Dodds was a precursor to Peter Brown and an iconic figure while Brown was writing. Peter Brown and ER Dodds were both Irishmen. Your next book, Pagan and Christian in an Age of Anxiety, by ER Dodds, looks at the common experiences of pagans and Christians at that time.

It was one of those explosive moments, and those who remember it will know that they were so lucky to be of that generation and to be touched by it. The primary reason is this book and Peter Brown’s own extraordinary teaching in a decade based in Oxford between 19. Why?ĭuring my lifetime late antiquity has sprung to the centre of what so many undergraduates wish to study and what experts in the ancient world immerse themselves in. This is often described as an overlooked period of history, but Peter Brown sees it as important. Before Brown, nobody who was writing in English had ever linked that area together so powerfully. It extends from Italy to Asia to the Near East brilliantly, including the Persians and turning down to Arabia. What I like about this book is that it is focused on cultural, religious and philosophical changes, particularly in the Greek-speaking world, where they were strongest. They lose their reader in their endless campaigns. Many books about the later Roman Empire concentrate on wars and Barbarian attacks in Northern Europe. This end point and eastward dimension is thrilling now and was most unusual when Brown first wrote.

This remarkable book begins with the Emperor Hadrian in AD 117 and finishes with the emergence of the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 620s. What era and area is he describing when he talks about late antiquity? Your first choice is The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown. Foreign Policy & International Relations.

Pagans and Christians by Robin Lane Fox