Vodka at Versailles

 

A brief history of the transition from the ancient world to the early medieval. Nixey never fails to hold interest. She has an eye for telling anecdotes that illustrate the larger collapse of classical learning in the face of Christian bullying, either the purely intellectual fulminations of an Augustine or the brutal physical attacks of roaming mobs of "monks." Her outrage over the enormous loss of art and books is palpable. Nixey estimates that 90% of classical books were destroyed, an incalculable loss to western civilization. She provides an antidote to the bromide that the monks saved civilization, correctly pointing out that the books that were saved hardly illustrated the breadth of learning that were hallmarks of Greek and Roman civilization. Nor does she idealize classical philosophers. But she makes excellent points about the tolerance extended to Christians throughout most of the pre-Constantinian empire. Roman officials were usually exasperated by them as much as anything. Nixey demolishes a great deal of the martyr hagiography that the early Church used to fuel its expansion.

I would have liked more discussion about the rapidity of Christian expansion. Nixey assumes that many of the conversions were the result of a populace cowed by the violence directed at temples. Fair enough, but at the same time it still leaves a religious belief system that lasted millennia evaporating in roughly three centuries.

Highly recommended as a bracing correction of the traditional view of Christianity's rise. However, it is too short to provide in-depth analysis. It will leave the interested reader leafing through her bibliography, which I suspect was the goal of this book.