Some General Histories of the Later Roman Empire

  • Bowman, A., A. M. Cameron and P. Garnsey (eds), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337 (Cambridge, 2005). LI.*
  • Brauer, G. C., The Age of the Soldier Emperors: Imperial Rome AD 244-284 (Park Ridge, NJ, 1975). LVN.
  • Cameron, A. M., The Later Roman Empire, AD 284-430, Fontana History of the Ancient World (Hassocks, 1993). LVP. A solid, well-worked out, account of the later Roman Empire.
  • Cameron, A. M., and P. Garnsey (eds), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 13, The Late Empire, AD 337-425 (Cambridge, 1998). LI.
  • Cameron, A. M., B. Ward-Perkins and M. Whitby (eds), The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 14, Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, AD 425–600 (Cambridge, 2001). LI.*
  • Collins, R., Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000 (Houndmills, Basingstoke, 1991). Covers the early Middle Ages as well as the later Roman Empire, but a useful introduction. MB.C.*
  • Duncan-Jones, R., Money and Government in the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 1994). LTL.
  • Ferrill, A., The Fall of the Roman Empire: A Military Explanation (London, 1986). LVS.
  • Garnsey, P., and C. Humfress, The Evolution of the Late Antique World (Cambridge, 2001). LVL. Useful on the transition from the early to the later Roman Empire.
  • Garnsey, P., and R. Saller, The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture (London, 1987). LTE.* A useful introduction.
  • Halsall, G., Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks (Cambridge, 2005). On order.
  • Honoré, T., 'Roman Law AD 200-400: From Cosmopolis to Rechstaat?', in S. Swain and M. Edwards (eds), Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire (Oxford, 2004), pp. 109-32. LVL.
  • Innes, M., An Introduction to Early Medieval Western Europe, 400-900: The Sword, the Plough and the Book (London, 2007). There are three copies in the library, two on popular loan: MBF.
  • Liebeschuetz, J., Barbarians and Bishops: Army, Church and State in the Age of Arcadius and Chrysostom (Oxford, 1990). LVS.M.
  • Little, L. K. (ed.), Plague and the End of Antiquity: The Pandemic of 541-750 (Cambridge, 2007). HQZA3.B.
  • Lot, F., The End of the Roman World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages, trs. P. and M. Leon (London, 1966), chp. 4. MBB.
  • MacMullen, R., Roman Government's Response to Crisis AD 235-337 (New Haven, CN, 1976). LVN.
  • MacMullen, R., Soldier and Civilian in the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge, MA, 1963). LTM.
  • Matthews, J. F., Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, AD 364-425 (Oxford, 1975). LVR.
  • Millar, F., The Emperor in the Roman World, 31 B.C.-AD 337 (London, 1977). LTG.
  • Mitchell, S., A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641: The Transformation of the Ancient World, Blackwell History of the Ancient World (Oxford, 2007). LV. A large textbook of American origin. Useful for background.
  • Randsborg, K., The First Millennium AD in Europe and the Mediterranean: An Archaeological Essay (Cambridge, 1981). MB4.
  • Rostovtzeff, Michael, The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire, 2 vols. (2nd edn, Oxford, 1941). LQK.* A fundamental account of the economic and social development of the empire.
  • Rousseau, P. (ed.), A Companion to Late Antiquity, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (Oxford, 2007). LVL.
  • Shephard, J. (ed.), The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire (Cambridge, 2009). Note esp. the contents of part one: J. Shephard, ‘The Earlier Empire (c.500–c.600)’; A. Louth, ‘Justinian and his Legacy (500–600)’; Z. Rubin, ‘Persia and the Sassanian Monarchy (224–651)’; J. Moorhead, ‘Western Approaches (500–600)’; A Louth, ‘Byzantium Transforming (600–700)’; and so on.
  • Swain, S., and M. Edwards (eds), Approaching Late Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire (Oxford, 2004). LVL. A useful collection of essays on popular loan.
  • Vogt, J., The Decline of Rome: The Metamorphosis of Ancient Civilisation (London, 1967). LVM.
  • Walbank, F. W., The Awful Revolution: The Decline of the Roman Empire in the West (2nd edn, Liverpool, 1969). LVM.* Dating from the middle of twentieth century, this book exemplifies the ways in which some scholars have used 'fall of Rome' either as a mirror for their own times or as a means of making sense of a contemporary society.
  • Wickham, C. J., Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 (Oxford, 2005). MBD.* An important new contribution.
  • Williams, S., Diocletian and the Roman Recovery (London, 1985). LVP.

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