Byzantine Studies Conference Archives

Twenty-Second Annual Byzantine Studies Conf erence
Abstracts of Papers October 24-27,1996
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

SESSIONS

1. Christian Conversion of the Late Antique City
11. Pioneers of Byzantine Studies in America,
III. Reconstructing Byzantium from Beyond its Borders
IV. Archaeological Perspectives on Economy and Society
V. Identity and Ethnicity
VI. Constantinople and its Ceremonies
VII. Byzantium and the West Through the Age of Charlemagne
VIII. Economic Perspectives on Late Antiquity/EarlyByzantium
IX. Byzantines and Latins: Friends and Foes
X. Theology in an Eastern Context
XI. Prosopography and History
XII. Word and Image as Instruments of the Faith
XIII. Historiography and Learning in Late Antiquity
XIV. Byzantium Through Eastern Eyes
XV. The Byzantines at Home
XVI. Vision and Revision of Works of Art
XVII. Methods of Warfare and Diplomacy
XVIII. Churches and the Builders' Intentions

I. CHRISTIAN CONVERSION OF THE LATE ANTIQUE CITY Chair:

Peter Kaufmann (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

l. Carolyn S. Snively (Gettysburg College)
"Burials and City Walls: the Case of Late Antique Athens"

2. Beatrice Chevallier Caseau (Paris IV - Sorbonne)
"Violence in Late Antiquity: A Bias of our Sources?"

3. Richard M. Rothaus (St. Cloud State University)
"Mutilation of Sculpture in Late Antiquity: Images and Power"

Burials and City Walls: the Case of Late Antigua Athens

Carolyn S. Snively (Gettysburg College)

Athens in the Late Antique period had two rings of defensive walls. Between 254 and 260 A.D. the Emperor Valerian built a wall on the foundations of the old Themistoklean circuit, with an extension to the east. This wall did not keep out the Herulians in 267. Toward the end of the 3rd century, a new wall, known as the Poet-Herulian wall, was constructed to enclose a much smaller area north of the Acropolis and, an recent investigations have shown, the south slope of the Acropolis at least as far east as the Theater of Dionysos (AR 1980, B1, 18-20). It thus protected the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the space north of the Stoa of Eumenes including the Asklepieion but not the Theater. The dates of the renovations and repairs to these two fortifications, the longer circuit of the Valerian wall and the shorter one of the Poet-Herulian wall, are not all certain. The Valerian wall was probably repaired in the late 4th century if not before and was certainly strengthened in the 6th century. The Post-Herulian wall remained in use as a defensive wall of the city until the construction of the Rizokastro in the early 13th century (DAR 1987-88, 342). Thus, regardless of their state of repair, both walls continued to stand as prominent features of the Late Antique urban landscape.

Plotting of known burials on a plan of Athens shows that the majority of burials during the 5th and 6th centuries took place outside the Valerian wall, e.g., in the Kerameikos, along the south side of the city where two cemetery churches were built, and on the southwest slops of Lykavettos hill, where the tomb of Bishop Elimatios was discovered by chance in 1881. Relatively few graves have been discovered inside the city, e.g., a group on Lekka street, two just outside the eastern line of the old Themietoklean wall, and several tombs in or beside the Parthenon on the Acropolis.

The major exception to the location of necropoleis outside the Valerian wall was the cemetery spread across the south slope of the acropolis from the Odeion of Herodes Atticus to the Odeion of Perikles. The whole cemetery has often been assumed to date from the Late Antique period, possibly as early as the late 3rd or 4th century. It obviously lay far inside the Valerian wall and, given the new information about the line of the Post­Herulian wall, partially inside the latter one as well. Examination of the scraps of published evidence for the excavation of the graves on the south slope, however, now suggests that those in the Odeion of Perikles and the Theater of Dionysos were no earlier than the end of the 5th century and that the tombs found in the Asklepeion were Byzantine in date. I.e., burial did not begin on the south elope until the end of the 5th or the 6th century at which time those graves respected and were located outside the Poet-Herulian wall.

The conclusion to be drawn from this and other examples is that in Athens the prohibition against intramural burial was still generally being observed--with fascinating exceptions--in the 5th and 6th centuries. It remains unclear why the Athenians who buried their dead on the south slope of the Acropolis in the 6th century had begun to see this particular stretch of the Post­Herulian wall as the boundary of their city.

Violence in Late Antiquity: a Bias of our Sources?

Beatrice Chevallier Caseau (Paris IV-Sorbonne)

In recent years, some historians have down played the impact of religious violence and in particular the violence against pagan buildings and statues. It is indeed difficult, when faced with a broken statue, to evaluate the causes of the damage. Broken noses, missing heads or hands can be the result of earthquakes and of subsequent neglect. However, literary sources, in particular Saints' Lives, and Church histories, report idol smashing as a recurrent event during Late Antiquity. Is this simply a bias of our sources, a narrative where iconoclasm is just a symbol for the victory of Christianity over polytheistic cults? Or is it the narrative of events that can be traced on the ground by archaeological data? The purpose of this paper is to reevaluate what would constitute criteria which might distinguish between acts of iconoclasm and damage caused by natural causes. It is possible to draw same conclusions from different examples: statues of Athena found at Palmyra and studied by B. Gassowska ; bas-reliefs at the temple of Philae studied by P. Nautin; statues discovered under the walls of different buildings in Athens or in Aphrodisias; and finally temples that show traces of deliberate destruction (such as the temple of Apollo at Delphi). In those different examples, we find evidence for the selective destruction or humiliation of religious objects which cannot have been caused by natural phenomena.

All pagan statues or temples did not suffer the same fate, and recent studies have insisted on the preservation of works of an at the same period. An evaluation of religious violence during Late Antiquity should therefore attempt to keep a balance between the two contradictory attitudes towards religious objects that seem to have coexisted.

Mutilation of Sculpture in Late Antiquity: Images and Power

Richard M. Rothaus (St. Cloud State University)

In the ancient and late-antique world, sculpture was much more than just physical representation. Like all visual images, sculpture and statuary were polysemous. Not only did individuals perceive them differently, different social groupings (often quite fluid) could understand statuary to serve different functions. Of particular interest here are changing reactions and responses to sculpture in a period of religious tensions and transformations. Violent reactions to sculptural imagery are well documented in the literary and archaeological records.

A common perception in late-antiquity (and indeed much of the pre-modern world) was that statues possess powers, or even that daimones possessed statues. Christian polemicists and some individuals saw statues as a locus of illegitimate powers and thus reacted violently, in both word and deed; non-hostile individuals saw statues as objects of legitimate power and responded with suitable veneration. The hostile and sympathetic individuals had more in common than in difference, however. They all agreed that statuary held powers; they disagreed on the nature of those powers. It is because statues did contain power that they were a focus of attention, and this attention made them powerful tools and objects of sometimes violent contention.

Many, but not all, scholars have accepted that "pagan" statuary was either ignored, or often 'Christianized" for re-use with some interpretatio Christiana. In an examination of the literary and archaeological evidence, multiple reactions are evident. The evidence points to a variety of expiatory and perhaps exorcising rituals. These include ritual mutilation, ritual disposal through burial, and ritual exorcism(?) through the application of the cross. Literary evidence for such activity exists in such authors as Julian, Palladas, Sozomen, John Chrysostom, and the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai. More revelatory, and frequently ignored or unnoticed by archaeologists, are examples of mutilation and ritual disposal from the Eastern Mediterranean.

The importance of this material extends beyond the new light shed on the status and treatment of sculpture in late antiquity. The violent conflict, often between Christian and non-Christian interpretations, reveals much about the shared belief basis of the blending Christian and non-Christian populations of the late-antique Mediterranean. The reactions indicate the vitality of non-Christian devotion and ritual, and the dialogue is defined in terms of traditional reactions to imagery and power. The conflict was not so much between two different religious traditions, but rather a disagreement within a common religious tradition.

II. PIONEERS OF BYZANTINE STUDIES IN AMERICA, II

Chair: John W. Barker (University of Wisconsin, Madison )

l. Demetrios J. Constantelos (The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey)
"Peter Charanis: A Pioneer in Byzantine Studies"

2. Rudi Lindner (The University of Michigan)
"Paul J. Alexander: `There Is No One Whose Loss Would Be A More Serious Blow"'

3. Angeliki E. Laiou (Dumbarton Oaks)
"Robert Lee Wolff (1915-1980)"

4. George P. Majeska (University of Maryland)
"George Soulis and the Slavic Connection"

Peter Charanis: A Pioneer in Byzantine Studies

Demetrios J. Constantelos (The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey)

The thesis of the present paper is that the late Peter Charanis (b. 15 August 1908, d. 23 March 1985) of Rutgers University (1938-1976) was a leading pioneer of Byzantine studies in the United States. My essay provides information about his family background, his early education, and concentrates on three areas of his career which confirm that Charanis deserves the epithet "pioneer," and the reputation as one of the founders of Byzantine studies in the Americas.

