The

Issue No. 3 Spring 2013 Byzantinist

A Message from the Editor “So then, if Zeus will not place our inaccessibility, all of us are pio- smaller by widening access to story among the stars, if Poseidon neers in a eld of scholarship, a our work through the internet. will not imprint it upon the waters, if not yet over-crowded by centuries, rough Peter Lang we hope to Earth will not nurture it in plants and each of us can bring something publish the best of the many pa- owers, then, as though in unfading new to the debate, and this issue pers of the society’s international timbers and in adamantine precious of the Byzantinist is no dierent. conference, both this year and in stones, with Hermes’ pen and ink and Our articles cover a time period the future. It has been noted for in language breathing the re of rhet- from the end of antiquity to the high many years that the standard of oric let our story be inscribed, and middle ages, with literature, numis- conference papers is extraordi- let some one of those who come aer matic, economic and hagiographic narily high, and so being able to turn it into rhetoric and forge gold- elds all covered. Our proles of both put the best of these into print is en statues hammered out of words past and present students are also the culmination of many years of as our imperishable monument”. testament to our diversity, and our hard work from the committees So said the 12th Century poet Eus- Fellow’s interview shows Oxford’s of the Oxford University Byz- tathios Makrembolites, and though strength of faculty, as with such a antine Society. As we publish, he was speaking of his contemporary department to work in we can count both in this Byzantinist, online cra of rhetoric, his words remain ourselves lucky to be among the with Porphyra, and in print with true for all of us young scholars to- best minds in our eld in the world. Peter Lang, Eustathios’ wish for day. Too oen has Byzantium been All this is like the tip of an iceberg, an imperishable monument of seen through a glass, darkly, or has hinting at the vast amount of work words has become that much indeed been deemed inaccesible, being done by the many scholars more fullled. Let those that with the very word ‘Byzantine’ being doing Late Antique and Byzantine come aer us continue the good a synonym for something complex. Studies at Oxford, thus for all read- work, but never lose their pur- Scholars of Late Antique and Byzan- ers, let the Byzantinist be seen a sign pose and passion for their work. tium can be an odd bunch, studying of what is around here in Oxford. Maximilian Lau for a variety of reasons, and in elds Beyond this city of ours howev- President more diverse than any discipline save er, I am pleased to announce our classics, covering as it does, History, alli ance with the Italian e-journal Archaeology, Philology, eology, Porphyra and the Peter Lang pub- Anthropology anguages and a great lishing house. e former will be deal more. e ability of Byzantium a boost to our online presence, to draw in scholars must to a cer- and start making the wider world tain extent be due to it’s previous of Byzantine Studies a little bit

. Contents ______

The Function of Lamentation in Niketas Choniates‘ Chronik Digsis by Nicholas Matheou 3

The Numismatic Iconography of Justinian II Reconsidered: Inquiring into the Origins of the Arab-Byzantine Ideological Confrontation by Lorenzo Bondioli 5

The Concentration of Wealth: Some lessons from antiquity? by Adrastos Omissi 8

The limitations of using hagiographical sources by Douglas Whalin 10

An interview with Elizabeth Jeffreys 12

Book reviews 14

Alumnus Profile 16

Graduate Profiles 17

Prizes and Awards 19

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The Function of Lamentation in Niketas Choniates‘ Chronik Digsis

Nicholas Matheou, St. Cross College Laments are moments in the $% where Choniates reduces his narratorial distance, suddenly moving Niketas Choniates, along with Anna Komnene and from his previously extra-diegetic voice and radically Michael Psellos, has often been recognised as one of changing the narrative mood in order to comment on a the Byzantine Empire‘s master historians. Yet the situation, almost always heavily utilising embedded Chronik Digsis [hereafter $% ] has only recently scriptural quotes without referencing. Their effect is to been systematically analysed. This being despite the focus the reader‘s attention on the significance of fact that, as Paul Magdalino has shown concerning what is being narrated, and through repetition of Manuel I Komnenos, Choniates often underpins vocabulary, form and theme to signify of connection historians‘ view of the twelfth-century Byzantine between the matters in discussion. The first of these is world. Alexander Kazhdan in his seminal study of the in Book III of Manuel‘s reign, immediately after he literature of the period recognised the individuality in has discussed the division Sultan Masud of Ikonion‘s Choniates‘ mastery of the tools of Byzantine realm amongst his sons. ii In terms of form, the lament historiography, as did the recent and hitherto sole progresses from a series of rhetorical questions on volume on his work. However, an article of Jonathan how long calamity will continue, to exhortations for Harris‘ notwithstanding, basic questions over the God to intervene. Choniates asks how long [i`\ ZeQN\] manuscript tradition and the implications of 1204 God will overlook his own inheritance [ZjQ Nkf_lNQ remained, until Alicia Simpson‘s 2004 Ph.D. thesis, bXLcm_Y  ], turn his face away [  !"# Zj published as an article in 2006, and shortly to be a full Nkf_lNQ $% ], and allow the descendants of the i length historiographical study. In her article Simpson slave-woman Agar to dominate the free. The lament is illustrates how the evidence excellently systematised thus squarely placed in Anatolia, and refers to its in Johannes van Dieten‘s edition points to two main subjugation by the Turks, rather than being generally periods of composition, represented by the b(revoir) about lost lands. It also incorporates twelve scriptural and a(uctior) manuscript families. To provide a brief quotes into twenty one lines, generally psalms, but outline here, the b family represents the original text, also other books of the Old and New Testaments, a hypothesised by Simpson to have been patronised by a density of biblical referencing which would not escape member of court under Alexios III Angelos, and a contemporary reader. The rhetorically personal and continued after 1204 in exile in Selymbria until incongruous nature of these lines is reinforced by Choniates left for the emerging Laskarid court at Choniates commenting prior to continuing the Nikaia late in 1206. The a family represents narrative how perhaps these addresses ”shot‘ Choniates‘ unfinished attempt to re-orientate his [no_ZNo_pWXO_Q] to God are not untimely [KfXeL`\], narrative in 1215-17, from being a normal history of having lessened the sadness of his soul by a little. imperial reigns from Ioannes II Komnenos onwards, After the lament the narrative goes on to unfavourably to a more unified narrative seeking to explain the fall discuss Kilij Arslan II‘s visit to , of Constantinople. Re-structuring is seen in the indeed he notes with satisfaction how an apparently chronological limits set in the title, which in b has a divine earthquake intervenes so that the sultan cannot beginning [KLMNOPQR] but no end, whereas a clearly participate in a triumph. Therefore the lament can be aims to end with the fall [STUNVWX OPMLY Z[\ ]S^W_`\ read both as actually bemoaning the lost land and as a Z[\ a`QWZXQZYQNVbcS_`\]. Additionally b is an comment on Manuel‘s policy towards the area which dWZNLeX whilst a is a MLNQYfg hYTURWY\, something Choniates names ”the Romans‘ allotment‘ [Zq ZrQ Simpson views as insignificant, but in the hands of the s`OXe`Q WMNYQeWOXZX]. This argument is supported accomplished linguist Choniates could indicate a pun, by the second lament, in Book VII of Manuel‘s reign. both meaning ”chronological account [i.e. annals]‘, In vocabulary, form and theme it is a briefer version and ”discourse on the times‘. This article will assess of the previous one, suggesting these are to be seen in lamentation‘s role as a functional device in Choniates‘ continuous progression helping to underpin the re-orientation towards this metanarrative, focusing on metanarrative. iii It also begins by asking God how three instances. long he will forget his inheritance and turn his face away, in fact here as well as previously Choniates is referencing from psalm 12.2 [i`\ bcZ_, apLY_, Z[\ nbYSTWu &'()# fXv Zj WjQ  % Kw‘ The Byzan tini st | 3 xO`Q $% ]. Furthermore, in these five lines Lamentations 5.1-2, ”remember Lord what has there are four scriptural quotes. However, whilst happened to us, look…Our inheritance has been heavily linked in language and form, the context of turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners‘ the lament is entirely different. It is comes at the end [OQTW!RZY apLY_ „ ZY nU_QT!R xOlQ of a discussion on the granting of paroikoi privileges nbezS_mNQ… &'() xOrQ O_Z_WZL{wR in return for military services, in the section of the KSSNZLeNY\, Nd N…fNY xOrQ oPQNY\]. Thus, through these book which sums up Manuel‘s reign. Choniates is laments, the sack of Constantinople is connected to clear in his opposition to this policy, stating that the the initial loss of Anatolia, and the imperial policies practice made Romans slaves to pitiful half-Turks which Choniates believed allowed the situation there [KQhLXLYy OYoNzXLz{Ly], and encouraged the ruin of to deteriorate. The resonances in grammatical the provinces by both Romans and foreigners. structure, vocabulary, and theme, indicate that they Through lamentation therefore he is linking together should be seen as signifiers of causation. It is clear the original invasion of Anatolia with its perceived that Choniates conceived of the conquest as continued depredation by imperial policy. The chastisement from God for the New Israel, yet more thematic structuring of this criticism connects it to the earthly factors participate within this overall schema. general theme of loss and disaster, ending by An author‘s moral, political, administrative or divine rhetorically questioning when God will grant explanations cannot be separated or artificially deliverance from impending greater danger prioritised in Medieval historiography; all form part of [KbXSSXUgQ h| bXLPo_Y\ fXv ZrQ bNS} ZNpZ`Q a complex whole. A ruler may offend Providence nSbY~NOPQ`Q MXS_b`ZPL`Q], a proleptic hint at 1204. through maladministration, and Providence may These laments, and others, iv then form the thematic inexplicably allow disastrous events to occur. Neither basis for the culmination of the $% at the end of the is more important, and ultimate cause resides in the book dedicated to Alexios V Doukas. v Choniates author‘s understanding of the interaction between the gives at first an ordered account of the beginning of two. Lamentation is one device by which Choniates the sack, detailing specific crimes committed by the seeks to illustrate his in his narrative, and it would Latins with emotive language, twice using a style have strongly resonated with his scripturally versed reminiscent of previous laments. Having ”exposed‘ the and linguistically hypersensitive audience. Latins for fraudulently claiming to be Christ‘s ------soldiers, the lamentation structure returns to underline i. All pagination and lineation used here refers to the the entire description of the sack. Similar in form to current edition: J. van Dieten (ed.), Nicetae Choniatae the previous two instances discussed, in 146 lines Historia (De Gruyter, 1975); for Choniates influence there are fifty seven scriptural references. Also present see: P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos is the rhetorical awareness that the narrative rhythm (Cambridge, 1993) pp.1-27; for his literariness see: A. has been broken, as Choniates comments how he Kazhdan, Studies on Byzantine Literature of the 11 th ought to dedicate copious lamentations to God and and 12 th Centuries (Cambridge, 1984) pp.256-86, & refrain from continuing the sequence of this history A. Simpson, & S. Efthymiadis (eds.), Niketas [!LRQRO{Z`Q KwNWY`ZPNQ WNY fXv ZN€ b_LXYZPL` Choniates: Historian and Writer (Pomme d‘Or, Kw_fZPNQ Z[\ dWZNLeX\ _dLON€]. Yet as opposed to the 2009); for his historical causation see: J. Harris, previous laments, here Choniates suggests eventual ”Distortion, divine providence and genre in Nicetas resolution, noting in one scriptural quote how ”in a Choniates‘s account of the collapse of Byzantium brief anger I [God] turned away my face, and in mercy 1180-1204‘, in Journal of Medieval History , Vol.26, everlasting I will take pity on you‘ [nQ !VO• OYfL• No.1 (2000), pp.19-31; for the implications of 1204  !*) Zj $% ONV, fXv nQ nS_y Xk`Qey see: J. Harris, ”Looking back on 1204: Nicetas nS_TW` W_]. Through a series of conditional clauses, Choniates in Nicaea‘, in Mesogeios , Vol.12, (2001), Choniates illustrates how God both takes and gives, pp.17-24; for a full discussion of the manuscript elaborating the view that the conquest is part of God‘s tradition see: A. Simpson, ”Before and After 1204: plan to chastise the Romans, and that exile will not The Versions of Niketas Choniates‘ —Historia“‘, in last forever. This is underlined by the final passage of Dumbarton Oaks Papers , Vol.60 (2006), pp.189-221; the lament, indeed of the entire $% , where A. Simpson, Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Choniates exhorts the Romans to sing with David, Study (Oxford) is scheduled for publication on urging the Lord to remember and look upon them so 26/09/2013 that they may glory with his inheritance [OQTW!RZY ii 116.79-117.4 xOrQ, apLY_ … nbeWf_mXY xOƒ\…nbXYQ_lW!XY O_Zq iii 209.54-8 Z[\ &'()# WNV]. Whilst this scriptural iv See the lament to Andronikos‘ victims: 295.54-63; quotation has been attributed to psalm 105.4 by van and to the throne of the Romans 498.29-499.54 Dieten, indeed Choniates mentions David, its v 576.1-582.46 vocabulary means it must also be connected with

The Byzan tini st | 3

The Numismatic Iconography of Justinian II Reconsidered: Inquiring into the Origins of the Arab-Byzantine Ideological Confrontation

