How to write the history of the Roman imperial period and late antiquity in the second decade of the twenty-first century? Which subjects are to be taken into account, and by what means should they be approached? A monograph and three edited volumes, published in 2023 and 2024, provide paradigmatic insights into these questions. The monograph, authored by Beard, is directed not exclusively, though primarily, towards a wider readership. By contrast, the three edited volumes – edited by Davenport and McEvoy, Lopez Garcia, and Wijnendaele respectively – are addressed, owing also to their thematic emphases, to more specialised audiences.

Beard counts as one of the most distinguished and prolific classical scholars of her generation. Through her publications she has consistently addressed not only academic specialists but also a broader readership, thereby making a considerable contribution to the popularisation of classical studies, particularly, but by no means exclusively, in the anglophone world over recent decades. One need only recall her publication SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015), originally published in English and subsequently translated into numerous other languages. Her latest monograph, Emperor of Rome, represents a further example par excellence of her efforts to bring ancient Mediterranean studies out of the ivory tower.

In this work Beard has chosen a crucial aspect of the Roman imperial period to explore: the figure of the Roman emperor. Unlike her monograph Twelve Caesars (2021), resulting from her A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts delivered in Washington in 2011, Emperor of Rome is confined to the Roman imperial era. It departs, however, from the ‘Suetonian structure’ that underpinned the Twelve Caesars, in that it does not restrict its scope to the sole rulers of Rome from Caesar to Domitian. Instead, drawing once again upon a caesura already established by ancient authors, the book extends down to the assassination of Alexander Severus and his mother Iulia Mamaea at Mainz by mutinous troops during the usurpation of Maximinus Thrax in 235 ce. For its intended readership, this masterfully and elegantly written book is undoubtedly a highly recommendable work. Maps, genealogical tables and illustrations facilitate engagement for non-specialists, while the colour illustrations of classical motifs are of excellent quality. In keeping with its character, the volume of just over 500 pages does not provide footnotes or endnotes; instead, it offers 45 pages (pp. 412–57) of guidance for ‘further reading’, supplemented by brief references to a selection of classical ‘places to visit’.

Those readers who might expect Beard to present a conventional imperial history in the book due to a cursory glance on its title – that is, a history of the Roman Empire structured around the lives of individual rulers – will, fortunately, be disappointed. With good reason, Beard has entitled the book Emperor of Rome, rather than Emperors of Rome. Following a ‘Prologue: Dinner with Elagabalus’, in which she outlines the principles and structure of the monograph, Beard divides her book into ten thematically organised chapters, all oriented towards the book’s subtitle, Ruling the Ancient Roman World. In a certain sense, after the opening chapter, ‘One-Man Rule: The Basics’, these chapters are organised in a ‘structural-biographical’ fashion, tracing both the life cycle of the emperor and the contexts of imperial responsibility and action, extending from the phase of ‘becoming emperor’ (‘Who’s Next? The Art of Succession’) to the emperor’s death (‘“I Think I Am Becoming a God”’; one might be surprised that the practice of damnatio memoriae is not addressed in this context). The seven intervening chapters (‘Power Dining’; ‘What’s in a Palace’; ‘Palace People: The Emperor in his Court’; ‘On the Job’; ‘Time Off?’; ‘Emperors Abroad’; ‘Face to Face’) offer, in an erudite yet vividly presented manner – generally more descriptive than analytical –, a highly informative account of how a Roman emperor lived and exercised power.

