Byzantine Empire
More general subjects:
Armeeführung und Militäreliten in Byzanz, 1081–1203
Selektion, Hierarchie, Repräsentation
Das mittelalterliche Byzanz erlebte während des „langen“ zwölften Jahrhunderts (1081-1204) eine letzte Phase als mediterrane Großmacht. Nach den Krisen des ausgehenden elften Jahrhunderts führte die Etablierung der komnenischen Herrscherdynastie zu einer Periode innerer und äußerer Stabilität. Erst in den politisch und militärisch turbulenten 1180er Jahren sollte das System erneut unter massiven Druck geraten bevor die Zäsur des IV. Kreuzzuges (1204) gar das vorläufige Ende der staatlichen Einheit brachte.
Die byzantinischen Streitkräfte spielten in dieser Zeit stets eine zentrale Rolle für Staat und Gesellschaft nicht nur als Instrument der Gewaltausübung und Herrschaftsdurchsetzung sondern auch als Arbeitgeber Konsument von Gütern und Dienstleistungen Betätigungsfeld der Machtelite Kanal sozialen Aufstiegs und Ort der Integration ausländischer Eliten. Die kaiserlichen Feldherren und Kommandeure lassen sich nicht als reine Funktionselite betrachten sondern sie waren eingebunden in den Mikrokosmos des Hofes in Familien- und Patronagebeziehungen regionale und ethnische Netzwerke. Ihre Geschichte ist nicht nur Militär- sondern stets auch Sozial- Politik- Wirtschafts- und Kulturgeschichte.
Das vorliegende Werk analysiert zum ersten Mal systematisch die personelle soziale ethnische und regionale Zusammensetzung der kaiserlichen Feldherren und Offiziere. Die Dynamik politischer gesellschaftlicher und militärischer Rahmenbedingungen veränderte immer wieder die Personalstrategien der aufeinanderfolgenden Regierungen wie auch die Praktiken der Auswahl und Selektion sowie den Umgang mit formellen und informellen Hierarchien. Die Strukturen und Praktiken militärischer Führung waren dabei stets in gesellschafts- und zeitspezifische Semantiken und Diskurse eingebettet die ein spezifisch byzantinisches Bild militärischer Führungskultur erkennen lassen.
The Byzantine Historiographical Prefaces (4th–15th Centuries)
A Study on the Praxis and Culture of Writing History in Byzantium
In recent years a lively debate has developed on the features of Byzantine historiography. The increasingly dominant tendency today is to treat historical texts more as pleasant literary narratives than as systematic historical accounts of the political and military history of Byzantium. The present study aims to contribute to this debate by revisiting the voices of the Byzantine authors themselves focusing on the extant historical prefaces from the Early Middle and Late Byzantine eras. This seemed timely more than a century after the publication of Ηeinrich Lieberich’s fundamental work on Byzantine historiographical proems.
Obviously not all prefaces are of equal interest: some serve a purely conventional function while others are composed more thoughtfully and merit more careful attention. The book’s goal is twofold: firstly to outline the details of the prefatory function of the Byzantine historiographical proems as microtexts; secondly to detect and evaluate the theoretical views expressed by the authors of each period regarding the genre of Byzantine historiography. This will expand our knowledge of how the Byzantines wrote (praxis) and thought (culture) about historiography.
Transitions
A Historian’s Memoir
The transitions of the title are those in the life and intellectual development of one of the leading historians of late antiquity and Byzantium. Averil Cameron recounts her working-class origins in North Staffordshire and how she came to read Classics at Oxford and start her research at Glasgow University before moving to London and teaching at King’s College London. Later she was the head of Keble College Oxford at a time of change in the University and its colleges. She played a leading role in projects and organisations even as the flow of books and articles continued in an array of publications that have been fundamental in shaping the disciplines of late antiquity and Byzantine studies in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Feeding the Byzantine City
The Archaeology of Consumption in the Eastern Mediterranean (ca. 500-1500)
This book offers new and innovative perspectives on the archaeology of consumption in Byzantine cities and their hinterlands. Case-studies range from towns in eastern Macedonia north-western and central Greece and Crete to urban centres in Serbia Bulgaria and western Turkey. The archaeological data and historical insights presented in this volume are always of great interest often exciting and more than once outright astonishing. The commodities discussed in the volume are dated between the 6th and the 16th century CE and include pottery (e.g. glazed table wares amphorae cooking pots storage jars) textile fragments metal objects bronze and golden jewellery marble carved slabs and columns.
