgl. Wolfgang Liebeschuetz: The End of the Roman Army in the Western Empire. In: J. Rich, G. Shipley (Hrsg.): War and Society in the Roman World. London/New York 1993, S. 265–276.
283. Giordane, XXXVI, 192: …hi enim adfuerunt auxiliares: Franci, Sarmatae, Armoriciani, Liticiani, Burgundiones, Saxones, Ripari, Olibriones, quondam milites Romani, tunc vero iam in numero auxiliarium exquisiti, aliaeque nonnulli Celticae vel Germanie nationes… (Giordane, De origine actibusque Getarum. URL consultato il 22 novembre 2012 (archiviato dall'url originale il 13 febbraio 2008).)
284. La grande espansione urbana di Ravenna, nel V secolo rese necessaria una nuova cinta muraria in età gotica. Cfr. André Guillou, Régionalisme et indépendance dans l'empire byzantin au VIIe siècle. L'exemple de l'Exarchat et de la Pentapole d'Italie (Studi storici, Fasc. 75 e 76), Roma, Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo, 1969, pp. 69-70 e nota.
285. Ostrogorsky 1996, p. 121, 124-127. Toutefois, Paul Lemerle signale des critiques de cette vue, qui considèrent qu’il n’y a pas de preuve décisive que le système des biens militaires se soit ainsi élargi dès le VIIe siècle. Paul Lemerle, Histoire de Byzance, coll. Que sais-je ?, no 107, 4e édition, 1960, p. 73.
286. Einführende Beiträge in Josef Lössl, Nicholas J. Baker-Brian (Hrsg.): A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity. Hoboken (NJ) 2018.
287. Eine detaillierte Darstellung der Geschichte des spätantiken Christentums findet sich u. a. in Peter Brown: Der Schatz im Himmel: Der Aufstieg des Christentums und der Untergang des römischen Weltreichs. Stuttgart 2017; Jean-Marie Mayeur, Luce Pietri, Andre Vauchez u. a.: Die Geschichte des Christentums, Altertum. Bd. 2 und 3, Sonderausgabe, Freiburg i. B. 2005. Zur Christologie grundlegend ist Alois Grillmeier u. a.: Jesus der Christus im Glauben der Kirche. 2 Bde. in 5 Tl.-Bdn., aktual. Neuaufl., Freiburg i. Br. 2004.
288. Jens-Uwe Krause: Geschichte der Spätantike. Eine Einführung. Tübingen 2018, S. 330 f.
289. Peter Garnsey et Caroline Humfress, L’Évolution du monde de l’Antiquité tardive, chapitre 4, La Découverte, 2005.
290. Christol et Nony 2003, p. 236.
291. Lançon 1997, p. 84.
292. Uta Heil, Jörg Ulrich (Hrsg.): Kirche und Kaiser in Antike und Spätantike. Berlin/Boston 2017.
293. Stroumsa 2005, p. 167.
294. Aujourd’hui, ce credo, à une nuance près, est toujours partagé par les trois confessions chrétiennes.
295. Symbole de Nicée de 325. Le concile de Constantinople de 381 ajoute que le Christ a été « engendré du Père avant tous les siècles, ceci pour montrer qu’il est incréé ».
296. Jacques-Noël Pérès dans Historia, disponible sur
297. Dictionnaire universel et complet des conciles du chanoine Adolphe-Charles Peltier, publié dans L’Encyclopédie théologique de l’abbé Jacques-Paul Migne (1847), tomes 13 et 14.
298. La religion copte dans Études sur l'Orthodoxie Copte en France.
299. Kaczynski, Bernice M., ed. (2020). The Oxford handbook of Christian monasticism. Oxford handbooks. New York, United States of America: Oxford University Press. pp. 35–50. ISBN 978-0-19-968973-6. OCLC 1148587171.
300. La légende raconte qu’Antoine s’est retiré dans le désert égyptien comme ermite pendant la persécution de Maximien en 312. Sa renommée attire auprès de lui un grand nombre de disciples imitant son ascétisme afin d’approcher la sainteté de leur maître. Plus il se replie dans une région reculée et sauvage, et plus des disciples accourent. Ils construisent leurs huttes autour de celle de leur père spirituel rompant ainsi son isolement. C’est ainsi que serait née la première communauté monastique, composée d’anachorètes vivant chacun dans leur propre maison.
