New Books in Italian Studies

Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, "The Idea of the City in Late Antiquity: A Study in Resilience" (Cambridge UP, 2025)


Listen Later

The city was one of the central and defining features of the world of the Greek and Roman Mediterranean. Challenging the idea that the ancient city 'declined and fell', Andrew Wallace-Hadrill argues that memories of the past enabled cities to adapt and remain relevant in the changing post-Roman world. In the new kingdoms in Italy, France and Spain cities remained a key part of the structure of control, while to contemporary authors, such as Cassiodorus in Ostrogothic Italy, Gregory of Tours in Merovingian Gaul, and Isidore in Visigothic Spain, they remained as crucial as in antiquity. The archaeological evidence of New Cities founded in this period, from Constantinople to Reccopolis in Spain, also shows the deep influence of past models. The Idea of the City in Late Antiquity: A Study in Resilience (Cambridge UP, 2025) reveals the adaptability of cities and the endurance of the Greek and Roman world.

  • Sheds fresh light on one of the most important social and cultural developments in the transition from classical antiquity to the world of the Middle Ages
  • Explores developments through the eyes of contemporary writers and documents as well as the archaeological record
  • Of interest to all those concerned with how cities can adapt in a radically changing world
  • ANDREW WALLACE-HADRILL is Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Classics at the University of Cambridge and an Emeritus Fellow of Sidney Sussex College. He is a Roman cultural historian and his books include Suetonius: The Scholar and His Caesars (1983), Augustan Rome (1993), Houses and Society in Pompeii and Herculaneum (1994), Rome's Cultural Revolution (Cambridge, 2008) and Herculaneum: Past and Future (2011). Former Director of the British School at Rome, he has directed archaeological projects at Pompeii and Herculaneum. This book is the result of his project on the Impact of the Ancient City, which received funding from the European Research Council.


    Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube channelTwitter.

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/italian-studies

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    New Books in Italian StudiesBy Marshall Poe

    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7
    • 4.7

    4.7

    7 ratings


    More shows like New Books in Italian Studies

    View all
    Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

    Global News Podcast

    7,752 Listeners

    History Extra podcast by Immediate Media

    History Extra podcast

    3,204 Listeners

    The Political Scene | The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

    The Political Scene | The New Yorker

    3,913 Listeners

    Explaining History by Nick Shepley

    Explaining History

    71 Listeners

    Dan Snow's History Hit by History Hit

    Dan Snow's History Hit

    4,619 Listeners

    Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.

    Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

    1,043 Listeners

    The Daily by The New York Times

    The Daily

    111,110 Listeners

    WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk by Goalhanger

    WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

    1,295 Listeners

    Il podcast di Alessandro Barbero: Lezioni e Conferenze di Storia by A cura di: Fabrizio Mele

    Il podcast di Alessandro Barbero: Lezioni e Conferenze di Storia

    194 Listeners

    The Ancients by History Hit

    The Ancients

    2,916 Listeners

    The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

    The Ezra Klein Show

    15,037 Listeners

    Gone Medieval by History Hit

    Gone Medieval

    1,715 Listeners

    Not Just the Tudors by History Hit

    Not Just the Tudors

    1,916 Listeners

    Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society by History Hit

    Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

    1,152 Listeners

    The News Agents by Global

    The News Agents

    991 Listeners