Byzantine Women And Their World

Author : Ioli Kalavrezou
Publisher : Harvard Univ Art Museum
ISBN 13 : 9780300096989
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Byzantine Women and Their World written by Ioli Kalavrezou and published by Harvard Univ Art Museum. This book was released on 2003 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book accompanies the first exhibition to explore the lives of Byzantine women through their representation in material and literary culture. It features nearly two hundred works of art gathered from premier collections in North America by the organizers at Harvard University's Arthur M. Sackler Museum."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : Lynda Garland
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351953710
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Byzantine Women written by Lynda Garland and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume brings together a group of international scholars, who explore many unusual aspects of the world of Byzantine women in the period 800-1200. The specific aim of this collection is to investigate the participation of women - non-imperial women in particular - in supposedly 'masculine' fields of operation. This new research across a range of disciplines attempts to provide an analysis of the activities of and attitudes towards Byzantine women in this period. Using evidence from sources as diverse as tax registers, monastic foundation documents, twelfth-century novels, historical texts, art history and the writings of women themselves, such as the hymnographer Kassia and the historian Anna Komnene, these papers elucidate the context in which Byzantine women lived. They emphasize the variety of female experiences, the circumstances that shaped women's lives, and the ways in which individual women were perceived by their society. Contributions focus on women's dress, their participation in the street life of Constantinople, their appearance in Byzantine fiscal documents, their monastic foundations, their engagement with entertainment at the imperial court, and the way heroines are portrayed in the Byzantine novels. Analysis of the writings of the hymnographer Kassia, the networking of Mary 'of Alania' and the ways she overcame the disadvantages of being a foreign-born empress, and the family values reflected in Anna Komnene's Alexiad, draw attention to specific problems. All these aim to expand our understanding of the circumstances that shaped women's lives and expectations in the Middle Byzantine period and to analyze the range of women's experiences, the roles they played and the impact they made on society.

Author : Judith Herrin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691153213
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.16/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Unrivalled Influence written by Judith Herrin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the exceptional roles that women played in the vibrant cultural and political life of medieval Byzantium. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, this title focuses on the importance of marriage in imperial statecraft, the tense coexistence of empresses in the imperial court, and the critical relationships of mothers and daughters.

Author : Ioli Kalavrezou
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780300247961
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.66/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Byzantine Women and Their World written by Ioli Kalavrezou and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Paul Stephenson
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1136727876
Total Pages : 639 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Byzantine World written by Paul Stephenson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-12-20 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Byzantine World presents the latest insights of the leading scholars in the fields of Byzantine studies, history, art and architectural history, literature, and theology. Those who know little of Byzantine history, culture and civilization between AD 700 and 1453 will find overviews and distillations, while those who know much already will be afforded countless new vistas. Each chapter offers an innovative approach to a well-known topic or a diversion from a well-trodden path. Readers will be introduced to Byzantine women and children, men and eunuchs, emperors, patriarchs, aristocrats and slaves. They will explore churches and fortifications, monasteries and palaces, from Constantinople to Cyprus and Syria in the east, and to Apulia and Venice in the west. Secular and sacred art, profane and spiritual literature will be revealed to the reader, who will be encouraged to read, see, smell and touch. The worlds of Byzantine ceremonial and sanctity, liturgy and letters, Orthodoxy and heresy will be explored, by both leading and innovative international scholars. Ultimately, readers will find insights into the emergence of modern Byzantine studies and of popular Byzantine history that are informative, novel and unexpected, and that provide a thorough understanding of both.

Author : Judith Herrin
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691117802
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Women in Purple written by Judith Herrin and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2004-01-25 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the eighth and ninth centuries, three Byzantine empresses—Irene, Euphrosyne, and Theodora—changed history. Their combined efforts restored the veneration of icons, saving Byzantium from a purely symbolic and decorative art and ensuring its influence for centuries to come. In this exhilarating and highly entertaining account, one of the foremost historians of the medieval period tells the story of how these fascinating women exercised imperial sovereignty with consummate skill and sometimes ruthless tactics. Though they gained access to the all-pervasive authority of the Byzantine ruling dynasty through marriage, all three continued to wear the imperial purple and wield tremendous power as widows. From Constantinople, their own Queen City, the empresses undermined competitors and governed like men. They conducted diplomacy across the known world, negotiating with the likes of Charlemagne, Roman popes, and the great Arab caliph Harun al Rashid. Vehemently rejecting the ban on holy images instituted by their male relatives, Irene and Theodora used craft and power to reverse the official iconoclasm and restore icons to their place of adoration in the Eastern Church. In so doing, they profoundly altered the course of history. The art—and not only the art—of Byzantium, of Islam, and of the West would have been very different without them. As Judith Herrin traces the surviving evidence, she evokes the complex and deeply religious world of Constantinople in the aftermath of Arab conquest. She brings to life its monuments and palaces, its court ceremonies and rituals, the role of eunuchs (the "third sex"), bride shows, and the influence of warring monks and patriarchs. Based on new research and written for a general audience, Women in Purple reshapes our understanding of an empire that lasted a thousand years and splashes fresh light on the relationship of women to power.