Lorenzo Bondioli Baliol College

its rule over the newly established empire. As a result, The rise of the Arab caliphate represented not the Umayyad pretender to the caliphate, ”Abd al- only a deadly military menace to Byzantium, but an Malik ibn MarwŒn (692-705 CE), negotiated an unprecedented ideological challenge as well. The onerous truce with the empire, including a substantial Arabs were the first and only invaders of the late tribute to be paid annually by Damascus to Roman empire who proposed a political and religious Constantinople. Justinian agreed to the truce: in his model radically alternative to the Christian-Roman best hopes, the Arabs would have consumed their one. However, in the first decades of the Arab- resources in fighting each other, while the empire Byzantine confrontation the uniqueness of the early would have benefited from a much needed peace. Islamic polity was probably not as obvious as it could However, far from breaking apart, the Umayyad seem on account of later developments. In fact, caliphate emerged from the civil war stronger than it contemporary sources, such as the Armenian chronicle had been before. More importantly, the events of the attributed to Sebeos, seem to have a rather reductive Second Civil War led ”Abd al-Malik to public and understanding of the religious affiliation of the explicit professions of Islamic faith. This was conquerors, who are variably described as either probably because his main opponent, the revered heretics or Jews. This is partly explainable if we ”Abd-AllŒh ibn al-Zubayr, had virulently attacked the consider that IslŒm was at that time far from its impiety of the Umayyad family. That much religious, definitive and distinctive formalisation, whilst its as well as political, discontent had arisen around the affinities whit the other two Abrahamic religions were Umayyads is clear, and it was thus necessary for ”Abd probably already evident. Moreover, the Arab al-Malik to reassure his subjects on the matter of his authorities were not very active in advertising their personal piety. This was achieved by various means: beliefs, which clearly they did not intend to impose at the most famous is probably the Dome of the Rock in all. Consequently, it was probably very difficult for Jerusalem, whose mosaic decoration includes one of outsiders to understand the nature of the new religious the earliest detailed exposition of the Islamic faith. A movement; surely enough, its implication were at first much briefer version of such profession of faith had either ignored or largely underestimated by the already been introduced on coins. At the same time, imperial court. Again, this is excusable if we consider the Byzantine prototypes were progressively that under the four RŒshid•n caliphs (632-661 CE), abandoned. The first major modification entailed the and the SufyŒnids (661-685 CE) the coinage of Syria, removal of the symbol of the cross by the omission of which had been revived by the conquerors, the longitudinal brace. Then, the imperial figure on perpetuated Byzantine prototypes bearing the imperial the obverse was replaced by the figure of the standing image on the obverse and on the reverse the cross caliph. Such ”standing caliph coins‘ had at first been potent on steps (representing the cross on the struck in copper, but starting from the early 690‘s they Golgotha ). Comparable imitative coins had already were minted in silver and gold as well, something been stuck by Goths, Franks and Lombards, allowing unprecedented in the Umayyad coinage. Copper and the empire to think that the Arabs were only the last in gold issues were drawn upon the model of Byzantine a long series of invaders willing to exploit the richness folles and solidi , while the silver coins derived from of the Roman empire, by simply substituting the Sassanian drachmas. themselves for the imperial administration. Apparently, such innovations did not pass unnoticed This misunderstanding came to an end by the late at the Byzantine court. Under the entry for the Annus seventh century, during the first reign of Justinian II Mundi 6183 (690/91 CE), the Chronicle of (685-695 CE and again 705-711). Ironically, the reign Theophanes reports: of Justinian begun under the best auspices: the Arab ”In this year Justinian foolishly broke the caliphate was in fact ravaged by the Second Civil peace with Abilmelech; for he [...] refused to War, as the Umayyad dynasty struggled to maintain accept the minted coin that had never been The Byzan tini st | 4 made before. [...] Abilmelech [...] diabolically defeat and by ”Abd al-Malik‘s new Islamic feigned to be begging that peace should not be propaganda alike. The deliberate dismissal of the broken and that Justinian should accept his Christian and imperial symbol of the cross could not currency, seeing that the Arabs could not suffer be ignored, especially considering that the emperor the Roman imprint on their own currency [...]. was regarded as the defender of both the Roman empire and the orthodox Christian doctrine. Such a ”sacerdotalization‘ of the imperial office had been a distinctive trait of the Heraclian dynasty, reaching its peak exactly in the reign of Justinian II. If we bear this in mind, it is difficult to regard Justinian‘s new numismatic iconography as anything else than a precise response to ”Abd al-Malik‘s new coins. A closer look at the iconography itself will confirm such impression. The most striking innovation of Justinian‘s coins is the unprecedented introduction of the bust of Christ on the obverse, traditionally reserved for the figure of the emperor. The bust is encircled by the inscription IHS[US] CRISTOS REX This brief and puzzling account has attracted the REGNANTIUM , ”Jesus Christ, King of Kings‘. As we attention of many scholars, who either regarded it as know from the inscription in the Dome of the Rock, it trustworthy or largely imaginative. I will not discuss was exactly the role of Christ that the Islamic doctrine here if we can actually regard the issue of coinage as a was questioning: casus belli for the conflict of 691/92 (other, more ”The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only practical reasons, brought the ceasefire to an end). God‘s messenger, His word that He committed However, Theophanes‘ account proves that a quarrel to Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him. So over coinage actually took place. Problems of believe in God and His messenger. Do not say chronology arise, too lengthy to be discussed here, but ”three‘. Refrain, it is better for you. For God is the chronology of Theophanes is often faulty and an one god. […] It is not for God to take a son.‘ anachronism of one year can hardly suffice to reject Justinian II might have not known of such a detailed the entire veracity of the episode. We cannot say argumentation, but the links between the Syrian exactly which of the new coins of ”Abd al-Malik Christianity and Constantinople were still tight at the reached Constantinople, but we know that they were end of the seventh century, and it is indeed very not well received. Surely enough, they bore the probable that by 692 some rough idea of the Islamic mutilated cross, common to all issues up to 696/97 Christology had reached the capital. CE, whose meaning was impossible for Justinian II to The bust of Christ can thus be interpreted as a fail to understand. For the first time, the Arab deliberate attempt by Justinian to reassess the essential caliphate was deliberately presenting itself as a non- role of Christ, man and God, as the only source of Christian, non-Roman state. Apparently, ”Abd al- political legitimacy. Moreover, it is the obverse of Malik did not limited its expurgation of Christian Justinian‘s coins that more clearly shows a direct symbols to coinage alone. The Abbasid chronicler al- dialogue with ”Abd al-Malik‘s coinage. BalŒdhurŽ reports that he reformed the qar789s (either On the obverse, Justinian himself appears standing, to be interpreted as the protocol of the papyri or as the holding with his right arm the same cross potent on imprint on state-produced textiles), as he replaced the steps that had been mutilated on Arab coins and that Christian formulas and the cross symbol with Islamic had previously entirely occupied the reverse of invocations. Justinian would have then threatened to imperial gold coins. The encircling inscription insult Mu•ammad on his own coins, a menace which proclaims D[OMINUS] IUSTINIANUS SERV[US] convinced the caliph to struck new coins of his own. CHRISTI , ”the emperor Justinian, serve of Christ‘. Such an anecdotal explanation is obviously unlikely. Such a formula humilitatis is obviously intended to Nonetheless, the substance of the ideological conflict underline the privileged link between the emperor and is consistent with Theophanes‘ account and ”Abd al- the heavenly source of his political legitimacy, Christ Malik‘s policy. Clearly enough, the new propaganda himself. The same link had been abruptly broken by of the Umayyad caliphate was unacceptable to ”Abd al-Malik when he had excluded the Christian Byzantium, as it undermined the two pillars of symbol from his coinage. Byzantine ideology: Christianity and Romanitas . But it is the cross on steps that clearly states A response from the Byzantine side was therefore Justinian‘s intention: whereas it was mutilated on needed, especially as the war had rapidly turned Arab coins, it is visually sustained by the emperor, against Justinian, whose Slav recruits deserted to the who grasps it. Such iconography is extremely Arabs at the battle of Sebastopolis, dooming the eloquent and completely unprecedented. Previous imperial army to defeat. It was therefore paramount coins had sometimes shown co-emperors flanking the for Justinian to reassess his authority, shaken by this cross, but never the figure had been associated to the The Byzan tini st | 5 imperial figure as strongly as in Justinian‘s coins. That the emperor intended to lunch a clear message is supported by the fact that even when the iconography of the imperial figure was later changed, showing only Justinian‘s bust, the cross on step remained, oddly miniaturized but perfectly recognizable in the emperor‘s right hand. The convocation of the Quinisext Council by Justinian has doubtlessly to be related to the rise of the Islamic empire as well. As apocalyptic material shows, the Arabs were seen as a punishment cast by God upon his People because of their sins. To conciliate God

