This project focuses on Late Antiquity. More specifically, it zooms in on the social, political and cultural history of this crucial transition period between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Taking its starting point from literary sources such as letter collections, it examines how different individuals and groups sought to exert influence and build their reputations at the local, provincial and imperial level. Collaboration in the context of the Ghent Centre for Late Antiquity (https://www.gcla.ugent.be/) will bring in additional expertise in order to reassess our understanding of the place of literature and culture within late antique society, and thereby bridge the gap between institutional history in the wake of A.H.M. Jones and cultural history of Peter Brown and his school.