Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Byzantine Empire in fiction'

L’épigraphie byzantine est en science en construction dans le domaine de l’épigraphie médiévale. Ce travail repose sur la présentation d’un corpus de 229 inscriptions historiques comportant le nom de l’empereur byzantin, annotées et commentées, présenté par une étude globale du dossier. L’étude de la nature ainsi que de la répartition géographique et chronologique des inscriptions permet de souligner une nette domination de la capitale. En effet, la moitié du corpus est constitué des inscriptions de Constantinople, en particulier lors des périodes difficiles (VIIe-IXe siècles). La répartition chronologique est assez régulière mais avec une part assez importante des inscriptions d’époque macédonienne (867-1055). Les titulatures impériales sont à la fois stéréotypées et variées. Autour de la formule incontournable de pistos en Christos basileus autokrator, les épithètes correspondent souvent à l’idéologie impériale du moment ou du contexte, ce qui produit une assez grande variété des titres. Enfin, l’inscription est souvent incompréhensible pour des populations en majorité analphabètes. Du coup, en tant qu’objet elle est aussi un instrument idéologique qui permet de marquer le territoire de l’empreinte impériale, en particulier lors de la mise en défense d’une région, ou de la construction d’églises. En tant qu’objet présenté à la vue de tous, le texte inspire la crainte aux ennemis de l’Empire et le respect des populations locales envers leur empereur
The Byzantine epigraphy is a science under construction in the sphere of medieval epigraphy. This work is based on the presentation of a corpus of 229 historical inscriptions with the name of the Byzantine Emperor, annotated with commentary, presented by a comprehensive study of the file. The study of nature together with the geographical and chronological distribution of inscriptions allows to underline a clear domination of the capital. In fact, half of the corpus consists of Constantinople inscriptions, especially during difficult times (7th-9th centuries). The chronological distribution is fairly regular but with a sizeable part of the Macedonian inscriptions (867-1055). Imperial titulatures are both stereotypical and varied. Around the essential title pistos en Christos basileus autokrator, epithets often correspond to the imperial ideology of the moment or context, which produces a considerable variety of titles. Finally, inscription is often incomprehensible to the majority of the population, for the greater part illiterate. So, as an object, it is also an ideological instrument to mark out the territory of the imperial inprint, especially in the defense of a region, or when he building up of churches. As an object presented in plain sight, the text inflicts fear on the enemies of the Empire and generates respect of local people to their emperor

Byzantine religious manuscripts were commissioned by people from many levels of society. Several contain portraits of their commissioners, represented together with a holy figure. An analysis of these scenes, examining features such as the holy figures represented and their specific iconographic meaning, and the relation of mortal to divine, reveals many facets of Byzantine art, religion and society. This analysis indicates a major distinction between portraits representing the emperor, and those depicting all other patrons. Non-imperial portraits show deep personal devotion and piety. The manuscripts in which they occur were commissioned to honour the holy figure, and many request salvation in return. Imperial commissions, on the other hand, were not votive gifts. Their portraits stress the public, political, and occasionally religious role of the emperor as the elected of God upon earth, and head of state. These portraits are thus highly informative of several aspects of Byzantine life.

Texte remanié de: Ph. D. thesis--University of Edinburgh, 1985.
Mention parallèle de titre ou de responsabilité : Ī vasileía tou vyzantinoú autokrátora Nikīfórou A' : 802-811 m. Ch. / Paúlos E. Niavī́s. Résumé en grec. Bibliogr. p. 283-304. Index. Notice partiellement translittérée du grec (monotonique) selon la norme ISO 843 (1997).

The aim of this thesis is to gain a greater understanding of metalla, the imperially owned mining and quarrying districts of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. These extraction industries, and their products, were vital for the State to supply the army and to provide metals for coinage and marble for imperial building projects. To meet the largescale production needs of the State, the administration of these regions had to manage, supply and organise the industry. This thesis argues that the administration of metalla profoundly impacted the regional landscape and studying these landscapes can reveal the management strategies employed. To explore these issues the Faynan, a copper mining district located in southern Jordan, is used as a case study. This region has been the focus of intensive survey and presents an exceptional opportunity for studying an industrial landscape. By examining the landscape, and comparing the Faynan case study to other metalla, the specific mechanisms of management used by the administration are revealed. Some methods involved the creation of infrastructure (roads, aqueducts and administrative buildings) to facilitate production. Certain activities and resources were centralised to allow for greater control. Using GIS, it is demonstrated that the administration employed complex understanding of the ability to exert control through surveillance in its placement of structures in the landscape. It is shown that the Faynan and other metalla used multiple strategies to accomplish production. By comparing metalla from a number of regions common patterns emerge and the importance of decorative stone and metal to the imperial State is confirmed. The archaeological record reflects in general and specific ways that landscapes were managed and organised by the mining and quarrying authorities.

This thesis examines the portrayal of outsiders in Michael Psellos's Chronographia, Anna Komnene's Alexiad, and Niketas Choniates's Narrative - using sociological theories of deviancy. The twofold aim is to "treat texts seriously", localized in Jakobson's speech-event nexus of addresser, context, content, contact, code and addressee; and secondly to understand the texts as statements of the ideology of the dominant elite. Outsiders are defined (using the labelling orientation) as people successfully defined as deviants; deviant behaviour is whatever they do. The dominant elite creates cultural boundaries, and places individuals in outsider roles on the other side of those boundaries. Outsiders can be understood only in terms of who defines them as deviant; there is no material reality to deviancy. Stereotypes, which identify social categories of people by evaluative trait-characteristics, are necessary elements of human cognition; they become prejudice only when they are overgeneralized, based on too limited data, applied too widely and maintained in the face of contrary empirical evidence. The analysis of the three texts in depth allows the identification of those groups labelled as outsiders by these expositors of the dominant ideology. My conclusion is that these authors portray a picture of the Byzantine outsider, which is coherent between this limited sample group, allowing for individual variation. These authors used stereotypes to conceptualize and encode in the linguistic and lexicographical complexities of their texts the outsiders they identified in their societies. Their presentation uses stereotypes, but does not descend to prejudice.

