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This book offers a collection of essays on Byzantine Italy, the area from which we have inherited the richest and best-preserved historical evidence among all of the regions of the former Eastern Roman Empire up to the 11th century. The collection aims to provide readers with a critical overview of current research as well as new insights concerning political, institutional, economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects of the Italian regions under Byzantine rule. The methodological approach of the volume combines history with archaeology and art history, while remaining focused on the general framework of the early medieval Mediterranean. The result is a fresh and up-to-date synthesis that can be useful both for specialists and students. Contributors are: Lucia Arcifa, Paul Arthur, Isabella Baldini, Massimo Bernabò, Brunella Bruno, Salvatore Cosentino, Nathaniel Cutajar, Francesco D'Aiuto, Paola Degni, Deborah Deliyannis, Vera von Falkenhausen, Sauro Gelichi, Federico Marazzi, Jean-Marie Martin, Alessandra Molinari, Enrico Morini, Annliese Nef, Ghislaine Noye, Annick Peters-Custot, Vivien Prigent, Mario Re, Denis Sami, Pier Giorgio Spanu, and Enrico Zanini. See inside the book.

A riveting history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman EmpireAt the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital. Bringing this extraordinary history marvelously to life, Judith Herrin rewrites the history of East and West in the Mediterranean world before the rise of Islam and shows how, thanks to Byzantine influence, Ravenna played a crucial role in the development of medieval Christendom.Drawing on deep, original research, Herrin tells the personal stories of Ravenna while setting them in a sweeping synthesis of Mediterranean and Christian history. She narrates the lives of the Empress Galla Placidia and the Gothic king Theoderic and describes the achievements of an amazing cosmographer and a doctor who revived Greek medical knowledge in Italy, demolishing the idea that the West just descended into the medieval'Dark Ages.'Beautifully illustrated and drawing on the latest archaeological findings, this monumental book provides a bold new interpretation of Ravenna's lasting influence on the culture of Europe and the West.

LI'Premio / Award Daria Borghese'. The research on'The Eastern Part of the Mons Oppius in Rome'presented here has been conducted since March 1981 in close cooperation with the Musei Capitolini, the Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali of the Comune di Roma, now Roma Capitale, and other partners. It deals with the part of the Esquiline which in antiquity was occupied by a number of sanctuaries and the adjacent Horti of Maecenas. Since her first publication 30 years ago, the author has studied the archaeological finds from this area in depth, but in order to understand their historical contexts it became necessary to consider the topography of a much wider area. The results therefore include contributions to the `Esquiline Venus, to the bust of Commodus as Hercules Romanus (both Roma, Musei Capitolini), and the dating of the `Esquiline Group (Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek), as well as a reconstruction of the Servian city wall between the `Auditorium of Maecenas and the Porta Capena. The accompanying maps, drawn by the author, are based on the photogrammetric data of Roma Capitale which were generously provided by the Sovraintendente ai Beni Culturali of Roma Capitale. After a chapter on the methodological approach, the text is divided into two parts:'Topography and excavations', with a topographical survey of the research area, and'Discussion of selected archaeological finds'.

'Also represents volume 115 of the Publications of the Diaspora Research Institute, the School of Jewish Studies, Tel Aviv University'--Vol. 1, p. vii. Vol. 2 is v. 140 of the same.