A COMPANION TO BYZANTIUM Edited by Liz James A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication A COMPANION TO BYZANTIUM BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO THE ANCIENT WORLD This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of periods of ancient history, genres of classical literature, and the most important themes in ancient culture. Each volume comprises between twenty - fi ve and forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The essays are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students, and general readers. A NCIENT H ISTORY A Companion to the Classical Tradition Published Edited by Craig W. Kallendorf A Companion to the Roman Army A Companion to Roman Rhetoric Edited by Paul Erdkamp Edited by William Dominik and Jon Hall A Companion to the Roman Republic A Companion to Greek Rhetoric Edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Edited by Ian Worthington Morstein - Marx A Companion to Ancient Epic A Companion to the Roman Empire Edited by John Miles Foley Edited by David S. Potter A Companion to Greek Tragedy A Companion to the Classical Greek World Edited by Justina Gregory Edited by Konrad H. Kinzl A Companion to Latin Literature A Companion to the Ancient Near East Edited by Stephen Harrison Edited by Daniel C. Snell A Companion to Greek and Roman Political A Companion to the Hellenistic World Thought Edited by Andrew Erskine Edited by Ryan K. Balot A Companion to Late Antiquity A Companion to Ovid Edited by Philip Rousseau Edited by Peter E. Knox A Companion to Ancient History A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language Edited by Andrew Erskine Edited by Egbert Bakker A Companion to Archaic Greece A Companion to Hellenistic Literature Edited by Kurt A. Raafl aub and Hans van Edited by Martine Cuypers and James J. Clauss Wees A Companion to Vergil ’ s Aeneid and its A Companion to Julius Caesar Tradition Edited by Miriam Griffi n Edited by Joseph Farrell and Michael C. J. A Companion to Byzantium Putnam Edited by Liz James A Companion to Horace A Companion to Ancient Egypt Edited by Gregson Davis Edited by Alan B. Lloyd In preparation In preparation A Companion to the Latin Language A Companion to Ancient Macedonia Edited by James Clackson Edited by Ian Worthington and Joseph Roisman A Companion to Greek Mythology A Companion to the Punic Wars Edited by Ken Dowden and Niall Livingstone Edited by Dexter Hoyos A Companion to Sophocles A Companion to Sparta Edited by Kirk Ormand Edited by Anton Powell A Companion to Aeschylus Edited by Peter Burian L ITERATURE AND C ULTURE A Companion to Greek Art Published Edited by Tyler Jo Smith and Dimitris Plantzos A Companion to Classical Receptions A Companion to Families in the Greek and Edited by Lorna Hardwick and Christopher Roman World Stray Edited by Beryl Rawson A Companion to Greek and Roman A Companion to Tacitus Historiography Edited by Victoria Pag á n Edited by John Marincola A Companion to the Archaeology of the A Companion to Catullus Ancient Near East Edited by Marilyn B. Skinner Edited by Daniel Potts A Companion to Roman Religion Edited by J ö rg R ü pke A Companion to Greek Religion Edited by Daniel Ogden A COMPANION TO BYZANTIUM Edited by Liz James A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication This edition fi rst published 2010 © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientifi c, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. 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If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to Byzantium / edited by Liz James. p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to the ancient world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-2654-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Byzantine Empire–History. 