Late Antique literature

Late Antique literature is literature that was composed during the period of Late Antiquity, a period of time that spans from the third to seventh centuries AD. This literature was written in many languages including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Pahlavi, Arabic, and more. Despite twentieth-century prejudices about the era as one of a period of decline, literature in late antiquity was highly productive and innovative and brought about new genres of texts, new avenues for literary productions, new textual functions, and new reading practices. The most important force causing change in literature during this time was the political and cultural rise of Christianity, which remade older genres in the classical canon and interweaved them with a new canon of scriptural texts and liturgy. Furthermore, the end of Late Antiquity saw the last major representatives of Greek and Latin poetry, whereas poetry in other languages (like Syriac poetry) began to flourish.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* Syriac literature

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ McGill & Watts 2018.

### Sources

[edit]

* McGill, Scott; Watts, Edward J. (2018). "Introduction". In McGill, Scott; Watts, Edward (eds.). A Companion to Late Antique Literature. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 3–8.3-8&rft.pub=Wiley-Blackwell&rft.date=2018&rft.aulast=McGill&rft.aufirst=Scott&rft.au=Watts,+Edward+J.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Late+Antique+literature" class="Z3988">

## Further reading

[edit]

* Allen, Pauline; Neil, Brownen (2020). Greek and Latin Letters in Late Antiquity: The Christianisation of a Literary Form. Cambridge University Press.
* Faulkner, Andrew; O'Hogan, Cillian; Wickes, Jeffrey T., eds. (2022). Genesis in Late Antique Poetry. Catholic University of America Press.
* Greatrex, Geoffrey; Elton, Hugh; McMahon, Lucas, eds. (2015). Shifting Genres in Late Antiquity. Ashgate.
* Guerra, Christina; Kersten, Markus; Stähle, Anna-Kathrin, eds. (2024). The Dynamics of Paratextuality in Late Antique Literature. Bloomsbury.
* Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald, ed. (2016). Greek Literature in Late Antiquity: Dynamism, Didacticism, Classicism. Taylor & Francis.
* Lefteratou, Anna; Hadjittofi, Fotini, eds. (2020). The Genres of Late Antique Christian Poetry: Between Modulations and Transpositions. De Gruyter.