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“A stimulating exploration of how conflict, communal ritual, and memory—especially as curated by historians of Late Antiquity—contributed to the creation of 'imperial Christianity.' Well-grounded in the sources, theoretically informed, and engagingly written, Constantinople shows how the religious landscape of this city was transformed in a little over one hundred years. A valuable addition to scholarship on Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries."—Elizabeth A. Clark, John Carlisle Kilgo Professor Emerita, Duke University
“Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos shows that ancient history, especially Late Antiquity, can be rebuilt not as a ‘dead reality’ but as a ‘lived life’ emerging from slow transformations, including not only violence and abuse but also cohabitation and dialogue. Her study of Constantinople demonstrates how reading ancient history can bear good fruits for the present.”—Rita Lizzi Testa, Professor of Roman History, University of Perugia, Italy
“A perceptive and cogently argued account of how Constantinople became Christianized. Falcasantos starts with the religious and ritual context of the city as Constantine himself might have found it and continues by analyzing its changing religious topography over the course of the long fourth century. It will be a popular choice for seminars and courses on Late Antiquity, Byzantium, or the late Roman Empire.”—Elizabeth Digeser, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
List of contents
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Religion in Late Antiquity
2. The Founding of a City
3. Violence and the Politics of Memory
4. Cult Practice as a Technology of Social Construction
5. Imperial Piety and the Writing of Christian History
Conclusion: The Making of a Christian City
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos is Assistant Professor of Religion at Amherst College. Her research focuses on the intersection of religious practices, rhetoric, and contestations over cultural dominance in the late Roman East.
