According to the orthodox priest John Meyendorff, the Byzantine dream consisted of the establishment of a universal Christian empire spiritually and politically governed by the emperor of Constantinople. This essay intends to shed light on the topic of Byzantine religious and political expansion in the context of Byzantine view on Barbaricum and the barbarians inhabiting it. The fundamental question asked is: how do the Byzantines view the barbarians outside the Byzantine Empire and in what sense, if any, does this view have implications for the Byzantine dream? To answer the question the essay examines four 6th century historians, namely: Procopius of Caesarea, Johannes Malalas, Menander Protector and Agathias of Myrina. The method being used is a hermeneutical method and the theoretical framework is made up of Edward Said’s Orientalism. The results indicate that the barbarians in Barbaricum were viewed upon with great distrust. The Byzantines considered the barbarians to be ontologically different from themselves. Furthermore, the Byzantines regarded the barbarians behaviour as uncivilized. The typical barbarian was deemed to be wild, cruel, irrational, mostly religiously backwards, lacking in education and, more often than not, displaying arrogance and boasting. At the same time they were mystified, and thought of as physically impressive beings capable of unnatural strength. Consequently, the barbarians were viewed upon as creatures of lust and physicality rather than, like the Byzantines, beings of rationality and sense. The conclusion can be made that the Byzantines regarded Barbaricum in much the same manner as the postcolonial powers regarded the Orient – through the construction of a dichotomy between the self and the other. Concerning the Byzantine adherence to the Byzantine dream as expressed by John Meyendorff, to spread the Byzantine Empire beyond its borders and consume Barbaricum by political and religious means, the results indicate that there are reasons to question Meyendorff’s assumption. It’s plausible that there indeed were Byzantine inclinations to transform Barbaricum. Furthermore, the results indicate that the Byzantine view of the barbarians played some part in shaping that inclination. It’s, however, also plausible that while the Byzantines may have strived to transform Barbaricum, it doesn’t neccessarily follow that it had to succumb to Byzantine imperial authority. The investigated sources seem to suggest that the primary Byzantine goal was solely to transform Barbaricum religiously and politically into something that resembled the Byzantine Empire but wasn’t necessarily a full fledged part of it.

This thesis analyses the ancient Greek lexica concerning the unique characteristics of the Attic dialects and the atticist lexica. The two most important - The Ecloga of Phrynichus and the so called Antiatticist - are put through the analysis of the differences or similarities they have, how they work with the lexical material, how they define the Standard Attic language, what canonical text they operate with and how would the authors have reacted to each other. The other Attic and Atticist lexica are described by quotes with translations. The thesis also summarizes the present status of research in Greek lexicography. Keywords Ancient Greek lexicography, Atticism, Attic Greek, Phrynichus, Antiatticist, Aristophanes of Byzantium, Moiris.

The humanist Biondo wrote three different narratives of the Fourth Crusade aimed at establishing the legitimacy of western claims to lands in the east. Biondo had played an integral part in the ephemeral reunification of the Greek and Latin Churches at the Council of Florence in July 1439. Biondo blamed the Greeks for the failure and thus did not mourn the loss of their empire to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. However, Biondo did urge several states in the Italian Peninsula to set out en mass to fight the Turks. He viewed the fall of Constantinople as an opportunity for the Latin West to reestablish its rightful empire in the east. He explicated this opinion in at least two different treatises dedicated to rulers shortly after the fall of the ancient city. To Alfonso of Aragon, Biondo argued that the King could establish a peaceful and prosperous extension of his maritime holdings to include a fallen empire with no legal ruler. To the Venetians, he presented the Fourth Crusade as a glorious victory that established their legal claim to rule the now-lost remnants of the Byzantine Empire. Biondo shaped his source material of the Fourth Crusade into an historical narrative that made this primary argument and urged powerful rulers in the Italian peninsula to take back what was rightfully theirs.

