DOCSLIB.ORG

Manuel II Palaiologos' Point of View

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Manuel II Palaiologos' Point of View The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context Małgorzata Dąbrowska The Hidden Secrets: Late Byzantium in the Western and Polish Context Małgorzata Dąbrowska − University of Łódź, Faculty of Philosophy and History Department of Medieval History, 90-219 Łódź, 27a Kamińskiego St. REVIEWERS Maciej Salamon, Jerzy Strzelczyk INITIATING EDITOR Iwona Gos PUBLISHING EDITOR-PROOFREADER Tomasz Fisiak NATIVE SPEAKERS Kevin Magee, François Nachin TECHNICAL EDITOR Leonora Wojciechowska TYPESETTING AND COVER DESIGN Katarzyna Turkowska Cover Image: Last_Judgment_by_F.Kavertzas_(1640-41) commons.wikimedia.org Printed directly from camera-ready materials provided to the Łódź University Press This publication is not for sale © Copyright by Małgorzata Dąbrowska, Łódź 2017 © Copyright for this edition by Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódź 2017 Published by Łódź University Press First edition. W.07385.16.0.M ISBN 978-83-8088-091-7 e-ISBN 978-83-8088-092-4 Printing sheets 20.0 Łódź University Press 90-131 Łódź, 8 Lindleya St. www.wydawnictwo.uni.lodz.pl e-mail: [email protected] tel. (42) 665 58 63 CONTENTS Preface 7 Acknowledgements 9 CHAPTER ONE The Palaiologoi Themselves and Their Western Connections L’attitude probyzantine de Saint Louis et les opinions des sources françaises concernant cette question 15 Is There any Room on the Bosporus for a Latin Lady? 37 Byzantine Empresses’ Mediations in the Feud between the Palaiologoi (13th–15th Centuries) 53 Family Ethos at the Imperial Court of the Palaiologos in the Light of the Testimony by Theodore of Montferrat 69 Ought One to Marry? Manuel II Palaiologos’ Point of View 81 Sophia of Montferrat or the History of One Face 99 “Vasilissa, ergo gaude...” Cleopa Malatesta’s Byzantine CV 123 Hellenism at the Court of the Despots of Mistra in the First Half of the 15th Century 135 4 • 5 The Power of Virtue. The Case of the Last Palaiologoi 147 Le roi de France, aurait-il pu acheter Byzance? 163 CHAPTER TWO Byzantium and the Polish Kingdom in 13th–15th Centuries A Byzantine Lady’s Daughters in Poland 173 Peter of Cyprus and Casimir the Great in Cracow 183 Could Poland Have Reacted to the Submission of Byzantium to the Turks in 1372–1373? 195 Uzun Hasan’s Project of Alliance with the Polish King (1474) 211 From Poland to Tenedos. The Project of Using the Teutonic Order in the Fight against the Turks after the Fall of Constantinople 233 Cantacuzene – “The Wolf” or Matthias Stryjkowski’s Recollection of Byzantium 247 CHAPTER THREE Byzantium Viewed from the Contemporary Polish and Texan Perspective La vision moscovite de Byzance et le byzantinisme allemand de Koneczny ou Byzance sans Byzance 269 Byzance, source de stéréotypes dans la conscience des Polonais 287 Byzantine Frescoes Chapel from Lusignans’ Cyprus in Houston 301 CONTENTS http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/8088-091-7.01 Preface Byzantine studies in Poland are connected with two eminent scholars. The medievalist, Oscar Halecki, Professor at the Uni- versity of Warsaw since 1919, began the research on the Church union during the time of the Palaiologoi. The first chair of Byzan- tine History at that University was created in 1935 and offered to the historian of antiquity – Professor Kazimierz Zakrzewski. Ha- lina Evert-Kappesowa was their student. She attended Halecki’s M.A. seminar and then wrote her Ph.D. on the union of Lyons in 1274 under his wing. In the meantime, she became an assistant to Professor Zakrzewski. After WW II when Warsaw was comple- tely destroyed, she appeared among other scholars in Lodz, at the new University, founded here in 1945. It was Professor Kappesowa who renewed Byzantine studies in Poland. Being her last Ph.D. student, I inherited her interests in late Byzantium which is reflected in