Byzantine News

New texts have been added recently to the TLG. Here is the list: 0087 Aelius HERODIANUS et Pseudo-HERODIANUS Rhet. et Gramm. (2 works) 1312 DIDYMUS Gramm. (1 work) 2006 SYNESIUS Phil. (1 work) 2602 TIMAEUS Sophista Gramm. (1 work) 2705 NICETAS DAVID Phil., Scr. Eccl. et Gramm. (11 works) 2709 Joannes MAUROPUS Poeta et Rhet. (2 works) 2718 Manuel PHILES Scr. Eccl., Scr. Rerum Nat. et Poeta (1 work) 2742 APOPHTHEGMATA Gnom. et Eccl. (1 work) 2815 JOANNES Scholasticus Theol. (1 work) 2892 MAXIMUS CONFESSOR Theol. (1 work) 3003 Alexius I COMNENUS Imperator Poeta (3 works) 3005 ANDREAS Cretensis Poeta et Scr. Eccl. (3 works) 3024 Constantinus STILBES Poeta et Rhet. (1 work) 3074 Constantinus MANASSES Poeta et Hist. (2 works) 3076 METROPHANES Scr. Eccl. et Poeta (1 work) 3086 NICEPHORUS I Theol., Scr. Eccl. et Hist. (3 works) 3092 Nicephorus BLEMMYDES Phil. et Theol. (5 works) 3099 Nicetas STETHATUS Theol. et Hagiogr. (1 work) 3141 Georgius ACROPOLITES Hist. (1 work) 3159 BARLAAM Ca...

I was born in the city of Naissus and my mother was a Thracian. I always wanted to go to wars and then make peace. My times were brutal but I tried to make friends. I thought the city of Byzantium would make a great spot for the new Rome.

A succinct but highly informative introduction into the study of middle Byzantine Church architecture by R. Ousterhout. The architecture of the middle Byzantine period reflects changes in the nature of Byzantine society starting with the Transitional Period from the 7th to 9th centuries (plague, famine, Arab invasions, Iconoclast controversy, deurbanization, a cultural break). These societal changes led from an open to a closed society, from a public to a private character of Byzantine life. Developments in the architecture profession are reflected in the terminology of the period—a change from theory-based to practice-based. Modifications in worship practices dictated a smaller-scale to the buildings to serve private devotion. The symbolic importance of the dome continued, as with the two-axis, two-focus space expressed in the Hagia Sophia, but with a dramatic reduction in scale. Click here to read more