How and Why Vladimir Besieged Chersōn

Author(s): Alex M. Feldman / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2015

The conversion of Vladimir, grand prince of Kiev, to Eastern Christianity was a watershed in world history, although the exact reasons for his conversion and the precise nature of the relationship he had with the Byzantine Empire at the time have been misrepresented by generations of historians, eager to present the episode in a manner which essentially glorifi es Vladimir the Russian as the master of his own political and religious agendas and denigrates the Byzantine role for its supposed duplicity. Nevertheless, this study, which scrutinizes the works of two of the most recent and well-known historians in particular which have hitherto dominated the discussion on this topic, deconstructs their methodologies and arguments and concentrates on the role of the city of Chersōn in the southern Crimea in this legend, which has been overlooked and deliberately misinterpreted in furtherance of previous historians’ personal, religious-political agendas. To better understand the truth behind Vladimir’s choice of Byzantine Christianity over Latin Christianity, this study will therefore seek to identify the major cultural, linguistic, economic and political infl uences on early Kievan Rus’ at the time, using text-based evidence. In a few words, due to a civil war in Byzantium between 987 – 989, the rebellious forces of which the citizens of the city of Chersōn had indeed united with against their rightful emperor, Basil II Porphyrogennētos, the early Russian polity, then seated in Kiev and led by Vladimir, embarked on an expedition to capture this city in the south-Crimean peninsula. But most historians have suggested that this event occurred because Basil II had promised Vladimir the hand of his coveted sister in marriage and had then reneged on the off er. The question is, were the Russians acting on behalf of the emperor or in spite of him?

Arculf, ‘Umar, and the Church of the Ascension

Author(s): David Woods / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

The contradictory descriptions of the interior of the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem by Adomnán in his De Locis Sanctis and Hugeburc in her Vita Willibaldi point to its sack before Jerusalem was surrendered to the Muslim invaders in c. 638. Adomnán describes the interior as it was restored following the fi rst sack by the Persians in 614, and Hugeburc describes it as it was restored following a second sack by the Muslims in or before 638. However, the claim by Theophilus of Edessa, as preserved by the various witnesses to his text, that the caliph ‘Umar I ordered the removal of a cross from the roof of a church on the Mount of Olives, probably identifi able as the Church of the Ascension, is best dismissed as an aetiological myth designed to explain the presence of an opening (oculus) in the dome of the Church of the Ascension where a large cross would normally have stood.

The Puzzle of the Cyrillo-Methodian Mission

Author(s): Vladimír Vavřínek / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

In the present article the author points out the fact that no mention of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission to Moravia, generally considered one of the most important Byzantine ecclesiastical missions ever sent abroad, appears in the known Byzantine sources. He explains this omission from the perspective of political interests of Byzantium from which this mission was a failure. Another reason may have been the introduction of the Slavonic vernacular into liturgy, which was not an application of the allegedly common Byzantine missionary practice but a novel initiative of Constantine-Cyril. The author also focuses on the paradox that this revolutionary innovation, which became a target of fi erce attacks of Frankish missionaries and provoked a strong opposition from the Latin clergy in Italy was, though temporarily, approved by two Roman popes. The latest paradox of the Cyrillo-Methodian mission was that its cultural legacy, while ignored and even disregarded in Byzantium and later abandoned in the country to which the Thessalonian brothers had been sent, proved one of the most eff ective means of spreading the Byzantine civilization and spirituality among the south and east Slavonic nations.

Great Is The Imperial Dignity Voices, Adventus, and Power of the First Macedonian Empresses1

Author(s): Milan Vukašinović / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

Interpretations of lives and roles of Byzantine empresses tend to be saturated with preconceived assumptions about gender and power. By looking at female imperial voices in late 9th and early 10th-century texts, as well as discursive traces of female imperial adventus, the article examines the rhetorical space that a Byzantine empress was able to occupy. The discursive practices of the period suggest an intriguing level of authority for the empress and call for a reexamination of the resilient hierarchical patriarchal paradigm.

War Maria ἡ εὐγενεστάτη ἀρχόντισσα eines Siegeltypus aus der Rus’ die gesuchte Monomachaina oder eher Maria Dobronega?