The thesis is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the manuscript Marcianus graecus 524, the second looks at the Greek text of the dedicatory epigrams on works of art from the same manuscript, and the third puts these texts in their context. In the first part, the compilation of the manuscript is analysed. I suggest that the manuscript was copied mainly by one individual scribe living in Constantinople at the end of the thirteenth century. He copied the quires individually, but at some point he put all these quires together, added new quires, and compiled an anthology of poetry. The scribe’s connection to the Planudean School and the Petra monastery in Constantinople is discussed. Although their relationship remains inconclusive, the manuscript provides evidence regarding the literary interests of late-thirteenth-century intellectuals. The second part contains thirty-five unpublished dedicatory epigrams on works of art. New readings are offered for the text of previously published epigrams. The third section analyses the dedicatory epigrams on works of art in their context. The first chapter of this section discusses the epigrams as Gebrauchstexte, i.e. texts with a practical use. The difference between epigrams intended to be inscribed and epigrams intended to be performed is highlighted. In the next chapter of this part, La poésie de l’objet, the composition of the dedicatory epigrams is discussed. The conventional character of the epigrams suggests that the poetics express the ritual aspect of the epigram. The last chapter considers the texts from a more pragmatic angle. After a short discussion of the objects on which the epigrams were written, the mechanisms of the twelfth-century art market are presented based on evidence taken mainly from the epigrams. At the end of this part, conclusions are drawn on the understanding of these texts in the twelfth century.

This dissertation offers the first systematic historical contextualization and literary analysis of the five saints' lives composed by Philotheos Kokkinos (ca. 1300-1378) for his contemporaries Nikodemos the Younger, Sabas the Younger, Isidore Boucheir, Germanos Maroules, and Gregory Palamas. Notwithstanding Kokkinos' prominent role in the political and ecclesiastical scene of fourteenth-century Byzantium, as well as the size and significance of his hagiographic oeuvre, both the hagiographer and his saints' lives have received surprisingly little scholarly attention. My dissertation fills this gap and shows Kokkinos as a gifted hagiographer who played a leading role, both through his ecclesiastical authority and hagiographic discourse, in orchestrating the societal breakthrough of hesychast theology that has remained at the core of Christian Orthodoxy up to this day. The dissertation is structured in three parts. The first, Philotheos Kokkinos and His OEuvre, offers an extensive biographical portrait of Kokkinos, introduces his literary oeuvre, and discusses its manuscript tradition. A thorough palaeographical investigation of fourteenth-century codices carrying his writings reveals Kokkinos' active involvement in the process of copying, reviewing, and publishing his own works. This section includes an analysis of the 'author's edition' manuscript Marcianus graecus 582, and presents its unusual fate. Moreover, Part I establishes the chronology of Kokkinos' vitae of contemporary saints and offers biographical sketches of his heroes, highlighting their relationship to their hagiographer. The second part, Narratological Analysis of Kokkinos' Vitae of Contemporary Saints, constitutes the first comprehensive analysis of Kokkinos' narrative technique. It first discusses the types of hagiographic composition ('hagiographic genre') Kokkinos employed for his saints' lives (hypomnema, bios kai politeia, and logos), and then it offers a detailed investigation that sheds light on the organization of the narrative in Kokkinos' vitae and his use of specific narrative devices. This includes a discussion of hesychastic elements couched in the narrative. Part II concludes with considerations on Kokkinos' style and intended audience. The third part, Saints and Society, begins with a detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the miracle accounts Kokkinos wove in his saints' lives. This considers the miracle typology, types of afflictions, methods of healing, and the demographic characteristics of the beneficiaries (such as age, gender, and social status), revealing that Kokkinos shows a predilection for including miracles for members of the aristocracy. Second, it presents Kokkinos' view on the relationship between the imperial office and ecclesiastical authority by analysing how he portrays the emperor(s) in his vitae. Moreover, this part addresses the saints' encounters with the 'other' (Muslims and Latins), revealing Kokkinos' nuanced understanding of the threats and opportunities raised by these interactions. Finally, it makes the claim that through his saints' lives Kokkinos offers models of identification and refuge in the troubled social and political context of fourteenth-century Byzantium, promoting a spiritual revival of society. As my dissertation shows, Kokkinos' vitae of contemporary saints sought to shape and were shaped by the political and theological disputes of fourteenth-century Byzantium, especially those surrounding hesychasm. Their analysis offers insights into the thought-world of their author and sheds more light on the late-Byzantine religious and cultural context of their production. The dissertation is equipped with six technical appendices presenting the chronology of Kokkinos' life and works, the narrative structure of his vitae of contemporary saints, a critical edition of the preface of his hitherto unedited Logos on All Saints (BHG 1617g), a transcription of two hitherto unedited prayers Kokkinos addressed to the emperors, the content of Marc. gr. 582 and Kokkinos' autograph interventions, and manuscript plates.

