This book uses Pseudo-Dionysius and his mystic theology to explore attitudes and beliefs about images in the early medieval West and Byzantium. Composed in the early sixth century, the Corpus Dionysiacum, the collection of texts transmitted under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, developed a number of themes which have a predominantly visual and spatial dimension. Pseudo-Dionysius’ contribution to the development of Christian visual culture, visual thinking and figural art-making are examined in this book to systematically investigate his long-lasting legacy and influence. The contributors embrace religious studies, philosophy, theology, art, and architectural history, to consider the depth of the interaction between the Corpus Dionysiacum and various aspects of contemporary Byzantine and western cultures, including ecclesiastical and lay power, politics, religion, and art.
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Author(s): Francesca Dell’Acqua, Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi
Series: New Approaches To Byzantine History And Culture
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 351
Tags: History Of Medieval Europe
Front Matter ....Pages i-xxix
Reassessing the Historico-Doctrinal Background of Pseudo-Dionysius’ Image Theory (Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi)....Pages 1-39
Eikon and Symbolon in the Corpus Dionysiacum: Scriptures and Sacraments as Aesthetic Categories (Angelo Tavolaro)....Pages 41-75
Pseudo-Dionysius and the Importance of Sensible Things (Filip Ivanović)....Pages 77-87
The Relation of Monks to Clergy in the Dionysian Hierarchy and Its Byzantine Reception (Evgenios Iverites)....Pages 89-131
Images of Holy Men in Late Antiquity in Light of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite: Framing Spiritual Ascent and Visualising Spiritual Hierarchy (Katherine Marsengill)....Pages 133-176
Pseudo-Dionysius and the Staging of Divine Order in Sixth-Century Architecture (Vladimir Ivanovici)....Pages 177-210
‘Visual Thinking’ and the Influence of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the Homilies and Hymns of Andrew of Crete (Mary B. Cunningham)....Pages 211-237
Pseudo-Dionysius and the Dormition of the Virgin Platytéra (‘Wider Than the Heavens’) (Francesca Dell’Acqua)....Pages 239-282
Pseudo-Dionysius and the Post-Iconoclastic Mosaic Programme of Hagia Sophia (Natalia B. Teteriatnikov)....Pages 283-319
Back Matter ....Pages 321-329
