The field of study covering roughly the period from the 2nd to the 8th century AD, which is usually referred to as that of “late antiquity”, has long since assumed a unitary physiognomy and its own methodological autonomy.
Classical antiquity is captured in moments of its decisive crisis, but these moments are in their turn creative, bearers of new ferments, of new meanings: conflicts of culture, at the center and at the periphery; conflicts of languages; conflicts of religions, artistic forms, legal traditions, etc. they form the backdrop to the clashes of the “nationes” and classes within the Empire.
Institutes and forms undergo radical changes, some disappear and others rise to new life, and always with a common basic ethical connotation, which is advancement without irreparable cuts, gradual detachment from the past, not oblivion of the past.
Having such thoughts in mind and agreeing on some operational guidelines, a group of scholars founded, in 1975, the Association of Late Antiquity Studies, which aims to continue the discourses on cultural themes of the Late Antiquity even outside the academic walls. , to promote knowledge in the most diverse ways, to constitute a meeting point, without preconceptions and preclusions.