This Level 7 (MA) 15/20-credit module aims to provide students with a thorough grounding in the sources and scholarship relating to the study of the government, religion, and society of the Roman empire during late antiquity, a period which saw a series of radical transformations in the shape and identity of the Roman state: the establishment of a Greek-speaking Christian empire centred on Constantinople, theological dispute and schism, barbarian invasion and settlement, initiatives of reconquest in Africa, Italy, and Spain, triumph over Persia, and defeat by emerging Islam. By the end of the module students should have acquired a good knowledge of the transformation of the Roman world between the fifth and seventh centuries AD, the nature and range of relevant ancient sources, modern handbooks, works of reference, and the arguments of scholars, and should have gained an understanding of the potential and limits of these materials so as to be equipped to formulate sensible questions about developments in Roman government, society, and religious affairs, over this period.