Feeding the Byzantine City sheds compelling light on a world which was much more complex and interconnected than has often been assumed which makes it essential reading for scholars and a larger audience alike.
Ideology and Patronage in Byzantium
Dedicatory Inscriptions and Patron Images from Middle Byzantine Macedonia and Thrace
Based on the evidence of epigraphic material in combination with monumental painting this book explores important dedicatory inscriptions (9th-beginning of the 13th c.) from Macedonia and Thrace which have so far been investigated mainly from a philological-historical standpoint thus neglecting the major issue of Middle Byzantine patronage. Through patron inscriptions and textual sources the role and the motives of military officials in the patronage of defensive and fortification works and the manner of publicizing them are examined systematically. Patronage is looked at through the ideological messages that the donors endeavor to promote in a local society or monastic community and which echo their relationship with the state and their views on education and faith. Interesting methodologically is the co-examination of the various categories of inscriptions in combination with historical texts and donor portraits which opens up new avenues of research for the study of the interdisciplinary material in question.
Studies in Byzantine Epigraphy 1
The Studies in Byzantine Epigraphy series testifies to an ever-greater focus on inscriptions within Byzantine Studies. The present inaugural volume includes selected papers from the two panels dedicated to Byzantine Epigraphy held at the XXIII International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Belgrade August 2016 and the XV International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy in Vienna August/September 2017. The papers as indeed the events for which they were initially produced celebrate both the progress and the promise of epigraphic research within medieval and early modern scholarship as a whole.
Studies in Byzantine Sigillography
Volume 14
The present volume contains the papers from the 12th International Symposium of Byzantine Sigillography held at the State Ermitage Museum in St. Petersburg May 27-30 2019. The papers discuss seals as historical sources and archaeological findings presenting their role in the Byzantine prosopography administration historical geography and art history.
Civic Identity and Civic Participation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
During the Ancient Greek and Roman eras participation in political communities at the local level and assertion of belonging to these communities were among the fundamental principles and values on which societies would rely. For that reason citizenship and democracy are generally considered as concepts typical of the political experience of Classical Antiquity. These concepts of citizenship and democracy are often seen as inconsistent with the political social and ideological context of the late and post-Roman world. As a result scholarship has largely overlooked participation in local political communities when it comes to the period between the disintegration of the Classical model of local citizenship in the later Roman Empire and the emergence of ‘pre-communal’ entities in Northern Italy from the ninth century onwards.
By reassessing the period c. 300-1000 ce through the concepts of civic identity and civic participation this volume will address both the impact of Classical heritage with regard to civic identities in the political experiences of the late and post-Roman world and the rephrasing of new forms of social and political partnership according to ethnic or religious criteria in the early Middle Ages. Starting from the earlier imperial background the fourteen chapters examine the ways in which people shared identity and gave shape to their communal life as well as the role played by the people in local government in the later Roman Empire the Germanic kingdoms Byzantium the early Islamic world and the early medieval West. By focusing on the post-Classical late antique and early medieval periods this volume intends to be an innovative contribution to the general history of citizenship and democracy.
Historiography and Identity IV
Writing History across Medieval Eurasia
Historical writing has shaped identities in various ways and to different extents. This volume explores this multiplicity by looking at case studies from Europe Byzantium the Islamic World and China around the turn of the first millennium. The chapters in this volume address official histories and polemical critique traditional genres and experimental forms ancient traditions and emerging territories empires and barbarians. The authors do not take the identities highlighted in the texts for granted but examine the complex strategies of identification that they employ. This volume thus explores how historiographical works in diverse contexts construct and shape identities as well as legitimate political claims and communicate ‘visions of community’.
