KRISTINA SESSA, DAILY LIFE IN LATE ANTIQUITY. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. x + 250, illus., maps. isbn 9780521766104. £71.99.

Abstract

life, are full of interesting detail and offer a good introduction to such material. However, more substantial discussions of changes (or not) in experiences of poverty, of sexuality, of ethnic identity, or of climate might have been made possible by a closer focus on socio-cultural subjects at the expense of the political. Although religion does not receive a chapter of its own, religious issues suffuse the book, consistent with B.'s scepticism about the concept's usefulness as a category in its own right (following B. Nongbri, Before Religion (2013)). This is a good example of B.'s support for and clear explanation of the most up-to-date historiographical approaches to Late Antiquity, representing a determined attempt to displace other paradigms. Ironically, and partly because of this focus on de-centring Christian narratives, the book ends up discussing Christians and Christian material at substantial length. This comes at the expense of traditional Greco-Roman religious perspectives after the third century, with the limited exception of Neoplatonic gures. Thus Libanius is mentioned only once, without reference to his religious views; Julian 'the Apostate' likewise receives a passing mention; while Ammianus and Symmachus do not appear at all. Jewish communities and sources, however, receive some interesting and well-integrated analysis. In keeping with the target audience and the conventions of the textbook format, many historiographical debates are simplied or explained in rather basic terms, and on other issues B. offers his own interpretation stridently. The prose is clear and engaging, and B.'s style is lively and forceful, inviting his readers to compare late antique and modern practices, and how it might feel to be involved in contemporary events. B. can, however, be overly didactic in characterising issues; he sometimes simplies issues of complex debate for the sake of narrative clarity, when it might be better to acknowledge the viability of a number of different academic perspectives. B. can also be rather patronising to his ancient subjects. For instance, Cosmas Indicopleustes, arguing for a at earth, is said to have been 'stuck in an unimaginatively literalist Christian worldview, one which keeps its readers bound to Scripture' (237). In fact, this particular example of exegesis (Christian Topography 3.51) is based on an allegorical rather than a literalist reading of Exodus, with Cosmas inferring that the earth is at because it reects the shape of the Tabernacle. Although individual academic readers will thus nd judgements and arguments for which they would like more proof or with which they simply disagree, clear errors of fact are rare, the most substantial being the claim that Nestorius left for Persia to proselytise after the First Council of Ephesus (165). The book is well produced and edited with few typographical errors, though Greek nouns are inconsistently given with or without accents or in the original alphabet (e.g. 23, 102, 159). Nonetheless, the book overall offers a useful and...