301. Vanderputten, Steven (2020). Medieval monasticisms: forms and experiences of the monastic life in the Latin West. Oldenbourg Grundriss der Geschichte. Berlin Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg. ISBN 978-3-11-054378-0.
302. Alan Cameron: The Last Pagans of Rome. Oxford-New York 2011.
303. Vgl. unter anderem Arnaldo Momigliano (Hrsg.): The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century. Oxford 1963 sowie Frank R. Trombley: Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370–529. 2 Bände. Leiden u. a. 1993f.
304. André Chastagnol, Le Bas-Empire, Armand Colin, 1999.
305. Yves Modéran, « La conversion de Constantin et la christianisation de l’Empire romain », Association des professeurs d’histoire et de géographie Caen.
306. Pierre Chuvin, Chronique des derniers païens, Les Belles Lettres, 1994.
307. Henri Lavagne, « La tolérance de l’Église et de l’État à l’égard des œuvres d’art du paganisme dans l’Antiquité tardive », Études littéraires, 2000.
308. Hisfory for Atheists
309. « S’ils désobéissent, qu’ils sachent qu’ils seront exclus de l’État et qu’il ne leur sera plus permis de rien posséder, bien meuble ou immeuble ; dépouillés de tout, ils seront laissés dans l’indigence, sans préjudice des châtiments appropriés dont on les frappera. » Code Justinien 1, 11, 10.
310. Christianisme et paganisme du IVe au VIIIe siècle, les Belles Lettres.
311. Vgl. Martin Wallraff: Christus verus Sol. Sonnenverehrung und Christentum in der Spätantike. Münster 2001.
312. Lançon 1997, p. 67.
313. Manfred Hutter: Manichäismus. In: Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum. Band 24. Stuttgart 2012, Sp. 6–48.
314. Iain Gardner: The Letters of Mani. A Lost Scripture of the Late Antique World. Oxford 2026.
315. Woodhead, Linda; Partridge, Christopher; Kawanami, Hiroko, eds. (2016). Religions in the modern world: traditions and transformations (3rd ed.). London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-415-85880-9.
316. Mahnaz Moazami (Hrsg.): Zoroastrianism. A Collection of Articles from the Encyclopædia Iranica. 2 Bände. New York 2016; Michael Stausberg: Die Religion Zarathushtras. Geschichte, Gegenwart, Rituale. 3 Bände. Stuttgart 2002–2004.
317. Karl Leo Noethlichs: Die Juden im christlichen Imperium Romanum (4.–6. Jahrhundert). Berlin 2001.
318. Esther Benbassa, article antisémitisme, Encyclopaedia Universalis, DVD, 2007.
319. Histoire du droit, 1re année de DEUG, Université Paris X - Nanterre dans Histoire du droit Ire partie, titre 3, chapitre 1, et Esther Benbassa, article antisémitisme, Encyclopaedia Universalis, DVD, 2007.
320. Vgl. etwa Lutz Berger: Die Entstehung des Islam. Die ersten hundert Jahre. München 2016; Fred M. Donner: Muhammad and the Believers. At the Origins of Islam. Cambridge MA u. a. 2010; Chase F. Robinson (Hrsg.): The New Cambridge History of Islam. Band 1. Cambridge u. a. 2010.
321. For a thesis on the complementary nature of Islam to the absolutist trend of Christian monarchy, see Garth Fowden, Empire to Commonwealth: Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity, Princeton University Press 1993
322. Robert Hoyland, "Early Islam as a Late Antique Religion", in: Scott F. Johnson ed., The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity (Oxford 2012) pp. 1053–1077.
323. Dye, Guillaume, ed. (2022). Early Islam: the sectarian milieu of late antiquity?. Problèmes d'histoire des religions. Brussels: Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles. ISBN 978-2-8004-1814-8. OCLC 1371946542.