As successful as the book undoubtedly is when measured against the author’s stated aims, it would nevertheless – at least from this reviewer’s perspective – have been desirable if Beard had engaged more fully with certain structural aspects of Roman monarchy or at least conveyed these to readers in more explicit and conceptual terms. For instance, one might think of the phenomenon of usurpation and the much-debated question of the dynastic principle as a rule of succession as well as of the challenge posed by the anti-monarchical environment in which emperors were structurally compelled to operate in the Roman context. A further debatable aspect concerns Beard’s decision to adopt, in a rather conventional manner, the year 235 ce as the terminus of the study. Although elaborately justified by Beard and following a periodisation already established by third-century historians, which has been widely accepted in modern scholarship, it would seem more appropriate to conceptualise Roman emperorship in line with more recent scholarship as a form of ancient autocracy which – despite profound transformations – lasted from its establishment under Augustus to the late fifth century in the West and to the early seventh century in the East. This perspective has been articulated in a convincing way, for example, by O. Hekster in his 2022 monograph Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World (c. 50 bc–ad 565), which Beard acknowledges but could not further engage with due to its date of publication. The more general question of whether a book primarily intended for a non-academic readership ought to refer to scholarship in languages other than English – rather than, with few exceptions, drawing almost exclusively on anglophone publications – is open to debate. At least from the perspective of this non-anglophone reviewer, it would arguably have been desirable, not only from a scholarly perspective but also for didactic purposes, to make anglophone readers aware that vibrant research on the Roman emperor(ship) is also being conducted in other widely used languages of the scholarly community, sometimes offering divergent perspectives (of which Beard is, needless to say, fully aware). The extent to which this is the case is demonstrated by the three edited volumes to be considered in what follows: while all are written in English, nowadays the lingua franca of Classics, they also provide valuable insights into the international field of research on Roman and late antique history in broader terms.

Not only for reasons of alphabetical logic is it plausible to proceed with the co-edited volume The Roman Imperial Court in the Principate and Late Antiquity. Beard herself devotes a chapter to the court as a central aspect of monarchical rule; yet it remains striking that, despite significant studies – for instance, A. Winterling’s Aula Caesaris. Studien zur Institutionalisierung des römischen Kaiserhofes von Augustus bis Commodus (31 v. Chr.–192 n. Chr.) (1999) –, the Roman imperial court has for a long time attracted far less scholarly attention than, for example, the courts of medieval or early modern European dynasties. For this reason alone, the volume edited by Davenport and McEvoy is to be highly welcomed. The book is the outcome of a panel at the Celtic Conference in Classics held at University College Dublin in 2016. At that time, most of the participants in that panel were ‘early-career scholars’, although not all their papers appear in the volume published in 2023. The collection is framed by two excellent contributions by the two editors, which make the work much more than a conventional edited volume: ‘Introduction: Connecting Courts’ and ‘The Evolution of the Roman Imperial Court in Historical Context’; the latter constitutes Part 4 of the volume, ‘Comparative Perspectives’. In these two chapters Davenport and McEvoy not only demonstrate their expertise on the imperial and late antique court but also persuasively advocate for the importance of a comparatively inspired, trans-epochal approach to the history of courts. In this respect, their work may be situated alongside, for example, A. Winterling, Zwischen “Haus” und “Staat”. Antike Höfe im Vergleich (1997); A.J.S. Spawforth (ed.), The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies (2007); and J. Duindam, T. Artan and M. Kunt (edd.), Royal Courts in Dynastic States and Empires: A Global Perspective (2011). Davenport and McEvoy also repeatedly engage with the seminal contributions of N. Elias (e.g. Die höfische Gesellschaft [1969]) and J. Duindam (e.g. Vienna and Versailles: The Courts of Europe’s Dynastic Rivals, 1550–1780 [2003]).

