Personal Piety and Devotional Inscriptions in Byzantium, session at the 54th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 9–12, 2019

In addition to written sources like letters, inscribed objects provide evidence for personal piety in monumental and miniature forms. The expressions of piety on these objects—including coins, seals, textiles, and reliquaries, as well as on architecture and art objects—inform patterns of individual and collective devotion. Used, worn, commissioned, and donated, these objects provide a window on the ways in which individuals at all social levels understood and presented their own piety. Although focusing on objects from Byzantium, this panel welcomes speakers working on materials from a comparative perspective.

Session Sponsor
Dumbarton Oaks