The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

The first comprehensive reference book covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between the mid-3rd and the mid-8th centuries AD
Consisting of two volumes and more than one million words in 5,000 A-Z entries, written by more than 400 contributors
Multi-disciplinary, providing information on such diverse fields as political history, law, and administration; military history; religion and philosophy; education; social and economic history; material culture; art and architecture; trade and technology; the natural world; science; literature; and music
Drawing heavily on the latest scholarship, written by a formidable international team of advisers and contributors, and edited with both flair and attention to detail by Professor Oliver Nicholson

2019 PROSE Award Finalist: Multivolume Reference/Humanities

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

Description

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity is the first comprehensive reference book covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between the mid-3rd and the mid-8th centuries AD, the era now generally known as Late Antiquity. This period saw the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianity and its replacement in the West by Germanic kingdoms, the continuing Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Persian Sassanian Empire, and the rise of Islam.

Consisting of more than one million words in more than 5,000 A-Z entries, and written by more than 400 contributors, it is the long-awaited middle volume of a series, bridging a significant period of history between those covered by the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages.

The scope of the Dictionary is broad and multi-disciplinary; across the wide geographical span covered (from Western Europe and the Mediterranean as far as the Near East and Central Asia), it provides succinct and pertinent information on political history, law, and administration; military history; religion and philosophy; education; social and economic history; material culture; art and architecture; science; literature; and many other areas.

Drawing on the latest scholarship, and with a formidable international team of advisers and contributors, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity aims to establish itself as the essential reference companion to a period that is attracting increasing attention from scholars and students worldwide.

2019 PROSE Award Finalist: Multivolume Reference/Humanities

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

Preliminary matter
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
List of Area Advisors/Area Editors
List of Contributors
List of Contributor Initials
General Abbreviations
Bibliographic Abbreviations
Note to the Reader
A-Z main text
Endmatter
Late Antique Rulers
Principal Roman Emperors and Usurpers
Barbarian Kings
Shahanshahs of the Sasanian Dynasty
Rightly-Guided and 'Umayyad Caliphs
Occupants of the Five Great Patriarchal Sees
See of Alexandria
See of Antioch
See of Constantinople
See of Jerusalem
See of Rome

2019 PROSE Award Finalist: Multivolume Reference/Humanities

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

Author Information

Oliver Nicholson was an Associate Professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota and taught courses on post-classical Latin authors as well as a sequence of undergraduate courses on the Age of Constantine the Great, of Saint Augustine of Hippo, and of Justinian and Muhammad, for which he has won a few teaching awards. From 1995--2000 he was the Director of the Center for Mediaeval Studies. He has published widely, especially on Lactantius and the Age of Constantine the Great.

Contributors:

AREA ADVISORS
Nikoloz Aleksidze (Georgia)
Philip S. Alexander (Judaica)
Roger S. Bagnall (Egypt)
Samuel Barnish (Italy to 565)
Matthew P. Canepa (Persian History, Art and Archaeology; Central Asia)
J.F. Coakley; Ute Possekel (Syriaca)
Jon Coulston (Militaria)
Brian Daley SJ (Greek Patristics)
Clare Downham (Celtic World)
Damian Fernandez (Spain)
Jill Harries (Law; Gaul to 500)
Andrew Hicks (Music)
Christopher Kelly (Roman Administration)
Hugh Kennedy; Andrew Marsham (Arabica)
Cathy King (Numismatics)
Simon Loseby (Gaul)
Rowena Loverance (Art)
William W. Malandra (Persian Literature and Religion)
†Sheila McNally (Balkans)
Andrew Merrills (Africa)
David Phillipson (Ethiopica)
Michael Roberts (Latin Language and Literature)
Peter Sarris (Social and Economic History)
Columba Stewart OSB (Christian Religious Life)
Roger Tomlin (Roman Britain)
Anthony Turner (Science and Technology)
Ruth Webb (Greek Language and Literature)
Peter S. Wells (Germanic barbarians)
Mark Whittow and Alexander Polley; Fiona Haarer (Roman History after 408; Anatolia; Oriens)
Chris Wickham (Italy after 565; Social and Economic History; Spain)
Ian Wood (Anglo-Saxon England, Gaul 500-750)
Robin Darling Young (Armeniaca)

AREA EDITORS
James Aitken (Judaica)
Tara Andrews (Armeniaca; Georgia)
Matthew P. Canepa (Persica)
Rebecca Darley (Numismatics, Social and Economic History)
Fiona Haarer (Late Roman History, Politics and Historiography, Anatolia, Oriens)
Caroline Humfress (Law)
Simon Loseby (Gaul and Germanic barbarians)
Andrew Marsham (Arabica)
Ute Possekel (Syriaca)

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Theresa Chresand

CONSULTING EDITORS: Gillian Clark, †Robert Markus, Mark Humphries

2019 PROSE Award Finalist: Multivolume Reference/Humanities

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

Reviews and Awards

Finalist of the 2019 PROSE Award in Multivolume Reference/Humanities by the Association of American Publishers

2019 PROSE Award Finalist: Multivolume Reference/Humanities

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity

General Editor Oliver Nicholson

From Our Blog

It's not just decline and fall anymore...

One evening in mid-October 1764 the young Edward Gibbon sat among the ruins of the Capitol at Rome. The prospect before him must have looked like a Piranesi print'bony cattle grazing on thin grass in the shade of shattered marble columns. It was then and there that he resolved to write the history of the decline and fall of Rome.

Posted on July 10, 2018

Read the blog post