Imperium et sacerdotium
Droit et Pouvoir sous l’Empereur Manuel Ier Comnène (1143-1180)
«Manuel en Christ le Dieu fidèle basileus le porphyrogénète empereur des romains très pieux vénérable à jamais auguste.» Le règne de l’empereur Manuel Ier (1143-1180) est analysé à partir du principe de la pietas terme à portée morale canonique et juridique qui concerne la capacité du Basileus de légiférer de façon juste au profit des intérêts de l’État. L’œuvre législative de Manuel Ier que les juristes byzantins de l’époque considéraient comme une interprétation moderne de dispositions fondamentales du droit romain eut comme objectif principal de renforcer l’image sacerdotale du Basileus qui avait été sécularisée durant la crise politique du xi e siècle. L’attachement de Manuel Ier aux lois civiles et à leur strict respect était lié à sa conception de la supériorité de l’État et du droit byzantin expression de la volonté divine. L’insertion du droit canonique au droit public traduisait la nécessité de dépasser le dualisme étatique. L’intégration de l’Église dans ce programme valorisait ses responsabilités spirituelles vis-à-vis d’un Empereur qui concevait la gouvernance comme une responsabilité spirituelle. Besoins d’un État moderne et besoins spirituels de la société se conjuguent dans ce système harmonieux spécifique à l’empire byzantin du xii e siècle.
Studies in Theodore Anagnostes
In spite of its importance Theodore Anagnostes’ Church History has attracted only little scholarly attention so far. To a large extent we still rely on the assertions of philologists and historians from around the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries and the authoritative edition of the text is still the one published by C. G. Hansen in 1971 which for the most part remained unchanged in its 1995 reissue. The studies collected in this volume aim to fill this gap in the literature and to answer three main questions: (1) How can Theodore’s working method and the aim of his work be reconstructed? (2) To what extent can the Church History be considered a reliable historical source? And (3) which impact did the work have on contemporary and later historiography? In close connection with the bilingual (Greek-English) edition of the Church History that was recently published the present volume thus aims to provide a closer and more differentiated appraisal of Theodore Anagnostes and his historiographical project.
Studies in Byzantine Sigillography
Volume 13
This volume contains primarily papers of the 11th International Symposium held in Istanbul (May 2014) and of the last Congres of Byzantine Studies in Belgrade (August 2016). There are papers about the seals as historical source and archaeological finding presenting their role in the Byzantine Prosopography Byzantine Administration Historical Geography and Byzantine Art History.
Discipuli dona ferentes
Glimpses of Byzantium in honour of Marlia Mundell Mango
In recognition and celebration of the achievements of Marlia (Maria Cordelia) Mundell Mango as a researcher and as a teacher twelve of her doctoral students offer her this volume of collected essays showcasing recent research in Byzantine archaeology and material culture studies. The essays are divided into three sections. The first comprises studies on Byzantine economy shipping road networks production and trade from Late Antiquity down to the time of the Crusades. The studies in the second part discuss facets of the material culture and the lifestyle especially of the upper social strata in the Byzantine Empire while those of the final section explore aspects of artistic creativity in the lands of the empire. Taken together these diverse studies offer ‘glimpses’ into the Byzantine economy and trade lifestyle and religion ideology and identity artistic creativity and its impact beyond the Byzantine frontier illustrating a variety of methodological approaches and pointing towards new directions for future research. Their wide chronological geographic and thematic coverage is in itself a tribute to Marlia Mango’s breadth of knowledge and a reflection of her far-ranging research interests.
L'icône dans la pensée et dans l'art
Constitutions, contestations, réinventions de la notion d'image divine en contexte chrétien
La synonymie icône − image divine − objet de culte a toujours posé problème. Évidente pour les Byzantins vainqueurs dans la crise qui a opposé les adorateurs des icônes au parti des iconoclastes elle est cependant contestée aussi bien par les Latins malgré les vertus pédagogiques qu’ils ont assignées aux images que par nombre de communautés chrétiennes orientales habituées à accorder un pouvoir divin aux objets de culte et aux reliques. Cette synonymie repose toutefois sur l’un des principes fondateurs du christianisme : le rapport entre la connaissance de Dieu et le statut de l’homme « image de Dieu ».
Les études ici réunies ne sont pas focalisées sur le seul dossier des crises iconoclastes byzantines et des ripostes latines mais se déploient sur trois moments historiques du christianisme. Dans ses deux premières parties le volume propose un croisement des perspectives grecque puis byzantine et latine romaine puis carolingienne sur le monde visible et l’image. La troisième partie réfléchit sur les modalités par lesquelles le monde slave héritier de Byzance prend à son compte les fonctions religieuses et politiques assignées à l’image sous l’appellation d’icône en en faisant l’un de ses principaux repères identitaires.
Chacun des articles étudie les implications de l’image dans la réflexion sur le divin et en retour l’impact de cette réflexion sur la configuration de l’image elle-même. La relation mutuelle entre théologie et image que celle-ci soit visuelle ou purement noétique est au cœur de cet ouvrage.