Byzantine News

The Throne of Maximian (or Maximianus) is a throne that was made for Archbishop Maximianus of Ravenna and is now on display at the Archiepiscopal Museum, Ravenna. It is generally agreed that the throne was carved in the Greek East of the Byzantine Empire and shipped to Ravenna, but there has long been scholarly debate over whether it was made in Constantinople or Alexandria. Maximianus, Portrait, Ravenna The style of the throne is a mixture of Early Christian art and that of the First Golden Age of Byzantine art. It is made of carved ivory panels, with frames of winding vines and grapevines, on a wooden frame. The throne itself is large with a high semi-circular back and may have held a jewelled cross or Gospel book for some of the time. The ivory carvings are done in relief and the panels depict important biblical figures. The back of the throne shows scenes of the Life of Christ, the sides include scenes of the Story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis, and on the front of ...

Here is a list: 0645 JUSTINUS MARTYR Apol.   1389 HARPOCRATION Gramm.   1595 PHILODEMUS Phil.   2042 ORIGENES Theol.   2130 ARETHAS Scr. Eccl. et Philol.   2642 <ASTRAMPSYCHUS Magus> Onir.   2702 Michael PSELLUS Epist., Polyhist., Phil., Hagiogr. et Theol.   2721 Theodorus PRODROMUS Poeta et Polyhist.   2738 CHRONOGRAPHIAE ANONYMAE Chronogr.   2772 ACTA TIMOTHEI Hagiogr., Apocryph. et Acta   2933 GERMANUS I Scr. Eccl.   3010 Theodorus BALSAMON Scr. Eccl.   3024 Constantinus STILBES Poeta et Rhet.   3036 EUTHYMIUS Scr. Eccl.   3053 JOANNES II Scr. Eccl.   3054 JOANNES IV (vel V) Oxeïtes Scr. Eccl.   3059 JOANNES X CAMATERUS Scr. Eccl.   3073 Euthymius MALACES Scr. Eccl., Rhet. et Theol.   3077 MICHAEL I CERULARIUS Theol. et Scr. Eccl.   3078 MICHAEL III Epist., Theol. et Rhet.   3085 NEOPHYTUS INCL...

From the editors: This volume brings into being the field of Byzantine intellectual history. Shifting focus from the cultural, social, and economic study of Byzantium to the life and evolution of ideas in their context, it provides an authoritative history of intellectual endeavors from Late Antiquity to the fifteenth century. At its heart lie the transmission, transformation, and shifts of Hellenic, Christian, and Byzantine ideas and concepts as exemplified in diverse aspects of intellectual life, from philosophy, theology, and rhetoric to astrology, astronomy, and politics. Case studies introduce the major players in Byzantine intellectual life, and particular emphasis is placed on the reception of ancient thought and its significance for secular as well as religious modes of thinking and acting. New insights are offered regarding controversial, understudied, or promising topics of research, such as philosophy and medical thought in Byzantium, and intellectual exchanges with the...

Author: Houze, Antoine Philippe Date: 1844 Short Title: Empire Grec et Royaume d'Italie 774 a 900 Publisher: Chez P. Dumenil Publisher Location: Paris Type: Atlas Map  Source Link Author:Spruner von Merz, Karl Date:1855 Short Title:Das Byzantinische Reich bis in das XIte. Jahrhundert. Publisher:Justus Perthes Publisher Location:Gotha Type:Atlas Map  Source Link

A recipe of delicious Byzantine vegan food from a manuscript at the British Library: One of our Byzantine Greek service books, a collection of lessons for the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent, contains a very special recipe: not only is it completely vegan, it is said to have been received directly from Heaven. The short note is preserved in a lection for the first Saturday of the Great Lent which records the miraculous revelation of the new recipe as follows.  “Koliva is wheat kernels boiled soft and sweetened with honey, sesame seeds, almonds, ground walnuts, cinnamon, pomegranate seeds, raisins and anise.' When the archbishop inquired who is the provider of the new recipe , his visitor simply answered, 'I am Theodore the Martyr of Christ whom he has now sent to you to reveal this and provide new food for his people.' Read here the whole story

From the editors: A distinctive feature of Christian culture in early Islamic Syria and Palestine was a renewed interest in literature on martyrs, which represented a potential reaction among some Christian communities to the rise of Islam in the region. The adaption of this early Christian genre to the new circumstances of political domination during the early Middle Ages offers a revealing, yet until now largely unexplored, window onto how Christians responded culturally to Islamic imperialism. This bilingual edition of three martyrdoms provides a new opportunity to understand this historical phenomenon. These writings, composed at the Mar Saba monastery in the Judean Desert and attributed to famous members of that community, share a common high literary style, although each portrays Christian martyrdom at the hands of the Muslims very differently. This parallel-text edition offers the only English translations available of these important works, making it an invaluable resou...

Author: A. Beihammer The arrival of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia forms an indispensable part of modern Turkish discourse on national identity, but Western scholars, by contrast, have rarely included the Anatolian Turks in their discussions about the formation of European nations or the transformation of the Near East. The Turkish penetration of Byzantine Asia Minor is primarily conceived of as a conflict between empires, sedentary and nomadic groups, or religious and ethnic entities. This book proposes a new narrative, which begins with the waning influence of Constantinople and Cairo over large parts of Anatolia and the Byzantine-Muslim borderlands, as well as the failure of the nascent Seljuk sultanate to supplant them as a leading supra-regional force. In both Byzantine Anatolia and regions of the Muslim heartlands, local elites and regional powers came to the fore as holders of political authority and rivals in incessant power struggles. Turkish warrior groups q...