For more than 38 years Charanis was a dedicated teacher of history--the history of the Byzantine Empire in particular. In his long and creative teaching career, he gave priority to quality instruction and the education of students and the public. From 1938, when he was appointed instructor at Rutgers University, his alma mater, to 1976, when he retired as Voorhees Distinguished Professor of history from the same institution, he had introduced thousands of students, both undergraduates and post-graduates to the study of the history and civilization of the Byzantine world. His Socratic method, his vast knowledge of his subject, his sense of humor and his love for his students made him a popular instructor, remembered to the present day by those who attended his lectures.

Charanis' commitment to effective instruction was accompanied with his emphasis on quality scholarly research and writing. In terms of originality and topics that attracted his attention, Charanis was also a pioneer. His high scholarly standards is revealed in several of his monographs which he preferred over synthetic texts and large volumes. He wrote on social, institutional, demographic and religious themes. Because of his unabated commitment to the study of original sources, he encouraged and helped Rutgers and the Gardner Sage of New Brunswick Theological Seminary Libraries to acquire many sources of Byzantine historiography (literary, papyrological, numismatic, epigraphic) and periodicals.

The third area of activity indicating that Peter Charanis deserves to be known as a pioneer in Byzantine studies is his seminars and the training of eighteen scholars most of whom teach in several institutions all over the United States. No less significant is his initiative to establish the Rutgers Byzantine Series, which produced several scholarly volumes on various aspects of Byzantium's history and civilization. Furthermore, the present paper takes into account his extensive correspondence with leading Byzantine scholars in Europe and elsewhere with whom he exchanged ideas on the problems and issues of the Byzantine studies discipline. Charanis' epistolography confirms his reputation as an international scholar.

It is to the credit of pioneers such as Peter Charanis that Byzantine studies in the United States emerged from the obscurity of the 1930s to an established and respected field of inquiry and study in American institutions of higher learning in the 1990s.

Paul J. Alexander: "There Is No One Whose Loss Would Be A More Serious Blow"

Rudi Lindner (The University of Michigan)

Paul Alexander was born in Berlin in 1910 and died in Berkeley in 1977. Trained in the law at Berlin, Freiburg i. Br., Hamburg, and Paris, he studied ancient history with Arthur Boak al Michigan and obtained a Ph.D. at Harvard in 1940. One of the first junior fellows at Dumbarton Oaks, he became a research analyst at the Office of Strategic Services and, after the war, began as a lecturer at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where he rose to professor. After a short period at Brandeis, he returned to Michigan as Boak's successor and, after ten years in Ann Arbor, taught at Cal for the final decade of his life. To say that his colleagues held him in very high esteem does insufficient justice to the record.

An examination of Paul Alexander's professional career and life as a scholar affords us insight into a number of developments in the history of a humanistic field in the U.S. Twice a refugee, twice changing fields, Alexander was among these younger German Jews who made a new life it.. a new world. His path paralleled not that of the older generation of emigres but those (mostly scientists) whose careers began here. His choices (to leave Dumbarton Oaks, for example) made him more an undergraduate teacher than a prolific researcher, and the rhythm of his work offers interesting contrasts to present-day practice. The movement of his interests from law to history to literature did not find emulators, and in fact the nature of his published scholarship moved away from the trend of his contemporaries. Finally, his ascent, from Dumbarton Oaks to the OSS, Hobart and William Smith, Brandeis, Michigan, and finally to Cal, represents changing expectations as well, as did his residencies in Rome.

Now that the generation of emigres from central Europe is passing, to be replaced by their students and very different traditions of scholarship, it is appropriate to identify, first, the nature of the early influences on them, second, those American traditions they appropriated, and third, their contribution to the growth of their chosen field in their chosen land. A final question, of course, is the extent to which their contributions affect the work of today. As a scholar who obtained degrees both in Europe and the U.S.A., Paul Alexander melded together a number of traditions, and how those shaped his work, teaching, and legacy continues to fascinate.

Robert Lee Wolff (1915-1980)

Angeliki E. Laiou (Dumbarton Oaks)

Professor of History at Harvard, Robert Lee Wolff had a very broad area of expertise, which included the modern Balkans and Russia. During his long period of tenure, he trained a large number of Byzantinists and experts in Balkan history; he also taught the Byzantine field to a number of western medievalists. To his students he imparted a concern for precision, as well as a sense of the importance of broad historical contexts. I consider him one of the most influential teachers of Byzantine history in the U.S.A.

George Soulis and the Slavic Connection

George P. Majeska (University of Maryland)

George Christos Soulis was a special scholar in many different ways. An ardently patriotic Greek deeply devoted to Greek culture of various periods, he chose to view the Byzantine Empire with the eyes of what others would have called "an outsider." But to Soulis, Byzantium was not a state with geographic frontiers, but rather a Weltanschauung, a shared set of values that knew no geographic or political boundaries, but could be recognized by its visible cultural fruits. That was why he was so successful in interpreting not only Serbian history, but also the history of other pieces of the medieval Balkans -­be the pieces Serres or Tziganes. Soulis conceived the Byzantine Empire as a great mosaic with indistinct (and often changing) edges. He felt that illuminating now one area of the mosaic, now another, would eventually improve our perception of the whole composition. Too often people concentrated on the center and never noticed the periphery and thereby missed basic relationships that made the mosaic work together as a unified composition. He tried to change these age-long habits, often purposely looking at the center from the edges of the composition.

Soulis chose to work in America where he would be free to view Byzantium from whatever perspective he chose, even from the perspective of the geographic outsider of the Byzantine core or from the perspective of the provincial or ethnic edges of the polity. Someone who had the special sensitivities of a cultured Greek patriot and could view the Empire 'of the Romans" simultaneously from the Slavic provinces of a still recognizably Byzantine world had much to offer modem scholarship.

Mirabile dictu, George Soulis managed to convey some of this vision of the Byzantine Balkans to a few ruddy scrubbed undergraduates in the heart of Hoosier land, a very unlikely place to find a cosmopolitan Epirote. I am not sure how many of the facts or how much of the explanation that Soulis tried so hard to gel across to them they will remember. What they doubtless all remember of Soulis' lessons, however, is three things: that all history is based on primary sources, even in undergraduate courses; that drawing historical conclusions is hard and painful work; and that it is impossible not to work your hardest for that demonstrably decent professor up there.

III. RECONSTRUCTING BYZANTIUM FROM BEYOND ITS BORDERS

Chair; Constantine N. Tsirpanlis (American Institute for Patristic Studies, Inc.)

l. S. Peter Cowe (University of California at Los Angeles)
"New Light on the Evolution of the Byzantine Coronation Liturgy"

2. Nicolas Schidlovsky (New York City)
"Byzantine Chant and the Early Slavic Sources"

3. Thalia Gouma-Peterson (The College of Wooster)
"Autonomy and Control in the Early History of the Convent of the Apostle Andrew"

New Light on the Evolution of the Byzantine Coronation Liturgy

S. Peter Cowe (University of California at Los Angeles)

Tracing the development of this rite has been hasardous because of the paucity of direct information concerning its structure and the vast hiatus separating the extant sources. Basically the two fixed points in any investigation are the early texts published by Arranz from the euchologion and the description of the fifteenth century form by Symean of Thessalonica. The disparities between them have given rise to various speculations, none more so than that of the origin and circumstances of adoption of the ritual of unction which is absent from the earlier ceremony.

During the Middle Byntine period the Armenians re-established a kingdom under the powerful Bagraud dynasty, which spanned the period 884-1045. Donor sculptures and manuscript illuminations executed during this era indicate contrastive influences from the Empire and Caliphate as models for the trappings of royalty. However, very little research has been carried out on the form of coronation liturgy in use at that time. Surmclian has edited extracts of a rite preserved in the catholicate of Sis. However, as I have demonstrated elsewhere, that text derives from the Mainz Ordo for the investiture of the kings of Germany, which was adapted in 1198/9 for the coronation of Lewon 1 of the Armenian state in Cilicia.

More recent investigations have unearthed different recensions of an earlier form whose affinities with the Byzantine configuration of prayers and gesture are so close as to suggest the latter as its prototype. This paper presents the data in support of such an interpretation and proceeds to draw certain tentative conclusions. In particular, it will argue that the Bagratid Armenian rite confirms indirect evidence adduced by Walter and Nicol to the effect that unction already formed part of the Byzantine rite in the eleventh century and possibly earlier. These cumulatively militate against Ostrogorsky's view that this ritual was borrowed from the Latin Empire and first applied at die accession of Theodore Lascaris in 1208.

