From Paganism to Christianity: Transition of the Insular Celts As Seen Through The Archaeological Record
These centuries of tension and adaptation provide the evidence for the interaction of Christianity and Celtic religions, but one must use caution when examining Celtic religion because of potentially biased evidence.
The Invisible Wall of St John. On Mental Centrality in Early Medieval Italy
The spatial categories of this society provided the basis for the view of certain places as being associated with a sacral materiality which is foreign to modern conceptualizations. It is the aim of this study to elucidate some of these early medieval notions of space.
Twelve-year project to research the Chronographia of John Malalas begins
The Chronographia of John Malalas has been considered one of the most important historical sources for the study of Byzantium.
What can written sources, sculpture and archaeology tell us about Pictish identity and how this might have changed between the sixth and ninth centuries?
Arguably one of the biggest changes in how the Picts portrayed themselves is understood through their use of sculpture. The earliest is thought to date to around the fifth century (Historic Scotland, 2012) lending itself to the Class I typology.
Catastrophe and Conspiracy: The evidence of the sixth century Byzantine sources for the AD 536 environmental event
Furthermore, as the historical record shows, the history of mankind did not end in 536 AD. To argue that the environmental event plunged the developed world into the Middle Ages is farfetched from a historical point of view.
The Papacy and the Imperial Court in the Aftermath of the Acacian Schism
Viezure’s paper examines how the Papacy portrayed their efforts to end the Acacian Schism, in what she describes as ‘an attempt to paint the image of a powerful Pope.’
John Lydus’ Political Message and the Byzantine Image of the Ideal Ruler
What makes a great emperor? This was one of the questions addressed by John Lydus, a 6th century Byzantine administrator and writer, whose work On Powers examined the rule of previous Roman emperors.
West versus East: the Sixth Century Literary Sources and Justinian’s Wars
Most scholars of the Byzantine empire have given an important role to Justinian’s invasion of Italy during the sixth century – it has been envisioned as a grand reconquest of the West by the East.
THE MINT OF AYLESBURY
As these numbers suggest, Aylesbury seems to have made a comparatively minor contribution to the Late Saxon coinage pool. Basing his calculations on a total of some 44,350 English coins, Petersson estimated that, in each issue for which its coins were known, Aylesbury was responsible for only 0.1% or 0.2% of the recorded coins of the issue…
Procopius of Caesarea and the Emperor Justinian
My purpose is to examine how Justinian appeared to one contemporary observer, the historian Procopius of Caesarea
The status of women in Roman and Frankish law
Under both Roman and Frankish laws, women, although they did not have judicial equality with men, did have many legal rights and freedoms.
Ecclesiastics and Ascetics: Finding Spiritual Authority in Fifth and Sixth Century Palestine
In the context of ongoing christological controversy and division within eastern Christianity, the relationship between ecclesiastic and ascetic authority is a fruitful avenue of investigation.
The Amber Trail in early medieval Eastern Europe.
The standard method employed in characterization studies of amber, namely infrared spectrography, can discriminate roughly between Baltic amber and amber from other European sources…
Masonry Techniques of the Early Sixth Century City Wall of Resafa, Syria
This paper will present some of our latest insights on the design of the wall and the structural techniques used for the masonry and will compare these features with similar building structures at other sites.
Clovis: How Barbaric, How Pagan?
The mainstream portrait of Clovis, still dominant in English and American writing, derives its many negative features from secondary sources written a half-century or more after his death and abounding in grossly unreliable anecdotes.
Doctors as Diplomats in the Sixth Century A.D.
In the Roman world the status of doctor as doctor was never high. When he did achieve repute or rank, that usually depended not upon his practice of medicine as such, but upon the social or political connections that accrued to him from his success in it.
Where to Live the Philosophical Life in the Sixth Century? Damascius, Simplicius, and the Return from Persia
When establishing an endpoint for the classical philosophical tradition in the Greco-Roman world, scholars often choose the closing of the Athenian Neoplatonic school by the emperor Justinian in 529.
Symbols of Protection: The Significance of Animal-ornamented Shields in Early Anglo-Saxon England
Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic decoration of shields can be evidenced, at least sporadically, from Roman to Viking times. While textual and pictorial information contributes to this knowledge, detailed archaeological analysis depends primarily on the survival of metal fittings.
Rheged: an Early Historic Kingdom near the Solway
Rheged (OW Reget), a kingdom thought to be located in south-west Scotland and northern England, appears briefly in the written record in the late sixth century, but little is known about it.
Justinian’s reconquest of the West : ideology, warfare, religion, and politics in sixth-century Byzantium
This thesis will examine the guiding ideology of Justinian’s emperorship and how that ideology especially manifested itself in terms of Justinian’s diplomacy and his relationship with the former provinces of the Western Roman Empire.
Byzantine Coins from the 6th and the 7th Century Found in Poland and their East Central European Context
In principle, the location of coins from the 6th and the 7th century in Poland corresponds to geographic distribution of the oldest finds related with the Slavs; the coins were found in South-Eastern Poland.
Writing Land in Anglo-Saxon England
In using writing as a means to contain dispute over time, the Anglo-Saxons repeatedly inscribed the troubling evidence of past dispute and anticipated loss into their thinking about land.
Miracle Stories and the Primary Purpose of Adomnán’s Vita Columbae
Adomnán, the author of the VC, was Columba’s ninth successor to the abbacy at Iona. 1 A great deal about his career, concerns and life can be found in contemporary literary evidence.
Relics, Religious Authority, and the Sanctification of Domestic Space in the Home Gregory of Tours: An Analysis of the Glory of the Confessors 20
With the rival clerics out of the way, Gregory still needed to solidify his new and publicly contested position with local elites and other powerful members of his new congregation. Thus, much of what Gregory did early in his episcopacy was intended to convince the community at Tours that he was their right man.