This thesis examines Byzantine diplomacy and foreign policy in the round in the personal reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (945-959). This particular period has been singled out for investigation because Constantine had a keen personal interest in foreign affairs and two treatises from his reign, the De administrando imperio and the De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae, shed light upon the Byzantine view of the outside world and the workings of imperial bureaux charged with diplomatic affairs and the administration of military campaigns. After introducing the subject and the key sources, the thesis makes a clockwise circuit of all of the theatres in which Byzantine foreign policy was active. The first chapter looks at worldviews as documented in sources from Byzantium, Ottonian Saxony, and the Islamic Near East in order to determine how these key players saw their place in the world and systematised their relationships with each other. The second chapter discusses relations with the Islamic Near East and Transcaucasia and provides a survey of sources, historical reconstruction, and analysis of goals and processes. Chapter three examines relations with the Islamic caliphates of the central and western Mediterranean, and assigns them greater importance than generally acknowledged. Chapter four chronicles the nascent relations with Ottonian Saxony and Byzantium's re-engagement with the Transalpine Franks. Chapter five deals with the peoples of the Eurasian steppe and homes in on Byzantium's attempts to diffuse threats from this volatile world. Chapter six focuses on Italy as the region in which three strands of Byzantine foreign policy met and evaluates the empire's response to wholesale changes in power relations in the peninsula in the early years of Constantine's personal reign. The conclusion to the thesis interrogates whether Constantine's foreign policy kept the empire safe, enhanced its prestige, managed the military elites, and had an enduring legacy.

Parmi les objets utilitaires en métal vil, les luminaires constituent une partie importante des collections byzantines et du matériel archéologique trouve en contexte. En vue d'une première étude d'ensemble, nous avons choisi de traiter les quatre types de luminaires que l'on rencontre le plus fréquemment dans l'empire byzantin : les lampes à bec, les candélabres, les lampes en forme de coupe et les lustres. Il convenait aussi de présenter les accessoires associés à ces objets, à savoir les éléments de suspension, les récipients à huile, les supports de mèche, et de mentionner les combustibles employés. L'objectif principal est d'établir une typologie formelle pour chaque catégorie de luminaire étudiée. Le matériel issu de contextes archéologiques permet de localiser la production et d'illustrer sa diffusion chronologique et spatiale. La comparaison systématique de nos luminaires avec des objets équivalents en céramique et en verre, aussi bien que leur mise en rapport avec d'autres types d'objets métalliques contemporains, qu'il s'agisse d'objets utilitaires ou de dévotion, sert à les rattacher à un contexte artisanal précis. Nous procédons par la suite à l'examen des matériaux, des techniques de fabrication et de décor des luminaires en métaux cuivreux. Les analyses chimiques, l'observation des moules et des traces de procédés divers sur les objets fournissent notre point départ. Une collecte de renseignements archéologiques et textuels relatifs à l'artisanat du cuivre complète notre approche technique. Le cout de la matière et sa résistance à l'usure font de nos luminaires des objets relativement précieux que l'on peut associer à des utilisateurs aises, laïcs ou ecclésiastiques. Nous nous penchons sur les contextes de découverte, ainsi que sur les sources écrites et picturales, afin de déterminer les lieux dans lesquels ils étaient employés et de préciser la terminologie des luminaires à Byzance
Among the utilitarian objects made from non-precious metals, lighting devices constitute an important part of byzantine collections and archeological finds. We have chosen to examine the four main types of lighting devices most commonly used in the byzantine empire : lamps, lampstands, hanging bowl lamps and polikandela. We also present the different accessories associated with these objects, such as suspension chains, oil containers, wick holders, and to specify the fuel employed. Our main objective is to establish a typology for each category of lighting device. Material discovered in archeological context allows us to locate production centers and illustrate the distribution of the different types in space and time. Systematic comparison of our lighting devices with equivalent objects in clay and glass, as well as with other contemporary metal objects, whether utilitarian or devotional, helps us relate them to a specific crafts'context. We then examine the materials, fabrication and decorative techniques of the lighting devices made from copper alloys. Chemical analyses, close observation of moulds and of traces left by different techniques on the objects themselves, constitute our starting point. A survey of archeological and litterary evidence concerning the copper industry and craftsmanship completes our technical approach. Cost and resiliance turn our lighting devices into relatively precious objects, which can be associated with wealthy, lay or ecclesiastical users. We take into consideration the archeological contexts, as well as pictorial and litterary information, in order to determine where these lighting devices were used and which terms described them in Byzantine times

Doukas, historien du XVe siècle, nous présente une chronique allant de la deuxième guerre civile entre Byzantins, qui débute en 1341, jusqu'à la prise de l'île de Lesbos par les Turcs en 1462. Sa chronique devient précise et détaillée à partir du règne du sultan ottoman Bayazid Yildirim (Bajaret), 1389-1402. La chronique se poursuit en mettant en parallèle les règnes des empereurs byzantins Manuel II, Jean VIII et Constantin XI, et des sultans ottomans Mehmed (Mahomet) I, Mourad II et Mehmed II. Elle décrit le concile de Florence pour l'union des Eglises (1437-1438) et la prise de Constantinople par Mehmed II en 1453, qui met fin à l'empire byzantin. La chronique de Doukas nous est parvenue par un seul manuscrit, conservé à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris. Le titre d'Histoire Turco-byzantine lui a été donné par son premier éditeur, Bullialdus, en 1649. La présente traduction du grec au français suit le texte établi par la savant roumain Vasile Grecu
Doukas, who lived in the fifteenth century, is one of the last Byzantine historians. His “Turco-byzantine History” covers the period from 1341 to 1462. However, his chronicle becomes detailled and accurate with the reign of the Ottoman sultan Bayazid Yildirim, 1389-1402. The chronicle continues by putting in parallel the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Manuel II, John VIII and Constantine XI, and of the Ottoman sultans Mehmed I, Mourad II and Mehmed II. The chronicle goes through the Council of Florence (1437-1438), aimed at the union of the Churches, and the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453. . The Doukas chronicle was saved for posterity in a single manuscript, bearing no title and preserved at the Paris National Library. The French title “Histoire turco-byzantine” was devised by its first editor, Bullialdus, in 1649. The present French translation follows the Greek text established by the Roumanian scholar Vasile Grecu

