Female founders in Byzantium and beyond

Female founders in Byzantium and beyond PDF Author: Lioba Theis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 472

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Book Description
This volume presents the results of a scholarly meeting which focused on the patronage of women in the Byzantine Empire. In their scope, the articles address broadly not only the founding or re-founding of churches and monasteries, but also their rich decoration, as well as numerous smaller donations. In spite of increased attention to gender research in recent years, a comparative treatment of the legal and economic potentiel that women in Byzantium could exercise in order to exert independent influence has been lacking; thus a gender-specific viewpoint for the volume was intentionally chosen.

Epistolary Poetry in Byzantium and Beyond

Epistolary Poetry in Byzantium and Beyond PDF Author: Krystina Kubina
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000375668
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Letters were an important medium of everyday communication in the ancient Mediterranean. Soon after its emergence, the epistolary form was adopted by educated elites and transformed into a literary genre, which developed distinctive markers and was used, for instance, to give political advice, to convey philosophical ideas, or to establish and foster ties with peers. A particular type of this genre is the letter cast in verse, or epistolary poem, which merges the form and function of the letter with stylistic elements of poetry. In Greek literature, epistolary poetry is first safely attested in the fourth century AD and would enjoy a lasting presence throughout the Byzantine and early modern periods. The present volume introduces the reader to this hitherto unexplored chapter of post-classical Greek literature through an anthology of exemplary epistolary poems in the original Greek with facing English translation. This collection, which covers a broad chronological range from late antique epigrams of the Greek Anthology to the poetry of western humanists, is accompanied by exegetical commentaries on the anthologized texts and by critical essays discussing questions of genre, literary composition, and historical and social contexts of selected epistolary poems. Chapters 3 and 4 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/10.4324/9780429288296

Reading in the Byzantine Empire and Beyond

Reading in the Byzantine Empire and Beyond PDF Author: Teresa Shawcross
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108304907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 745

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Book Description
Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzantine Empire and its sphere of influence, this volume addresses a paradox. Advanced literacy was rare among imperial citizens, being restricted by gender and class. Yet the state's economic, religious and political institutions insisted on the fundamental importance of the written record. Starting from the materiality of codices, documents and inscriptions, the volume's contributors draw attention to the evidence for a range of interactions with texts. They examine the role of authors, compilers and scribes. They look at practices such as the close perusal of texts in order to produce excerpts, notes, commentaries and editions. But they also analyse the social implications of the constant intersection of writing with both image and speech. Showcasing current methodological approaches, this collection of essays aims to place a discussion of Byzantium within the mainstream of medieval textual studies.

Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene PDF Author: Leonora Neville
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190628235
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Byzantine princess Anna Komnene is known for two things: plotting to murder her brother to usurp the throne, and writing the Alexiad, an epic history of her father Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118) that is a key historical source for the era of the First Crusade. Anna Komnene: the Life and Work of a Medieval Historian investigates the relationship between Anna's self-presentation in the Alexiad and the story of her bloodthirsty ambition. It begins by asking why women did not write history in Anna's society, what cultural rules Anna broke by doing so, and how Anna tried to respond to those challenges in her writing. Many of the idiosyncrasies and surprises of Anna's Alexiad are driven by her efforts to be perceived as both a good historian and a good woman. These new interpretations of Anna's authorial persona then spark a thorough re-thinking of the standard story which defines Anna's life by the failure of her supposed political ambitions. The second half of this work reviews the medieval sources with fresh eyes and re-establishes Anna's primary identity as an author and intellectual rather than as a failed conspirator.

