{"title":"Pauline Allen / Bronwen Neil. Greek and Latin letters in Late Antiquity. The Christianisation of a literary form","authors":"M. Grünbart","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0014","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"367 - 369"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46622126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This short essay presents four 11th century A.D. Byzantine lead seals, all of which are stored in the local museum of Kırşehir, in ancient Cappadocia, which is located today in southeastern part of central Turkey. The Museum of Kırşehir owns a minor collection of at least 13 Byzantine lead seals and a selection of four unpublished seals is being presented, which were sold to the museum by local antique dealers from the Turkish provinces of Kırşehir and Aksaray. All of the seals are dated to the late 10th and early or mid-11th centuries A.D. No. 1 is an overstruck seal with a parallel piece which is a very unique specimen and raises some sigillographic and prosopographic questions. The three other seals are discussed with a focus to Byzantine dignitaries and their offices during the 11th century A.D. The descriptive discussion at the beginning briefly touches upon a some geographical and historical issues related to Kırşehir and its museum. This small collection of seals provides important evidence regarding the seal owners and the administration of the themes of Cappadocia and Charsianon on the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire. The paper offers a substantive analysis of the material, with a discussion and resolution of the sigillographic inscriptions and imagery.
{"title":"Late Byzantine sigillographic evidence from Cappadocia: lead seals from Kırşehir with a unique overstruck example","authors":"E. Laflı, Jean-Claude Cheynet","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This short essay presents four 11th century A.D. Byzantine lead seals, all of which are stored in the local museum of Kırşehir, in ancient Cappadocia, which is located today in southeastern part of central Turkey. The Museum of Kırşehir owns a minor collection of at least 13 Byzantine lead seals and a selection of four unpublished seals is being presented, which were sold to the museum by local antique dealers from the Turkish provinces of Kırşehir and Aksaray. All of the seals are dated to the late 10th and early or mid-11th centuries A.D. No. 1 is an overstruck seal with a parallel piece which is a very unique specimen and raises some sigillographic and prosopographic questions. The three other seals are discussed with a focus to Byzantine dignitaries and their offices during the 11th century A.D. The descriptive discussion at the beginning briefly touches upon a some geographical and historical issues related to Kırşehir and its museum. This small collection of seals provides important evidence regarding the seal owners and the administration of the themes of Cappadocia and Charsianon on the eastern border of the Byzantine Empire. The paper offers a substantive analysis of the material, with a discussion and resolution of the sigillographic inscriptions and imagery.","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"193 - 210"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48136541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The famous middle Byzantine alchemical manuscript Marcianus graecus 299 contains annotations from the late Byzantine period, most prominently in its opening quire. This article examines a text on the very first page of the manuscript, a text written in a late Byzantine Greek script, but in a language other than Greek. A number of words in this undeciphered text can be correlated with Arabic technical vocabulary that would also have been used in other Islamicate languages such as Persian and Ottoman Turkish. Certain features such as accentuation on the final syllables of words make Turkish or Persian the most likely candidates.
{"title":"Islamicate alchemy in Greek letters on the first page of Marcianus graecus 299","authors":"A. Roberts","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0012","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The famous middle Byzantine alchemical manuscript Marcianus graecus 299 contains annotations from the late Byzantine period, most prominently in its opening quire. This article examines a text on the very first page of the manuscript, a text written in a late Byzantine Greek script, but in a language other than Greek. A number of words in this undeciphered text can be correlated with Arabic technical vocabulary that would also have been used in other Islamicate languages such as Persian and Ottoman Turkish. Certain features such as accentuation on the final syllables of words make Turkish or Persian the most likely candidates.","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"341 - 350"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45960307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Alex Metcalfe / Hervin Fernandez-Acevez / Marco Muresu (eds.). The making of medieval Sardinia","authors":"Salvatore Cosentino","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0019","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"379 - 384"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46509485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The question of the documentary value of the last statues of Late Antiquity has been much debated in many recent publications. This article contributes to this debate and addresses emperors’ statuary and its relation to the development of a Christian theology of the Late Roman emperorship. Traditionally, statues demonstrated the military, legal and economic power of Roman emperors, who were depicted as generals, judges or benefactors. Surprisingly, the Christianisation of imperial power seems to have had a limited influence upon the official iconography of emperors. The religious dimension rarely appeared on statues even though they became rarer in Late Antiquity. Whilst literary sources, especially Christian sources, increasingly mentioned emperors’ personal piety and demonstrative humility, particularly in the monumental context of Constantinople, imperial statues remained faithful to the traditional iconography of power that obliterated physical weakness and embodied autocratic power.
