ABSTRACT
One of the many lessons which Peter Brown has taught us, to the extent that we now take it as axiomatic, is that understanding the late antique world requires us to escape from a Graeco-Roman strait-jacket, and listen carefully to a wider range of sources. Breaking the mould in this way is not straightforward; the old habits of thought have great elasticity. One area where this is evident is in the study of late antique spectacles, theatrical and other performances, where the old ideas of decline remain very strong, and the authoritative discourse of fine users of Greek, such as Libanius or John Chrysostom, is hard to resist. I would like to revisit some of the evidence, as a small tribute to Peter; and I would like to point out that the study of the late antique world may also shine light back into the earlier centuries of the Roman Empire.