this volume. I began my research with the relations between Michael Palaiologos and Saint Louis and I remained faithful to the history of the Palaiolo- goi, especially dealing with mixed imperial marriages, exploring the role of the foreign Empress at the Byzantine court, following the vicissitudes of imperial families in 13th–15th centuries. As a Byzantinist of Polish origin I was tempted to follow Ha- lecki’s interests in the relations between the Eastern Empire and the kingdom of Poland, and I wrote some articles which shed light on this rarely known subject in the Western scholarly milieu. The 6 • 7 same reason encouraged me to present the stereotype of Byzan- tium in the context of Polish history in the 19th century. And last but not least, I wrote a chapter about Byzantine traces in Houston, while visiting Professor at Rice University in 2005–2008. So this is a sketch of the present volume, consisting of articles published over twenty years: 1989–2009. I am indebted to Pro- fessor Kappesowa, whose name introduced me to the world of eminent Byzantinists. My debut came in 1988 when I participated in the Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in Nottingham. I was happy to meet Sir Steven Runciman and Professors: Donald Nicol and Anthony Bryer. They became my compass in the world of foreign research. In 1989, due to the scholarship of the French Government, I got an opportunity to pursue my studies in Paris, being affiliated to the Centre of Byzantine Civilization at College de France. Professor Gilbert Dagron was my maître de stage and I met there Professor Paul Lemerle, a legend of the French milieu of Byzantinists. He knew Mme Kappesowa from their stay in Dum- barton Oaks and he offered me much time, recommending me to the Bibliothèque Nationale to see the New Testament offered by Michael Palaiologos to Saint Louis in 1269. It seemed that Clio was sitting next to me and that Kairos appeared at the last moment, as Lemerle died in the same year, 1989. The inspiration of the title to this volume is taken from Do- nald Nicol’s preface to his book The Last Centuries of Byzantium 1261–1453 (1972). The author wrote: “The last period of Byzan- tium was less closely studied than the earlier centuries, and it still contains many secrets. It is now attracting more and more attention from scholars writing in specialist publications and pe- riodicals in a babel of languages.” My articles are written in En- glish and French. The first language is a contemporary lingua franca, the second – still is… Let’s come back to some secrets of late Byzantium. I will reveal the Polish one. In my part of the wor- ld it was not easy to conduct research abroad, even after 1989. The publicaction of this book was supported by my aunt, Danuta Tarnowska, the sister of my late father, Stanisław Dąbrowski. Preface Acknowledgements The author is pleased to thank the Editorial Boards of the Jour- nals and Publishers who kindly agreed to republish the follow- ing articles: Alliance Française (Lodz) “Le roi de France, aurait-il pu acheter le Byzance ?”, Alchemie Française. Correspondence des Arts 4 (2001), 25–29. Byzantiaka (Thessaloniki) “Peter of Cyprus and Casimir the Great in Cracow,” Byzantiaka 14 (1994), 257–67. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (Birmingham) “Ought One to Marry? Manuel II Palaiologos’ Point of View,” Byz- antine and Modern Greek Studies 31–2 (2007),146–56. Byzantinoslavica (Prague) “L’attitude probyzantine de Saint Louis et les opinions des sources françaises concernant cette question,” Byzantino- slavica L (1989), 1, 11–23. “Cantacuzene – ‘The Wolf’ or Matthias Stryjkowski’s Recollec- tion of Byzantium,” Byzantinoslavica LVI (1995), 257–67. “‘Vasilissa ergo gaude…’ Cleopa Malatesta’s Byzantine CV,” Byz- antinoslavica LXV (2005), 217–24. 