This dissertation is an economic and institutional history of the first comprehensive public health and welfare system in the Western world. Based on previously unexamined archival and archaeological evidence from several European repositories, it argues that the Republic of Venice, at the beginning of the second millennium, implemented legislation of unprecedented scale, intended to regulate and improve the health and standards of living of its population. The Venetian empire, in this period, was unrivaled in its dominance of Mediterranean trade. Economic success and the densifying networks of communications brought new challenges, and new health stresses, including communicable disease, to key commercial hubs under Venetian control, on the Dalmatian coast and islands in the eastern Mediterranean. At this time, a period commonly known as the Commercial Revolution, Venice itself became one of the most populous and wealthiest European cities. The government of the Republic allocated a substantial portion of its surplus revenues to the establishment and funding of new welfare legislation, influenced by Roman and Byzantine legal precedents. The nature of the Venetian parliamentary system gave rise to a host of detailed norms aimed at subsidizing the import of food and primary necessities. In addition, the Republic created and funded the first and largest state-sponsored staff of medical practitioners in Europe, intended to preserve the public's health in the expansive territories under its control. These practitioners were chosen, by and large, on the basis of testimonies of magistrates and patients who vouched for their expertise and reputation. Through a detailed analysis of archival, archaeological and narrative evidence, this dissertation alters our understanding of the development of pre-modern states and their contribution to the creation of what historians have broadly defined "welfare policies." Comparisons between the prices of primary necessities among multiple cities of the Mediterranean test the effects of such policies on the standards of living of European populations. A comprehensive list of all public health infrastructures in Venetian territories outlines the long-term role of the state in the creation and funding of hospitals, hospices and orphanages. By contextualizing new and old evidence, this dissertation argues that, in crafting these new policies, Venetian legislators yielded to economic and political considerations, as well as popular expectations and traditions of evergetism. / History

When considering early Byzantine pilgrimage tokens, questions of touch and tactility arise almost instantly. Tokens lack cords or mountings, and so touch is implicit in such objects. Even gazing at them was a form of touching for the pilgrim. Hagiographies tell of pilgrims crowding to holy sites with the express intent to access sanctity through touch. Touch then, whether visual or manual, mediated the desire for connection between a pilgrim, a site, and a body. This requires an examination of a token’s touch as well as a pilgrim’s. In my thesis, I focus on a surviving token of the stylite saint Symeon the Younger, housed in the Menil Collection. This particular token bears iconography associated with physically and spiritually transformative events. Images of veneration, baptism, and healing appear together on the token’s obverse, while a human handprint on its reverse demands a multifaceted discussion of the implications of touching this object. I propose that in a pilgrim’s interaction with this token both object and viewer had agency. The token encapsulates a comprehensive pilgrimage experience. As a contact relic, the token makes present the saint’s body. Representation of baptism and the token’s backwards inscription enact sphragis – a figurative and literal stamping that pilgrims frequently described. I call attention to the experiential, memorial, and physical impressions made on the lives of early Byzantine pilgrims through the simultaneous touching of both viewer and object. / text

This paper seeks to continue the research started by scholars such as W. Liebeschuetz and P. Bell in order to challenge the traditional argument put forth by Al. Cameron, namely that the circus factions did not have a political role in society. The objective of this study is to examine the political importance of the circus factions from the reign of Anastasius (491-518) to Heraclius (610-641). Furthermore, it explores the political motivations behind the factions’ violent behaviour, the evidence for their involvement in the military, and their role in accession ceremonies. The methodology includes establishing a typology for sixth century riots, an examination of the hippodrome and its role as a medium between people and emperor, tracing the shift in the focus of imperial ideology, and a re-evaluation of the primary sources, with a focus on the literary and epigraphic evidence, to determine if there was a political aspect to the factions. The study concludes that Cameron did undervalue the factions’ political importance and outlines the conditions that were influential in their rise in importance.

