This handsome two-volume set is a welcome companion to the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium and the Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. As a relatively recent field of study in academic research, it is perhaps not surprising that the field of Late Antiquity has been accorded an Oxford Dictionary rather later than the comparable reference works for the classical world, Byzantium and the middle ages; the OCD was first published in 1949, the OCB in 1991, and the OCMA in 2010. Yet this is a timely publication, particularly given the current boom in Late Antique studies. Furthermore, the ODLA is all the more valuable and significant for OUP's simultaneous publication of an online edition, which will allow much larger numbers of students to access it through university libraries than would otherwise have been the case if published in hard copy only.
The ODLA begins with a short preface explaining the aims of the volume and its intention to provide ‘easily accessible information’ in alphabetical order, regarding the history, religion, literature and physical remains of Late Antiquity. ‘Late Antiquity’ is in itself a term used rather flexibly in modern scholarship, and one that has engendered much debate over issues of ‘periodisation’ in recent decades (see e.g. A. Cameron, ‘Late Antiquity and Byzantium: an Identity Crisis’, BMGS 40 [2016], 27–37; A. Marcone, ‘A Long Late Antiquity? Considerations on a Controversial Periodization’, JLA 1 [2008], 4–19), but is simply and straightforwardly explained here as ‘the half-millennium between the mid-third and mid-eighth century ad in Europe, North Africa, and Western and Central Asia’ (p. vi). Such clarity is all the more valuable in a reference work intended for consultation by students who may be delving into Late Antiquity for the first time and who may be unfamiliar with the controversy that attempts to define the term have encountered.
It is further explained in the preface that the focus of the ODLA is on relations between the two great superpowers of Late Antiquity, the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire, and their civilisations, but that considerable attention is also accorded to a broad range of civilisations and cultures beyond these two superpowers, including groups within their borders, such as Armenian, Coptic and Syriac speakers, and beyond, including Ethiopia, the Arabian Peninsula, central Asia, central Europe and Ireland. Chronologically the most recent entries in the ODLA, it is noted, are those concerning the Umayyad Caliphate. This variety and richness of content is, as the editor points out, one of the great pleasures of studying Late Antiquity – it is also, it should be noted, in keeping with recent trends in the field, which have sought to emphasise the idea of a ‘Global Late Antiquity’, not limited to the Mediterranean, Graeco-Roman world (see e.g. the stated aim of the recent new Studies in Late Antiquity journal launched in 2017).
The ODLA boasts an impressive list of contributors, written by a good range of experts in the field. Entries frequently conclude with recommendations of further reading, often including both ancient and modern sources, which will be extremely valuable to students looking to pursue a topic further. Overall, entries relating to individuals tend to be relatively short (in contrast to entries on themes or regions, for example), which is reasonable given the existence of other resources such as the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, which provide more in-depth analysis of source material relating to individuals, at least for the Graeco-Roman world. There are some exceptions to this trend, however – Constantine I, for instance, has a substantial entry of 2000 words, which is understandable, although one cannot help but feel some of his fellow emperors thereafter are a little short-changed (e.g. Valentinian I with less than 500 words, Theodosius I at only 1000 words, Theodosius II with less than 400 words and even Justinian with a mere 1000 – although this is rather oddly supplemented by a further, separate entry of 150 words on this emperor as a theologian, leaving it unclear why this information was not incorporated into the overall entry on Justinian). It should be noted that the online version of the ODLA also includes some errors or problems in its cross-referencing of imperial figures: for example, the entry for Valentinian I appears to offer a cross-reference to his father Gratian (for whom there is in fact no entry), which is in reality a link to the entry on Valentinian I's son Gratian; similarly, the same entry provides a cross-reference to Valens which does not link to Valentinian's brother-emperor but to a commander under Licinius of the same name.
Inevitably the editor of such a vast work must make choices about the range and length of topics covered. Yet a particular strength of the ODLA’s entries on individuals, and a point of difference with the PLRE, is its inclusion of ecclesiastical as well as secular figures (whereas PLRE focuses on the secular only). Students in introductory Late Antiquity courses are highly likely to encounter figures such as Augustine of Hippo, Eusebius of Caesarea or Jerome in their research, and their inclusion in the ODLA will offer a quick way in to understanding the lives and works of these early church figures and the contexts in which they operated.
