Preliminary Material /Pauline Allen and Elizabeth Jeffreys -- Introduction /Pauline Allen and Elizabeth Jeffreys -- Inheriting the Fifth Century: Who Bequeathed What? /Philip Rousseau -- Writing the Reign of Justinian: Malalas versus Theophanes /Roger Scott -- Procopius and the Samaritans /Katherine Adshead -- Bury, Malalas and the Nika Riot /Michael Jeffreys -- The Chronicle of John Malalas, Book I: A Commentary /Elizabeth Jeffreys -- The Use of Pagan Mythology in the Christian Empire with Particular Reference to the Dionysiaca of Nonnus /Wolfgang Liebeschuetz -- Notes of Christian Epigrams in Book One of the Greek Anthology /Barry Baldwin -- The Reading of Paul the Silentiary /Ian Martlew -- Early Monasticism and Ps. Denys /Daniel Callam -- Impact of St Sabas: The Legacy of Palestinian Monasticism /Kathleen Hay -- Aspects of Spiritual Direction: The Palestinian Tradition /John Chryssavgis -- Junillus Africanus' Instituta Regularia Divinae Legis in its Justinianic Context /Michael Maas -- The Silence of the Sources: The Sixth Century and East-Syrian 'Antiochene ' Exegesis /Corrie Molenberg -- Severus of Antioch and the Homily: The End of the Beginning? /Pauline Allen -- The Sixth Century: A Turning-Point for Byzantine Homiletics? /Mary Cunningham -- Through the Tunnel with Leontius of Jerusalem: The Sixth-Century Transformation of Theology /Patrick Gray -- Christ's Image versus Christology: Thoughts on the Justinianic Era as Threshold of an Epoch /Karl-Heinz Uthemann -- Sixth-Century Art and Architecture in 'Old Rome ': End or Beginning? /Joan Barclay Lloyd -- Sixth-Century Ravenna from the Perspective of Abbot Agnellus /Ann Moffatt -- Forming and Transforming Proto-Byzantine Urban Public Space /Michael Milojević -- Byzantium, Planet Earth and the Solar System /Paul Farquharson -- Climatic Change in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries? /Johannes Koder -- General Index /Pauline Allen and Elizabeth Jeffreys -- Contributors /Pauline Allen and Elizabeth Jeffreys.

Byzantine chronicles have traditionally been regarded as a somewhat inferior form of Byzantine history writing, especially in comparison with 'classicizing' historians. The aim of many of these papers is both to rescue the reputation of the Byzantine chroniclers, especially Malalas and Theophanes, and also to provide some examples of how these two chroniclers in particular can be exploited usefully both to reveal aspects of the past itself, notably of the period of Justinian, and also of how the Byzantines interpreted their own past, which included on occasions rewriting that past to suit altered contemporary needs. For the period of Justinian in particular, proper attention to aspects of the humble Byzantine chronicle can also help achieve a better understanding of the period than that provided by the classicizing Procopius with his emphasis on war and conquest. By considering more general aspects of the place of history-writing in Byzantine culture, the papers also help explain why history remained such an important aspect of Byzantine culture.

In Procopius on Soldiers and Military Institutions in the Sixth-Century Roman Empire, Conor Whately examines Procopius’ coverage of rank-and-file soldiers in his three works, reveals the limitations, and highlights his value to our understanding of recruitment.

Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century is devoted to frontier studies and to the structures of the Arab federates of Byzantium. It deals mainly with the Ghassanids of Oriens in the sixth century, a time of transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. The focus of this study is on the military, religious, and civil structures of the Ghassanids. The detailed study of these buildings contributes to our understanding of Byzantine provincial art and architecture in Oriens, as they were adopted by the federate Arabs and later adapted to their own use. As monuments of Christian architecture, these federate structures constitute the missing link in the development of Arab architecture in the region--the link between the earlier pagan (Nabataean and Palmyrene) and later Muslim (Umayyad).

This volume contains a critical edition and translation of the Coptic texts on Abraham of Farshut, the last Coptic orthodox archimandrite of the Pachomian federation in Upper Egypt. While past studies have focused on the origins and early years of this, the first communal monastic movement, James E. Goehring turns to its final days and ultimate demise in the sixth century reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. He examines the literary nature of the texts, their role in the making of a saint, and the historical events that they reveal. Miracle stories and tendentious accounts give way to the reconstruction of internal debates over the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, political intrigue, and the eventual reordering of the communal monastic movement in Upper Egypt.

An in-depth study of the large mosaic pavement in the East Church at Qasr el-Lebia in Cyrenaica, Libya. Consisting of fifty panels, each panel with a different image, it has frequently been dismissed as random with no overarching scheme. This book argues that the remarkably rich and complex mosaic should be understood as a coherent whole.

In his assessment of the transformation of the Roman World Henri Pirenne assigned little significance to the sixth century, seeing it primarily as a period of continuity. In this volume twelve scholars assess the period in the light of new evidence and new perspectives. The result is an infinitely complex picture, covering Scandinavia and Central Europe as well as the western Mediterranean, in which continuity and change exist side by side.