Scandinavia has a rich history of the raising of runestones, monuments in stone of varying sizes for honoring the fallen. Among these there exist a group of runestones that mention a land far away from the cold winds of the north, the land of the Byzantine Empire, stretching from the Balkans to the edge of Anatolia with Greece at its center. Scandinavia and the former Byzantine empire has a long history between them where many made their way down the eastern rivers of the Rus to finally reach the city of Constantinople or ‘Miklagard’ as the Scandinavians called it, the great city. Here in the vast empire of the Greeks many Scandinavians saw an opportunity for wealth and fortune. Many of these however did not return home, they died in Greece and for some of them a runestone was raised in their memory. These would form the so-called Greece runestones, a collection of 27 runestones which will be explored in this thesis. The travelers to Greece also left behind their own writings at places like the Hagia Sophia and the Piraeus Lion. Where with their own words they tell of their journey to this distant land, which will also be covered along with the Greece runestones. The aim of this thesis is to explore these writings to hopefully give a greater insight to the early medieval Scandinavian society and what would motivate so many to travel all the way to Greece. This together with an analysis of the import of byzantine coins to the baltic area will hopefully provide us with a better understanding of these motives and at what period these travels primarily took place.

This study focuses primarily on donor portraits of families found in Cypriot wall paintings and icons created during the Lusignan and Venetian periods. Although donor portraiture is a mode of expression that dates to antiquity, in the medieval period an increasingly prosperous upper middle class used this genre more frequently. My concern is with the addition of children to these portraits and the ways in which this affects the family portrayal on Cyprus. These portraits are intriguing because they provide a rare glimpse into the culture and people of this island as constructed within the medium of portraiture. They provide visual evidence of the donors' ideals of family in these lasting monuments to their memory. There are noticeable changes in these portraits through time that indicate the shifting foreign rulership faced by the population. Part of the Byzantine Empire until captured by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, Cyprus came under Frankish domain when it was transferred in 1192 to Guy de Lusignan, the dispossessed King of Jerusalem. For years Cyprus had been a stopping place for pilgrims and, later, crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. By the time Cyprus came under Venetian rule, it had grown as a stopping place for merchants as part of their trade route to the East. This exposure to cross cultural trade, migrations, and differing reigning powers makes Cyprus a complex study in social history. These layers of mixed social identities across ethnic, religious and political boundaries are documented in the island's donor portraits. Part of this analysis is an attempt to discern in these constructed identities what is indigenous, what is foreign and what is part of the changing times. A close examination of these images uncovers this mingling of identities and certain conventions in the way these donor portraits become expressions of the family. The strategy used to examine these donor portraits is to look at them by employing some of the characteristic functions of portraiture, in this case as outlined by Shearer West in her introduction to portraiture. After an introductory chapter that details some background on donor portraiture and the art of Cyprus, each of the following chapters uses two main images for comparison to explore the ways in which they might reveal aspects of the family. This comparative method is used in the successive chapters with the one constant image of the Zacharia family, painted during the Venetian occupation, as a basis for comparison. Chapter two takes this portrait and compares it to the portrait of Neophytos, a twelfth-century hermit monk who also used the Deësis scene as the setting for his portrait. By looking at these particular scenes as works of art, this chapter introduces ideas to consider throughout the dissertation on the ways these constructions reveal wishes of the donors, such as strategies of hierarchy, of veneration and viewer's access. Chapter three explores how the family group portrait serves as a document for the biography of the family. Chapter four deals with the important social practice of the dowry and my idea that some of the later portraits, which include daughters, may be displaying dowry wealth. Chapter five looks at family commemorative portraiture found particularly in icons, beginning the fourteenth century, where deceased family members are portrayed alongside, seemingly, living family members. Finally, in chapter six, I examine the ways in which these family portraits may indicate political changes on the island, especially as Cyprus moves from a feudal society to a commercial one in the Venetian period. In order to facilitate discoveries that might be made by organizing the material in a systematic manner, I have assembled a catalogue of Cypriot family donor portraits and a chart indicating the numbers of men, women and children included in family groups, in the appendices. It is my hope that this dissertation will create more discussion about family groups and will, hopefully, uncover other portraits that may be added to this list, making it a more complete picture of the surviving record. / Art History