was therefore necessary if victory upon the Arabs was to be achieved. Justinian‘s numismatic iconography is to be set against such a background, when the Christian orthodoxy and the authority of the Roman emperor seemed both to be endangered by the rise of a new empire and of a new faith.

The Byzan tini st | 6

The Concentration of Wealth: Some lessons from antiquity?

Adrastos Omissi St. John's College

The growing concentration of wealth went hand in Several weeks ago, Oxfam reported that the income hand with changing spending patterns. It was one of of the world‘s hundred richest people, an income the early Empire‘s success stories that a tradition of estimated to be in the region of $240 billion, would be Graeco-Roman civic munificence had been exported sufficient to end world poverty four times over. It was throughout the Empire. Local men, on the path to a shocking statistic and a powerful reminder of the greatness, advertised their rise by lavish spending in fact that wealth, even in the modern world, is still their native regions. The early Empire also made organised along strictly hierarchical lines; to the wilful participation in an exploitative system œ the smallest group goes the greatest portion. Indeed, so taxation system œ a desirable commodity. Towns the article goes on to point out, the global financial wanted to become cities and thus to be inserted into crisis has accelerated this process, rather than slowing the administrative framework of the Empire because it, and the income of the world‘s richest one per cent the benefits œ a town council, civitas status, and the has increased by something like 60% in the last authority over tax contributions that came with it œ twenty years. were seen to outweigh the negative impact of financial Shocking as this situation is, it need not surprise the contribution to the running of the state. By these Byzantine scholar, since similar forces were at work means, wealth was redistributed and private donation during the last two centuries of the Western Roman filled many of the roles that today the state is expected Empire. In the third century, the Empire had to occupy. Baths, roads, monuments, and games experienced its own ”global‘ financial crisis, with stood testament to the wealth of local landowners. increasingly vast portions of the imperial fisc being But at the same time as wealth was being funnelled auctioned off to pay for a state system whose books into fewer and fewer hands, the patterns of civic evidently did not balance. The third century even saw patronage were also being broken. The late Roman its fair share of ”quantitative easement‘, and look how system, much like our own, failed to incentivise the that went. The silver currency completely collapsed redistribution of wealth from private hands. Thus, and with it went the economy that was based upon it. even by the second half of the fourth century, towns in Brutal financial reforms and the creation of a gold northern Europe that were not directly involved in the currency to replace the silver one never truly imperial administration appear to have been in remonetised the economy, and payment of both taxes terminal decline. Private money stayed in private and salaries in kind became standard under the late hands, increasingly being spent upon fabulous private Empire. homes, like the villa at Piazza Armerina in Sicily. As Though it may have bankrupted the Roman state, Christianity took hold, the church claimed its share however, the third century crisis benefited many of the too, but the Church never intended nor seriously Empire‘s great families. Indeed, it created many of attempted to provide the kind of infrastructure that the Empire‘s great families; a significant proportion of private donation had once yielded. the enormous senatorial landowners of the late Empire Oxfam have warned ”that extreme wealth and income rose to greatness in precisely this period, creating vast is not only unethical it is also economically fortunes by acquiring land from the desperate imperial inefficient, politically corrosive, [and] socially fisc. Whatever the route they took to the top, by the divisive‘. We know full-well that this was the case in early fifth century we find numerous senatorial the Roman world. Inefficiency, for instance, landowners, mostly in the west, possessed of characterised Roman farming. Slave labour stupendous wealth. The historian Olympiodorus encouraged labour intensive methods and stifled reports that Rome‘s wealthiest aristocrats possessed innovation. Indeed, innovation in farming techniques pan-imperial estates, the incomes of which alone were appears to have come from the ”barbaric‘ world of the in the region of 5,300 lbs of gold per year. Even north, where harsher conditions and heavier soils factoring that a Roman pound weighs less than a necessitated metal tools and more advanced ploughs. modern one, that quantity of gold would sell today for But perhaps more than anything, it was the enormous around $103 million dollars. Given the relative GDPs estates of late Roman senators that most contributed to of the ancient and the modern world, such fortunes are technological stagnation. A family like the Anici, astronomical. The Byzan tini st | 7 with lands from Gaul to Palestine and doubtless the hoes. Increasingly draconian legislation against drawing in revenues even greater than those reported late Roman coloni , that sought to tie them to the vast by Olympiodorus, had little incentive to maximise the estates they worked, can only have been in the output of their estates. interests of landowners. By the time of Justinian, Political corrosion, likewise, characterised the system notionally free farmers were little more than slaves. of vast estates. These estates, which gave birth to the Upon their estates, often the size of cities, landowners manorial system, certainly bear much responsibility were little emperors: all powerful and capable of for the increasing regionalisation of the late- and post- being every bit as capricious. Roman economy. Modern archaeological research is If we accept, at least at a surface level, that the applying heavy qualifications to this thesis, and the comparison between the Roman and the modern vast manorial estates were more ”commercial‘ than situation has some validity, than can we ask what has previously been realised, but nevertheless predictions the Roman example may have for us? enormous and largely self-sufficient estates had within Nothing good, would be the obvious answer. It‘s them a tendency to provincialism that was a generally accepted that without the impact of external dangerous check on political unity. It is well known invasions the Western Empire might well have carried that the Roman response to the barbarian incursions of on much as it always had and endured the fifth the fifth century was hopelessly provincial. At century. But this does not alter the lesson that the virtually every juncture, the political history of the Empire had grown less able, over time, to respond to fifth century may better be characterised as a series of crises and to changes in the pressures placed upon the civil wars than of battles for survival against an system. As the rich grew richer, their own self- external enemy. If Honorius and his court had been interest became capable of overpowering the political less concerned with the usurpers beyond the Alps, for order. instance, Rome might never have been sacked in 410. We may be facing a similar situation in the modern Eastern senators never came to hold such sway over world. The recent economic crisis has shown us just their emperors as did the western, in part because they how fragile our system really is, and the concentration did not represent as great a proportion of that of greater proportions of wealth in fewer hands does Empire‘s wealth. They were more dependent on their not inspire confidence. Just as regionalism saw emperor and upon the system of remunerations linked sections of the Western Empire pulling away from to the court and therefore tended to behave better. state control and solving their immediate problems at the price of a loss of federalism, so too in our own Social division, likewise, applies. It is often remarked time we see regions of Europe peeling away from that social mobility was a feature of the Roman State, federation as crisis upsets the balance. Is Mr Cameron but this mobility depended upon the structures that the next Constantine III, stripping away from Britain existed within the state, not least the army. If the state the protective mesh of Europe in the name of re- collapsed, the hope for mobility collapsed with it. establishing order (though Constantine III was And, sure enough, the stratification of society running towards Europe, not away from it)? All of continued apace after the fall of Rome. More than this is so much speculation, but the central lesson ever before, education and learning became the remains true, that history has taught, again and again, preserve of an aristocratic elite and episcopal office that the concentration of wealth in too few hands can became something of a family business (Gregory of only end badly, even for the rich. Tours could count all but five of the eighteen bishops • of Tours as relatives). Roman monopolies upon land and labour also impacted upon the hands that worked

