Byzantium, Its Neighbours and Its Cultures
Byzantium, Its Neighbours and Its Cultures

Author: Danijel Dzino

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9004344918

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Byzantium was one of the longest-lasting empires in history. Throughout the millennium of its existence, the empire showed its capability to change and develop under very different historical circumstances. This remarkable resilience would have been impossible to achieve without the formation of a lasting imperial culture and a strong imperial ideological infrastructure. Imperial culture and ideology required, among other things, to sort out who was ʻinsiderʼ and who was ʻoutsiderʼ and develop ways to define and describe ones neighbours and interact with them. There is an indefinite number of possibilities for the exploration of relationships between Byzantium and its neighbours. The essays in this collection focus on several interconnected clusters of topics and shared research interests, such as the place of neighbours in the context of the empire and imperial ideology, the transfer of knowledge with neighbours, the Byzantine perception of their neighbours and the political relationship and/or the conflict with neighbours.

The Emperor and the World
The Emperor and the World

Author: Alicia Walker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-04-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1107004772

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Offers a new perspective on Byzantine imperial imagery, demonstrating the role foreign styles and iconography played in the visual articulation of imperial power.

Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, c.700–c.1500
Political Culture in the Latin West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, c.700–c.1500

Author: Catherine Holmes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 706

ISBN-13: 1009021907

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This comparative study explores three key cultural and political spheres – the Latin west, Byzantium and the Islamic world from Central Asia to the Atlantic – roughly from the emergence of Islam to the fall of Constantinople. These spheres drew on a shared pool of late antique Mediterranean culture, philosophy and science, and they had monotheism and historical antecedents in common. Yet where exactly political and spiritual power lay, and how it was exercised, differed. This book focuses on power dynamics and resource-allocation among ruling elites; the legitimisation of power and property with the aid of religion; and on rulers' interactions with local elites and societies. Offering the reader route-maps towards navigating each sphere and grasping the fundamentals of its political culture, this set of parallel studies offers a timely and much needed framework for comparing the societies surrounding the medieval Mediterranean.

Byzantium to China: Religion, History and Culture on the Silk Roads
Byzantium to China: Religion, History and Culture on the Silk Roads

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2022-07-18

Total Pages: 694

ISBN-13: 9004517987

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This volume celebrates the outstanding achievements of Samuel N. C. Lieu and his contribution to Manichaean, Roman, Byzantine, and Silk Road Studies. Readers will find his wide range of scholarly interests reflected in the contributions of his colleagues and former students.

The Cross in the Visual Culture of Late Antique Egypt
The Cross in the Visual Culture of Late Antique Egypt

Author: Gillian Spalding-Stracey

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 9004430512

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In The Cross in the Visual Culture of Late Antique Egypt Gillian Spalding-Stracey brings the design of crosses in monastic and ecclesiastical settings to the fore. Visual representations of the Holy Cross are often so ubiquitous in Christian art that they are often overlooked as artistic devices themselves. This volume offers an exploration of the variety of designs and associated imagery by which the Cross was expressed across the Egyptian landscape in late antiquity. A survey of locations and images leads to an analysis of artistic influences, possible symbolism, variance across time and place and the contextual use of the motif. Gillian Spalding-Stracey provides the reader with an art-historical perspective of the socio-cultural situation in Egypt at the time.

Byzantine Culture in Translation
Byzantine Culture in Translation

Author: Amelia Robertson Brown

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-07-20

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9004349073

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This collection on Byzantine culture in translation, edited by Amelia Brown and Bronwen Neil, examines the practices and theories of translation inside the Byzantine empire and beyond its horizons to the east, north and west. The time span is from Late Antiquity to the present day. Translations studied include hagiography, history, philosophy, poetry, architecture and science, between Greek, Latin, Arabic and other languages. These chapters build upon presentations given at the 18th Biennial Conference of the Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, convened by the editors at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia on 28-30 November 2014. Contributors include: Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides, Amelia Brown, Penelope Buckley, John Burke, Michael Champion, John Duffy, Yvette Hunt, Maria Mavroudi, Ann Moffatt, Bronwen Neil, Roger Scott, Michael Edward Stewart, Rene Van Meeuwen, Alfred Vincent, and Nigel Westbrook.

