Bryan Ward-Perkins is an archaeologist and historian of the later Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 and early Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, with a particular focus on the transitional period between those two eras, an historical sub-field also known as Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

. His published work has focused primarily on the urban and economic history of the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Basin

In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...

 and western Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 during Late Antiquity. The son of historian John Bryan Ward-Perkins

John Bryan Ward-Perkins

John Bryan Ward-Perkins CMG, CBE, FBA was a British Classical architectural historian and archaeologist, and director of the British School at Rome.-Background:...

, he was born and raised in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 and is currently a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

.

His 2005 book, The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization, included statements addressing what he saw as an over-correction in the approaches of modern historiography to late Roman history. Using primarily archaeological evidence, Ward-Perkins takes issue with what he says is the "fashionable" idea-–that the western Roman Empire did not actually fall but instead experienced a mostly-benign transformation into the Christian kingdoms of medieval Europe. In his contrasting view, "the coming of the Germanic peoples was very unpleasant for the Roman population, and the long-term effects of the dissolution of the empire were dramatic."

Selected bibliography

• 1984: From Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages: urban public building in Northern and Central Italy AD 300-850 . Oxford: Clarendon Press ISBN 0198218982
• 1998: "The Cities", in The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XIII: 337-425
• 2000: "Why Did The Anglo-Saxons not Become More British?" (English Historical Review, June 2000)
• 2001: The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XIV: 425-600 (edited with Averil Cameron
  Averil Cameron
  Dame Averil Millicent Cameron, DBE, FBA is Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History in the University of Oxford, and was formerly the Warden of Keble College, Oxford between 1994 and 2010....
  
   and Michael Whitby). Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press
  Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
  
  
• 2005: The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
   ISBN 0192805649

External links

• Bryan Ward-Perkins at Oxford University History Faculty
• http://blog.oup.com/oupblog/2005/12/the_fall_of_rom.htmlA joint interview with Bryan Ward-Perkins and Peter Heather
  Peter Heather
  Peter Heather is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He has held appointments at University College London and Yale University and was Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at Worcester College, Oxford until...
  
  ] at Oxford University Press
• Podcast Bryan Ward-Perkins on the Fall of the Roman Empire