- c/o Trinity College, Oxford OX4 1QY, UK
Bryan Ward-perkins
University of Oxford, History, Emeritus
This article explores the 'making' of Peter Brown's highly influential book 'The World of Late Antiquity' through an examination of the publisher's files relating to the book, which were made available to the author by the publishing... more
This article explores the 'making' of Peter Brown's highly influential book 'The World of Late Antiquity' through an examination of the publisher's files relating to the book, which were made available to the author by the publishing house, Thames & Hudson, and through some interviews with people involved at the time. In the files (which open with the commissioning of the book in 1968) there is correspondence between Peter Brown and the managing director of Thames & Hudson, the editor of the series that The World of Late Antiquity came out in, and the picture researcher for the project. As well as charting how these relationships helped form the book, the article also examines the role of Thames & Hudson's overall publishing philosophy, founded by refugees from Nazi rule, and the particular aims of the series 'The World of Late Antiquity' was written for, T&H's 'Library of European Civilization'.
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Hagiographical texts were centrally important in the encouragement of the cult of saints, but with a degree of variation in the emphasis they place on the specific location of each saint's cult. This paper, using the evidence collected in... more
Hagiographical texts were centrally important in the encouragement of the cult of saints, but with a degree of variation in the emphasis they place on the specific location of each saint's cult. This paper, using the evidence collected in the 'Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity' database, explores this issue across the various hagiographical genres: Miracles Stories, Martyrdoms, and Lives. Some texts are focused on a single cult-site (the resting place of the saint's body), but others encourage a certain amount of diffusion of the saint's cult. The extent to which successful (and durable) cult required the existence of written hagiography is also discussed.
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The concluding remarks from the publication of a conference held in Bari in 2017 on late antique devotional graffiti: primarily focused on Christian graffiti in Greek and Latin from the Mediterranean region, but also including chapters on... more
The concluding remarks from the publication of a conference held in Bari in 2017 on late antique devotional graffiti: primarily focused on Christian graffiti in Greek and Latin from the Mediterranean region, but also including chapters on Jewish devotional graffiti, and on the rich material from Nubia and from the early Islamic world. This concluding paper identifies and discusses some common themes from the thirteen contributions that precede it: such as 'Who were graffiti writers addressing?', 'Why did particular places attract graffiti?', or 'Were attempts made to control or prevent the writing of graffiti'.
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Four inscribed fifth-century statue-bases discovered at Stratonikeia (in the province of Caria, south-west Asia Minor), all to a certain Maximos, are remarkable for the language they use: a mixture of the traditional language of... more
Four inscribed fifth-century statue-bases discovered at Stratonikeia (in the province of Caria, south-west Asia Minor), all to a certain Maximos, are remarkable for the language they use: a mixture of the traditional language of statue-bases (celebrating, in entirely secular terms, the good deeds of a fellow-citizen), and the new language of Christian giving (celebrating charity to the poor, and with invocations to the Christian God). The article argues that these four bases were a unique (and somewhat unsuccessful) attempt to 'update' the statue-habit, by giving it a new Christian veneer.
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This paper (written in the context of a volume about the sub-Roman royal capitals of the West) sets out the evidence for fifth- and sixth-century Constantinople, a city that was booming in this period, with ever-more spectacular... more
This paper (written in the context of a volume about the sub-Roman royal capitals of the West) sets out the evidence for fifth- and sixth-century Constantinople, a city that was booming in this period, with ever-more spectacular monuments, both secular and religious.Though never accumulating quite the wealth of buildings of imperial Rome, in terms of new buildings (such as the Theodosian walls, the two imperial spiral columns, and the great church of Saint Sophia) Constantinople quite outstripped Rome and Ravenna (the principal imperial and then royal residence of fifth- and sixth-century Italy). Unsurprisingly, it was to Constantinople, not Rome or Ravenna, that the new rulers of the West looked when they wished to emulate the latest artistic and ideological fashions of the age.
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The forced closure, or even physical destruction, of pagan temples played a central role in the christianization of the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth century, and many hundreds of temples, which must have been closed in this... more
The forced closure, or even physical destruction, of pagan temples played a central role in the christianization of the Roman empire in the fourth and fifth century, and many hundreds of temples, which must have been closed in this period, have been excavated across the empire over the last two hundred years. This paper explores the reasons why, despite this fact, so little is known from Archaeology about the end of the pagan temples: the principal reasons being the poor quality of early excavations (which targeted prime buildings, like temples), and the process of tidying up and stone-robbing that occurred after a temple was abandoned.