This thesis explores the relationship between hagiography and history, with a particular focus on the cult of the little-studied sixth-century Antiochene holy man Symeon Stylites the Younger. It argues that any hagiographic text can only be understood through an appreciation of both its particular historical context and of developments in the genre over time. The first chapter thus addresses the economy, society and culture of the Antiochene area, arguing, against some recent archaeological interpretations, that sixth-century natural and military disasters did have a significant impact on the region. The second chapter turns to the first text associated with Symeon's cult, the sermon collection attributed to the stylite, which reveals how a holy man could construct his own spiritual authority through powerful rhetoric. Starkly polarised in his thought, Symeon eschews the compromises adopted by many clerical preachers, focusing on the opposition of demon and monk, rich and poor, and heaven and hell. The third chapter addresses the Life of Symeon, arguing that it can be read as an extended apology for Symeon's failure to protect the Antiochene from the disasters of the sixth century. The fourth chapter looks at the Life of Martha, Symeon's mother, which contains an original and inclusive vision of holiness, focusing not on asceticism or celibacy but on the redemptive powers of liturgy and the sacraments. The fifth chapter takes a step back, arguing that both Lives reflect broader developments in hagiography in the late sixth and seventh centuries: Symeon's hagiographer's struggle to justify disasters are echoed in other near-contemporary saints' Lives, while Martha's Life resembles in many respects the posthumous miracle collections which flourished in this period and were, in their relatively narrow focus, very suitable for a time of crisis.

As the title suggests, <i>Byzantios</i> or <i>About the Imperial Megalopolis</i> is the eulogy of Constantinople, one of Theodore Metochites' many works that still remain unpublished due to the writer's obscure style. My primary aim in this edition has been to establish the text, an oration written by one of the most prominent figures of the Palaeologan Renaissance. In fact, the text constitutes the eulogy of the Capital of the Byzantine Empire and it could provide useful information to historians, archaeologists and Various scholars. However, I must ask for the reader's understanding regarding the matters of punctuation. The artificial style and rhetorical presentation in many passages make no wonder if a satisfactory rendering of the Greek can be achieved. I have added an Introduction where I deal with Metochites' life and works, the genre of <i>Byzantios</i> and a few more issues raised by the oration (missing folios, dating of the oration, etc.). The text needs to be elucidated from a wide Variety of sources, historical and literary, and this is the main aim of the commentary. In addition. I wished to present reasons for my interventions in the Greek text, to offer some parallels from other - mainly rhetorical - works and to give the quotations of the classical authors to which Metochites refers. Obviously the commentary does not provide exhaustive discussion of the many different topics raised in <i>Byzantios</i>, but I hope to have provided a minimum bibliography for further study. The appendix at the end shows how much Metochites followed Menander's precepts. I believe that the indexes will also prove useful to the reader.

This paper seeks to continue the research started by scholars such as W. Liebeschuetz and P. Bell in order to challenge the traditional argument put forth by Al. Cameron, namely that the circus factions did not have a political role in society. The objective of this study is to examine the political importance of the circus factions from the reign of Anastasius (491-518) to Heraclius (610-641). Furthermore, it explores the political motivations behind the factions’ violent behaviour, the evidence for their involvement in the military, and their role in accession ceremonies. The methodology includes establishing a typology for sixth century riots, an examination of the hippodrome and its role as a medium between people and emperor, tracing the shift in the focus of imperial ideology, and a re-evaluation of the primary sources, with a focus on the literary and epigraphic evidence, to determine if there was a political aspect to the factions. The study concludes that Cameron did undervalue the factions’ political importance and outlines the conditions that were influential in their rise in importance.

Depuis le IXe siècle l’organisation étatique et ecclésiastique ainsi que la culture spirituelle et matérielle des peuples slaves du Sud se sont directement inspirées de Byzance. Durant la seconde moitié du XIVe siècle, la conquête turque bouleverse les États balkaniques dont l’Empire byzantin. Ces changements ont provoqué des transformations dans le fonctionnement et dans les relations entre les Églises mais aussi entre les États. La présente thèse approfondit les enjeux de la relation entre Byzance et les pouvoirs séculiers et ecclésiastiques des pays slaves des Balkans, la manière dont ces enjeux ont transformé la politique byzantine au sein de cette région, et enfin comment, en retour, l'instabilité politique de ces États a modelé la politique de l’Église byzantine. Il s'agit ainsi de comprendre comment l’Église byzantine a assumé un rôle de gardienne des intérêts séculiers de l'Empire Byzantin en voie de disparition, d’abord face à l’expansionnisme serbe, puis face à la disparition de l’État bulgare et aux ambitions russes, seule puissance orthodoxe en croissance à cette date. / Since the ninth century, many aspects of the state and of the ecclesiastical organization as well as of the spiritual and material culture of the South Slav peoples have been directly inherited from Byzantium. During the second half of the fourteenth century, the Turkish conquest induced drastic changes in the Balkan states including the Byzantine empire. These changes have led to many shifts in the way of functioning but also in the relationship between not only the churches but also between the states. This thesis examines more deeply the issues at stake between Byzantium and the secular and ecclesiastical powers of the Slavic Balkan countries, the way that these issues have transformed the Byzantine policy in this area, and finally how, in return, political instability of these states has shaped the politics of the Byzantine Church. It will thus be an attempt to understand how the Byzantine Church has endorsed the role of guardian of the secular interests of the endangered Byzantine Empire, first facing the Serbian expansionism and then facing the disappearance of the Bulgarian state and lastly facing the Russian's ambitions considering that they were the only growing orthodox power at the time.