8 • 9 “Is There any Room on the Bosporus for a Latin Lady?”, Byzan- tinoslavica LXVI (2008), 1–2, 229–39. Evangelos Chrysos (Andros) “Could Poland Have Reacted to the Submission of Byzantium to the Turks in 1372–1373?”, Captain and Scholar. Papers in Memory of Demetrios Polemis, ed. E. Chrysos and E. Zachari- adou, Andros 2009, 79–92. Institute of History of Arts (University of Warsaw) “Byzantine Frescoes Chapel from Lusignans’ Cyprus in Hou- ston,” Ikonotheka 21 (2009), 21–32. Institute of Literary Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw “La vision moscovite de Byzance et le byzantinisme allemand de Feliks Koneczny ou Byzance sans Byzance,” Organon 28–30 (1999–2001), 257–68. Lodz University Press “Sophia of Montferrat or the History of One Face,” Acta Universi- tatis Lodziensis. Folia Historica 56 (1996), 177–94. “Uzun Hasan’s Project of Alliance with the Polish King (1474),” Mélanges d’histoire byzantine offerts à Oktawiusz Jurewicz à l’occasion de son soixante-dixième anniversaire, Byzantina Lodziensia III (1998), 171–85. Mainzer Veröffentlichungen zur Byzantinistik (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz–Verlag) “From Poland to Tenedos. The Project of Using the Teutonic Or- der in the Fight against the Turks after the Fall of Constan- tinople,” Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950–1453. Beiträge zu einer Table Ronde des XIX International Congress of Byzan- tine Studies (Copenhagen 1996), ed. G. Prinzing and M. Sala- mon, Wiesbaden 1999, 165–76. Acknowledgements Oficyna Wydawnicza LEKSEM “The Power of Virtue. The Case of the Last Palaiologoi,” Cesar- stwo Bizantyńskie. Dzieje, religia, kultura. Studia ofiarowane profesorowi Waldemarowi Ceranowi przez jego uczniów na 70-lecie urodzin, ed. P. Krupczyński and M. Leszka, Łask- Łódź, Leksem 2006, 9–25. Presses Universitaires de Vincennes. Universitè Paris 8 “Byzance, source des stéréotypes dans la conscience des Polo- nais,” Byzance en Europe, ed. M.-F. Auzepy, Paris 2003, 43–54. Scientific Society (Thorn) “Byzantine Empresses’ Mediations in the Feud between the Palaiologoi (13th–15th Centuries),” Konfliktbewaltigung und Friedensstiftung im Mittelalter. Przezwyciężanie konflik- tów i ustanawianie pokoju w średniowieczu, ed. R. Czaja, E. Mühle and A. Radzimiński, Toruń 2012, 227–29. UNIVERSITAS Publishers (Cracow) “Hellenism at the Court of the Despots of Mistra in the First Half of the 15th Century,” Paganism in Late Roman Empire and Byzantium, ed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Orontids of Armenia by Cyril Toumanoff
    The Orontids of Armenia by Cyril Toumanoff This study appears as part III of Toumanoff's Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963), pp. 277-354. An earlier version appeared in the journal Le Muséon 72(1959), pp. 1-36 and 73(1960), pp. 73-106. The Orontids of Armenia Bibliography, pp. 501-523 Maps appear as an attachment to the present document. This material is presented solely for non-commercial educational/research purposes. I 1. The genesis of the Armenian nation has been examined in an earlier Study.1 Its nucleus, succeeding to the role of the Yannic nucleus ot Urartu, was the 'proto-Armenian,T Hayasa-Phrygian, people-state,2 which at first oc- cupied only a small section of the former Urartian, or subsequent Armenian, territory. And it was, precisely, of the expansion of this people-state over that territory, and of its blending with the remaining Urartians and other proto- Caucasians that the Armenian nation was born. That expansion proceeded from the earliest proto-Armenian settlement in the basin of the Arsanias (East- ern Euphrates) up the Euphrates, to the valley of the upper Tigris, and espe- cially to that of the Araxes, which is the central Armenian plain.3 This expand- ing proto-Armenian nucleus formed a separate satrapy in the Iranian empire, while the rest of the inhabitants of the Armenian Plateau, both the remaining Urartians and other proto-Caucasians, were included in several other satrapies.* Between Herodotus's day and the year 401, when the Ten Thousand passed through it, the land of the proto-Armenians had become so enlarged as to form, in addition to the Satrapy of Armenia, also the trans-Euphratensian vice-Sa- trapy of West Armenia.5 This division subsisted in the Hellenistic phase, as that between Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power of Virtue. the Case of the Last Palaiologoi1
