The Reign of Leo VI (886-912)

The Reign of Leo VI (886-912) PDF Author: Shaun Tougher
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004108110
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This book provides a fresh examination of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886-912) and his reign. A consideration of personal and political relationships and internal and external affairs forms the basis of a reassessment of his achievements and kingship.

The Reign of Leo VI (886-912)

The Reign of Leo VI (886-912) PDF Author: Shaun Tougher
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9789004108110
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
This book provides a fresh examination of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886-912) and his reign. A consideration of personal and political relationships and internal and external affairs forms the basis of a reassessment of his achievements and kingship.

The Chronicle of the Logothete

The Chronicle of the Logothete PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781789628074
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The Chronicle of the Logothete covers the period from the Creation of the World to the burial of emperor Romanos I Lekapenos in the summer of 948 AD. If we deduce a medieval text's importance and success from the number of extant manuscripts, this work must score highly. While some medieval chronicles have come down to us in only one manuscript, about thirty manuscripts transmit the Chronicle of the Logothete in its main form, and there are also manuscripts containing different kinds of elaborated versions of the text. Also, the chronicle was translated into Old Slavonic at least twice. In spite of the work's popularity, the chronicler himself remains obscure. It has been suggested that this could be Symeon Metaphrastes, an illustrious Byzantine literate who collected and edited, or wrote, Saints' Lives. However, fairly certain is only that the final compilation of the text was made in the second half of the tenth century, and there seems to be a pro-Lekapenian bias and an antipathy towards the Macedonian dynasty. This volume is based on the translator's 2006 edition of the text and constitutes the first translation ever into English.

The Chronicle of Theophanes

The Chronicle of Theophanes PDF Author: Theophanes (the Confessor)
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 9780812211283
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The most important illuminating source that survived from the two centuries termed "the dark ages of Byzantium" is the chronicle of the monk Theophanes (d. 817 or 818). In it Theophanes paints a vivid picture of the Empire's struggle in the seventh and eighth centuries both to withstand foreign invasions and to quell internal religious conflicts. Theophanes's carefully developed chronological scheme was mined extensively by later Byzantine and Western record keepers; his chronicle was used as a source of information as well as a stylistic model. It is the framework upon which all Byzantine chronology for this period must be based. Important topics covered by the Chronicle include: The Empire's struggle to repel explosive Arab expansionism and the Bulgar invasion. The iconoclastic controversy, which caused civil war within Byzantium and led to schism between the churches of Constantinople and Rome. The development of the Byzantine thematic system, the administrative and social structure that would bring the Empire to the height of its power and prosperity. Almost all the sources used by Theophanes have perished, leaving his chronicle as the most important historical literature from this period. Turledove's translation makes available in English this crucial primary text for the study of medieval Byzantine civilization.

History and Literature of Byzantium in the 9th–10th Centuries

History and Literature of Byzantium in the 9th–10th Centuries PDF Author: Athanasios Markopoulos
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000939340
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
The studies reprinted here deal with the Byzantine empire between the 9th and 11th centuries, with a focus on the period of the Macedonian dynasty, and include four translated into English for this volume. They reflect both historical and prosopographical concerns, but Professor Markopoulos's principle interest is in the analysis of literary works and texts. This he combines with the examination of the ideological context of the period, as shaped in the reigns of Basil I and Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, and the investigation of gender issues and other approaches. The close analysis of the texts shows how, after the close of Iconoclasm, new styles of writing and new attitudes towards the writing of history emerged, for instance in the use of mythological themes, which exemplify the changing intellectual concerns of the time.

The Oxford History of Historical Writing

The Oxford History of Historical Writing PDF Author: Daniel R. Woolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199236429
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 671

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Book Description
A collection of essays from leading historians which explores the ways in which history was written in Europe and Asia between 400 and 1400.

