Shifting Cultural Frontiers in Late Antiquity

Description

First published 2012 by Ashgate Publishing. "Shifting Cultural Frontiers in Late Antiquity" explores the transformation of classical culture in late antiquity by studying cultures at the borders - the borders of empires, of social classes, of public and private spaces, of literary genres, of linguistic communities, and of the modern disciplines that study antiquity. Although such canonical figures of late ancient studies as Augustine and Ammianus Marcellinus appear in its pages, this book shifts our perspective from the center to the side or the margins. The essays consider, for example, the ordinary Christians whom Augustine addressed, the border regions of Mesopotamia and Vandal Africa, 'popular' or 'legendary' literature, and athletes. Although traditional philology rightly underlies the work that these essays do, the authors, several among the most prominent in the field of late ancient studies, draw from and combine a range of disciplines and perspectives, including art history, religion, and social history. Despite their various subject matters and scholarly approaches, the essays in "Shifting Cultural Frontiers" coalesce around a small number of key themes in the study of late antiquity: the ambiguous effects of 'Christianization,' the creation of new literary and visual forms from earlier models, the interaction and spread of ideals between social classes, and the negotiation of ethnic and imperial identities in the contact between 'Romans' and 'barbarians.' By looking away from the core and toward the periphery, whether spatially or intellectually, the volume offers fresh insights into how ancient patterns of thinking and creating became reconfigured into the diverse cultures of the 'medieval.' List of Figures and Table ix Introduction / David Brakke 1 Part I. Shared Intellectual Space 1. "It Is Not the Custom of Our Syriac Language...": Reconsidering the Role of Translation in the Polemics of Philoxenos of Mabbug / David A. Michelson 7 2. Negotiations with Death: Ephrem’s Control of Death in Dialogue / Ellen Muehlberger 23 3. Nature, Law and Human Freedom in Bardaisan’s "Book of the Laws of the Countries" / Kathleen Gibbons 35 4. Earth People in Rabbinic and Roman Discourse / Anne Kreps 49 Part II. High and Low Cultural Negotiation 5. Where High and Low Culture Meets: The Legend of the Cross / Harold Drake 65 6. 'Curiositas nihil recusat': A Playful Defense of "Low" Biography against "High" History / Cristiana Sogno 73 7. Decline of Political Culture: Ammianus Marcellinus’ Characterization of the Reigns of Valentinian and Valens / Jan Willem Drijvers 85 8. "How then is it not better to prefer quiet, than the dangers of conflict?": The Imperial Court as the Site of Shifting Cultural Frontiers / Charles F. Pazdernik 99 Part III. Literary Culture 9. Augustine, the Donatists, and "Litterae Pacificae" / Jennifer Ebbeler 115 10. On the Poetics of Dioscoros of Aphrodito: The Encomium on Duke Kallinikos (P. Cair. Masp. III 67315) / Raymond L. Capra 129 11. Late Antique Visuality: Blurring the Boundaries Between Word and Image, Pagan and Christian / James A. Francis 139 12. The Ant of God: Augustine, Scripture, and Cultural Frontiers / Gillian Clark 151 Part IV. Material and Popular Culture 13. Shining a Light on Shifting Frontiers: Cultural Uses of Ceramic Lamps during Late Antiquity / Kate da Costa 167 14. Sleeping Arrangements and Private Space: A Cultural Approach to the Subdivision of Late Antique Homes / Leslie Dossey 181 15. "Blushing in Such Company?" The Social Status of Athletes in Late Antiquity / Sofie Remijsen 199 16. Viewing the Column of Arcadius at Constantinople / John Matthews 211 17. Late Antique Fora and Public Honor in the Western Cities: Case Studies / Jinyu Liu 225 Part V. Negotiating the Imperial Frontier 18. Rebaptism as a Ritual of Cultural Integration in Vandal Africa / Eric Fournier 243 19. Shifting Frontiers in the Causasus Mountains: The Suani / Guido M. Berndt 255 20. The So-Called "Conquest of the Auvergne" (469-75) in the History of the Visigothic Kingdom. Relations between the Roman Elites of Southern Gaul, the Central Imperial Power in Rome and the Military Authority of the Federates on the Periphery / Christine Delaplace 271 Index 283