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This article examines the evidence for Germanic ‘Arianism’ in the exceptionally well preserved buildings and mosaics of Ravenna. Despite theological differences, Arian iconography appears to be almost identical to that of the ‘Catholics’... more
This article examines the evidence for Germanic ‘Arianism’ in the exceptionally well preserved buildings and mosaics of Ravenna. Despite theological differences, Arian iconography appears to be almost identical to that of the ‘Catholics’ (e.g. in depictions of Christ in S. Apollinare Nuovo and the Arian Baptistery). Different attitudes to God the Son are only really apparent when supported by texts. However, there are clear material traces of Catholic triumphalism after the defeat of the Arian Goths; and we should not assume that there were no strongly held differences of view, just because the iconography of the two sects is so similar.
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This article, from a collection of papers discussing A.H.M. Jones's magisterial 'Later Roman Empire' (published in 1964), examines what Jones wrote about the late Roman economy. While his view was definitely not rose-tinted, and in... more
This article, from a collection of papers discussing A.H.M. Jones's magisterial 'Later Roman Empire' (published in 1964), examines what Jones wrote about the late Roman economy. While his view was definitely not rose-tinted, and in particular downplayed the role of specialized manufacture and trade, this paper points out that - in comparison to earlier views (above all those of Rostovtzeff) - Jones produced an assessment of the late Roman economy that was not entirely downbeat and which contained some careful qualifications. That his assessment appears quite as gloomy as it does is largely because of his comprehensive (and very useful) citation and quotation of the legal texts, with their extensive references to things like abandoned land and the binding of peasants to their estates. The one huge blind-spot that Jones had - which greatly affected the picture he painted - was his near total disregard of the evidence of archaeology and standing buildings (in particular the evidence of prosperity that can be found in the huge number of churches, some of them on a massive scale, that were built in the fourth to sixth century).
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A broad-brushstroke analysis of ways in which the 4th-century Roman empire was highly unusual, and very different to modern empires. Firstly, power within it was often divided between more than one emperor (definitively at the end of the... more
A broad-brushstroke analysis of ways in which the 4th-century Roman empire was highly unusual, and very different to modern empires. Firstly, power within it was often divided between more than one emperor (definitively at the end of the century), and yet, although civil wars were frequent, these were not as disastrous as we'd expect. Secondly, the emperors, and effective power, were located in the 4th-century, not in centrally-placed capitals, but in the empire's periphery (its 'military-belt'); yet somehow in the 5th century the emperors returned to ruling from centrally-placed capitals (very effectively in the case of the eastern empire and Constantinople). Thirdly and finally, although there is plenty of evidence of social unrest, there is very little evidence of the provincial ruling classes seeking independence; at least at an aristocratic level people appear to have been happy to be within the empire.
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The area of post-Roman Britain settled by the peoples we call the 'Anglo-Saxons' was exceptional: unlike on the continent (just across the Channel), the new settlers neither adopted the language of the people they now lived amongst, but... more
The area of post-Roman Britain settled by the peoples we call the 'Anglo-Saxons' was exceptional: unlike on the continent (just across the Channel), the new settlers neither adopted the language of the people they now lived amongst, but retained their Germanic speech; nor adopted the religion of the Britons (Christianity), but retained their ancestral gods until missionaries arrived from Irish lands and from Rome some two hundred years later. This paper explores one possible reason for this exceptional historical trajectory: the almost complete collapse of the economy of post-Roman Britain, taking with it the sophistications (such as stone-buildings and functioning towns) that might have led the incomers to adopt the language and religion of the natives.
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Between 1978 and 1981four seasons of research were carried out in the hinterland of the abandoned Roman city of Luna (Luni), with the aim of shedding light on why this city flourished in Roman times but was then abandoned. Field survey... more
Between 1978 and 1981four seasons of research were carried out in the hinterland of the abandoned Roman city of Luna (Luni), with the aim of shedding light on why this city flourished in Roman times but was then abandoned. Field survey (discussed in Part 2) found very few traces of pre-Roman or medieval settlement, but discovered scattered Roman-period farmhouses, above all in the hills above the plain. These farmhouses, one of which was excavated (Part 3), appear to have been abandoned around the end of the first century AD, and it seems possible that their existence depended on the specialized production and export of wine and/or oil. Part 4 examines in detail problems connected with identifying early medieval settlement in the area; while Part 5 presents the results of detailed geomorphological research, focused particularly on the gradual silting-up of Luna's port.
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Interim publication (with plans and photos) of two sixth-century houses excavated over the abandoned forum of Roman Luna (near Carrara, Italy), which had already been fully robbed of its marble paving and covered in a deep layer of silt.... more
Interim publication (with plans and photos) of two sixth-century houses excavated over the abandoned forum of Roman Luna (near Carrara, Italy), which had already been fully robbed of its marble paving and covered in a deep layer of silt. The houses had clay floors and were built of wood, testified to by post-holes and dry-stone foundation walls. The houses are most readily paralleled in structures in Germanic northern Europe, but may represent a local tradition of building that up to now has not been documented.
