Michael Maas is Professor of History and Classical Studies at Rice University. The focus of his research is late antiquity. His publications include The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Exegesis and Empire in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean (by Mohr Siebeck, translated by Michael Maas, 2003) and Readings in Late Antiquity: A Sourcebook, 2nd edition (2010).