Roma all’inizio del Medioevo. Storie, luoghi, persone (secoli VI–IX). By PaoloDelogu. Rome: Carocci editore. 2022. 427 pp. + 9 b/w figs. €44. ISBN 978 88 290 1696 9 (paperback).

Long neglected in the historiography of the city of Rome, the period of the early Middle Ages (roughly the sixth through ninth centuries) has all too often been dismissed as a ‘dark age’ devoid of importance. But recent decades have witnessed a dramatic resurgence of interest, abetted by substantial new archaeological discoveries at sites such as the Crypta Balbi and the imperial Fora. Increasingly, this era is coming to be regarded as a critical formative moment which set the stage for the history of the Christian church in western Europe for many centuries thereafter. A number of scholars have recently expressed the hope for a more integrated synthesis of the documentation available from a combination of three distinct categories of historical evidence – written texts, archaeology, and standing remains – in contrast to earlier highly siloed approaches, but until now few have dared to take on such a formidable challenge. Known primarily as a political and economic historian, Paolo Delogu has long pioneered a more expansive approach to the city’s history, most importantly embracing the broad field of material culture as primary evidence for economic activity, and in many ways this book is a capolavoro of his distinguished career. Thus it is very welcome, and moreover hugely successful. The only substantial drawback is the complete absence of footnotes and illustrations (apart from a small handful of drawings and ground plans, all reprinted from other studies), but the substantial length presumably precluded such an addition. There is, however, a useful and mostly up-to-date bibliography, albeit somewhat selective, organized thematically rather than alphabetically. Divided into four chapters, one devoted to each of the centuries in question, each section begins with a brief historical overview followed by a series of short, individually numbered, and richly detailed essays on very specific topics. These cover a broad range: some deal with historical personages (popes such as Gregory I, John VII, Hadrian I, and John VIII; or papal bureaucrats such as Theodotus and Christopher); some with specific sites or monuments (for example, San Lorenzo fuori le mura, San Saba, or Leo III’s Lateran Triclinium), or categories of building (the diaconiae or the domuscultae); and some with written documents (the Liber pontificalis, the Einsiedeln Itineraries). Most, however, address larger political, religious, or social themes of particular importance (devotion to eastern saints, monotheletism, Anglo-Saxon and other pilgrims, papal relationships with Byzantium and then the Franks, ‘Greeks and Latins’ in the city’s demography, or the urban economy). By far the most attention is paid to the latter half of the time span in question, presumably reflecting the author’s personal expertise and greatest interest. There are nine entries for the sixth century, fourteen for the seventh, and twenty-three for each of the eighth and ninth. All are dense with detail, and reflect recent scholarship. The book thus functions in two distinct ways. On the one hand it provides an encyclopaedic approach intended to provide ready reference for those seeking information on specific topics, but at another level it can be read in its entirety as a continuous narrative, with ideas or subjects introduced in one ‘entry’ often finding more detailed expansion in the next. Thus a general exposition of Byzantine Iconoclasm (Chapter 3.6) is followed immediately by a more specific study of its effects on Rome (Chapter 3.7), and then in turn by one on Pope Gregory III, who stood at the forefront of the Roman opposition (Chapter 3.8). Readers can thus peruse the book from cover to cover, or pick and choose the entry of particular interest. Delogu is at times excessively cautious, particularly in his discussions of standing buildings, the area for which he is most reliant on the work of others, and on occasion he prefers simply to present the evidence available, in a descriptive fashion, and refrain from drawing firm conclusions. His treatment of Gregory I, for example, owes considerably more to an analysis of the pope’s surviving correspondence than to his work at the church of St Peter’s, and this perhaps leads him to undervalue that pope’s significant contribution to the transformation of urban religious life. On the other hand, he does signal the question marks recently raised concerning the crypt in the church of San Crisogono, which may not be an eighth-century addition after all, as has long been taken for granted (Chapter 3.9). One particular strength is the author’s ability to tease out information from archaeological data: for example, his analysis of coinage in the first half of the eighth century (Chapter 3.13). The severe decline in the content of precious metal over this period, from 70% to 20% for gold, and 90% dropping as low as 8% for silver, is cited as evidence for an economic crisis linked to the confiscation of the papal patrimonies in southern Italy and Sicily, the ensuing collapse of a market economy, and the consequent necessity to find alternative means to ensure the self-sufficiency of the food supply, leading in turn to the establishment of the new agricultural estates in the hinterland of Rome, the domuscultae (Chapter 3.14). The production of bronze coinage in Rome appears to cease altogether. There are a few points with which this reviewer might disagree mildly, but mostly in terms of nuance rather than general thrust. For example, on the issue of the cultural background of those who administered Rome and its Church in the eighth century, Delogu prefers to stress their inherent Latinity (Chapters 2.14, 3.4), perhaps placing slightly too much weight on the language used in surviving inscriptions, which were of course intended primarily for local audiences, and not adducing enough from a broader range of evidence. But this is a minor quibble, and does nothing to detract from the overall soundness of both approach and achievement. The facts as presented are beyond any possible reproach, with the exception that proves the rule being the misidentification of the pontiff depicted in the Ascension mural in the church of San Clemente. It is Leo IV, not Gregory IV (p. 164). One might also add that the abandonment of Santa Maria Antiqua in the mid-ninth century is here attributed definitively to damage occasioned in the August 847 earthquake (pp. 332, 356), but this has always been a mere suggestion, unsupported by any actual evidence. Such minor and ultimately inconsequential slips are otherwise conspicuous by their near total absence. This beautifully written, carefully constructed, and remarkably insightful volume is likely to remain the locus classicus on early medieval Rome for many years to come.

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