Byzantine Chant and the Early Slavic Sources

Nicolas Schidlovsky (New York City)

To what extent (lid the Byzantine aesthetic, as it spread through Eastern Europe and Russia, assume local features? And, does the evidence we have perhaps reflect a balance no longer visible in the Creek sources alone? While both are important questions, the second is paramount especially in the quest for "origins", the central problem in chant history East and West.

Emerging as it does within this vital context, the rich body of early Slavic musical documentation offers particular challenges dealing with methods of transmission, the provenance of the notation, the relationship of melody and text in view of the translation of original Greek hymns into Old Church Slavonic, and the fundamental expansion of Byzantine usage into what might be termed a translingual liturgical melos-all issues resilient among specialists for several generations now. But there is still a substantial task to he accomplished before the subject can be brought to bear with any certain impact in the broad perspective.

Medieval Russian sources of the sticherarion offer a marked case in point. Dating mostly from the pre-Mongol period as far back as the 12th century, these rare holdings in the libraries of Moscow and St. Petersburg suggest tire need to test the possibility of new windows on the evolution of a quintessential Byzantine musical and hymnographic complex.

Autonomy and Control in the Early History of the Convent of the Apostle Andrew in Kefalonia

Thalia Gouma-Peterson (The College of Wooster)

The Convent of the Apostle Andrew at Melapidia of Peratata in Kefalonia has a continuous history since 1587. It also has extraordinarily rich archival records, a large part of which survive despite the three major earthquakes of 1860, 1866, and 1953, the latter of which destroyed most of the island and left the convent in ruins. [The convent's notanal acts and other documents are now in the Historical Archives of Argostoli. A number of them have been published by Protopresbyteros Konstantine Geles, fern Mom Ap. Andreou Kepahallinias (Athens, 1986).] The convent's miraculous relic, the foot of St. Andrew, also survived, and the convent was restored after the last earthquake, and has continued on to the present (it currently has five nuns).

The convent's most famous nun, Romyla Tsigara, joined in 1644 (presumably at a young age) and officially became a nun in 1654. The document of her induction survives, as do those of many other nuns, ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.

Romyla's fame is due in part to her family's wealth and high social standing. Her father, Zotos Tsigaras, a Venetian citizen originally from Ioannina, was a protospatharios and brother-in-law of Prince Peter of Moldovlachia, as is noted on his portrait in woodcut, preserved in the convent's archives. When his daughter officially became a nun he gave to the convent, according to the record of her induction, a gift of 1000 realia, the equivalent of a small fortune. He, his wife, and daughter are represented in a contemporary oil painting, standing beneath the Virgin and Child flanked by Sts. Cosmas and Damian floating in a bank of clouds. The painting, an example of the western style perfected by Cretan icon painters active in Venice during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, bears an inscription specifying that it was dedicated by the parents on the occasion of their daughter Rozane's acceptance of the "angelic schema, having changed her name to Romyla the Nun." According to other records Romyla made beautiful embroideries and gave many precious gifts to the church of the convent, including a crystal case for the relic of St. Andrew.

Ironically, it is during the time that its most famous nun joined the female community that the convent lost the status of semi-autonomy it had enjoyed since its refounding in 1587. In 1653 Ieremias, the bishop of Kefalonia, appointed Leontios

Petrikios abbot of the monastery. Though abbesses continued to exist alongside the abbots, the real decision-making power in both religious and worldly matters had, by then, been removed f rom their hands.

In this paper I will examine the circumstances, directions, and spirit of the refounding of the convent as recorded in the "Ktetorikon of the Convent of the Apostle Andrew" m 1587 and pursue the gradual shifts in the power structure during the next seven decades as they can be gleaned from surviving documents of appointments.

IV. ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

Chair: Sharon Gerstel (University of Maryland)

1. James Russell (University of British Columbia)
"The Reign of Zeno I (the Isaurian): the View from Isauria"

2. Frederick M. Hocker (Institute of Nautical Archaeology/Texas A&M University)
"A Middle Byzantine Shipwreck Near Bozburun, Turkey: A Preliminary Report"

3. Robert Ousterhout (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne)
"The Byzantine Monuments of Imbros"

The Reign of Zeno I (the Isaurian): the View from lsauria

James Russell (University of British Columbia)

Written sources for the Isaurian Emperor Zeno (474-491) are brief but consistent is their hostility. He and his entourage of fellow countrymen were viewed as barbaric interlopers. Just as offensive to the Orthodox majority of the capital was Imo's attempt, embodied in his Henotikon of -182, to reconcile the opposing forces of Orthodoxy and Monophysitism within the church.

When viewed from his own homeland, however, Zeno's reign assumes a very different character. Mango and Gough were the first to associate four famous Isaurian churches (Alahan, Dag Pazari, Meryemlik ' Korykos) as part of a (amnion building program promoted by Zeno. Gough also identified in the several mosaic depic tions of the Peaceful kingdom in churches of Isauria a symbolic image of the reconciliation that Zeno sought to achieve ill the Henotikon. Subsequent discoveries (e.g. a further Peaceful kingdom at Anemurium datable to the late fifth century) tend to confirm these theories.

Improvements attributable to Zeno's reign in Isauria are not limited to ecclesiastical works, however. It is evident that Zeno or officials closely associated with him were responsible also for secular projects as well. These include aqueducts at Elaioussa Sebaste and at Zenonopolis, Zeno's own birth­place, and a bath-building at Anemurium. Of greatest interest is an inscrip­tion from a recently discovered city identifiable as Nephelion, located on the Isaurian coast 50 kilometers south-east of Alanya. The text takes the form of an acclamation in honor of the Emperor Zeno and an unknown comes whose name has been erased, expressing the gratitude of the inhabitants for Zeno's generosity in renewing the city. Presumably it had suffered damage in the Isaurian rebellion of the early years of his reign. A review of the evidence of Zeno's benevolence towards his Isaurian homeland, both ecclesiastical and secular, thus provides a very different impression of the Emperor from the largely negative account found in the "official" record of his reign.

A Middle Byzantine Shipwreck Near Bozburun, Turkey: A Preliminary Report

Frederick M. Hocker (Institute of Nautical Archaeology/Texas A&M University)

This paper wilt present results of the first two seasons of excavation on a Middle Byzantine shipwreck off the southwest coast of Turkey, near Bozburun. Preliminary indications are that the wreck, a merchant vessel approximately 20 meters tong and carrying between 1000 and 2000 small amphoras of possible Crimean origin, dates to the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century. The well-preserved cargo and hull should offer a unique opportunity to investigate not only the details of maritime trade and technology in this period, but should also contribute to the understanding of broader trends in this turbulent period.

The ninth century saw the revival of Byzantine military fortunes in Anatolia, but the loss of strategic maritime outposts in Crete and Sicily. The Moslem occupation of Crete, at the mouth of the Aegean, posed a particularly worrisome problem, as long-distance maritime trade, just recovering from the tong depression that followed the disasters of the seventh century, was at risk even in "home" waters. The degree to which ships traveling in these waters prepared for their own defense should be an indicator both of the overall level of risk expected by merchants, and their confidence in the Navy's ability to maintain open routes. The route of the ship, wrecked at the mouth of one of several fortified harbors on the southwestern corner of Anatolia, may also indicate whether it was engaged in supplying the garrisons maintained in this period.

Analysis of other Byzantine cargos, from seventh- and eleventh-century wrecks, has shown that during the intervening centuries the nature of collection and distribution mechanisms for bulk cargos had developed significantly. The standardization of containers from widely varying sources in three- and five­pound units by the eleventh century points to either increased state involvement in trade or growing economic organization, perhaps even a proto-capitalistic approach to commerce. The Bozburun amphoras, from the earliest identified wreck of the Middle Byzantine period, should offer important insight into the degree to which this trend had developed at the beginning of the economic recovery. Small finds, particularly coins and weights, have, in other Byzantine wrecks, often provided clear indications of the degree of interaction of Byzantine traders with other cultures, even their putative enemies.

Details of ship construction, such as the materials used and the methods of assembly, provide important clues to resource usage and technical developments in an important craft tradition. In a broader sense, ships reflect in their size, configuration, and sailing qualities, the political and economic tenor of the times. In troubled times, people build smatter ships and emphasize speed to escape pirates and foreign warships.    In stable economic and political times, larger, sturdier ships are a better investment.

The Bozburun ship provides, in a sense, a snapshot of its times. This report will focus on the range of material available for analysis and preliminary conclusions to be drawn from the most obvious features, as well as an evaluation of the geographical considerations affecting the ship's rote and route.

