Medieval Byzantine Research Articles

Hebrew Panegyric of the Late Middle Ages: Shemaryah, Son of Elijah, and His Praise Poems

Abstract Late medieval Byzantine Hebrew poetry unfortunately belongs to a rather neglected field of Hebrew poetry. Only a few authors have been studied in-depth. This article will examine the poetic work of the fourteenth century exegete and philosopher Shemaryah son of Elijah who produced panegyrics and liturgical poetry alongside exegetical and philosophical writings. Shemaryah’s panegyric pieces were dedicated to the leader of the Jews in Egypt and the grandson of Maimonides, David ha-Nagid. Although spending most of his life in Negroponte or Chalkis on the island of Euboea, Shemaryah was in contact with leading figures of Egyptian Jewry around 1300 as well as with the Angevin King Robert of Anjou in Naples in the 1330s. These contacts to the east and to the west reflect Byzantium’s role as a cultural hub between Europe and the Middle East.

Visual Traditions in the Formation of the Iconographic Types of the Investiture and Triumph of Patriarch Joseph

The story of the patriarch Joseph is a very recurring theme in medieval visual artistic Christian tradition. Joseph, Jacob’s beloved son, is a prefiguration of Christ. The story in Genesis 41, 37–44 fosters the creation of two iconographic types: Joseph’s investiture and Joseph on the Pharaoh’s chariot. The narrative places patriarch Joseph in the court of the Pharaoh of Egypt. However, Christian visuality was created according to the iconic criteria for the representation of political power, contemporary to the configuration of both iconographic types. The aim of this paper is to study the visual mechanisms used in the iconic configuration of the iconographic types of Joseph’s investiture and Joseph on the Pharaoh’s chariot, when the monarch bestows upon Joseph the privilege of his trust. The iconographic analysis of some early and medieval examples of the artistic visuality of Joseph’s story, in Eastern and Western traditions, confirms that they refer back to late ancient and medieval Byzantine tradition. Likewise, it was detected that the resources used in the visual configuration of both iconographic types are linked to the conventionalised mechanisms of the symbolic construction of power.

Ze sztuki wysokiej pod strzechy. Temat „Czuwający Emmanuel” w XIX-wiecznym ukraińskim malarstwie ikonowym

“The Unsleeping Eye” is one of the frequent themes of Ukrainian domestic icons in the 19th century. The little Jesus is resting on the cross lying on the ground, and next to him there are the instruments of the Passion. His closed eyes indicate sleep (death?) after the crucifixion, and the arma passionis emphasize the Passion contents. A late medieval Byzantine theme with deep and complex symbolism, called in Greek άναπεσών (Anapeson) constitutes the origin of this representation. The main idea of this picture grows from the parallel of the lion – Christ, described in the fourth‑century Greek Physiologist. The article shows how the theme, which arose within Byzantine intellectual circles, in gradually changing its form, content and purpose, settled down in the art of the common people.

The Influence of Medieval Byzantine Culture on “Umayyad Mosaics”

The Influence of Medieval Byzantine Culture on “Umayyad Mosaics”

Концепт «res publica» и его рецепция в византийском праве: транслитерации

The problem of reception of the concept “res publica” is complex and multifaceted. It has been thoroughly studied in relation to the period of the Middle Ages. The task of the author is to demonstrate, that the possibilities of applying the information approach to the field of cognitive surveying to reveal the content of receptions and LatinGreek transliterations of the concept “res publica” with the help of the Expert System “Byzantine Law and Acts”. The comparisons of Greek translations and compilations with their Latin prototypes of Byzantine law prove: their compilations did not necessarily follow their prototypes in conveying the notion of “res publica”. It, as a rule, was replaced by other Greek concepts and word-combinations. For them, as well as their Latin prototypes, a certain semantic ambiguity is evident. Accordingly, the mediaeval Byzantine jurists felt the need to use the direct reception of the Latin concept “res publica”, in particular “rei publicae causa”. It served as the subject of attention and professional lawyers used this concept to interpret and explain the content of the sources of medieval Byzantine law. Noticeable discrepancies in the recording forms of the identified receptions and Greek transliterations of the concept “res publica” are probably due to individual characteristics of Medieval Byzantine lawyers and their professional qualifications. The direct borrowings of the concept “res publica causa” or its transliterations, revealed in medieval Byzantine law monuments, were purely terminological in most cases. It, if it is admissible, may be considered as a kind of cultural phenomenon.