Framed by these two outstanding introductory and concluding chapters are three thematic sections addressing central aspects of historical court studies: Part 1: ‘Ritual and Spatial Dynamics’; Part 2: ‘Individual and Community at Court’; and Part 3: ‘The Politics of Access’. The contributions do not amount to a comprehensive overview (in this respect, the volume’s origins in a conference are readily apparent), yet they provide important insights into a range of topics, most of which are framed not around the reigns of individual emperors but around structural phenomena. Part 1 comprises four contributions. One explores monarchical ideals and courtly interaction during the reign of Antoninus Pius (C. Michels, ‘Great King or Civilis Princeps? Monarchical Ideals and Daily Interaction in the Reign of Antoninus Pius’); another, adopting a diachronic perspective, examines guard units and state ceremonial from the first to the fourth centuries (C. Rollinger, ‘Changing the Guard: Guard Units and Roman State Ceremonial from the First to the Fourth Century’). A third chapter analyses the courts of the Tetrarchic period, a time when multiple imperial courts coexisted within the Roman Empire at the same time (V. Jaeschke and Davenport, ‘Cities, Palaces and the Tetrarchic Imperial Courts’). The final essay in this section addresses a specific situation at late antique courts: the court ‘facing the death of the emperor’, an inevitably crisis-ridden moment (A. Becker, ‘The Court in Constantinople Facing the Death of the Emperor’). Part 2, ‘Individual and Community at Court’, focuses on central actors at the imperial court. In ‘Was the Roman Imperial Court an “Emotional Community”?’ B. Kelly, drawing on the approaches of B.H. Rosenwein (Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages [2006]) and M. Seymour (‘Emotional Arenas: From Provincial Circus to National Courtroom in Late Nineteenth-Century Italy’, Rethinking History 16 [2012], 177–97), considers whether and in what sense the imperial court might be characterised as an ‘emotional community’. Kelly’s analysis is directed towards the second and fourth centuries, though regrettably the third century is omitted. Whereas this first essay treats the court as a community, the following contribution examines a functional group across a long chronological span, from the beginnings of Roman monarchy to late antiquity: the jurists (J. Harries, ‘Jurists as Courtiers from Augustus to Justinian’). The next three chapters all focus on the late antique court but adopt different perspectives. The first investigates court construction and office-holding during regime changes in the fourth century, with two case studies on Julian and Jovian (K. Feeney, ‘Court Construction and Regime Change in the Mid-Fourth Century’). The second contribution considers a group of officeholders of particular importance at both the eastern and the western imperial courts during the late fourth and fifth centuries, namely the magistri militum (McEvoy, ‘Sharing the Imperial Limelight: The Age of the Magister Militum’). The final essay of this section turns to a group that has increasingly attracted scholarly attention in recent years, partly under the influence of gender studies: imperial women, especially imperial wives and sisters. Although, in Roman conceptual terms, they were formally excluded from exercising power in the means of official authority since, as female individuals, they could never have potestas, they could nonetheless hold highly influential and powerful positions at court (A. Busch, ‘Representatives and Co-Rulers: Imperial Women and the Court in Late Antiquity’). Part 3 addresses an issue of fundamental importance: access to, and accessibility of, the court. The first essay examines a specific case, that of the Alexandrian bishop Athanasius and the court of Constans (F. Schulz, ‘Beyond the Veil: Athanasius at the Court of Constans’). The second, likewise a case study, takes as its starting point the Nestorian Controversy and analyses how participants in the Council of Ephesus in 431 ce, representing different theological positions, sought in varying ways to win over the eastern imperial court for their respective aims (D. Slootjes, ‘Dynamics of Power: The Nestorian Controversy, the Council of Ephesus of 431, and the Eastern Imperial Court’). The final two contributions turn to structural aspects of Roman monarchy, focusing on the imperial and late antique periods. One addresses the fundamental question of imperial visibility and accessibility in the context of autocratic rule (M. Icks, ‘Splendid Isolation: Secluded Emperors and the Spectre of Oriental Despotism’). The other investigates literary representations of audiences, a theme of central importance for evaluations of rulers and monarchy in antiquity as well as for perceptions of the court. As Davenport convincingly demonstrates, these representations are conceived not primarily in terms of the court as a physical space but as personal encounters between ruler and participants in the audience, with particular emphasis on the dynamics of interaction (Davenport, ‘Envisioning Audiences at the Roman Imperial Court’).

There can be no doubt that the two editors have succeeded in producing a highly commendable volume on the imperial court in the Principate and late antiquity, whose overall conceptual design adopts fruitful approaches to the study of the court. The contributions are, in general, of high quality, though, unsurprisingly, some stand out more than others, some reproduce rather familiar material, while others generate genuinely new insights. The extensive and rich bibliography at the end of the volume is particularly welcome, reflecting the contributors’ thorough engagement with international scholarship on (Roman and late antique) monarchy and courts; it will provide a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient court cultures seeking bibliographical orientation. Although the volume does not, taken as a whole, present an entirely new picture, many of its essays offer innovative approaches and frequently yield fresh results on particular aspects. Together with the two-volume work The Roman Emperor and his Court, c. 30 bc–c. ad 300, edited by B. Kelly and A. Hug (vol. I: Historical Essays; vol. II: A Sourcebook [2022]), published the previous year, the volume is undoubtedly to be regarded as a significant enrichment of scholarship on the imperial and late antique court, and at the same time as an important contribution to the study of Roman monarchy.