À la veille de la prise définitive de Thessalonique, l’archevêque Syméon (†1429) apporte les dernières retouches à son commentaire mystagogique, l’Explication touchant le temple divin, les ornements sacrés et la divine Mystagogie. Il s’agit de la troisième version d’un traité destiné à l’origine au clergé crétois. Le dernier traité mystagogique byzantin fait le tableau des fastes d’une liturgie pontificale et enregistre les derniers développements d’un rituel dont l’évolution touche alors à son terme. Synthèse de la tradition mystagogique qui l’a précédé, l’ouvrage manifeste un véritable retour aux sources du genre (Denys l’Aréopagite et Maxime le Confesseur). Syméon y propose un exposé de la doctrine eucharistique conforme aux thèses palamites sur la Grâce, conçue comme énergie commune aux hypostases de la Trinité mais distincte de son essence. Ce commentaire a joué un rôle essentiel dans le développement et la transmission du palamisme au sein de l’Église grecque. Cette dernière version est conservée dans le Zagorensis 23, où une main est intervenue directement dans le corps et les marges du texte afin de le corriger et de l’amplifier. La question de savoir si ces interventions sont autographes se pose. Nous tenterons d’en comprendre la signification. D’autre part les quatre témoins qui conservent cette version révisée, nous permettront d’en retracer l’histoire. Complétée par ces quatre témoins, nous présentons une édition de la leçon du Zagorensis, de lecture souvent difficile et lacunaire. Elle sera accompagnée d’une traduction. En contrepoint, l’étude de la tradition manuscrite nous permettra d’esquisser l’histoire de deux premières versions de cette œuvre / On the eve of the definitive fall of Thessalonica, archbishop Symeon (1429 ) brings the last touch to his mystagogical comment, the Explanation about the Divine Temple, the Sacred Ornaments and Divine Mystagogy. It is the third version of a treaty originally intended for the Cretan clergy. The last Byzantine Mystagogical treaty made thepicture of the splendors of an episcopal liturgy and registered the last developments of a rite the evolution of which touched then its term. Synthesis of the mystagogical tradition which preceded, the work testifies for a real return to the sources of the genre (Denys the Areopagite and Maxime the Confessor). Symeon proposes a presentation of the eucharistic doctrine in accordance with the palamites theses on the Grace, conceived as the energy common to the hypostases of the Trinity but different from Their essence. This comment played anessential role in the development and the transmission of Palamism within the Greek Church. This last version is preserved in Zagorensis 23, where a hand intervened directly in the body and the margins of the text to correct and amplify it. The question to know if these interventions are original arises. We shall try to understand its meaning. On the other hand four witnesses which keep this revised version, will allow us to redraw its history. Completed by these four witnesses, we present an edition of the lesson of Zagorensis, whose reading is often difficult and incomplete. It will be accompanied with a translation. In counterpoint, the study of the handwritten tradition will allow us to sketch the history of first two versions of this work.

Military victories of the Byzantine army of the second half X – the beginning of XI c. created to image of military commanders who were motivated by the ancient military tradition and society underlined of the hopes and expectations. They have influenced to the formation of images of military commanders in the Byzantine commonwealth and become part of the imperial idea. In the master's study is investigated to the main types of military commanders in the historical works - ideal Roman commander, the holy Christian defender and a new type of Byzantine warrior, protector of his family, a warrior-intellectual. The last type of military commanders will receive in the future the most widespread and will be, finally, very close to the courtly chivalric culture. This thesis is devoted to the nature, value and, most importantly, the perception of triumph and victorious rhetoric. / Диссертация посвящена исследованию образов военачальников в византийской исторической литературе. Победы императорской армии во второй половине X – начале XI в. нашли значительное отражение в византийской литературе. Созданные в исторических сочинениях этого времени образы полководцев являлись продолжением античной традиции. Автором исследованы основные литературные типы полководцев: римский идеал военачальника; святой воин, защитник христиан; воин, защитник своей семьи; воин-интеллектуал. В XII в. образ воина-интеллектуала получит широкое распространение, и станет близок к образам куртуазной рыцарской литературы. Помимо этого, в диссертации изучены сущность, значение и общественное восприятие триумфа, а также особенности византийской победной риторики.

