Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Overview of Previous Scholarship 4
Text Transmission in Antiquity 8
Factors Affecting the Transmission of Texts 10
1 The Great Persecution, the Emperor Julian and Christian Reactions 24
1.1 Laws against Astrologers and Magicians before the Fourth Century 24
1.2 The Great Persecution 27
1.3 Constantine 31
1.4 Christian Reactions to the Great Persecution 35
1.5 Julian and the Constantinian Dynasty 54
1.6 Christian Reactions to the Emperor Julian 57
1.7 Conclusion 60
2 Fahrenheit AD 451 - Imperial Legislation and Public Authority 62
2.1 Magic Trials under the Emperor Valens 64
2.2 The Theodosian Dynasty 69
2.3 Philosophy and Astrology 77
2.4 Curiosity and Illness 85
2.5 Rutilius Namatianus and the Burning of the Sibylline Books 91
2.6 Magic and Hellenist Trials in the Fifth Century 93
2.7 Codex Justinianus 96
2.8 Religious Inquisitions in the Age of Justinian 102
2.9 Conclusion 109
3 Holy Men, Clerics and Ascetics 111
3.1 Book-Burning in the Acts of the Apostles 111
3.2 Ecclesiastical Law in Late Antiquity 114
3.3 Philosophy and Heresy 116
3.4 Zacharias' Life of Severus 124
3.5 "I Give You Power to Trample on Serpents" 132
3.6 Individuals Renouncing their Past 137
3.7 Philosophy and Magic 144
3.8 Conclusion 146
4 Materialist Philosophy 149
4.1 Materialist Philosophies in Late Antiquity 151
4.2 Christianity and Ancient Materialist Philosophy 157
4.3 Augustine's Letter to Dioscorus 163
4.4 The Eschatological Cities of Babylon and Jerusalem 174
4.5 Prudentius and Epicurus 182
4.6 Polemics against Materialist Philosophies in the East 186
4.7 Conclusion 195
5 Moral Disapproval of Literary Genres 198
5.1 John Chrysostom and the Decline of Ancient Philosophy 200
5.2 Libanius' Complaints 209
5.3 The Decline of Libraries in Rome 212
5.4 The Jerome-Rufinus Controversy 217
5.5 Christianity and Classical Literature 220
5.6 Christianity and Paideia 231
5.7 Conclusion 235
6 Destruction of Libraries 238
6.1 A Temple Destroyed in Antioch 239
6.2 The Palatine Library in Rome 241
6.3 The Library of Alexandria 243
6.4 The Sack of Rome 256
6.5 The Library of Constantinople 258
6.6 Conclusion 260
7 The Post-Roman Successor States 262
7.1 Burning and Confiscation of Books after the Fall of Rome 263
7.2 Ecclesiastical Law 278
7.3 Isidore of Seville 281
7.4 Membra Disiecta 289
7.5 Conclusion 294
Conclusion 296
Bibliography 303
Primary literature 303
Secondary literature 310
Index of persons 325
Subject index 330
Index of passages 338
