These essays examine how various communities remembered and
commemorated their shared past through the lens of utopia and its
corollary, dystopia, providing a framework for the reinterpretation
of rapidly changing religious, cultural, and political realities of
the turbulent period from 300 to 750 CE. The common theme of the
chapters is the utopian ideals of religious groups, whether these
are inscribed on the body, on the landscape, in texts, or on other
cultural objects. The volume is the first to apply this conceptual
framework to Late Antiquity, when historically significant
conflicts arose between the adherents of four major religious
identities: Greaco-Roman 'pagans', newly dominant Christians;
diaspora Jews, who were more or less persecuted, depending on the
current regime; and the emerging religion and power of Islam. Late
Antiquity was thus a period when dystopian realities competed with
memories of a mythical Golden Age, variously conceived according to
the religious identity of the group. The contributors come from a
range of disciplines, including cultural studies, religious
studies, ancient history, and art history, and employ both
theoretical and empirical approaches. This volume is unique in the
range of evidence it draws upon, both visual and textual, to
support the basic argument that utopia in Late Antiquity, whether
conceived spiritually, artistically, or politically, was a place of
the past but also of the future, even of the afterlife. Memories of
Utopia will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, and art
historians of the later Roman Empire, and those working on religion
in Late Antiquity and Byzantium.
General
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