Book tip!

Benjamin Moulet, Évêques, pouvoir et société à Byzance (viiie-xie siècle): Territoires, communautés et individus dans la société provinciale byzantine, Paris 2011, 613pp.

Contents

Dans la société byzantine, éminemment chrétienne, les évêques jouent un rôle qui dépasse de

loin celui qu’on leur assigne aujourd’hui, avant tout celui de pasteur du troupeau. Personnages

publics, ils se sont imposés comme une nouvelle catégorie sociale au service de l’État. Pour écrire l’histoire du corps épiscopal à l’époque mésobyzantine (viiie-xie siècle), l’auteur a dépouillé une très large palette de sources de tous ordres, depuis les récits hagiographiques et les chroniques jusqu’aux sceaux, en passant par les Notitiæ Episcopatuum.

Cette brillante étude réussit à se placer du point de vue des évêques, et notamment des

évêques de la base, les plus difficiles à cerner car les sources constantinopolitaines les négligent; mais l’existence de sources hagiographiques, présentant la vie dans des cités parfois secondaires, y aide grandement. Il s’agit donc ici d’une histoire byzantine vue avant tout de province, ce qui n’est pas fréquent. À l’étude d’un corps social, les évêques, dont nous pouvons suivre la carrière, depuis l’enseignement reçu, sans doute plus largement répandu en province que nous ne l’avions longtemps cru, jusqu’à la mort, s’ajoute la description minutieuse de l’action de l’évêque dans son évêché, au milieu de son territoire, de son clergé et de ses fidèles. Relais des volontés impériale et patriarcale dans les provinces de l’Empire, l’évêque tente, dans un contexte de compétition avec les autorités locales, d’imposer son propre pouvoir, dans ses aspects spatiaux, sociaux, religieux et symboliques.

Relais des volontés impériale et patriarcale dans les provinces de l'Empire, l'évêque tente, dans un contexte de compétition avec les autorités locales, d'imposer son propre pouvoir, dans ses aspects spatiaux, sociaux, religieux et symboliques.

New Book!

John Haldon, The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press 2016,  432pp.

Contents

The eastern Roman Empire was the largest state in western Eurasia in the sixth century. Only a century later, it was a fraction of its former size. Surrounded by enemies, ravaged by warfare and disease, the empire seemed destined to collapse. Yet it did not die. In this holistic analysis, John Haldon elucidates the factors that allowed the eastern Roman Empire to survive against all odds into the eighth century.

By 700 CE the empire had lost three-quarters of its territory to the Islamic caliphate. But the rugged geography of its remaining territories in Anatolia and the Aegean was strategically advantageous, preventing enemies from permanently occupying imperial towns and cities while leaving them vulnerable to Roman counterattacks. The more the empire shrank, the more it became centered around the capital of Constantinople, whose ability to withstand siege after siege proved decisive. Changes in climate also played a role, permitting shifts in agricultural production that benefitted the imperial economy.

At the same time, the crisis confronting the empire forced the imperial court, the provincial ruling classes, and the church closer together. State and church together embodied a sacralized empire that held the emperor, not the patriarch, as Christendom’s symbolic head. Despite its territorial losses, the empire suffered no serious political rupture. What remained became the heartland of a medieval Christian Roman state, with a powerful political theology that predicted the emperor would eventually prevail against God’s enemies and establish Orthodox Christianity’s world dominion.

International Conference!

THEODORE THE STOUDITE 

INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT, LOGIC, AND THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE 

Organized by the ERC-project "Reassessing Ninth Century Philosophy. A Synchronic Approach to the Logical Traditions“ (9 SALT)

March 9^th–11^th

University of Vienna

Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies

New Book!

Elena N. Boeck, Imagining the Byzantine Past: The Perception of History in the Illustrated Manuscripts of Skylitzes and Manasses, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2015

Contents
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Two lavish, illustrated histories confronted and contested the Byzantine model of empire. The Madrid Skylitzes was created at the court of Roger II of Sicily in the mid-twelfth century. The Vatican Manasses was produced for Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria in the mid-fourteenth century. Through close analysis of how each chronicle was methodically manipulated, this study argues that Byzantine history was selectively re-imagined to suit the interests of outsiders. The Madrid Skylitzes foregrounds regicides, rebellions, and palace intrigue in order to subvert the divinely ordained image of order that Byzantine rulers preferred to project. The Vatican Manasses presents Byzantium as a platform for the accession of Ivan Alexander to the throne of the Third Rome, the last and final world-empire. Imagining the Byzantine Past demonstrates how distinct visions of empire generated diverging versions of Byzantium's past in the aftermath of the Crusades.

