Century Byzantine Research Articles

Byzantine wall paintings from San Marco d’Alunzio, Sicily: non-invasive diagnostics and microanalytical investigation of pigments and plasters

A diagnostic investigation was carried out on twelfth century Byzantine wall paintings preserved in the Museum of Byzantine and Norman Culture and Figurative Arts of San Marco d’Alunzio (Messina, Italy) on the occasion of recent restoration works. First, the wall paintings were analyzed using portable X-Ray Fluorescence (p-XRF) and Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) to obtain a non-invasive preliminary identification of the original palette. Then, five fragments were sampled for a micro-stratigraphy study using Digital Optical Microscope (DOM), Polarizing Optical Microscope (POM), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) combined with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS) to characterize the mortars and the blue and black pigments non unequivocally identified through non-invasive techniques. The palette included mainly earthen pigments like red and yellow ochres, green earth, and more valuable lapis lazuli blue applied on a bone black layer; while the analysis of mortars found on the different apses showed the same manufacturing technique and constitutive materials: lime-based binder with the addition of quartz, and rare calcareous lithic fragments as aggregate. The obtained results shed light on the pictorial technique used for the wall paintings and allowed us to compare the Sicilian pictorial cycle with the coeval Byzantine wall paintings preserved in Sardinia and Southern Italy.

A systematic methodology to assess the identity of plants in historical texts: A case study based on the Byzantine pharmacy text John the Physician's Therapeutics

Ethnopharmacological relevanceIn recent decades, the study of historical texts has attracted research interest, particularly in ethnopharmacology. All studies of the materia medica cited in ancient and medieval texts share a concern, however, as to the reliability of modern identifications of these substances. Previous studies of European or Mediterranean texts relied mostly on authoritative dictionaries or glossaries providing botanical identities for the historical plant names in question. Several identities they suggest, however, are questionable and real possibility of error exists. Aim of the studyThis study aims to develop and document a novel and interdisciplinary methodology providing more objective assessment of the identity of the plants (and minerals) described in these resources. Materials and methodsWe developed an iterative experimental approach, using the 13th century Byzantine recipe text John the Physician's Therapeutics in its Commentary version (JC) as a case study. The methodology has six stages and relies on comparative analyses including statistical evaluation of botanical descriptions and information about medicinal uses drawn from both historical and modern sources. Stages 1–4 create the dataset, stage 5 derives the primary outcomes to be reviewed by experts in stage 6. ResultsUsing Disocorides’ De Materia Medica (DMM) (1st century CE) as the culturally related reference text for the botanical descriptions of the plants cited in JC, allowed us to link the 194 plants used medicinally in JC with 252 plants cited in DMM. Our test sample for subsequent analyses consisted of the 50 JC plant names (corresponding to 61 DMM plants) for which DMM holds rich morphological information, and the 130 candidate species which have been suggested in the literature as potential botanical identities of those 50 JC plant names. Statistical evaluation of the comparative analyses revealed that in the majority of the cases, our method detected the candidate species having a higher likelihood of being the correct attribution from among the pool of suggested candidates. Final assessment and revision provided a list of the challenges associated with applying our methodology more widely and recommendations on how to address these issues. ConclusionsWe offer this multidisciplinary approach to more evidence-based assessment of the identity of plants in historical texts providing a measure of confidence for each suggested identity. Despite the experimental nature of our methodology and its limitations, its application allowed us to draw conclusions about the validity of suggested candidate plants as well as to distinguish between alternative candidates of the same historical plant name. Fully documenting the methodology facilitates its application to historical texts of any kind of cultural or linguistic background.

The Baptistery in the North Church of Shivta: structure, ritual, art

Abstract This paper focuses on the remains of the Baptistery chapel within the North Church complex on the outskirts of Shivta, a fifth-seventh century Byzantine village in the Negev. Presumably a monastery, the North Church is the largest and most elaborately constructed of the three Shivta churches. After addressing general structural and chronological issues of the complex, a comparison of the North Church Baptistery to the South Church Baptistery aims to clarify the linkage between shape and ritual. The authors propose that the earlier South Church Baptistery probably served the public, while the later North Church Baptistery fulfilled the internal needs of the monastery. The remains of the Baptism of Christ wall painting, recently rediscovered in the apse of the North Church Baptistery, complements, even if partially, knowledge of the links between architecture, liturgy, and art within the space. The study offers a glimpse into the religious and cultural world of the people who lived in this arid and remote, but by no means isolated area.

