Liebeschuetz W. East and West in Late Antiquity. Invasion, Settlement, Ethnogenesis and Conflicts of Religion

Leiden: Brill, 2015. — 508 p. — (Impact of Empire. Roman Empire, c. 200 BC – AD
476. Vol. 20).
ISSN: 1572-0500.ISBN: 978-90-04-28292-6 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-90-04-28952-9 (e-book)«East and West in Late Antiquity» combines published and unpublished articles by emeritus professor Wolf Liebeschuetz. The collection concerns aspects of what Gibbon called «The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire». This interpretation is now much criticized, but the author agrees with Gibbon. Topics discussed are defensive strategies, the settlement inside the Empire of invaders and immigrants, and the modification of identities with the formation of new communities. Liebeschuetz is interested in both the eastern and the western halves of the Empire. In the East he is particularly concerned with Syria, the expansion of settlement up to the edge of the desert, and Christianisation. The book ends with an examination of the role of the Christian Arab Ghassanids in the defense of the Syrian provinces in the century leading up to the conquest of the provinces by the Islamic Arabs.Introduction to the VolumeThe West
Rubbish Disposal in Greek and Roman Cities
Was There a Crisis of the Third Century?
Transformation and Decline: Are the Two Really Incompatible?
Unsustainable Development: The Origin of Ruined Landscapes in the Roman Empire
Warlords and Landlords
The Debate about the Ethnogenesis of the Germanic Tribes
Making a Gothic History: Does the «Getica» of Jordanes Preserve Genuinely Gothic Traditions?
Why did Jordanes Write the «Getica»?
«Habitus Barbarus»: Did Barbarians Look Different From Romans?
Barbarians and Taxes
Violence in the Barbarian Successor Kingdoms
Goths and Romans in the «Leges Visigothorum»The East
Syria: Defence and Settlement
The Impact of the Imposition of Roman Rule on Northern Syria
Nomads, Phylarchs and Settlement in Syria and Palestine
Late Late Antiquity (6th and 7th Centuries) in the Cities of the Roman Near East
Arab Tribesmen and Desert Frontiers in Late Antique SyriaPaganism and Christianity
Julian’s «Hymn to the Mother of the Gods»: The Revival and Justification of Traditional Religion
The View from Antioch: From Libanius via John Chrysostom to John Malalas and Beyond
From Antioch to Piazza Armerina and Back Again
Theodoret’s «Graecarum affectionum curatio»: Defending Christianity in Christian Syria
The School of Antioch and Its OpponentsThe Balkans: A Contrast
The Lower Danube Region under Pressure: From Valens to Heraclius