Disaster in Late Antiquity: A Cultural and Material History

FAIN: FEL-281583-22

Kristina Marie Sessa
Ohio State University (Columbus, OH 43210-1349)

Research and writing leading to a book on natural and man-made disasters in Late Antiquity (ca 250 – 700 CE).

This book is the first cultural and material study of human-made and natural disasters in Late Antiquity (ca 250 – 700 CE). Focusing on the fourth to seventh centuries CE and on the tri-continental expanse of the late Roman Empire, it places disaster at the center of analysis, and investigates how late ancient Romans from across the socio-economic spectrum variously perceived and experienced disasters like warfare, climate change, earthquakes, and pandemics. Instead of approaching disaster as the primary variable driving a predetermined narrative of “decline and fall,” this study presents a multi-scalar, differential history of disaster, and shows how it led to a variety of outcomes that were directly related to social and political status, available economic resources, religious identity, gender, and geographic location.