The third book under review, another edited volume, adopts a different perspective from the two previously discussed ones: it is dedicated neither to the emperor nor to the court, nor is it confined to the imperial and late antique periods, but to ‘the places of Roman governance’ from the Republican time through to late antiquity. Edited by Lopez Garcia, Running Rome and its Empire results from a conference held in Helsinki in 2021 under the title ‘Space and Governance: Towards a New Topography of Roman Administration’. The conference formed part of the broader context of ongoing research projects inspired by the ‘spatial turn’ and devoted to the interrelated issues of space, jurisdiction and governance in the Roman world. The contributions are framed by two chapters by the editor: an initial, concise introduction outlining the questions, objectives and contents of the volume (‘An Introduction to the Places of Roman Governance’) and a concluding synthesis (‘Afterword: Space and Roman Administration’), designated as Part 5, which summarises the principal findings of the collection. Between these stand thirteen essays organised into four thematic sections.

Part 1, ‘Theory and Methodology’, comprises two chapters that rank among the longest and most fundamental contributions to the volume. The first addresses the administrative topography of Rome in both the Republican and the imperial periods (J. Heikonen, K. Tuori, Lopez Garcia, S. Simelius and A.-M. Wilksman, ‘The Administrative Topography of Rome: Mapping Administrative Space and the Spatial Dynamics of Roman Republicanism’). Building on a theme emphasised in that opening essay, Tuori in the second chapter explores at greater length two central categories widely debated in relation to their applicability to antiquity – ‘public’ and ‘private’ – as modes of classifying space (‘Models of Administrative Space in the Roman World: Between Private and Public’). Part 2, ‘The Space of the Magistrate and Politics’, contains three contributions. The first two chapters focus on the city of Rome: one on the Forum Romanum as the place of legislative voting (D. Rafferty, ‘Legislative Voting in the Forum Romanum’), the other on the spaces of aedilician activity (T. Smith, ‘Where’s Vestorius? Locating Rome’s Aediles’). The third article shifts attention to Pompeii and examines the movement of magistrates through the urban landscape (S. Simelius, ‘Moving Magistrates in a Roman City Space: The Pompeian Model’).

Part 3, ‘The Space of the Institutions’, assembles four essays of considerable thematic diversity. The first investigates the physical (i.e. architectural) presence of the praefectura urbana within Rome’s urban fabric as an expression of the development and consolidation of a bureaucratic institution (Lopez Garcia, ‘The Rise and Consolidation of a Bureaucratic System: New Data on the Praefectura Urbana and Its Spaces in Rome’). The second article examines the collegia and their meeting places in imperial cities (M. Brunetti, ‘Scholae and Collegia: Spaces for “Semi-Administrative” Associations in the Imperial Age’). The following contribution turns to a provincial context, addressing civic archives in Asia Minor under Republican and Imperial rule (B. Jordan, ‘Civic Archives and Roman Rule: Spatial Aspects of Roman Hegemony in Asia Minor from Republic to Empire’). The final chapter in this section considers the intersection of space and gender, focusing on the presence of women in procuratorial praetoria during the imperial period (A. Álvarez Melero, ‘Between Private and Public: Women’s Presence in Procuratorial Praetoria’).

Part 4, ‘Displaying Authority over the Public Space and Religious Space’, ranges chronologically from the Republic to late antiquity. The first essay discusses the Columna Maenia, erected in the Forum Romanum in 338 bce by the consul C. Maenius to commemorate his victory over the Latins at Antium, a monument subsequently incorporated into a variety of contexts and endowed with shifting meanings (Wilksman, ‘From Honour to Dishonour – The Different Readings of Columna Maenia’). The next essay, also devoted to the city of Rome, examines the construction of permanent venues for public games and their significance for the development of the cityscape (J. Bartz, ‘A Measure of Economy? The Organisation of Public Games in the City of Rome and the Development of the Urban Cityscape’). The final two chapters intertwine with Christianity: one analyses the administration of imperial property under Constantine in light of his donations to the Church of Rome (P. Liverani, ‘The Administration of the Imperial Property under Constantine in the Light of His Donations to the Church of Rome’), while the other turns to Milan, analysing the topography of power during the conflict of 385/6 ce between the emperor Valentinian II and the bishop of Milan, Ambrose (J. Lukkari, ‘Topography of Power in the Conflict of the Basilicas between Valentinian II and Ambrose of Milan in a.d. 385/6’).