Le sujet de la thèse concerne l'étude de la sculpture architecturale méso byzantine conservée en Epire. Au total, 235 bas-reliefs - dont 76 inédits - dates des Xe-XIIIe siècles ont été rassemblés dans un catalogue. L'histoire des lieux de provenance de chacun des reliefs répertoriés est étudiée dans la première partie de la thèse. La deuxième partie traite des matériaux, des outils et des techniques utilisés par les sculpteurs. Une analyse du répertoire ornemental des reliefs est contenue dans la troisième partie. La recherche menée dans chacune des parties de la thèse met en évidence les caractéristiques essentielles de la sculpture architecturale méso byzantine conservée en Epire. Au-delà des découvertes purement archéologiques (ateliers de sculpteurs, diffusion des motifs,. . . ), cette étude témoigne d'un développement urbain en Epire à la période méso byzantine, avant la naissance du despotat
The subject of the thesis concerns the study of the middle-byzantine architectural sculpture of Epiros. All in all, 235 reliefs - of which 76 are unpublished - from the 10th to the 13th century are gathered in a catalogue. The history of the places from which the reliefs come has been studied in the first part of the thesis. The second part deals with the stones, the tools and the carving techniques used by the sculptor. The third part is a thorough study of the reliefs' patterns. These three parts of the thesis show the main characteristics of the mesobyzantine sculpture of Epiros. Beside the archaeological discoveries (sculptors' workshops, patterns' diffusion,. . . ). This study proves the existence of an urban development in epiros in the mesobyzantine period, before the birth of the despotate

Cette thèse concerne la littérature apocalyptique byzantine jusqu'à la fin du Xe siècle. Cette tradition doit être comprise non seulement comme un genre littéraire mais aussi comme un cadre conceptuel et interprétatif de l'histoire. Le concept fondamental dans la définition d'une pensée apocalyptique c'est la notion de fin. Celle-ci ne doit pas être comprise comme la fin de l'histoire mais comme la fin d'une oppression subie par le peuple de Dieu. Les traditions bibliques et post-bibliques hébrai͏̈que et syriaque utilisent des concepts pour exprimer l'idée de proximité de la fin. Pour sa part, la fin de l'histoire est censée arriver dans un avenir souvent éloigné. Apocalyptique et eschatologie manifestent donc deux approches différentes au fait historique. Cette thèse retrace l'évolution de ces concepts depuis les temps bibliques jusqu'à l'époque méso-byzantine en passant par les traditions patristique grecque, juive de l'antiquité tardive, syriaque et zoroastrienne.

This thesis investigates the relationship between Christianity and urban monumental space in the late antique Levant. Through the analysis of both textual and archaeological evidence it seeks to clarify both the motives and the stages of the process of Christian takeover of the urban space of Levantine cities from the 4th to the 7th century AD. In doing so Christians were in essence both projecting their growth as the predominant religion and, at the same time, creating an entirely new monumental landscape. The case studies are presented in three separate groups, selected on the basis of the principal strategy that was chosen in the process of Christianisation of urban space. The first section analyses the cases of Gerasa, Jerusalem, Heliopolis, and Petra to illustrate the first of these strategies: the main method for occupying the symbolic space of the city was the construction of a contrast between the surviving ruins of the earlier, Hellenic, temples and the new Christian churches. The second group of case studies includes Scythopolis, Caesarea Maritima, Gaza, and to a certain extent Heliopolis. This section deals with those cities where the main strategy was the physical demolition of all or at least the most pre-eminent Hellenic buildings and their direct replacement with a new, and often grand, church. The third group, and the last, consists of the cities of Bostra, Gadara, Apamea, where rather than having to engage with a major Hellenic monument the main competitor was the secular state whether local or imperial. This is found to have resulted in a search for integration into the landscape rather than active competition.

The reign of Basil II (976-1025)is widely accepted as the high point of medieval Byzantium. When the emperor died, imperial frontiers were at their most far-flung since the seventh century. Yet despite the territorial significance of Byzantium in this period, there is no comprehensive modern history of the reign. This thesis develops two important foundation stones for a new narrative history of Basil II: a better understanding of the relevant medieval historiography, and an analysis of the economic and administrative structures which underpinned contemporary political society. The first three chapters analyse the main Greek narrative account of the reign composed by John Skylitzes at the end of the eleventh century. The first chapter is a detailed textual study. The second chapter explores the literary, social and political contexts behind Skylitzes' text. The third chapter compares Skylitzes' coverage of Basil's reign with the rest of the medieval historical record, and identifies a hitherto unacknowledged source in the Greek tradition. Read together, these chapters demonstrate how the demands of history writing in the later eleventh century conditioned Skylitzes' narrative. In order to gain a more contemporary view of the reign, chapters four to six examine the economy and administration of the eastern half of the Byzantine empire during the tenth and eleventh centuries. These chapters argue that from the middle of the tenth century onwards, the administration of the eastern half of the empire was predicated on an imperial desire to exploit increasing regional economic prosperity. However, successive emperors, most notably Basil II himself, recognised the substantial practical constraints on the penetration of imperial authority in the locality. As a result the administration of the Byzantine east was characterised by considerable flexibility, and was able to adapt with surprising ease to local conditions.

Despite ruling over arguably the most powerful Christian nation in the period, in a time when European and middle-eastern history entered a new phase of interaction due to the Crusades, John's reign has received little scholarly attention. The only major monograph is Chalandon's Les Comnènes from 1912, since which a number of new sources have come to light, together with numerous studies on his contemporaries. Despite the impression that sources are lacking for his reign, in fact there are over 50,000 words of court letters and poetry that allow us to take the political pulse of the Komnenian court. When incorporated with the extra information found in Syriac, Arabic, Russian, Hungarian and many other texts, archaeological remains, sigillographic and numismatic evidence, John's reign is in fact very well covered, and ripe for analysis. Between fieldwork in Turkey, Serbia and Kosovo and translations of these previously unused texts, this thesis contains new material on top of over a century of updated methodologies and research since Chalandon. As such, this thesis will reevaluate assumptions concerning John and his reign, including rewriting the narrative itself, which has previously been distorted due to the agendas of the few sources used. Through the reconstruction of this narrative John's empire can be reexamined, and how it operated in the changed world of the twelfth century determined. The empire found itself in a more multi-polar power dynamic, and tackled this by operating more as an empire than it had as a larger polity as in the previous century: incorporating other peoples as clients and emphasing the rhetoric of imperial piety and legitimacy of the Roman empire. Equally, all of John's actions on the frontiers were fuel for the political theatre that was Constantinople, and this dynamic shaped his actions and resulted in the empire that Manuel inherited.

