History and Geography in Late Antiquity

by A.H. Merrills

The civilized world witnessed massive political, social and religious change from the fifth century to the eighth century. Geographical and historical thought, long rooted to Roman ideologies, had to adopt new perspectives of late antiquity. Taking their lead from Orosius in the early fifth century, Latin historians turned increasingly to geographical description, as well as historical narrative, to examine the world around them. This book explores the interdependence of geographical and historical modes of expression in four of the most important writers of the Orosius, Jordanes, Isidore of Seville and the Venerable Bede.

Genres: Medieval, Geography

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The curse of the intellectual historian: history I like, geography not so much. Merrills' book treats four histories from the late antique and early medieval periods that share a common literary feature, a dedicated geographical preface to the historical narrative. Merrills really digs down deep on the first text, which served as an inspiration for the other three, Orosius' Seven Books of Histories against the Pagans. I found the treatment of Orosius quite illuminating. I likewise welcomed Merrills' deep knowledge of the geographical tradition, letting his strength shore up my weakness.

I have only two minor quibbles. First, sometimes the connections between the geography and the history didn't seem to be all that deep or straightforward; the significance lies in the overall shape of Orosius' preface, not the details, the reader is told. Second, does focusing on such a limited number of texts, all sharing a common design that wasn't ubiquitous in the period, constitute a selection bias that warps the results of the study?