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St. Michael and Attis
St. Michael and Attis Cyril MANGO Δελτίον XAE 12 (1984), Περίοδος Δ'. Στην εκατονταετηρίδα της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας (1884-1984)• Σελ. 39-62 ΑΘΗΝΑ 1986 ST. MICHAEL AND ATTIS Twenty years ago, when I was working on the apse mosaics of St. Sophia at Constantinople, I had ample opportunity to contemplate what is surely one of the most beautiful works of Byzantine art, I mean the image of the archangel Gabriel, who stands next to the enthroned Theotokos (Fig. 1). Gabriel is dressed in court costume; indeed, one can affirm that his costume is imperial, since he is wearing red buskins and holding a globe, the symbol of universal dominion. Yet neither the Bible nor orthodox doctrine as defined by the Fathers provides any justification for portraying an archangel in this guise; no matter how great was his dignity in heaven, he remained a minister and a messenger1. Only God could be described as the equivalent of the emperor. How was it then that Byzantine art, which showed extreme reluctance to give to Christ, the pambasileus, any visible attributes of royalty other than the throne, granted these very attributes to archangels, who had no claim to them? An enquiry I undertook at the time (and left unpublished) suggested the following conclusions: 1. The Byzantines themselves, I mean the medieval Byzantines, could offer no reasonable explanation of the iconography of archangels and seemed to be unaware of its meaning. On the subject of the globe I found only two texts. One was an unedited opuscule by Michael Psellos, who, quite absurdly, considered it to denote the angels' rapidity of movement; "for", he says, "the sphere is such an object that, touching as it does only a tiny portion of the ground, is able in less than an instant to travel in any direction"2. -
Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century, Culture and Cosmos , Vol
CULTURE AND COSMOS A Journal of the History of Astrology and Cultural Astronomy Vol. 13 no. 1, Spring/Summer 2009 Published by Culture and Cosmos and the Sophia Centre Press, in partnership with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, in association with the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Faculty of Humanities and the Performing Arts Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, SA48 7ED, UK. www.cultureandcosmos.org Cite this paper as: Andrew Vladimirou, Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century, Culture and Cosmos , Vol. 13 no 1, Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 24-61. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue card for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publishers. ISSN 1368-6534 Printed in Great Britain by Lightning Source Copyright 2018 Culture and Cosmos All rights reserved Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century ________________________________________________________________ Andrew Vladimirou Abstract. The following work uses the writing of one of the most outstanding personalities of the Byzantine Empire, Michael Psellos (1018–1078?), as a conduit into the world of Byzantine astrology. The focus of the article is his celebrated chronicle, The Chronographia, which documents his life and experiences as an influential courtier at the Byzantine court in the eleventh century. Psellos was at the forefront of political life in the Empire and its fluctuating fortunes but somehow managed to combine these duties with a prodigious scholarly vocation. -
Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (Ca
Conversion and Empire: Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (ca. 300-900) by Alexander Borislavov Angelov A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor John V.A. Fine, Jr., Chair Professor Emeritus H. Don Cameron Professor Paul Christopher Johnson Professor Raymond H. Van Dam Associate Professor Diane Owen Hughes © Alexander Borislavov Angelov 2011 To my mother Irina with all my love and gratitude ii Acknowledgements To put in words deepest feelings of gratitude to so many people and for so many things is to reflect on various encounters and influences. In a sense, it is to sketch out a singular narrative but of many personal “conversions.” So now, being here, I am looking back, and it all seems so clear and obvious. But, it is the historian in me that realizes best the numerous situations, emotions, and dilemmas that brought me where I am. I feel so profoundly thankful for a journey that even I, obsessed with planning, could not have fully anticipated. In a final analysis, as my dissertation grew so did I, but neither could have become better without the presence of the people or the institutions that I feel so fortunate to be able to acknowledge here. At the University of Michigan, I first thank my mentor John Fine for his tremendous academic support over the years, for his friendship always present when most needed, and for best illustrating to me how true knowledge does in fact produce better humanity. -
Byzantine Narratives of Gender Identity Eamon H.R
