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Late Antiquity: From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Late antiquity was a period of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The Roman Empire underwent significant changes starting with Diocletian, including splitting into Eastern and Western halves ruled by multiple emperors. Christianity became legal under Constantine, who established a new capital in Constantinople. Migrations of Germanic tribes disrupted Roman rule from the 4th century onward, culminating in the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions formed the foundations of subsequent European culture.

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50 views2 pages

Late Antiquity: From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Late antiquity was a period of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. The Roman Empire underwent significant changes starting with Diocletian, including splitting into Eastern and Western halves ruled by multiple emperors. Christianity became legal under Constantine, who established a new capital in Constantinople. Migrations of Germanic tribes disrupted Roman rule from the 4th century onward, culminating in the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic, and Christian traditions formed the foundations of subsequent European culture.

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Late antiquity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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The Barberini ivory, a late Leonid/Justinian Byzantine ivory leaf from an imperial diptych, from an imperial
workshop in Constantinople in the first half of the sixth century (Louvre Museum)

Late antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from classical
antiquity to the Middle Ages in mainland Europe, the Mediterranean world, and the Near East. The
popularization of this periodization in English has generally been accredited to historian Peter
Brown, after the publication of his seminal work The World of Late Antiquity (1971). Precise
boundaries for the period are a continuing matter of debate, but Brown proposes a period between
the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Generally, it can be thought of as from the end of the Roman
Empire's Crisis of the Third Century (c. 235–284) to, in the East, the early Muslim conquests in the
mid-7th century. In the West the end was earlier, with the start of the Early Middle Ages typically
placed in the 6th century, or earlier on the edges of the Western Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire underwent considerable social, cultural and organizational changes starting with
the reign of Diocletian, who began the custom of splitting the Empire into Eastern
and Western halves ruled by multiple emperors. Beginning with Constantine the
Great, Christianity was made legal in the Empire, and a new capital was founded
at Constantinople. Migrations of Germanic tribes disrupted Roman rule from the late 4th century
onwards, culminating in the eventual collapse of the Empire in the West in 476, replaced by the so-
called barbarian kingdoms. The resultant cultural fusion of Greco-Roman, Germanic and Christian
traditions formed the foundations of the subsequent culture of Europe.

Contents

 1Terminology
 2Religion
o 2.1Laity vs clergy
o 2.2The rise of Islam
 3Political transformations
 4Cities
o 4.1Public building
 5Sculpture and art
 6Literature
o 6.1Poetry
 7Timeline
 8See also
 9Notes
 10References
 11External links

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