Intercultural Exchange in Late Antique Historiography

Late Antiquity is the land of plenty for scholars interested in intercultural exchange, and yet the subject still lacks systematical investigation. The study of late antique historiography allows for a particularly rewarding approach. Late antique historiographical texts testify to contemporary attitudes towards contacts between different cultures, religions, languages; but they were also impacted by intercultural exchange, mostly in the form of translation or adaptation of sources imported from other cultural areas. The six contributions gathered in this volume present case studies focused on the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, crossing religious, linguistic and political borders in a chronological framework that goes from the fourth to the eleventh centuries. Besides showcasing the results that can be harvested with such a twofold analytical approach to late antique historiography, they also pinpoint the methodological challenges researchers are likely to meet when venturing in the mainly uncharted field of intercultural exchange in Late Antiquity.