Category: Monograph

Grig on Popular Culture

Lucy Grig has put out Popular Culture and the End of Antiquity in Southern Gaul, c. 400–550, Cambridge: CUP.

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ToC
1 Introduction: Popular Culture and the Study of (Late) Ancient History 1
2 Urban Contexts for Popular Culture in an Age of Transformation 36
3 Popular Culture, Society and Economy: The Countryside in Transition in Late Antiquity 73
4 Christianizing Popular Culture: The View ‘from the Pulpit’ 110
5 An Alternative View: Lived Religion As Popular Culture 144
6 The Kalends of January: The Persistence of Popular Culture 173
7 Conclusions: Popular Culture and the End of Antiquity? 219

All About the Terminology of Christian Buildings

Gaëlle Herbert de la Portbarré-Viard has put out a detailed study of the terminology of Christian buildings: Naissance du discours sur les édifices chrétiens dans la littérature latine occidentale: d’Ambroise de Milan à Grégoire de Tours, Turnhout: Brepols, 2023.

Here goes to the publisher’s catalogue

As to Sidonius, the book discusses: Les descriptions d’édifices religieux dans l’œuvre de Sidoine Apollinaire | Les vers consacrés à la description de l’église de Lyon, à la demande de l’évêque Patiens et leur présentation par Sidoine, Lettre 2, 10, 2-4 | Nouvelle évocation de l’œuvre édificatrice de Patiens de Lyon, Lettre 6, 12, 3-4 | Évocation de la reconstruction (ou agrandissement) de la basilique Saint-Martin de Tours et les vers que Sidoine a composés à ce sujet à la demande de l’évêque Perpetuus, Lettre 4, 18, 4 | Autres passages de Sidoine Apollinaire évoquant avec un certain degré de précision des édifices religieux.
Its second part is a full glossary of the vocabulary of the description of Christian buildings.

Ferrari’s Reappraisal of Paganism

Carlo Ferrari argues for the re-emergence of Celtic – and, in fact, Eurasian – religiosity in Gaul in the upheaval of late antiquity: Santi e sciamani. Una lettura storico-religiosa della Gallia tardoromana, Sesto San Giovanni: Mimesis, 2022. See the publisher’s catalogue.

The book is an adaptation of Ferrari’s PhD thesis ‘Observatio paganorum: pratiche e comportamenti religiosi nella Gallia tardoantica (IV-VI secolo d.C.)’, Florence, 2019, which is available in open access here.

The Deserts of the West

Laurent Ripart has written a comprehensive study of the earliest monasteries of South-Eastern Gaul including the islands along the coasts of Tuscany, Liguria (Gallinaria) and Provence (Lérins), in Arles, the Rhône valley, and the Jura (Agaune): Les déserts de l’Occident. Genèse des lieux monastiques dans le sud-est de la Gaule (fin IVe – milieu VIe siècle).

Read further in the publisher’s catalogue.