The Byzantine Monuments of Imbros

Robert Ousterhout (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

There is virtually no recorded history for the north Aegean island of Imbros (now Gokgeada) during the Byzantine period.

However, the position of the island would have been strategic for any maritime activities in the Aegean: it is located just outside the Dardanelles and within sight of Tenedos, Lemnos, and Samothrace. The position of the island has also been critical to its modern history. It is part of Turkey, and until recently, it had limited access as a military zone.

Because of new threats to the island's history caused by tourism and development, I undertook a survey of its Ancient and Byzantine remains in 1995 in conjunction with Dr. Windried Held of the German Archaeological Institute. This is the first systematic attempt at recording the monuments of Imbros in more than a century.   We are grateful to the Turkish Ministry for permission. our efforts were concentrated around the ancient port of Kastro (now Kalekby), and in future seasons we will survey other areas of the island.

In this short communication I will present a portion of the 160 objects and sites inventoried in our first season. Most are completely unpublished. From these random survivals, we are beginning to be able to reconstruct a continuous presence on the island through the Byzantine period.

Early Christian period:    1. Foundations and mosaic fragments from a basilica at Kardamos Bay. 2. Six matching Ionic capitals built into other buildings. 3. Two fine Impost capitals, one at the Kale Motel, another in the narthex of the post-Byzantine church of H. Marina.

Middle Byzantine period:   1.  A matching set of marble from the same church, now in the garden of the Belediye at Merkez (Panagia). 2. Two fine closure slabs with geometric patterns in the floor of H. Marina.

Late Byzantine period:    1.  The fortress at Kastro.   2.   Three dated inscriptions from the early 15th century.

V. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY

Chair: Elisaveta Todorova (University of Cincinnati)

l. Ronald J. Weber (University of Texas at El Paso)
"Conceptualizing the Frontier in Late Antiquity"

2. David Olster (University of Kentucky)
"Mixed-up Natures and Customs? Christians and the `Third Genos"'

3. Stephen H. Rapp, Jr. (The University of Michigan)
"The Impact of Heraclius' Invasion of Caucasia Upon Medieval `Georgian' Self-identity"

4. Annetta Ilieva (Independent Scholar)
"`Tervel of Bulgaria and Gliavanos the Khazar Took Their Places There on Many Occasions"'

5. John V.A. Fine (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
"Did the South Slavs have Ethnicity in the Middle Ages?"

Conceptualizing the Frontier in Late Antiquity

Ronald J. Weber (University of Texas at El Paso)

In criticizing Theodor Mommsen's and Edward Luttwak's theories of the "grand strategy" of the Roman Empire, Benjamin Isaac comments that it is impossible to imagine that "the Romans were capable of realizing in practice what they could not define verbally." Close reading of Roman military writers confirms that the verbalized concepts of Roman military deployment centered on operations and tactics exclusive of any precise, far reaching strategic goals. It is the contention of this paper that from A.D. 300 to 650 Roman ideas about the frontier and frontier defense exhibit the same conceptual failures manifest in the military accounts. Focusing on the fourth and fifth centuries, this paper will review several writers from Late Antiquity who perceived the frontiers from an intellectual framework considerate of the past as the material of the present, heedless of an overall strategy reaching into the distant future.

The chief examples are how Roman ideas of space and time hindered long-range planning. In Ammianus and Priscus as well as the edicts of Justinian the amorphous nature of the edges of the Empire was both a threat and an opportunity, a parallel of traditional Stoic cosmology. The Stoics conceptualized the outer regions of the inhabited world as a disordered sphere, full of uncertainties for Romans living in the known world. There was no plan for dealing with the unknown. Moreover, speculation about time offered no more precision about when the Romans could encounter the unknown. In the first century, Seneca had formulated the concept that the past provided a vague perspective on the secrets of the future. However, unlike the past, the future was basically unknowable, and one could not make progress against the unknown.

only the past offered any possibilities. For example, the Emperor Julian saw his Persian expedition as an extension of eastern policies initiated by Trajan, not as an act that provided for the future. For the same reason, Ammianus criticized Jovian for betraying tradition when he surrendered Roman territory after Julian's sudden death. Both cases demonstrate a lack of consideration for the future in determining policy. Combine this with the personal nature of Roman politics, and it is clear that the Romans had serious intellectual handicaps to the formulation of a long-term, forward looking frontier concept. This failure to conceptualize does not fully explain the failure of the Roman frontier. It is simply one aspect, seldom considered, but still revealing of the basic Roman assumptions about the frontier.

Mixed-up Natures and Customs? Christians and the "Third Genos"

David Olster (Univ. of Kentucky)

One of the ethnographic problems that confronted the first­century geographer Strabo was how gene interacted when the terri­tory of one was settled by another. Alexandria, where Greeks, Egyptians and foreign mercenaries intermingled, produced a popu­lation of migades or "half-breeds" whose confused government reflected their confused breeding. Nonetheless, he continued that despite the Greek settlers' intermingling with the natives, they remained Greek by descent (or by nature), and enough of the "custom" or "habit" [ethos] of their Greek nature remained so that the city did not altogether devolve into anarchy. The rela­tionship between nature and custom in the genus implied by Strabo here was moreover tilted heavily toward nature: regard­less of custom the stamp of ancestral descent remained. Although Judaeans were a mixed tribe [phylon mikton] of Phoenicians and Egyptians, whose customs were unlike either, Strabo could still maintain that "though the inhabitants are mixed up thus, the most prevalent of the accredited reports ... represents the ancestors of the present Judaeans, as they are called, as Egyptians." For Strabo, different gene could produce constitutions and customs that "were mixtures of both barbarian and Greek laws" -- and usually the worse for being mixed -- but could not produce a mixed nature. Ultimately, intermarriage between gene could not produce a third genos. While Strabo could identify mixed cus­toms, "We cannot call mixed any of these gene ... for even if they had become mixed, still the predominant element has made them either Hellenes or barbarians; I know nothing of a third genos that is mixed [mikton]."

In the light of Strabo's denial that a "third genos" could exist, it is interesting to note that about one humdred-fifty years after Strabo, a third genos announced itself to the world. Clement of Alexandria, Psuedo-Cyprian and Tertullian proudly referred to the Christians as a third genus or genus, and wit­nessed, furthermore, that pagans would shout "third genus" to insult Christians as they entered the stadium to be martyred. The only modern scholar who has studied this peculiar Christian expression was Harnack, who concluded (without using classical sources) that "third genos" was a metaphor for "third religion:" the others were Judaism and paganism. More recent scholars who have briefly addressed the question of Christianity's relation­ship with classical ethnography have added little to Harnack's initial contribution. This paper will follow how this odd expres­sion migrated from Greek ethnography to Christian apologetics, and will develop the cultural links between Christians and pagans that informed the Christian adoption and adaptation of classical ethnographic rhetoric.

The Impact of Heraclius' Invasion of Caucasia Upon Medieval "Georgian" Self-Identity

Stephen H. Rapp, Jr, (The University of Michigan)

In 627 the Khazar mercenary troops of Heraclius sacked the K'ari'velian (Iberian. or eastern "Georgian") city of Tp'ilisi (Tp'ilisi, Tinis) and murdered Step'anoz 1, the local presiding prince. Step'anoz, unlike his father Guaram kuropalales, had refused recognize the emperor as his sovereign. Upon Step anoz's removal, Heraclius installed a pro­Byzantine prince in a bid to secure the loyalty of the Christian K' art'velians so as to use them as tools in the defense of the eastern frontier. Although this attempt was checked by the subsequent Islamic domination of Caucasia, nevertheless, from thus moment the K'ari'velian presiding princes customarily associated themselves with the Byzantine Empire, culminating in the role of the K'an velian Bagratids from the end of the eighth century.

Although no contemporary Georgian account survives, three later Georgian texts prominently featured Hemline campaign: Ps.-luansher (ca. 800), Sumbat Davit'is-dze (11th c.), and the derivative Roval List I (11th c.). For a single episode to be addressed in multiple works was exceedingly rare in pre-modem Georgian historiography, and this circumstance demonstrates the significam:e of this event even among later historians.

The medieval Georgian historical tradition regarded Heraclius' appearance in K'art' ti as the moment when the local nobility and rating strata were, for the first time, squarely confronted with the Byzantine notion that they should necessarily submit to the emperor, the self-proclaimed head of all Christendom. To be sure, the K'art'vehan monarchy had been Christianized already in the fourth century; yd, with the exception of having a religious affiliation with   ' Rome/Byzantium, the K'arl'velian realm remained part and parcel of the Persian commonwealth. Only with the appearance of a Byzantine emperor within the confines of K'art' ti itself were the local elites compelled m take a stand on K'art' ti's precise relationship with Byzantium.

