Download or read book Between the Pagan Past and Christian Present in Byzantine Visual Culture written by Paroma Chatterjee and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Up to its pillage by the Crusaders in 1204, Constantinople teemed with magnificent statues of emperors, pagan gods, and mythical beasts. Yet the significance of this wealth of public sculpture has hardly been acknowledged beyond late antiquity. In this book, Paroma Chatterjee offers a new perspective on the topic, arguing that pagan statues were an integral part of Byzantine visual culture. Examining the evidence in patriographies, chronicles, novels, and epigrams, she demonstrates that the statues were admired for three specific qualities - longevity, mimesis, and prophecy; attributes that rendered them outside of imperial control and endowed them with an enduring charisma sometimes rivaling that of holy icons. Chatterjee's interpretations refine our conceptions of imperial imagery, the Hippodrome, the Macedonian Renaissance, a corpus of secular objects, and Orthodox icons. Her book offers novel insights into Iconoclasm and proposes a more truncated trajectory of the holy icon in medieval Orthodoxy than has been previously acknowledged.
Download or read book Between the Pagan Past and Christian Present in Byzantine Visual Culture written by Paroma Chatterjee and published by . This book was released on 2024-06-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Sources for Byzantine Art History Volume 3 The Visual Culture of Later Byzantium 1081 c 1350 written by Foteini Spingou and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-21 with total page 1683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Download or read book Pseudo Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture c 500 900 written by Francesca Dell’Acqua and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-20 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City written by Nikolas Bakirtzis and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-01-31 with total page 719 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Byzantine world contained many important cities throughout its empire. Although it was not ‘urban’ in the sense of the word today, its cities played a far more fundamental role than those of its European neighbors. This book, through a collection of twenty-four chapters, discusses aspects of, and different approaches to, Byzantine urbanism from the early to late Byzantine periods. It provides both a chronological and thematic perspective to the study of Byzantine cities, bringing together literary, documentary, and archival sources with archaeological results, material culture, art, and architecture, resulting in a rich synthesis of the variety of regional and sub-regional transformations of Byzantine urban landscapes. Organized into four sections, this book covers: Theory and Historiography, Geography and Economy, Architecture and the Built Environment, and Daily Life and Material Culture. It includes more specialized accounts that address the centripetal role of Constantinople and its broader influence across the empire. Such new perspectives help to challenge the historiographical balance between ‘margins and metropolis,’ and also to include geographical areas often regarded as peripheral, like the coastal urban centers of the Byzantine Mediterranean as well as cities on islands, such as Crete, Cyprus, and Sicily which have more recently yielded well-excavated and stratigraphically sound urban sites. The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City provides both an overview and detailed study of the Byzantine city to specialist scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike and, therefore, will appeal to all those interested in Byzantine urbanism and society, as well as those studying medieval society in general.
Download or read book Michael Palaiologos and the Publics of the Byzantine Empire in Exile c 1223 1259 written by Aleksandar Jovanović and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-09-28 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book follows the public life of Michael Palaiologos from his early days and upbringing, through to his assumption of the Byzantine imperial throne in 1258. It explores multiple narratives, highlighting the various public communities in the Byzantine polity, primarily focusing on intellectuals and clerks rather than the emperor himself. Drawing on insights from power relations, studies of class and the public sphere, this book provides an account of thirteenth-century Byzantium that highlights the role of communicative and symbolic actions in the public sphere, and argues they were integral to Palaiologos' political success.
Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Visual Culture in the Danube Regions 1300 1600 written by Maria Alessia Rossi and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-02-22 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume aims to broaden and nuance knowledge about the history, art, culture, and heritage of Eastern Europe relative to Byzantium. From the thirteenth century to the decades after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the regions of the Danube River stood at the intersection of different traditions, and the river itself has served as a marker of connection and division, as well as a site of cultural contact and negotiation. The Routledge Handbook of Byzantine Visual Culture in the Danube Regions, 1300–1600 brings to light the interconnectedness of this broad geographical area too often either studied in parts or neglected altogether, emphasizing its shared history and heritage of the regions of modern Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Czechia. The aim is to challenge established perceptions of what constitutes ideological and historical facets of the past, as well as Byzantine and post-Byzantine cultural and artistic production in a region of the world that has yet to establish a firm footing on the map of art history. The 24 chapters offer a fresh and original approach to the history, literature, and art history of the Danube regions, thus being accessible to students thematically, chronologically, or by case study; each part can be read independently or explored as part of a whole.
Download or read book The Visual Culture of Later Byzantium c 1081 c 1350 written by Foteini Spingou and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The period encompassed by this volume of translations opens with a major crisis over the status of the icon and its veneration. Charles Barber and David Jenkins (I.1.1 in this volume) present three extensive texts related to this crisis, which began when Leo of Chalcedon objected to the imperial appropriation of materials bearing sacred images, such as the doors of the Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople. As his arguments against this act unfolded in the period from 1082- to 1095, Leo developed a theory of the image that argued for a formal, as opposed to a material, presence of Christ in his icons. Given this presence of Christ's character, Leo argued that an icon should not be destroyed and that this portrayal deserved adoration. A full account of this argument is presented in Leo's letter to his nephew Nicholas of Adrianoupolis. This letter, which perhaps dates to 1093 or 1094, shows how Leo builds his case upon a reading of the ninth-century iconophile writings of Theodore of Stoudios and other authorities, which Leo reads as offering support for a hypostatic presence in the image mediated by the visible character of the subject. A key response to Leo of Chalcedon's arguments is offered by Eustratios of Nicaea. His Syllogistic Demonstration builds upon the logical model of ninth-century iconophile thought to show that the icon only has a formal relation to the subject depicted in that object. It is a response that is notable for its precise accounts of the limits of depiction, which becomes the description of the outline, form, and dimension of the outward and sensible traits of the appearance of a person. This allows him to argue that the material and sensible icon cannot receive adoration: Christ as God is adored; Christ as God cannot be depicted; therefore, the depicted, as depicted, is not adored. So that in no way can we speak of the adoration of a manufactured icon, or of adoration in an icon"--
Download or read book SOURCES FOR BYZANTINE ART HISTORY written by Foteini Spingou and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The period encompassed by this volume of translations opens with a major crisis over the status of the icon and its veneration. Charles Barber and David Jenkins (I.1.1 in this volume) present three extensive texts related to this crisis, which began when Leo of Chalcedon objected to the imperial appropriation of materials bearing sacred images, such as the doors of the Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople. As his arguments against this act unfolded in the period from 1082- to 1095, Leo developed a theory of the image that argued for a formal, as opposed to a material, presence of Christ in his icons. Given this presence of Christ's character, Leo argued that an icon should not be destroyed and that this portrayal deserved adoration. A full account of this argument is presented in Leo's letter to his nephew Nicholas of Adrianoupolis. This letter, which perhaps dates to 1093 or 1094, shows how Leo builds his case upon a reading of the ninth-century iconophile writings of Theodore of Stoudios and other authorities, which Leo reads as offering support for a hypostatic presence in the image mediated by the visible character of the subject. A key response to Leo of Chalcedon's arguments is offered by Eustratios of Nicaea. His Syllogistic Demonstration builds upon the logical model of ninth-century iconophile thought to show that the icon only has a formal relation to the subject depicted in that object. It is a response that is notable for its precise accounts of the limits of depiction, which becomes the description of the outline, form, and dimension of the outward and sensible traits of the appearance of a person. This allows him to argue that the material and sensible icon cannot receive adoration: Christ as God is adored; Christ as God cannot be depicted; therefore, the depicted, as depicted, is not adored. So that in no way can we speak of the adoration of a manufactured icon, or of adoration in an icon"--
Download or read book Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture written by Steven D. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-16 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exciting analysis of gender and sexual desire in sixth century Greek epigram that bridges classical and early Byzantine culture.
Download or read book Image and Imagination in Byzantine Art written by Henry Maguire and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twelve studies contained in this second collection by Henry Maguire are linked together by a common theme, namely the relationship of Byzantine art to the imaginary. They show how art enabled the Byzantines not only to imagine the sacred events of the past, but also to visualize the invisible present by manifesting the spiritual world that they could not see. The articles are grouped around the following five topics: the depiction of nature by the Byzantines before and after iconoclasm, especially in portrayals of the earthly and the spiritual Paradise; the social functions and theological significance of classical artistic forms in Byzantine art after iconoclasm; the association between rhetoric and the visual arts in Byzantium, especially in contrast to the role played by liturgical drama in western medieval art; the relationship of the visual arts to Byzantine concepts of justice and the law, both human and divine; and portrayals of the two Byzantine courts, the imperial court on earth and the imagined court in heaven. The papers cover a wide range of media, including floor and wall mosaics, paintings in manuscripts and churches, ivory carvings, coins, and enamel work.
Download or read book Dynamis of the Image written by Emmanuel Alloa and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Images are not neutral conveyors of messages shipped around the globe to achieve globalized spectatorship. They are powerful forces that elicit very diverse responses and can resist new visual hegemonies of our global world. Bringing together case studies from the field of media, art, politics, religion, anthropology and science, this volume breaks new ground by reflecting on the very power of images beyond their medial exploitation. The contributions by Hans Belting, Susan Buck-Morss, Georges Didi-Huberman, W.J.T. Mitchell, and Ticio Escobar among others testify that globalization does not necessarily equal homogenization, and that images can open up alternative ways of picturing what is to come.