{"title":"Late Roman emperorship in Constantinople: embodiment and ‘unbodiment’ of Christian virtues","authors":"Sylvain Destephen","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The question of the documentary value of the last statues of Late Antiquity has been much debated in many recent publications. This article contributes to this debate and addresses emperors’ statuary and its relation to the development of a Christian theology of the Late Roman emperorship. Traditionally, statues demonstrated the military, legal and economic power of Roman emperors, who were depicted as generals, judges or benefactors. Surprisingly, the Christianisation of imperial power seems to have had a limited influence upon the official iconography of emperors. The religious dimension rarely appeared on statues even though they became rarer in Late Antiquity. Whilst literary sources, especially Christian sources, increasingly mentioned emperors’ personal piety and demonstrative humility, particularly in the monumental context of Constantinople, imperial statues remained faithful to the traditional iconography of power that obliterated physical weakness and embodied autocratic power.","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"47 - 68"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67374461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This paper evaluates the significance of emperor Heraclius Constantine III, the eldest son of Heraclius (610 -641), for Byzantium in times of political and military crisis. The first part examines how Heraclius established his family as an imperial dynasty of Byzantium between 613 and 622. The second section analyzes how the young emperor represented his father in Constantinople, while Heraclius waged war against the Persian Sasanids during the 620s. The final segment deals on the one hand with the joint rule of Heraclius and his eldest son after Byzantine victories against the Persians and, on the other hand, with the growing influence of Heraclonas. Finally, the contribution explores Heraclius Constantine’s III role as Augustus senior after his father’s death in 641. The until now often understudied emperor was thereby of essential importance for Byzantium’s stability in the first half of the 7th century.
{"title":"Heraclius Constantine III – Emperor of Byzantium (613–641)","authors":"Nikolas Hächler","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper evaluates the significance of emperor Heraclius Constantine III, the eldest son of Heraclius (610 -641), for Byzantium in times of political and military crisis. The first part examines how Heraclius established his family as an imperial dynasty of Byzantium between 613 and 622. The second section analyzes how the young emperor represented his father in Constantinople, while Heraclius waged war against the Persian Sasanids during the 620s. The final segment deals on the one hand with the joint rule of Heraclius and his eldest son after Byzantine victories against the Persians and, on the other hand, with the growing influence of Heraclonas. Finally, the contribution explores Heraclius Constantine’s III role as Augustus senior after his father’s death in 641. The until now often understudied emperor was thereby of essential importance for Byzantium’s stability in the first half of the 7th century.","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"69 - 116"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44541435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"David K. Pettegrew / William R. Karaher / Thomas W. Davis (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of early Christian archaeology","authors":"J. Spieser","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"385 - 390"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46615680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract In recent decades, historians of the Arab conquest have increasingly turned away from positivist reconstructions of the events of the Arab conquest. Through thematic analysis of conquest narratives, scholars have illustrated how the early Islamic community articulated its identity. Byzantine narratives of the Arab conquest have generally not been considered from this perspective. This paper takes the long view of the Arab conquest illustrating how centuries of Byzantine writers and chroniclers articulated and rearticulated this memory, as their identity shifted along with their political and diplomatic relationships.
{"title":"The Arab conquest in Byzantine historical memory: the long view","authors":"Scott Kennedy","doi":"10.1515/bz-2022-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/bz-2022-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In recent decades, historians of the Arab conquest have increasingly turned away from positivist reconstructions of the events of the Arab conquest. Through thematic analysis of conquest narratives, scholars have illustrated how the early Islamic community articulated its identity. Byzantine narratives of the Arab conquest have generally not been considered from this perspective. This paper takes the long view of the Arab conquest illustrating how centuries of Byzantine writers and chroniclers articulated and rearticulated this memory, as their identity shifted along with their political and diplomatic relationships.","PeriodicalId":44281,"journal":{"name":"BYZANTINISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT","volume":"115 1","pages":"117 - 142"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47436454","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}