The earliest Georgian account of Heraclius' invasion, that of Ps.-Juansher (along with the preceding Life of Vaxtang Gorgasali [also ca. 800], demonstrated this "crisis" of medieval Georgian self-identity. In fact, The Life of Vaxtang Gorgasali telescoped this crisis onto King Vaxiang I (ca. 447-ca. 522), who, in the course of his hagiographically­modeled biography. transferred his ultimate loyalty from the Persians to the Christian Byzantines. Yet, Vaxtang was not made to renounce his - or Karl ti's -- ancient Persian heritage, for in the author's estimation it was possible for K'arl' li to be Christian and Persian and K'art'velian. It should be said that this syncretism was not adequately explained andjustified in the text. In any event, Ps.-Juansher, whose brief tract constituted a continuation to the biography of Vaxtang, was the earliest Georgian historian to provide substantial details about Byzantine politics; moreover, in his work we may detect a nascent attempt to distance Christian K'art'li from the Persian world. Subsequently, Bagratidera Georgian authors (from the 10th c.) consciously attempted to suppress K'art'ti's Persian heritage and instead looked towards Byzantium for models of rulership. Nevertheless, Persia's influence over the Karl'vehans continued, albeit in shrouded terms; e.g.: social organization continued to be more tike Sasanid Persia than Byzantium (after C. Toumanoff: early Bagrafid names were based upon Persian (although they were said to be Hebrew according to the Armenian historian Movses Xorenac'i), and N. Adom' and Toumanoff have determined that the Bagratids themselves were originally a Perso-Armenian family, and not Jewish as they later claimed

In sum, the infusion of Byzantine ideology was uneven and gradual in the Caucasian periphery. The Chrisuanization of the K'art'vehan monarchy in the fourth century only signified the potential inclusion of K'art'li within the Byzantine commonwealth. However, a serious consideration of Christian K'art'li's relationship to Byzantium on the part of the K' art'vehan elite was effected only some two hundred years later with Heraclius' appearance outside the walls of Tp' ilisi. Although K'art li, and then a unified Georgia, came to be regarded as part of the Byzantine world (and many modem scholars stilt cling to this view), I would suggest that Christian K arP f -- up to Heraclius and even the early K'artvelian Bagratids-- continued to conceive of itself as a being situated within the Persian/Near Eastern milieu. Ironically, Byzantium's push to incorporate K'art' li may ultimately be regarded as a failure, at least in part, for by the second-half of the eleventh century the monarchs of all-Georgia dropped subordinate Byzantine dignities, raised the status of the head of the Georgian Church to that of patriarch, battled against Byzantine armies in Porous and western Caucasia, and began to portray themselves as equals to the emperors. From the Byzantine perspective, it would seem that K' art' li/Georgia never came to understand its proper place within the Byzantine world

'Tervel of Bulgaria and Gliavanos the Khazar Took Their Places There on Many Occasions'

Annetta Ilieva (Independent Scholar)

It happens that for the emerging medieval Byzantium the troubled seventh century came to a close--in a figurative sense, of course--, with the only emperor in all its existence who succeeded to mount the

throne for a second time. By the irony of history, his name was Justinian. Tire circumstances of his return to Constantinople involved the intervention of a newly established power in some of the former Balkan territories of the empire so "strenuously" fortified along the Danube limes by the first Justinian.

The relations between the "cut-nose" emperor and Tervel of Butgaria have beer, much discussed in numerous scholarly works particularly, and understandably, by Bulgarian medievalists. What this paper aims at is to develop a guess nourished by the re-dating of the Parastaseis Syntomoi clhronilcai to the early eighth century. Whatever Kazlrdan's doubts against the thesis of Cameron and Herrin are it seems that the paragraphs of the 'Brief Historical Notes' dealing with Justinian 11 have been produced in the immediate aftermath of his reign. One of them, however, namely the one about the kneeling statue of the tyrant 'in the golden-roofed Basilica colonnade' (i. e. § 37 whence the title of this paper was borrowed) has not received the attention it deserves so far. It is my view that the 'nhnra ouv oda dll(ya OxEioe ]in that same part of the Basilica] b86Bnoav [by Tervel and 'Gliavanos the Khazar']' is an explicit statement that can help us elucidate the much debated--and to my opinion still unresolved issue--, of the 'aaxrov' in the first inscription around the Madera equestrian, of the treaty of A.D. 716, and finally of Theophanes's 'nfinzov' in his section on the emergence of the Bulgarian state. I should like to acknowledge the fact that the development of my arguments is much endebted to Professor Oikonomides's article on the A.D. 716 treaty in the first volume of Studia Slavico­Byzentina et Mediaevalia Furopensia (Sofia, 1989).

Did the South Slavs have Ethnicity in the Middle Ages?

John V A. Fine (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)

Did the medieval Bulgarians, Serbs, and Bosnians have ethnic awareness? An ethnic feels in a community with others of his kind, that they are members (even when not knowing each other), bound by common ingredients, usually language, territory, a common history, and a feeling that those sharing these qualities were somehow members of a common family, which continues to exist when state boundaries change. Most South Slav scholars use a simpler definition, merely using the so-called ethnic- name. But this is unsatisfactory, for a Seth commander or soldier may simply be one who serves the ruler of Serbia, he might not even call himself a Serb. In fact most Balkan people (and all people in huge areas) were simply called "Slavs." Moreover, in alt three states a Bulgarian, etc., usually denoted someone who served the given state's ruler.

1) Bulgaria: Early Bulgarian intellectuals (from. the tenth century) had a concept of ethnic family, but, it was derived from the Cyril-Methodian mission and denoted the Slavs in general. John Vladislav -­the last ruler of the First Empire -- left an inscription (ca. 1017) referring to himself as of the Bulgarian "rod" (family), which suggests ethnicity. But after this idiosyncratic text, we must wait until the 14th century, when in certain Bulgarian Church circles, the concept of a Bulgarian "rod" or "jazik" (in the sense of'nation) emerged. It did not penetrate society beyond these Church circles, in any case, Bulgaria felt to the Turks in 1393.

2) Serbia: Serbia s earliest "ethnic" reference is in Cantacuzenus, who claims Stefan Dusan wanted Hrelja's return to Dusans service, because "of sameness of race." Then a silence falls on "ethnicity" until the 15th century when Gregory Tsamblak -- a Bulgarian emigre in Serbia -- wrote a life of Stefan Decanski who was of the "the great and most glorious Serbian ezyk." (language/nation). This vocabulary, a transplant from Bulgaria, hardly penetrated Serbian society. Serbia's ideology emerged at court and focused on the sacred dynasty. In certain areas, though at times under the dynasty and called Serbian lands, the term Serb was never attached to the populace; e.g., the word "Slav" was used consistently in what is now Montenegro.

3) Bosnia: No sign of Bosnian "ethnicity." However, the term "Bosnian" was used widely for those serving Bosnia's rulers. Significantly, the labels "Serb" and "Croat" -- despite modern nationalist claims -- were not used for people in medieval Bosnia at all.

VI. CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS CEREMONIES

Chair: George Majeska (University of Maryland)

1. A. Cakmak (Princeton University), R. Taylor (University of Minnesota), E. Durukal (Bogazigi University)
"Hagia Sophia: A Possible Reconstruction of the First Dome"

2. Natalia Teteriatnikov (Dumbarton Oaks)
"The Patriarchal Quarters in the South Gallery of Hagia Sophia: Where Was the Patriarch's Throne?"

3. Kim Bowes (Princeton University)
"The Monumental Columns of Constantinople and their Role in Urban Ceremony"

4. Jean A. Miller (The University of Rochester)
"The Founder's Ghost and Other Puzzles: Parsing Ritual in Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus"

5. Ioli Kalavrezou (Harvard University)
"The Rod of Moses In Byzantine Court Ceremonial"

Hagia Sophia: A Possible Reconstruction of the First Dome

A. Qakmak (Princeton Univ.)       R. Taylor (Univ. of Minnesota)   E. Durukal (Bogaziti Univ.)

With its vast scale and corresponding immense cost, extraordinary speed of erection (532-537 AD), and stunning interior space, the Hagia Sophia is unparalleled in premodern Western architecture. As such, its achievement begs answers to three intriguing and interrelated questions. The first falls mainly in the realm of architectural/technological history and concerns the nature of the theoretical and material resources used by Hagia Sophia's designers, Anthemius of Tralies and Isidorus of Miletus, for the creation of this great building. In 558, the great central dome fell after being subjected to two earthquakes. A nephew of Isidorus then erected the current dome. The form of the second dome remains basically unchanged despite its subsequent partial collapses. The second question concerns the behavior, under the action of environmental loadings, of Hagia Sophia's much-modified structure over the centuries and the worthiness of the present-day structure in a future major earthquake, an event that is most likely to occur within the next half-century. These two questions were addressed through the application of numerical, structural modeling techniques aided by on-site archaeological observations and dynamic-instrumentation measurements. The third concerning the exact shape and nature of the original dome has not been satisfactorily answered to date.

