La Bithynie au Moyen Age (review)

Abstract

La Bithynie au Moyen Âge. Edited by Bernard Geyer and Jacques Lefort. [Realites Byzantines, Volume 9.] (Paris: Lethielleux. 2003. Pp. 566. euro38.00.) Regional studies are always welcome, particularly when the volume is a collaborative effort involving the researches and conclusions of specialists in a wide variety of disciplines and subjects. The book's purpose is to explore Bithynia's social history and to document the changes that occurred after Constantinople was founded and the region became the neighbor first of the Byzantine capital and later of the Ottoman. The work is divided into three sections, followed by an Index of Toponyms. The first is intended to introduce the reader to the region's geography and to provide some feeling for the tenor of life among its inhabitants during the Protobyzantine, Byzantine, and Ottoman periods. To this end Bernard Geyer has provided a sketch concerning the physical landscape and considerations of climate and the availability of water. This description may be profitably read with Jacques Lefort's article on the sixteenth-century topographical miniatures of Matrakci (sumptuously reproduced in color), as well as Jean-Pierre Grelois' French translation of select portions of Hans Dernschwan's account of his travels in Asia Minor in 1555. Georges Kiourtzian has compiled a group of Protobyzantine inscriptions illustrative of the province's administration, as well as the trades practiced within its confines. He has included two appendices: in one a list of Byzantine inscriptions with translation and in the second five unedited inscriptions with translation and photos. Vassiliki Kravari offers translations from Greek and Latin texts which provide glimpses into agriculture, military conflicts, and monastic affairs. Annie Pralong and Jean-Pierre Grelois focus on the city of Broussa and its architectural monuments, specifically its defensive bulwarks and the mausolea of Osman and Orhan. The next section opens with geological considerations and then focuses on archaeological data. Christophe Giros provides a well documented sketch of Bithynia's fortifications. Annie Pralong details the results of five seasons of site surveys. The author meticulously catalogues (with photos) some 161 architectural fragments documented within an area stretching from Cyzicus to the Gulf of Izmit. The section concludes with Veronique Francois' catalogue of Byzantine and Ottoman ceramic fragments recovered from Bithynian sites. …