324. Vgl. auch Garth Fowden: Before and After Muhammad. The First Millennium Refocused. Princeton (NJ) 2014.
325. Allgemeiner Überblick bei Scott McGill, Edward Watts (Hrsg.): A Companion to Late Antique Literature. Hoboken, NJ 2018. Vgl. auch die Kurzinformationen in Lexikon der antiken christlichen Literatur. Hrsg. von Wilhelm Geerlings, Siegmar Döpp, unter Mitarbeit von Peter Bruns, Georg Röwekamp, Matthias Skeb u. Bettina Windau, 3. vollständig überarb. und erw. Auflage. Freiburg i. Br. 2002; Rainer Nickel: Lexikon der antiken Literatur. Düsseldorf 1999.
326. McGill & Watts 2018. (McGill, Scott; Watts, Edward J. (2018). "Introduction". In McGill, Scott; Watts, Edward (eds.). A Companion to Late Antique Literature. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 3–8.)
327. Henri-Irénée Marrou, Histoire de l’éducation dans l’Antiquité, tome 2, Seuil, 1981.
328. Vgl. dazu nun auch die Beiträge in Bernhard Zimmermann, Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): Handbuch der griechischen Literatur der Antike. Band 3.1. C. H. Beck, München 2022.
329. Dariusz Brodka: Ammianus Marcellinus. Studien zum Geschichtsdenken im vierten Jahrhundert n. Chr. Krakau 2009; John F. Matthews: The Roman Empire of Ammianus. Baltimore/London 1989.
330. Blockley, Roger (1996). "Ammianus Marcellinus and His Classical Background: Changing Perspectives". International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 2 (4): 455–466. ISSN 1073-0508.
331. Brodka, Dariusz (2021). "Procopius as a Historiographer". In Meier, Mischa; Montinaro, Federico (eds.). A Companion to Procopius of Caesarea. Brill. pp. 194–211.
332. Hartmut Leppin: Von Constantin dem Großen zu Theodosius II. Das christliche Kaisertum bei den Kirchenhistorikern Socrates, Sozomenus und Theodoret. Göttingen 1996.
333. Lançon 1997, p. 88.
334. Umfassender Überblick über die christlich-syrische Literatur etwa bei Syri.ac (wissenschaftlich betreut); Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition.
335. Le Monde de la Bible, entretien avec Anne Boud’hors dans
336. Gasper 2024. (Gasper, Giles (2024). "On the Six Days of Creation: The Hexaemeral Tradition". In Goroncy, Jason (ed.). T&T Clark Handbook of the Doctrine of Creation. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 176–190.)
337. Inglebert 2012. (Inglebert، Hervé (2012). "Introduction: Late Antique Conceptions of Late Antiquity". في Johnson، Scott Fitzgerald (المحرر). The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ص. 3–30.)
338. Vgl. Brian Croke: Count Marcellinus and his Chronicle. Oxford 2001, S. 86ff.; vgl. auch B. Adamik: Bemerkungen zur Problematik „Latein in Byzanz“. Über die lateinischsprachige Bevölkerung von Konstantinopel, in: H. Petersmann, R. Kettemann (Hrsg.), Latin vulgaire – latin tardif, Hildesheim 2003, S. 201–218.
339. Pierre Courcelle, Les lettres grecques en Occident de Macrobe à Cassiodore. Paris, 1943, seconde éd. 1948.
340. Lançon 1997, p. 87.
341. Ducellier, Kaplan et Martin 1978, p. 27.
342. Gustave Bardy, La question des langues dans l'Église ancienne. Tome I. Paris, Beauchesne, 1948.
343. «Accueil». Le Monde de la Bible (en fr-FR). Consultado el 6 de septiembre de 2018.
344. Kitzinger 1977, pp. 2–21. (Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11154-8.)
345. E. Bartmann, Rezension zu J. Elsner, Art and the Roman Viewer, Cambridge 1995. Vergleiche vor allem Anm. 1. (Digitalisat).
346. Kitzinger 1977, p. 9. (Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11154-8.)
347. Kitzinger 1977, pp. 15–28. (Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11154-8.)
348. Kitzinger 1977, pp. 29–34. (Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11154-8.)
349. Kitzinger 1977, pp. 34–38. (Kitzinger, Ernst (1977). Byzantine art in the making: main lines of stylistic development in Mediterranean art, 3rd–7th century. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11154-8.)
