Project to discover who came to Mount Athos in the Middle Ages
Zachary Chitwood of Mainz University will set up a comprehensive database that will include the inhabitants and visitors of Athos over a period of 700 years.
The First Christian Rus’ Generation: Contextualizing the Black Sea Events of 1016, 1024 and 1043
What caused the largely naval wars of 1016, 1024 and 1043 which involved commanders and rulers of Rus’ and Byzantium? Have modern interpretations of these events done justice to them?
The Shroud of Turin was in the Byzantine Empire before 1204 AD, researchers suggest
Could the Shroud of Turin have been displayed in the Byzantine Empire before the thirteenth-century? A pair of Italian scholars suggest so, basing their theory on micro-particles of gold found on the famous cloth
Diplomacy, bribery, trickery and ‘other means’: Defending the Byzantine Empire
I will try to figure out the delicate equilibrium between the appetite of the Byzantines for war, and their willingness to negotiate by ‘other means’, i.e diplomacy, or the employment of stratagems, craft, and bribery.
Trans-Saharan gold trade and Byzantine coinage
This article suggests that minting at Carthage of the Byzantine gold coins known as globular solidi was related to the acquisition of metal through developing trans-Saharan contacts.
Byzantine strategy in the East and the key role of Armenia
What were the deeper reasons that drew the super-power of the time, Byzantium, into a protracted and ‘all-out’ conflict with the Arabs of Aleppo in the middle of the 10th century?
The past and future of De Velitatione Bellica and Byzantine Guerrilla Warfare
This manual contains a great deal of seemingly plausible advice on how to engage in low-intensity warfare along the Byzantine-Islamic frontier across the Tauros and Anti-Tauros Mountains.
Byzantine painting treatises: the case of Codex Panteleimoniensis 259
This article aims to examine the material of a codex entitled Hermeneia of the Painters.
The Danger of the Soft Life: Manly and Unmanly Romans in Procopius’s Gothic War
Rather than uncovering the Goths, Byzantines, and Italians “as they really were,” this paper seeks to unearth some of the purpose and reasoning behind Procopius’s gendered depictions and ethnicizing worldview.
From peasant to Byzantine emperor: the remarkable career of Basil the ‘Macedonian’
The unexpected rise of Basil and the obscurity of his origins resulted in one of the most striking features of the history of the early Macedonian dynasty: the growth of a myth around his birth, his early life and achievements
Love, marriage and abduction in Byzantium: the epic romance of Digenes Akritas
What can an epic poem from the the 12th century tells us about love and marriage in the Byzantine world?
Magic and the Warding-off of Barbarians in Constantinople, 9th – 12th Centuries
What remains to be seen is how the populace of the middle-Byzantine Constantinople tried to ward off “barbarians” by resorting to the “magical properties” of bewitched statues.
How to criticize: The Chronicle of Constantine Manasses
Few can match the 12th century chronicler Constantine Manasses when it comes to inventive ways to criticize a ruler.
Piracy and reprisal in Byzantine waters: resolving a maritime conflict between Byzantines and Genoese at the end of the twelfth century
In 1192, Genoese and Pisan pirates under the command of a Genoese corsair pillaged Venetian ships carrying merchandise and valuable gifts for the Byzantine emperor from the Sultan of Egypt.
What was the fate of the ‘True Cross’ in the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars?
Despite the fact that there is a relative abundance of contemporary or near contemporary sources on Heraclius’ campaigns, it is hard – if not impossible – to retrace the chronology of the events leading up to the restoration of the Cross.
Protecting Against Child-Killing Demons: Uterus Amulets in the Late Antique and Byzantine Magical World
This doctoral dissertation examines medicinal-magical amulets pertaining to the uterus and the protection of women and children, the accompanying tradition of magical texts, and the mythology and folktales of demons believed to kill children and parturient women.
Over 800 medieval manuscripts to be digitised
Hundreds of medieval and early modern Greek manuscripts – including classical texts and some of the most important treatises on religion, mathematics, history, drama and philosophy – are to be digitised thanks a collaboration between Cambridge University, Heidelberg University and the Vatican Library.
The aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert (1071): What really brought the Byzantine Empire to its knees
The real challenge for the Empire in the aftermath of Manzikert lay in the mad scramble for power in Constantinople.
Domestic violence against women as a reason to sanctification in Byzantine hagiography
The lives of Matrona of Perge, Mary the Younger and Thomaïs of Lesbos are rare examples of how domestic violence against women could be also interpreted as a reason to sanctify the woman suffered abuses of this sort.
The Mongols in Europe: The Byzantines, the Bulgarians and the Golden Horde
How did the Mongol presence in the Balkans effect its two main political powers – the Byzantines and the Bulgarians?
Can you solve these Byzantine riddles?
Here are five riddles written in the eleventh-century. Can you answer them?
The Mongol invasions and the Aegean world (1241–61)
This article examines the decisive role played by the Mongols in the political history of the Aegean region in the thirteenth century. The Mongol invasions of 1241–44 were the key turning point in the struggle for hegemony in the region.
How the borders of the Byzantine Empire changed in the Middle Ages
Here are several videos that track the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire
The world view of the anonymous author of the Greek Chronicle of the Tocco, 14th-15th centuries
Written in 3923 ‘political verses’, the anonymous Chronicle of the Tocco is an epic family chronicle, which describes the history of the Tocco family – mainly the deeds of Carlo I Tocco, as well as the events which took place in Western Greece and the islands of Zakynthos, Leukas, Cephalonia and Ithaca during the years 1375-1422.