Author : Carolyn Loessel Connor
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780300099577
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Women of Byzantium written by Carolyn Loessel Connor and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women played key roles in Byzantine society: some ruled or co-ruled the empire, and others commissioned art and buildings, went on pilgrimages, and wrote. This engrossing book draws on evidence ranging from pictorial mosaics and inscriptions on the walls of churches to women’s poetry and histories, examining for the first time the lives, occupations, beliefs, and social roles of Byzantine women. In each chapter Carolyn L. Connor introduces us to a single woman—from the elite to the ordinary—and uses her as a springboard to discuss Byzantine society. Frequently quoting from contemporary accounts, Connor reveals what these women thought of themselves and their lives and how they remembered the lives of women who had lived earlier. Informative, sympathetic, and engagingly written, this book is a window into Byzantine culture and women’s history that has never before been opened.

Author : Nadia Maria El-Cheikh
Publisher : Harvard CMES
ISBN 13 : 9780932885302
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs written by Nadia Maria El-Cheikh and published by Harvard CMES. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the Arabic-Islamic view of Byzantium, tracing the Byzantine image as it evolved through centuries of warfare, contact, and exchanges. Including previously inaccessible material on the Arabic textual tradition on Byzantium, this investigation shows the significance of Byzantium to the Arab Muslim establishment and their appreciation of various facets of Byzantine culture and civilization. The Arabic-Islamic representation of the Byzantine Empire stretching from the reference to Byzantium in the Qur'an until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 is considered in terms of a few salient themes. The image of Byzantium reveals itself to be complex, non-monolithic, and self-referential. Formulating an alternative appreciation to the politics of confrontation and hostility that so often underlies scholarly discourse on Muslim-Byzantine relations, this book presents the schemes developed by medieval authors to reinterpret aspects of their own history, their own self-definition, and their own view of the world.

Author : Jean Lassus
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Early Christian and Byzantine World written by Jean Lassus and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The first thousand years of the Christian Church and its great monuments is the sphere of this unusual book. From the origins of the Church and its development in Rome, Ravenna and Byzantium, through the story of early Western Europe and, finally, to the Golden Age of Byzantium and its widespread influence in all the Christian East, Professor Jean Lassus traces this fascinating story in a magnificent book including over 200 illustrations, 117 in colour. We are presented here with the epic of Christianity and its great art from the catacombs to Byzantine Russia. The secret life of the first Christians in Rome and their subsequent acceptance by the state in the 4th century survive for us only through the paintings in the catacombs, and the sculpture of the sarcophagi. Gradually signs of the increasing power and wealth of the Church are found in the majestic basilicas and glittering mosaics of the Italian capital. The influence of Constantine's building programme, both in Italy and in the Holy Land, are analysed with outstanding authority. Professor Lassus, an expert in this field, explains the evolution of Byzantine Church architecture with the development of the dome, and its diffusion through the empire. He examines in detail the important role of Ravenna, combining the traditions of Rome and the East, and pays particular attention to the astonishing variety of the mosaic decoration. During the period of Iconoclasm (the banning of all images in religious art in the 8th century) the figurative arts of Byzantium suffered irreparable damage, but the revoking of this decree a century later resulted in magnificent frescoes and mosaics full of expression and grace. The influence of these works spread from Constantinople throughout her empire from the eastern shores of the Black Sea through Russia and as far as Greece and Sicily. Cultural activities in the West between the 6th and 11th centuries were more scattered than those of the Christian East. The amazingly complex decorative patterns and intertwining motifs inherited from Celtic art found flourishing expression in Ireland. The Irish illuminated manuscripts such as the Books of Kells and Durrow had a far-reaching influence on the manuscripts of Carolingian Europe while the products of Charlemagne's 'renaissance' were a crystallisation of the barbarian arts and a step towards the impending expansion of the Romanesque. In the end, it is the sumptuous magnificence of Byzantine art which is most memorable - the brilliant mosaics, the shining gold and silver, the jewels, enamels, the luxurious silks and embroideries - but the reason for this imperial manifestation is the same that prompted the more modest expressions in the catacombs and the beautiful simplicity of early church architecture. Professor Lassus tells the story of this dramatic period in a clear and immensely readable way and the astonishing variety of works of art are reproduced in faithful detail to illustrate handsomely for the reader this unique and absorbing book." --

Author : Sean McLachlan
Publisher : Hippocrene Books
ISBN 13 : 9780781810333
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Byzantium written by Sean McLachlan and published by Hippocrene Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long after Rome fell to the Germanic tribes, its culture lived on in Constantinople, the glittering capital of the Byzantine Empire. For more than 1000 yeras (AD 330-1453) Byzantium was one of the most advanced and complex civilisations the world had ever seen. As the Mediterranean outlet for the silk route, its trade networks stretched from Scandinavia to Sri Lanka; its artists created sombre icons and brilliant gold mosaics; its scholarship served as a vital cultural bridge between the Muslim East and the Catholic West; and it fostered the Orthodox Christianity that is the faith of millions today. This book shows the innovative art that inspired French kings and Arab emirs. It includes a gazetteer of historic Byzantine sites and monuments that travellers can visit today in greece, Italty, Turkey and the Middle East. A chronology of Byzantine history and a list of emperors complete this ideal resource for the student, traveller or generally curious reader.