Работа посвящена участию маршала Жана II Ле Менгра, прозванного Бусико, во французской политике в Средиземноморье на рубеже XIV–XV в. Для достижения целей исследования был установлен ход и результаты французской внешней политики, а также личность самого маршала Бусико. В результате было установлено, что Жан II Ле Менгр участвовал в военных экспедициях французской короны на Балканы (1396 г.) и в Малую Азию (1399), а также управлял Генуей (1401–1409) от имени французского короля Карла VI Валуа. Военный опыт и дипломатические связи позволили Бусико обеспечить локальные тактические успехи на каждом направлении проводимой внешней политики в Средиземноморье, однако его ресурсов и навыков не хватило для того, чтобы Франция добилась стратегического успеха в Средиземноморском регионе на рубеже XIV–XV в. / The work is devoted to the participation of Marshal Jean II Le Meingres, called Boucicaut, in French politics in the Mediterranean at the turn of the 14th–15th centuries. To achieve the goals of the study, the course and results of French foreign policy, as well as the personality of Marshal Boucicaut himself, were established. As a result, it was established that Jean II Le Meingres participated in the military expeditions of the French crown to the Balkans (1396) and Asia Minor (1399), and also ruled Genoa (1401–1409) on behalf of the French king Charles VI of Valois. Military experience and diplomatic connections allowed Boucicaut to ensure local tactical successes in each direction of foreign policy in the Mediterranean, but his resources and skills were not enough for France to achieve strategic success in the Mediterranean region at the turn of the 14th–15th centuries.

В настоящей работе анализируется тактический аспект Варненской битвы 1444 г. Автор приходит к выводу, что причины поражения антиосманской коалиции кроются главным образом в различиях военных систем и организации армий двух сторон противостояния. / This paper analyzes the tactical aspect of the Battle of Varna in 1444. The author concludes that the reasons for the defeat of the anti-Ottoman coalition lie mainly in the differences in military systems and the organization of the armies of the two sides of the confrontation.

La tesi riguarda la Seconda Lega ateniese, di cui si studia il periodo, solitamente trascurato, compreso tra la fine della Guerra Sociale (355/4 a.C.) e la sconfitta di Atene a Cheronea (338 a.C.). Fonti principali, come del resto per il periodo precedente, sono le iscrizioni. Vengono quindi analizzate, in ordine geografico e cronologico, diciassette epigrafi di interesse storico (per lo più iscrizioni onorarie e trattati), considerate utili nella ricostruzione delle modalità di intervento ateniese all’interno della Lega. Area geografica privilegiata è la Grecia settentrionale, più immediatamente a contatto con l’espansionismo macedone. Obiettivo della tesi è infatti chiarire se la storia della Lega navale, più che una progressiva perdita di significato, non metta in evidenza un costante e coerente riorientamento degli obiettivi, stimolata dal confronto con Filippo II di Macedonia. / The topic of this thesis is the Second Athenian League during its final, usually underrated period, namely between the end of the Social War (355/4 B.C.) and the Athenian defeat at Chaeronea (338 B.C.). The sources for the history of the League both before and after the Social War are mainly epigraphical. Accordingly, seventeen historical inscriptions are carefully examined and thoroughly commented on: these are mostly honorific decrees and treaties, all of which proved to be useful to investigate how Athens acted within its League. The study, focusing on Northern Greece as the latter became more and more endangered by the growing power of Macedon, tries to ascertain whether the history of the Second Athenian League, far from becoming meaningless, might show a steady and consistent reorientation of its tasks, in and because of the military confrontation with Philip II.