In studying the earthquake worthiness of the current dome in comparison to the generally assumed collapsed original pendentive dome, it was discovered that the pendentive dome is structurally not inferior to the current dome, under both static and dynamic loads. This surprising result raises questions on the validity of the currently assumed original dome. A review of historical writings has provided insights to help formulate a new proposal. From Procopius' description, the first structure can easily be interpreted as a dome on a fenestrated drum. Paul the Silentiary claims that the "horn of the eastern arch" had collapsed. This is normally Interpreted as the arch's crown, but Agathias, who had read Paul's description, declares that the eastern arch was left unchanged. Could the "horn" instead have been the part of the drum resting upon the eastern arch7 Moreover, according to Malalas, the new dome was 20 ft. higher than the original one, whereas the Diegesis (Narratio de Sancta Sophia) states that the dome was made 20 ft. tower. The apparently contradictory reports of raising and towering are reconciled if we recognize that the new dome was made 20 ft. higher in profile when its springings were towered down to the cornice.

Based on this information, we propose a possible alternative for the first structure: a slightly flatter dome than the current one sitting on a 20 ft. tall fenestrated drum, of the same height as the current dome crown measured from the cornice level. This new proposed dome is slightly less strong structurally under static toads, however, under an earthquake of magnitude 7.5, its drum shows tensile stresses of two and a half times those of the other two configurations, while the tensile stresses in the arches are about the same for all three cases. Thus it seems likely that the drum of this dome would have been seriously damaged after the sequence of earthquakes that occurred in 557 AD. Thus it was probably part of the drum above the eastern arch, and not the arch itself, which collapsed in 558 AD, taking down with it a portion of the dome above.

There are additional reasons why the currently assumed pendentive dome is unlikely to be the correct one. First, if the eastern arch collapsed, why was only the dome, and not the arch, modified afterwards) In the second collapse of the 10th century, when the crown of the western arch fell, Tradat replaced the arch with one of greater cross-section before repairing the dome. And unlike Isidorus the Younger, he left the rest of the dome intact, since he recognized that its collapse was caused by the weakness of the arch. Next, comparing the pendentive dome with the current one, the change in profile is very significant. The current dome is both higher and almost twice as heavy, thus increasing the toads on the arches. Finally, the change from the new proposed shape to the current one is a rational and simple one which tilts the drum inwards and makes it part of the spherical dome, thus reducing the large moments in the ribs that probably caused the failure of the original dome described by Procopius.

Thus this new proposed reconstruction of the first dome Is compatible with both the results of our scientific studies and the original sources mentioned and clearly shows that the current dome is a far more rational and consistent improvement over the newly proposed original dome.

The Patriarchal Quarters in the South Gallery of Hagia Sophia: Where Was the Patriarch's Throne?

Natalia Teteriatnikov (Dumbarton Oaks)

The central cathedral of the Byzantine empire, Hagia Sophia in Constantinople assumed a complex function throughout its history. Many aspects of the building are still obscure because of the scarcity of literary sources and the absence of original furnishings. This paper will investigate an important part of this church building -- the central bay of the south gallery. Although scholars generally identified the central bay of the South Gallery as the patriarchal quarters, stilt little is known about the function of this part of the gallery and its furnishings. I will present the archaeological evidence for the location of the patriarchal throne, previously unexplored, and also discuss its functional context.

The survey of Hagia Sophia by Robert van Nice brought to light floor marks in the South gallery which have never been explored in the studies of Hagia Sophia. Floor marks from the original furnishings are still in situ on the north and south sides of the eastern wall. The marble floor near the center of the north side of the east wall shows traces of a rectangular base (150 cm x 1.90 cm). I would tike to propose that this base belongs to the throne of the patriarch. This seat is adjacent to the east wall with a similar orientation to the bishop's throne in the synthronon of the apse. This place, close to the balustrade of the gallery, would have allowed the patriarch to comfortably participate in the church services.

The Book of Ceremonies and pilgrim's accounts inform us that the patriarch used this area for attending the liturgy during which he blessed the singers (psaltai) from the gallery. The location of the base of the proposed patriarchal throne is on the same axis as the ambo location on the ground floor of the central nave where the singers (psaltai) stood during the liturgy. We also know that on certain feasts the patriarch attended the liturgy and stayed in the gallery over night. 'f lie location proposed here for the patriarch's throne seems to be in agreement with the sources.

The Monumental Columns of Constantinople and their Role in Urban Ceremony

Kim Bowes (Princeton University)

One of the most prominent aspects of Byzantine Constantinople was the dozen or more monumental honorific columns which rose above its skyline. Now mostly in ruin or known from textual references alone, the formal and iconographic aspects of these monuments have been investigated at length by art historians and archaeologists, most recently by Jean-Pierre Sodini. The placement and urban function of these monuments, however, has been ignored by nearly all scholars. This study represents the first consideration of these monuments as a topographical group and reveals their important role in the articulation of both triumphal and ecclesiastical ceremony in Constantinople during the Late Antique and Middle Byzantine periods. As such, it attempts to correlate and expand the seminal works of Michael McCormick and John Baldovin on imperial and religious urban ceremonies in the Byzantine capital.

This paper suggests that the Constaminopolitan monuments helped to shape the urban processional form of Middle Byzantine worship and defined an important part of Constantinopolitan 'sacred topography.' Nine of the twelve columns were located in the fora along either the lower, or northern branches of the Mese.  In addition to serving as major east-west arteries, these roads seem to have functioned as the primary routes for imperial triumphal processions.  Each column built on these roads was placed at the edge of the densely populated area of the city, gradually extending the line of these monuments from the city center at the Augusteon out beyond the city walls to the Hebdomon and to the north beyond the Apostoleon. This pattern of construction indicates a monumental and propagandistic articulation of the edges of the city, which echoes the important symbolic role played by the city limits in triumph ceremonies. On the basis of the available surviving evidence, it seems that the primary viewing side of these monuments, bearing reliefs and inscriptions, faced out of the city toward the incoming viewer or the direction of an oncoming triumphal cortege.

The most complete record of the proceedings of a Constantinopolitan triumph is found in Constantine Porphyrogenitus' record of the 879 triumph of Basil 1. (Imp. Exp. 725-795) Like his fourth and fifth-century predecessors, Basil chose to enter the city through the Golden Gate and proceed down the lower Mese to St. Sophia. This record indicates that the majority of stations in that triumph stopped at the colossal columns where the emperor was received and acclaimed. The detour taken by the imperial cortege in order to pass by at least one column further emphasizes the importance of these monuments in Basil's triumph.

Columns also figured prominently in the Mid-Pentecost procession returning from St. Mocius to the Great Palace, as described in the De Cerimoniis (1,17). The coincidence of Basil's triumphal route and the majority of its columnar stations with this ecclesiastic procession indicates not only the importance of triumphal tradition and these monumental landmarks in the formation of Christian urban processional routes, but also that by the Middle Byzantine period, a traditional imperial architectural form had become integrated into a Christian hermeneutic. Christian viewers, long having forgotten the original honorific functions of the these monuments, could understand them as signs of divine visitation, the home of stylite ascetics, or more generally, a symbol of their city's survival in the face of natural disasters. The eighth­century apocalyptic revelation of the seer Daniel mentioning the column of Constantine and a similar citation by Andrew the Fool in the 10th century further proves the power of columns to Christian viewers.

The monumental columns of Rome were not absorbed into either Christian hermeneutic or ceremony to such an extent, in part due to the different placement and original meaning of Roman columns, as well as to the different Christian topography of the two cities. The comparison with Rome highlights the unique functions of Constantinopolitan columns vis a vis the formation of urban procession, and elucidates the importance these monuments held for over 500 years.

