Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Review of Memories of utopia: the revision of histories and landscapes in Late Antiquity (ed. Bronwen & Simic),

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Memories of utopia: the revision of histories and landscapes in Late Antiquity.
Bronwen Neil, Kosta Simic, Memories of utopia: the revision of histories and landscapes in Late Antiquity. Routledge monographs in classical studies. London; New York: Routledge, 2019. Pp. 284. ISBN 9781138328679 $155.00.

Review by
Hope Williard, University of Lincoln. hwilliard@lincoln.ac.uk

Notable for PaleoJudaica:
Strickler’s chapter how the Christian and Jewish writers sought to explain the events and changes of the seventh century through apocalyptic discourse that frequently invoked visions of dystopia while remaining hopeful for a brighter future. An ideal but unrealized future characterizes utopian thinking, so this struck me as a productive and intriguing way to approaching late antique apocalypticism.

11. Ryan W. Strickler, Paradise regained? Utopias of deliverance in seventh-century apocalyptic discourse, 171-188

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