Towards «new light» or «canceling» medieval Slavs? Notes to Eduard Mühle’ book

The review of the monograph by renowned German scholar Professor Eduard Mühle, currently — President of Viadrina University at Frankfurt (Oder), published in 2020-2023 in German, Polish, English and Czech, is based upon its edition as No 89 of Brill’s collection «Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages». As the author states, «The books is aimed, to show, on the one hand, how the "Slavs" — ever since they first appeared in 6th-century Byzantine sources — were treated as a cultural construct and as such politically instrumentalized in various contexts». Up to Prof. Mühle, the book «describes the real historical structures hidden behind the phenomenon of the "Slavs" in the Middle Ages». Beginning with a sketch of modern and contemporary ideological practices, where the concept of Slavdom was widely used for political ends, he follows with mentions of the «Slavs» in medieval Byzantine, Latin and Oriental texts against the background of the medieval Slavic «realities», challenging the relevancy of the very term «Slavs» and naming them «Slav-speaking» through the whole book. The reviewer critically analyzes the author’s approach and his monograph’s structure, which from his viewpoint in fact are turning «the new light» in which the medieval Slav history is represented, into «canceling» the Slavs as part of the European history.

Концепт «res publica» и его рецепция в византийском праве: транслитерации

The problem of reception of the concept “res publica” is complex and multifaceted. It has been thoroughly studied in relation to the period of the Middle Ages. The task of the author is to demonstrate, that the possibilities of applying the information approach in the field of cognitive surveying to reveal the content of receptions and Latin-Greek transliterations of the concept “res publica” with the help of the Expert System “Byzantine Law and Acts”. The comparisons of Greek translations and compilations with their Latin prototypes of Byzantine law prove: their compilations did not necessarily follow their prototypes in conveying the notion of “res publica”. It, as a rule, was replaced by other Greek concepts and word-combinations. For them, as well as their Latin prototypes, a certain semantic ambiguity is evident. Accordingly, the medieval Byzantine jurists felt the need to use the direct reception of the Latin concept “res publica”, in particular “rei publicae causa”. It served as the subject of attention and professional lawyers used this concept to interpret and explain the content of the sources of medieval Byzantine law. Noticeable discrepancies in the recording forms of the identified receptions and Greek transliterations of the concept “res publica” are probably due to individual characteristics of Medieval Byzantine lawyers and their professional qualifications. The direct borrowings of the concept “res publica causa” or its transliterations, revealed in medieval Byzantine law monuments, were purely terminological in most cases. It, if it is admissible, may be considered as a kind of cultural phenomenon. The article includes the parts: Introduction, The Receptions and Transliterations, Theophili Antecessoris “Paraphrasis Institutionum”, “Librorum Basilicorum LX”, Scholia in “Librorum Basilicorum LX”, Other Compilations, Conclusions, as well as too additions: Appendix 1. Direct Receptions and Transliterations of the Concept “Res Publica” and Terminology Ascending to It and Appendix 2. Distribution of Receptions and Transliterations of the Concept “Rei Publicae causa”.

Paolo Odorico, ed. Études byzantines et post-byzantines, Nouvelle série, Tome II (IX), La culture écrite des périphéries byzantines du Moyen-Âge à l’époque moderne

Paolo Odorico, ed. <i>Études byzantines et post-byzantines, Nouvelle série, Tome II (IX), La culture écrite des périphéries byzantines du Moyen-Âge à l’époque moderne</i>

Ut unum sint: Constantinople and Rome in Ruthenian Historical Narrations of the Seventeenth Century

