Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.04
Anastasia Nikolaou
{"title":"The Hymnography in Honour of Saints Constantine and Helena and its Connection with Imperial Ideology","authors":"Anastasia Nikolaou","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.04","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents an overview of published and unpublished Byzantine and post-Byzantine hymnographic texts dedicated to Saint Constantine, founder of Constantinople and first Byzantine emperor, and his mother Saint Helena. Specifically, we cite and comment upon some indicative passages primarily found in canons of the Matins, which refer to historical events from the lives of the saints and attribute to them, especially to Saint Constantine, virtues such as justice, piety, wisdom, and the defense of the true faith. These qualities are directly associated with the imperial political ideology as this was shaped principally by Eusebius of Caesarea in his works Life of Constantine and Tricennial Oration.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.08
Zdzisław Pentek
{"title":"The Clergy during the Fourth Crusade as Portrayed in Geoffrey de Villehardouin’s Chronicle","authors":"Zdzisław Pentek","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.08","url":null,"abstract":"An article analysing information about the clerics during the Fourth Crusade mentioned by the chronicler of this expedition, Geoffrey of Villehardouin († c. 1219), in the Old French chronicle La conquête de Constantinople. The author has distinguished three types of clerics, participants in the crusade, and traced mentions thereof in the work and the opinions about them.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135917960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.05
Łukasz Kubicki
{"title":"Basil I’s Path to Power according to the Vita Basilii as a Heroic Myth","authors":"Łukasz Kubicki","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.05","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims to illustrate how the tradition of Basil I’s rise to power in the Vita Basilii includes elements typical of heroic myths, according to Joseph Campbell’s monomyth scheme. The study presented here will examine how the narrative contains features such as a call to adventure, a series of trials and a motive for return. Moreover, the study seeks to investigate how these universal elements of hero stories have been mythicised by literary devices such as the topoi, text composition, intertextual references or symbolic content coherent with the perception of the ideological role of the Byzantine rulers. Within this framework, the study will aim to explore the morphology of these narratives and reconsider some historical questions with the help of Mircea Eliade’s theory of myth. It will focus on the identity and legitimising functions of the story for Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and assess its impact on the position of the Macedonian dynasty in the social order and the sphere of political activity.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.06
Giulia Freni
{"title":"Herbs as pharmaka: between Medicine, Astrology and Magic","authors":"Giulia Freni","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.06","url":null,"abstract":"In the ancient and Byzantine world, natural elements were used to cure a certain disease, as attested by traditional medical sources such as Hippocrates, Dioscorides and Galen. However, the therapeutic properties of these substances are also described in some compilations that transmit another type of knowledge: the Cyranides, a hermetic work that illustrates the usages of vegetable, animal and mineral species for different purposes; Cassianus Bassus’ Geoponica, an important source of the ancient agronomic-botanical tradition; the Hygromanteia Salomonis, a hermetic and esoteric treatise dedicated to planetary divination, which also illustrates the correspondences between plants, planets and zodiac signs. The herbs described in these compilations are suggested as φάρμακα for the treatment of diseases, but also for other purposes such as warding off demons or having luck (e.g. in Monacensis gr. 70, which transmits Hygromanteia Salomonis, Jupiter’s plant is χρυσάγκαθον, capable of causing extraordinary healings). This denotes the development of a parallel medicine, connected with magic and astrology, and in some cases the practices discussed still have folkloric implications today. Therefore, this contribution intends to analyse these three magico- -medical works, highlighting the similarities and differences from traditional medical sources as well as the link between medicine, magic and astrology.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135918857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.01
Magdalena Koźluk
{"title":"Representing the Phlegm: the Portrait of the Phlegmatic in Cesare Ripa’s Iconology","authors":"Magdalena Koźluk","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.01","url":null,"abstract":"This article is the second in a series of works which aims to contribute to documenting the success of the medical theory of individual complexions, derived from the theory of the four humours, through the major work which constitutes the Iconologia of the Italian humanist Cesare Ripa (1555–1622). We analysed here the figure of the phlegmatic and undertook to determine the reasons which governed the choice of the attributes retained by Ripa (portliness, pallor of the skin, coat in badger furs, tilted head and girded with a black headband, turtle) to offer poets, painters and sculptors the archetype of a character dominated by cold and damp phlegm. To this end, we have been interested in the medical and iconographic sources on which the author was able to rely and have tried to identify the attributes which are part of tradition and those which testify to an inuentio of the author in the iconographic art.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135917817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.07
Florin Curta