Running Rome and Its Empire is an exceptionally innovative collection of essays that successfully integrates the often seemingly technical theme of Roman administration with questions of space, thereby offering a model of how the ‘spatial turn’ may enrich classical scholarship. Despite its chronological and geographical breadth, the volume does not – and indeed could not – provide a comprehensive account of the ‘places of governance’ in Rome, Italy and the Empire as a whole. What it achieves, however, is to establish a striking research agenda, one that might profitably be developed in the future through greater engagement with the concept of political culture (cf. K. Rohe, ‘Politische Kultur und ihre Analyse. Probleme und Perspektiven der politischen Kulturforschung’, Historische Zeitschrift 250 [1990], 321–46; K.-J. Hölkeskamp, ‘Political Culture: Career of a Concept’, in: V. Arena and J. Prag [edd.], A Companion to the Political Culture of the Roman Republic [2022], pp. 4–19), which has proven immensely fruitful in the study of the Roman Republic for more than two decades now (see K.-J. Hölkeskamp, ‘“Cultural Turn” oder gar Paradigmenwechsel in der Althistorie? Die politische Kultur der römischen Republik in der neueren Forschung’, Historische Zeitschrift 309 [2019], 1–35). An analytical linkage between a research agenda inspired by the ‘spatial turn’ and the concept of political culture – thus far surprisingly rarely applied beyond Roman Republican studies within Ancient History – promises to yield stimulating and productive paths of future research.

After three books on the emperor, the imperial court and the spaces of Roman administrative activity, finally, attention must be turned to the volume Late Roman Italy. Imperium to Regnum, edited by Wijnendaele, which adopts, in contrast, a regional perspective with an explicitly epochal orientation. Published in 2023, the volume emerged from a conference held in 2019 at Ghent University. Following an instructive introduction on Italy’s place within the history of the Roman Empire between c. 250 and 500 ce – broadly from the millennial celebration of Rome under Philip the Arab in 248 ce to the ‘coming of Theoderic the Great’ and the Gothic conquest of Italy at the end of the fifth century (Wijnendaele, ‘Introduction: Italy and Its Place in the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity’) –, the book is structured into five parts, each of which addresses central, traditional themes of historical scholarship.

Part 1, ‘Political Developments’, comprises four contributions that explore key aspects of Italy’s political history in late antiquity: U. Roberto (‘Italy from the Crisis of the Third Century to the Tetrarchy’), N. Lenski (‘New Paths to Power: The Bipartite Division of Italy and Its Realignment of Society and Economy in the Fourth Century’), M. Humphries (‘Court, Crisis and Response: Italy from Gratian to Valentinian III’) and Wijnendaele (‘The Final Western Emperors, Odoacer and Late Roman Italy’s Resilience’). Each essay provides an informed and thematically distinctive perspective on Italy’s late antique political history, collectively framing the subsequent parts of the volume. The second part, ‘Institutions’, begins with an instructive essay on the late-antique administrative reorganisation of Italy, the administrative practices arising from it and the appearance of governors (D. Slootjes, ‘Administering Late Roman Italy: Geographical Changes and the Appearance of Governors’). This chapter is followed by a study of local government (S. McCunn, ‘How the West Was Run: Local Government in Late Roman Italy’) and, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly yet importantly, a detailed discussion of armed forces (P. Rance, ‘Armed Forces in Late Roman Italy’).