As it is broadly known, the history of the Church began to be one of the most potent elements in Early-modern controversial literature. Ruthenian polemical writings were not an exception; both Uniate and Orthodox authors broadly used facts of Church history considering themselves as the continuators of the Kyivan Christianity. Understanding historical narrative as a logically consistent sequence of events with implicit causal relations, this article presents the analysis of the appearance and transformation of two important historical narrations: on a Great Schism and on the Unity of Florence. Both historical narratives were written with polemical purposes and are closely connected with each other. Playing with names, dates, and sources, Ruthenian early-modern intellectuals in more or less skillful ways tried to give a historical overview of the relations between Rus, Constantinople, and Rome.The medieval Byzantine and Slavic polemical traditions were not reliable anymore. A different attitude to historiographical authorities provoked the shift of the hierarchy of the quoted sources. Ruthenian tradition, represented by the hagiographical texts and Russian Chronograph, is mostly quoted by the Uniate authors, not by orthodox ones. For them it is the most important historical proof that their own historical choice — the Union with Rome — does not contradict but continues the faith of their fathers: Kyiv metropolitans of the pre-Mongolian era.

Particularities of wooden carved iconostases in selected post-Byzantine churches of Albania

This paper presents the data and study results of the post-Byzantine wood carved iconostases of different churches in Albania, which notwithstanding the circumstances of the communistic period have preserved to a considerable extent their typical characteristics. The paper aims to examine the stylistic and morphological aspects of the iconostasis in selected churches in relation to the architecture and tries to identify the relationships, sequences and reasons for such phenomena. The presence of iconostases in the Eastern Orthodox Church is based on the carried rituals and services that are expressed through ecclesiastical sculptures and other works. In these contexts, the iconostasis is the most dominating screen, related to the rood screen of English mediaeval churches, but contrary to them it is a closed and solid structure. In the iconostasis, architecture and wood carving workers collaborate on a large scale in order to create a solid and well-integrated frame. The analysis includes St Mary’s Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Dormition of Theotokos Mary, a medieval Byzantine church on Zvërnec island in the Narta Lagoon, southwest of the city of Vlora, southwestern Albania (SMZ); the Church of Apostles in Hoshtevë, Gjirokastra, with its spectacular interior completely covered with frescoes that became a cultural monument of Albania in 1948 (SA); and the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, simply known as Koimissi or St Mary, in the village of Labovë e Kryqit, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania (SM).

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Data Documentation of Cultural Heritage Availability: 1001 Church

Photogrammetry technique is a method used for documentation of historical artifacts with measurements of archaeology for many years. Cultural heritage are common spiritual values of past and future generations. Documentation and preservation of historical monuments without damaging the natural texture are essential elements for their transfer to future generations. Cultural heritage documentation, using photogrammetric methods with the help of UAVs, increased possibilities for taking photos and therefore allows the work to be more comprehensive, reliable and realistic.This work was modeled using three different software with data from a thousand and one church UAVs reflecting medieval Byzantine art over Karabağ, which was considered a sacred center in the northern province of Karaman and also during the Hittites, and is thought to have been used as a Diocesan Center in ancient times. On 3D models produced using photogrammetric techniques with UAV, mxy=±3.01 cm in Agisoft Photoscan Professional software, MZ=±3.68 cm in height error, Mxy=±2.26 cm in Pix4D mapper Pro software, MZ=±1.15 cm in height error and mxy=±11.18 cm in Visual SFM-Meshlab software, MZ=±8.11 cm in height error. it was seen to be. Agisoft Photoscan Professional and Pix4D mapper Pro have concluded that location and height errors are acceptable in terms of Large Scale Map and Map Information Production Regulation.

ВАРВАРСЬКА ПЕРИФЕРІЯ ВІЗАНТІЙСЬКОЇ ІМПЕРІЇ (ДО ПИТАННЯ ПРО ЕТНОГЕНЕЗ ТЮРКСЬКИХ НАРОДІВ РАННЬОГО СЕРЕДНЬОВІЧЧЯ)

