Icon-Pendant with an Image of the Saint Warrior-Horseman from the Excavation of the Mangup’s Palace. Old Rus’ or Byzantium?

Introduction. The article is devoted to the icon-pendant with the image of the horseman St. George the Warrior, discovered in 2020 in the cultural horizon of the late 13th–14th centuries at the research site of the Mangup’s Princely Palace. Methods. The study is complex. The traditional methods of art history analysis and the method of analogies, widely used in archaeological science, are used in the description and attribution of the sign icon. The dating of the product is established using one of the most important stratigraphic methods in archaeology. In explaining the historical context of the find, the available data from archaeological and narrative sources on the history and culture of Mangup at the end of the 13th–14th centuries are used. Analysis. The value of the icon, in addition to its clear archaeological context and the iconographic type of the holy rider-triumphant, which is rare for Byzantine applied art, lies in the expansion of our source base on the spread of the cult of St. George in the Late Byzantine period of the history of South-Western Crimea, represented before that mainly by the churches of Eski-Kermen and Mangup. Results. Despite the general proximity of the iconography and the technique of making the Mangup find and numerous similar products from the territory of Old Rus, there is no reason to consider it as an icon-pendant of Ancient-Russian origin. The conducted research definitely indicates a weak study of this category of Christian objects of personal piety on the territory of Byzantium, the lack of their cataloging and the study of special issues. In this regard, the conclusion that the icon belongs to the number of finds of the Byzantine circle from the cultural layer of the Mangup settlement, made in one of the provincialbyzantine centers, seems to be the most objective.

AIDŌS did not prevent her: An intertextual approach to Komnene's depictions of women in positions of power

<p>Anna Komnene depicts several women in positions of power in the Alexiad, the earliest extant historiographical text written by a woman from the Byzantine period. The intertextual qualities of these depictions of women, however, have not received much attention and indeed the impact of the gender of the author on the text is a topic which skews much of the scholarship. This thesis aims to show that several signposted quotations of earlier source texts reveal an author in the act of contemplating the expectations of gendered behaviour for her narrative subjects, including her own authorial persona. The chapters in this thesis focus on the depictions of four women and the roles they play in the Alexiad: Anna Dalassene, Gaita of Salerno, Emma of Hauteville and Anna Komnene. First, the construction of one or more of these characters is broken down and the evidence in the text concerning the positions of power held by the woman is analysed. Second, an intertextual reading of a passage related to the characterisation of each woman is posed in order to discuss what is similar or different concerning the source text or texts and the target text. The rhetorical goals behind the depictions of the women are also considered, and their actions in relation to the societal expectations of appropriate gendered behaviour for women and men during the Byzantine Empire. The four case studies demonstrate that Komnene depicted these women using their power in the service of the family unit while showing due deference to their fathers, husbands or adult sons. Furthermore, the “double consciousness” of Komnene, as revealed in these depictions, shows her commitment to the contemplation of the power of women and the ways in which women could utilise their self-control to manipulate expectations of gendered behaviour and thus protect their family units, and therefore the means by which they came to hold power. The outcome of this research contributes to efforts to better understand representations of gender in the literature of the Byzantine empire, deepens the discussions of Komnene’s use of source texts and expands on the insights of earlier scholarship.</p>

AIDŌS did not prevent her: An intertextual approach to Komnene's depictions of women in positions of power

<p>Anna Komnene depicts several women in positions of power in the Alexiad, the earliest extant historiographical text written by a woman from the Byzantine period. The intertextual qualities of these depictions of women, however, have not received much attention and indeed the impact of the gender of the author on the text is a topic which skews much of the scholarship. This thesis aims to show that several signposted quotations of earlier source texts reveal an author in the act of contemplating the expectations of gendered behaviour for her narrative subjects, including her own authorial persona. The chapters in this thesis focus on the depictions of four women and the roles they play in the Alexiad: Anna Dalassene, Gaita of Salerno, Emma of Hauteville and Anna Komnene. First, the construction of one or more of these characters is broken down and the evidence in the text concerning the positions of power held by the woman is analysed. Second, an intertextual reading of a passage related to the characterisation of each woman is posed in order to discuss what is similar or different concerning the source text or texts and the target text. The rhetorical goals behind the depictions of the women are also considered, and their actions in relation to the societal expectations of appropriate gendered behaviour for women and men during the Byzantine Empire. The four case studies demonstrate that Komnene depicted these women using their power in the service of the family unit while showing due deference to their fathers, husbands or adult sons. Furthermore, the “double consciousness” of Komnene, as revealed in these depictions, shows her commitment to the contemplation of the power of women and the ways in which women could utilise their self-control to manipulate expectations of gendered behaviour and thus protect their family units, and therefore the means by which they came to hold power. The outcome of this research contributes to efforts to better understand representations of gender in the literature of the Byzantine empire, deepens the discussions of Komnene’s use of source texts and expands on the insights of earlier scholarship.</p>

