ABSTRACT

The Byzantine World presents the latest insights of the leading scholars in the fields of Byzantine studies, history, art and architectural history, literature, and theology. Those who know little of Byzantine history, culture and civilization between AD 700 and 1453 will find overviews and distillations, while those who know much already will be afforded countless new vistas.

Each chapter offers an innovative approach to a well-known topic or a diversion from a well-trodden path. Readers will be introduced to Byzantine women and children, men and eunuchs, emperors, patriarchs, aristocrats and slaves. They will explore churches and fortifications, monasteries and palaces, from Constantinople to Cyprus and Syria in the east, and to Apulia and Venice in the west. Secular and sacred art, profane and spiritual literature will be revealed to the reader, who will be encouraged to read, see, smell and touch. The worlds of Byzantine ceremonial and sanctity, liturgy and letters, Orthodoxy and heresy will be explored, by both leading and innovative international scholars.

Ultimately, readers will find insights into the emergence of modern Byzantine studies and of popular Byzantine history that are informative, novel and unexpected, and that provide a thorough understanding of both.

part |130 pages

The Byzantines in their World

chapter |13 pages

Money, Coins and the Economy

chapter |14 pages

The Army and Military Logistics

chapter |9 pages

Cherchez L'homme! Byzantine Men

A eunuch perspective

chapter |11 pages

On Slaves and Slavery*

part |129 pages

The Written World

chapter |12 pages

Political Literacy

chapter |13 pages

Byzantine Military Manuals

Prescriptions, Practice and Pedagogy

chapter |12 pages

Letter-Writing

chapter |12 pages

The Corpus of Byzantine Historiography

An interpretive essay

chapter |13 pages

Christians, Jews and Muslims in Byzantine Italy

Medieval Conflicts in Local Perspective

chapter |12 pages

Writing for the Heart

part |167 pages

Heaven On Earth

chapter |19 pages

Defining Liturgical Space

chapter |14 pages

Imperial Outliers

Building and decorative works in the borderlands and beyond

chapter |20 pages

The Medieval Progeny of the Holy Apostles

Trails of Architectural Imitation Across the Mediterranean

part |5 pages

The World of Byzantine Studies

chapter |19 pages

Pioneers of Popular Byzantine History

Freeman, Gregorovius, Schlumberger

chapter |10 pages

A Case Study in the Emergence of Byzantine Studies

Serbia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

chapter |5 pages

Byzantium's European Future*