New Book!

Gil Gambash, Rome and Provincial Resistance, New York – London: Routledge, 2015

Look inside

This book demonstrates and analyzes patterns in the response of the Imperial Roman state to local resistance, focusing on decisions made within military and administrative organizations during the Principate. Through a thorough investigation of the official Roman approach towards local revolt, author Gil Gambash answers significant questions that, until now, have produced conflicting explanations in the literature: Was Rome’s rule of its empire mostly based on oppressive measures, or on the willing cooperation of local populations? To what extent did Roman decisions and actions indicate a dedication towards stability in the provinces? And to what degree were Roman interests pursued at the risk of provoking local resistance?

Examining the motivations and judgment of decision-makers within the military and administrative organizations – from the emperor down to the provincial procurator – this book reconstructs the premises for decisions and ensuing actions that promoted negotiation and cooperation with local populations. A ground-breaking work that, for the first time, provides a centralized view of Roman responses to indigenous revolt, Rome and Provincial Resistance is essential reading for scholars of Roman imperial history

New Paper tip!

Two recent open access contributions to collective identity in the Byzantine world – Byzantine Symmeikta vols. 24 & 25:

Theodora PAPADOPOULOU, The Terms Ῥωμαῖος, Ἕλλην, Γραικὸς in the Byzantine Texts of the first half of the 13th century, Βυζαντινά Σύμμεικτα 24 (2014) 157-176

Open access here

Abstract 

The term collective identity denotes a theoretical pattern of interpretation of social groups. More specifically, it denotes the awareness of the members of a group that they are linked together in a complex environment of common beliefs and values. During the Nicaean period, a distinct collective identity can be discerned, as it emerges from the scholarly literature. This identity is delineated by the names Romaios, Hellene, and Graikos (names already attested in the previous periods), which bear specific values. The name Romaios signifies political values. The name Hellene refers to the Greek language, education, and culture, whereas the name Graikos denotes the Greek-speaking Christians. All three terms present semantic diversity depending on their context, particularly the term Hellene. Nevertheless, they compose a unified set with distinct but strong components, each implying and defining one another, without, however, altering their separate connotations. These are the elements which constitute the collective identity of the Nicaean scholar and nobleman.

Ioannis SMARNAKIS, Rethinking Roman Identity after the Fall (1453): Perceptions of ‘Romanitas’ by Doukas and Sphrantzes, Βυζαντινά Σύμμεικτα 25 (2015) 211-234

Open access here

Abstract (in Greek)

Το άρθρο πραγματεύεται βυζαντινές προσλήψεις της ρωμαϊκότητας αμέσως μετά το 1453, εστιάζοντας στις ιστορικές αφηγήσεις του Δούκα και του Σφραντζή. Ο Δούκας προβάλλει συστηματικά μια πολιτική ρωμαϊκή ταυτότητα που συνδέεται με την Κωνσταντινούπολη και ορίζεται σε αντιπαράθεση προς μια στερεότυπη εικόνα των Τούρκων, οι οποίοι αποτελούν τον κατεξοχήν «Άλλο» στην αφήγησή του. Οι απόψεις του είναι παρόμοιες με εκείνες πολλών ενωτικών διανοούμενων που προωθούσαν μετά το 1453 ένα σταυροφορικό πολιτικό πρόγραμμα ανάκτησης της Κωνσταντινούπολης και επανίδρυσης του Βυζαντινού κράτους. Αντίθετα ο Σφραντζής αποφεύγει τις αναφορές στον όρο «Ρωμαίος» και στα παράγωγά του. Η άλωση της Κωνσταντινούπολης βιώθηκε από τον ίδιο ως μια τραυματική κατάσταση, ένα οριακό γεγονός που σηματοδότησε το ιστορικό τέλος του Ρωμαϊκού κράτους και σημάδεψε την πορεία της δικής του ζωής. Ο Σφραντζής αντιμετωπίζει τον εαυτό του ως ένα πιστό ορθόδοξο χριστιανό που τιμωρήθηκε από τον Θεό για τις αμαρτίες του. Οι αντιλήψεις του είναι τυπικά ορθόδοξες, καθώς ανθενωτικοί διανοούμενοι του 15ου αιώνα συχνά αποστασιοποιούνται από τη ρωμαϊκή πολιτική κληρονομιά και αποσυνδέουν το μέλλον της κοινότητας των ορθοδόξων από τις τύχες του Βυζαντινού κράτους.