The essays in Archaeology and History in Roman, Medieval and Post-Medieval Greece honor the contributions of Timothy E. Gregory to our understanding of Greece from the Roman period to modern times. Evoking Gregory's diverse interests, the volume brings together anthropologists, art historians, archaeologists, historians, and philologists to address such contested topics as the end of Antiquity, the so-called Byzantine Dark Ages, the contours of the emerging Byzantine civilization, and identity in post-Medieval Greece. These papers demonstrate the continued vitality of both traditional and innovative approaches to the study of material culture and emphasise that historical interpretation should be the product of methodological self-awareness. In particular, this volume shows how the study of the material culture of post-Classical Greece over the last 30 years has made significant contributions to both the larger archaeological and historical discourse. The essays in this volume are organized under three headings - Archaeology and Method, the Archaeology of Identity, and the Changing Landscape - which highlight three main focuses of Gregory's research. Each essay interlaces new analyses with the contributions Gregory has made to our understanding of Medieval and Post-Medieval Greece. Read together these essays not only make a significant contribution to how we understand the post-Classical Greek world, but also to how we study the material culture of the Mediterranean world more broadly.

Examining the numerous primary sources, including inscriptions, religions, histories, literary references, legal codes, and archaeological reports, Linda Jones Hall presents a composite history of late antique Berytus - from its founding as a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, to its development into a center of legal study under Justinian. The book examines all aspects of life in the city, including geographical setting, economic base, built environment, political structures, religious transitions from paganism to Christianity, and the self-identity of the inhabitants in terms of ethnicity and occupation. This volume provides: * the first detailed investigation of late antique Phoenicia * a look at religious affiliations are traced among pagans, Jews, and Christians * a study of the bishops and the churches. The full texts of numerous narratives are presented to reveal the aspirations of the law students, the professors, and their fellow citizens such as the artisans. The study also explores the cultural implications of the city's Greek, Roman and then Syro-Phoenician heritage.

Modern Beirut was a city of major importance in the Roman world, as one the three main centers for the study of Roman law. For this study Linda Jones Hall exploits the numerous primary sources, including inscriptions, religious histories, literary references, legal codes, and archaeological reports, to present a composite history of late antique Berytus - from its founding as a Roman colony in the time of Augustus, to its development into a center of legal study under Justinian.
The book examines all aspects of life in the city, including geographical setting, economic base, built environment, political structures, religious transitions from paganism to Christianity, and the self-identity of the inhabitants in terms of ethnicity and occupation. The full texts of numerous narratives are presented to reveal the aspirations of the law students, the professors, and their fellow citizens such as the artisans. The study also explores the cultural implications of the city's Greek, Roman and then Syro-Phoencianheritage.
This volume provides the first detailed investigation of late antique Phoenicia, analyzing the governors' and inhabitants' perception of themselves as Phoenician rather than Syrian. Professor Jones Hall also looks at how religious affiliations are traced among pagans, Jews, and Christians. Though a study of the bishops and the churches, she shows that religious adherence was a much more complex issue that the simple Monophysite interpretation usually presented.

For the first time, the poems and accompanying letters of Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius (Optatian) are published here with a translation and detailed commentary, along with a full introduction to Optatian’s work during this period.Optatian was sent into exile by Constantine sometime after the Emperor’s ascent to power in Rome in 313 AD. Hoping to receive pardon, Optatian sent a gift of probably twenty design poems to Constantine around the time of the ruler’s twentieth anniversary (325/326 AD). To enable the reader to experience the multiple messages of the poems, the Latin text is presented near the English translation with any related design close by. Some poems, laid out on a grid of up to 35 letters across and down, have an interwoven poem marking key letters in the primary poem, thereby revealing a highlighted image. Some designs include the Chi-Rho or numerals created from V’s and X’s to mark imperial anniversaries. Other (previously unrecognised) designs seem to represent senatorial, imperial, military or bureaucratic motifs or to derive from coin images. Shape poems representing a water organ, an altar and a panpipe reveal their relevance immediately. The introduction and commentary elucidate literary allusions from over 100 authors (lines from Vergil, Ovid, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Statius, and lesser-known writers abound) and mythological references, mostly to the Muses and Apollo. Optatian’s prestige as an official in both Greece and Rome is well attested - these poems mark Optatian as a fascinating writer of his time, holding onto the classical past while acknowledging Christian symbolism.