[As of 2024, full publication of this site has not occurred - but this interim report presents reasonably fully the most important findings.]
[As of 2024, full publication of this site has not occurred - but this interim report presents reasonably fully the most important findings.]
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The Leonine (or Leonian) wall was built by Pope Leo IV around the area of the Vatican, after the sack of St Peter's basilica in AD 846 by Moslem raiders from North Africa, an event with severely shocked the Christian West. In the first... more
The Leonine (or Leonian) wall was built by Pope Leo IV around the area of the Vatican, after the sack of St Peter's basilica in AD 846 by Moslem raiders from North Africa, an event with severely shocked the Christian West. In the first part of this article, the documentary and epigraphic sources for this wall are examined and its overall state of preservation described. In the second part, a particularly well preserved section of the wall, in the Vatican gardens, is analyzed and presented through detailed drawings (by Sheila Gibson), with also a discussion of its original appearance. The third part consists of a preliminary description of the original Leonine work preserved in the 'Passetto', the raised passageway between the Vatican palace and Castel Sant'Angelo. Much original ninth-century work survives, under a heightening of this section of wall later in the middle ages.
[In a later article - also co-authored by Sheila Gibson, in Papers of the British School at Rome for 1983 - the Leonine sections of the Passetto are presented in much more detail.]
[In a later article - also co-authored by Sheila Gibson, in Papers of the British School at Rome for 1983 - the Leonine sections of the Passetto are presented in much more detail.]
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This article constitutes the continuation of an article published in Papers of the British School for 1979, which described in detail a section of the Leonine wall, built after the Moslem sack of St Peter's in 846, preserved in the... more
This article constitutes the continuation of an article published in Papers of the British School for 1979, which described in detail a section of the Leonine wall, built after the Moslem sack of St Peter's in 846, preserved in the Vatican gardens.
In the present article, the sections of the Leonine wall preserved in the 'Passetto' (the raised passageway linking the Vatican palace and Castel Sant'Angelo) are identified, drawn and discussed. Long sections of ninth-century work survive, including four towers and one latrine (projecting from the outside face); in one section, the original merlons could readily be identified. The ninth-century wall was raised later in the middle ages, perhaps in the twelfth century, before being adapted as the Passetto in the fifteenth century.
In the present article, the sections of the Leonine wall preserved in the 'Passetto' (the raised passageway linking the Vatican palace and Castel Sant'Angelo) are identified, drawn and discussed. Long sections of ninth-century work survive, including four towers and one latrine (projecting from the outside face); in one section, the original merlons could readily be identified. The ninth-century wall was raised later in the middle ages, perhaps in the twelfth century, before being adapted as the Passetto in the fifteenth century.
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This paper discusses the intense debate that had arisen over the fate of towns in northern Italy in the immediately post-Roman period: between those who stressed essential continuity (though with transformation), and those who stressed... more
This paper discusses the intense debate that had arisen over the fate of towns in northern Italy in the immediately post-Roman period: between those who stressed essential continuity (though with transformation), and those who stressed discontinuity and decline. The article discusses the principal contributions and contributors to the debate, and hypothesizes that their overall conclusions over levels of continuity or discontinuity may have been determined by the intellectual or national background of the authors: between Romanists and medievalists, between historians and archaeologists, and between Italians and Britons. Each bringing a different perspective to the discussion.
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The account of the papacy of Pope Zacharias (741-52) in Rome's Liber Pontificalis tells us that, amongst other embellishments of the papal palace at the Lateran, he set up a new entrance-gate with 'bronze doors' and 'with a figure of our... more
The account of the papacy of Pope Zacharias (741-52) in Rome's Liber Pontificalis tells us that, amongst other embellishments of the papal palace at the Lateran, he set up a new entrance-gate with 'bronze doors' and 'with a figure of our Saviour'. This must have been in imitation, and emulation, of the famous entrance to the imperial palace in Constantinople, known as the 'Chalke Gate' (Chalke being the Greek for bronze) which had a famous image of Christ above it.
However, when Zacharias commissioned his gate and image, the Chalke gate almost certainly lacked its image of Christ, since its removal was one of the most notorious acts of the iconoclastic early eighth-century emperors. In commissioning a bronze gate for the Lateran palace, complete with an image of Christ, Zacharias may very well have been making a statement of iconophile orthodoxy aimed at the 'heretical' emperor in Constantinople.
However, when Zacharias commissioned his gate and image, the Chalke gate almost certainly lacked its image of Christ, since its removal was one of the most notorious acts of the iconoclastic early eighth-century emperors. In commissioning a bronze gate for the Lateran palace, complete with an image of Christ, Zacharias may very well have been making a statement of iconophile orthodoxy aimed at the 'heretical' emperor in Constantinople.