Part 3, ‘Society, Economy and Environment’, is devoted to the traditional thematic field of ‘economy and society’ and, in line with a more recent yet now well-established trend, to environment. The first essay innovatively combines gender studies with research on violence (U. Vihervalli and V. Leonard, ‘Elite Women and Gender-Based Violence in Late Roman Italy’). From the world of the elites, the focus shifts to smallholding groups (N.P. Arends, ‘Land of the Free? Considering Smallholders and Economic Agency in Late Antique Italy’). The third contribution directs attention to environmental aspects of late antique Italy, offering a stimulating discussion of a still relatively little-known field for non-specialists (E.M. Schoolman, ‘The Human Landscape and Palaeoecology of Late Roman Italy’). N. Christie’s chapter leads readers back from rural environments to urban contexts, analysing the transformations of city life (‘Cities and Urban Life in Late Roman Italy: Transformations of the Old, Impositions of the New’). Part 4, ‘Religion’, contains three essays, two of which deal with bishops (B. Neil, ‘From Local Authority to Episcopal Power: The Changing Roles of Roman and Italian Bishops’; S. Cohen, ‘Violence and Episcopal Elections in Late Antique Rome, ad 300–500’), while the third addresses the Jewish minority in Late Roman Italy, a topic hitherto mostly entirely neglected in scholarship (J. van ’t Westeinde, ‘Religious Minorities in Late Roman Italy: Jewish City-Dwellers and Their Non-Jewish Neighbours’). ‘Culture’ is the focus of Part 5, which comprises three chapters. The first is an archaeological contribution on Christian sarcophagi (M.A. Hay, ‘Christian Sarcophagi in Late Roman Italy: Culture and Connection’). The other two essays address literary genres of great importance: panegyric (A. Omissi, ‘Late Roman Italy in Latin Panegyric: From the Panegyrici Latini to Ennodius’) and historiography (P. Van Nuffelen, ‘Stepping Out of the Shadows: Italy in Late Antique Historiography’). A concise critical epilogue by G. Traina concludes the volume (‘Epilogue: Late Roman Italy – Paths Explored and Paths to Explore’).

There can be little doubt that with Late Roman Italy Wijnendaele has edited an important volume. Its focus on Italy exposes, and seeks to remedy, a surprising lacuna within the field of regional studies on the Mediterranean world of late antiquity. That a volume devoted to the transformation of Italy, bearing the programmatic subtitle Imperium to Regnum, cannot aspire to be an exhaustive companion or handbook is self-evident. Nevertheless, despite the volume’s merits, certain omissions are striking: from this reviewer’s perspective, the absence of a discussion of paganism or of the Christianisation of Italy in Part 4, ‘Religion’, is noteworthy, as is the limited scope of Part 5, which could profitably have included philosophy – a topic still insufficiently explored in relation to late antique Italy. Nevertheless, the volume makes a compelling case for the significance of regional studies in late antiquity. Thanks to Wijnendaele’s volume, an impressive foundation has been laid for future research on late antique Italy: research that, on the one hand, might attend more closely to the regional diversity and heterogeneity of the Italian peninsula, and, on the other, situate studies within broader imperial and Mediterranean contexts to a greater extent. Last, but by no means least, implicitly, the book calls for comparable studies of other regions of the Mediterranean world that have hitherto remained on the margins of scholarly attention.

The four books, Beard’s monograph Roman Emperor as well as the collected volumes The Roman Imperial Court edited by Davenport and McEvoy, Running Rome and Its Empire edited by Garcia Lopez and Late Roman Italy edited by Wijnendaele, all fulfil the aims set by their respective authors or editors; each possesses, in its own way, distinct merits. Nevertheless, the books merit differing evaluations – not primarily due to the quality of their contents, which, notwithstanding the inevitable variations across nearly 40 contributions in the form of both monograph and essays, is generally high. Leaving aside, for the moment, Beard’s book, a successful and accessible account tailored to a primarily non-academic readership, but which, despite potential disagreements, also offers rewarding insights to more specialist audiences, the key issue for assessment lies in the degree of genuine novelty presented by the three edited volumes. While each of these fills lacunae and contains numerous contributions offering valuable nuances and occasionally new findings compared to previous scholarship, it is above all the volume edited by Lopez Garcia that, taken as a whole, produces results extending significantly beyond the established state of knowledge, not least because of its adoption of innovative methodological perspectives.

All four works, in their distinct ways, illuminate the present strengths and current weaknesses of classical scholarship on the history of the imperial and late antique world. They exemplify, in both thematic breadth and methodological variety, the vitality and diversity of the field, in which – alongside detailed studies – methodological and theoretical reflections, the integration of the various sub-disciplines as well as the combination of different (not exclusively national) research traditions will constitute important future tasks. This is true not only with respect to studies of the imperial and late antique periods, but for ancient history more broadly. The authors and editors have, in this regard, offered contributions that are both important and substantial – and in so doing, they provide their responses to the opening question of how, in the twenty-first century, the history of the Roman Empire and late antiquity may be written.