Images of the Byzantine World

Images of the Byzantine World
Author: Angeliki Lymberopoulou
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2011
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781409407768

The focus of this volume is the identification of 'visions', 'messages', and 'meanings' in various facets of Byzantine culture and the possible differences perceived by their original audience and modern scholars. It addresses how far interpretations should go, whether there is a tendency to read too much into too little, or whether not enough attention is paid to apparent detail that may have been important in historical context. The essays span a wide chronological era, so present a means of assessing the relative degrees of continuity and change in Byzantine visions, messages and meanings over time.

Images of the Byzantine World

Images of the Byzantine World
Author: Angeliki Lymberopoulou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2016-12-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1351928783

The main themes of this volume are the identification of 'visions', 'messages', and 'meanings' in various facets of Byzantine culture and the possible differences in the perception of these visions, messages and meanings as seen by their original audience and by modern scholars. The volume addresses the methodological question of how far interpretations should go - whether there is a tendency to read too much into too little or whether not enough attention is paid to apparent minutiae that may have been important in their historical context. As the essays span a wide chronological era, they also present a means of assessing the relative degrees of continuity and change in Byzantine visions, messages and meanings over time. Thus, as highlighted in the concluding section, the book discusses the validity of existing notions regarding the fluidity of Byzantine culture: when continuity was a matter of a rigid adherence to traditional values and when a manifestation of the ability to adapt old conventions to new circumstances, and it shows that in some respects, Byzantine cultural history may have been less fragmented than is usually assumed. Similarly, by reflecting not just on new interpretations, but also on the process of interpreting itself, the contributors demonstrate how research within Byzantine studies has evolved over the past thirty years from a set of narrowly defined individual disciplines into a broader exploration of interconnected cultural phenomena.

The Emperor in the Byzantine World

The Emperor in the Byzantine World
Author: Shaun Tougher
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 646
Release: 2019-03-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0429590466

The subject of the emperor in the Byzantine world may seem likely to be a well-studied topic but there is no book devoted to the emperor in general covering the span of the Byzantine empire. Of course there are studies on individual emperors, dynasties and aspects of the imperial office/role, but there remains no equivalent to Fergus Millar’s The Emperor in the Roman World (from which the proposed volume takes inspiration for its title and scope). The oddity of a lack of a general study of the Byzantine emperor is compounded by the fact that a series of books devoted to Byzantine empresses was published in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Thus it is appropriate to turn the spotlight on the emperor. Themes covered by the contributions include: questions of dynasty and imperial families; the imperial court and the emperor’s men; imperial duties and the emperor as ruler; imperial literature (the emperor as subject and author); and the material emperor, including imperial images and spaces. The volume fills a need in the field and the market, and also brings new and cutting-edge approaches to the study of the Byzantine emperor. Although the volume cannot hope to be a comprehensive treatment of the emperor in the Byzantine world it aims to cover a broad chronological and thematic span and to play a vital part in setting the agenda for future work. The subject of the Byzantine emperor has also an obvious relevance for historians working on rulership in other cultures and periods.

The Byzantine World

The Byzantine World
Author: Paul Stephenson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 639
Release: 2010-12-20
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1136727876

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.

The Byzantine World War

The Byzantine World War
Author: Nick Holmes
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2019-05-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1838598928

Provides a new angle on the Crusades – from the viewpoint of the Byzantine Empire. An exciting narrative describing the fall of Byzantium in the eleventh century, the origins of modern Turkey, and the epic campaign of the First Crusade. Will appeal to anyone interested in history, military history or medieval history.

Byzantium and Islam

Byzantium and Islam
Author: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2012
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1588394573

This magnificent volume explores the epochal transformations and unexpected continuities in the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 9th century. At the beginning of the 7th century, the Empire's southern provinces, the vibrant, diverse areas of North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean, were at the crossroads of exchanges reaching from Spain to China. These regions experienced historic upheavals when their Christian and Jewish communities encountered the emerging Islamic world, and by the 9th century, an unprecedented cross- fertilization of cultures had taken place. This extraordinary age is brought vividly to life in insightful contributions by leading international scholars, accompanied by sumptuous illustrations of the period's most notable arts and artifacts. Resplendent images of authority, religion, and trade—embodied in precious metals, brilliant textiles, fine ivories, elaborate mosaics, manuscripts, and icons, many of them never before published— highlight the dynamic dialogue between the rich array of Byzantine styles and the newly forming Islamic aesthetic. With its masterful exploration of two centuries that would shape the emerging medieval world, this illuminating publication provides a unique interpretation of a period that still resonates today.

Egypt in the Byzantine World, 300-700

Egypt in the Byzantine World, 300-700
Author: Roger S. Bagnall
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2007-08-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0521871379

A comprehensive portrayal of Egypt from the fourth to the seventh centuries.

The Glory of Byzantium

The Glory of Byzantium
Author: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Total Pages: 604
Release: 1997
Genre: Art, Byzantine
ISBN: 0870997777

Serves as both visual and textual record of the exhibition of the same name, surveying the art of the Middle Byzantine period from the restoration of the use of icons by the Orthodox Church in 843 to the occupation of Constantinople by the Crusader forces from the West from 1204 to 1261. Conceived as a sequel to the 1976 exhibition "Age of Spirituality," which focused on the first centuries of Byzantium. Preceding the catalogue, 17 essays treat the historical context, religious sphere, and secular courtly realm of the empire, and the interactions between Byzantium and other medieval cultures. Abundantly illustrated. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Emperor and the World

The Emperor and the World
Author: Alicia Walker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2012-04-30
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107004772

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