Global Byzantium is, in part, a recasting and expansion of the old ‘Byzantium and its neighbours’ theme with, however, a methodological twist away from the resolutely political and toward the cultural and economic. A second thing that Global Byzantium – as a concept – explicitly endorses is comparative methodology. Global Byzantium needs also to address three further issues: cultural capital, the importance of the local, and the empire’s strategic geographical location. Cultural capital: in past decades it was fashionable to define Byzantium as culturally superior to western Christian Europe, and Byzantine influence was a key concept, especially in art historical circles. This concept has been increasingly criticised, and what we now see emerging is a comparative methodology that relies on the concept of ‘competitive sharing’, not blind copying but rather competitive appropriation. The importance of the local is equally critical. We need to talk more about what the Byzantines saw when they ‘looked out’, and what others saw in Byzantium when they ‘looked in’ and to think about how that impacted on our, very post-modern, concepts of globalism. Finally, we need to think about the empire’s strategic geographical position: between the fourth and the thirteenth centuries, if anyone was travelling internationally, they had to travel across (or along the coasts of) the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was thus a crucial intermediary, for good or for ill, between Europe, Africa, and Asia – effectively, the glue that held the Christian world together, and it was also a critical transit point between the various Islamic polities and the Christian world.
Author(s): Leslie Brubaker, Rebecca Darley, Daniel Reynolds
Series: Society for Promotion of Byzantine Studies, 24
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 445
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Future of Global Byzantium
Notes
References
Chapter 1: Seen from across the Sea: India in the Byzantine Worldview
The Concept of Worldview: Whose World and Whose View?
The Tale of the Theban Scholastikos
The Christian Topography
A Ninth-Century Byzantine Sketch of India
On the Reckoning of the Indians
India across Time in the Byzantine Worldview
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 2: Byzantium beyond Byzantium: What about Greek(s) in Eighth-Century Italy? 1
Introduction
Easterners in Rome
Mary in Central Italy
The Hypapante: An Example
The Hypapante: Early Western Homilies
The Hypapante: The Sources
The Hypapante: Ways of Transmission
Autpertus and Greek(s)
Conclusions
Notes
References
Chapter 3: Silk in the Byzantine World: Technology and Transmission
Figured Silks in Historical Context
Research Approaches
Technological Significance
Research Programme
Materials
Weave Structure
Design
Classification
Summary
Textile Study Group
Notes
References
Chapter 4: Composing World History at the Margins of Empire: Armenian and Byzantine Traditions in Comparative Perspective
Notes
References
Chapter 5: Global Byzantium: Whirlwind Romance or Fundamental Paradigm Shift?
Notes
References
Chapter 6: Global or Local Art?: The Mosaic Panels of Justinian and Theodora in S Vitale, Ravenna 1
Notes
References
Chapter 7: Movement and Mobility: Cotton and the Visibility of Trade Networks across the Saharan Desert
Notes
References
Chapter 8: Maniera Greca and Renaissance Europe: More than Meets the Eye
Notes
References
Web Links
Chapter 9: Magical Signs in Christian Byzantium, Judaism, and Islam: A Global Language
Introduction
Intelligible Devices
Unintelligible Devices
Culturally Specific Devices
Conclusion
Notes
References
Chapter 10: How Global Was the Mediterranean in the Early Middle Ages?1 : A View from the Western Edge
Early Slave Trade and Its Implications
The Tenth-Century Trade Revival
The New Global Patterns
Notes
References
Chapter 11: Hegemony, Counterpower, and Global History: Medieval New Rome and Caucasia in a Critical Perspective
Introduction
Hegemony and New Rome
Counterpower and Caucasia
Towards an Anarchist History of Medieval New Rome and Caucasia
Acknowledgement
Notes
References
Chapter 12: What Is ‘Byzantine’?: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Construction of Identities on Byzantium’s Literary Frontiers
Notes
References
Chapter 13: The Helladic Paradigm in a Global Perspective
Notes
References
Chapter 14: Secluded Place or Global Magnet?: The Monastery of Saint Catherine in the Sinai and its Manuscript Collection
Current Holdings: The Old Collection
Digging Deeper: The New Finds
The Earliest Layer: Palimpsests
Notes
References
Chapter 15: Early Byzantine Art in China: A Test Case for Global Byzantium
Textual Evidence for Contact between Byzantium and China
Chinese Art in Byzantium?
Byzantine Art in China
Chinese Imitations of Byzantine Art
Byzantine Coins and Pseudo-Coins in Chinese Tombs: Some Hypotheses
Early Byzantine Art: A Global Art
Acknowledgement
Notes
References
Chapter 16: Centre or Periphery?: Constantinople and the Eurasian Trading System at the End of Antiquity
Late Antiquity: Modes of Production and Modes of Exchange
Nomads and Traders in Late Antique Central Asia
Sasanian Persia and the Late Antique Eurasian Trading System
The Imperial Household and the Commercial Economy
Conclusion: City of the World’s Desire? Constantinople and the Late Antique Eurasian Trading System
Notes
References
Chapter 17: Transferring Skills and Techniques across the Mediterranean: Some Preliminary Remarks on Stucco in Italy and Byzantium
The Church of Santa Maria in Valle, Cividale
The Church of San Salvatore in Brescia
Eastern Artisans?
Reconstructing Byzantine Stucco Practice(s)
Comparing Lombard, Byzantine, and Umayyad Stuccoes
Conclusions
Notes
References
Chapter 18: Import, Export: The Global Impact of Byzantine Marriage Alliances during the Tenth Century
Cultural Effects
Later Exogamic Practices
Notes
References
Chapter 19: Conclusion: Post-Colonial Reflections and the Challenge of Global Byzantium
Auja Hafir (Nessana)
Post-Colonial Reflections
Notes
References
Index
