In this history of the late antique period, which appeared earlier in the five-volume series A History of Private Life, Peter Brown shows the slow shift from one form of public community to another--from the ancient city to the Christian church. In the four centuries between Marcus Aurelius (161-180) and Justinian (527-565), the Mediterranean world passed through a series of profound transmutations that affected the rhythms of life, the moral sensibilities, and the sense of the self of the inhabitants of its cities, and of the countryside around them.

'I love your verse with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett . . . and I love you too,' Robert Browning wrote in January 1845, thus initiating the most celebrated literary correspondence of the nineteenth century. During their courtship, Elizabeth privately wrote a series of forty-four sonnets to Robert, which she disclosed to no one -- not even to him -- until three years after their marriage. The poems were later collected in a volume entitled Sonnets form the Portuguese. In this elegant new edition, the poems are accompanied by relevant excerpts from Elizabeth and Robert's love letters. With an introduction by biographer Julia Markus, this volume will be a valued resource for the poetry scholar and those wanting wise and lyrical guidance in matters of love.

The Christianization of the Roman world lies at the root of modern Europe. Peter Brown's fascinating study examines the factors that proved decisive and the compromises that made the emergence of the Christian conception of existence possible: how the old gods of the Roman Empire could be reinterpreted as symbols to further the message of the Church. Peter Brown also shows how Christian holy men were less representative of a triumphant faith than negotiators of a working compromise between the new faith and traditional ways of dealing with the supernatural worlds.

Un potere centrale distante e autoritario, una classe dirigente corrotta e violenta, una rete di cittą sospese tra lealtą e rivolta: i meccanismi del potere e le sue trasformazioni nel passaggio dall'impero romano a quello cristiano.

Peter Brown presents a masterly history of Roman society in the second, third, and fourth centuries. Brown interprets the changes in social patterns and religious thought, breaking away from conventional modern images of the period.

Questo libro, da molti considerato l'opera pił importante dell'autore, si propone come una storia del corpo umano e dei suoi rapporti con il cristianesimo nella tarda antichitą. Analizzando i comportamenti sessuali nell'area dell'antico Mediterraneo e del Vicino Oriente, e attraversando le grandi elaborazioni teoriche, tra gli altri, di Tertulliano, Valentino, Clemente Alessandrino, Origene, Costantino, i Padri del deserto, Gerolamo, Ambrogio e Agostino, Peter Brown traccia un quadro illuminante e suggestivo delle pratiche dell'astinenza perpetua, del celibato e della castitą quali elementi fondamentali di affermazione della religione cristiana e decisivo motore di trasformazione dei rapporti tra uomini e donne. Nell'ampia introduzione che accompagna la riedizione del volume a distanza di vent'anni dalla prima uscita, Peter Brown ricostruisce e discute le reazioni suscitate sulla comunitą degli storici, degli storici del pensiero religioso e dei filosofi da un libro divenuto un classico della ricerca contemporanea.