Military History of Late Rome 602–641

Military History of Late Rome 602–641 PDF Author: Ilkka Syvänne
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399075705
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
The Military History of Late Rome 565-602 provides a fresh analysis of the Roman Empire from the reign of Phocas (602-10) until the death of Heraclius (610-41). This was an era of unprecedented upheavals which is usually considered to have resulted in the end of antiquity. The usurpations of Phocas and Heraclius led to the collapse of the Roman defenses; The Persians conquered Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt; The Avars and Slavs ravaged the Balkans; The Lombards held the upper hand in Italy; the Visigoths conquered Spain; But then happened one of the most remarkable reversals of fortune in the history of mankind. Heraclius began his holy war against the fire-worshippers. He launched a very effective counterattack against the Persians as a result of which the Romans not only defeated the Persians but actually even extended their domains at their expense, and not only this, because by 633 Heraclius was already restoring the Roman fortunes in the Balkans. This volume revises many of the previously held views of how this took place and what actually happened. The Roman armies seemed invincible and then happened yet another great reversal of fortune – the Muslims began their jihad to conquer the world. The author provides a fresh analysis of all of these upheavals; explains in detail why these reversals of fortune happened; what enabled the Romans to defeat the Persians; and why the Romans lost when they fought against the Muslims and, conversely, why the Muslims were so successful. This was an era of epic campaigns and battles all of which are explained in unprecedented detail. The epic campaigns needed equally talented commanders who include, for example, Heraclius, Chosroes II Parwez, Shahrbaraz, Shahin, Abu Bakr, Umar, Abu Ubaydah, and Khalid b. al-Walid, the Sword of Allah.

John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057

John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057 PDF Author: John Skylitzes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139489151
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This book was first published in 2010. John Skylitzes' extraordinary Middle Byzantine chronicle covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057, and provides the only surviving continuous narrative of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. A high official living in the late eleventh century, Skylitzes used a number of existing Greek histories (some of them no longer extant) to create a digest of the previous three centuries. It is without question the major historical source for the period and is cited constantly in modern scholarship. This edition features introductions by Jean-Claude Cheynet and Bernard Flusin, along with extensive notes. It will be an essential and exciting addition to the libraries of all historians of the Byzantine age.

Chronicles, Consuls, and Coins: Historiography and History in the Later Roman Empire

Chronicles, Consuls, and Coins: Historiography and History in the Later Roman Empire PDF Author: R.W. Burgess
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000942120
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The papers collected in this volume focus on the sources for reconstructing the history of the third to fifth centuries AD. The first section, 'Historiography', looks at a small group of chronicles and breviaria whose texts are fundamental for our reconstruction of the history of the third and fourth centuries, some well known, others much less so: Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome, the lost Kaisergeschichte, and Eutropius. In this section the goal in each case is a specific attempt to come to a better understanding of the structure, composition, date, or author of these historical texts. The second section, 'History', presents a group of historical studies, ranging in time from the death of Constantine in 337 to the vicennalia of Anastasius in 511. In these papers the keys to the conclusions offered arise from a better understanding of the literary sources - particularly chronicles and consularia -, an understanding of the evolution of historical accounts over time, or the employment of sources that are either new or unusual in these particular contexts: consular fasti, coins, papyri, and itineraries.

The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World

The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World PDF Author: Przemysław Marciniak
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040157564
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
Animals have recently become recognized as significant agents of history as part of the ‘animal turn’ in historical studies. Animals in Byzantium were human companions, a source of entertainment and food – it is small wonder that they made their way into literature and the visual arts. Moreover, humans defined themselves and their activities by referring to non-human animals, either by anthropomorphizing animals (as in the case of the Cat-Mice War) or by animalizing humans and their (un)wanted behaviours. The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World offers an in-depth survey of the relationships between humans and non-human animals in the Byzantine Empire. The contributions included in the volume address both material (zooarchaeology, animals as food, visual representations of animals) and immaterial (semiotics, philosophy) aspects of human-animal coexistence in chapters written by leading experts in their field. This book will appeal to students and scholars alike researching Byzantine social and cultural history, as well as those interested in the history of animals. This book marks an important step in the development of animal studies in Byzantium, filling a gap in the wider research on the history of human-animal relations in the Middle Ages.

Authority in Byzantium

Authority in Byzantium PDF Author: Pamela Armstrong
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351956566
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Authority is an important concept in Byzantine culture whose myriad modes of implementation helped maintain the existence of the Byzantine state across so many centuries, binding together people from different ethnic groups, in different spheres of life and activities. Even though its significance to understanding the Byzantine world is so central, it is nonetheless imperfectly understood. The present volume brings together an international cast of scholars to explore this concept. The contributions are divided into nine sections focusing on different aspects of authority: the imperial authority of the state, how it was transmitted from the top down, from Constantinople to provincial towns, how it dealt with marginal legal issues or good medical practice; authority in the market place, whether directly concerning over-the-counter issues such as coinage, weights and measures, or the wider concerns of the activities of foreign traders; authority in the church, such as the extent to which ecclesiastical authority was inherent, or how constructs of religious authority ordered family life; the authority of knowledge revealed through imperial patronage or divine wisdom; the authority of text, though its conformity with ancient traditions, through the Holy scriptures and through the authenticity of history; exhibiting authority through images of the emperor or the Divine. The final section draws on personal experience of three great ’authorities’ within Byzantine Studies: Ostrogorsky, Beck and Browning.