Contextualizing gender in XII century Byzantine discourse: Women and power in Ioannes Zonaras’ epitome historiarum

The paper investigates Ioannes Zonaras? Epitome Historiarum, a Byzantine XII century world chronicle for normative conceptions of gender in Byzantium. The article explores two gender-appropriate women?s roles in Byzantine society. It focuses on the behaviors, activities, and attributes attached to and prescribed for the widows and mothers to reiterate the patriarchal social structures. Also, this research intends to uncover the interplay between text and language through crucial gender signifiers, which influenced the balance of social and political power in the Medieval Roman Empire.

Circular Procession

Circular Procession Brian Clifton (bio) "You a night guy?" a man asks me in the locker room of Dallas' Medieval Times, a chain restaurant themed as a medieval jousting tournament—think Dixie Stampede meets the Renaissance Fair. The man's angular face ends with a long goatee. His name is Gregory. He laces up his knee-high biker boots. They are plated with faux-chrome flames. He says, "I wanted to be a knight but they put me in the kitchen, probably because I have a DUI." He stops talking to tie up his hair. I start undressing. My pants are off when he says, "I don't need a job. I just can't stay at home all day. My girlfriend's a stripper, so she makes all the money. I'm just doing this so I don't have to sit at home." Gregory exits the locker room. In a few minutes, I will join him. ________ Coined by Jacques Derrida, hauntology is a near homonym in French to ontology. It refers to a situation in which the presence of being is replaced by a deferred non-origin. It is a philosophical ghost—neither present nor past, it haunts that which will be. Mark Fisher used the term to engage with music that shows its production seams to collapse time—distant past, close past, and present occupying the same moment when the stylus rolls across vinyl. ________ Washing dishes in most restaurant kitchens is a conveyor-belt affair. One dishwasher rinses the dishes in a sink and places them either in a thick plastic container or directly on the revolving belt. The belt carts the dishes into a large metal box with jets that blast off food and grime. The jets are a mixture of cleaning chemicals and water heated to around 140 degrees fahrenheit. The dishes emerge like new from the other opening of the machine, where another dishwasher removes them and stores them. At Medieval Times, there are two to three shows a day. The dishes begin to pile up about an hour into the night shift. We clean them and store them as quickly as possible, but there is always a backlog. After the first show, we often wash until, as if nothing had happened, the dishes reappear dirtied, waiting for us to do what we know we had already done before, the dishwasher churning between us. The machine is so loud that one employee cannot easily communicate to another, cannot warn one that a kitchen knife that might easily slice open a palm is coming through. So we do not speak. We do not try. We load; we unload, our simple and assigned task. [End Page 68] ________ Rowen and I visit the Menil Collection in Houston. We have begun to say I love you without hesitancy. It is early in our relationship—I still try to impress her with my inconsequential knowledge. Today's task is translating the Greek on the 12th and 13th century Byzantine icons. Translating is doubly difficult because I haven't practiced Greek for half a decade and because the icons have only a name and a single word. There is no way for me to pick up on context clues for meaning. Furthermore, the words are handwritten in a wavery text, broken randomly around the painting. I stammer through pronouncing the name of a saint I know nothing about. I lean in, as if being closer will jog my memory. Rowen does the same. We are enthralled with the syllables, the stylized bodies and faces of saints. A docent thrusts a hand out between the art and us. She says, "Please, back up." The museum rises up again, its white walls, its suit-jacketed employees, its opulence at the edge of the Montrose neighborhood. Museum docents, on average, make between nine and twelve dollars an hour. They are paid to stand silently, to ensure a safe distance between a museum guest and the art, the history it represents. What would happen if someone touched an icon? Would it crumble? Would alarms go off to signal the communion of past and present? ________ In the kitchen, there are constant...

