Late Antiquity: Crisis and Transformation

By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire painted a portrait of the Roman Empire in a long, debilitating slide to oblivion, but now historians have reevaluated this picture to create a radically different understanding of the period now known as "late antiquity." Far from being a period of decline and fall, late antiquity marked one of history's great turning points.

These 36 half-hour lectures take you through five momentous centuries that link the classical world with the modern, beginning with Rome near its pinnacle of power and geographical extent and ending with the Byzantine Empire, the rise of Islam, and a succession of barbarian Christian kingdoms.

You'll explore key features of late antiquity including how this tripartite division occurred; the memorable rulers and religious leaders who led the way; and the architecture, visual arts, and literature of the period. You also study what it was like to live in the late antique world: How did people earn their livings?

What was the role of women in society? What distinguished the great cities of the era?

Nothing in Rome's previous experience compared with the ferment of late antiquity, which saw the unpredictable growth of new institutions, states, religions, and arts. After taking this course you will never think of the barbarians and the "fall" of Rome in quite the same way again. Your imagination will be alive with the incidents, innovations, and peoples of an exciting era that gave birth to us all: late antiquity.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great Courses

Informative

Dr, Noble walks around in this period as though he lived there... his enthusiasm for the material enhances enjoyment of the multidimensional perspective of an often overlooked period of our collective history. I thoroughly enjoyed this series❣️

Phenomenal!

Captivating from start to finish! A series that will leave you wanting just one more lecture and one more topic. Very happy to have listened but very bittersweet to be finished.

Great!

As a 'modern people' we forget where we came from. We assume that after the fall of Rome that we entered a dark and dreary era. Professor Noble has spent his life researching the past, and is able to relate all that he has learned in an easily understood manner.
The peoples of the past were not unlike ourselves. Yes. they did not have our conveniences, but they lived, worked, loved and worshipped as we do.

Enjoy greatly..!!

It was like traveling to the past discovering the path to our present time and looking in the mirror.

Great narrator

The best of all The Great Courses lectures I've listened to (most of the history selection).