This article describes some of barbarians in the northern periphery of the Byzantine Empire. The barbaric periphery of Byzantium in the early Middle Ages was quite diverse. World historiography is rich in research on Western European barbarians. There are still many questions about the nomadic peoples that appeared at different times on the territory of the Dnieper, the Black Sea and the Danube, and their relations with the Byzantine Empire in the early Middle Ages. Oriental scholars research the northeastern nomads separately, while the medieval Byzantine scholars focus on problems related to the inner life of the Empire. The foreign policy focus is mainly directed at the closer barbarians who established themselves in the territory of the West. However, there are many questions about cooperation between the Turkic nomads and romans during the period of their active contacts. Official diplomatic missions between two civilized worlds, thanks to the sources that describe embassies, allow us to see not only relations between empires, but also some ways of life, social structure and political organization in nomad’s states. In the context of the analysis of active contacts between the romans and the nomads, we turn to the problem of the origin of «barbarians»and their contacts with the Byzantines. The ethnogenesis of some Turkic peoples and their migration from northeast to southwest still raises more questions in the world historiography than answers. Our attempt to understand this situation is based mainly on Roman-Byzantine written evidence. A deliberately chosen analysis of the subjective Byzantine view of the origin of Turkic nomads clarifies some confusing situations regarding the researching of intercivilizational processes in Europe during the last period of the Great Migration.

Reimagining the Iconic in New Media Art: Mobile Digital Screens and Chôra as Interactive Space

With the advancement of digital technology in contemporary art, new hybrid forms of interaction emerge that invite viewers to make images present in physical space as events that claim a life of their own. In breaking away from representational and performance art theories that have dominated the critique of new media artwork since the 1980s, this article analyses an iconic vision of mobile touchscreens based on the medieval Byzantine chorographic inscription of the sacred in profane spaces. As defined in recent art historical studies on Byzantine icons, chorography ( chôra/space + chorós/movement) builds on a multisensory spatial interaction between the beholders of icons that results in feeling the presence of a divine, invisible image. In light of postmodern critique of digital images’ capacity to manipulate notions of reality, new media aesthetic theory hardly addresses this Byzantine iconic vision that is fundamental to western visual culture. Jeffrey Shaw’s installation, The Golden Calf, is discussed to offer an alternative in understanding how digital and physical spaces function together to evoke something essentially real.

“Going to the Extremes”: The Balearics and Cyprus in the Early Medieval Byzantine Insular System

ABSTRACT This contribution mainly focuses on Cyprus and the Balearics, islands located at opposite geographical extremes of the Byzantine Mediterranean, during the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. Historians have often regarded these islands as peripheral additions to the Byzantine heartland of the Aegean and the Anatolian plateau; this article argues that, in fact, archaeological and material indicators (such as ceramics, lead seals and coins), paired with the scarce textual sources, point to a certain degree of economic prosperity in the abovementioned islands during the period under scrutiny, suggesting that they continued to play an important role in the political, administrative and religious structures of the Byzantine Empire. A resilient insular economy and continuity of local production of artefacts was ensured by the persistence of demand from local secular and religious elites and regular, if infrequent, contacts with other areas of the Byzantine heartland or the Muslim Mediterranean.

Mercantile and Religious Mobility between Byzantines, Latins and Muslims, 1200-1500: On the Theory and Practice of Social Networks

This paper combines documentary evidence with concepts and tools of historical network science and social theory in order to explore phenomena of (especially) mercantile mobility and religious conversion in the late medieval Byzantine world. The intensification of commercial exchange and the multiplication of contact zones between ethnic and religious identities in the 13th to 15th centuries, both due to the growth of the activity of Italian merchant communities as well as due to the Mongol expansion across entire Asia, facilitated the change of places of residence and/or of religious confession for elite as well as non-elite members of these societies. With the help of network analytical and sociological concepts, potential underlying mechanisms such as the »social infrastructure« for these phenomena are described. In general, the last centuries of the relationship between Byzantium and the West saw the intensification of processes of individual and community-wide religious change, which equally shaped the following early modern period of Mediterranean history.

Endowment Studies – Interdisciplinary Perspectives

This article serves as an introduction to the new journalEndowment Studies(ends). Besides laying out the scope and goals of the periodical, it also charts the broader arc of historical scholarship on endowments. More specifically, the development of the research on foundations is summarized in four fields, namely Medieval Studies, Byzantine Studies, Islamic Studies and Indology. Furthermore, a general vocabulary for the core features of foundations is also proposed.

