Suggested Reading and Media Resources

• Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo, rev. ed. 2000. The definitive biography of Saint Augustine, who is viewed here as a symbol of change.

• Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity,A.D.150–750, rev. ed. 1989. A lavishly illustrated survey that stresses social and cultural changes and continuities, and provides clearly written introductions to the entire period.

• Burns, Thomas S. Rome and the Barbarians, 100 B.C.–A.D.400. 2003. Argues that Germanic and Roman cultures assimilated with each other more than they conflicted.

• Clark, Gillian. Late Antiquity: A Very Short Introduction. 2011. A compact survey of the era, portraying it as a period of great transformation rather than simply decline.

• Clark, Gillian. Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles. 1994. Explores law, marriage, and religious life.

• Dunn, Marilyn. The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages. 2003. A thorough study of the beginnings of monasticism.

• Fletcher, Richard. The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity. 1998. A superbly written analysis of conversion to Christianity.

• Goldsworthy, Adrian. How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower. 2009. A detailed narrative that emphasizes internal weaknesses caused by civil war and struggles for power.

• Heather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. 2006. A masterful analysis that asserts the centrality of barbarian military actions in the end of the Roman Empire.

• Herrin, Judith. Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. 2008. Written for a general audience, this book portrays a tradition-based yet dynamic empire and discusses its signifiance for today.

• Herrin, Judith. The Formation of Christendom. 1987. An excellent synthesis of the development of the Christian Church from the third to the ninth centuries.

• Todd, Malcolm. The Early Germans, 2d ed. 2004. Uses archaeological and literary sources to analyze Germanic social structure, customs, and religion and to suggest implications for an understanding of migration and ethnicity.

• Ward-Perkins, Bryan. The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. 2006. Uses material evidence to trace the physical destruction and economic dislocation that accompanied the barbarian migrations.

• Wells, Peter S. The Barbarians Speak: How the Conquered Peoples Shaped Roman Europe. 1999. Presents extensive evidence of Celtic and Germanic social and technical development.

• Barbarians II (History Channel, 2007). A four-part documentary with many battle re-enactments that views the Vandals, Saxons, Franks, and Lombard barbarians as warrior hordes with savage tactics that “drove the empire to its knees.”

• The Germanic Tribes: The Complete Four-Part Saga (Kultur, 2003). Using computer graphics and re-enactments, this documentary examines the settlements and religion of the German tribes as well as their warfare, and argues that they actually preserved much of the Roman legacy.

• I, Caesar (BBC, 1997). Each part of this six-part documentary series focuses on one Roman emperor, beginning with Julius Caesar and including both Constantine and Justinian; the films examine both their private lives and their public careers.

• Terry Jones’ Barbarians (BBC, 2007). A witty and lively four-part documentary by a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe that sees the barbarians as less important for Rome’s fall than other factors.

• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Ireland’s longest-running humanities computing project, this database includes writing by and about Saint Patrick and chronicles of the early Irish kings. www.ucc.ie/celt/

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Hosted by Calvin College, this site has hundreds of primary sources in the public domain on all aspects of the history of Christianity, and is especially strong in the writings of the church fathers, including Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Benedict. www.ccel.org

• Explore Byzantium. Developed in New Zealand, this site offers a variety of resources on the Byzantine Empire: historical overviews, timelines, maps, articles, bibliographic material, and an extensive collection of photographs of surviving examples of Byzantine architecture and public art. byzantium.seashell.net.nz/index.php

• Internet Medieval Sourcebook: Byzantium. Includes actual sources and links to sources elsewhere on many aspects of Byzantine politics and religion. www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1c.asp