Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium

Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium PDF Author: Milton Vasil Anastos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This volume addresses the important mediaeval dynamic of the competition between those sees from an imperial Romano-Byzantine perspective, that is, from the point of view of how the imperator-basileus and his deputy, the oecumenical patriarch, interpreted scriptural and ecclesiastical tradition, canon law, and Roman political theory to buttress the late Roman and Byzantine vision of imperial vicegerency in the Roman Christian mundus-oikoumene. In so doing, the essay serves as an advantageous foil for the insightfully argued and Roman Catholic-centred perspective of Anastos's close colleague at Dumbarton Oaks, Francis Dvornik, in the latter's study, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy.

Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium

Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium PDF Author: Milton Vasil Anastos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume addresses the important mediaeval dynamic of the competition between those sees from an imperial Romano-Byzantine perspective, that is, from the point of view of how the imperator-basileus and his deputy, the oecumenical patriarch, interpreted scriptural and ecclesiastical tradition, canon law, and Roman political theory to buttress the late Roman and Byzantine vision of imperial vicegerency in the Roman Christian mundus-oikoumene. In so doing, the essay serves as an advantageous foil for the insightfully argued and Roman Catholic-centred perspective of Anastos's close colleague at Dumbarton Oaks, Francis Dvornik, in the latter's study, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy.

Byzantium

Byzantium PDF Author: Stephen R. Lawhead
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061841889
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 1199

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Book Description
Born to rule Although born to rule, Aidan lives as a scribe in a remote Irish monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. Secure in work, contemplation, and dreams of the wider world, a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life. He is chosen to accompany a small band of monks on a quest to the farthest eastern reaches of the known world, to the fabled city of Byzantium, where they are to present a beautiful and costly hand-illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, to the Emperor of all Christendom. Thus begins an expedition by sea and over land, as Aidan becomes, by turns, a warrior and a sailor, a slave and a spy, a Viking and a Saracen, and finally, a man. He sees more of the world than most men of his time, becoming an ambassador to kings and an intimate of Byzantium's fabled Golden Court. And finally this valiant Irish monk faces the greatest trial that can confront any man in any age: commanding his own Destiny.

A Concise History of Byzantium

A Concise History of Byzantium PDF Author: Warren T. Treadgold
Publisher: MacMillan Distribution Limited
ISBN:
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Between AD 285, when Byzantium first separated from the Western Roman Empire, and 1461, when the last Byzantine splinter state disappeared, the Byzantine state and society underwent many crises, triumphs, declines and recoveries. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions—including the Greek classics, Roman law, and Christian theology—that remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but throughout western civilization.

A Short History of Byzantium

A Short History of Byzantium PDF Author: John Julius Norwich
Publisher: Viking
ISBN: 9780241953051
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Constantine the Great moved the seat of Roman power to Constantinople in AD 330 and for eleven brutal, bloody centuries, the Byzantine Empire became a beacon of grand magnificence and depraved decadence. In this book, the author provides the definitive introduction to the savage, scintillating world of Byzantium.

A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities

A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities PDF Author: Anthony Kaldellis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190625953
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Weird, decadent, degenerate, racially mixed, superstitious, theocratic, effeminate, and even hyper-literate, Byzantium has long been regarded by many as one big curiosity. According to Voltaire, it represented "a worthless collection of miracles, a disgrace for the human mind"; for Hegel, it was "a disgusting picture of imbecility." A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities will churn up these old prejudices, while also stimulating a deeper interest among readers in one of history's most interesting civilizations. Many of the zanier tales and trivia that are collected here revolve around the political and religious life of Byzantium. Thus, stories of saints, relics, and their miracles-from the hilarious to the revolting-abound. Byzantine bureaucracy (whence the adjective "Byzantine"), court scandals, and elaborate penal code are world famous. And what would Byzantium be without its eunuchs, whose ambiguous gender produced odd and risible outcomes in different contexts? The book also contains sections on daily life that are equally eye-opening, including food (from aphrodisiacs to fermented fish sauce), games such as polo and acrobatics, and obnoxious views of foreigners and others (e.g., Germans, Catholics, Arabs, dwarves). But lest we overlook Byzantium's more honorable contributions to civilization, also included are some of the marvels of Byzantine science and technology, from the military (flamethrowers and hand grenades) to the theatrical ("elevator" thrones, roaring mechanical lions) and medical (catheters and cures, some bizarre). This vast assortment of historical anomaly and absurdity sheds vital light on one of history's most obscure and orthodox empires.