The Founder's Ghost and Other Puzzles: Parsing Ritual in Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

Jean A. Miller (The University of Rochester)

Beginning with an example of the use of ritual taken from the anthro­pologicai iiteracure, the paper goes on co bring together and to add to the analytic approaches bearing on the spatial and temperal dimensions detectable in Constantine VIi's descriptions of ritual in his Be ceremonies. Particular azzention is paid to the 'processional' rituals, especially the two rituals devised for two 'anomalous' occasions: the "Reception of Helga the Rus "' and "The Reception of the Saracen Friends" - anomaly residing in the fact that Heigga was a woman and a sovereign, and the Saracen Friends were not Christian. A brief coda on the "taboos of the Emperor Constantine," taken from the Be aaministrando imperio, Is added, to show how the powerful name of the Founder. Constantine the Great. was used and manipulated. From the first Constantine on, the East Roman rulers were able to use ritual in a comprehensive and energetic fashion. to arrange, orde^, and make unaerstandabie their soclai and political universe.  Ritual not only displayed and impressed as a drama might. but brought the entire City, and a fortiori the most sacred topoi of Sacred Palace and Great Church, into use as an iconic backdrop or program. A particular genius was revealed in the East Roman calculation of how best to uc_iize stable zoos and mobile processional, participation and observation. directionality and "story" (or history). The theoretical suggesi:ions of two percipient aaaiysts of the ritual idea, moment, and process, that is, Victor Turner and J. Z. Smith. will be of great value here.

The Rod of Moses In Byzantine Court Ceremonial

Ioli Kalavrezou (Harvard University)

The Rod of Moses is one of the oldest religious relics that the Byzantines possessed. It was supposed to have been brought to Constantinople at the time of Constantine the Great. According to Pseudo-Codinus a church was built to house it at the location where Constantine received the Rod. This church was located at the south-westem side of the Vilth hill near the Constantinian wall and had the name of the %heotokos ris Kabdoa.. However, the relic was moved at some later date and deposited in the imperial palace where we find it often mentioned in the Book of Ceremonies. In the palace it was kept in the oratory or chapel of St. Theodore, one of the vaulted chambers attached to the Chrysotriklinos. Once in the palace, it became one of two very important relics that were present at every official occasion.

The court created and used symbols and images for imperial self-definition and presentation of the imperial office. Relics played a very important role in this. They defined the Byzantine notion of orthodox Christianity and also the Byzantine notion of Empire.

The paper will discuss the role of the Rod of Moses in the ceremonial life of the Byzantine emperors and its influence on Byzantine imperial art.

VII. BYZANTIUM AND THL. W I?ST 111ROUGH THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE

Chair: Lawrence Nees (University of Delaware)

1. Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis (Western Michigan University)
"Visualizing an Imperial Capital: Charlemagne and Ravenna"

2. Genevra Kombluth (Youngstown State University)
"Carolingian and Middle Byzantine Cameos: a case of Western Influence?"

Visualizing an Imperial Capital: Charlemagne and Ravenna

Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis (Western Michigan University)

According to his biographer, Charlemagne bequeathed the bishopric of Ravenna a large silver table with a picture (effigies) of the city of Rome on it, while he left a similar table, with a representation (descriptio) of Constantinople, to St. Peter's in Rome. These are the only two churches to which Charlemagne willed individual objects; the privileging of Rome and Ravenna is an indication of the high esteem in which Charlemagne held these two cities. Given the antagonistic relations between the archbishops of Ravenna and the popes of Rome in the ninth century, it was surely an act of deliberate irony to give the picture of Rome to Ravenna and the picture of Constantinople to Rome. However, this is not the only meaning of the bequest; the two pairs of cities, Rome-Ravenna and Rome-Constantinople, embody in different ways Charlemagne's concept of the imperium romanorum, and indicate the pivotal role played by Ravens in Charlemagne's conception of his own imperial capital city.

Charemagne is known to have visited Ravenna at least twice: once in 787, and again in 801. The city and its treasures seem to have made an impression upon him, since several sources mention his appropriation of building materials and objects from Ravenna for use at Aachen. In addition, the many formal similarities between the church of San Vitale in Ravenna and the Palatine Chapel at Aachen indicate that the former was at least one of the models for Charlemagne's construction. A great deal has been written about exactly what he was attempting to imitate, and how he went about it; most of the scholarly literature has bypassed Ravenna to focus on Rome or Constantinople.

In this talk, I examine what Charlemagne would have seen when he went to Ravenna, and what the city might have represented visually to him. In preparing a new critical edition and translation of Agnellus' Liber potuificalis ecclesiae Ravennatis, written in the 830's and 40's, it became evident to me that Agnellus provides a great deal of information about the appearance of the city in Charlemagne's day. I argue that in the bequest of the tables, Charlemagne was indicating his identification of Ravenna with Rome's sister imperial city, Constantinople. To Charlemagne, Ravenna was a western version of Constantinople, that is, a Byzantine-style imperial city, which was as close as he got to actually seeing Constantinople, except for the descriptio on his table. But beyond this, Ravenna had been a capital in its own right, of the western, Christian, Roman empire that had covered much of the territory that Charlemagne himself ruled. By modelling Aachen on Ravenna, Charlemagne made his own capital part of this network of imperial cities, a "new-new-new Rome;' setting up the dichotomies Aachen-Rome and Aachen-Constantinople, but also Aachen-Ravenna, as represented in the bequests of die silver tables. In the context of Charlemagne's renovario romanorunt imperil, Ravenna provided him with an ideal model, one that could function on marry levels as Byzantine, imperial, Christian, and western capital.

Carolingian and Middle Byzantine Cameos: a case of Western influence?

Genevra Kombluth (Youngsmwn State University)

Most early Byzantine cameos are cut in multi-colored layered agate: dark stone forms a background plane, while is used for the bulk of the relief figures, and another dark layer colors the hair, clothing, and other details leg. angels with cross, Dumbarton Oaks). 'these gems am dated in the sixth or seventh century. There is then a gap in the glyptic record. The earliest datable Middle Byzantine cameo, a jasper standing Christ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, is from the reign of Leo VI. This monochrome stone bears little resemblance to the earlier gems.

Since no late seventh/early eighth-century cameos have been identified, and since the Middle Byzantine material differs from early Byzantine stones, it is likely that there was a break in cameo production (and not merely in survivals). The seventh-to-ninth century lacuna is probably not due to Iconoclasm, despite coincidental liming. These stones were small personal items, readily hidden, and could easily have escaped official censure. 'they also apparently functioned as protective encolpia (Martin Dennen, current research). They therefore belong in the ubiquitous class of apolropaic material used continuously throughout Byzantine history (Henry Maguire. ed., Byzantine Maine, 1995). Despite continuing functional demand, however, cameos apparently went out of fashion before Iconoclasm, and returned later in a different form. It is then necessary to look for some stimulus besides the end of Iconoclasm, to explain the resurgence of cameo cutting. Perhaps this stimulus came from Frankish activity.

One of the most distinctive Middle Byzantine forms is the transparent monochrome cameo (e.g. sapphire of Christ blessing, Dumbarton Oaks). Then: is some precedent for these gems in Sassaman glyptic (e.g. "Cup of Chosroes," Cabinet des Medailles), but that material was accessible to Byzantine viewers welt before the ninth century and did not stimulate local imitations. A newly identified Carolingian stone, however, shows that the Franks were making transparent monochrome cameos just before the Byzanlines began to do so. 1 have previously published the 20 surviving Carolingian intaglios (17 in transparent rock crystal), gems whose formal was probably influenced by early Byzantine reverse-engraved pendants. Erika Zwierlein­Diehl and 1 have now identified as Carolingian a sapphire cameo of Christ blessing (Cologne, Shrine of the Three Kings; identification in press). This unique stone is stylistically close to the ivory covers of the Dagulf Psalter, and may therefore be assigned to the Court School of Charlemagne, perhaps (tike the Psalter) before 795. 'Ns sapphire cameo is in concept, if not in style, remarkably similar to the Middle Byzantine examples.

We know of many gift exchanges between the Byzantine and Frankish courts. In general, those exchanges have stimulated discussion of the Byzantine influence on Carolingian art. Carolingian and Middle Byzantine glyptic may provide us with an opportunity to discuss instead the inspiration of eastern artists by the work of their western counterpa1s.

VIll. ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES ON LATE ANTIQUITY/EARLY BYZANTIUM

Chair: Richard J. Talbert (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

1. Thomas R. Elliott (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
"Diocletianic Census Inscriptions of the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor"

2. Timothy E. Gregory (The Ohio State University)
"Realities of the Byzantine Economy: Views from the Cypriot Kitchen"

3. A.L. McClanan (Harvard University)
"Byzantine Steelyard Weights Depicting Empresses"

4. Peter Lampinen (Combined Caesarea Expeditions)
"Autonomous Civic Coinage in Seventh Century Syria-Palestine and the End of Byzantine rule in the East"

Diocletianic Census Inscriptions of the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor

Thomas R. Elliott (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

This paper will present findings from the study of census and cadastral inscriptions from ten different sites in the Aegean islands and Asia Minor. These inscriptions constitute an important and unique body of documentary evidence for studies of taxation, census, land use, manpower and related topics for the Late Imperial and Early Byzantine periods. The paper will include a survey of the inscriptions, including recently-published fragments, and will focus on new readings and interpretations of some of the stones that can still be located today. I will present photographs and readings of the relevant inscriptions from Thera and Cos, where I was privileged to conduct research during the summer of 1996 under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and with the permission of the Greek Archaeological Service. The paper will also describe a research project, already under way, that wilt produce a corpus of these inscriptions. This corpus will be submitted as my Master's Thesis, distributed to interested scholars and made available over the INTERNET.