    Originalveröffentlichung in: Krupczyński, Piotr; Leszka, Mirosław Jerzy (Hg.): Cesarstwo Bizantyńskie. Dzieje, religia, kultura. Studia ofiarowane profesorowi Waldemarowi Ceranowi przez jego uczniów na 70-lecie urodzin, Łask-Łódź 2006, S. 25-35 Malgorzata Dqbrowska THE POWER OF VIRTUE. THE CASE OF THE LAST PALAIOLOGOI1 "Bayezid, Manuel's enemy, had once remarked that even if one did not know the emperor, Manuel's appearance would make one to say: «This man must be an emperor»" 2 . Two important factors of my story are very clear in this small quotation. First, that Byzantium was in great danger because of the Osmanlis Turks, and second, that Manuel II Palaiologos kept his personal dignity in spite of this danger and the humiliating situation of the Empire. Byzantium, which was also called the Second Rome, enjoyed power and respect of the world throughout the centuries. The Fourth Crusade in 1204 introduced the Latin occupation of Constantinople for almost 60 years and for much longer time in other Byzantine territories such as Beotia, Attica and Peloponnese 3 . This was the beginning of the end. In 1261 Michael VIII Palaiologos managed to restore the Byzantine xule on the Bosporos but he was too weak to reconstruct the Empire from 1 This text was written during my stay at Rice University in Houston, and presented at the Thirty-Third Sewanee Medieval Symposium devoted to "Power in the Mid­ dle Ages" on 7 April 2006. At Rice I had lectures about contemporary Polish poetry, and Herbert's poem inspired me to draw the attention of my audience to other power than economic and political ones.
    [Show full text]
  • Byzantine History HIEU 104: B Professor Edward J. Watts
    Professor Edward Watts HIEU 104: Byzantine History SYLLABUS HIEU 104: BYZANTINE HISTORY Professor Edward J. Watts ([email protected]) Office: Humanities and Social Sciences 4005 Office Hours: Tuesday 9-11 Office Phone: 534-2733 COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course examines the history of the Byzantine Empire from the early fifth until the mid-fifteenth century. Discussions will center on Byzantium, but it does so in a way that acknowledges both Byzantium’s political frontiers and its much broader cultural and religious influence. Although the Byzantine Empire’s territory contracts dramatically across its 1000-year history, its influence in other ways becomes ever greater. The course then balances the political narrative of the empire with a broader discussion of Byzantium’s legacy as a world civilization. EXPECTATIONS: Students will be expected to attend each class and complete readings in both ancient and modern historical sources. Larger assignments for the class include one short paper (~5 pages), a midterm exam, and a final paper of 8 pages. There will be no final examination. Evaluation will be based upon attendance and class participation (10%), the short paper (20%), the midterm exam (30%), and the final paper (40%). These percentages are not hard and fast, however. Demonstrable improvement throughout the semester will be rewarded. Class disruptions, such as audible talking or cellphones ringing, will lead to deductions from the participation grade. DUE DATES: Please note the following dates: October 15 (short paper due) October 31 (Midterm Exam) December 5 (Final Paper Due in class) (These dates have been listed in bold and italicized on the syllabus for easy reference.) Papers must be turned in through turnitin.com and in hardcopy by the end of class on the day they are due (the turnitin.com password for this class is “decline”).