The Byzan tini st | 8

The limitations of using hagiographical sources

Douglas Whalin Queen's College, Cambridge

typically organized chronologically according to the In recent decades, has become an year in which the died. However, ‘s feasts important genre for the study of social history in the were celebrated annually according to the day on medieval Roman world. However, it is very unlike which they died, so during the seventh and eighth most types of historical sources with which either centuries hagiographical collections were re-ordered classicists or generalist historians will be familiar. according to the church calendar. It is in this form that Hagiographic texts present a problem if one simply virtually all may be found in extant attempts to mine them for information. The purpose of manuscripts. In the same period, the liturgical this essay is to provide an introductory overview of calendar of Constantinople began to circulate more hagiography as a type of source material. By doing so, broadly (or at least the possibility can be inferred from it should become evident that modern study has been 63 of the Council in Trullo), which led to a broadly incompatible with their historical usage. greater standardization of saints‘ cults across the One of the most striking features about hagiography is Roman world. the volume, both in terms of individual stories and in This process of standardization led to the emergence terms of manuscripts. For his great early-twentieth- of several new types of hagiographical collections. century works on Medieval Greek hagiography, They were organized so that they could be read Albert Erhard examined more than 2,750 manuscripts. sequentially each year, but the Christian calendar To put this in perspective, the text of Theophanes‘ presents problems for doing this: there are both fixed Chronicle , as edited by De Boor and translated by holidays (such as Christmas) and movable holidays Cyril Mango and Roger Scott, is established from (such as ). Medieval Romans came up with a about a dozen Greek manuscripts. few different ways to deal with this, each suited to a Hagiography is not a single genre, but a fairly broad different budget. Year collections are the most modest literary field; there are three genre which fall into this liturgical works, usually collected into just one or two field. The first is the saint‘s life , which is codices. These contained two sections, the first of biographical, typically containing information about daily hagiographical readings, and the second of the the whole of a single holy person‘s life from birth to reading necessary for the movable dominical and death. The narrative of their life is almost always in Marian feasts. These were often highly-localized strict chronological order, although introductory products, and it is from these that isolated saint‘s cults remarks and lists of posthumous miracles may jump have occasionally been attested. Alternatively, for around in time and space. The second major type of institutions with greater wealth, the movable feasts hagiography is the martyr‘s story , which narrates only could receive their own specialized volume, while the persecution and death of one or more saints. hagiographies would be presented in the form of a Finally, there are encomia , works which are usually . Menologia , often written across several written in an elevated literary register, and which physical volumes, contain only fixed-day readings for organize information out of chronological sequence. the liturgical calendar. A menologium only contained These three genres are not exclusive, and works can one text per day, although not necessarily a text for be treated as belonging to more than just one category. every day. Finally, a synaxarion was an encyclopaedic Hagiography is a united literary field because of the edition. Although notices were quite brief, they listed types of topics which all three genres approach, and every saint who was to be celebrated on any given how the books were used by medieval audiences. day. Again, many cults are only known from their Hagiography was not a literary form used for pleasure synoptic references in a synaxarium . reading, like a novel, or for reference, like a treatise In particular, there are two hagiographical collections on law, but as a part of the liturgy which was recited with which someone new to the genre should become daily in churches and monasteries. Hagiography familiar. The first is Synaxarium of Constantinople . comprises the lowest portion of the liturgical triad, The Imperial Church never developed the formal where the Bible is the most important, and the system of canonization which has emerged in the writings of the church fathers are in the middle. Their west, but this volume approximates it. This role gradually developed over the course of Late Synaxarium was widely distributed across the Antiquity; the first texts were written as stand-alone medieval Roman world, both within and without the stories, which were collected up and bound together in empire. It is clear that it is an official document; codices ad hoc . When planned, early collections were although the original prologue has not been preserved The Byzan tini st | 9 in Greek, C.M. Sauget published it from an Arabic metaphor, it might be helpful to think of a serialized translation of the text in 1969. From this it is known TV show like Smallville or Dr. Who . These shows are that the work was written by Euaristos the Deacon and set in fictionalized version of the contemporary world, was commissioned by Constantine VII but while they certainly are sources for the cultural Porphyrogenitus. Therefore, it should be considered history of our own day, they cannot be taken at face alongside the De Administrando Imperio as one of the value. A similar attitude needs to be adopted in works written under Constantine‘s patronage, approaching hagiography. Although written for a demonstrating the emperor‘s interests in ecclesiastical medieval audience, hagiographies are a kind of magic affairs as well. Unfortunately, while the work was realism ; they are partially set in a spiritual world, edited and published as a coherent document in 1902, which has a different logic to the physical historical only isolated selections have been translated and world, but remains believable for its intended published in English. Notwithstanding Andrea Luzzi‘s audience. Italian articles on the subject, one must still await an Hagiographic texts were read, every year, in a fixed English monograph treating the work as a whole. order, by a community of fans. This is in sharp The other important collection is the Metaphrastic contrast to modern published versions, which remove Menologium . Dating to the late-tenth century and the stories from their original context and re-order compiled under the guidance of Symeon them according to chronological, thematic, or even Metaphrastes, it has achieved infamy among some alphabetical logic. So while hagiographies have seen critics for re-writing many of its texts in an elevated increased use as historical sources in the last thirty literary language. Despite this modern ambivalence, years or so, their treatment has been haphazard. the work was wildly popular for medieval readers œ Caution should be exercised when using information Erhard counted over 700 Metaphrastic manuscripts, from these sources, as simply mining them for out-of- amounting to more than a quarter of all extant context data can lead the unwary to information from hagiographical works. The collection is so important the wrong side of the magic realism divide. Only that hagiographical study is broken between editions which might present texts in the same order everything which came before Symeon, and and placement as found in manuscripts can restore the everything which came after. Christian Høgel has context of hagiography as a source. By and large, this recently written a monograph in English arguing for is work which still remains to be done, and makes the the importance of this collection, yet its publication future developments of this field exciting to await. history creates problems for study. While the entirety of the work has been edited and published, it has been FURTHER READING piecemeal, done by various editors reading different Dumbarton Oaks Online Hagiographical Database, manuscripts over the last several centuries. Select doaks.org/research/byzantine/resources/hagiography- vignettes are available in English translation, but not database in the context of the other texts with which they may be found in the manuscripts. Indeed, the uneven Stephanos Efthymiadis, Hagiography in Byzantium publication history and study of the Metaphrastic (2011) Menologium and the Synaxarium of Constantinople Albert Ehrhard, Überlieferung und Bestand der are indicative of the current challenges facing anyone hagiographischen und homiletischen Literatur der wishing to use material from the field of hagiography. griechischen Kirche (3 Vol., 1939-52) While these manuscripts are common and were widely read, a scholar must be cautious before labelling them Christian Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes (2002) —popular literature.“ As liturgy, these hagiographical works were read aloud serially each day by and for Andrea Luzzi, Studi sul Sinassario di Constantinopoli members of religious communities; other people were (1995) probably familiar with the stories, but could not have . devoted the resources necessary to take part in the annual recitations in quite the same way. As a •