2. Byzantine Empire–Civilization. I. James, Liz. DF552.C63 2010 949.5′02–dc22 2009034191 A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10 on 12.5 pt Galliard by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited Printed in Singapore 01 2010 Contents List of Figures ix List of Maps xiii Notes on Contributors xv Acknowledgments xix Some Relevant Dates xxi List of Byzantine Rulers xxv List of Abbreviations xxix 1. Byzantium: a Very, Very Short Introduction 1 Liz James 2. Writing Histories of Byzantium: the Historiography of Byzantine History 9 F. K. Haarer Part I Being Byzantine 23 3. Economics, Trade, and “Feudalism” 25 Peter Sarris 4. Byzantium = Constantinople 43 Paul Magdalino 5. Provinces and Capital 55 Catherine Holmes 6. Insiders and Outsiders 67 Dion C. Smythe vi Contents 7. Young People in Byzantium 81 Cecily Hennessy 8. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 93 Myrto Hatzaki 9. The Memory Culture of Byzantium 108 Amy Papalexandrou 10. Emotions in Byzantium 123 Martin Hinterberger 11. Having Fun in Byzantium 135 Shaun Tougher Part II God and the World 147 12. Byzantine Views of God and the Universe 149 Mary Cunningham 13. Giving Gifts to God: Aspects of Patronage in Byzantine Art 161 Vassiliki Dimitropoulou 14. Orthodoxy and Northern Peoples: Goods, Gods and Guidelines 171 Jonathan Shepard 15. Christology and Heresy 187 Andrew Louth 16. Beyond Byzantium: the Non-Chalcedonian Churches 199 Niall Finneran Part III Reading Byzantine Texts 225 17. No Drama, No Poetry, No Fiction, No Readership, No Literature 227 Margaret Mullett 18. Rhetorical Questions 239 Mary Whitby 19. Text and Context in Byzantine Historiography 251 Roger Scott 20. Byzantine Narrative: the Form of Storytelling in Byzantium 263 Emmanuel C. Bourbouhakis and Ingela Nilsson 21. Byzantine Book Culture 275 Judith Waring Contents vii Part IV Some Questions in Material Culture 289 22. Archaeology 291 James Crow 23. Makers and Users 301 Anthony Cutler 24. The Limits of Byzantine Art 313 Antony Eastmond 25. Icons and Iconomachy 323 Leslie Brubaker 26. The Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Renaissance 338 John Hanson 27. Late and Post-Byzantine Art under Venetian Rule: Frescoes versus Icons, and Crete in the Middle 351 Angeliki Lymberopoulou Bibliography—Primary Sources 371 Bibliography 384 Index 443 Figures 8.1 Calendar icon illustrating the feast days for the months of September to November , eleventh century. Photo: Archive of St Catherine ’ s Monastery, Sinai. 100 8.2 The Heavenly Ladder of John Klimakos , twelfth century. Photo: Archive of St Catherine ’ s Monastery, Sinai. 102 8.3 Executioner, detail from the Massacre of the Innocents , wall-painting, c.1360–70, Church of the Prophet Elias, Thessalonike. Photo: Ninth Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Thessalonike, as reproduced in E. Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, A. Tourta (1997), Wandering in Byzantine Thessalonike , Kapon Editions, Athens. 103 9.1 Church of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. Apse Mosaic. © Dumbarton Oaks, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Washington, DC. 112 9.2 Bronze signet ring, inscribed “ Lord, help your servant Stephen, Amen. ” (British Museum). From Dalton 1961: Fig. 324. 119 9.3 Ephesos, Church of St John. Impost capitals with monogram of Theodora. © Dumbarton Oaks, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Washington, DC. 119 21.1 Unpublished catalog from Patmos, November 20, 1307. Paper Roll. Used by permission of the Monastery of St John the Theologian, Patmos. 281 21.2 London, British Library Add. 39610, fo. 206r. Eleventh century. Parchment. Used by permission of the British Library. 284 x Figures 22.1 Skeleton excavated from the later church at Kilise Tepe in Isauria. The bones can be dated by radio - carbon dating to the late twelfth to thirteenth centuries. Photo: Mark Jackson. 295 22.2 The reconstructed fragments of an eighth/ninth - century amphora of the “ Byzantine globular ” type, representing a survival from earlier Late Roman forms of LR 1 and 2. Photo: A. Vionis. 298 22.3 Excavations of a tenth - century boat at Yenikapi, Istanbul, 2005. Photo: Author. 299 26.1 David Composing the Psalms , Paris Psalter. (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale ms. Gr. 139) fo. 1v.