Life on the Byzantine-Arab Frontier
A look at the long-lasting conflict between the Byzantine and Abbasid empires.
When does Roman history end and Byzantine begin? with Marion Kruse
By what standards can anyone say that Roman history ends at some point and Byzantine history begins? Or is Byzantine history rather a phase of Roman history?
Byzantine poetry on its own terms, with Marc Lauxtermann
We talk about how modern Romantic notions of poetry as well as the ancient meters of classical Greek have distorted the expectations that we place on Byzantine poetry, and then discuss the specific contexts that gave rise to poetry in Byzantine society. Who were the poets? How did poems accompany objects and events?
‘We knew not whether we were in Heaven or on Earth’: Justinian’s Hagia Sophia
Completed nearly 1,500 years ago, the Hagia Sophia is both an architectural masterpiece and a cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization
Reappraising the Silk Road: Byzantium and Ancient China
In this talk, as a Chinese byzantinist, I will present the recent focuses on Byzantium and ancient China along the Silk Road, based on which, to reappraise the significance of the Silk Road in the historical context.
How a Byzantine aqueduct in Constantinople was maintained for 700 years
One of the great technological accomplishments of the ancient Romans was the aqueducts they built to bring water long distances. New research has revealed that an aqueduct built in fourth-century Constantinople would remain in operation for over 700 years.
The story of a Byzantine military manual: Syrianos magistros and his compendium ‘Anonymus Byzantinus’
Who was Syrianos, and how did he come to be identified as the author of a collection of works of military nature that so deeply influenced the Byzantine literary genre of the military manuals in the 10th century?
What did Byzantine music sound like? (The answer is more political than you’d expect), with Alexander Lingas
A conversation with Alexander Lingas on the debates surrounding the reconstruction of Byzantine music. We discuss the common origins of western and eastern Christian traditions, when they parted ways, and how both traditions passed through phases of reinvention. Why does the modern performance of Gregorian Chant sound so different from Byzantine chant?
The double-headed eagle as a symbol in the Byzantine Empire: myths and realities
After the Holy Cross, perhaps no other symbol has been associated more closely with the history and fate of the Byzantine Empire than the double-headed eagle motif
Byzantine Orthodoxy and homosexuality, with Stephen Morris
A conversation with Stephen Morris about the attitudes toward male homosexuality in different sites of Byzantine culture and the prospects for an orthodox recognition…
The materiality of Byzantine objects, with Elizabeth Dospěl Williams
A conversation with Elizabeth Dospěl Williams on how people in Byzantium experienced the materiality of the objects they used, especially jewelry and textiles. We look at some of those objects together, discuss their qualities, and situate our engagement with material culture in broader discussions of historical theory.
Ravenna and Constantinople in the 6th-8th centuries
Judith Herrin addresses the status of Ravenna as the Byzantine Empire’s outpost in the West
The case for Shenute the Great and the Coptic tradition, with Sofia Torallas Tovar and David Brakke
A conversation with Sofia Torallas Tovar and David Brakke about Coptic Egypt, the life and works of Shenute the Great, and how Coptic and Byzantine Studies can talk more with each other, just as the people they study talked to each other in the fourth-seventh centuries.
Raiders, marauders, ravagers, and pirates: their impact on Byzantine life, with Alexander Sarantis
Who were these raiders? What did they want? How did provincials and the empire as a whole respond to them? A fear of marauders probably doesn’t keep you up at night today, but this was a major anxiety in Byzantine life.
Byzantine Studies in Turkey 2.0, with Siren Çelik
A conversation with Siren Çelik about the new generation of Turkish Byzantine scholars, and the paths by which one might come to study Byzantium in Turkey and beyond.
The Siege of Constantinople, 717-718 AD – The Use of Naval Power
The Byzantine Empire’s skilled use of naval power can be seen during the Umayyad attempt to capture Constantinople in 717-718.
Byzantine erotic epigrams, with Steven Smith
A conversation with Steven Smith about worldly and sinful epigrams from the sixth century that talk about love, sex, food, and other pleasures.
A Byzantine man of affairs, with Dimitris Krallis
Could one rise from a provincial town to a position of power and wealth in the capital without having a military career?
Is it time to abandon the rubric “Byzantium”?, with Leonora Neville
A conversation with Leonora Neville on whether the scholarly rubric “Byzantium” does more harm than good. How did it come into being? What biases and ideologies, especially in the domain of gender, does it encode? What blind-spots and distortions does it create?
From India to Byzantium, with Paroma Chatterjee
A conversation with Paroma Chatterjee on Indian perspectives and approaches to Byzantium.
Ravenna, capital of empire between east and west, with Judith Herrin
A conversation with Judith Herrin about the fascinating history of Ravenna between 400 and 800 AD.
Byzantine tales of horror and the macabre
An anthology of Byzantine tales of horror. Learn about foul murders, demonic visitations, the undead, and the criminally insane; also, the Byzantine science of demonology and the spirit world.
The monastic experience, with Alice-Mary Talbot
A conversation with Alice-Mary Talbot on the experience of communal monastic life in Byzantium, ranging from its organization and rules to its religious goals, engagement with society, and differences between monasteries for men and women.
Hagia Sophia rediscovered, with Bissera Pentcheva
A conversation with Bissera Pentcheva about the sensory and spiritual experience of Hagia Sophia, where architecture, sound, and light met theology and prayer, based on her book Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium.