The World of Late Antiquity

Peter Brown's 1971 landmark study that established 'Late Antiquity' as a distinct historical period — arguing against Gibbon that the transformation from Rome to medieval Europe was a creative cultural achievement rather than simply a decline — focusing on the rise of Christianity, Neoplatonism, and new forms of holy man and religious authority.

Established Late Antiquity as a positive creative period — Brown's rejection of Gibbon's decline framework demonstrated that the 3rd–7th centuries were not simply Rome's death throes but a period of extraordinary religious and cultural creativity in which new forms of sanctity, community, and meaning-making were invented.