The problem of understanding liturgical texts and its solution on the example of Gregory of Corinth’s exegesis

The orthodox liturgy was finally established during the 8th and 9th centuries. The two stepbrothers and eminent Byzantine poets St. Cosmas of Maiuma and St. John of Damascus greatly contributed to its development. They composed the majority of the irmi and troparia that are still performed during the liturgy today. During their lives, however, worshippers were facing certain difficulties in understanding the meaning of church odes. This is also true today when orthodox liturgy occasionally becomes an obstacle on the path to God for the worshippers. Greater efforts are also required in order to understand the liturgy and this is not always easy. One of the reasons for this is an incorrect translation of many odes into Russian and Slavonic. Comments from 12th century Byzantine writers and poets can help us clarify their meaning. Gregory of Corinth and his 23 commentaries on the liturgical canons are particularly noteworthy. In the current article, a philological analysis is conducted of two complex, “obscure” and unclear passages from the Canon of Pentecost. At the same time, Metropolitan Gregory’s exegeses of these extracts, which can help us better understand the meaning not only of these passages but also of the whole celebration, are cited.

The Burden, the Craving, the Tool. The Provisioning of the 10th Century Byzantine Army in the Light of Leo’s Tactica and Sylloge Tacticorum

It seems obvious that 10th century was a period in which the Byzantine polemology flourished once again, before it collapsed one hundred years later. During that period numerous authors of Byzantine military treaties instructed imperial commanders how to wage war. Among many issues organization of the campaign was always an important aspect. In this paper I will try to clarify selected problems. First, I will try to specify what the soldiers ate on a daily basis. Next, I will determine to what extent the provisioning system met the expectations and needs of the Byzantines fighting for the empire. With the help of Tactica and Sylloge Tacticorum, I will try to explain how the rations were gathered, transported and protected. Finally, I will specify how the supplies were utilized not only as a means of nourishment, but also as a tool of war. The following research was carried out on the basis of military treaties from the 10th century, since this time was the peak of Byzantine military revival. Although I mainly base my research on the work of Leon the Wise and the anonymous treaty known as Sylloge Tacticorum, I also occasionally refer to other works, such as Peri Strategias, De velitatione and Praecepta Militaria.

Logistical considerations for the arms production industry in the Middle Byzantine Empire

Utilizing the information recorded in the mid-tenth century Byzantine document known as De Ceremoniis, this paper will examine labour requirements for armament production in the context of a naval expedition to Crete launched by the Byzantines in AD 949. A series of interviews was conducted with experienced blacksmiths with the intention of exploring time requirements for equipment manufacture. The information provided by the De Ceremoniis, as well as that produced through the interviews, has allowed for the assessment of overall trends in the tenth century arms production industry, including labour investments, thematic and imperial production capabilities, and transportation logistics.

Investigations of byzantine wall paintings in the abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate (Italy) in view of their restoration.

In this paper, diagnostic analyses on 12th-13th century byzantine wall paintings in the abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate (Southern Italy) were carried out preparatory to restoration work promoted by FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano). Both the pigments and the areas with a bleaching alteration in the frescoes were analysed using the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence, the Raman spectroscopy and the scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer. In particular, ED-XRF analyses were performed in situ on wall paintings, while Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDX were accomplished on frescoes fragments. The results obtained allowed to determine the chemical composition of the pigments, helping to identify the original parts of the frescoes from the retouched ones. The work also provided important information about the historical-artistic context of the abbey. Archaeometric investigations have indeed revealed the pictorial technique used for the wall paintings of the abbey, as well as the presence of some very valuable pigments, such as lapis lazuli blue.