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The Byzan tini st | 12 Book Reviews would still secure salvation? Brown deftly provides Peter Brown, Through the Eye of the Needle: examples of both approaches, using Augustine as an Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of example of one who would accept the retention of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD. Princeton wealth as long as it was used to further church purposes University Press: Princeton and Oxford, 2012. and did not cause disorder or disharmony. He uses the Pelagian text De divitiis as an example of the approach The to Peter Brown‘s newest book cites to that all wealth was derived from avarice, resulting in the Matthew 19:21-26 (Revised Standard Edition) for the unequal distribution of property causing poverty. Thus familiar advice that Jesus gave to the young rich man renunciation was necessary for the wealthy to be saved. that, —If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess Brown observes that it was the crises of the 5 th century and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in that largely ended the radical criticism of wealth because heaven; and come, follow me.“ When the young man it was necessary for rebuilding cities and churches. heard this, he went away sorrowful; for he had great The last of the three concepts is the lashing together possessions. Jesus then follows this up with his disciples of the idea of purgatory with alms-giving and telling them that, —…it is easier for a camel to go through intercessionary prayer as necessary steps to shorten the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the the suffering of good but flawed Christians in kingdom of God.“ When the disciples asked who then purgatory. The impact of the correlation of these would be saved, Jesus said to them that, —With men this ideas was two-fold. First, the churches used it to is impossible, but with God all things are possible.“ encourage parishioners to give frequently, both Brown sets out in this book to examine the impact of during life and in their wills. Second, the gift-giving wealth on the western Christian churches from the last parishioners used it to force the clergy to be celibate centuries of the Roman Empire to the first centuries of and holy in order to engender confidence that their the post-imperial age (roughly 350-550 AD). He says clerical intercession would be favourably received in very clearly that his intent is to look only at the heaven. development of western thought, leaving eastern thought Thus, this book pulls together the early development in this area to someone else. Three interwoven concepts of western Christian thought on the role and effect of underlie the book. The first concerns the growth of the wealth accumulated by both the churches and the wealth of the churches and its impact. Brown notes that laity. It is superbly written, using short chapters and the accumulation of wealth was a long, slow process, frequent anecdotes to enliven a serious and scholarly with most early gifts coming from the middling classes. work. In this regard, the bibliography and notes are The churches took the position very early on that they excellent. Although the book relies very heavily on should be collecting and distributing alms donated for the Augustine, who occupies approximately one-third of poor. The poor included not only the impoverished but the text and is frequently used elsewhere to illustrate also the holy poor, that is, the clergy, monks and nuns. the ”reasonable‘ approach to wealth, both inside and As the churches slowly accumulated wealth, they were out of the church; this does not distract from what is able to take more of a leading role in their communities, otherwise a very engaging and useful addition to the although one tempered by the pastoral and fiduciary study of the development of early western Christian nature of their authority as stewards for the poor. thought. The second concept concerns what the Christian wealthy needed to do to reach heaven. Must they renounce all wealth? Or could they retain it and use it in ways that Elizabeth Buchanan

The Byzan tinist | 13 Tersea Bernheimer and Adam Silverstein (eds.), Late Building upon his pervious work, James Howard- Antiquity: Eastern Perspectives. Gibb Memorial Johnston (pp. 87-127) offers an extended examination Trust, 2012 of the military organization and resources of the Sasanian Empire. Although making significant use of