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SummaryThe roofs over both aisles of the thirteenth-century cathedral at Trogir in Jugoslavia are covered in incised full-scale architectural drawings. These can be related to a number of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century additions to the... more
SummaryThe roofs over both aisles of the thirteenth-century cathedral at Trogir in Jugoslavia are covered in incised full-scale architectural drawings. These can be related to a number of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century additions to the cathedral: above all, the sacristy (1453–5), the baptistry by Andrea Alessi (1467), the Chapel of St. John by Andrea Alessi and Nicolò Fiorentino (1468–88), and the final storey and spire of the tower by Trifun Bokanit (1598–1610). There are drawings of three different kinds: some are early projects, some for working out at full scale problems of adapting decoration to fit an awkward space, and some to help produce templates for cutting the stone blocks.
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This short article examines the four preceding pieces, placing each in its own very particular historiographical and cultural context: Peter Heather’s “forensic†analysis, written to explain what really happened in 407; Mark... more
This short article examines the four preceding pieces, placing each in its own very particular historiographical and cultural context: Peter Heather’s “forensic†analysis, written to explain what really happened in 407; Mark Vessey’s elegant example of the “literary turn†and the world of cultural studies; Stefan Rebenich’s mining of an important historical source, done with all the care and integrity
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On 6 February 1971 the small town of Tuscania, twenty miles west of Viterbo and the same distance north-east of Tarquinia, was the scene of a local but very violent earthquake, which killed a number of people and rendered much of the old... more
On 6 February 1971 the small town of Tuscania, twenty miles west of Viterbo and the same distance north-east of Tarquinia, was the scene of a local but very violent earthquake, which killed a number of people and rendered much of the old town totally uninhabitable.Tuscania (until 1911 Toscanella) is best known to most visitors to Italy for its two magnificent medieval churches, that of San Pietro on the ancient acropolis and that of Santa Maria Maggiore, both of them fine romanesque buildings on the site of earlier churches. San Pietro has been thought by some writers to incorporate parts of the earlier structure, and both churches contain a number of earlier fittings. The town itself is less familiar, although it is still enclosed within the circuit of its medieval walls, and inside these walls it has retained a large number of medieval and later buildings in a setting largely unspoilt by modern development. Almost all the growth of the last forty years has taken place northwards a...
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An article in volume xl of these Papers recorded something of the programme of work which is being undertaken by the British School at Rome, in collaboration with the Italian authorities, on the site of the earthquake-shattered medieval... more
An article in volume xl of these Papers recorded something of the programme of work which is being undertaken by the British School at Rome, in collaboration with the Italian authorities, on the site of the earthquake-shattered medieval town of Tuscania, in the province of Viterbo some 90 kilometres north-west of Rome. In this article David Whitehouse has given a preliminary sketch of the magnificent series of medieval and post-medieval pottery, the recovery and evaluation of which constitutes one of the most challenging aspects of the situation created by the earthquake. The bulk of this pottery comes from pits which, having outlived their original function as storage pits, reservoirs or cess-pits, were backfilled with material which, though containing a few earlier pieces (as is almost inevitable on an urban site), was in almost all cases broadly homogeneous. In archaeological terms these are closed groups affording a remarkably clear terminus post quem non for the contents of eac...
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This is a long book with a big theory: that innate features in Europe’s geography and culture made it peculiarly empire-proof after the collapse of Rome, and that it is the failure of any empire to control Europe that best explains the... more
This is a long book with a big theory: that innate features in Europe’s geography and culture made it peculiarly empire-proof after the collapse of Rome, and that it is the failure of any empire to control Europe that best explains the exceptional technological, scientific and economic development which gave us the world we have today, in which the majority of us are ‘so much richer, healthier and better educated than our ancestors used to be’ (p. 1). The principal driver of this change is for Scheidel the persistent polycentrism in Europe after Rome, and the consequent thriving of competition, not only between numerous independent states but also within states, between different groups competing for wealth and influence – merchants, lords, bishops and kings.
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Germanic hall or Roman villa? A country residence for Theoderic. SANDRO DE MARIA (a cura di), NUOVE RICERCHE E SCAVI NELL’AREA DELLA VILLA DI TEODERICO A GALEATA. ATTI DELLA GIORNATA DI STUDI, RAVENNA 26 MARZO 2002 (Dipt, di Archeologia, Università di Bologna, Studi e Scavi nuova serie 7; Ante Qu...more
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Ancient marble, Islam, and the West. MICHAEL GREENHALGH, MARBLE PAST, MONUMENTAL PRESENT: BUILDING WITH ANTIQUITIES IN THE MEDIAEVAL MEDITERRANEAN (The Medieval Mediterranean: Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400-1500, vol. 80; Brill, Leiden 2009). Pp. xviii + 634, pis. 14, DVD with further textu...more