Vandalia: Identity, Policy, and Nation-Building in Late-Antique North Africa

<p>In 534, after the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, Procopius tells us that the emperor Justinian deported all remaining Vandals to serve on the Persian frontier. But a hundred years of Vandal rule bred cultural ambiguities in Africa, and the changes in identity that occurred during the Vandal century persisted long after the Vandals had been shipped off to the East: Byzantine and Arabic writers alike shared the conviction that the Africans had, by the sixth and seventh centuries, become something other than Roman. This thesis surveys the available evidence for cultural transformation and merger of identities between the two principal peoples of Vandal Africa, the Vandals and the Romano-Africans, to determine the origins of those changes in identity, and how the people of Africa came to be different enough from Romans for ancient writers to pass such comment. It examines the visible conversation around ethnicity in late-antique Africa to determine what the defining social signifiers of Vandal and Romano-African identity were during the Vandal century, and how they changed over time. Likewise, it explores the evidence for deliberate attempts by the Vandal state to foster national unity and identity among their subjects, and in particular the role that religion and the African Arian Church played in furthering these strategies for national unity. Finally, it traces into the Byzantine period the after-effects of changes that occurred in Africa during the Vandal period, discussing how shifts in what it meant to be Roman or Vandal in Africa under Vandal rule shaped the province's history and character after its incorporation into the Eastern Empire.</p>

Vandalia: Identity, Policy, and Nation-Building in Late-Antique North Africa

<p>In 534, after the conquest of the Vandal kingdom, Procopius tells us that the emperor Justinian deported all remaining Vandals to serve on the Persian frontier. But a hundred years of Vandal rule bred cultural ambiguities in Africa, and the changes in identity that occurred during the Vandal century persisted long after the Vandals had been shipped off to the East: Byzantine and Arabic writers alike shared the conviction that the Africans had, by the sixth and seventh centuries, become something other than Roman. This thesis surveys the available evidence for cultural transformation and merger of identities between the two principal peoples of Vandal Africa, the Vandals and the Romano-Africans, to determine the origins of those changes in identity, and how the people of Africa came to be different enough from Romans for ancient writers to pass such comment. It examines the visible conversation around ethnicity in late-antique Africa to determine what the defining social signifiers of Vandal and Romano-African identity were during the Vandal century, and how they changed over time. Likewise, it explores the evidence for deliberate attempts by the Vandal state to foster national unity and identity among their subjects, and in particular the role that religion and the African Arian Church played in furthering these strategies for national unity. Finally, it traces into the Byzantine period the after-effects of changes that occurred in Africa during the Vandal period, discussing how shifts in what it meant to be Roman or Vandal in Africa under Vandal rule shaped the province's history and character after its incorporation into the Eastern Empire.</p>

Production Technology of Glazed Pottery in Chalcis, Euboea, during the Middle Byzantine Period

This paper focuses on various categories of glazed pottery, which were in circulation in western Euboea (Greece) during the Middle Byzantine and Late Byzantine Periods. The production technology and particularly the surface treatment of Byzantine glazed pottery have been investigated on the basis of 56 ceramic fragments from a rescue excavation in Orionos street in Chalkis, Euboea. This paper focuses on the manufacture of glazed pottery within the local pottery repertoire of Chalkis, while trying to contextualise the pottery typology and to consider the issues of technology. The chemical analysis by non-invasive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) provided information about the compositional variation of the examined glazed ceramics assemblage. Moreover, sections of the samples were examined by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to determine the microstructure of the samples, as well as the vitrification and the porosity of the ceramic body. Finally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) was applied for qualitative mineralogical analysis indicating presence or absence of high temperature phases and information about firing conditions.

Egypt in the Roman and Late Antique World

Following a short section summarizing the interpretative contributions of the book as a whole, this chapter takes a wider perspective, drawing on the material studied in the preceding chapters to first compare Egypt to the wider Roman world, and, second, examine the transition from the Roman to late antique period and beyond in Egypt. First, the overall contribution of the book is emphasized: a new interpretation which takes a social archaeology approach to everyday life. The point is also made that the work is grounded in a careful re-evaluation of object dating, and informed by neglected archive information. In addition to providing a secure foundation for the book, this fundamental research provides an important resource for future studies. Next, evidence for both similarities and differences to wider Roman culture is presented, and the multiple ways in which Roman-style material culture may have functioned within the social context of Egypt are examined. Finally, the relationship between the objects studied and wider social changes is investigated; the transition from the Roman to the late antique period, and beyond. This includes a consideration of the impact of Christianity, and wider evidence, through dress objects, of shared culture across the Byzantine Christian world, as well as evidence of economic change at the end of the Byzantine period in Egypt. Some aspects of continuity and change into the early Islamic period, as reflected through the material studied, are also briefly considered.