Brother-making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

Brother-making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium PDF Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195389336
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book

Book Description
An exhaustive treatment of ritual brotherhood in Byzantium, this book challenges the 'Boswell Thesis' and argues that the ecclesiastical ritual to bless a relationship between two men bears no resemblance to marriage, but has its origins in early monasticism.

Brother-making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

Brother-making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium PDF Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195389336
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book

Book Description
An exhaustive treatment of ritual brotherhood in Byzantium, this book challenges the 'Boswell Thesis' and argues that the ecclesiastical ritual to bless a relationship between two men bears no resemblance to marriage, but has its origins in early monasticism.

Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium PDF Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190613815
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book

Book Description
Among medieval Christian societies, Byzantium is unique in preserving an ecclesiastical ritual of adelphopoiesis, which pronounces two men, not related by birth, as brothers for life. It has its origin as a spiritual blessing in the monastic world of late antiquity, and it becomes a popular social networking strategy among lay people from the ninth century onwards, even finding application in recent times. Located at the intersection of religion and society, brother-making exemplifies how social practice can become ritualized and subsequently subjected to attempts of ecclesiastical and legal control. Controversially, adelphopoiesis was at the center of a modern debate about the existence of same-sex unions in medieval Europe. This book, the first ever comprehensive history of this unique feature of Byzantine life, argues persuasively that the ecclesiastical ritual to bless a relationship between two men bears no resemblance to marriage. Wide-ranging in its use of sources, from a complete census of the manuscripts containing the ritual of adelphopoiesis to the literature and archaeology of early monasticism, and from the works of hagiographers, historiographers, and legal experts in Byzantium to comparative material in the Latin West and the Slavic world, Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium examines the fascinating religious and social features of the ritual, shedding light on little known aspects of Byzantine society.

Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium

Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium PDF Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199908389
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book

Book Description
Among medieval Christian societies, Byzantium is unique in preserving an ecclesiastical ritual of adelphopoiesis, which pronounces two men, not related by birth, as brothers for life. It has its origin as a spiritual blessing in the monastic world of late antiquity, and it becomes a popular social networking strategy among lay people from the ninth century onwards, even finding application in recent times. Located at the intersection of religion and society, brother-making exemplifies how social practice can become ritualized and subsequently subjected to attempts of ecclesiastical and legal control. Controversially, adelphopoiesis was at the center of a modern debate about the existence of same-sex unions in medieval Europe. This book, the first ever comprehensive history of this unique feature of Byzantine life, argues persuasively that the ecclesiastical ritual to bless a relationship between two men bears no resemblance to marriage. Wide-ranging in its use of sources, from a complete census of the manuscripts containing the ritual of adelphopoiesis to the literature and archaeology of early monasticism, and from the works of hagiographers, historiographers, and legal experts in Byzantium to comparative material in the Latin West and the Slavic world, Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium examines the fascinating religious and social features of the ritual, shedding light on little known aspects of Byzantine society.

"When Brothers Dwell in Unity"

Author: Stephen Morris
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476622140
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Get Book

Book Description
In the world of early Byzantine Christianity, monastic rules acknowledged but discouraged the homosexual impulses of adult males. What most disturbed monastic leaders was adolescent males being accepted as novices; adult men were considered unable to control their sexual desires for these "beautiful boys." John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople (397-407), virulently denounced homosexuality, but was virtually the only Byzantine cleric to do so. Penances traditionally attached to heterosexual sins--including remarriage after divorce or widowhood--have always been much more severe than those for a variety of homosexual acts or relationships. Just as Byzantine churches have found ways to accommodate sequential marriages and other behavior once stridently condemned, this book argues, it is possible for Byzantine Christianity to make pastoral accommodations for gay relationships and same-sex marriage.

The End of Greek Athletics in Late Antiquity

The End of Greek Athletics in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Sofie Remijsen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107050782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book

Book Description
A comprehensive study of how and why athletic contests, a characteristic feature of ancient Greek culture, disappeared in late antiquity.

A Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine

A Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine PDF Author: Anne McCabe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199277559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book

Book Description
The veterinary compilation known as the Hippiatrica is a rich and little-known source of information about the care and medical treatment of horses, donkeys, and mules in late antiquity and the Byzantine period. This book provides a guide both to its intriguing contents, and to its complex textual history.

Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative

Women, Crusading and the Holy Land in Historical Narrative PDF Author: Natasha R. Hodgson
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781843833321
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 316

Get Book

Book Description
Women's role in crusades and crusading examined through a close investigation of the narratives in which they appear. Narratives of crusading have often been overlooked as a source for the history of women because of their focus on martial events, and perceptions about women inhibiting the recruitment and progress of crusading armies. Yet women consistently appeared in the histories of crusade and settlement, performing a variety of roles. While some were vilified as "useless mouths" or prostitutes, others undertook menial tasks for the army, went on crusade with retinuesof their own knights, and rose to political prominence in the Levant and and the West. This book compares perceptions of women from a wide range of historical narratives including those eyewitness accounts, lay histories andmonastic chronicles that pertained to major crusade expeditions and the settler society in the Holy Land. It addresses how authors used events involving women and stereotypes based on gender, family role, and social status in writing their histories: how they blended historia and fabula, speculated on women's motivations, and occasionally granted them a literary voice in order to connect with their audience, impart moral advice, and justify the crusade ideal. Dr NATASHA R. HODGSON teaches at Nottingham Trent University.

British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece

British Aestheticism and Ancient Greece PDF Author: S. Evangelista
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230242200
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 203

Get Book

Book Description
This book is the first comprehensive study of the reception of classical Greece among English aesthetic writers of the nineteenth century. By exploring this history of reception, it aims to give readers a new and fuller understanding of literary aestheticism, its intellectual contexts, and its challenges to mainstream Victorian culture.

Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture

Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture PDF Author: Steven D. Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108480233
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

Get Book

Book Description
An exciting analysis of gender and sexual desire in sixth century Greek epigram that bridges classical and early Byzantine culture.

Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity

Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520931416
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 363

Get Book

Book Description
Between 300 and 600, Christianity experienced a momentous change from persecuted cult to state religion. One of the consequences of this shift was the evolution of the role of the bishop—as the highest Church official in his city—from model Christian to model citizen. Claudia Rapp's exceptionally learned, innovative, and groundbreaking work traces this transition with a twofold aim: to deemphasize the reign of the emperor Constantine, which has traditionally been regarded as a watershed in the development of the Church as an institution, and to bring to the fore the continued importance of the religious underpinnings of the bishop's role as civic leader. Rapp rejects Max Weber’s categories of "charismatic" versus "institutional" authority that have traditionally been used to distinguish the nature of episcopal authority from that of the ascetic and holy man. Instead she proposes a model of spiritual authority, ascetic authority and pragmatic authority, in which a bishop’s visible asceticism is taken as evidence of his spiritual powers and at the same time provides the justification for his public role. In clear and graceful prose, Rapp provides a wholly fresh analysis of the changing dynamics of social mobility as played out in episcopal appointments.