Administrative Elites and the ‘First Phase of Byzantine Humanism’

Abstract

This study investigates the interconnection between the adoption of the minuscule script for the transcription of Greek literary texts (one of the most significant innovations in the history of Byzantine book culture) and the huge cultural revival of ninth-century Byzantium. The focus lies on the social changes that occurred among the Constantinopolitan elites at the end of the eighth century as a result of the political events following the death of Emperor Leo IV. The adoption of the minuscule in the copying of books will be described as a three-step process, whose phases will be discussed with particular attention to the social milieus in which they emerged and developed (especially the bureaucratic circles of the capital connected to the finance administration and some monastic networks). In conclusion, the study emphasizes the importance of some very specific technical skills in one of the most decisive changes in middle-byzantine cultural history.