{"title":"Garum or Grain? Crimea and the Provisioning of Constantinople (7th to 9th centuries)","authors":"Florin Curta","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.07","url":null,"abstract":"Historians have relied for too long on written sources (the letters that Pope Martin I wrote from Cherson, as well as De Administrando Imperio) to assess the economic situation in the Crimea, especially in Cherson, during the so-called Dark Ages (7th to 9th centuries). Many still believe that that city could not have survived without shipments of grain from the outside, particularly from the lands along the southern coast of the Black Sea. Seals of Byzantine officials found in Cherson tell a different story, as they indicate commercial exchanges between the Crimea and Constantinople. If the peninsula participated in trade, something must have been offered in exchange for the goods coming from the Capital. The archaeological evidence strongly suggests that during the 8th and 9th centuries, the hinterland of Cherson, as well as the Kerch Peninsula (eastern Crimea) witnessed rapid economic development, largely based on the cultivation of crops. Silos found on several settlement sites, both open and fortified, suggest a surplus, which was most likely commercialized. If so, the closest markets were across the Black Sea, to the south, primarily in Constantinople. Other commodities, such as wine transported in amphorae, traveled in the opposite direction, across the Sea of Azov and into the interior of Khazaria. In exchange, the peninsula received shipments of grain, which were then re-exported to Constantinople. Far from relying on shipments of grain from the Capital, Cherson and the rest of the Crimean Peninsula in fact supplied Constantinople with food. Numerous vats for the production of fish sauce have been found in Cherson, and many were in operation before 900. A good deal of the garum served at tables in Constantinople between the 7th and the 9th century must have come from Cherson. The archaeological evidence therefore calls for a re-assessment of the economic situation in the Crimean Peninsula during the “Dark Ages”.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135917818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.02
Błażej Cecota
{"title":"The Jewish Theme in Theophanes the Confessor’s Testimony on the Prophet Muḥammad","authors":"Błażej Cecota","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.02","url":null,"abstract":"Theophanes’ account regarding the rise of Islam and the history of the Prophet Muḥammad appears to be the most detailed and precise one that can be found in Byzantine historiography. The Confessor’s aim was to reproduce as many details about Muḥammad’s life as possible. Since his focus was not on religious ideas, but on key events surrounding the rise of the new religion, his account is not predominantly concerned with discussing Islam’s ideology. However, this does not allow us to regard it as in any way objective. Some of the views it contains were included with the clear goal of discrediting Islam as a religion that rivalled Christianity. This, for example, can be said of Theophanes’ remarks about the relationship between Muḥammad and the Jews. In this article, I focus on this aspect of Theophanes’ account, discussing it in the context of the long-running (the last several decades) scholarly debates regarding Jewish-Muslim relations.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2023-10-13DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.13.03
Martina Biamino
{"title":"Justinian, Pilgrimages and the Theotokos: Imperial Propaganda in De Aedificiis V","authors":"Martina Biamino","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.13.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.13.03","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses Book V of De Aedificiis, specifically focusing on Aed. V, 6–9. Building on previous studies that demonstrate Procopius’ journey within this book along an ancient road traditionally used by pilgrims, it is noted how, in what can be considered the second part of the book, the historian focuses on the churches built by Justinian for the Theotokos, all situated on high points in Palestine. Based on this, the article seeks to explain how this insistence on the churches of the Virgin on hillsides, combined with the theme of pilgrimage, serves court propaganda, which may have promoted a de-Judaization and a de-Nestorianization of Palestine. Additionally, it is hypothesized that Procopius may have drawn inspiration, given the subject matter, from a genre closely related to pilgrimage, such as that of itineraria.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135853631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2021-12-30DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.11.29
G. Greatrex
{"title":"Roman Campaigns and Negotiations in the East, 542–545","authors":"G. Greatrex","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.11.29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.11.29","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to support the earlier dating of campaigns on the Roman eastern frontier in the 540s. It addresses points made in a recent contribution by Michael Whitby, who argued that the traditional chronology, which places a Roman invasion of Persarmenia in 543 and a Persian siege of Edessa in 544, should be retained. The article seeks to demonstrate that the grounds he offers are inadequate and concludes therefore that the earlier dating, according to which the Romans invaded Persarmenia in autumn 542 and the Persians besieged Edessa in 543, is to be preferred.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45176868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studia CeraneaPub Date : 2021-12-30DOI: 10.18778/2084-140x.11.28
Marcello Garzaniti
{"title":"The Eulogy of Symeonic Miscellany: the Imperial Patronage of the First Slavic Anthology","authors":"Marcello Garzaniti","doi":"10.18778/2084-140x.11.28","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140x.11.28","url":null,"abstract":"The essay proposes an interpretation of the eulogy of Symeon’s Miscellany considering not only the cultural context of the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the tenth century, but also the historical situation and the literary production of the seventies and eighties of the previous century when the Greek original of the Miscellany known by the name of the Soterios was conceived in Constantinople. This eulogy helps us to better understand the reasons that led to the creation of the Slavic version of this anthology at the time of Symeon. In the Constantinopolitan environment, this anthology was conceived as an adequate tool of the kind required by monks and priests engaged in the education of the laity, with particular focus on the foundations of orthodox doctrine. In the new environment the initiative was taken by Tsar Symeon, who – on the strength of his theological training – assumed a decisive role while occupying the throne by taking responsibility for directly instructing the Bulgarian aristocracy, fully exploiting a tool in the Slavic language that would have been very useful.","PeriodicalId":40873,"journal":{"name":"Studia Ceranea","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49225410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}