The purpose of this thesis is to further our understanding of the period between the death of Basil II in 1025 and the accession of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081. Modern scholarship has often portrayed these 56 years as an important, transformative period, viewing the empire as standing at the height of its power at its beginning, only to be brought to the brink of collapse by civil wars and foreign invasions following the battle of Manzikert in 1071. Based on three unique and underexploited sources of evidence, namely the letters of Michael Psellos, the judicial handbook commonly known as the Peira and the so-called Consilia et Narrationes of Kekaumenos, it argues that the Byzantine state to a large extent relied on private networks to carry out public administration throughout the empire. Public and private power were thus intimately intertwined and by conveying information, orders and requests, but also by reproducing and enforcing norms of acceptable political behaviour, these networks served to compensate to some extent for the institutional shortcomings of the premodern state. It also challenges the idea that the political dynamic of the eleventh century was centred around the power struggles of 'great families' or clans that effectively functioned as political parties, as well as the idea that the emperors and their officials were apathetic about governing the provinces beyond what was necessary to pacify and extract resources from them. Taken together, the evidence examined consequently appears to suggest that, by the standards of the pre-modern world, the Byzantine empire had a reasonably well-functioning state and a fairly coherent society during the period in question, suggesting that the focus of the scholarly debate on the eleventh-century Byzantine collapse should, to some extent, be shifted from internal to external factors.

The subject for this dissertation is the study of Byzantine monetary affairs from the accesion of Leo III (717) up to the beginning of Alexius I's reign (1081). The work is divided into the following main chapters: I. Gold Coinage: Taking into account documentary and fragmentary numismatic evidence new chronologies and a few new attributions are attempted. A thorough survey of the recorded types and a detailed discussion of the relevant literature is included. References to iconography, monetary reforms and minting process are made. II.Silver Coinage: A similar study, including a separate section on metrology and valuation. III.Copper Coinage: The focus is concentrated in the coinages of Michael II, Theophilus and the anonymous folles of Class A. With the aid of detailed stylistic analyses, the study of dies and then the geographical distribution of the sylistic groups, the complex problem of provincial mints is discussed. The study is supplemented by four Appendices. Appendices I-III include a descriptive catalogue of 378 copper coins of Michael II and Theophilus upon which the stylistic analysis is based. Appendix IV contains catalogues of hoards and stray finds of Anonymous folles of Cl.A from Greece. Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Asia Minor. IV. Monetary Circulation. A detailed survey of the attested evidence from all the areas under Byzantine dominion is included. On the basis of hoards and stray-finds the trends of the circulation in Greece are described. This study is supplemented by Appendix V, where a corpus of 122 coin hoards is presented.

In 533, Justinian I ordered the conquest of the former Roman provinces of Africa, which had been lost to the Vandals a century earlier. The 'reconquest' has been regarded, by contemporaries and modern scholars alike, as one of the defining successes of the reign. However, despite the evident achievements of the campaign, Roman victory over the Vandals marked little more than the beginning of the Eastern Roman Empire's attempt to consolidate its position in Africa. The unanticipated threat posed by hostilities from the Berber tribes would continue until 548. Roman-Berber relations, unlike other aspects of Justinian's foreign relations, have received comparatively little attention, and this study aims to reassess the establishment of Roman authority in Africa and the Eastern Roman Empire's response to the Berber threat. In particular, it considers whether this response should be seen as a series of ad hoc reactions to immediate circumstances, or whether it is possible to identify a coherent Roman policy vis-à-vis the Berbers. The major conclusions of this study fall in two areas. First, it argues that Roman objectives in Africa were far more limited than has generally been supposed, with the empire's territorial ambitions not extending beyond key coastal positions which offered strategic and commercial advantages, and from which the empire could project its limited authority into the interior. Second, this study concludes that the Eastern Roman Empire's actions with respect to the Berber tribes lacked coherence. Attempts to implement a system of client rulers were unsuccessful, partly as a result of the competition between individual Berber leaders as they sought to establish independent polities within the frontiers of the former Roman Empire; and partly as a result of an increasing lack of resources, as well as the instability caused by constantly changing leadership within the African civil and military administrations, which prevented the development of coherent long term strategies for addressing the Berber threat.

The present thesis analyzes the Byzantine mosaic pavements of Phoenicia and Northern Palcatine from a socio-economic perspective, primarily by examining the laying of pavements including technical aspects and bedding, the quality of decoration, the distribution of pavements in time and space, as well as inscriptions which provide names of donors and artists as well as dates. The approach adopted represents a novel alternative and complement to typical interpretations of mosaic floor decoration which overwhelmingly focus on the development and diffusion of style, or provide an exegesis of figurative iconography. Key aspects discussed include the extent to which chronological patterns of mosaic floor laying may be used to gauge economic conditions; the factors which determined the quality and distribution of technique and decoration in different building types; as well as the social mechanisms of patronage. Close scrutiny of the regional mosaic Corpus (which includes the total number of pavements) suggests that mosaic pavements provide a reasonable indication of economic conditions, especially in association with other media (coins, pottery, inscriptions). Together these media paint a historical picture of the economy of the period. Having graded according to four Levels of Complexity all the geometric designs in the Corpus after their codification following the rules devised by the Association Internationale pour l'Etude de la Mosaïque Antique (AIEMA), and with the support of the written ancient sources, it is demonstrated that quality and distribution of technique and style were governed by a combination of factors, notably function, financial expenditure, social use and various socio-economic categories of patrons, liturgy and liturgical level of participation. By building on the methodologies followed and the conclusions reached by other mosaic scholars, this innovative approach has attempted to reintroduce the human element into a discipline focused since the late 1960s on codification and descriptive precision. Revealing the hidden costs underlying the laying of mosaic pavements has presented a new insight into mosaic pavements as tri-dimensional products of team work. Likewise, stripping the literary language of dedicatory formulas down to essential information has challenged the misinterpreting of epigraphic evidence regarding donations and donors. In-depth analysis of Christian mosaic inscriptions has strengthened the pattern of changes plotted by historians of the Early Byzantine period and suggested that Christian patronage of mosaic art is to be equated with the local initiatives of the Church, ecclesiatics and wealthy laymen (or women) as private donors, and more rarely entire village communities. By contrast, scrutiny of the Jewish and Samaritan mosaic inscriptions has highlighted the fact that benefaction emanated from rich and poor alike, and was far more family and community oriented.