the written sources, the essay focuses largely on the From the world once described by Peter Brown, late archaeological evidence for military infrastructure to antiquity has spilled out into a universe of the post- construct a narrative of the empire's geo-strategic classical, sprawling to cover North Africa and much orientation. Throughout, Howard-Johnston argues of Eurasia. Where the world of late antiquity properly carefully for both the sophistication and martial ends œ spatially and conceptually œ and when, effectiveness of the Sasanian state. The theme of however, are questions only beginning to be social and military organization is further developed developed within the critical discussion of the period. for the later Islamic period by Luke Treadwell (pp. It is to the first of these questions that the editors of 128-144). Focusing on the evidence for the existence the present volume draw the reader's attention. In their of organized and operationally effective urban militias introduction (pp. 1-12), Adam Silverstein and Teresa in Samanid central Asia, Treadwell mounts a careful Bernheimer question whether the term ought properly and compelling challenge to the consensus on the to be applied to the study of Sasanian Iran and its autonomy of civic institution within the Islamic world. cultural legacy. The question is fully valid, critiquing The remaining essays explore elements of the cultural the implicit phenomenology of the period. and literary patrimony of the post-Sasanian world. Regrettably, the constituent essays do not pursue this Geoffrey Khan's essay (pp. 71-86) on the corpus of premise systematically, but nonetheless succeed Arabic tax documents from Khurasan offers evidence admirably in advancing the discussion of the eastern œ which although largely circumstantial, remains sources for a variety of questions in Sasanian and nonetheless effectively suggestive œ for the role post-Sasanian history. played by Iranian administrators in the Abbasid tax Patricia Crone and François de Blois beginning the system, from Egypt to central Asia. The essay by collection by examining the Islamic era sources for Michael R. Jackson Bonner (pp. 42-56) is of particular pre-Islamic religion. De Blois (pp. 13-24) scrutinizes interest. By comparing the witness of Procopius with the Muslim sources for Mazdak religion, and the the later Muslim historical tradition for the Roman- strength of the essay lies in his careful cross Sasanian war of 540-545, Bonner succeeds in teasing examination of these text, which allow him to from the latter sources evidence of a Sasanian cogently challenge their use in the reconstruction of historical perspective, including the likely existance of early Mazdak cosmology. De Blois, then, succinctly a Christian source for the N•sh ZŒd revolt. argues that Sasanian Mazdakites were practitioners of Finally, the essay offered by D. G. Tor (pp. 145-163) a form of asceticism œ a proposition worthy of further provides a fundamentally plausible reconsideration of development. Crone (pp. 25-41) explores the the role of Sasanian kingship imagery in Islamic depiction of Buddhism as a form of pre-Zoroastrian political culture, emphasizing its selective adaptation paganism in the Muslim sources. Her conclusions and widely defused nature to argue against its use as regarding the existence and pervasiveness of an actual evidence for anti-Islamic or anti-Arab Persian revival. stratum of suppressed Buddhist influence within Less compelling, however, is her secondary claim Sasanian Zoroastrianism, though they ought to be regarding the chronology of the process by which treated tentatively, are deserving of further research. models of Iranian kingship were assimilated into To the discussion of pre-Islamic religion Philip Wood Muslim use, while the essay as a whole suffers an (pp. 57-70) adds an essay on the articulation and imprecise use of terminology. Ultimately, like the disconnects of centralized authority in the early fifth volume as a whole, the essay offers a fascinating century Church of the East. In it, Wood makes a "eastern" perspective on the cultural legacy of the reasonable, circumstantial case for regional resistance Sasanian world. to the accumulation of authority by the bishops of Ctesiphon, pointing to a fascinating avenue for future research and casting welcome attention on the under Simon Ford studied corpus of Syriac sources for Sasanian history through his use of the Persian martyr lives.

The Byzan tinist | 14 Alumnus Profile

Petros Bouras-Vallianatos Centre for Hellenic Studies, King‘s College London

After completing a five-year undergraduate degree in in October 2011 where I was lucky enough to obtain Pharmacy at the University of Athens, I moved to AHRC funding. I am currently supervised by London (KCL) to purse a second undergraduate Dionysios Stathakopoulos, who first aroused my degree in Ancient History. My BA dissertation, which interest in Byzantine medicine already from my focused on Alexander of Tralles‘ treatise on epilepsy undergraduate years at King‘s. My second supervisor, inspired my deep enthusiasm about Byzantine Ludmilla Jordanova, initiated me into critical theory. medicine and pharmacology. Someone may then ask My PhD research focuses on the late Byzantine why I chose to apply for a master™s in Byzantine physician John Zacharias Aktouarios (ca. 1275 œ after studies rather than directly on medical history. I 1328) and examines his works first hand, in order to strongly believe that the interpretation of various outline his contribution and place him in the context Byzantine medical texts, from significant handbooks of the development of medical thought and practice. of eponymous authors to little anonymous recipes In the course of my doctoral research, and after the scattered among manuscripts, presupposes a good generous support of the Wellcome Trust, I have knowledge of literature, history, and art on the basis of visited many libraries in Greece, Italy, Austria, which one can evaluate the impact of contemporary Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, in sociocultural factors. I started my M.St in Late order to research the great number of manuscripts Antique and Byzantine Studies at Kellogg College, containing John‘s unedited work On the Method of Oxford, in October 2010 and attended classes on Medicine . The direct consultation of manuscripts has Byzantine history, literature, art & archaeology, Greek been the essential step for dating and clearing the Paleography, Byzantine Epigraphy, and Byzantine complicated structure of the work. In my thesis, I numismatics. I was fortunate to be supervised by Marc concentrate on John‘s medical theories and his Lauxtermann, whose persistent interest in my research contribution in the popular contemporary field of prompted me to make use of every possible textual uroscopy. Moreover, I discuss John‘s therapeutic source. My dissertation concentrated on the recommendations by providing a critical assessment pharmacological approach to epilepsy in Byzantium. of his pharmacology and treat John‘s role as practising The rich collection of manuscripts at the Bodleian physician by focusing on the illustrating examples of library provided me with the ideal space to work on his case histories. The latter aspect constitutes the previously unedited medical texts. In addition, the topic of a research paper I gave last June in Berlin at a library of the Oxford Wellcome Unit for the History conference concentrating on the role of the patient in of Medicine permitted me to access specialised medical texts and artefacts, and will shortly appear as bibliography. My paleography skills were further a chapter in an edited volume. I was also involved on improved by tutorials generously given by Georgi Barbara Zipser‘s (RHUL) project on Simon of Parpulov. Furthermore, I had the chance to present my Genoa‘s medical lexicon and wrote several entries and first paper in the Byzantine Theatron, a series of an article concentrating on pharmacological lemmata. seminars organised by Marc Lauxtermann, which help At the same time, with the invaluable help of my graduate students to communicate their research and friend and postgraduate student at King‘s College consider themselves as active members of the London, Simon Ruggiero, I founded King‘s College academic community. An additional paper in the Late Antique and Byzantine society with the aim to International Graduate Conference 2011 of the Oxford promote LABS culture and civilisation through a Byzantine Society gave me the opportunity to meet, number of events. I am now undertaking research at discuss, and exchange ideas with fellow graduate the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress students from other countries and different in Washington DC as a short-term research fellow. backgrounds. After a fruitful summer school in Greek My time at Oxford was crucial in providing me with Palaeography at the Central European University, the necessary resources and stimulating my doctorate Budapest, I started my PhD at King‘s College London and future research.

