Book Review: Egypt in the Byzantine World 300-700

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

This book's genesis lies in the annual Dumbarton Oaks Spring Symposium in Byzantine Studies, which in 2004 was dedicated to the theme 'Egypt in the Byzantine World, 450-700'. Roger Bagnall subsequently expanded the focus of the symposium and invited further contributions from notable specialists, so that the resultant volume represents a valuable and timely collection of essays which not only outlines the state of the very best contemporary scholarship on late antique Egypt, but also demonstrates the extent to which further work is necessary and indicates what directions may be most fruitful for such future research.

Each essay is followed by a bibliography, and the volume as a whole is rounded off by an index; indices are often lacking in edited volumes of this kind, and its inclusion here will certainly be appreciated by readers seeking references to specific topics addressed across the broad spectrum of the volume's essays.

This is an excellent collection of essays, each of which deserves much more comment than can be reasonably expected here. As a whole the volume covers an extremely wide range of topics across the entire scholarly spectrum of research into Byzantine Egypt, while each contribution successfully offers lucid and penetrating analyses of specific topics. This book will quickly and deservedly find a wide readership among all those interested in Egypt in the Byzantine world, and will no doubt serve as a helpful spur to future research.