abstract: On the Antichrist (CPG 3946) is an eschatological sermon historically attributed to Efrem the Syrian. Composed in Koine Greek, On the Antichrist is not an authentic Efremic sermon but is attributed to the construct Greek Efrem, often called in the literature ‘Ephraem Graecus’. Sometime around the 12th century, Slavic Christians translated the work into Old Church Slavonic. As its goal, this study employs On the Antichrist to investigate how religions (e.g. Christianity) employ religio-cultural constructs and either refine, or redefine, them for new audiences and circumstances. To accomplish this, the author transcribes and translates one of the most important manuscript witnesses of this sermon (labelled Ov1), translates it, compares it with other early witnesses, and analyzes the differences between the Greek and OCS versions of the text in order to ascertain the variations in the versions and to posit why such variations might have arisen in the transmission of this sermon. Finally, the critical edition is interrogated to propose a date of the autographic text-form of On the Antichrist to the 6th to 8th centuries. This dissertation finds that multiple recensions of the sermon evolved from the earliest recension, the A Recension. The Old Church Slavonic recension of On the Antichrist falls squarely within the A Recension and seems to share a common ancestral tradition with the other A Recension manuscripts and help to reconstruct the early history of On the Antichrist. Thus, this dissertation provides one necessary step in preparation for the difficult task of preparing a critical edition of this sermon. The sermon draws heavily upon 2 Thessalonians 2 and the Little Apocalypse. Two manuscripts overtly indicate multiple meters for the sermon, but two others only hint at such divisions, and the nature of the meters (Aramaic or Byzantine) is uncertain. The sermon itself references no datable historical events. The Greek of the sermon analyzing to a Late Koine/Early Byzantine cusp language datable to between the 6th to 8th centuries. For all the uncertainties and puzzles this sermon presents, the evidence clearly points to at least one conclusion: Efrem the Syrian (d.373) cannot have authored this work, and there is no way currently to ascertain the author. Finally, this dissertation adduces an argument that Byzantine and Slavic Christians preserved On the Antichrist because of its emphasis upon humility and penitence, which allowed for the sermon to be incorporated into Orthodox liturgy by the 10th century. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Religious Studies 2019

No description available.

This thesis explores the literary topos in which heresy is defined in terms of disease, focusing particular attention on the reign of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118). By examining the portrayals of two heretics – the philosopher Ioannes Italos and the dualist Bogomil heresiarch Basileios – in a body of interrelated source material, conclusions are drawn related to the contemporary thought-world, which influenced the authors, their works and their understanding of the heterodox threat. This, in turn, is used to gain insight into the contemporary dynamics of imperial propaganda and power. There are four main chapters, the first of which discusses the methodological approach adopted throughout this study. This section treats various questions related to the problems inherent in heresy scholarship, such as the ever-changing definition of ‘heresy' and the use of source material that is fundamentally antagonistic towards the heretical subject. The second chapter traces the transmission of the focal topos, ‘heresy as disease', within heresiology from its origins in the fourth-century Panarion of the bishop Epiphanios of Salamis up to the twelfth century, where it is found used prevalently by the court of Alexios I. Chapter three then offers a detailed analysis of the primary sources that are employed in the case studies of Italos and Basileios: Anna Komnene's Alexias, Euthymios Zygabenos's Panoplia Dogmatike, the Synodikon of Orthodoxy and trial proceedings preserved from the synodal examination of Italos. The final chapter explores the surviving presentations of both men – their depictions as ‘outsiders' and the specific association developed between their teachings and disease – within the context of the newly emerging and insecure Komnenian dynasty. ‘Heresy as disease' is found to transmit an ideological framework, allowing Alexios to reinforce his unstable position by capitalising on the image of the great Orthodox doctor, providing a cure for the common soul.