ABSTRACT

For a long time historians took it for granted that the history of memorial culture from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages was characterized by a clear continuity. As a historian of Antiquity, but drawing upon the latest theoretical achievements in the interdisciplinary field of memory and identity studies, Steffen Diefenbach now challenges this view by pointing to significant transformations that went along with the transition of eras. In a series of five case studies on various aspects of the memory of saints and ancient Roman history between 250 and 500 A.D. Diefenbach analyzes the ways in which the social fabric of ancient life was deeply transformed between the 3rd and 6th centuries and how it became dissolved into something new. This process affected not only the topography of the city but also the life and mentality of its inhabitants. New references of memory triggered an accelerating change that eventually lead to the historical end of the ancient city. Diefenbach offers convincing results in regard to various topics and manages to turn them into general insights into a continuous process of transformation.