To offer an idea of the breadth of the ODLA, entries under ‘A’ occupy a substantial 190 pages of Volume 1, with topics ranging from major inscriptions (e.g. the Abydos customs inscription from the reign of Anastasius), to church schisms (e.g. the Acacian Schism), to issues of accessio (the accession to the purple), acclamations, a myriad of different topics in relation to administration (including Roman, Persian and Islamic, and various sub-topics under each), specific locations such as Adrianople and Africa, themes such as philosophy and science at Alexandria, allegory and interpretation in art, and historical events including the Arab conquests.
It would be impossible to comment on all entries in this immense work, so I will highlight instead some of those I found most interesting or unexpected. It was particularly helpful to find many issues of social life included in the dictionary, such as ‘abortion and contraception’, entries on ‘bees and honey’, ‘begging’ and ‘bells’ – used both for animals and in churches. The topic of ‘eyes’ and issues such as ‘infanticide and the exposure of children’ also merit a mention, while ‘iron and ironworking’, ‘kiss’, ‘pack animals’, ‘sanitation and hygiene’, ‘sheep’, ‘trousers’ and ‘youth organisations’ are entries that might come as a surprise, but have much to offer in understanding the social, economic and cultural context of the Late Antique period.
Such topics might be frequently overlooked in a shorter reference work or a handbook-type volume, more often structured around interpretative essays on major themes, rather than the comprehensive coverage of life in Late Antiquity at which the ODLA is aiming. It must be noted that many of these topics are not, of course, unique to the Late Antique period – structural elements such as ‘roofs’ or agricultural aspects such as ‘landscape and landscape change’ are naturally common to most, if not all, historical periods. But these topics are valid inclusions for a dictionary aiming at a comprehensive picture, for the particular reason that the authors of these entries are almost always concerned to ensure their commentary includes specific reference to developments relating to their topics in Late Antiquity. The entry on roofs, for example, takes care to discuss the most common types of roof tiles used in Late Antiquity and the depiction of roofs in well-known Late Antique mosaics. The material world is well covered in this publication, with entries on major archaeological artefacts featuring heavily (e.g. ‘Arras hoard’, ‘Barberini diptych’). The authors of key literary sources are also accorded entries (e.g. Jordanes, Orosius). The inclusion not only of political and literary, but also of social, cultural, economic and material topics is a real strength of this publication.
The coverage of such topics does not mean that more conventional entries, such as ‘barbarian migrations’, ‘emperor’, ‘court, Roman imperial’, ‘Senate of Rome’, ‘Senate of Constantinople’ and ‘Theodosian Code’ are neglected; these headings too are usually covered carefully and with helpful direction to further, more detailed analyses. From the point of view of a political historian, I would have been glad to see more attention given to topics such as dynasty (which does not receive an entry) and a more consistent coverage of the different ruling dynasties of the era (e.g. the Merovingians rate an entry, while the Constantinian and Theodosian dynasties do not). Similarly, while many Roman imperial women are accorded individual entries, there are also significant omissions: for example, Constantia (the posthumous daughter of Constantius II and later the wife of the emperor Gratian), Flaccilla (the first wife of Theodosius I and mother of emperors Arcadius and Honorius) as well as Galla (the daughter of Valentinian I, second wife of Theodosius I and mother of Galla Placidia), and Maria and Thermantia (the first and second wives of the emperor Honorius) are all absent. While it is the case that some of these women receive their own entries in the OCD, that is also true of many individual male figures covered by the ODLA, so is not an obvious reason for exclusion. Given the inclusion of their spouses in the ODLA, the existence of (in some cases) considerable source material concerning the activities of these women, and indeed entries for arguably more obscure male figures of the era about whom much less is known (e.g. Albinus junior or the short-lived usurper of 409–411, Maximus), this is disappointing. This is not to say that such male figures did not merit inclusion, but simply that it would have been good to see a more comprehensive approach taken with regard to imperial women and their individual contributions, particularly given that the detailed and helpful entry on the office of ‘empress’ rightly emphasises their evolving roles and potential for influence in the Late Antique era.