No / The Battle of Mantzikert had profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history, yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps. This book presents the results of a project that seeks to demonstrate the important role computer simulation can play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics. In AD 1071, the Byzantine Emperor, Romanos IV Diogenes, set out from Constantinople for the eastern borders of his Empire with an army described as “more numerous than the sands of the sea”. His military campaign culminated in defeat by the Seljuk Sultan Alp Arslan at the Battle of Mantzikert. This defeat was to have profound consequences for both Byzantine and Turkish history and is still commemorated in the modern state of Turkey. Yet the historical sources for this campaign contain significant gaps and we know more about the political intrigues surrounding the emperor than we do about how the army moved and fed itself. The ‘Medieval Warfare on the Grid’ project (2007-2011) was funded by an AHRC-EPSRC-Jisc e-Science grant and set out to use computer simulation to shed new light on the Mantzikert campaign. In this book we present the results of the project and demonstrate that computer simulation has an important role to play in the analysis of pre-modern military logistics. It can give new context to historical sources, present new options for the interpretation of past events and enable questions of greater complexity to be asked of historical military campaigns. It can also highlight the similarities that exist across time and space when armies need to be mobilised, moved and fed.

La thèse a pour but la reconstruction historiographique de la réception des Mémoires byzantines de S. Syropoulos, en Europe, dans le XVIIème siècle. Depuis les remarques faites par V. Laurent dans son édition (1971), la recherche entend reconsidérer les acquisitions antérieures sur la fortune de ce texte, pendant la publication de l’editio princeps en 1660, v. Introduction. À travers l’histoire de la découverte du manuscrit BNF, Paris. gr. 427, on ira à reconstruire l’épisode propagandiste qui a donné lieu à l'intérêt érudit pour la narration florentine de Syropoulos, v. Ch. I; un commentaire aux épîtres relatif à l’iter éditorial suivi pour la princeps donnera aussi des détails sur les érudits engagés, v. Ch. II; enfin, un examen philologique et historique de la version latine du texte grec, interdit par l’Inquisition de Rome en 1682, v. Ch. III. En plus, la thèse presentera la première transcription de la versio latine inédite conservée dans le manuscrit BNF, Paris. Suppl. gr. 317 (sectiones II, IV, IX), avec introduction. Les résultats montrent comment la critique textuelle et la propagande, dansl’édition byzantine de cette oeuvre, ont contribuées à la constitution d'une méthode ecdotique raffinée, plus tard encodée dans la définition des critères scientifiques de la pratique philologique et historiographique. / The aim of the dissertation is to outline the historical reception of S. Syropoulos’ byzantine Mémoires, in Europe, during the XVIIth century. Following the notes proposed by V. Laurent in his edition (1971), the research intends to reconsider the previous data collected on the fortune of the text, especially at the age of the editio princeps publication (1660), see Introduction. The episode of the first rediscovery of the manuscript BNF, Paris. gr. 427 will be useful to delineate the propagandistic climate in which the text was read and excerpted, see Ch. I; a comment on an important epistolary dossier will provide an insight on the publishing iter of the editio, and, above all, about the people involved, see Ch. II; lastly, a philological and historiographical analysis of the latin versio, prohibited by the roman Inquisition in 1682, see Ch. III. In addition, the thesis presents the first transcription of the unpublished latin version (sections II, IV, IX) preserved in the manuscript BNF, Paris. Suppl. gr. 317, with introduction. The results proves how textual criticism and propaganda — for the edition of this byzantine major oeuvre — actively contributed to established a philological method surprisingly refined, later heightened with the definition of the common criteria typically used by modern literary criticism and historiography.

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.

Malgré le regain d'intérêt qu'ont connu ces dernières années les archives de Dioscore d’Aphroditê (Moyenne-Égypte, VIe s. après J.-C.), les documents coptes qu'elles contenaient sont restés curieusement sous-étudiés : en apportant des données nouvelles par rapport à la composante grecque, mieux étudiée, ils concourent à une meilleure compréhension historique de ces archives bilingues. Par ailleurs, faisant partie d'un ensemble majoritairement grec, ils posent le problème de l'usage et de la fonction du copte face au grec, langue de l'administration, autrement dit des rapports entre la langue nationale des Égyptiens et celle du pouvoir byzantin. Cette thèse constitue l’édition commentée d’un corpus de lettres coptes en grande partie inédit des archives de Dioscore. Il s’agit en effet du genre documentaire le mieux représenté du versant copte de cet ensemble archivistique. Le premier volume est constitué d’une synthèse qui pose le problème du rapport entre grec et copte dans un milieu villageois du VIe s. comme celui d'Aphroditê, qui traite des traits dialectaux, paléographiques et formulaires du copte en usage dans cette région et qui étudie les données historiques susceptibles de compléter celles livrées par les archives grecques. Le volume II contient les éditions commentées de ces vingt-et-une lettres, alors que le volume III contient les annexes (textes complémentaires, index, bibliographie et planches). / Despite the renewed interest in recent years in Dioscorus’ archives from Aphrodito (Middle Egypt, sixth century AD), the Coptic documents they contained have remained curiously understudied: by providing new data to that provided by the Greek texts, the best studied part of this archive, they contribute to a better historical understanding of these bilingual archives. Moreover, as part of a predominantly Greek dossier, they raise the issue of the use and function of Coptic in relation to Greek, the language of the administration, i.e., the relationship between the national language of the Egyptians and the one of Byzantine power. This thesis is the annotated edition of a corpus of Coptic letters, most of which have not previously been published, from Dioscorus’ archives. This text type is the documentary genre best represented in the Coptic component of this archival dossier. The first volume consists of a synthesis, which emphasizes the problem of the relationship between Greek and Coptic in a village like Aphrodito in the middle of the sixth century. It also deals with dialectal features, palaeographic and Coptic grammatical forms in use in the area, and studies historical data that complement those delivered by the Greek archives. Volume II contains the editions of twenty-one letters, with commentary, while volume III contains the appendices (complementary texts, indices, bibliography and plates).

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Wien, 1999. Titre de soutenance : Reminiszenzen an antike Orte und Landschaften in der mittel- und spätbyzantinischen Literatur. / Bibliogr. p. 6-18. Notes bibliogr. Index.

The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman armies of Mehmed II in 1453 was a cataclysmic event that reverberated throughout Renaissance Europe. This event intensified the exodus of Byzantines to Italy and beyond and they brought along with them the heritage of Greek antiquity. Laonikos Chalkokondyles contributed to the Renaissance with his detailed application of Herodotos to the fifteenth century, Apodeixis Historion, and made sense of the rise of the Ottomans with the lens of ancient history. The Apodeixis was printed in Latin, French, and Greek and was widely successful. The historian restored Herodotean categories of ethnicity, political rule, language, and geography to make sense of contemporary events and peoples. This was a thorough study of ancient historiography and Laonikos thus parted ways with previous Byzantine historians. I refer to Laonikos' method as "revolutionary classicizing", to describe the ways in which he abandoned the ideal of lawful imperium and restored the model of oriental tyranny when he described the nascent Ottoman state. What appears to be emulation of the ancient classics was radical revival of political concepts such as city-states as ethnic units, freedom defined as independence from foreign rule, law-giving as fundamental aspect of Hellenic tradition which did not encompass the Christian period. Laonikos has often been studied in the context of proto-nationalist historiography as he had composed a universal history, wherein he had related extensive information on various ethnic and political units in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. However, such proto-nationalist application does not fully capture Laonikos’ classicizing interests. Laonikos referred to his contemporaries as Hellenes, not because he was a nationalist who defined political identity only by recourse to language and common history. Rather, Laonikos believed that Hellenic identity, both referring to paganism as well as ethnicity, was relevant and not bankrupt. Importantly, we introduce manuscripts that have not yet been utilized to argue that Hellenism as paganism was living reality for Laonikos, his Platonist teacher Plethon, and their circle of intellectuals in the fifteenth century.

As a debate over the legitimacy of the liturgical use of images, the Byzantine Iconoclastic controversy (ca. 726-843) had important political and theological implications, which modern scholarship generally tends to treat unconnectedly. The primary object of this study is to explicate the relationship between the political and theological dimensions of the controversy and to reconstruct the debate over images in a comprehensive approach that accounts for both its political and theological dimensions. / The main argument of the thesis is that the question of images was a politico-theological problem and the prospects of 'political expediency' and 'theological propriety' were correlated in the minds of both the Iconoclastic reformers and their Iconodule rivals. Indeed, it was through their respective soteriologies that the two parties gave meaning to the theological and political dimensions of the debate in relationship with their respective theological first principles. Therefore, the Iconoclastic debate is explained as a soteriological dispute where the worldview represented by the traditional Byzantine religio-political ideology and the worldview represented by the proponents of images were set over against each other. / The main contribution of our thesis to modern scholarship of the Byzantine Iconoclastic controversy is to reconstruct the debate in the light of the contending theological paradigms of the two parties, which shaped not only their attitudes towards images but also their political stands in relation to the Byzantine Empire's involvement in ecclesiastical politics. This new synthetic reading explains the debate in reference to two essential theological cornerstones of the Byzantine tradition---the Eusebian "Imperial Theology" and the Christological definition of the council of Chalcedon---both taken as key reference points, against which the political and doctrinal stands of both parties were constructed and interpreted.

Depuis une dizaine d’année, plusieurs études renouvèlent considérablement nos connaissances au sujet des établissements thermaux publics et de leur pratique au Proche-Orient. Malheureusement, aucune synthèse envisageant le phénomène balnéaire dans une perspective d’histoire des mentalités au sein d’une seule cité ne semble avoir été réalisée. Fondé sur une approche archéologique et architecturale, ce travail a pour premier objectif de proposer une synthèse diachronique de l’évolution des huit établissements de bains publics actuellement connus à Gerasa et de leur pratique au cours de l’histoire. La situation observée dans l’ancienne cité de la Décapole est ensuite confrontée à la pratique thermale dans l’antiquité au Proche-Orient, telle qu’elle est aujourd’hui appréhendée, permettant ainsi d’en dégager les correspondances, les dissemblances et les caractéristiques propres au corpus de Gerasa. S’appuyant sur une méthodologie originale, cette étude souligne le rôle profondément hybride de ces établissements disposant naturellement d’installations permettant le nettoyage du corps mais également d’espaces spécifiques et indépendants pour lesquels les fonctions civique, politique et religieuse peuvent être supposées / For a decade, several studies have renewed significantly our knowledge about public baths and their practice in the Middle East. Unfortunately, no synthesis considering the bathing phenomenon in a diachronic perspective of history of mentalities in a single city appears to have been carried out. Based on an archaeological and architectural approach, this work at first intended to propose a diachronic synthesis of the evolution of eight public bath buildings currently known in Gerasa and their practice in history. The situation in the City of the Decapolis is then confronted to the practice of public bath in Antiquity in the Middle East, as it is known today, allowing to identify matches, differences and characteristics of the corpus of Gerasa. Based on an original methodology, this study highlights the deeply hybrid role of these institutions with natural facilities for the cleaning of the body but also specific and independent spaces for which civic, political and religious functions may be assumed