The Charm of Late Antiquity. Review of: Kreiner, J., & Reimitz, H. (Eds.). (2016). Motions of Late Antiquity: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Society in Honour of Peter Brown. Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 20. Turnhout: Brepols. x + 353 p.

Abstract

This review describes the conceptual and content parts of the collection of articles authored by English-speaking specialists in antiquity and the history of the early Middle Ages, analysing the peculiarities of development and functioning of certain realities of the Mediterranean civilization of the 3rd–8th centuries. The author emphasises the relevance of the research in question as regards the issues considered in the collection. Additionally, the author points out the fact that the solutions of some issues are debatable, namely, the manifestations of stability and even growth of sociocultural traditions of late antiquity in the context of conversion to Christianity and adaptation of the legacy of antiquity by the Barbarian world. The reviewer pays close attention to the articles of the collection using a new approach at comparing the religious and cultural aspects of functioning of the Western Roman, early Byzantine, Western Barbarian, and early Muslim worlds in the context of their interaction on the basis of traditions of late antiquity.

Keywords

• поздняя античность
• раннее Средневековье
• культура цивилизаций Средиземноморья
• христианизация культуры Средиземноморья.