Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, volume 46, issue 1 (April 2022).

CONTENTS INCLUDE

Essence and accident: Byzantine portraiture and Aristotelian philosophy
Henry Maguire 

The presentation of portraits of emperors and saints in Byzantine art can be compared to theories of physiognomy and logic put forward by Aristotle and his Byzantine followers. Similar observations have been made about the portal sculptures of High Gothic cathedrals, but although the ordering of images in the two cases reflected similar patterns of thought, the particular forms of the portraits differed in each milieu, responding to a different relationship between images and the faithful in each society.

The voices of the tale: the storyteller in early Byzantine collective biographies, miracle collections, and collections of edifying tales
Stavroula Constantinou and Andria Andreou 

This article is a first attempt to approach the figure of the storyteller in three types of early Byzantine tale collections (fourth–seventh centuries): collective biography, miracle collection, and collection of edifying tales. Our approach draws significantly on Walter Benjamin's discussion of the storyteller and Monica Fludernik's work on conversational storytelling. Our analysis has a twofold purpose: first, to revise the impression that the storyteller is a canonical force that possesses the same characteristics in every single tale; second, to suggest that the storyteller is an inherent feature of short hagiographical narratives.

Middle and Late Byzantine sigillographic evidence from western Anatolia: eighth- to early twelfth-century lead seals from Bergama (ancient Pergamon)
Ergün Laflı, Werner Seibt, and Doğukan Çağlayan 

This article presents 19 lead seals from the Museum of Bergama (ancient Pergamon), dating from the early eighth to the early twelfth century. We offer a descriptive catalogue of these Middle and Late Byzantine seals preserved in a western Turkish museum. The owners of these seals were primarily ecclesiastical, legal or military dignitaries who were probably active in Pergamon, in southwestern Mysia, Aeolis or Lydia. The catalogue is followed by an appendix on a Byzantine magical amulet.

The metropolitan and the Theban silk industry: a hypothetical reconstruction
Gang Wu 

Many theories have been proposed to explain the success of the Theban silk industry from the twelfth century onward. To contribute to this discussion in the context of recent research developments, this article explores the Theban metropolitan's hypothetical contribution to the industry through the case study of John Kaloktenes, who initiated a series of projects during his tenure (before 1166–c.1190). The analysis of three of these projects suggests that they might have been designed to support the industry. Thus, this article proposes the working hypothesis that Thebes's industrial success might have benefited substantially from the local metropolitan's active promotion.