New Rome : the empire in the east / Paul Stephenson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stephenson, Paul, author.

Contributor:

Samuel W. Golden Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization, Greco-Roman.

Romans--Middle East.

Romans.

Byzantine Empire--History--To 527.

Byzantine Empire.

History.

Byzantine Empire--History--527-1081.

Islamic Empire--History.

Islamic Empire.

Rome--History.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Middle East--History--To 622.

Middle East.

Istanbul (Turkey)--History--To 1453.

Istanbul (Turkey).

Turkey--Istanbul.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 432 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First Harvard University Press edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2022.

Summary:

"In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically-minded interpretation of antiquity's end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire's densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular "barbarian" invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. 1 Life in the Later Roman World

1. Life at the End of the `Lead Age'

2. Family and Faith

3. An Empire of Cities

4. Culture, Communications and Commerce

5. Constantinople, the New Rome

pt. 2 Power and Politics

6. The Theodosian Age, ad 395-451

7. Soldiers and Civilians, ad 451-527

8. The Age of Justinian, ad 527-602

9. The Heraclians, ad 602-c.700

pt. 3 The End of Antiquity

10. The End of Ancient Civilisation

11. Apocalypse and the End of Antiquity

12. Emperors of New Rome.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Samuel W. Golden Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780674659629

0674659627

OCLC:

1251502362