Susanna Elm and Kristina Sessa, "War and Community in Late Antiquity" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

About this episode

This episode explores the impact of warfare on communities during Late Antiquity, featuring insights from various scholars.

Susanna Elm and Kristina Sessa, War and Community in Late Antiquity (Cambridge UP, 2026) Late Antiquity (ca. 250–600 CE) was a world at war: barbarian migrations, civil wars, raids, and increasingly porous frontiers affected millions of its inhabitants. While military and political historians have long grappled with this history, scholars of late antique society and culture rarely interrogate the consequences of near constant warfare on civilian populations, fighting forces, and the built environment. War and Community in Late Antiquity responds to this oversight by assembling archeologists, art historians, social historians, and scholars of religion to examine the impact of war on communities (households, cities, religious groups, elites and non-elites) and their reactions to ongoing stressors. Topics include the violence of everyday life as backdrop to that of war; the rhetoric of warfare and its significance for Christian authors; the effects of captivity and billeting on households; communal agency and the fortification of civilian spaces; and the challenges of articulating Christian imperial power in wartime. New Books in Late Antiquity is presented by Ancient Jew Review…

People in this episode

Host: Michael Motia

Guests: Susanna Elm, Kristina Sessa

Topics covered

• impact of war on communities
• civilian populations in warfare
• cultural responses to conflict
• Christian authors and warfare rhetoric
• fortification of civilian spaces
• everyday violence in Late Antiquity

Keywords

• Late Antiquity
• warfare
• civilian impact
• Christianity
• community responses
• historical analysis
• archaeology
• social history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of California, Berkeley, The Ohio State University, UMass Boston

Books & works: War and Community in Late Antiquity

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