Kata Christon, Mataia, and Physikē Philosophia in Gregory Palamas’s 14th Century Byzantine Philosophy of Education

Kata Christon, Mataia, and Physikē Philosophia in Gregory Palamas’s 14th Century Byzantine Philosophy of Education

Image of St. George as Dragon-Slayerr on the Seal M-8759 from the State Hermitage Museum Collection

This paper addresses the history of research of a Byzantine seal dating from the twelfth century and analyzes of its iconography. In 1884, Gustave Schlumberger first published an anonymous Byzantine seal from his private collection in the famous Byzantine Sigillography (p. 502). Between 1905 and 1910, Nikolai P. Likhachev acquired a part of G. Schlumberger’s collection. This anonymous seal attracted Likhachev’s special attention, as evidenced by the inventory card written by his hand that survived. When entering the State Hermitage Museum collection, this seal got the number M–8759. Later on, it became a subject of the research by Valentina S. Shandrovskaia. According to the legend on the reverse, the seal belonged to an official of unknown name with the rank of protospatharios ἐπὶ τοῦ Χρυσοτρικλίνου, who held the position of the domestikos tes ypourgeias (δομέστικος τῆς ὐπουργείας) at the Christ-loving despotes (i. e. emperor). The front side of the seal features St. George spearing a dragon. It has been noticed that the scene showing this saint performing the feat rarely occurs on the tenth-to-twelfth century Byzantine seals with similar iconography.

A Hoard of 12th Century Byzantine Coins

The aim of this paper is to present a hoard, which is most likely a fragment of a more extensive treasure and which was recovered by the Romanian judicial authorities in 2014. The finding place of the hoard remains unknown, most of the recovered information indicating that it was found in Banat, somewhere in the area of Timiș and Caraș-Severin Counties. The first part of this paper is dedicated to the presentation of the hoard which consists of 17 billon coins struck by John II Komnenos and 15 billon coins struck by Manuel I Komnenos, the latest coin of the hoard being dated between the years 1160 and 1164. In the second part of the paper an analysis of the similar findings from the Banat area is proposed, alongside with the sketching of a historical context for the hiding of this batch of coins and an analysis of the impact had by the byzantine coin in the local monetary circulation.

To the Procedure of Dating Greek Manuscripts of 960s (on the Examples of Vat. gr. 1164. Paris. gr. 2442 & Barb. gr. 276)

The article is concerned to the paleography and codicology of two collections of polemiological works of Vat. gr. 1164 and Paris. gr. 2442 & Barb. gr. 276 written in Perlschrift. The collections are identical in composition of Ancient and Byzantine texts. According to their paleographic characteristics, both codices should be dated the second half of the 10th century. The three scribes of these two manuscripts worked in the writing style of the famous Constantinople scribe of the middle of the 10th century monk Ephraim. The perfect codicology of manuscripts and the “businesslike” but refined design, including complicated illustrations, finally confirm their Constantinople elitist origin. Judging by the content of the manuscripts, they were created in the Palace library in Constantinople, where there was every opportunity to compile such a collection, which included rare ancient texts and the most modern for the middle of the 10th century Byzantine tactics. The dating of the final work in both collections the treatise De velitatione bellica of the autumn—winter of 969 allows determining the date of the work on manuscripts to this time. It is possible that the manuscripts were commissioned by Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas and his brothers Leo and Constantine.

Stepping stones: Virtual restoration and 3D visualisation of the tessellated 4th century Byzantine synagogue floor at Apamea on Orontes, Syria

This article examines the Digital Apamea Project. Photogrammetry, visual restoration and colourisation are employed to reconstruct the ancient 4th Century synagogue mosaic floor at Apamea, Syria. These practices were applied to a photographic dataset. The source file was rendered in Unity 3D and an App of the reconstructed floor generated. Oculus Go was used to simulate the phenomenon of standing and moving across the floor.This article is restricted to the synagogue's inception circa 391 CE to its demise in early 5th Century and the synagogue's eventual discovery in 1934.Brief discussion of the Digital Apamea Project is provided and historical overview. Inherent problems circumscribe study of the synagogue. A new frame of reference is offered. A theoretical discussion regarding material culture and placement of the mosaics follows. This grounds the methodology to shift attention from the vertical to horizontal axis in the attempt of approximating the historical experience.