Introduction ix Roger Scott xv Ann Moffatt (Australian National University) List of 11 lustrations xix KEYNOTE PAPERS Novelisation in Byzantium: Narrative after the Revival of 1 Fiction Margaret Mullett (The Queen 's University Belfast) Narrating Justinian: From Malalas to Manasses 29 Roger Scott (University of Melbourne) NARRATIVE IN HISTORIANS, CHRONICLES & FICTION To Narrate the Events of the Past: On Byzantine 47 Historians, and Historians on Byzantium Ingela Nilsson (Uppsala University) Tradition and Originality in Photius' Historical Reading 59 Brian Crake (Sydney) Narrating the Trials and Death in Exile of Pope Martin I 71 and Maxim us the Confessor Bronwen Neil (Australian Catholic University) The Use of Metaphor in Michael Psellos' Chronographia 84 Elizabeth McCartney (University of Melbourne) War and Peace in the Alexiad 92 Penelope Buckley (University of Melbourne) Moralising History: the Synopsis Historiarum of John 110 Skylitzes Theoni Sklavos (University of Melbourne) The Representation of Augustae in John Skylitzes' 120 Synopsis Historiarum Emma Strugnell (University of Melbourne) The Madrid Skylitzes as an Audio-Visual Experiment 137 John Burke (University of Melbourne) The Goths and the Bees in Jordanes: A Narrative of No 149 Return Andrew Gillett (Macquarie University) From 'Fallen Woman' to Theotokos: Music, Women's 164 Voices and Byzantine Narratives of Gender Identity Eamon H.R. Kelly (St Cross College, Oxford) How the Entertaining Tale of Quadrupeds became a Tale: 182 Grafting Narrative Nick Nicholas (University of -
Michael Panaretos in Context
DOI 10.1515/bz-2019-0007 BZ 2019; 112(3): 899–934 Scott Kennedy Michael Panaretos in context A historiographical study of the chronicle On the emperors of Trebizond Abstract: It has often been said it would be impossible to write the history of the empire of Trebizond (1204–1461) without the terse and often frustratingly la- conic chronicle of the Grand Komnenoi by the protonotarios of Alexios III (1349–1390), Michael Panaretos. While recent scholarship has infinitely en- hanced our knowledge of the world in which Panaretos lived, it has been approx- imately seventy years since a scholar dedicated a historiographical study to the text. This study examines the world that Panaretos wanted posterity to see, ex- amining how his post as imperial secretary and his use of sources shaped his representation of reality, whether that reality was Trebizond’s experience of for- eigners, the reign of Alexios III, or a narrative that showed the superiority of Tre- bizond on the international stage. Finally by scrutinizing Panaretos in this way, this paper also illuminates how modern historians of Trebizond have been led astray by the chronicler, unaware of Panaretos selected material for inclusion for the narratives of his chronicle. Adresse: Dr. Scott Kennedy, Bilkent University, Main Camous, G Building, 24/g, 06800 Bilkent–Ankara, Turkey; [email protected] Established just before the fall of Constantinople in 1204, the empire of Trebi- zond (1204–1461) emerged as a successor state to the Byzantine empire, ulti- mately outlasting its other Byzantine rivals until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1461. -
The Nephew of Michael Cerularios , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 22:1 (1981:Spring) P.89
SNIPES, KENNETH, A Letter of Michael Psellus to Constantine the Nephew of Michael Cerularios , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 22:1 (1981:Spring) p.89 A Letter of Michael Psellos to Constantine the Nephew of Michael Cerularios Kenneth Snipes N AN ARTICLE listing the unpublished letters of Michael Psellos, I Jean Darrouzes noted that a small group of six letters attrib uted to Psellos is found in three manuscripts: Athas, Mov~ Meyiar17c; Aavpac; 1721 (M 30) fols. 86-98; Bucharest, Academia Republicii Socialiste Romania 737 (587) fols. 214-49; and Cam bridge, Trinity College 1485 (0.10.33) fols. 192-203v. 1 In addi tion to the three manuscripts known to Darrouzes, these six letters are found also in Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Supplement grec 1334 fols. 108-23v.2 Three of the six (the first, fourth, and sixth) were correctly identified by Darrouzes as letters already published by Sathas or Kurtz-Drexl. 3 Darrouzes, followed by Paul Canart in a later, more comprehensive list of the unpublished letters of Psellos, 4 believed that the other three letters (the second, third, and fifth) had not yet been published. In the case of the third and fifth letters, however, both scholars have been misled by slight differ ences between the word order of their incipits and the incipits of letters 1 and 84 in the large collection of Psellos' letters edited by Sathas. 5 The fifth letter, for example, begins 'Eyw be qJf.11'/V, lepd Kai rpzn6(}1Jre Kerpa).lj, rather than 'Eyw tliv, w lepa Kai rpzn6()17re Kerpa).,~ as in the version in Parisinus gr. -
03. Ch. 1 Ellis, Introduction
Histos Supplement ( ) – INTRODUCTION MORTAL MISFORTUNES, ΘΕ OΣ ΑΝΑΙΤΙ OΣ, AND ΤΟ ΘΕ IOΝ ΦΘ OΝΕΡΟΝ: THE SOCRATIC SEEDS OF LATER ∗ DEBATE ON HERODOTUS’ THEOLOGY Anthony Ellis Abstract : This introduction offers a brief overview of the Socratic and Platonic background to later perceptions of Herodotus’ views about the nature of god, and specifically the notion that god is phthoneros (‘jealous’, ‘envious’, ‘grudging’). Following this theme through later centuries, it then argues that the writings of Plato subtly influenced the theological discourse of subsequent classical, Hellenistic, and Christian historiography, and coloured reactions to Herodotus at all periods, from the fourth century BC to th-century Byzantium. This diachronic approach reveals a long-standing tension between the presentation of the gods in Herodotean historiography, on the one hand, and Platonic and Christian theology, on the other. Keywords : Herodotus, Socrates, Plato, Plutarch, divine phthonos, religion, Byzantine historiography, Neoplatonism. ὡς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι ζώειν ἀχνυµένοις· αὐτοὶ δέ τ' ἀκηδέες εἰσί. δοιοὶ γάρ τε πίθοι κατακείαται ἐν ∆ιὸς οὔδει δώρων οἷα δίδωσι κακῶν, ἕτερος δὲ ἑάων· ᾧ µέν κ’ ἀµµίξας δώῃ Ζεὺς τερπικέραυνος, ἄλλοτε µέν τε κακῷ ὅ γε κύρεται, ἄλλοτε δ' ἐσθλῷ· ᾧ δέ κε τῶν λυγρῶν δώῃ, λωβητὸν ἔθηκε, καί ἑ κακὴ βούβρωστις ἐπὶ χθόνα δῖαν ἐλαύνει, φοιτᾷ δ' οὔτε θεοῖσι τετιµένος οὔτε βροτοῖσιν. Iliad . –== ∗ I am grateful to Mathieu de Bakker, John Marincola, Bryant Kirkland, and especially Michael Lurie for their many helpful comments on earlier drafts of this essay and the preceding preface. @ Anthony Ellis he following article outlines the Socratic background to Plutarch’s claim that Herodotus Tcommits impiety ( βλασφηµία) and abuses the gods, an accusation which profoundly influenced subsequent debates on Herodotus’ religious views, and provoked a range of apologetic responses which continue to influence the interpretation of Herodotus today. -
Byzantium and France: the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the Birth of the Medieval Romance
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-1992 Byzantium and France: the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the Birth of the Medieval Romance Leon Stratikis University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Modern Languages Commons Recommended Citation Stratikis, Leon, "Byzantium and France: the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the Birth of the Medieval Romance. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1992. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2521 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Leon Stratikis entitled "Byzantium and France: the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the Birth of the Medieval Romance." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. Paul Barrette, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: James E. Shelton, Patrick Brady, Bryant Creel, Thomas Heffernan Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation by Leon Stratikis entitled Byzantium and France: the Twelfth Century Renaissance and the Birth of the Medieval Romance. -
Lamentation, History, and Female Authorship in Anna Komnene’S Alexiad Leonora Neville
Lamentation, History, and Female Authorship in Anna Komnene’s Alexiad Leonora Neville NE OF THE MOST commonly read and widely available Byzantine histories is the Alexiad, a history of the em- Operor Alexios Komnenos, who ruled 1081–1118, by his daughter Anna Komnene (1083–1153). Anna’s first-hand descriptions of the passage of the First Crusade are frequently excerpted as expressing a paradigmatic ‘Byzantine view’ of the crusades. Although it is perhaps the most frequently read medieval Byzantine text, it is far from typical of Byzantine histories. Anna’s work is invariably called a history and she de- scribes herself explicitly as writing a history. Yet in its title, Alexiad, and frequent Homeric vocabulary and imagery, it brings the archaic epics to mind.1 The characterization of Alexios as a wily sea captain steering the empire through con- stant storms with guile and courage strongly recalls Odysseus.2 Both in its epic cast and in other factors discussed below, Anna did not adhere strictly to the rules of writing history and rather seems to have played with the boundaries of the genre. The 1 A. Dyck, “Iliad and Alexiad: Anna Comnena’s Homeric Reminiscences,” GRBS 27 (1985) 113–120. Anna’s husband, Nikephoros Bryennios, wrote a history of the rise of Alexios Komnenos in which Alexios ends up seeming less heroic than his political enemy Nikephoros Bryennios the elder (the author’s grandfather). At the point where Alexios has defeated Bryennios the elder, Nikephoros says that “another Iliad would be needed” to tell the deeds of his grandfather properly. -
Curriculum Vitae