Author(s): Werner Seibt / Language(s): German Issue: 1-2/2017

The „cěsarica gr’kyna”, who married Vsevolod Jaroslavič and became mother of Volodimer/ Volodymyr „Monomach“ in 1053, was not a daughter but a relative of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos; her Christian name remains unknown. The often erroneously published seals type of a Maria εὐγενεστάτη ἀρχόντισσα, found on diff erent places of the Rusʼ, does not mention the name Monomachaina but simply μοναχή, “nun” as a new unpublished exemplar in the collection O. Sheremtiev clearly proves; it is impossible to attribute it to Monomachaina. It probably belonged to Maria Dobronega, a daughter of Volodimer Svjatoslavič, who became the wife of Duke Casimir of Poland. Casimir passed away in 1058, but his widow Dobronega lived until 1087, returned to Rusʼ, used the mentioned seal and apparently played an important role in the society.

Mary ‘of Alania’, Anna Komnene, and the Revival of Aristotelianism in Byzantium

Author(s): Lynda Garland / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2017

Mary of Alania, though Georgian born, was the centre of a circle of literati in Constantinople during the early years of the reign of Alexios I. The court of her fi rst husband, Michael VII Doukas, had seen the revival of an interest in philosophy and natural science, with renewed study of both Plato and Aristotle and works composed for the emperor and court on philosophical and scientifi c topics by scholars such as Psellos, John Italos and Symeon Seth. Following this interest in natural science, including meteorology, in the 1070s, Mary continued such studies at her own court at the Mangana Palace, where she commissioned works not only on theology from Theophylact, but on natural science from Eustratios of Nicaea, who may have succeeded Theophylact as tutor to her son Constantine Doukas. Eustratios’ piece, in fact, appears to be one of a series on meteorological topics composed for the empress. This paper argues that, as the betrothed of Constantine Doukas, Anna Komnene gained her interest in intellectual pursuits from Mary, with whom she lived for several years as a girl, and that Mary’s interests played a part in shaping Anna’s, even though Anna concentrated primarily on literature and philosophy, rather than the theology and natural science which is known to have interested Mary. Anna was to play a key role in the revival of Aristotelian scholarship, as patron of a circle of scholars working on commentaries on Aristotle, Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy, a circle which included Eustratios, and her dedication to scholarship may have arisen from her upbringing in the household of an imperial woman who was genuinely interested in intellectual pursuits. Apart from her taste for learning, Anna’s attitude towards power may also have been infl uenced by the involvement of Mary in the plot of Nikephoros Diogenes against Alexios, with the hope of reinstating Constantine to the place in the imperial succession which he had lost after the birth of Anna’s brother John. In her laments over her fi ancé Anna may have been regretting the failure of this conspiracy, as much as she did her loss of status after the death of her father and accession of her brother. She never forgot that she had been betrothed to an emperor-designate and Tornikes’ Funeral Oration consoles her for the death of Constantine, to whom she had been betrothed some 60 years earlier, and her loss of imperial rank as a deliberate act of Divine Providence which allowed her to devote herself instead to scholarship, which had in the interim become so important a part of her self-identity.

Das byzantinische Verteidigungssystem an der Balkangrenze (Ende 10.–Ende 11. Jh.)

Author(s): Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt / Language(s): German Issue: 1-2/2017

The article off ers a detailed overview of the defense system that the Byzantines established along their Balkan borders in order to repulse attacks by Tsar Samuel and his successors. The time period under discussion extends from the reign of Basil II until the end of the XIth century and includes arguments for structural changes. Such an undertaking would have been nearly impossible without the recovery of seals during the past decades since the literary sources off er only limited information. But now we can off er new insights. We lay special emphasis on the date when the important military commands were established (or re-established) under a strategos, then a katepano or doux, and when new themes under a strategos, those not yet present in the Taktikon Escorial – were organized.

Quand la structure détermine le significat: Dion Cassius, Georges le Moine et Polybe dans le prisme du De Legationibus Romanorum ad Gentes de l’empereur Constantin VII Porphyrogénète

Author(s): Xavier Agati,Lorenzo Maria Ciolfi,Francesco Monticini,Mathieu Panoryia,Milan Vukašinović / Language(s): French Issue: 1-2/2017

Without touching upon the thorny issues concerning the manuscript tradition and the compositional technique of the Excerpta Historica of Constantine VII (945 – 959), this paper deals with three sections of extracts (respectively, from Cassius Dio, George Hamartolus and Polybius) which are included in the volume of the collection dedicated to the Roman diplomatic missions to the barbarians, i.e. the De Legationibus Romanorum ad Gentes. Reading the selected passages in their new sequence reveals how much the Excerpta are in connection with the contemporary world of their actors (client, compilers, readers), conveying a synchronic message to them all. Moreover, by means of a close comparison with the original text of the ancient sources and a deep analysis of what was then omitted in the Byzantine work, the differences are significant enough to show the compiler being absolutely independent from the authority of his source and intervening freely on the texts in order to serve his own purposes; he plays thus the actual role of an “author by compilation”. In conclusion, the contextualization of the Excerpta Constantiniana within the framework of the “cultura della συλλογή” (culture of the collection) relocates this monumental work into the center of the mid-Byzantine literary tradition and allows us to fully understand its value of “immediate-use text”.

