The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity gathers together eleven essays edited by Geoffrey D. Dunn, largely inquiring into the origins and growth of the Roman bishop's power and authority from Constantine to Gregory the Great. The goal of the collection, as D. says in the Introduction, is to attempt to look at these questions with fresh eyes, seeking to read the evidence on its own terms ‘without the influence of later history’ (2). Teleological readings of the evidence are thus wisely avoided throughout this volume. The only concern that arises is the fact that, in trying so hard to avoid reading the evidence in such a way that any ‘rise of the papacy is inevitable’, it seems, in this volume, not to have happened at all. Nonetheless, each essay is a worthy contribution to the scholarship of the individual bishops and periods addressed.

D. has arranged the essays chronologically into three sections: ‘The Fourth Century’, ‘The Fifth Century’ and ‘The Sixth Century’. After D.’s engaging introduction to both this volume and the world of the late antique Roman episcopate, Glen L. Thompson opens with ‘The Pax Constantiniana and the Roman episcopate’, an investigation of the fourth-century Roman episcopal church building programme, which Thompson reads as being less in competition with domestic churches than a more complementary programme of pastoral oversight. In ‘The bishop of Rome and the martyrs’, Marianne Sághy investigates Damasus' leveraging of martyrs and catacombs to build his prestige and solidify episcopal oversight in the areas of the catacombs. The final two chapters of Part I, ‘Siricius and the rise of the papacy’, by Christian Hornung, and ‘Pope Siricius and Himerius of Tarragona (385): provincial papal intervention in the fourth century’, by Alberto Ferreiro, provide complementary readings of Siricius' letter to Himerius of Tarragona, seeing how this first ‘decretal’ helped develop Rome's bishop's claims to power.

Part II is the longest section, with five chapters. D.’s own chapter, ‘Innocent I and the first synod of Toledo’, is a reading of Innocent's response to the synod. D. argues that Innocent is not acting as a universal authority in canon law in his response, and that Innocent casts any weight his words might have as coming from the Scriptures, the tradition, and the Council of Nicaea. In ch. 6, ‘Reconsidering a relationship: Pope Leo of Rome and Prosper of Aquitaine’, Michele Renee Salzman (hopefully) puts to rest the long debate about Leo and Prosper's relationship; rather than seeing Prosper as Leo's secretary, let alone as the composer of Leo's Tome, Salzman argues that Prosper was not even resident in Rome during Leo's episcopate. As a result, we should instead see Prosper through the lens of other ascetic aristocrats with an interest in theology.

Next, in ‘Narrating papal authority (440–530): the adaptation of Liber Pontificalis to the apostolic see's developing claims’, Philippe Blaudeau demonstrates how crisis at the turn of the sixth century shifted the locus of the Roman bishop's authority and, therefore, its representation in the Liber Pontificalis. Part II closes with two readings of Gelasius I. In ‘Are all universalist politics local? Pope Gelasius I's international ambition as a tonic for local humiliation’, George Demacopoulos argues that Gelasius made his strongest statements of papal authority in inverse proportion to his authority at home. Overall, the argument is strong, but he cites only two moments of resistance. When we consider Gelasius' personality in his wider correspondence, it seems that the resistance argued by Demacopoulous is only one of many influences that led Gelasius to act as he did. Bronwen Neil's chapter, ‘Crisis in the letters of Gelasius I (492–96): a new model of crisis management?’, argues that Gelasius adapted an African model of pastoral care to his Italian context. While Neil draws important parallels from Augustine, reference to other Italian and African bishops would have been useful in assessing the strength of her arguments.

The volume closes with two sixth-century chapters in Part III. The first, by Dominic Moreau, ‘Ipsis diebus Bonifatius, zelo et dolo ductus: the root causes of the double papal election of 22 September 530’, examines the election disputed by Boniface II and Dioscorus upon the death of Felix IV (III) through the lens of Byzantine and Gothic politics, considering the events of earlier disputed elections in the process. Finally, Christopher Hanlon provides us with a case study from the letters of Gregory the Great in his chapter, ‘Gregory the Great and Sicily: an example of continuity and change in the late sixth century’. Although accurate, this final chapter offers nothing new to the study of Gregory.

In sum, this is a volume of excellent essays that, when taken together, show the breadth of issues facing the Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity as well as those who seek to unpack the historiographical traditions. Although the growth of jurisdiction and authority is but palely discernible — and only to the very careful eye — we can see Rome's bishop moving from a period where his authority is working alongside, or in competition with, other local ecclesial structures, to his strong assertions of primacy and his entanglements in imperial policy. Each essay is, furthermore, a worthy contribution to the study of its own smaller topic or bishop. Anyone wishing to expand knowledge of these Roman bishops and the difficulties facing us as we attempt to uncover the truth of the late antique Roman episcopate will profit from this book.