Cette recherche se propose d’étudier l’évolution des relations entre Constantinople et les provinces micrasiatiques de l’Empire entre le IXe et le XIe siècle, en ce qui concerne les formes concrètes de l’administration et de l’exploitation des territoires provinciaux, ainsi que la perception et la représentation culturelle de ce rapport. Nous sommes concentré en particulier sur le rôle politique et social de l’aristocratie. Les représentants de ce groupe social étaient en effet les principaux interlocuteurs politiques du pouvoir impérial ; pendant toute la période considérée, ils remplirent une importante fonction de médiation entre le gouvernement central et la société provinciale, par l’exercice des fonctions publiques et par l’action de réseaux, parfois très étendus, de relations personnelles.Après avoir situé notre travail dans le contexte de la discussion historiographique et avoir reconstruit d’abord la représentation traditionnelle des provinces dans la littérature byzantine, ensuite la structure militaire, administrative et fiscale de l’administration provinciale, nous chercherons à définir les enjeux réels liés au contrôle des territoires orientaux à travers l’étude de trois macro-régions. À chaque fois nous nous efforcerons de déceler les intérêts économiques et stratégiques des institutions centrales, leurs rapports mutuels et leur interaction avec la société locale.Enfin, nous chercherons à décrire l’évolution du profil social de l’aristocratie méso-byzantine, de son idéologie et son attitude vis-à-vis de l’idéal impérial. Une telle analyse peut aider à mieux comprendre la crise qui bouleversa l’Empire à la veille de l’avènement d’Alexis Comnène
This research aims to study the development of relations between Constantinople and the provinces of Asia Minor belonging to the Byzantine the Empire between the ninth and eleventh centuries. This study includes non only a research on the concrete ways to administer and exploit the provincial jurisdictions, but also the perception and cultural representation of the relation between center and periphery. We focused in particular on the political and social role of the aristocracy. The members of this social group were the main political agents of the imperial power; throughout the period, they filled an important mediating role between the central government and the provincial society, by the public functions they exercised and by the extensive and active networks of their personal relationships.After situating our work in the historiography, we dwell on the traditional representation of the provinces in the Byzantine literature, we also describe the military, administrative and fiscal structures of the provincial administration, seeking to identify the real issues related to the control of these Eastern territories, through the study of three macro-regions. For each of them, we try to identify the economic and strategic interests of the central institutions, their mutual relations and their interaction with the provincial society, particularly with the aristocracy.In the last part of this thesis, we try to describe the evolution of the meso-Byzantine aristocracy social profile, its ideology and its attitude vis-à-vis the imperial ideal. Such an analysis can help to understand the political and structural crisis that shook the Empire on the eve of Alexis Comnenus reign

Roman emperors came to power through a hybrid dynastic/elective selection system that was never formally codified. This lack of codification has caused problems for modern scholars looking to identify and categorize those who were involved in selecting the next Roman emperor. This thesis believes that these problems exist because scholars are not distinguishing the names of key ancient institutions from the underlying types of power which backed their capability for action. This thesis seeks to solve this problem by creating a categorization system for imperial accessions based around a basic unit called the “political interest.” At its core, a political interest is a combination of the name of the individual or group as listed in the primary sources, the different types of power they possessed, and the level of decision-making authority they wielded during an imperial selection. Using this system, this thesis creates a database of Late Roman emperors with information on when they came to power, the various stages of their accessions, what political interests supported them, and where these interests were located. This thesis then analyzes the political and geographic trends from the database and supplies provisional explanations as to why changes in the Late Roman accession process occurred.

This thesis compares the memorial discourse on Japanese imperialism in Korea (1910-1945) in postcolonial South Korean and Japanese short fiction. It focuses on texts written after the Korean War (1950-1953) to 1972. The thesis highlights the production of a collective memory in both national literatures on the historical events as well as the respective ethno-national Self and Other in the crucial years before and after the Japan-Republic of Korea normalisation treaty in 1965. I rely on concepts coined both within and outside of East Asia in the fields of postcolonial, collective memory and gender studies and make them productive for the East Asian case. In detail, I focus on two social groups that hold key roles for the way colonial memorial narratives came into being after the Korean War but that have so far largely escaped scholarly scrutiny with regard to the momentum of coloniality: Japanese returnees (hikiagesha) and the South Korean post-war generation (chonhu sedae) that ascended the literary stage from the mid-1950s onwards. I investigate the recurring themes of 1) gendered allegories towards the ethno-nation, 2) nostalgia in the representation of colonial Korea and 3) language in relation to the fragility of (post)colonial discourse and the postcolonial South Korean doctrine of Korean monolingualism. Based on previous research that argues that East Asia is a historically grown literary landscape with overlaps and shared points of experience, I maintain that the distinctly East Asian genre of short fiction (Japanese 'tanpen shōsetsu', Korean 'tanp'yŏn sosŏl') provides a formal framework for a comparative study of East Asian literature. In my thesis, I demonstrate how literature functions as a site where repressed memories can resurface and contradictions of (post)colonial discourse are negotiated. Secondly, I highlight commonalities between Japanese and South Korean writers in their memory of the colonial period, thereby underscoring the deep historical connections between the cultural production of both countries. Finally, I argue that colonial-period discourses regain currency in postcolonial East Asia. These discursive remnants shape the two ethno-nations, which had to re-invent themselves as modern nation states within the Cold War world order following the colonial-period narrative of naisen ittai (Japan and Korea as One).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2009.
Title from first page of PDF file (viewed September 15, 2009). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-223).

Cherson, l'une des plus grandes villes au nord de la mer Noire au Moyen Âge, fut presque constamment sous domination byzantine jusqu'au XIIe siècle/ Il se trouve qu'une découverte exceptionnelle de sceaux permet d'éclairer l'administration interne de cet établissement périphérique. Des institutions qu'on croyait révolues depuis la fin de l'Antiquité, tel le père de la ville, l'ekdikos, le prôteuôn, se sont maintenues. Grâce aux sceaux, il est possible de comprendre la politique impériale de nomination des fonctionnaires locaux. Les autorités de Constantinople cherchent à maintenir leur emprise tout en devant accepter de laisser une certaine autonomie à la population et à ses notables. Ces derniers entrent souvent au service de l'Empire et furent parfois envoyés loin de leur pays d'origine. Est ainsi offert — outre un catalogue des plombs, lus avec une meilleure sécurité et une datation améliorée — un tableau assez complet des structures administratives de Cherson durant le Moyen Âge byzantin
One of the largest cities in the northern Black Sea region during the Middle Ages, Cherson was almost continually under Byzantin control until the twelfth century. An extraordinary discovery of seals has made it possible to explain the internal workings of the local administration of this peripherical city. Such institutions as the Father of the city, the Ekdikos, the Proteuon, which were thought to have ceased to exist of the end of Antiquity, have been shown to have survived. With the help of the seals, it is possible to understand imperial policy in the nomination of local officials. The authorities in Constantinople sought to maintain their hold whilst allowing a certain autonomy to the population and its elite. These latter often entered imperial service and were sometimes sent far away from their native lands. We thus obtain — in addition to a catalogue of seals, read and dated with greater precision then before — a remarkably complete overview of the administration structures of Byzantine Cherson

Le travail s'inscrit dans une approche interdisciplinaire, englobant à la fois une longue durée et une aire géopolitique large. Les sources primaires en sont principalement les images. Partant du concept du don selon Mauss, on note cependant une inversion fondamentale intervenue avec le christianisme. Il s'agit de montrer certains mécanismes fondamentaux de la société médiévale et du modèle chrétien construit et reconstruit dans la tradition byzantine à travers l'analyse des deux acteurs principaux de la société médiévale : Dieu et le souverain. Les deux parties de la thèse sont organisées autour de ces acteurs : la première concerne le don divin de la couronne, alors que la seconde traite du don du livre et du modèle réduit de l'église par le souverain. Ces "échanges" sont remis dans leur contexte eschatologique et sotériologique. Deux niveaux de lecture sont proposés : l'un concerne le phénomène et la manifestation du don, l'autre isole le geste du don dans l'image
This is an interdisciplinary work that covers a long chronological period and a large geopolitical area. It main source is based on images. The concept of the dissertation follows Mauss's gift but points out a fundamental inversion, which came with christianity. The goal is to explain some of the fundamental mechanisms in the medieval society and in the Christian's model constructed and reconstructed in the Byzantine tradition by analysing the two principal actors in medieval society : God and the Sovereign. The two parts of the dissertation are organised around these two actors : the first concerns the crown as a gift of God, and the second is about the gift of the book and the small model of the church by the sovereign. These "exchanges" are placed in their eschatological and soteriological context. Two levels of reading are proposed : one joints the phenomenon and the manifestation of the gift, the other one isolates the gesture of gift in the picture

Co-tutelle de thèse Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne / Université Libre de Bruxelles, sous la direction conjointe de Michel KAPLAN (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne) et de Jean-Marie SANSTERRE (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

L’épiscopat constitue un fondement essentiel mais méconnu de l’Église mésobyzantine. Malgré la relative rareté des sources, il est possible d’en retracer l’histoire et les grandes évolutions :une part importante de l’hagiographie de l’iconoclasme et post-iconoclaste concerne en effet métropolites et évêques, témoignant du lien fort existant entre ceux-ci et le peuple des cités dont ils ont la charge, particulièrement quand ils sont considérés saints par la population. De nombreuses sources épistolaires, ecclésiastiques et sigillographiques, émanant des évêques eux-mêmes, permettent d’approcher les réalités du corps épiscopal et celles de la société provinciale qu’il représente auprès des autorités centrales. L’évêque apparaît également comme le relais des volontés impériale et patriarcale dans les provinces de l’Empire. Dans un contexte de compétition de pouvoir avec les autorités locales, l’évêque tente ainsi d’imposer le sien propre, dans ses aspects spatiaux, sociaux, religieux et symboliques.

L’approche collective et les approches individuelles de l’épiscopat doivent permettre de comprendre les réalités sociales d’un Empire de plus en plus centré sur sa capitale et dont sont progressivement détachées, du moins dans les sources, les périphéries. Une histoire décentrée de l’Empire byzantin passe dès lors par des études régionales mais aussi par des études consacrées à des groupes sociaux enracinés dans tout l’Empire, surtout lorsque, comme les évêques, ils revendiquent la spécificité de leur région et leur attachement à une société provinciale qui constitue le socle de l’Empire.

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The episcopate is an essential structure of the middle-Byzantine Church ;however, it remains little known. Although sources are limited, its history and evolution can still be reconstructed, as a large portion of the iconoclastic and post-iconoclastic hagiography deals with metropolitans and bishops. The sources reveal the strong connection between bishops and the inhabitants of the cities under their responsibility, especially when the population considers them as saints. Numerous epistolary, ecclesiastic and sigillographic documents issued by bishops themselves partially unveil the realities of the episcopal group and the provincial society that bishops represent to the central authorities. The bishop also serves as relay of both imperial and patriarchal wills to the provinces of the Empire. Competing with local authorities, the bishop thus tries to impose his own influence in its spatial, social, religious and symbolic dimensions.

Both collective and individual approaches of the episcopate make the social realities of the Empire more understandable, as it becomes more and more focused on its capital city while its peripheries gradually move away, which documentation seems to imply. Regional studies, but also studies focused on social groups established across the whole Empire, are the fundamentals of a decentred history of the Byzantine Empire. This is especially true since social groups such as bishops claim the specificity of their regions and their link to a provincial society that represents the cornerstone of the Empire.
Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse constitue une étude des motifs antiques dans la peinture murale byzantine des XIIIe et XIVe siècles, l'époque de la dynastie des Paléologues (1261-1453). Le corpus des monuments couvre tout le territoire de l'Empire byzantin, mais aussi son aire d'influence culturelle balkanique. La présence de l'héritage antique, au fondement de la culture byzantine, a déjà donné lieu à une abondante historiographie; toutefois, un essai de systématisation manquait pour la période paléologue et ce sujet n'a pas été appréhendé dans une perspective globale. Ce travail est centré sur le problème de la présence de l'antique dans la peinture, de sa forme et de sa signification. L'accent est mis sur la recherche du sens et des raisons du remploi des modèles antiques pour déterminer ce qui a poussé les artistes à les utiliser. L'étude montre finalement que les motifs antiques sont repris surtout à cause de leur potentiel descriptif. Dans le cadre d'une utilisation savante, ils sont porteurs d'une valeur artistique nouvelle et interviennent dans l'image à l'instar des citations qui peuvent émailler un texte. La présence de l'antique est envisagée dans le contexte général de l'art paléologue et mise en relation avec le développement des tendances narratives et l'enrichissement de l'iconographie traditionnelle. Ces deux phénomènes étroitement liés sont le signe d'un nouvel esprit qui influence l'art dans le sens du renouveau et d'une forme d'humanisme chrétien.