Marguerite-Marie de Hongrie, impératrice byzantine et reine latine de Salonique (1185–1223)

Author(s): Élisabeth Malamut / Language(s): French Issue: 1-2/2018

Marguerite-Marie of Hungary had an unusual fate. After she arrived in Constantinople in 1185, at the age of ten, she became Empress of Byzantium. Her marriage was celebrated in a rhetorical play but her role was minor. In 1195, she was deposed along with her husband Isaac II. It was the crusade of 1204 that pulled her from oblivion and restored her to the throne for a few months. After the death of her husband, she married Boniface de Montferrat in May 1204 and became Queen of Thessalonike. When Boniface died in his turn three years later, she became regent of the city in the name of her son Demetrius. This ex-empress of Constantinople, as offi cial documents continue to call her, was also “domina” and “epitrope” of the kingdom of Thessalonike. She had to face both Lombard opponents and supporters of the Catholic Church revealing her skills as diplomat but also her complex personality. Theodore’s invasion of Epirus precipitated her return to Hungary in 1223 where she died in 1229.

The Retreat of Alexios I Komnenos from Philomelium in 1098

Author(s): Adam Sitár / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2018

This paper is dedicated to the Byzantine retreat from Anatolia in 1098. The background of the event is generally well known – after the arrival of First–Crusade deserters to Philomelium, Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos cancelled his military campaign and returned to Constantinople. Alexios’s retreat turned out to be one of his greatest diplomatic mistakes that determined Byzantium’s relations with the crusader states in the Mediterranean for several decades. In this study, I aim to reexamine the whole event from the Byzantine point of view. I focus on the reason of Alexios’s presence at Philomelium in the context of Byzantine strategy in 1097–8 and I answer the question why his return became one of the turning points of his relations with the crusaders. Concerning the Alexiad of Anna Komnene, I try to determine the identity of the arch–satrap Ismael who was supposed to threaten the Byzantines in Anatolia.

Was Nikolaos Zounaras, the thematic judge of Thrake and Makedonia, active in the Rus’ after the council of Liubech (1097)

Author(s): Werner Seibt,Dzmitri Huletski,Jurij Germanovič Tiguncev / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2018

Nikolaos Zounaras / Zonaras served at the end of the eleventh century in the capacity of judge (κριτής) of the united themata of Thrake and Makedonia. There exist fi ve of his seals found in the Byzantine territory to guarantee the exact transcription of his seal’s legend. He was, from 1088 onward, protovestarches and grand chartoularios and later became droungarios tes viglas in the fi rst quarter of the twelfth century. It was an extraordinary surprise to fi nd extant (up to this point) some 15 (sic!) seal fragments of this seal type in the Old Rus’, especially in the knjažestvo of Chernigov / Chernihiv. The authors propose that Nikolaos was offi cially sent there by the Byzantine emperor to assist a fair division of Chernigov between the two brothers David and Oleg-Michael according to the agreement of the council of Liubech (1097). Zounaras’s activity throws new light on the Byzantine Rus’ian relations during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.

Poznámky k akci čelákovického muzea konané k padesátému výročí nálezu „pohřebiště s projevy vampyrismu“

Author(s): Jaroslav Špaček / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

Reakce na kritické poznámky Jaroslava Špačka k publikaci Byli v Čelákovicích upíři?

Author(s): Pavlína Mašková,Author Not Specified / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2018

Gregory the Great and the Marcianists

Author(s): Adrián Viale / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2019

During the pontifi cate of Gregory the Great, John of Chalcedon and Athanasius of Isauria were condemned at Constantinople. Accused of being Marcianists, they appealed to the Roman bishop. To review their cases, Gregory received some documents from Constantinople related to the Council of Ephesus. The pope could not find those same documents in Rome, and he then suspected they had been faked. Finally, Gregory acquitted Athanasius and John because they showed repentance, underlining at the same time that their accusers were Pelagians. This article analyses these striking events, in order to learn more about the way of working of Gregory and about the relationship between Rome and Constantinople in his time.

