ABSTRACT
Was there a specifically late antique ‘mentality’? What kind of cultural life went on in this period? More important, in what ways were culture and society changing?
Questions like these tend to hide unexpressed comparisons with the classical world, or with the medieval west, or (but less often) with Byzantium. In the past the later Roman empire has particularly suffered from unflattering comparisons with the supposedly superior and more ‘rational’ centuries that went before, in contrast with which late antiquity has been seen typically as superstitious, irrational, totalitarian or all three together (see Introduction and Chapter 1). This period of supposed decline has been seen both as the end of antiquity and as the beginning of the Middle Ages. But late antiquity has also been seen more sympathetically, even sometimes nostalgically, as a supremely religious or spiritual age.1 And finally, Byzantinists have discussed at length the question of when Byzantium began, and whether the period from Constantine to the seventh century should count as late antique, early Byzantine or simply Byzantine. But while dividing history into periods is usually necessary on practical grounds, and may be illuminating, it can also be a barrier. In our case it also depends on whether one is considering the life of a monk in northern Syria, an aristocrat in Rome or a peasant in Greece. For late antiquity was not a unified society. Geography and social class are variant factors which tell against generalization, quite apart from equally significant variables like religion and ethnic background.