The entries also clearly aim at achieving a wide geographical and cultural coverage, consistent with the purpose stated in the preface (as noted above). To this end, one can find entries on, for example, ‘China’, as well as ‘Christianity in China and Central Asia’, ‘India and Ceylon’, ‘Irish language and literature’, the ‘Isle of Man’, ‘Jafnids’ and ‘Khotanese language and literature’. Some of these entries are fairly brief acknowledgements of what are in themselves immense topics, but in a work of this scale this is to be expected, since choices must be made about what does or does not merit inclusion or substantial comment. The section on different interpretations of the Bible and its commentaries in Coptic, Greek, Islamic, Jewish, Latin, Syriac and pagan as well as its different language versions in Late Antiquity was, I felt, particularly useful for students and scholars approaching a complex but significant area of religious debate in Late Antiquity.
At times complex entries are broken down into multiple sub-entries, which provide bite-size discussions rather than an overwhelming dialogue. These include for example: ‘magic, Persian empire and central Asia’, ‘magic and divination, Arabian and Islamic’, ‘magic and divination, barbarian’, ‘magic and divination, Celtic’, ‘magic and divination, Jewish’, ‘magic and divination, Persian’, ‘magic and divination, Roman and post-Roman, Christian’, ‘magic and divination, Roman and post-Roman, pagan and general’, and similarly: ‘marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage, Arab and Islamic’, ‘marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage, Central Asian’, ‘marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage, Jewish’, ‘marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage, Persian’, ‘marriage, adultery, divorce and remarriage, Roman, Germanic barbarian and post-Roman’.
With such careful and comprehensive coverage of many topics, however, I found it puzzling that while ‘military organisation, Germanic’ was given an individual entry, there was no corresponding entry for ‘military organisation, Roman’ (or indeed, ‘military organisation, Sasanian’ or ‘military organisation, Islamic’). Yet earlier in the ODLA, one can find individual entries on ‘armies, barbarian’, ‘armies, Islamic’, ‘armies, Roman’, ‘armies and military administration, Persian’, which do generally provide information on their respective military administrations. It is surprising to find these topics separated from the ‘military organisation, Germanic’ entry, and it would have been useful to the reader to include cross-references at this point to the earlier entries to be found under ‘armies’.
The ODLA is clearly a product of its time. This is reflected – and appropriately so – in the coverage of topics that are matters of current (and sometimes fierce) debate in the field, but which would have been unlikely to be included only a few decades ago. To take just one example, the issue of climate change in Late Antiquity is accorded a number of pertinent entries, such as ‘climate and climate change’ itself as well as the ‘Dust Veil of 536’, the entry on ‘landscape and landscape change’ and on ‘natural disasters’. For the modern student, much more likely to encounter debates on climatic events and their impact on Late Antique society than their predecessors (e.g. K. Harper's controversial The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of Empire [2017], and the responses published by J. Haldon, H. Elton, S. Huebner, A. Izdebski, L. Mordechai and T. Newfield in History Compass 16 [2018]), these are important additions, although this is undoubtedly a field in which research will continue to move swiftly over the years to come. It is unclear whether the ODLA is likely to be re-issued with updates (as the OCD, now in its 4th edition in print, has been), but if so, this will be an area likely to need further consideration in future editions as archaeological and scientific methods of identifying and interpreting climate events in antiquity continue to evolve. The publication of the ODLA as an online resource makes this potential for update a distinct possibility and a further strength of the work.
The ODLA concludes with useful lists of Late Antique rulers, beginning with ‘Principal Roman emperors and usurpers’ (from Decius in the mid-third century to Constantine V Copronymus in the mid-eighth), followed by ‘Barbarian kings’, ‘Persian kings of kings of the Sasanian dynasty’ and finally ‘Caliphs’. The list of Roman rulers is accompanied by references to their PLRE entries, again helpfully directing readers to further information. Further lists are then provided of the ‘Bishops of the Five Great Patriarchal Sees’, again offering a useful overview.
Perhaps inevitably, there are some occasional overlaps in material covered by the ODLA and the OCD, ODB and ODMA, particularly relating to certain individuals or themes that are not unique to the Late Antique period. Yet this is unsurprising, given that Late Antiquity is an era that reaches both forwards and backwards in its influence and range, as the debates surrounding its definition have highlighted. Overall, and notwithstanding minor issues of organisation, consistency or choice of length accorded to different topics, this is a monumental and intensely valuable publication. It will without question become a key starting point for many students and scholars embarking on study of the period (or its particular aspects), providing excellent succinct and clear overviews of essential topics. It is a beautifully produced, significant contribution to the field and should be an essential purchase for all university libraries.