The fragments of these inscriptions have been published individually over the past 150 years, many of them without photographs. There is no work that collects and presents alt of them. Further fragments stilt await publication. The most complete treatment was published in 1945 (Andre Deleage, La Cnpiinlion du Bas-Empire) and is now out-of-date in many respects. Further research on the implications of these inscriptions is hampered by the fact that, in several cases, readings of the complex numerical figures they preserve have not been verified in light of theories proposed since their publication. Recent discoveries and identifications of new fragments by W. Blomel, A. Chaniotis, R. Parker, G. Reger and H. Williams need to be presented and discussed alongside the larger group. Several scholars engaged in the study of topics that depend on these inscriptions have called for a new presentation, including W. Goffart and R. Duncan-Jones. This paper wilt serves as a status report on progress toward answering their call.

Realities of the Byzantine Economy: Views from the Cypriot Kitchen Timothy E. Gregory (The Ohio State University). Archaeology has long been seen as a primary source of information for our understanding of the Byzantine economy, and pottery has often been used as a major indication of the direction and extent of trade. For these purposes, attention has normally focused on either finewares (as an indication of elite trade) or amphoras (as evidence of bulk trade). Little or no attention has been paid to cooking vessels, both because they do not often travel well and because local kilns are assumed to have supplied regional needs. Little work has been done to check or corroborate those assumptions, but recent excavation and survey in various parts of Cyprus allowjust such a study to be carried out. Virtually every excavation and survey in Cyprus turns up large numbers of late Roman and Byzantine cooking pots. These humble vessels were apparently the basic vessel for kitchen use and perhaps even for table use. Although cooking pots are nearly all of virtually the same utilitarian shape, late antique Cypriot vessels are generally identifiable by their fabric and they have been found at many sites in Asia Minor and the Levant, as well as on the island itself, raising the question as to whether these pots may have been the focus of at least some degree of long-distance exchange.

Study of these cooking pots from a number of archaeological projects throughout Cyprus reveals a remarkably wide variety of differences in shape and even of fabric, forcing us to examine once again the mechanisms of production and trade-both of which have fundamental ranufications for our understanding of the nature of the economy in this period.

This paper examines a number of problems, including difficulties of classification and fallacies caused by chronological discontinuity, but it concludes that one can suggest a system of interlocking "cooking pot regions" throughout Cyprus and that this system provides important evidence about the nature of trade between the fourth and the seventh centuries.

Byzantine Steelyard Weights Depicting Empresses

A.L. McClanan (Harvard University)

During the Early Byzantine period, the counterpoises of steelyard weights were routinely molded in the fore, of an emperor and, even more commonly, an empress. These objects have primarily been studied as isolated exemplars in museum catalogs, but the information that these mass-produced representations yields about visual culture requires their study as a group.

By looking at the numerous examples now found in collections throughout Europe and the United States, some generalizations can be made. The weights in the form of empresses are often identified with individual Theodosian empresses on the basis of a supposed similarity to numismatic images. This comparative practice has disproportionately shifted the dating of these objects to the time when augustae were prominently represented on coins, which did not necessarily correlate to their popularity as an emblem on weights. It is tempting to identify the steelyard weights with individuals, but when studied as a group they appear to be typological representations rather than portraits. These tokens convey the authority of empire to routine business transactions, and that this prestige was signified by an empress bespeaks her viability as emblem of imperial power.

Unfortunately many of the published examples of these weights are not from excavated contexts, so we have relied on stylistic analysis to yield their broad Early Byzantine dating. Two excavated examples of a related type from Anemurium and the seventh-century shipwreck of Yassi Ada likewise hint that the this type of weight was used into the sixth and seventh centuries, giving yet another reason to question the standard fourth- and fiftb-century attribution of these pieces.

While two examples are hardly a substantial base for sweeping claims, they do contravene another common assumption made by scholars such as Ross about these steelyard weights--that they can be localized to Constantinople in terms of both production and use. Looking at the group of steelyard weight counterpoises in the shape of empress busts that are housed in the Istanbul Archeological Museum disputes this claim. Fourteen examples in Istanbul are published, of which five are given a provenance. Interestingly, only two were found in Istanbul, the other three originate in Adana, Kayseri and (~anakkale. Having the imperial image on the commercial weights used throughout the empire effectively disseminated this emblem of authority. This far-flung distribution parallels practice in low-value contemporary Byzantine coinage. Just as the image of the empress prominently marked widely circulated coinage during this period, their image also validated everyday transactions at the edge of the empire.

Autonomous Civic Coinage in Seventh Century Syria-Palestine and the End of Byzantine rule in the East

Peter Lampinen (Combined Caesarea Expeditions)

The Byzantine stale faced repeated shocks along its eastern frontier in the first half of the seventh century. Beginning with the revolt of Heraclius against Phocas in 608, the region of Syria-Palestine was visited with a succession of armed conflicts and the attendant civil disruptions. 614 saw the toss of much of the east to the Persians, including the sacred city of Jerusalem. Large scale military campaigns tasted until the final complete defeat of the Persians in 628, only to break out again a few years later, with the eruption of Islamic forces out of Arabia. Every one of these movements of armies can be linked to a specific Byzantine mint issue, often of an emergency military nature, but still official in the sense of being struck by and for imperial authorities.

What is becoming clear is that there was a parallel sequence of issues of a less official nature. Often labeled "Arab-Byzantine" and traditionally attributed to the confusing period immediately after the Arab conquest, several distinctive types appear to have been in circulation during the Byzantine period (i.e. before 641 CE). Beginning as early as the Juslinianic period a wetter of more or less competent imitations of imperial types appear in circulation, providing the fractional currency neglected by the central authorities. Imitations of the dekanummia of Alexandria were ubiquitous in Palestine, and formed the basis of the circulating currency system by the end of the 6th century, replacing the set of lower denominations introduced earlier in the century by Anastasius. A notable change occurs at the beginning of the 7th century, when several series of bronze folleis and half folleis appear that are not direct imitations of official issues,

are indeed marked with mint names that were not the locations of official mints. The special issues struck for Jerusalem, Scythopolis (Beth Shean), Gerasa, Neapolis and possibly others appear to overlap the Byzantine and Islamic periods and are evidence to support a hypothesis that civil authorities were operating outside of Imperial control by striking coinage for local circulation at a time when a restive local population was increasingly alienated from the center at Constantinople and the imperial court. The presence of military garrisons in many of these towns is also a factor that must be addressed, in tight of the still unclear rote military activity played in the distribution of coinage and the presence or absence of a local mint. By the middle Ummayad period (circa 680 CE, according to Bates) the concept of a central mint supplying coinage for an entire region, a system in place since the reign of Diocletian, had been replaced by that of local small scale minting authorities, at least a dozen striking in Palestine itself.

It is evident that the picture numismatists have developed of the composition of coinage in circulation in the Byzantine east of the 7th century is not as clear cut as previously thought. What changes will be wrought in our understanding of Byzantine society by further investigation of these local coinages? As a beginning, these "Byzantine Provincial" issues suggest currents of civic autonomy existed in the last decades of Byzantine rule in the east, and further examination might clarify the rote of local aspirations in the weakening of imperial control in the face of outside threats from Persian and Arab and the resultant collapse of Byzantine civil and military infrastructure.

IX. BYZANTINES AND LATINS: FRIENDS AND FOES

Chair: Charles M. Brand (Bryn Mawr College)

1. Tia M. Kolbaba (Princeton University)
"Byzantines, Latins , and Holy War. Attitudes toward Religiously Inspired Violence before and after 1204"

2. Eric A. Ivison (Clarion State University of Pennsylvania)
"A Moment of East-West Cultural Exchange: Byzantine Funerary Chalices"

3. Frederick A. Schultz (The Ohio State University)
"The Economy of 14th Century Corinth: Commercial and Agricultural Administration During the Acciaioli Period"

4. Joan Marguerite Downs (University of Michigan)
"The Medieval Settlement at the Hexamilion Fortress at Isthmia: A Byzantine Center in the Corinthia"

Byzantines, Latins, and Holy War. Attitudes toward Religiously Inspired Violence before and after 1204.

Tia M. