Prison, Punishment and Penance in Late Antiquity

Julia Hillner is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield. She is co-editor, with Kate Cooper, of Religion, Dynasty, and Patronage in Early Christian Rome, 300–900 (2007).

• Introduction; Part I. Punishment, Reform and Penance: 1. Philosophical and domestic foundations; 2. Punishment and reform in early imperial legal thought; 3. Christian principles of punishment; 4. Punishment, reform and penance in late Roman law; Conclusions; Part II. Prison and Punishment: 5. The public prison in late antiquity; 6. Private power and punitive confinement; 7. Exile and confinement; 8. Exile, prison and the Christian imagination; Conclusions; Part III. Prison and Penance: 9. Monastic confinement and ecclesiastical justice; 10. Monastic confinement and imperial justice; Conclusions; Appendix I. Places of forced residence; Appendix II. Places of exiles' confinement; Appendix III. Places of monastic confinement.

'… Julia Hillner's inviting style allows the reader to come to her own conclusions with guided direction. Even if one does not always agree with some of the arguments put forth, all the evidence is provided for you, which is an invaluable feature of this book. Finally, due to the vast amount of topics discussed by the author, readers will inevitably be inspired to pick up new threads for further discovery. This book is a wonderful contribution to the field and comes highly recommended.' Jennifer Barry, Bryn Mawr Classical Review