After the Text

After the Text PDF Author: Liz James
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000468712
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 533

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Book Description
After the Text honours the work of renowned historian Margaret Mullett, who since the 1970s has transformed the study of Byzantine literature. Her work has been influential in demonstrating the strength and variety of Byzantine texts. Byzantium is renowned for its achievements in architecture and the visual arts. Byzantium is renowned for its achievements in architecture and the visual arts. Professor Mullett's perceptive studies, produced over more than 40 years, have shown that the literature of the Byzantine Empire is of equal beauty and interest, ranging, as it does, from high-style poetry and rhetoric in the classical manner through letters to demotic writings such as fables and the lives of saints. The collection of essays in this volume draws further attention to the wealth and diversity of Byzantine texts, by exploring the Greek literature of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages in all its variety. These studies, by going, like Professor Mullett herself, beyond the texts, illustrate the value of Byzantine literature for interpreting Byzantine history and civilisation in all its richness. This book is crucial reading for scholars and students of the Byzantine world, as well as for those interested in literary studies. Chapter 16 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Byzantium

The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Byzantium PDF Author: Mati Meyer
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040043453
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
This Handbook is the first to consider the interrelated subjects of gender and sexuality in the Eastern Roman Empire from an interdisciplinary perspective. Drawing on both modern theories and Byzantine perceptions, and considering multiple periods and religions (Eastern Orthodox, Islamic, and Jewish), it provides evidentiary textual and visual material support for an analysis of the two linked themes. Broadly, the essays demonstrate that gender and sexual constructs in Byzantium were porous. As a result, they expand our knowledge of not only how sex and gender were conceived and performed but also how ideas and practices shaped Byzantine life. The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Byzantium will be an indispensable guide for students and scholars of late antique and Byzantine religion, history, culture, and art, who will find it a useful critical survey of current scholarship and one that shines new light in their areas of research. The focus on issues of gender and sexuality may also be of interest to individuals concerned with Eastern Mediterranean culture, as well as to the broader public. Chapter 21 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries

Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries PDF Author: Baukje van den Berg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131651465X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Addresses the importance of ancient literature for Byzantine society and explores various ways of recycling and understanding ancient works.

Authorship, Worldview, and Identity in Medieval Europe

Authorship, Worldview, and Identity in Medieval Europe PDF Author: Christian Raffensperger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000548341
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
What did medieval authors know about their world? Were they parochial and focused on just their monastery, town, or kingdom? Or were they aware of the broader medieval Europe that modern historians write about? This collection brings the focus back to medieval authors to see how they described their world. While we see that each author certainly had their own biases, the vast majority of them did not view the world as constrained to their small piece of it. Instead, they talked about the wider world, and often they had informants or textual sources that informed them about the world, even if they did not visit it themselves. This volume shows that they also used similar ideas to create space and identity – whether talking about the desert, the holy land, or food practices in their texts. By examining medieval authors and their own perceptions of their world, this collection offers a framework for discussions of medieval Europe in the twenty-first century.

Moving Women Moving Objects (400–1500)

Moving Women Moving Objects (400–1500) PDF Author: Tracy Chapman Hamilton
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004399674
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
This collection forges new ground in the discussion of aristocratic and royal women, their relationships with their objects, and medieval geography. It explores how women’s geographic and familial networks spread well beyond the borders that defined men’s sense of region and how the movement of their belongings can reveal essential information about how women navigated these often-disparate spaces. Beginning in early medieval Scandinavia, ranging from Byzantium to Rus', and multiple lands in Western Europe up to 1500, the essays span a great spatio-temporal range. Moreover, the types of objects extend from traditionally studied works like manuscripts and sculpture to liturgical and secular ceremonial instruments, icons, and articles of personal adornment, such as textiles and jewelry, even including shoes.

Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture (2 Vol. Set)

Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture (2 Vol. Set) PDF Author: Therese Martin
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004185550
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 1185

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Book Description
The twenty-four studies in this volume propose a new approach to framing the debate around the history of medieval art and architecture to highlight the multiple roles played by women, moving beyond today's standard division of artist from patron.

The Letters of Psellos

The Letters of Psellos PDF Author: Michael Jeffreys
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198787227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 479

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Book Description
The Letters of Psellos is the first detailed study of the correspondence of Michael Psellos, a preeminent Byzantine intellectual, politician, and writer. Structured in two parts, it juxtaposes five essays offering detailed historical and literary analyses of selected letters with annotated summaries of the entirety of Psellos' correspondence.