"In this interesting and suggestive book, Professor MacMullen views anew an important and rather neglected aspect of Roman social relations. A perceptive and sensitive interpreter, he has drawn widely upon the scattered and unorganized evidence about the poorer classes, rural and urban, in much of the Roman Empire, and presents a fresh picture of their conditions, attitudes and aims."--T. Robert S. Broughton
"Ramsay MacMullen's work is always provocative and illuminating. This book is no exception...Through good writing, clear presentation, and outstanding common-sense judgment the author...

"MacMullen...has published several books in recent years which establish him, rightfully, as a leading social historian of the Roman Empire. The current volume exhibits many of the characteristics of its predecessors: the presentation of novel, revisionist points of view...; discrete set pieces of trenchant argument which do not necessarily conform to the boundaries of traditional history; and an impressive, authoritative, and up-to-date documentation, especially rich in primary sources...A stimulating and provocative discourse on Roman paganism as a phenomenon worthy of synthetic...

How did the early Christian church manage to win its dominant place in the Roman world? In his newest book, an eminent historian of ancient Rome examines this question from a secular--rather than an ecclesiastical--viewpoint. MacMullen's provocative conclusion is that mass conversions to Christianity were based more on the appeal of miracle or the opportunity for worldly advantages than simply on a "rising tide of Christian piety."
"Provocative to the Christian religious scholar and the nonreligious historian alike. . . . MacMullen's style is lucid, and the story of a period with its own...

Prominent historian Ramsay MacMullen here offers a new perspective on the decline and fall of Rome. MacMullen argues that a key factor in Rome's fall was the steady loss of focus and control over government as its aims were thwarted for private gain by high-ranking bureaucrats and military leaders. Written in an informal and lively style, his book--the culmination of years of research and thoughtful analysis--provides a fascinating, fresh line of investigation and shows convincingly that the decline of Rome was a gradual, insidious process rather than a climactic event.
"An important book...

The slaughter of animals for religious feasts, the tinkling of bells to ward off evil during holy rites, the custom of dancing in religious services-these and many other pagan practices persisted in the Christian church for hundreds of years after Constantine proclaimed Christianity the one official religion of Rome. In this book, Ramsay MacMullen investigates the transition from paganism to Christianity between the fourth and eighth centuries. He reassesses the triumph of Christianity, contending that it was neither tidy nor quick, and he shows that the two religious systems were both vital...

In this study, Ramsay MacMullen steps aside from the well-worn path that previous scholars have trod to explore exactly how early Christian doctrines became official. Drawing on extensive verbatim stenographic records, he analyzes the ecumenical councils from A.D. 325 to 553, in which participants gave authority to doctrinal choices by majority vote.

During the lifetime of Augustus (from 63 B.C. to A.D. 14), Roman civilization spread at a remarkable rate throughout the ancient world, influencing such areas as art and architecture, religion, law, local speech, city design, clothing, and leisure and family activities. In this vivid book, Ramsay MacMullen investigates why the adoption of Roman ways was so prevalent during this period.
Drawing largely on archaeological sources, MacMullen discovers that during this period more than half a million Roman veterans were resettled in colonies overseas, and an additional hundred or more urban...

Christianity in the century both before and after Constantine s conversion is familiar thanks to the written sources; now Ramsay MacMullen, in his fifth book on ancient Christianity, considers especially the unwritten evidence. He uses excavation reports about hundreds of churches of the fourth century to show what worshipers did in them and in the cemeteries where most of them were built. What emerges, in this richly illustrated work, is a religion that ordinary Christians, by far the majority, practiced in a different and largely forgotten second church. The picture fits with textual...

This remarkable collection of letters invites the reader into the lives of three women as they pursue careers as artists. Like a novel, it contains episodes of great drama, as in the case of the letters in which Mary Way describes her struggles to support herself by painting miniature portraits while fighting advancing blindness. (Thomas Knoles, American Antiquarian Society)