The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies

by Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Haldon, John; Cormack, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780199252466
• ISBN10: 0199252467
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-01-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies presents discussions by leading experts on all significant aspects of this diverse and fast-growing field. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies deals with the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire, the eastern half of the Late Roman Empire, from the fourth to the fourteenth century. Its centre was the city formerly known as Byzantium, refounded as Constantinople in 324 CE, the present-day Istanbul. Under its emperors, patriarchs, and all-pervasive bureaucracy Byzantium developed a distinctive society: Greek in language, Roman in legal system, and Christian in religion. Byzantium's impact in the European Middle Ages is hard to over-estimate, as a bulwark against invaders, as a meeting-point for trade from Asia and the Mediterranean, as a guardian of the classical literary and artistic heritage, and as a creator of its own magnificent artistic style.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Jeffreys is Emeritus Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature, Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College. John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine History, Princeton University. Robin Cormack is Professor Emeritus, History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London and Honorary Professor in the History of Classical Art, University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

The Discipline

Byzantine Studies as an academic discipline

Instrumenta: tools for the study of the discipline

Primary sources

Chronology and dating

Weights and measures

Archaeology

Critical approaches to art history

Iconography

Literary criticism

Textual criticism

Lexicography and electronic textual resources

Palaeography, codicology, diplomatic

Documents: imperial chrysobulls

Documents: Athos

Documents: Venetian Crete

Epigraphy

Sigillography

Numismatics

Prosopography

Dendrochronology

Brickstamps

Topography of Constantinople

The Physical World

Landscape, Land Use and the Environment

The political geography of the Byzantine world

Geographical surveyGeoffrey Greatrex

Political-historical survey

Communications (roads, bridges, etc.)

Dionysios Stathakopoulos

Population, demography and disease

Settlement

Towns and cities

Villages

Buildings and their decoration

Building materials

Churches and monasteries

Secular and military buildings

Wallpaintings and mosaics

Production, manufacture and technology

Agriculture and agricultural technology

Fabrics and clothing

Silk production

Ceramics

Metal work

Ivory, steatite, enamel, and glass

Book production

Military technology and warfare

Shipping and seafaring

Everyday technologies

Institutions and Relationships

Hierarchies

Emperor and court

Bureaucracy and aristocracies

Clergy, monks, and laity

The State

Structures and administration

Army

Revenues and expenditure

The Church

Structures and administration

Councils

The Two Churches

Liturgy

Monasticism and monasteries

Charitable institutions

The economy

Society

Role of women

Families and kinship

Patronage and retinues

Food, wine, and feasting

Entertainment, theatre and hippodrome

Hospitals and hygiene

Bernard Stolte

Justice

legal literature

The spiritual world

Byzantine theology

Philosophies

The symbolic world

Art and text

Art and liturgy

Art and pilgrimage

Art and iconoclasm

Icons

Art and the periphery

Language, education and literacy

Language

Education

Literacy

Numeracy and science

Libraries

Literature

Rhetoric

Historiography

Theology

Hagiography

Homilies

Epistolography

Poetry and romances

Military texts

Music

The World around Byzantium

Byzantium and its neighbours

Byzantium's role in world historyLists of rulers, patriarchs, and popes

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