ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is based primarily on the papers delivered at the homonymous conference held at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in September 2014. It offers a change of focus in terms of both geography and chronology, and deals with cases that stand very much at the margins of the ‘Western’ and the ‘Byzantine’ worlds. The book also offers new insights and original research on numerous aspects of this relationship, pooling together the expertise of scholars working on both sides of the Byzantine-Western ‘divide’, on topics as diverse as identity formation, court ritual, ecclesiology, literary history, military technology and the economy, among others. It explores particular themes or offer broad vistas in the longue durée, while others focus on turning points or key sources which illustrate the meeting of the two worlds.
