Project uses GIS to map Jewish communities of the Byzantine Empire
Geographic information systems – once limited to the domain of physical geographers – are emerging as a promising tool to study the past, as researchers are discovering for medieval history.
The city of walls: Constantinople
The world owes much of its cultural legacy to Constantinople’s walls. When Constantinople was under siege by neighboring enemies, the Roman city’s elaborate system of moats, outer walls, and inner walls stood tall.
Byzantine mosaic discovered in Israel
The 1500 year-old mosaic was discovered during archaeological excavations ahead of the construction of a new highway.
Late Antique and Early Byzantine fortifications in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Geographically, the province of Dalmatia can be divided into two zones: the coastal and the mountainous regions.
The Battle of Yarmuk
On August 20, 636 AD, a battle was fought in Syria between the Roman army and a Saracen force made up of allied Arab tribes which during the previous decade had been converted to the new monotheistic religion of the prophet Mohammed.
Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier
This paper considers historical perspectives on recently discovered archaeological evidence in what was the sixth-century Roman-Persian frontier region.
The Death Toll of Justinian’s Plague and Its Effects on the Byzantine Empire
In 541 a plague arrived in Egypt and rapidly began to spread. The following account of the beginning of the plague, while clearly an exaggeration still shows the impact of the disease.
Hades Stabbed by the Cross of Christ
A Byzantine ivory carved with the crucifixion of Christ has long been considered one of the treasures of the medieval collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Delivering stability: Primogeniture and autocratic survival in European monarchies 1000-1800
Although the dominating position of primogeniture at the end of the period might seem natural given primogeniture’s many advantages for the monarch and the ruling elite it was first rather late in history that the principle came to dominate Europe.
The Monk as an Element of Byzantine Society
In Byzantium, the monk – at least as a projected ideal – embodied the aspirations of his society as a whole.
The early years of Justin I’s reign in the sources
In the night of 8—9 July 518 the aged emperor Anastasius died during a violent storm. On the following day, 9 July, the magister officiorum Celer gathered together the other high palace officials to deliberate and choose another emperor.
Byzantine wine press discovered in Jaffa
Archaeological excavations in the Israeli city of Jaffa have uncovered what was likely a wine press that dates back to the Byzantine era.
The Story of Byzantine
This short documentary tells the story of Byzantine.
Basil II and the government of Empire (976-1025)
The reign of Basil II (976-1025) is widely accepted as the apogee of medieval Byzantium.
Striking a Match on Byzantium’s “Dark Age”
The seventh and eighth centuries have been called the “Dark Age” of Byzantium because of the paucity of historical sources that illuminate them. This lack is commonly ascribed more to scant production than to failed transmission.
Blood-brothers: a ritual of friendship and the construction of the imagined barbarian in the middle ages
My reflections are part of a broad stream of inquiries into the world of medieval rituals which has proved to be very fertile during the last two decades, but which also has its limits. For more than twenty years now, medievalists have discovered and analysed the importance of personal relationships for the organization of societies before the existence of states in a modern sense of the word.
The Battle of Beroia: A Byzantine ‘Face of Battle’
It was by reading John Keegan’s Face of Battle that I discovered that it was possible to write military history that was both intellectually rigorous and engaging to read.
The Mystery of the Marble Man and his Hat: A Reconsideration of the Bari Episcopal Throne
Until the twentieth century, the throne was universally held to have been sculpted in or immediately before 1098 for Elias, the abbot of San Nicola and archbishop of Bari and Canosa.
Russian Pilgrims in Constantinople
If one compares the Russian Anthony text with the original Mercati Anonymus text, the longest and most detailed of the three extant contemporary Western descriptions of the shrines of Constantinople, one finds that the Latin text includes only twenty of the seventy-six religious shrines mentioned by the Russian enumeration.
Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy
It is a commonplace that our modern, tidy distinction between astronomy and astrology does not apply to the Middle Ages.
The Emperor, the Church, and Chariot Races: The Imperial Struggles with Christianity and Entertainment in Late Antique Constantinople
With seating available for around 80,000 citizens, just under one sixth of the population of Constantinople in the fifth century could get their voices heard by the emperor at each of the nearly 70 races held in the hippodrome every year, making chariot racing the most popular sport in the Roman world.
The Ideology of the Feminine in Byzantine historical narrative: The role of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis of Histories
“Who once sliced men more sharoly than the sword Is victim of a woman…Epitaph for Emperor Nicephoros II Phocas.
Conversion and Empire: Byzantine Missionaries, Foreign Rulers, and Christian Narratives (ca. 300-900)
For a broader modern audience today, if taken somewhat journalistically, Pusicius’ story is an example that cuts along cultural and religious lines that presumably originate in ancient, political divisions and confirm a “clash of civilizations” thesis.