The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to contribute to the investigation of the regional organization of the system of settlements in the regions of the ‘Eastern Ro-man Empire’ (ERE) during the Early Byzantine period (EBP). By ‘EBP’ we mean the historical period comprising from the 4th to the end of the 6th century AD. By ‘regional organization’ we mean the administrative system of rule of the ERE with its five hierarchical levels of organization: a) the Empire; b) its division into admin-istrative regions (dioceses); c) the division of these into smaller regional unities (provinces); d) cities (polis), and e) market towns – villages (komes – choria) within each province. This system includes 3,048 units of analysis, settlements belonging to all hierarchical levels, and it yields their distinguishing features, through geographic - spatial and historical -cultural criteria. The dissertation’s object of study is the regional organization of settlements of the EBP, with emphasis on the 6th century. Its goal was the cartographic representation of the regions of the ERE and creation of maps that are defined by the data of politi-cal geography and described by the data of physical and cultural geography. Through the creation of historical sections in the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries, diachronic regional transformations in the EBP were examined. A further goal was to create a database of cultural and geographic information concerning the entirety of settle-ments, in which are recorded the period of founding, the diachronic presence of each, with historical alterations of its name, including also its modern name and the state to which it belongs today. The dissertation conveys the totality of regional sites in the ERE, contributes to making the regional organization of settlements in the EBP better known, and enriches the diachronic study of both the settlements and culture of the Eastern Mediterranean. The dissertation is composed of three parts: Part I. Introduction; Part II: The regional structure of the Empire; Part III: Conclusions. Part I: Chapter 1 offers a scholarly overview and defines the goals, objects of study, and purpose (A.1), contents (A.2), primary sources (A.3) and methodology (Α.4), with a description of the techniques of cartography, map-making (atlas-making) and table-making. Part I also includes the historical framework of the EBP (Chapter 2), with its main socio-economic and political parameters. Chapter 3 concerns the geo-morphology and organization of the Empire (administrative boundaries, production activities and spatial administrative hierarchy, both political and ecclesiastical). Part II: Chapter 4 deals with the regional structure of the Empire and is allocated to a study of the organization of the 64 provinces in each of the six dioceses. The level of internal description of each diocese and province refers to variables that concern administrative division, geomorphology, and settlements (three levels: capitals, cit-ies, and market towns – villages). Two categories of variables were created: histori-cal-cultural data, and geographic-spatial data. The total of 3,048 settlements and the recording of variables along diachronic and synchronic axes, aided by the computer software SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), allowed observations of a statistical nature as well as structural correlations between and among variables used for analysis. The data are complemented cartographically by 90 maps, done on the basis of the road network (3 variables: inter-regional, main, secondary) and their individual geomorphology. Part III: Chapter 5 describes the results of the analysis of the regional organization of the six dioceses, while Chapter 6 presents the results for the overall picture of the Empire (6.1), followed by the results for the articulation of the road network (6.2). These sub-sections are followed by the network of settlements (6.3), with conclud-ing observations of a statistical nature concerning the regional organization of set-tlements and the static/dynamic nature of the settlement system. The structure of the network of settlements is expressed through an attempt at modeling. In addition, basic statistical correlations and cross-tabulations concerning the hierarchy of set-tlements and their various parameters (period of founding, morphology of terrain, road network, transportation / communication features) are listed. The conclusions of this doctoral dissertation can be summarised as follows: During the Early Byzantine Period the Eastern Roman Empire, with its six large administra-tive dioceses and 64 provinces, occupied the regions around the Eastern Mediterra-nean, joining districts from three continents. The geomorphology and the landscapes of the region are varied and complex. Much of the land is mountainous though there are a few very important plains. There are eight types of vegetation varying from desert to beech forest. Olive cultivation accounted for an important percentage of the cultivatable land at that time.The primary sector was developed and there was self-sufficiency, which depended on cooperation between individual farmers as to what was grown. The secondary sector was also developed: there were government owned factories in many provin-cial capitals, as well as private artisan. There was also government owned mines and quarries for the excavation and the supply of raw materials.The network of settlements: their historical and cultural characteristics: 12,5% of the 3,048 settlements were founded in the Archaic period, 7.3% in the Classical, 17,8% in the Hellenistic, 42% in the Roman and 20,4% in the Early Byzantine pe-riod. Cross correlation between the number of settlements and their dates of founda-tion demonstrates that a much larger number of settlements arose after the Hellenis-tic period than were constructed before this period. It also shows that the Early Byz-antine provincial capitals were largely founded during the Hellenistic period. In ad-dition it shows that more than the 50% of the cities were founded in the Hellenistic and Roman period, while only about 12% were founded during the EBP. With re-gard to smaller settlements, we can observe that roughly 50% were founded in the Roman period, while only 25% were set up during the EBP. The fact that more than 80% of the total settlements in the Roman and EBP were minor settlements suggests a tendency towards agrarization of the society.The geographical - spatial characteristics and the morphology of the land: We ob-serve that 41% of the settlements were located between 0 – 300m, 12,5% were lo-cated between 300 – 600m and 43% were found higher in the mountains. From the cross-correlation of the timescale of the settlement with the geomorphology we see that 56% of the capitals and 50% of the cities are located in flat regions, while 47% of minor settlements are located in mountainous regions. 72% of settlements are close to water. 34% of the settlements are located on transregional road axes, 9% of these on main and the 14% on secondary roads, while 43% are not connected in this way. 14% of the settlements represent nodal points on the road system, 11% are ports, while nodes and ports constitute the 2%. The structure of the network of set-tlements ,using the capital city Constantinople as a point of reference, corresponds on the first level to a radial spatial model, the diffusion of which, extends as a spatial web into the three continents. On the second level there are individual linear spatial models that follow the seashores of the Mediterranean and the Euxeinos Pontos and follow passages to the hinterland, frequently through river valleys. The network of settlements and the road network are of course, closely linked.A substantial density of settlements, founded in the EBP, is found in Pontike Dioe-ceses, in the regions near Constantinople, as well as in the Anatolike Dioeceses, in the regions, that are related with the new religion, as the Palestine. There is a me-dium sized concentration of settlements in the Thrakike, Asiane and Aigyptiake Dioeceses, while there is a small concentration in the Dioeceses of Illyrikon. In gen-eral there is a large concentration of settlements in Greece; in the plateau of Asia Minor; in the southern parts of Syria and Palestine, (mainly in the coastal plateaus between Tyre and Gaza and following the banks of the Nile).In the Eastern Mediterranean the foundation of settlements began in the Archaic period and continued in the Classical period with the city – state as its main model. Slowly, during Hellenistic period minor size settlements began to dominate. In the Roman and Early Byzantine period, 80% of the new foundations were minor size settlements. Of the five historical periods, the foundation of settlements was at its most intense during the Roman period. The EBP continued this trend, though the development of new settlements was only half that which had been carried out under the Roman rule. The amount of flat land was very limited, yet the spread of settle-ments in flat and mountainous lands was almost the same. In the Roman and EBP, the higher percentage of settlements was founded in mountainous regions and these settlements were, in the beginning, small.The administrative structure had a pyramid-like form with the emperor at the top and a tree-like structure down the whole length of the hierarchy. The administrative power predominated over the military and there was a strengthened bureaucracy and a state centralism. The network was able to function because it was supported by two connected infrastructures: The first was concerned with the organized use of human resources: the bureaucracy: the administrators of the regional political power, whose main job was the collection of taxes and resources, and the control and the management of the means of production. The second was the physical infrastructure which enabled the trade, manufacture and transport generated by the administrators to be carried out, as well as facilitating the exchange of ideas, to and from the capital city. The network of roads ensured good communications and thus enabled this effi-cient system of central control to be implemented throughout the empire. The hier-archical structure at all organizational levels constitutes one from the distinctive features of the early Byzantine mode of production. This structure runs through the spatial dimension of the regional organization, that was cartographically surveyed on three levels: 1. On the land-planning level, which deals with the whole Eastern Roman Empire. 2. On the regional level, which was concerned with the Dioeceses. 3. On the provincial level, which deals with the Prov-inces. 3,048 settlements were recorded, located, categorized and organised in a data-base, a number that represents the total number of settlements known from archaeo-logical studies to have been active during the period being studied.From the above statements it can be seen that in the Early Byzantine period the Eastern Roman Empire was wealthy in the sense that it was productive, that there was a growing network of roads and dense pattern of settlements. The fact that many small settlements were founded at this time shows that not only was there a trend towards agrarization, but also suggests that the role of the cities was changing in those places where the number of small settlements increased within the same re-gion. The investigation of the regional organisation in the EBP shows that both the settle-ments at all levels, and the infrastructures of the Eastern Roman Empire were in good shape. It presents a picture of an empire, where the number the of rural and urban settlements is increasing while being organized in a hierarchical structure throughout the region. The thesis has made an effort to create a holistic picture of the geographical and administrative form of the Eastern Roman Empire, which can easily be analyzed in smaller spatial parts and recomposed in bigger, showing on each level the cultural characteristics of the settlements network, through the loca-tion, mapping and categorisation of the network. The present research was designed to contribute to the overall study of the regional landscapes of the Eastern Roman Empire and it contributes by analyzing regional organization of settlements in the Early Byzantine period. In this way it enriches the diachronic study of settlements of the Eastern Mediterranean and her culture with quantitative and qualitative elements.

