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  1. Home
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  3. The Cambridge Ancient History
  • Cited by 59
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2008
Print publication year:
1997
Online ISBN:
9781139054409
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521302005
Subjects:
Ancient History, Classical Studies
Collection:
Cambridge Histories - Ancient History & Classics
Series:
The Cambridge Ancient History
Information

Book description

With the publication of Volume 13 The Cambridge Ancient History moves into fresh territory. The first edition was completed by Volume 12 which closed in AD 324. The editors of the new edition have enlarged the scope of Volume 12 to include the foundation of Constantinople and the death of Constantine, and extended the series with two new volumes taking the history down to AD 600. Volume 13 covers the years 337–425, from the death of Constantine to the reign of Theodosius II. It begins with a series of narrative chapters, followed by a part on government and institutions. The economy and society of the Empire are grouped together, as are chapters on foreign relations and the barbarian world. A part on religion marks the importance of Christianity in the Roman Empire by this period. The volume concludes with chapters on the various literary cultures of the Empire, and on art.

Reviews

‘I had bought this volume before I was asked to review it, the best possible compliment surely to publishers, editors, and contributors alike.’

Source: The Classical Review

‘Cameron and Garnsey deserve congratulations for this: the volume will last at least as long as the first editions of CAH did (of course they did not cover this period at all), and maybe longer.’

Source: Journal of Roman Studies

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Contents

Page 2 of 2

Contents
  • 23b - Coptic literature, 337–425
    pp 720-735
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Coptic literature of the period AD 337-425 was essentially a functional literature. It was composed for a definite purpose. This purpose was invariably religious in nature. Texts were written for use in liturgy and ritual, public worship and private devotion, or for instruction and edification. Another notable feature of Coptic literature during the period under consideration is that most of it was originally composed in other languages, chiefly Greek, and translated into Coptic subsequently. For purposes of discussion, this chapter is divided into six categories: magical texts, the Bible and Apocrypha, patristic and homiletic works, monastic texts and martyrologies, the Nag Hammadi library and related tractates, and Manichean writings. Virtually the earliest written evidence for the transmission of the Bible to the native population of Egypt is a Greek-Coptic glossary to Hosea and Amos. Patristic literature in Coptic, at least for the period AD 337-425, consisted chiefly if not entirely of works translated from Greek.
  • 24 - Art and architecture
    pp 736-761
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The fourth and fifth centuries saw the continuation of the great traditions of classical art and architecture as they had been practised for several centuries throughout the Roman empire. The changes and the continuities in the art and architecture of the upper levels of society, in the public and private spheres, indicate the wealth and artistic vitality of the empire after the death of Constantine. The art of the fourth century has been studied principally in two ways. One has its roots in the Renaissance and Enlightenment diatribes against the 'decline' and 'degeneracy' supposedly visible in the Arch of Constantine, which juxtaposes fourth-century with second-century imperial relief sculpture. The second method of interpretation has seen the art of the fourth century as the cradle for that of the Middle Ages, and in particular for Christian art. This approach focuses more on the continuities between many of the developments in fourth-century art and the medieval Christian future.

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