Caesar Bardas and the accusation of an illicit aff air: a-re-examination

Author(s): Hadi Taghavi,Ehsan Roohi / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2019

Caesar Bardas, whose decade-long administration has been unanimously admired by historians, was accused of having an incestuous relationship with his widowed daughter-in-law. Logothete Theoktistus and Patriarch Ignatius provided some of the harshest criticism, going so far as to publicly accuse the Caesar. This struggle led to the murder of the former and the eventual exile of the latter. The role Theoktistus played in accusing Bardas and relaying information concerning his illicit aff air has heretofore received little attention; rather, previous scholarship has tended to focus on the confl ict between Ignatius and Bardas. The present study re-examines the evidence and analyzes the historical contexts in which the alleged incestuous relationship was said to have occurred in order to counter the tendency among authors of historical and hagiographical works to tarnish Bardas’s image and recreate a more authentic view of this figure.

Старые враги, новые союзники Василия II: Иоанн Геометр и русы

Author(s): Oleksandr Fylypchuk / Language(s): Russian Issue: 1-2/2019

The aim of this paper is to study the cultural and literary strategies leading to the construction of a shared memory of the Rus’ during the civil war (986–990). The author off ers a rereading of little-studied epigrams: On the Bulgarians and On the plundering Iberians. Composed by the famous John Geometres at the end of the 10th century, these epigrams were previously perceived as a critique of politics of Basil II or the propaganda by supporters of Bardas Skleros and Bardas Phokas. Reexamination of these epigrams of John Geometres reveals the diff erent assessments to the participation of Rus’ in the civil war.

Methodius between Rome and Constantinople: The Return of the Moravian Archbishop to the Byzantine Capital (Vita Methodii, ch. XIII)1)

Author(s): Marcello Garzaniti / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2020

The contribution proposes a detailed interpretation of Vita Methodii (ch. XIII) about the return of the Moravian archbishop to Constantinople and offers a reconstruction of his relationships with the emperor Basilius I and the patriarch Photius in order to better understand the last period of Methodius’s activity in Great Moravia.

An undercover agent in Rus? Two letters of Niketas Magistros to John Mystikos

Author(s): Jonathan Shepard / Language(s): English Issue: 1-2/2020

An abiding feature of Byzantine diplomacy was its awareness of the utility of having native-speakers available to communicate with external elites, whether on grand embassies or for less formal – even undercover – messaging. Instances of this practice are well-known on the secular plane, but there are also cases of churchmen being assigned to foreign societies where they could speak the language. Christian flocks living north of the Black Sea provide examples of this. Against such a background, it is worth considering two letters of Niketas Magistros (‘the Exile’) addressed to his friend, fellow man-of-letters, and fairly frequent correspondent, John Mystikos. Written in the aftermath of a lengthy and apparently successful assignment to ‘the barbarians,’ they congratulate him in allusive and somewhat extravagant vein. Interpreting letters written in such high style is difficult, but it is worth raising three basic questions: where had John’s mission been carried out? How had he communicated with his hosts – directly, in a language they understood, or through interpreters? And if John’s mission had a heavy veneer of preaching, as Niketas’ wording and allusions suggest, do the latter also imply some other, less spiritually-oriented, purpose? That John’s doings as ‘a public servant while cloaked in sober garb’ had been carried out in Rus is overwhelmingly likely. He was most probably engaged in speaking on religious matters, in other words, preaching in the language comprehensible to most inhabitants of his ‘target area’: Slavonic. But it may well be that John’s duties as ‘a public servant’ extended beyond spreading the Word of God. An undercover operation on behalf of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos may well have been on the agenda.

Az Alföld Árpád-kori népesedési és birtokviszonyai a tatárjárás előtt

Author(s): Beatrix F. Romhányi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2021

The settlements and the population of the central, lowland area of the Carpathian Basin suffered from both the Mongol Invasion and the Ottoman occupation, which greatly reduced the built heritage, too. The number of written sources about the region is poorer than average even in Hungarian conditions. Archaeological research alone has brought a large number of medieval finds, but in the absence of written sources, placing them in a historical context is difficult, sometimes impossible. However, the development of informatics has opened up new possibilities in research. Large databases and GIS allow the simultaneous analysis of previously unimaginable amounts of data. The essence of the method used in this paper is the analysis of spatial patterns of various geographically located (written, archaeological and topographical) data that are well typeable and available in large quantities. On the one hand, the mapping provides data on the spatial distribution of the population (relative population density) and its changes, and on the other hand, some conclusions can be drawn regarding the economic activity of certain areas. The paper aims at revisiting some aspects of the traditional historical model used to describe the transition from steppic to feudal state and suggests some new ones to be considered.

Vendégségben Konstantinápoly 10. századi udvari történetíróinak műhelyében

Author(s): Ádám Bollók / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 3/2020

Németh András: The Excerpta Constantiniana and the Byzantine Appropriation of the Past. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2018.