The Social Burden of Resilience: A Historical Perspective

We examine the social burden associated with resilience to environmental shocks in pre-modern societies. We argue that analyses of state-level interventions to mitigate the consequences of catastrophic events tend to isolate these measures from their larger social contexts and thereby overlook the uneven distribution of their burden across different groups. We use three cases of pre-modern societies in the northeastern Mediterranean - the sixth century Roman Empire, the tenth century Byzantine Empire, and the sixteenth century Ottoman Empire. We demonstrate how the adaptive processes that reinforced resilience at the state level incurred different burdens for those at lower levels of the social hierarchy. We found that some groups sustained losses while others gained unexpected benefits in the context of temporary systemic instability. We also found that although elites enjoyed enhanced buffers against the adverse effects in comparison with non-elites, this did not consistently guarantee them a better outcome. We conclude that the differentiated burden of resilience could in some cases entrench existing political or economic configurations, and in other cases, overturn them. Our case studies indirectly address the pressing issue of environmental justice.

Execution technique and pigment characteristics of Byzantine wall paintings of Anaia Church in Western Anatolia

In this study, material characteristics of wall paintings executed in 11th Century Byzantine Church located in archaeological site of Anaia (Turkey) were investigated to provide historical information of the painting techniques. For this purpose, physical, chemical and mineralogical compositions of the paintings were determined by X-Ray Diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive spectroscopy and Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis. Analysis results indicated that the paintings were executed using lime-secco technique. In this technique, pigments were mixed with lime and applied on a smooth plaster layer. Pigments used were mainly iron oxides for red, yellow and purple paintings, aluminosilicates such as celadonite for green paintings and lazurite for dark blue paintings.

Ekfrazno pesništvo pri Romanu Melodu in Pavlu Silentiariju

Članek o ekfrazi pri Romanu Melodu se opira na pojmovanje ekfraze v kontekstu bizantinske retorike in literature. V skladu s takšnim pojmovanjem, ki je v temelju enako starogrški retoriški teoriji in praksi, kakor jo najdemo v retoriških učbenikih, imenovanih Progymnasmata, je najpreprostejša opredelitev ekfraze takšna, da gre za govor, ki prinaša svoj predmet živo pred oči. Tako je jasno, da je sedanja opredelitev ekfraze kot pesniškega opisa slikovne, kiparske ali arhitekturne umetnine izrazito moderna. Po uvodnem razčiščenju glede terminologije članek obravnava ekfrazo pri Romanu Melodu, slavnem bizantinskem himnografu iz 6. stoletja, ki je avtor številnih kondakijev. Tu gre za nekakšno liturgično himno, ki je znana po številnih pesniških strategijah in velja za vrhunec bizantinske poezije. Romanova raba ekfraze v bibličnem kontekstu je vendarle na neki način zadržana. Toda z naturalističnim opisom pokola nedolžnih otrok, ki presega poročilo iz Matejevega evangelija, in zlasti s tematizacijo na novo zgrajene Hagie Sofie, ki jo plastično imenuje tudi Božji prestol, Roman vendarle postavi vodilni ton bizantinski ekfrazi.Druga arhitekturna ekfraza prihaja od nekega drugega bizantinskega pesnika iz 6. stoletja, Pavla Silentiarija. Njegovo najslovitejše delo je Descriptio ecclesiae Sanctae Sophiae. Še posebno ob opisu kupole Hagie Sofie, nekdaj največje cerkve krščanstva, ki se opira na antitetiko svetlobe in teme, spoznamo, da svetloba rabi za epifanično izkušnjo: Hagia Sofia postane snovno izkazovanje Božjega razodetja. Ekfraza tako pri Romanu kot pri Pavlu Silentiariju postane retoriško sredstvo za izrekanje neizrekljivega.

Деисус в системе убранства византийского темплона XII — начала XIII века

The article is focused on the problem of the determination of the place of the Deesis compositionin the system of the 12th — early 13th century Byzantine sanctuary screen. The Deesis is among the crucial subjects in the decoration of a templon, though the representation of it did not take a stable form and position ona screen in the period under review. The article surveys variants of representing the theme of the Deesis in the diverse types of sacred images included in the ensemble of a sanctuary screen as the evidence of a composition search. The most forward-looking type of them turned out to be the series of Deesis icons on separated panels.The paper examines the possibility that they were situated on the templon beams that became a prototype forthe Deesis row of the iconostasis screen.