The Ten Principles of Karaite Faith in a Seventeenth-Century Hebrew Poem from Troki

The ten principles of Karaite faith were originally compiled by medieval Byzantine Karaite scholars to sum up the basics of the Karaite Jewish creed. Early modern Karaites wrote poetic interpretations on the principles. This article provides an analysis and an English translation of a seventeenth-century Hebrew poem by the Lithuanian Karaite, Yehuda ben Aharon. In this didactic poem, Yehuda ben Aharon discusses the essence of divinity and the status of the People of Israel, the heavenly origin of the Torah, and future redemption. The popularity of Karaite commentaries and poems on the principles during the early modern period shows that dogma―and how to understand it correctly―had become central for the theological considerations of Karaite scholars. The source for this attentiveness is traced to the Byzantine Karaite literature written on the principles and to the treatment of the Maimonidean principles in late medieval rabbinic literature.

МАТЕРИАЛ ДЛЯ ПИСЬМА И КНИГИ В ВИЗАНТИИ IV–IX ВВ.: ПРОИЗВОДСТВО И ТОВАР

The article is devoted to producing and trade of writing materials (papyrus, parchment, paper) and books in the early medieval Byzantine Empire in 4th-9th centuries. Special attention is paid for professional specialization in this craft-commercial field of economics. There is specified professional activity such specializations as χαρτοποιός, μeμβραινοροιος, βιβλιοκάπηλος, copyist, bookbinder and painter

Iconography of The Birth of the Virgin Mary on the Basis of a Homily of St. John Damascene

As a consequence of the fact that the New Testament mentions few episodes and very few details of the real life of the Virgin Mary, among the Eastern Christian communities several apocryphal legends, that tried to supply this hermetic silence around the birth, infancy, youth, adulthood and death of the Mother of Jesus, arose during the first centuries of Christianity. These apocryphal accounts were then taken up and interpreted catechetically as a useful devotional matter by many Church Fathers, theologians and ecclesiastical writers. The reflections of these prestigious thinkers formed a solid corpus of doctrine, from which very important Marian devotions and liturgical feasts would soon follow. A primordial milestone in this “imaginary” life of Mary is her supernatural birth, after her miraculous conception in the bosom of her old and sterile mother Anne. As a natural fruit of these heterogenous literary and theological sources, from the tenth-eleventh centuries the medieval Byzantine and European artists approached with remarkable enthusiasm the iconographic theme of the Birth of the Virgin Mary as a significant episode of her life. On this basis, in this article we propose a triple complementary objective. First of all, after outlining the essential content of the apocryphal sources, we will broadly analyze the various theological theses that we believe are deductible from the emotional reflections that St. John Damascene expresses in a homily on the subject. Secondly, we will analyze some Byzantine and European paintings on the Birth of Mary, in order to determine to what extent the apocryphal accounts and the doctrinal statements of the Damascene are reflected in the characters, situations, attitudes, accessories and scenographic elements represented in these depictions. Finally, we will state some conclusions that we believe to be plausible in relating the Damascenian texts and the pictorial works of reference.

ОБРАЗ ВАРВАРА-КОЧОВИКА У РАННЬОВІЗАНТІЙСЬКИХ ГРЕЦЬКИХ ТЕКСТАХ

The article describes the image of nomads in the writings of the early medieval Roman and Byzantine authors. It focuses on the Huns and Avars, who attacked the provinces of the empire as well as the Turks, who had established diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire in the 5th century. The Roman reception of the alien and little-known nomadic civilization has been analyzed. It is stated that the Byzantines were almost unfamiliar with the way of life, religious beliefs and exterior appearance of the eastern barbarians. That is why most of the early data was based on the legendary sources. After the diplomatic relations had been established the information flow increased sufficiently. However the attitude to the alien cultures remained hostile. This disrespect is visible in the works of almost all the early Byzantine authors. It reflects the state of public opinion which was based on the entirely different mindset and the way of life than that of the nomadic peoples. It should be noted that the barbarians themselves actively encouraged their negative image in the Roman eyes by carrying out their marauding raids on the imperial provinces, their violation of treaties, absence of loyalty etc. In conclusion it is stated that the problem of nomadic and sedentary societies’ interaction stretches back to the ancient times. The territory of the present day Ukraine for a long period of time was the place where the cultural interaction between the nomadic and sedentary peoples took place. In this vein, this problem remains very important and relevant for our understanding of the ethnic, political and cultural history of the Eastern Europe.