Late Antique Cities
The ornate basilica of Holy Wisdom "soars to a height to match the sky, and as if surging up from amongst the other buildings, it stands on high and looks down upon the remainder of [this] city."
What is Constantinople?
This theological controversy, which was influenced by the strict Islamic concern over forms of perceived idolatry, resulted in the widespread destruction of Christian art in the 8th century East Roman world.
What is iconoclasm?
This prominent Visigothic king initially served as a commander in the late Roman military before launching a campaign to invade Italy in the early fifth century.
Who is Alaric?
This fifth century ascetic opted to withdraw from the world by ascending a pillar in the Syrian countryside, where he remained for nearly forty years.
Who is Simeon the Stylite?
"So when the sons of Ishmael overcame the whole land and laid waste to cities and their territories and dominated the islands, they then built for themselves ships and used them in the manner of birds, flying over the waters [of the sea], and they came up to all the lands of the West as far as Great Rome and Illyricum and Gigetum and Thessalonica and Sardinia the Great and beyond Rome. And they were lords of the earth for sixty years and did whatever they pleased in it... And there will not be a nation or kingdom under heaven that will be able to fight them until the completion of seven weeks of years. And after these things they will be defeated by the kingdom of the Romans and subjected to it. For that kingdom will be exalted over all the kingdoms of the heathen nations and it will not be wiped out by any one of them unto eternity."
What is the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius?
This Levantine city, one of the five major patriarchal sees of antiquity, housed the relic of the true cross, until its sack at the hands of the Persians in 614.
What is Jerusalem?
The central debate at Chalcedon, namely whether there are one or two distinct natures in the person of Christ, resulted in a schism between those who upheld the Tome of Leo and the doctrine of the hypostatic union, and this sect of Christians who espoused a belief in "a single divine nature of the incarnate Word"?
Who are the Miaphysites?
This policy decision of the late western emperors Honorius and Valentinian III prompted later scholars to suggest that the Roman Empire largely gave itself away.
What is the granting of land to the foederati?
This Roman emperor is said to have panicked upon hearing of the 'death' of Rome, fearing that his advisors were referring to his beloved pet chicken.
Who is Honorius?
"Now all who profess to teach anything whatever ought to be men of upright character, and ought not to harbour in their souls opinions irreconcilable with what they publicly profess; and, above all, I believe it is necessary that those who associate with the young and teach them rhetoric should be of that upright character; for they expound the writings of the ancients, whether they be rhetoricians or grammarians, and still more if they are sophists. For these claim to teach, in addition to other things, not only the use of words, but morals also, and they assert that political philosophy is their peculiar field. Let us leave aside, for the moment, the question whether this is true or not. But while I applaud them for aspiring to such high pretensions, I should applaud them still more if they did not utter falsehoods and convict themselves of thinking one thing and teaching their pupils another."
What is Julian, Rescript on Christian Teachers?
Augustine of Hippo, having accepted a post as the professor of rhetoric for the imperial court, first encountered the bishop Ambrose in this northern Italian city.
What is Mediolanum (Milan)?
The 325 Council of Nicaea issued a formal creed that anathematized the teachings of the presbyter Arius and upheld this foundational orthodox doctrine.
What is homoousios (the Son is of the same substance as the Father)?
Works like the epistles of Jerome, Orosius's History against the Pagans, and the poet Rutilius Namatianus' On the Journey Home, all placed some blame for the 410 sack of Rome on this former Romano-Vandalic magister militum.
Who is Stilicho?
In 536, this strange occurrence resulted in a year of sour grapes and failed crop harvests throughout the Mediterranean world.
What is the Mystery Cloud (volcanic winter) of 536?
"So he was alone in the inner mountain, spending his time in prayer and discipline. And the brethren who served him asked that they might come every month and bring him olives, pulse and oil, for by now he was an old man. There then he passed his life, and endured such great wrestling, 'not against flesh and blood' as it is written, but against opposing demons, as we learned from those who visited him. For there they heard tumults, many voices, and, as it were, the clash of arms. At night they saw the mountain become full of wild beasts, and him also fighting as though against visible beings, and praying against them."
What is Athanasius, Life of Anthony?
This city in the Hijaz, which would eventually be renamed in honor of Muhammad, was an important center of commerce and served as the capital of the Rashidun caliphs.
What is Yathrib (al-Medina an-Nabawiyya)?
These religious rigorists, who were formally rebuked by Augustine of Hippo, declared that any clergy who lapsed during times of persecutions could no longer administer the sacraments.
Who are the Donatists?
The defeat of the emperor Valens near the Thracian city of Adrianople precipitated nearly half a century of unrest in the Balkans, where Roman emperors paid tribute to the Huns and eastern Goths in an attempt to convince them to desist from this practice.
What is kidnapping Roman civilians for ransom?
For nearly fifty years, he harassed and sank Roman merchant vessels approaching the ports of Constantinople, until he was finally captured and killed by local villagers.
Who is Porphyrios the Whale?
"The fact is, I have passed the most delightful time in the most beautiful country in the company of Tonantius Ferreolus and Apollinaris, the most charming hosts in the world. Their estates march together; their houses are not far apart; and the extent of intervening ground is just too far for a walk and just too short to make the ride worthwhile... From the first moment we were hurried from one pleasure to another. Hardly had we entered the vestibule of either house when we saw two opposed pairs of partners in the ball-game repeating each other's movements as they turned in wheeling circles; in another place one heard the rattle of dice boxes and the shouts of the contending players in yet another, were books in abundance ready to your hand; you might have imagined yourself among the shelves of some grammarian, or the tiers of the Athenaeum, or a bookseller's towering cases."
What is Sidonius Apollinaris, Letters from a Gallic Villa?
This capital of the Sasanian dynasty was threatened by the Romans under both Julian and Heraclius but only finally fell in 637 to the armies of the Arabs.
What is Ctesiphon?
The patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, was rebuked by Cyril of Alexandria for his remarks that the Virgin Mary should not hold this title.
What is the Theotokos (God-bearer)?
The Vandal conquest of Africa hastened the collapse of the Roman administration in the west by hampering these two key industries.
What are grain production and shipping/trade?
The capture of the Roman emperor Valerian by the armies of Šapur, part of the ongoing crisis of the third century, was commemorated by this trophy kept in the Sasanian court.
What is Valerian's skin?
"Finding a province which was at peace and enjoying quiet, the whole land beautiful and flowering on all sides, they set to work on it with their wicked forces, laying it waste by devastation and bringing everything to ruin with fire and murders. They did not even spare the fruit-bearing orchards, in case people who had hidden in the caves of mountains or steep places or any remote areas would be able to eat the foods produced by them after they had passed. So it was that no place remained safe from being contaminated by them, as they raged with great cruelty, unchanging and relentless.
In particular, they gave vent to their wicked ferocity with great strength against the churches and basilicas of the saints, cemeteries and monasteries, so that they burned houses of prayer with fires greater than those they used against the cities and all the towns. When they happened to find the doors of a sacred building closed they were keen to open up a way with the blows of their hatchets..."
What is Victor of Vita, The Vandal Persecution?