Ireland and the Roman Empire with Dr Elva Johnston

In this episode, host Dr Niamh Wycherley explores the rich world of late antiquity (approx. 3rd to 7th centuries AD) with Dr Elva Johnston (School of History, UCD) when Irish elites imported wine, foodstuffs, fancy earbuds and Christianity from the Roman world. Dr Johnston makes the important distinction that Ireland wasn't 'part of' nor 'apart from' the Roman Empire during this time. We discover that it is unhelpful to categorize this period in religious terms such as 'Early Christian Ireland' — we should not assume that belief was the dominating organising factor in society.

This is the 1st episode in a trilogy on Ireland in late antiquity. Next up we will have Terry O'Hagan (@voxhib) on St Patrick, the poster boy of Late Antique Ireland, and we'll finish with Prof. David Stifter on Ogham writing and the Early Irish language on March 29th.

Suggested reading:

-Elva Johnston, “Ireland in Late Antiquity: A Forgotten Frontier,” Studies in Late Antiquity 1.2 (2017): 107–23

-Elva Johnston, When worlds collide? Pagans and Christians in fifth- and sixth-century Ireland, Kathleen Hughes Memorial Lectures, 16, Cambridge: ASNC, 2017.

-The writings of St Patrick can be found on https://confessio.ie

Regular episodes every two weeks (on a Friday).

Email: medievalirishhistory@gmail.com

Twitter X: @EarlyIrishPod

Supported by the Dept of Early Irish, Maynooth University, & Science Foundation Ireland/The Irish Research Council. Views expressed are the speakers' own.

Production: Tiago de Oliveira Veloso Silva.

Logo design: Matheus de Paula Costa

Music: Lexin_Music