Why read Daily Life in Late Antiquity?

Book cover of Daily Life in Late Antiquity

Book description

Daily Life in Late Antiquity is the first comprehensive study of lived experience in the Late Roman Empire, from c.250-600 CE. Each of the six topical chapters highlight historical 'everyday' people, spaces, and objects, whose lives operate as windows into the late ancient economy, social relations, military service, religious systems,…

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History

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Why read it?

1 author picked Daily Life in Late Antiquity as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Andy Merrills

Author

This is the only book on the list that relates directly to my main topic of research, but that is a strong recommendation in itself. In truth, there are lots of books about ‘late antiquity’ (or ‘the later Roman Empire’), and many of them are very good indeed. But they also tell a familiar story in familiar ways: they discuss politics, military actions, transforming towns, and (increasingly) plague and climate change. Sessa’s book deals with all of these themes in some way, but flips the whole thing on its head. This book looks at the period from the bottom up,…

From Andy's list on The best books for thinking about history in a different way.