Anastasius' long rule at the turn of the sixth century has tended to be neglected, yet it was a critical time in the history of the Later Roman Empire. On his accession, there were many problems facing the state: conflicts, both internal and external, religious disputes, and financial and administrative chaos. It is the aim of this thesis to assess the significance of Anastasius' reign, with a systematic survey of the key areas of imperial government. After an introductory chapter examining the primary sources, the second and third chapters consider revolts and wars. Chapter Two looks at two internal uprisings, that of the Isaurians (491-498) and that of Vitalian (514-516). The third chapter concentrates on external conflicts and political relations. The first section considers the Persian offensive (502-506) and the role of the Arabs, while the second part examines the ambiguous position of Theoderic in Italy, and explores how Anastasius sought to stabilize the balance of power with counter-alliances with the Franks and Burgundians. Chapter Four deals with the doctrinal schism dividing the orthodox from the monophysite. It outlines the background to this crisis and investigates the vicissitudes of Anastasius' policy as he sought to reconcile increasing eastern monophysitism with the west's intransigent orthodoxy. Chapter Five examines Anastasius' financial rehabilitation of the state and concludes that his success lay in a much wider reorganisation of the empire's resources: he restructured the fisc and introduced changes to municipal administration, agrarian legislation and the organisation of the army. This chapter also considers measures to halt the escalating violence of the faction riots, and it closes with a survey of the emperor's building policy. The thesis concludes that Anastasius' reign resolved many of the problems facing the empire in the fifth century, paving the way for Justinian in the sixth.

A querela iconoclasta bizantina do século VIII já foi considerada a maior crise deste período e teve por consequência a legitimação dos ícones enquanto parte da tradição da Igreja. O fenômeno não esteve, no entanto, restrito ao mundo Oriental, tendo desencadeado reações tanto do papado, que se opôs ao iconoclasmo imperial desde seu início, quanto dos carolíngios, que se afirmavam enquanto um novo elemento entre os poderes cristãos. A reunião do concílio de Nicéia II, em 787, quando o culto aos ícones foi definido pela primeira vez como parte da tradição da Igreja, não foi bem recebida pela corte franca, que discordou tanto dos procedimentos quanto das decisões da assembléia, o que deu origem a um tratado, conhecido por libri carolini. Esta obra é sem dúvida um dos mais importantes trabalhos de teologia do governo de Carlos Magno, mas além disso, ele é uma tomada de posição do rei o tratado foi escrito em nome de Carlos Magno que não apenas reivindica a participação na resolução dos assuntos da fé, como se apresenta superior aos gregos, acusados no tratado de arrogância e entendidos como inaptos a interpretar de maneira correta as Escrituras, bem como os testemunhos dos Pais. Os LC são portanto não apenas uma demonstração da teologia de imagens carolíngia, mas um registro do posicionamento do futuro imperador do Ocidente.
The Byzantine Iconoclastic struggle of the eight century has been considered the greatest crisis of this period and had as a consequence the legitimation of icons as part of the churchs traditions. The phenomenon was not restricted to the Oriental world, and unleashed reactions from the papacy, who was opposed to the imperial Iconoclasm from its beginning, as much as from the carolingians, a new element between the Christian powers. The reunion of the second council of Nicaea, in 787, where the cult of icons was established for the first as a Tradition of the church, was not well received by the Frankish court, which disagreed with the procedures and the decisions of the assembly. The Carolingian opposition to the reunion originated a treatise known as libri carolini. This work is with no doubt one of the most important theological writings composed under Charlemagne\'s rule, but also a stand taking of the king who not only revindicates the participation on church matters as presents himself as superior to the Greeks, who are pictured as arrogant and bad interpreters of the Gospels and the Fathers. The LC are, therefore, not only a testimony of the Carolingian theology of images, but a register of the position of the future emperor of the Occident.

This dissertation investigates the growth and decline of a major Mediterranean commercial economy at the crossroads of Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East from 1100 to 1400. New and old evidence uncovers the transformation of the commercial economy of the Byzantine Empire in its relations with the Middle East, western Europe, and Crusader principalities established in Byzantium's ruins. Ultimately, this work helps identify and understand the economic roots for enduring divisions between East and West, and it is unique in observing from Byzantium's perspective the transformation of the Middle East--the economic dynamo of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean.
History