Byzantine Symmeikta, volume 28 (2018).
CONTENTS INCLUDE
Popular Political Agency in Byzantium's villages and towns
Dimitris KRALLIS
While cotemporary work on the Byzantine polity presents Constantinople as a hub of a vividly polyphonic politics, much less has been said about the social and political identity of the empire’s smaller settlements. Following our field’s renewed interest in urban sociability, popular political agency, and collective identity I turn here to this larger world of villages and towns in order to examine the relationship of such social units with the Roman world around them during the middle Byzantine period. In doing so I trace village and town attitudes towards authority and follow evidence of collective action, which by all accounts should qualify as politics.
A Contribution to Byzantine prosopography 2. The Tzirithon family
Pantelis CHARALAMPAKIS
Παρουσίαση της βυζαντινής οικογένειας των Τζιριθώνων, μέσα από φιλολογικές πηγές, κρατικά και νομικά έγγραφα, καθώς και μολυβδόβουλλα. Συνολικά περιλαμβάνονται 16 πρόσωπα φέροντα το οικογενειακό όνομα Τζιρίθων, καθώς και δύο ακόμα με το βαπτιστικό Τζιριθία, που, πιθανότατα, συνδέεται με το υπό εξέταση οικογενειακό. Από τα 38 μολυβδόβουλλα που συγκεντρώθηκαν, τα 18 προέρχονται από βουλλωτήρια ενός προσώπου.
Το όνομα Τζιρίθων, πιθανότατα, ετυμολογείται από κάποια τουρκική γλώσσα, αν και σύμφωνα με τη βιβλιογραφία, η οικογένεια είναι αρμενικής προέλευσης. Η παλαιότερη μαρτυρία για άτομο φέρον το όνομα Τζιρίθων χρονολογείται στα τέλη του 9ου ή τις αρχές του 10ου, ενώ η τελευταία γύρω στα μέσα του 13ου. Το όνομα Τζιριθία, ωστόσο, χρονολογείται στις αρχές του 15ου αι. Προς το παρόν, όλα τα στοιχεία δείχνουν πως η οικογένεια Τζιρίθων δεν στράφηκε καθόλου προς τον στρατιωτικό τομέα και όλα τα μέλη της σχετίζονταν με την πολιτική διοίκηση. Επιπλέον, κατόρθωσαν να διατηρηθούν στο προσκήνιο για περίπου δυο αιώνες.
Αναμφίβολα, η οικογένεια των Τζιριθώνων, αν και ελάχιστα γνωστή, ανήκε στην αφρόκρεμα της βυζαντινής αριστοκρατίας, και είχε πρόσβαση σε υψηλά αξιώματα της πολιτικής διοίκησης.
Turkic Warriors in the Abbasid Army during the Arab-Byzantine Conflicts: The Military Operations of the Commander Bughā-Al-Kabir
Κωνσταντίνος ΤΑΚΙΡΤΑΚΟΓΛΟΥ
Αim of this study is to examine why the presence of select Turkic warriors in the Abbasid armies had little impact on the course of the Arab-Byzantine conflicts. The article focuses mainly on the campaigns conducted by the commander Bughā al-Kabīr against the Byzantine Empire and other Caliphate enemies. The small number of the Turkic warriors, as well as the difficulties encountered by the horse archers in mountainous terrains are the main reasons that there were no changes to the balance of power in the frontier conflicts.
The ΠΑΡΑΝΥΜΦΟΣ in Ancient Greece and Byzantium: A Study on the Role and Prosopography
Sameh Farouk SOLIMAN
Nikephoros Gregoras’ “didaskaleion”
Αννα Σ. ΣΚΛΑΒΕΝΙΤΗ
This paper focuses on the foundation and function of a school-“didaskaleion” by Nikephoros Gregoras in the first half of the 14th century (ca. 1325- 1350). Information about this school is provided by Gregoras himself in his Letters, as well as in his History (“Ρωμαϊκὴ Ἱστορία”), whereas secondary data can be traced in his most prominent student’s writings, Isaak Argyros. This institution was located at the Chora Monastery, and, according to Gregoras’ words, its basic aim was to prevent the extinction of learning and to transmit all the knowledge related to “tetraktys”, and especially to astronomy. Besides the inquiry into information about the curriculum and the students of this school, the present study examines thoroughly Gregoras’ pedagogic principles and emphasizes on his rather modern aspect concerning the way he relates child development with education.