The Byzan tinist | 15

Graduate Profiles

AnnaLinden Weller Modern Imperialism: The Letters of Byzantine Pembroke College, Oxford Imperial Agents Outside the Metropole, looks at the letter collections of three Byzantine imperial agents in th I ended up a Byzantinist entirely by accident; my geographic and cultural comparison: an early-10 century envoy, the magistros Leo Choirosphaktes; the eighteen-year-old university-bound self was planning th th on a career in high-energy physics, and I'd violently late-10 / early 11 -century imperial legate and sworn off anything Greek after overexposure to bad provincial administrator, Nikephoros Ouranos; and the Armenian-born governor of Byzantine Ani in the mid- translations of Oedipus Rex in high school in New th York City. The physics degree lasted a year and a 11 century, Grigor Magistros. I have selected these half; I abandoned it in favor of something that didn't three collections both for their diversity (being involve vector calculus, namely a Religion degree produced by three different sorts of Byzantine with a minor in Classics and the thought of working imperial agent) and for their similarities œ all three on early Christian literature. Somewhere around my collections deal with contact between Byzantine third year at the University of Chicago, I by necessity agents and non-Byzantines, and all three also display found myself fulfilling a distribution requirement by networks of inter-Byzantine correspondence. taking a class on Byzantium and Islam with Dr. It is the last of my three source corpora which brought Walter Kaegi. The Islam was the requirement; the me to Oxford. Grigor Magistros writes his letters in Byzantium was what stuck. By the time I received my Armenian (a fascinatingly Hellenized Armenian) -- B.A. I was fully enamored with being a Byzantine and I decided that I wanted access to the Armenian historian, and entirely occupied with questions about sources for Middle Byzantium. Thus, I am spending empire, cultural ideologies, and the representations of this year working on the M.St. in Classical Armenian, these in historical texts. I began graduate work at trying to rapidly acquire the ability to read and work Rutgers University, where I am a Ph.D. candidate in in the language. While I've been here I've found an History, supervised by Dr. Tia Kolbaba. While there I amazing community of Byzantinists and have been have had the opportunity to fall for the methodology able to hear fascinating lectures and speak with of comparative history, especially as concerns the brilliant scholars. I expected nothing less from ideas of 'collaboration' and 'assimilation' in the context Oxford, naturally, but I am continuously delighted to of empire. I locate the center of the medieval world I be able to spend a year here surrounded by some of am concerned with in Constantinople, and thus, when the best scholarship in the world. I hope to be able to I chose a research topic, I picked one which focused come back for a postdoc when I finally finish my on the interaction between Byzantium and its PhD! neighbors. My dissertation project, Imagining Pre-

Rachel McGoff University College, Oxford good advertisement for LABS as two other people Hello, I‘m Rachel, doing the MSt in LABS this year. I from my second year classes are now doing the course did my undergraduate degree in history here in Oxford with me. so I‘m not really new. I have, however, moved all the way across the High Street from Hertford to My main interests are in the history of art and material University College. I first became interested in culture, and some archaeology too. In my Byzantine things when I took a first year General undergraduate degree I also took papers on Ming History paper on the period 370-900 and then the Dynasty painting and wrote my thesis on the art Further Subject on ”The Near East in the Age of collections of General Pitt-Rivers. I was involved with Justinian and Muhammad‘, taught by Mark Whittow, a research project called ”Rethinking Pitt-Rivers‘ at in the second year of my undergraduate degree. From the Pitt Rivers Museum for three years and, although then on I began to attend the occasional Byzantine that project has ended, I am still working there to seminar and realised what a lively area of study this produce at database of some collections of letters. My was in Oxford. This further subject must be a pretty thesis looked at the transfer of objects between The Byzan tinist | 16 cultures (focusing on the objects Pitt-Rivers‘ owned Reading University at the Roman town of Silchester from the Far East) and I am currently exploring in Hampshire and I am hoping that this summer I will similar ideas in the Byzantine period. I am learning spend a couple of months at the German Arabic this year for the LABS course and am Archaeological Institute excavation in Miletus. particularly interested in interactions between the Byzantine and Islamic world. One of my MSt essays I have very much enjoyed my first term as a postgrad is focused on the tenth or eleventh century ivory and found the department to be extremely friendly, Byzantine casket in Troyes Cathedral in France. I am very different from doing undergraduate history where specifically investigating how the motifs of the end of there were hundreds of people on the course and you the casket œ phoenixes in a Chinese style œ might have got to know very few of them! I am on this year‘s travelled from China to Byzantium, by way of the Byzantine graduate conference committee too, so I‘m Islamic world. I have had a little experience of sure I will see many of you there. archaeology; this summer I went on a dig with

The Byzan tinist | 17 Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research www.ocbr.ox.ac.uk

Grants and Prizes 2012-3

1. OCBR undergraduate prize in Byzantine Studies 5. OCBR research grants

A prize of £100 will be awarded in 2012-13 for the best performance in Final Honour Schools in either Special A number of research grants will be available in 2011-12 to Subject 3 (Byzantium in the Age of Constantine members of OCBR and to post-graduate students studying Porphyrogenitus, 919-59) or Further Subject 2 (The Near at Oxford for assistance with their research. Funds of up to East in the Age of Justinian and Muhammad, 527-c.700). £500 will be awarded to help cover costs of inviting guest

2. OCBR graduate prize in Byzantine Studies speakers to Oxford or organising conferences during the course of this academic year. The grants will be awarded by A prize of £100 will be awarded in 2012-13 for the best the board of OCBR at its termly meetings. To download an best performance in either the Master of Studies or Master application form, please click here: of Philosophy Examinations. Research Grant application

6. The Harrison Fellowship 3. 3. OCBR Leventis Graduate Award

OCBR assists with the funding of The Harrison Fellowship, The A.G. Leventis Foundation support the OCBR one or awarded each year in memory of the late Professor Martin more Graduate Award, in addition to the Leventis Graduate Harrison, one of Oxford‘s most distinguished Scholarship which was awarded to Wiktor Ostasz in 2011. archaeologists. The Fellowships are designed to assist For further information, please contact Dr. Peter Frankopan, Turkish scholars working in any area of the archaeology of Director of the OCBR, preferably by email . Anatolia, from Pre-history to the Ottoman period, to visit

the United Kingdom and Oxford in connection with their 4. 4. OCBR travel grants research work. For further information

Harrison Fellowship application 4 travel grants up to a value of £250 each will be awarded to undergraduates, graduates or senior researchers who are 7. Princeton-Oxford-Vienna Graduate Exchange in Late members of OCBR or are studying for a higher degree at Roman, Byzantine and Early Medieval History Oxford University to assist with travel relating to work in the field of Late Antique & Byzantine Studies. Preference A new academic exchange programme has been established will be given to graduate students. The grants will not be for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers from Oxford, awarded for travel to or from conferences, and are intended Princeton and Vienna to collaborate with colleagues on to relate in the first instance to field work, including visiting their work. The exchange will run initially for three years collections directly relating to original research. and will centre on an annual seminar. Further details will Applications are considered at termly meetings of the appear here later this term. Management Board and should be accompanied by a brief proposal of the intended travel plans. To download an application form, please click here: Travel grant application

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The Byzan tinist | 19