This multi-author work focuses on two regions—in antiquity more united than divided by the Strait of Gibraltar—during the so-called ‘Long Late Antiquity’. While traditional research has described the changes beginning in the late 3rd century as the decline and end of ancient statehood, a ‘governance’ perspective allows them to be understood as a deliberate attempt to rebuild existing structures and adapt them to new conditions.
This volume convincingly proves that this functional perspective offers the potential to relate questions of normative order and political organization in a way that ultimately elucidates the lasting consolidation of power in every aspect: in and through institutions, subject to economic necessities and chances, over spaces and territories.
Contributors are Peter Fibiger Bang, Darío Bernal-Casasola, Rezki Chergui, Pablo C. Díaz Martínez, Abdelhamid Fenina, Luke Lavan, Stefanie Lenk, Eneko López Martínez de Marigorta, Volker Menze, Lauro Olmo Enciso, Paulo Pachá, Ruth Pliego, Pablo Poveda Arias, Daniel Syrbe, Leticia Tobalina Pulido, Chokri Touihri, and Morgane Uberti.
Sabine Panzram, Ph.D. (2001), University of Münster, is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Hamburg. She focuses on the social history of power in the Western Mediterranean, and, in particular, on urban history in the Iberian Peninsula. Her recent publications include ¿Ciudades invisibles? Paisajes urbanos de la Antigüedad tardía (siglos III-VIII) (Madrid: Casa de Velázquez, 2025).
Preface and Acknowledgments List of Figures, Maps and Tables Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Governance in “Failed States”? The Iberian Peninsula and North Africa during the Long Late Antiquity Sabine Panzram
Prologue
1 Provincial Capitals and Urban Status in Late Antiquity: the View from Africa Luke Lavan
Part 1 Institutions
2 Governance of Visigothic Iberia: the Shifting Role of the Bishops Pablo Poveda Arias
3 In regimine socios: Rethinking Ideas of Government and Crisis in Visigothic Iberia Paulo Pachá
4 The Quest for an Ecclesiology: the Ariminian-Visigothic Church in 6th-Century Iberia Volker Menze
5 Re-using Temples in the Contested Landscape of Vandal North Africa: the Cella-Baptistery of Jebel Oust Stefanie Lenk
6 Mastering Time to Govern? Regnal Time as Temporality in Late Mediterranean Antiquity According to Epigraphic Sources Morgane Uberti
7 León, Pamplona, and the Islamic World: How to Integrate the Christian Elite in the Umayyad Caliphate Eneko López Martínez de Marigorta
Part 2 Economy
8 Garum in the Late Roman Fretum Gaditanum: Halieutic Business, Governance, and Administrative Boundaries Darío Bernal-Casasola
9 Patria et regem: the Role of Mints in the Visigothic Administration Ruth Pliego
10 Visigothic Peasantry: Local Powers and the Management of Rural Communities Pablo C. Díaz Martínez
11 Early Islamic Administration in the Province (wilāya) of Ifrīqiya under the Governor Ḥassān b. al-Nuʿmān Rezki Chergui
Part 3 Space
12 The Management and Administration of Rural Territories in Times of Change: the Space between the Middle Ebro and the Pyrenees as a Paradigm Leticia Tobalina Pulido
13 Administrative Landscapes and Spaces of Negotiation during the Formation of al-Andalus in Central Iberia in the 8th Century Lauro Olmo Enciso
14 How to Govern the Nomads in Roman North Africa (1st c. BCE to 7th c. CE)? Daniel Syrbe
15 Social and Territorial Impact of the Arab-Islamic Conquest of North Africa Chokri Touihri
16 Ifrīqiya under the Aghlabids: from Caliphal Province to Autonomous and Hereditary Emirate Abdelhamid Fenina
Epilogue
17 Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit … Romanization and Islamication in the World History of Universal Power Peter Fibiger Bang
Index
All interested in the Late Antique and Early Islamic history and archaeology of Iberia and North Africa (third to nineth centuries), and anyone concerned with governance, focusing a transcultural approach.