Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

See also: late antiquity and Late antiquity

English

Alternative forms

• late antiquity, late Antiquity
• Late antiquity (misspelling)

Etymology

A calque of German Spätantike. Popularised in English by American historian Peter Brown with his influential 1971 book The World of Late Antiquity.

Proper noun

Late Antiquity

1. (historical) The period of Mediterranean and Eurasian history from around the 3rd to the 7th centuries C.E., marked especially by the transition from the Roman and Persian Empires to the Middle Ages and the Islamic and Byzantine civilizations.
   • 1993, Jutta-Annette Bruhn, Coins and Costume in Late Antiquity, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, page 1,

     The production of coins for jewelry, on the other hand, was prosecuted as high treason or a crimen maiestatis: counterfeiting coin always constituted a major offense, and in Late Antiquity it became a sacrilege.

   • 2000, A. D. Lee, Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), page 169,

     Unlike Jews and Manichaeans, who could be found in most parts of the Roman empire during Late Antiquity, Zoroastrians were a geographically and numerically restricted religious group, confined to certain eastern provinces, especially in Asia Minor.

   • 2000, David Vila, 38: Texts on Iconoclasm: John of Damascus and the Council of Hiereia, Richard Valantasis (editor), Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice, Princeton University Press, page 454,

     Yuhanna b. Mansur b. Sargun (ca. 655–ca. 749 C.E.), better known as John of Damascus, lived through the cultural transition from Late Antiquity to Early Islam and thus offers an important window into the practice of Late Antique Christian faith in a changing cultural milieu.

Related terms

• late antique

Translations

the period between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages

Breton: Henamzer diwezhañ f Catalan: Antiguitat tardana f Dutch: late oudheid f French: Antiquité tardive f German: Spätantike (de) f Greek: Ύστερη Αρχαιότητα f (Ýsteri Archaiótita) Hungarian: késő ókor, késő antikvitás Italian: Tarda antichità f Portuguese: Antiguidade tardia f Romanian: Antichitatea târzie f Russian: по́здняя анти́чность f (pózdnjaja antíčnostʹ) Spanish: Antigüedad tardía f Welsh: Henfyd Diweddar m

See also

• Early Islam
• Early Middle Ages

Further reading

• Byzantine Empire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Fall of the Western Roman Empire on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Early Middle Ages on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Migration Period on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Peter Brown (historian) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia