The End of Antiquity

The End of Antiquity examines the seventh-century struggle that exhausted the eastern Roman and Sasanian empires. Holmes follows Khosrow II’s conquests, Heraclius’s counter-offensive and the destruction caused by a war that moved repeatedly across Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt and Mesopotamia. He also considers plague, economic contraction and the climatic disruption associated with the Late Antique Little Ice Age as pressures on societies already mobilised for prolonged conflict.

The second half turns to the emergence of Islam and the early Muslim conquests after Muhammad’s death. Arab armies defeated Roman and Persian forces, while the caliphate absorbed Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sasanian heartlands. The eastern Roman Empire survived but was reduced to a smaller Byzantine state, while Persia lost its ruling dynasty. Holmes uses this transformation to explain why the seventh century marks a persuasive boundary between antiquity and the medieval Mediterranean.