    [Show full text]
  • Albanian Families' History and Heritage Making at the Crossroads of New
    Voicing the stories of the excluded: Albanian families’ history and heritage making at the crossroads of new and old homes Eleni Vomvyla UCL Institute of Archaeology Thesis submitted for the award of Doctor in Philosophy in Cultural Heritage 2013 Declaration of originality I, Eleni Vomvyla confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signature 2 To the five Albanian families for opening their homes and sharing their stories with me. 3 Abstract My research explores the dialectical relationship between identity and the conceptualisation/creation of history and heritage in migration by studying a socially excluded group in Greece, that of Albanian families. Even though the Albanian community has more than twenty years of presence in the country, its stories, often invested with otherness, remain hidden in the Greek ‘mono-cultural’ landscape. In opposition to these stigmatising discourses, my study draws on movements democratising the past and calling for engagements from below by endorsing the socially constructed nature of identity and the denationalisation of memory. A nine-month fieldwork with five Albanian families took place in their domestic and neighbourhood settings in the areas of Athens and Piraeus. Based on critical ethnography, data collection was derived from participant observation, conversational interviews and participatory techniques. From an individual and family group point of view the notion of habitus led to diverse conceptions of ethnic identity, taking transnational dimensions in families’ literal and metaphorical back- and-forth movements between Greece and Albania.
    [Show full text]
  • Caterina Corner in Venetian History and Iconography Holly Hurlburt
    Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2009, vol. 4 Body of Empire: Caterina Corner in Venetian History and Iconography Holly Hurlburt n 1578, a committee of government officials and monk and historian IGirolamo Bardi planned a program of redecoration for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Great Council Hall) and the adjoining Scrutinio, among the largest and most important rooms in the Venetian Doge’s Palace. Completed, the schema would recount Venetian history in terms of its international stature, its victories, and particularly its conquests; by the sixteenth century Venice had created a sizable maritime empire that stretched across the eastern Mediterranean, to which it added considerable holdings on the Italian mainland.1 Yet what many Venetians regarded as the jewel of its empire, the island of Cyprus, was calamitously lost to the Ottoman Turks in 1571, three years before the first of two fires that would necessitate the redecoration of these civic spaces.2 Anxiety about such a loss, fear of future threats, concern for Venice’s place in evolving geopolitics, and nostalgia for the past prompted the creation of this triumphant pro- gram, which featured thirty-five historical scenes on the walls surmounted by a chronological series of ducal portraits. Complementing these were twenty-one large narratives on the ceiling, flanked by smaller depictions of the city’s feats spanning the previous seven hundred years. The program culminated in the Maggior Consiglio, with Tintoretto’s massive Paradise on one wall and, on the ceiling, three depictions of allegorical Venice in triumph by Tintoretto, Veronese, and Palma il Giovane. These rooms, a center of republican authority, became a showcase for the skills of these and other artists, whose history paintings in particular underscore the deeds of men: clothed, in armor, partially nude, frontal and foreshortened, 61 62 EMWJ 2009, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • Bourbouhakis Curriculum Vitae
    Curriculum Vitae Emmanuel C. Bourbouhakis Assistant Professor Department of Classics Princeton University 141 East Pyne Princeton, NJ 08544 Tel: 609-258-3951 Email: [email protected] Current Position 2011- Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Princeton University Previous Employment 2008-2010 DFG Teaching–Research Fellow, Department of History, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg 2007-2008 Lecturer, Department of the Classics, Harvard University Education 09/1999-10/2006 PhD in Classical and Byzantine Philology, Harvard University 09/1997-06/1999 MA in Classical Philology, University of Western Ontario 09/1989-06/1993 BA in History, McGill University; Liberal Arts College, Concordia University Ancient Languages Latin, Greek (classical & medieval) Modern Languages Greek (modern), English, French, German, Italian Awards, Honours, Fellowships 2010 Gerda Henkel Stiftung Fellowship 2008 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Forschungsstipendium (German National Research Foundation Fellowship) at the Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg 2005 Harvard University Humanities Dissertation Fellowship 2004 Dumbarton Oaks Junior Fellowship 2003 DAAD Doctoral Fellowship at the Byzantinisch-Neugriechisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin 2 2002 Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Grant Academic Service Princeton University 2011-2012 Search Committee, Byzantine Art and Archaeology 2012-2013 Forbes College Academic Advisor 2012-2013 Department of Classics Seniors Adviser 2012-2013 Department of Classics Undergraduate
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • THE FLOW of INFORMATION in MEDIEVAL HISTORIOGRAPHY1 If I
    Ρ. Τ. ANTONOPOULOS THE FLOW OF INFORMATION IN MEDIEVAL HISTORIOGRAPHY1 If I were to ask a postgraduate researcher, collect all the information explicitly stated to have been personally witnessed by the author through such phrases as «I saw», «I heard», «I witnessed» etc. then I gather that he or she, would hardly be able to compile a single volume of it, having been requested to read through the whole of Byzantine historical literature. He would then be prompted to follow the same pattern of work by searching through the whole of medieval Latin, or western historiography. If he/she were able to read through it. I am sure that we would be faced with several volumes of data which are supposed to convey personal accounts. Apart from the very fact that western literature taken as a whole, could amount to ten times as much as Byzantine, there are a few other factors which will be analyzed in the course of this lecture. It is however, important to stress that these are related to forms of writing, time, social attitudes, educational standards, and the author’s knowledge of the world. Until around the year A.D. 1.000, Byzantine historical literature is divided into two main branches, professional history and chronography. These branches could well be said to be respectively complementing the two main pillars of the Byzantine state, the Roman heritage of its political existence, and the Christian perspective of the world. The first thing we should bear in mind when we come to examine the work of professional historians, is that this work has not been casually composed, just for the sake of writing a history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Developmentof Early Imperial Dress from the Tetrachs to The
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Archive, E-theses Repository University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. The Development of Early Imperial Dress from the Tetrarchs to the Herakleian Dynasty General Introduction The emperor, as head of state, was the most important and powerful individual in the land; his official portraits and to a lesser extent those of the empress were depicted throughout the realm. His image occurred most frequently on small items issued by government officials such as coins, market weights, seals, imperial standards, medallions displayed beside new consuls, and even on the inkwells of public officials. As a sign of their loyalty, his portrait sometimes appeared on the patches sown on his supporters’ garments, embossed on their shields and armour or even embellishing their jewelry. Among more expensive forms of art, the emperor’s portrait appeared in illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and wall paintings such as murals and donor portraits. Several types of statues bore his likeness, including those worshiped as part of the imperial cult, examples erected by public 1 officials, and individual or family groupings placed in buildings, gardens and even harbours at the emperor’s personal expense.
