Originally published as Imperial Rome and Christian Triumph: the Art of the Roman Empire ad 100–450, this thematic study presents how Christian art grew from well-established Roman traditions. Although the title has been modified and 20 years have passed since the first edition, the revised edition contains only minor revisions to the existing text. These minor changes include updating the bibliographic essay to include some of the relevant English-language scholarship published in the last 20 years and elevating three subsections to sections that are now listed in the table of contents (Chapter 4: ‘The Elite’; Chapter 8: ‘An Official Religion and its Public Presence’ and ‘Sanctity, Relics, and Christianization’). The useful timeline at the back of the book remains unaltered while the index is expanded and improved, and many images have been replaced with new views of the same object, group of objects or monument. Only two objects have been replaced with new examples (figs 24 and 125).

The one addition to the original text is a new chapter that has been added before the epilogue (Chapter 9: ‘The Eurasian Context’). This chapter focuses on the trade of luxury goods and religious ideas and adds an insightful dimension to the late antique art discussed in the other chapters of the book. E. discusses not only the effect of goods and ideas travelling the Silk Road and Indian Ocean trade routes on Roman people and goods in the Mediterranean, but also the influence of Roman people, imagery and goods in Persia and the empires of India and China. Exotic raw materials, including gems, jewels, ivory, spices and silk textiles, were signs of cultural prestige and important commodities of Roman elite life. Likewise, finished goods and raw materials from the Mediterranean, including pearls, silver, glass, wine and oil, were delivered to elites in eastern cultures along the same trade routes and had a similar impact. These trade routes also facilitated the transmission of stories and fables, philosophers and holy men; and E. suggests that Christian monasteries and hermit communities in the desert may have been inspired by Buddhist monastic communities. He also discusses how Greco-Roman iconography and forms are assimilated into Sassanid political imagery and Asian religions. Like the original chapters, this additional chapter explores the simultaneous transformation and continuity in artistic traditions and manifestations of secular and religious power. E. argues that the multicultural trade in religious texts, visual imagery and ideas facilitated the religious transformations occurring throughout Eurasia.

E.'s faith in the staying power of the original text is borne out. Published as part of the Oxford History of Art series and originally aimed at a general audience, this revised edition is suitable for graduate students and undergraduates with a solid background in the material.