Proposal for a reading of byzantine paintings inside the Cathedral of Genoa

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the early Fourteenth Century byzantine cycle in the Saint Lawrence Cathedral in Genoa: in particular its purpose is to illustrate the iconographic program realized on the counter facade. The questions this article explains are: what is the relationship between painted images and spatial context, which means first the wall on which was carried out, and second the space of the Cathedral; what are the complex meanings of the iconographic themes of the Last Judgement and the Deesis , also in connection to the local devotional culture; and finally, considering the relation patron – subject of the cycle – artist, what are the connections between the Latin devotional needs of patrons and also of the public to which the cycle was intended, and the eastern compositional and expressive repertories of the Byzantine painters.

Western Arabo-Islamophobia: Where and When Will It End?

deep-seated Islamophobia undeniably harks back to many centuries of denigrating, and othering It has taken different forms at different times and in different contexts. From Spanish Reconquista to Crusades, and from colonial wars to post-coloniality, Islam has been archetypical enemy of West, demonised Other. This long-standing mental construct of Arabs and Islam in depth of Western psyche stems from manifold reasons that will be explained later. Hence, it unexpected that Islam has currently been made into what Kabbani (1986) once called, the religion West loves to hate . . . and dumping ground for all blame (italics mine). Every day, as Ali Bulac (12 June 2009) in Why Islam in conflict with West? notes, world confronts a new definition and another campaign for defamation: fanaticism, fundamentalism, political Islam, integrism, radicalism, Islamophobia, Islamofascism, reactionaryism, conservatism, extremism, Islamic terror, etc.Arabo-Islamophobia, as Said (1978), Kabbani (1986), and Chahuan (2005) point out, can be attributed to set of imperialistic designs that emanates from colonial past. The prejudices of today, aptly contends Chahuan, for instance, preserve and perpetuate falsehoods of past. European colonial aggression in Arab countries during XI X and XX centuries have been justified by series of arguments whose common denominator depreciation of Other, and negative view of Arabs today an extension of imperialist attitudes of past so far away.In contrast, Keegan, defence correspondent of Daily Telegraph (October 2001), Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington and their ilk, maintain that it of civilizations, (Esposito 1999: 230). But President Bush goes on so far as to claim that it a strugg le for Bush's address to nation (September 11, 2006) reveals perverse logic of Islamophobia today:The war against this enemy more than military conflict. It decisive ideological struggle of 21st century, and calling of our generation . . . This struggle has been called clash of civilizations. In truth, it struggle for civilization. We are fighting to maintain way of life enjoyed by free nations.Pope Benedict XVI also asserts this in his speech (September 12, 2006), as he equates Catholicism with reason and Islam with violence and lack of reason. Paraphrasing fourteenth century Byzantine emperor, he stated that when religion (like Islam) spread through violence it goes against reason, and also against nature, for not to act in accordance with reason contrary to God's nature.In Islamic Thinking in Limbo, published in Higher Education section of Australian on October 25, 2006, Riaz Hassan also alleges that Islam imprisons a sign ificant proportion of humanity into permanent servitude.., and that science weakest in lands of Islam. Hassan also assumes that consequential dangers of this weakness are devastating. Besides, he claims that Muslim countries are increasingly coming under intense pressure from religious fundamentalists to impose epistemologies comparable with their versions of Islamic doctrines that are generally hostile to critical rational thought. Furthermore, he alleges that most causes of Muslims' present predicament can also be attributed to prevailing culture and political practices, and that in his recent studies of contemporary Islamic consciousness in some Middle Eastern countries, he was struck by an all-pervasive sense of humiliation... This sense of humiliation, as he claims, is key underlying cause of Islamic militancy and terrorism.Hassan then concludes that A robust civil ethic prerequisite for developing society based on tyranny of strongly held convictions but on social order based on reason and compromise. …