Byzantine Ideas of Persia, 650–1461
Byzantine Ideas of Persia, 650–1461

Author: Rustam Shukurov

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-12-13

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1000937178

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This book offers a comprehensive study into the perceptions of ancient and medieval Iran in the Byzantine empire, exploring the effects of Persian culture upon Byzantine intellectualism, society and culture. Byzantine Ideas of Persia, 650-1461 focusses on the enduring position of ancient Persia in Byzantine cultural memory, encompassing both in the 'religious' and the 'secular' significance. By analysing a wide range of historical sources – from church literature to belles-lettres – this book examines the intricate relationship between ancient Persia and Byzantine cultural memory, as well as the integration and function of Persian motifs in the Byzantine mentality. Additionally, the author uses these sources to analyse thoroughly the knowledge Byzantines had about contemporary Iranian culture, the presence of ethnic Iranians, and the circulation and usage of the Persian language in Byzantium. Finally, this book concludes with an insightful exploration of the importance and influence of Iranian science on Byzantine scholars. This book will appeal to scholars and studentsin the fields of Byzantine and Iranian History, particularly to those studying the cross-cultural and social influence between the two societies during the Middle Ages. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Image Making in Byzantium, Sasanian Persia and the Early Muslim World
Image Making in Byzantium, Sasanian Persia and the Early Muslim World

Author: Anthony Cutler

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 100094297X

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Relations between Byzantium and its neighbours are the focus of this volume. The papers address questions of cultural exchange, with special attention to art historical relations as shown by technical, iconographic and diplomatic exchanges. While addressed to specialists, both their approach and the language make these papers accessible to students at all levels.

Imperial Spheres and the Adriatic
Imperial Spheres and the Adriatic

Author: Mladen Ančić

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-13

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1351614290

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Although often mentioned in textbooks about the Carolingian and Byzantine empires, the Treaty of Aachen has not received much close attention. This volume attempts not just to fill the gap, but to view the episode through both micro- and macro-lenses. Introductory chapters review the state of relations between Byzantium and the Frankish realm in the eighth and early ninth centuries, crises facing Byzantine emperors much closer to home, and the relevance of the Bulgarian problem to affairs on the Adriatic. Dalmatia’s coastal towns and the populations of the interior receive extensive attention, including the region’s ecclesiastical history and cultural affiliations. So do the local politics of Dalmatia, Venice and the Carolingian marches, and their interaction with the Byzantino-Frankish confrontation. The dynamics of the Franks’ relations with the Avars are analysed and, here too, the three-way play among the two empires and ‘in-between’ parties is a theme. Archaeological indications of the Franks’ presence are collated with what the literary sources reveal about local elites’ aspirations. The economic dimension to the Byzantino-Frankish competition for Venice is fully explored, a special feature of the volume being archaeological evidence for a resurgence of trade between the Upper Adriatic and the Eastern Mediterranean from the second half of the eighth century onwards.

Venice and Its Neighbors from the 8th to 11th Century
Venice and Its Neighbors from the 8th to 11th Century

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-01-09

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 9004353615

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Venice and Its Neighbors from the 8th to 11th Century offers an account of the formation and character of early Venice, drawing on archaeological evidence from Venice and related sites, and written sources. The volume covers topics including: Venice’s role within the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna during the 7th century; its independence in the mid-8th century; and its position as a dominant European and Mediterranean power. The work also discusses the birth of neighbouring communities of the northern Adriatic zone relevant to the rise of Venice. Contributors are Francesco Borri, Silvia Cadamuro, Alessandra Cianciosi, Elisa Corrò, Stefano Gasparri, Sauro Gelichi, Cecilia Moine, Annamaria Pazienza, Sandra Primon, and Chiara Provesi.