The Kelsey Museum has just published volume 6 in the Kelsey Museum Publications series. Entitled Archaeology and the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity, this collection of essays was edited by Ortwin Dally of the German Archaeological Institute and Christopher Ratté of the U-M Department of Classical Studies.

The book takes as its point of departure the city, which was the fundamental social institution of Greek and Roman culture. More than the sack of Rome, the abandonment of provincial towns throughout the Mediterranean world in late antiquity (fourth–seventh centuries AD) marks the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Specifically, this volume examines archaeological evidence for this last phase of urban life in western Asia Minor, one of the Roman empire’s most prosperous regions. Based on the proceedings of a symposium cosponsored by the University of Michigan and the German Archaeological Institute, it brings together studies by an international group of scholars on topics ranging from the public sculpture of Constantinople to the depopulation of the Anatolian countryside in early Byzantine times.

Archaeology and the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity can be purchased by clicking here.