Download or read book The Visual Culture of Later Byzantium c 1081 c 1350 written by Foteini Spingou and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The period encompassed by this volume of translations opens with a major crisis over the status of the icon and its veneration. Charles Barber and David Jenkins (I.1.1 in this volume) present three extensive texts related to this crisis, which began when Leo of Chalcedon objected to the imperial appropriation of materials bearing sacred images, such as the doors of the Chalkoprateia church in Constantinople. As his arguments against this act unfolded in the period from 1082- to 1095, Leo developed a theory of the image that argued for a formal, as opposed to a material, presence of Christ in his icons. Given this presence of Christ's character, Leo argued that an icon should not be destroyed and that this portrayal deserved adoration. A full account of this argument is presented in Leo's letter to his nephew Nicholas of Adrianoupolis. This letter, which perhaps dates to 1093 or 1094, shows how Leo builds his case upon a reading of the ninth-century iconophile writings of Theodore of Stoudios and other authorities, which Leo reads as offering support for a hypostatic presence in the image mediated by the visible character of the subject. A key response to Leo of Chalcedon's arguments is offered by Eustratios of Nicaea. His Syllogistic Demonstration builds upon the logical model of ninth-century iconophile thought to show that the icon only has a formal relation to the subject depicted in that object. It is a response that is notable for its precise accounts of the limits of depiction, which becomes the description of the outline, form, and dimension of the outward and sensible traits of the appearance of a person. This allows him to argue that the material and sensible icon cannot receive adoration: Christ as God is adored; Christ as God cannot be depicted; therefore, the depicted, as depicted, is not adored. So that in no way can we speak of the adoration of a manufactured icon, or of adoration in an icon"--
Download or read book Studies on Byzantine Literature of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries written by Alexander Kazhdan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Byzantine literature is often regarded as little more than an agglomeration of stereotyped forms and generic conventions which allows no scope for individual thought or expression. Accordingly, histories of Byzantine literature tend to focus on the history of genres. The essays in this book challenge the traditional view. They attempt to show the coherence and individuality not of the genre but of author. By careful analysis of all the works of a given author, regardless of genre, these studies aim to reach behind the facade of convention, to discover not only biographical facts but also the writer's own likes and dislikes, his social views, his political sympathies and antipathies, his ethical and aesthetic standards. Most of the authors under consideration lived in the twelfth century. Several of them experienced or wrote about the same set of events; often they were acquainted with one another, or else had mutual friends. Thus each essay is both complete in itself and complementary to the others in the book; the individuality of each writer is most fully revealed in the comparison with his contemporaries and conversely the separate portraits may be combined to form a broader picture of Byzantine literary society of the time.
Download or read book Other Icons written by Eunice Dauterman Maguire and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A winged centaur with the spotted body of a leopard playing a lute; a naked man with an animal head; a goat-footed Pan; a four-bodied lion; sphinxes, and hippocamps. Few would associate these forms of art with the Byzantine era, a period dominated by religious art. However, an art of strikingly secular expression was not only common to Byzantine culture, but also key to defining it. In Other Icons, Eunice Dauterman Maguire and Henry Maguire offer the first comprehensive view of this "unofficial" Byzantine art, demonstrating the role it played and its dialogue with traditional Christian Byzantine art. This beautifully illustrated book creates an entirely new understanding of the whole of Byzantine art and culture. With its wide-ranging examples, the book vividly demonstrates how the surprise of this "profane" art is not only in its subjects of mythic creatures, exotic imagery, and eroticism, but also in the ubiquity and beauty of their placement--within churches and without, woven into silk, illuminated on manuscripts, engraved into pottery, painted in frescoes, and taking life in marble, bone, and ivory. By presenting and exploring this profane art for the first time in a scholarly book in English, Other Icons will change the way we look at the art of an entire era.
Download or read book Imagining the Byzantine Past written by Elena N. Boeck and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-09 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comparative, cross-cultural study of medieval illustrated histories that engages in a direct, confrontational dialogue with Byzantine historical memory.
Download or read book Images of the Byzantine World written by Angeliki Lymberopoulou and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2011 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The focus of this volume is the identification of 'visions', 'messages', and 'meanings' in various facets of Byzantine culture and the possible differences perceived by their original audience and modern scholars. It addresses how far interpretations should go, whether there is a tendency to read too much into too little, or whether not enough attention is paid to apparent detail that may have been important in historical context. The essays span a wide chronological era, so present a means of assessing the relative degrees of continuity and change in Byzantine visions, messages and meanings over time.
