The foundations of the current views on Late Antiquity were laid by Peter Brown in 1971 in his classic book, The World of Late Antiquity which indeed invented the term ‘Late Antiquity’: he implied that the age between AD 200 and the 8th century was an age of steady transition. Bryan Ward-Perkins is a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, but was born and brought up in Rome where his father was director of the British School at Rome, and he tends to write from an Italian viewpoint. The new arrival had not been invited, and he brought with him a large family they ignored the bread and butter, and headed straight for the cake stand’ – page 82.Īll books about the Romans these days are political, and the main task of the reviewer is to sort out the writer’s politics. The accommodation that is reached between invaders and invaded in the fifth and sixth century West was very much more difficult, and more interesting, than this.
There is a brief moment of awkwardness while the host finds an empty chair and pours a fresh cup of tea but the conversation, and village life, soon flow on. A shy newcomer to the village, who is a useful prospect for the cricket team, is invited in.
‘Some of the recent literature on the Germanic settlements reads like an account of a tea party at the Roman vicarage.
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