350. Noël Duval, article « Antiquité tardive », Encyclopaedia Universalis, DVD, 2007.
351. Lamare, Nicolas (2025-10-08). "Rethinking the Christian city: religious monuments and practices in Late-Antique North Africa". Libyan Studies: 1–19. doi:10.1017/lis.2025.10018. ISSN 0263-7189.
352. Favro, Diane; Yegül, Fikret, eds. (2019), Urban Design and Architecture in Rome and Italy during the Republic and the Early Empire, Cambridge University Press, pp. 4–80, doi:10.1017/9780511979743.002, ISBN 978-0-521-47071-1, retrieved 2025-11-16
353. Slater, John; Roger, Thomas (2015). Architecture, Classic and Early Christian. Palala Press. p. 160.
354. Zum spätantiken Bildungssystem zusammenfassend Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage München 2007, S. 467 ff.
355. Henri-Irénée Marrou, Histoire de l’éducation dans l’Antiquité, tome 2, p. 134 à 136, Le Seuil, 1948
356. Marrou 1979, p. 63. (Henri-Irénée Marrou, Decadenza romana o tarda antichità? III-IV secolo, Milano, Jaca Book, 1979, ISBN 88-17-11650-5.)
357. A.H.M. Jones, Le déclin du monde antique. 284-610, éditions Sirey, 1970, p. 235.
358. Siehe allgemein die Beiträge in Lloyd P. Gerson (Hrsg.): The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity. 2 Bände, Cambridge 2010.
359. Memo dans
360. Pierre Gisel, La Théologie face aux sciences religieuses, Labor et Fides, 1999.
361. Vgl. auch Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 586f.
362. A.H.M. Jones, Later Roman Empire gaat relatief gedetailleerd op de bronnen in. Zie ook de onder 'literatuur' vermelde werken, bijvoorbeeld Demandts handboek.
363. Richard W. Burgess, Michael Kulikowski: Mosaics of Time. The Latin Chronicle Traditions from the First Century BC to the Sixth Century AD. Volume I: A Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre from its Origins to the High Middle Ages. Turnhout 2013.
364. Für die Herrschaft Justinians (527 bis 565) hat man von einer „epigraphischen Renaissance“ gesprochen; vgl. Hartmut Leppin: Justinian, Stuttgart 2011, S. 180. Vgl. zur spätantiken lateinischen Epigraphik Dennis Trout: Inscribing Identity. The Latin Epigraphic Habit in Late Antiquity. In: Philip Rousseau (Hrsg.): A companion to Late Antiquity. London 2009, S. 170ff. und Benet Salway: Late Antiquity. In: Christer Bruun, Jonathan Edmondson (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy. Oxford 2014, S. 364ff.
365. Vgl. den Überblick von Olof Brandt: The Archaeological Record: Problems of Interpretation. In: Philip Rousseau (Hrsg.): A Companion to Late Antiquity. Malden u. a. 2009, S. 156ff.
366. Vgl. Chris Wickham: The inheritance of Rome. A history of Europe from 400 to 1000. London 2009, S. 9f.
367. Vgl. beispielsweise Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2. Auflage. München 2007, S. 588f.; Rene Pfeilschifter: Die Spätantike. Der eine Gott und die vielen Herrscher. München 2014, S. 221–223
368. Publié au Seuil, coll. « Points histoire ».
369. Bryan Ward-Perkins: The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford 2005; Peter J. Heather: The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History. London 2005.
370. Vgl. Kyle Harper: The Fate of Rome. Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton 2017.
371. Vgl. etwa Nicola Di Cosmo, Michael Maas (Hrsg.): Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity. Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppe, ca. 250–750. Cambridge 2018; Mark Humphries: Late Antiquity and World History. Challenging Conventional Narratives and Analyses. In: Studies in Late Antiquity 1, 2017, S. 8–37; Hyun Jin Kim: Geopolitics in Late Antiquity. The Fate of Superpowers from China to Rome. London/New York 2019; Mischa Meier: Das Ende des weströmischen Kaisertums – ein Ereignis der chinesischen Geschichte? Auswirkungen von Mobilität in eurasischer Perspektive. In: Historische Zeitschrift 311, 2020, S. 275–320; Sitta von Reden (Hrsg.): Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies. Vol. 1: Contexts. Berlin/Boston 2020.