1 Anthony Kaldellis ([email protected]) Department of Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 414 University Hall 230 North Oval Mall Columbus OH 43210-1319 CURRICULUM VITAE ACADEMIC POSITION 2007-present: Professor 2006-2007: Associate Professor 2001-2006: Assistant Professor, Department of Greek and Latin, The Ohio State University Other offices Routledge Classical Translations, Series Editor (2011-present). Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Editorial Board (2010-present). Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Medieval Confluences: Studies in the Intellectual History and Comparative History of Ideas of the Medieval World. Editorial Board (2009-present). Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Greek Series. Editorial Board (2008-present). Byzantinische Zeitschrift. North American Bibliographer for Byzantine Literature (2008- present). Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. Advisory Board (2008-present). Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. Review Editor for Byzantine Studies (2006-present). DEGREES Ph.D. History, University of Michigan (2001). B.A. Philosophy, B.A. History: University of Michigan (1994). PUBLICATIONS Monographs The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) – shortlisted for the Runciman Award (2010). Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007). Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). Λέ ζ β ο ς θ α η α λ α η ο ι η θ ή Με ζ ό γ ε η ο ς θ α η ά ηε ρ ωκ α ϊ θ ή θ α η πρ ώη κ ε β σ δ α λ η η λ ή πε ρ ί ο δ ο (100 π.Χ – 600 κ .Χ.): Με ι έ η ε η ωλ θ ο η λ ωλ η θ ώλ , 2 πο ι η η η θ ώλ θ α η ζρεζθεσηη θώλ δ ο κ ώλ [Lesbos and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman and Early Byzantine Period (100 BC – 600 AD): A Study of Social, Political and Religious Structures] (Thessaloniki: Herodotos, 2002). -
ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS in BYZANTIUM* York: George Braziller
Linos G. BENAKIS Vahanian, G. (1965b, December 8). Swallowed Vahanian, G. (1966b). Theology and ‘The End UDC 1/14:17 up by Godlessness. The ChristianCen- of the Age of Religion’. (J. B. Metz, Linos G. BENAKIS tury, LXXXII(49), 1505-1507. Ed.) Concilium: Theology in the Age Vahanian, G. (1966a). No other God. New of Renewal, XVI, 99-110. ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS IN BYZANTIUM* York: George Braziller. Abstract This paper argues that research in the primary sources must precede the investigation of Byzan- tine philosophy. Two points are to be considered, on the one hand, the gathering of texts, and, on the other hand, the study of texts in relation to their sources. Thus the external evidence as well as the internal evidence of texts should be examined. In this double regard, the manuscripts containing Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics are considered. Their authors are Michael of Ephesos, Eustratios of Nicaea, “Anonymus”, Heliodoros of Prussa, Georgios Pachymeres, Michael Psellos, John Italos, Nikephoros Blemmydes, George Gemistos Plethon. Keywords: Byzantine philosophy, Aristotle’s Byzantine Commentators, Michael of Ephesos, Eustratios of Nicaea, “Anonymus”, Heliodoros of Prussa, Georgios Pachymeres, Michael Psellos, John Italos, Nikephoros Blemmydes, George Gemistos Plethon. This paper is primarily technical in nature. b. The study of texts in relation to their It will argue that when one begins to examine a sources. Namely, the identification of less investigated area of the field of Byzantine sources – distinguishing between instan- Philosophy, research in the primary sources ces of mere borrowing and instances of a must still precede every interpretative act and more critical incorporation of such sour- critical approach. -
Political Philosophy in Michael Psellos: the Chronographia Read in Relation to His Philosophical Work
Political philosophy in Michael Psellos: the Chronographia read in relation to his philosophical work DOMINIC J. O’MEARA The political thought explicitly or implicitly present in Michael Psellos’ historical masterpiece, the Chronographia, has attracted the attention of modern readers and given rise to studies using diverse methods and reaching diverse results.1 In general, however, this has been done without taking much account of the large body of texts produced by Psellos in relation to his teaching activities as a philosopher, with one notable exception: the autobiographical section in the Chronographia (VI 36ff.) where Psellos presents his philosophical education and interests, a passage evidently con- nected with Psellos’ own philosophical work. The absence of research com- paring the political thought of the Chronographia with what might be found in Psellos’ philosophical works has the disadvantage of giving the impres- sion of a double personality in Psellos: the political thinker and actor of the Chronographia and the teacher in the philosophical works. There is also the danger that we may deprive ourselves of means allowing us better to under- stand passages in the Chronographia involving fairly technical concepts and theoretical constructs which find fuller expression in the philosophical works, with the result that we may fail to grasp, or even misinterpret, Psellos’ views in the Chronographia. One reason for this situation is the long-standing absence of critical edi- tions of Psellos’ philosophical works, a problem which is now slowly being resolved. A further reason may be that historians might be tempted to think sometimes (may Clio forgive my rudeness!) that they can adequately dis- cuss philosophers of the past without having a serious grasp of their phi- losophy.