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Byzantine Greece: Microcosm of Empire?: Papers from the Forty-sixth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies book cover

1st Edition

Byzantine Greece: Microcosm of Empire? Papers from the Forty-sixth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies

Edited By Archibald Dunn Copyright 2023
    348 Pages 119 Color Illustrations
    by Routledge

    348 Pages 119 Color Illustrations
    by Routledge
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    This volume offers a structured presentation of the progress of research into the internal history of a part of the Byzantine world – Greece – in the centuries before the multiple changes induced or accelerated by the Fourth Crusade. Greece is a large area (several Early andMiddle Byzantine provinces), with records, archival, literary, archaeological, architectural, and art-historical, most of which are unequalled in terms of their density and range. This creates opportunities for useful synthesis, and for dialogue with those now engaged in the rewriting, or writing, of the inner history of Byzantium, from Italy to the Caucasus, who have been stimulated by, or involved in, the editing of archives and inscriptions (including sigillographic), and in the publication of monuments, excavations, and surveys (for all of which the ‘Greek space’, the elladikê khôra, is a particular, and fertile, focus of activity, as the conference showed).

    Much of the material presented here can usually only be found in specialised publication, and indeed much in Greek alone. But, properly contextualised, this material about the ‘Greek space’ deserves to be brought into the dialogues or debates at the heart of Byzantine Studies, for instance about the Late Antique ‘boom’, urban life, the ‘Dark Age’, economic change, the nature of the ‘Byzantine revival’, and of social, socio-economic, and ethnic groups. The studies here synthesise such research, enabling the ‘Greek space’ as a case study in the evolution of a significant region to the west of Constantinople, to take its place more fully as a point of reference in such dialogues or debates. Equally, it provides frameworks for archaeologists dealing with Greece from Late Antiquity onwards – and there are now many – with which to engage, and it makes available a rich source of comparative material for those studying the other regions of the Byzantine world, whether historically or archaeologically, in Southeastern Europe, Italy, or Turkey.

     

    1. Introduction
      Archibald Dunn

      2. Part 1: Late Antique Greece

    2. The Institutional Church in Early Christian Greece
      Eirini Zisimou
    3. The Early Byzantine Fortress of Velika on the Coast of Kissavos, Thessaly
      Stavroula Sdrolia and Sophia Didioumi
    4. Urban and Rural Settlement in Early Byzantine Attica (4th–7th Centuries)
      Elli Tzavella

      5. Part 2: Greece in the Transitional Period

    5. The 'Byzantine District' of Gortyn (Crete) and the End of a/the Ancient Mediterranean City
      Enrico Zanini
    6. Maritime Routes in the Aegean (7th–9th centuries): The Archaeological Evidence
      Natalia Poulou-Papadimitriou
    7. The 7th-Century Restoration of the Acheiropoietos Basilica and Its Significance for the Urban Continuity of Thessalonike during the 'Dark Age'
      Konstantinos Raptis
    8. Some Remarks on the 'Dark Age' Architecture of Hagia Sophia, Thessalonike 
      Sabine Feist

      9. Part 3: Urban and Rural Revival

    9. Bridging the Grande Brèche: Rethinking Coins, Ceramics, Corinth, and Commerce in the Centuries Following AD 500 
      G. D. R.  Sanders
    10. Byzantine Butrint vis-à-vis 'Dark-Age' Athens: A Ceramic Perspective
      Joanita Vroom
    11. The Defences of Middle Byzantium in Greece (7th–12th Centuries):The Flight to Safety in Town, Countryside, and Islands
      Nikos D. Kontogiannis and Michael Heslop
    12. The Demographic and Economic History of Byzantine Greece in the Longue Durée: The Contribution of the Pollen Data 
      Adam Izdebski
    13. Middle Byzantine Hierissos: Archaeological Research at the Entrance to Mount Athos  
      Aikaterini Tsanana

      14. Part 4: Patronage and Sacred Space

    14. Patronage of Religious Foundations in Middle Byzantine Greece (867–1204): The Evidence of Inscriptions and Donor Portraits
      Sophia Kalopissi-Verti
    15. Church-Building in the Peloponnese: Reflections of Social and Economic Trends in the Countryside in the Middle Byzantine Period
      Maria Papadaki
    16. Hermits, Monks, and Nuns on Chalke, a Small Island of the Dodecanese from Early Christian to Middle Byzantine Times
      Maria Sigala

      17. Part 5: The Bureaucrat, the Bishop, the Farmer and the Merchant

    17. Loving the Poor: Charity and Justice in Middle Byzantine Greece
      Teresa Shawcross
    18. Economic Strategies of Landowners and Peasant Farmers During the 11th and 12th Centuries in Greece
      Alan Harvey
    19. The Merchant in Middle Byzantine Greece
      Maria Gerolymatou

    Biography

    Archibald Dunn is Teaching Fellow in Byzantine Archaeology in the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK.

    Brian McLaughlin is a freelance editor, writer, and independent scholar of Byzantine history.

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