The Re-establishment of the bishopric of Gardikion, Trikala, (1541/42): A Contribution to the Ecclesiastical History of Thessaly during the Early Ottoman Period
Δημήτρης AΓΟΡΙΤΣΑΣ
In 1542 the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah I decided to re-establish the bishopric of Gardikion (east of Trikala), proclaiming Neophytos as its first bishop, subject to the metropolitan of Larissa Neophytos I. The reestablishment was a request of the foretold metropolitan because of the ataxia and the many abnormalities that took place that time by the so called “gloater and rebel of Church” against the bishopric of Gardikion and against the will of the Patriarch. In our study, we try to examine this subject and we attempt to enlighten some obscure points such as the identity of all those who were potentially responsible for this turbulence in the ecclesiastical life of Thessaly in the beginning of 16th century, as well as the reasons behind all these.
Preliminary observations on the reception of Flavius Josephus in Byzantine historical writings: the accounts of John Zonaras, Niketas Choniates and Michael Kritovoulos
Theofili KAMPIANAKI
A Glass Numismatic Weight (Exagion) with a Depiction of St. Nicholas
Αναστάσιος ΣΙΝΑΚΟΣ
In the Museum of Byzantine Culture a glass numismatic weight (exagion) is kept. A bust of a bearded male figure, with a halo around his head, is depicted on the object. The bust is accompanied by an inscription on its both sides, which goes as follows: | ΝΙ | Κ, – Ο | Λ | Α, : ὁ ἅ(γιος) Νικόλα(ος). The saint is wearing the omophorion above phelonion, while he holds a book, probably the Gospel, with his left hand. Due to the depiction it carries, this exagion is unique. Research on this kind of objects is not aware of exagia with representations of saints. There are only exagia which carry the depiction of the bust of Christ. This weight can be dated to the end of 5th – mid-7th c. and it carries one of the oldest depictions of saint Nicholas. It is most probably connected to the eparch Nicholaos, who issued a lead seal with the depiction of saint Nicholas, published by Zacos-Veglery and dated to the 7th c., or to another eparch, with the same name. Of course,it is important to emphasize that only a future physicochemical examination of the composition of its material and a comparison with the composition of other weights will fully enlighten the question of its dating. If it is proved by this method that it does not belong to the first Byzantine era, then it is possible that this is a commemorative object from a pilgrimage of saint Nicholas.
Imagining the Communities of Others:The Case of the Seljuk Turks
Aleksandar JOVANOVIC
Ex occidente lux? Zu den lateinischen Wurzeln der Zwei-Gewalten-Lehre des Patriarchen Photios
†Andreas F. SCHMINCK
Το άρθρο δημοσιεύεται από τα κατάλοιπα του αειμνήστου Α. Schminck με την ευγενική παραχώρηση της χήρας του εκλιπόντος, κ. Karin Schminck, και με την σύμφωνη γνώμη του καθηγητή D. Simon.
Είναι το πρώτο μέρος εκτενέστατης μελέτης, στην οποία ο διακεκριμένος μελετητής του βυζαντινού Δικαίου υποστηρίζει ότι στην νομοθετική συλλογή της Εισαγωγής διακρίνεται επιρροή από τις χαλκευμένες κατά τον 9o αιώνα Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae, εξ ου και ο τίτλος Ex Occidente Lux? Δυστυχώς η μελέτη παρέμεινε ημιτελής ͘͘ ο συγγραφέας είχε ολοκληρώσει μόνο το δημοσιευόμενο εδώ πρώτο τμήμα της, στο οποίο επιχειρείται με γλαφυρό και διαφωτιστικό τρόπο ιστορική αναδρομή και παρακολούθηση της εξέλιξης των γεγονότων όσον αφορά την ιστορία του ζητήματος της διάκρισης των εξουσιών από την εποχή του πάπα Γελασίου Α΄ και εξής.