Sight, Touch, and Imagination in Byzantium

Sight, Touch, and Imagination in Byzantium PDF Author: Roland Betancourt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108424740
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Studies the interrelation of sight, touch, and the imagination in ancient and medieval Greek theories of perception and cognition.

Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond

Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond PDF Author: Dr Christine Angelidi
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409400557
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This book – the first collection of studies on Byzantine dreams to be published – aims to demonstrate the importance of closely examining dreams in Byzantium in their wider historical and cultural, as well as narrative, context. The remarkable number of dream narratives in Byzantine hagiography, historiography, rhetoric, epistolography, and romance attests to the cardinal function of dreams as vehicles of meaning in politics, religion and literature. The essays provide a broad variety of perspectives, exploring gender, eroticism, Greco-Roman and Islamic influences, psychoanalysis and anthropology.

The Twilight of Byzantium

The Twilight of Byzantium PDF Author: Slobodan Curcic
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691198047
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
The centuries-long economic and military decline of the Byznatine Empire, which culminated in its political disappearance as a state in 1459, was, paradoxically, accompanied by high levels of cultural achievement. Aimed at broadening our understanding of the final phase of the empire, this collection explores how Byzantine ideological, spiritual, and artistic traditions transcending the economic and political realities of the time. The papers, delivered at an interdisciplinary colloquium held in May 1989 at Princeton University, deal with hagiographic, monastic, literary, architectural, and artistic questions, as well as the general cultural and social issues, of this fascinating period. Along with the editors, the contributors are Smilkjka Gabelic, Thalia Gouma-Peterson, Angela Hero, Robert Ousterhout, Marcus Rautman, Steven Reinert, Alice Mary Talbot, SPeros Vryonis, and John J. Yiannias. Slobodan Curcic is Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. Doula Mouriki teaches at the Technical University of Athens. Publications of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium

Letters, Literacy and Literature in Byzantium PDF Author: Margaret Mullett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000941647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 415

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Book Description
These studies look at general problems of reading Byzantine literature, at literacy practices and the literary process, but also at individual texts. The past thirty years have seen a revolution in the way Byzantine literature has been viewed: no longer is it considered a decadent form of classical literature or a turgid precursor of modern Greek literature. There are still prejudices to overcome: that there was no literary public, or that Byzantium had no drama or humour, but Byzantine texts are now read as literature in the social context of literacy and book culture. One genre is treated here more fully: the letter (Derrida said that letters represent all literature). In these studies epistolography is examined from the point of view of genre, of originality, of communication and as evidence for political history. Other genres touched on include the novel, historiography, parainesis, panegyric, and hagiography. The section on literary process includes essays on genre, patronage and rhetoric, and the section on literacy practices deals with both writing and reading. The collection includes one unpublished lecture which acts as introduction, and additional notes and comments.

Sacred Images and Sacred Power in Byzantium

Sacred Images and Sacred Power in Byzantium PDF Author: Gary Vikan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040245900
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 447

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Book Description
In these studies Gary Vikan has opened new perspectives on the daily life and material culture of Late Antiquity - more specifically, on icons and relics, and on objects revealing of the world of pilgrimage, the early cult of saints, and marriage. He contextualizes these familiar categories of object in the patterns of belief and ritual extracted from contemporary texts and the objects themselves, in order to understand their meaning within the everyday lives of those by whom and for whom they were made. The studies give a nuanced delineation of the inherently ambiguous boundary between conventional religion and magic, noting repeatedly those instances wherein the two are invoked in the same breath (and by way of the same art object), toward the same end. From this historically constructed matrix of art, belief, and ritual, the author derives an anthropologically defined paradigm of charisma and pilgrimage (applied in one essay, as an intriguing parallel, to deconstructing the world of a contemporary secular "saint," Elvis Presley).