Editing Late antiquity (section)

{{Short description|Post-classical antiquity in western Eurasia and northern Africa}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Diptych Barberini Louvre OA9063 whole.jpg|thumb|The [[Barberini ivory]], a late [[Leonid dynasty|Leonid]]/[[Justinian dynasty|Justinian]] [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[ivory carving|ivory]] leaf from an imperial [[diptych]], from an imperial workshop in [[Constantinople]] in the first half of the sixth century ([[Louvre]])]]

'''Late antiquity''' marks the period that comes after the end of [[classical antiquity]] and stretches into the onset of the [[Early Middle Ages]]. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by [[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]] in 1971, and this periodization has since been widely accepted. Late antiquity represents a cultural sphere that covered much of the [[Mediterranean world]], including parts of [[Europe]] and the [[Near East]].<ref name="Brown1971">Brown, Peter (1971), ''[[The World of Late Antiquity (1971)|The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150-750]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=EzAFEQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PT18 Introduction]. </ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=James |first=Edward |date=2008 |title=The Rise and Function of the Concept “Late Antiquity” |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/236359 |journal=Journal of Late Antiquity |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=20–30 |issn=1942-1273}}</ref>

Late antiquity was an era of massive political and religious transformation. It marked the origins or ascendance of the three major monotheistic religions: [[Christianity]], [[rabbinic Judaism]], and [[Islam]]. It also marked the ends of both the [[Western Roman Empire]] and the [[Sasanian Empire]], the last Persian empire of antiquity, and the beginning of the [[early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]]. Meanwhile, the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] (Eastern Roman) Empire became a militarized and Christianized society. This was also an era of significant cultural innovation and transformation, such as with the emergence of [[Late antique literature]] and art.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gaudio |first=Andrew |title=Research Guides: Late Antiquity: A Resource Guide: Introduction |url=https://guides.loc.gov/late-antiquity/introduction |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105164657/https://guides.loc.gov/late-antiquity |archive-date=2023-11-05 |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=guides.loc.gov |language=en}}</ref>

When the period precisely began and ended remains a matter of debate, but usually, the beginning of late antiquity is placed in the second or third centuries, and its end somewhere in the sixth to eighth centuries, though the exact timing may vary by region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Peter |title=Late antiquity |last2=Brown |first2=Peter |date=1998 |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-51170-5 |location=Cambridge, Mass. London |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WPkeLkYeUtgC&pg=PA1 1]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.ocla.ox.ac.uk/home |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124121416/https://www.ocla.ox.ac.uk/ |archive-date=2024-01-24 |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=www.ocla.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0"/>