This is an account of life in ancient Rome from the end of the third century to the beginning of the seventh. At the beginning of the period Rome was an imperial power and the centre of a classical civilisation, albeit with a growing Christian minority. By its end, Rome was a Papal power, the centre of western Christianity – the Pantheon itself was being transformed into a church. The book charts the change in terms of its effect on the city and its environs (the destruction of temples, the building of St Peter’s), the nature and consequences of Vandal and Gothic invasions, the survival and co ... More

This is an account of life in ancient Rome from the end of the third century to the beginning of the seventh. At the beginning of the period Rome was an imperial power and the centre of a classical civilisation, albeit with a growing Christian minority. By its end, Rome was a Papal power, the centre of western Christianity – the Pantheon itself was being transformed into a church. The book charts the change in terms of its effect on the city and its environs (the destruction of temples, the building of St Peter’s), the nature and consequences of Vandal and Gothic invasions, the survival and conversion of the nobility and the plebes, and the long struggle between ancient religions and rituals and Christianity and its consequences for the social and physical fabric of the city. There are chapters on the family and life cycle, the changing measurement of time (a crucial cultural revolution), education, the final years of the games, and the early years of the papacy. The book provides a social history of the city of Rome during a period when its role as the centre of western civilisation was transformed yet, against considerable odds, maintained.