    [Show full text]
  • “Epigraphy, Liturgy, and Imperial Policy on the Justinianic Isthmus” William R
    Caraher, “Epigraphy, Liturgy, and Imperial Policy,” 12/11/2007 -- 1 “Epigraphy, Liturgy, and Imperial Policy on the Justinianic Isthmus” William R. Caraher University of North Dakota For the conference “Half a Century on the Isthmus” June 14-17, 2007 Athens, Greece Introduction The earliest investigation of Late Antique period at Isthmia dates to Early Travelers who confused the Fortress at Isthmia with the peribolos of the ancient sanctuary to Poseidon.1 It was not until R. J. H. Jenkins and H. Megaw excavated the site in the 1932 and 1933 that the remains were properly identified as post-Roman fortification.2 Over the last half century fieldwork by O. Broneer, P. Clement, and most recently, T. E. Gregory, P. N. Kardulias, and J. Rife have expanded our understanding of imposing Late Roman fortress and the settlement of Byzantine date.3 In recent years, fieldwork all across the wider Late Roman Isthmus has complemented their efforts at Isthmia and enabled us to place the site in its much enhanced local archaeological and historical context. Work at Kenchreai, at the city of Corinth itself, and several intensive surveys in the Corinthian countryside has revealed the complexity of the Late Antique landscape, and produced an elaborate tapestry of varied land use, settlements, religious architecture, funerary sites, and military installations.4 This work presents the Isthmus as an active landscape throughout the 5th and 6th centuries, and has formed a sound foundation for recent synthetic studies of the period by Richard Rothaus and David
    [Show full text]
  • Southern Peloponnese Free
    FREE SOUTHERN PELOPONNESE PDF Michael Cullen | 136 pages | 15 Mar 2015 | Sunflower Books | 9781856914512 | English | London, United Kingdom What to see in southern Peloponnese? - Peloponnese Forum - Tripadvisor It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which separates the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Gulf. The peninsula is divided among three administrative regions : most belongs to the Peloponnese region, with smaller parts belonging to the West Greece and Attica regions. The Peloponnese is a peninsula that covers an area of some 21, It is connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of CorinthSouthern Peloponnese the Corinth Canal was constructed in However, it is also connected to the mainland by several bridges across the canal, including two submersible bridges at the north and the south Southern Peloponnese. Near the northern tip of the peninsula, there is another bridge, the Rio—Antirrio bridge completed Indeed, the Southern Peloponnese is rarely, if ever, referred to as an island. The peninsula has a mountainous interior and deeply indented coasts. The Peloponnese possesses four south-pointing peninsulas, the Messenianthe Manithe Cape Malea also known as Epidaurus Limeraand the Southern Peloponnese in the far northeast of the Peloponnese. The entire peninsula is earthquake prone and has been the site of many earthquakes in the past. Extensive lowlands are found only in the west, except for the Evrotas valley in the south and the Argolid in the northeast. Southern Peloponnese Peloponnese is home to numerous spectacular beaches, which are a major tourist draw. Two groups of islands lie off the Peloponnesian coast: the Argo-Saronic Islands to the east, and the Ionian to the west.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of Byzantinism Dimiter G. Angelov Harvard University the Foundations of Byzantine Studies Were Laid During the Age Of
    The Making of Byzantinism Dimiter G. Angelov Harvard University The foundations of Byzantine studies were laid during the Age of Absolutism in France, when Byzantium became a fashionable academic subject because of its perceived similarities with the French monarchy. The Enlightenment, in turn, brought about an almost universal condemnation of Byzantine civilization which was thought to embody exactly what the Age of Reason opposed: an authoritarian political system; a culture permeated by blind religious belief; and a society fervently hostile to any notion of reform. While modern Byzantine scholarship has progressed in the study of the complexities and continuous transformation of Byzantine institutions, economy and culture, there still exist a simplistic and negative assessment of Byzantine civilization and of the Byzantine legacy in southeastern Europe by historians, political scientists and publicists. I use the term Byzantinism to designate a representation of Byzantine civilization as an antipode and an imperfect reflection of Western historical experiences and values. In my view, Byzantinism shares common characteristics with the Balkanist discourse as defined by Maria Todorova, since both Byzantinism and Balkanism try to present a variation within the construct of European civilization and to portray the other “within.” Byzantinism is both a specific discourse about Byzantium with a long history stretching back to the Middle Ages and a reductionist approach which essentializes Byzantium through the application of analytical categories derived, explicitly or indirectly, from Western historical experience. Two main elements of Byzantinism are the notions of caesaropapism and of the unlimited absolutism of the Byzantine emperor. The concept of caesaropapism is based on the subordinate position of the Byzantine patriarch, which differs from the relative independence of the papacy from political authority.
    [Show full text]