Byzantine studies
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Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the
Structure
Definition
Byzantine studies is the discipline that addresses the history and culture of Byzantium (Byzantium ↔ Byzantine Empire, the Greek Middle Ages; Byzantium = Constantinople [as capital of the Byzantine Empire]).[2] Thus the unity of the object of investigation ("Byzantium") stands in contrast to the diversity of approaches (= specializations) that may be applied to it. – There were already "Byzantine" studies in the high medieval Byzantine Empire. In the later Middle Ages, the interest in Byzantium (in particular the original Greek sources) was carried on by Italian humanism, and it expanded in the 17th century throughout Europe and Russia. The late 19th and early 20th centuries brought the formation of Byzantine studies as an independent discipline.
Byzantium
Greek-Hellenistic culture, Roman state traditions, Oriental influence and
This was also the era of
The late period of the Byzantine Empire as a small state begins with the
Languages
It is possible to distinguish between three levels of speech: Atticism (the literary language),
Major genres of Byzantine literature include historiography (both in the classical mode and in the form of chronicles), hagiography (in the form of the biographical account or bios and the panegyric or enkomion); hagiographic collections (the menaia and synaxaria), epistolography, rhetoric, and poetry. From the Byzantine administration, broadly construed, we have works such as description of peoples and cities, accounts of court ceremonies, and lists of precedence. Technical literature is represented, for example, by texts on military strategy. Collections of civil and canon law are preserved, as well as documents and acta (see "Diplomatics" below). Some texts in the demotic are also preserved.
Identity
There are currently three main schools of thought on medieval eastern Roman identity in modern Byzantine scholarship: 1) a potentially preponderant view that considers "Romanity" the mode of self-identification of the subjects of a multi-ethnic empire, in which the elite did not self-identify as Greek and the average subject considered him/herself as "Roman", 2) a school of thought that developed largely under the influence of modern Greek nationalism, treating Romanness as the medieval manifestation of a perennial Greek national identity, 3) a line of thought recently proposed by Anthony Kaldellis arguing that Eastern Roman identity was a pre-modern national identity.[3]
Auxiliary sciences
Modes of transmission
Modes of transmission entails the study of texts that are preserved primarily on papyrus, parchment or paper, in addition to inscriptions, coins, and medals. The papyrus rolls of antiquity (papyrology) are quickly replaced by the parchment codices of the Middle Ages (codicology), while paper arrives in the 9th century via the Arabs and Chinese.
Diplomatics
Sigillography and palaeography
Specific subsets of diplomatics entail sigillography, the study of seals, and palaeography, the study of scripts.[6]
Epigraphy
Byzantine epigraphy entails the study of various stone, metal, ivory, mosaic, enamel, and paint inscriptions.
Numismatics
Byzantine numismatics entails the study of imperial coins and mints. Building on the gold standard of Late Antiquity, the Byzantine monetary system was, until the middle of the 14th century, based on a gold standard, and included silver, bronze, and copper coins. With the economic and political decline of the late period, the gold standard was abandoned in the final century of Byzantine history, and replaced by a silver-based system.
Metrology
Byzantine
Chronology
Byzantine chronology entails the study of the computation of time. According to the various Byzantine calendar systems, Year 1 AD. = Year 754 ab urbe condita = the first year of the 195th Olympiad = Year 49 of the Antiochean era = Year 5493 of the Alexandrine era = Year 312 of the Seleucid era = Year 5509 from the formation of the world. The Byzantine year began with 1 September, believed to be the Day of Creation, e.g., 1 January through 31 August belonged to the year 5508, 1 September through 31 December to the year 5509. Dating according to indiction remained standard.
Organizations
- Institute for Byzantine Studies (Serbian Academy of Science and Arts
- Institut für Byzanzforschung (IBF) (in German), Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (IBMGS), non-profit cultural organization, Belmont, Massachusetts
- International Association of Byzantine Studies (AIEB)
- Byzantine Studies Association of North America, Inc. (BSANA)
- Australian Association for Byzantine Studies (AABS), non-profit organization, Australia and New Zealand
- Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS), U.K.
- Byzantine Institute of America, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C.
- Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz: Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident, Germany.
- International Association of South-East European Studies
Journals
- ISSN 0307-0131.
- Byzantina Symmeikta, Athens, ISSN 1105-1639.
- ISSN 0007-7704.
- ISSN 0007-7712
- Byzantion: revue internationale des études byzantines, Brussels.
- ISSN 0070-7546.
- ISSN 0929-7820
- ISSN 0378-8660.
- ISSN 0373-5729.
- ISSN 0557-1367.
- ISSN 0132-3776
- ISSN 0584-9888.
Notable people
- Athanasios Angelou (b. 1951), Greek, literature
- Sergei Averintsev (1937–2004), Russian, culture
- Peter Charanis (1908–1985), Greek and American, history and demography
- Franz Dölger (1891–1968), German, diplomatics
- Božidar Ferjančić (1929–1998), Serbian, history
- Henri Grégoire (1881–1964), Belgian, philology
- Philip Grierson (1910-2006), British, history and numismatics
- Venance Grumel (1890–1967), French, history and chronology
- Judith Herrin (b. 1942), British, archaeology
- Karl Hopf (1832–1873), German, history
- Herbert Hunger (1914–2000), Austrian, literature
- Alexander Kazhdan (1922–1997), Russian and American, history
- Héctor Herrera Cajas (1930–1997), Chilean, diplomatics
- Angeliki Laiou (1941–2008), Greek-American, society
- Viktor Lazarev (1897–1976), Russian, art
- Ruth Macrides (1969-2019), American and British, history, literature and law
- John Meyendorff (1926–1992), French and American, theology
- Gyula Moravcsik (1892–1972), Hungarian, philology
- Wilhelm Nyssen (1925–1994), German, theology
- George Ostrogorsky (1902–1976), Yugoslav-Russian
- Vassili (Wilhelm) Eduardovich Regel (1857–1932), Russia
- Émile Renauld (1870–?), French, history
- Silvia Ronchey (b. 1958), Italian, philology
- Semavi Eyice (1922-2018), Turkish art historian
- Steven Runciman (1903–2003), English, Byzantium and the Crusades
- Gustave Schlumberger (1844–1929), French, numismatics
- Nicolae Șerban Tanașoca (1941–2017), Romanian, history and philology
- Warren Treadgold (b. 1949), American, Byzantine Military Organisation
- Fyodor Uspensky (1845–1928), Russian, Byzantine-Bulgarian relations
- Alexander Vasiliev (1867–1953), Russian, history and culture
- Vasily Vasilievsky (1838–1899), Russian
- Speros Vryonis (1928–2019), Greek and American, history
- Dionysios Zakythinos (1905–1993), Greek, history
See also
References
- ^ a b Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), Helen C. Evans, ed., exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004 Quote: "And, whereas Wolf initiated Byzantine studies in Germany, particularly through the editing of texts, other sixteenth-century humanists were doing the same in Holland and Italy."
- ^ Byzantine Studies definition from Oxford University
- ^ Stouraitis 2014, pp. 176-177 with footnotes 2-4
- ^ Realities of Byzantine Provincial Government: Hellas and Peloponnesos, 1180-1205 Judith Herrin Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 29, 1975 (1975), pp. 253–284
- ^ a b c Britannica on chrysobullos logos
- ^ Dumbarton Oaks on Nicolas Oikonomides Archived 2006-03-31 at the Wayback Machine: "Dumbarton Oaks has lost a good friend. On 31 May 2000, Nicolas Oikonomides, Dumbarton Oaks’s advisor for Byzantine sigillography, died in Athens after a brief illness".
- ^ Ancient Greek Units of Length
- ^ a b c The Economic History of Byzantium: From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century Archived 2009-03-24 at the Wayback Machine Angeliki E. Laiou, Editor-in-Chief Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. © 2002 Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University Washington, D.C.
Literature
- Evans, Helen C. & Wixom, William D. (1997). The glory of Byzantium: art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era, A.D. 843-1261. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780810965072.
- Baynes, Norman Hepburn (1955). Byzantine studies and other essays. London: U. of London.
- Kazhdan, Aleksandr Petrovich (1982). People and power in Byzantium: an introduction to modern Byzantine studies. Dumbarton Oaks.
- Gregory, Timothy E. (1990). "Intensive archaeological survey and its place in Byzantine studies". Byzantine Studies. 13 (2): 155–175.
- Charanis, Peter (1972). Studies on the demography of the Byzantine empire: collected studies. Variorum Publishing.
- Hendy, Michael F. (1969). "Coinage and money in the Byzantine Empire, 1081-1261". 12. Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies.
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(help) - Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Haldon, John F.; Cormack, Robin (2008). The Oxford handbook of Byzantine studies. Oxford University Press.
- Barker, Ernest, ed. (1957). Social and Political Thought in Byzantium: From Justinian I to the Last Palaeologus. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Vasiliev, Alexander A. (1927). "Byzantine Studies in Russia, Past and Present". The American Historical Review. 32 (3): 539–545. JSTOR 1837746.
- Beck, Hans-Georg (1977). Byzantinistik heute (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-007220-3.
- Hunger, Herbert (1973). Byzantinische Grundlagenforschung (in German). London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Irmscher, Johannes (1971). Einführung in die Byzantinistik (in German). Berlin.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Mazal, Otto (1989). Handbuch der Byzantinistik (in German). Graz.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Moravcsik, Gyula (1976). Einführung in die Byzantologie (in German). Darmstadt.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Stouraitis, Ioannis (2014). "Roman Identity in Byzantium: A Critical Approach" (PDF). Byzantinische Zeitschrift. 107 (1): 175–220. S2CID 174769546.
External links
- "Byzantine Paleography Bibliography". Fordham University.