Ph.D. / This is the study of an unknown man's view of his contemporary Byzantine world how it was structured and functioned both socially and culturally. In other words, this is an attempt to reconstruct the world view of an unknown individual, through expression of his emotions, impressions, principles and norms in connection with various aspects of his environment. By this approach, I trust, the anonymous author's value system can be "re-created" and examined in association with the collective cultural norms, set and shared by his contemporary society. Thus, besides theauthor's aesthetic perception of the external, physical aspects of his environment, collective and individual stereotypes found in ideologies (such as ethnocentrism, provincialism, patriotism, and class differentiation), as well as religious and social moral values (such as piety, faith, sin, generosity, divine intervention) will be identified and analysed. Our author's perception of his world order may be seen "from the inside" through his concepts, opinions, impressions, criticisms and praises. These are expressed either directly or indirectly throughout his narrative, and refer to certain situations, events, characters and the human condition in general (such as the eternal question of life and death). Certain values, which are expressed by the author through his concepts and opinions, may appear as contradicting one another. These cases will be analysed according to the author's perception of a certain event and measured against related collective ideology, i.e. generally-held conceptions and values, as well as factual information. Thus, in order to realise the purpose of our study, we shall: • examine the relationship and interaction between individual and collective concepts in the Chronicle; • establish the Chronicle's value as a source of information g on the political, economic, social and cultural life in Western Greece during a significant section of the later Byzantine era (1375-1422); • try to reach a better understanding of the mentality of multi-ethnic Byzantine society, especially in Western Greece during the 14 th and 15th centuries.

M.A. / A study is conducted into the roles of women living in the late Byzantine period between the 6th Century to 1453, using demotic or ‘popular’ poetry which can be quite significant in shedding some light into Byzantine history and society. An in depth analysis of these songs is carried out and compared to valid historical texts in order to create a proper account on history. Some questions that will be examined are as follows: How did women fit into society? What was their expected role? Did they ever go beyond their conventional role? Were they treated differently at different stages or circumstances in their life? Do the clues that are found in these songs correspond to the previously written historical texts that were predominantly written by men? It is no secret that, women portrayed in historical texts which refer to that period, were subjugated to the men in their lives and had very different roles to their partners, fathers, or brothers. Using demotic poetry, one is able to understand the voice of common folk and their worldview, thereby collecting accounts of the society’s ideas and ideals at grassroots level. A collection of about 20 songs has been gathered for this study and each song has been analysed in detail alone and in its contexts. It is tremendously interesting to discover how important women were in their society and how they often seem to have influenced men’s behaviour indirectly.

M.A. (Greek) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis is concerned with the editorial, printing and marketing history of four Byzantine historical narratives, published between 1556 and 1645, and soon collectively identified under the name Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ (hereinafter, 'Byzantine Corpus'). The four Byzantine historians - Ioannes Zonaras, Niketas Choniates, Nikephoros Gregoras and Laonikos Chalkokondyles - enjoyed considerable popularity in early modern Europe, with a peak of interest in the second half of the sixteenth century. This thesis aims at highlighting how these four texts, despite being so popular in a number of early modern European countries (particularly in the German-speaking area, in Italy and in France), did not do so for the same reasons: in fact, depending on the country in which these books were printed, they were marketed, perceived and read in very different ways. This element is particularly relevant in light of the fact that the Byzantine Corpus represents the earliest predecessor of the Corpus Fontium Historiæ Byzantinæ, the modern resource for the study of Byzantine historical sources. Chapter 1 analyses the early formation of the Byzantine Corpus and, in particular, the figure of Hieronymus Wolf, first editor of the Byzantine Corpus, often considered the 'father' of Byzantine studies; his relation with his patrons, the Fuggers of Augsburg; finally, his relation with his publisher, the Basel printer Johannes Oporinus. It then provides contextualised bibliographical and paratextual descriptions of the editiones principes of the Byzantine Corpus, all printed in Basel. Chapters 2-5 reflect the same comparative approach, used to investigate how the later editions of the Byzantine Corpus were prepared and marketed in different European countries: each chapter provides a bibliographical and paratextual analysis of the subsequent German, Italian, French and Genevan editions respectively. The Conclusions draw together all the information collected in the previous chapters and investigate three pivotal aspects of the Byzantine Corpus: i) the formation of the Byzantine Corpus and the individual popularity of each of the four Byzantine historians based on the frequency and popularity of both individual and collective editions; ii) the distinctive reasons of their popularity, analysed through a comparison of the different approaches with which editors and publishers have presented these texts to their respective audiences in Germany, Italy and France; iii) the reasons for the rise and decline in popularity of the Byzantine Corpus in the early seventeenth century.

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.

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)<p><p><p>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.<p>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.<p><p>/ <p><p>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.<p>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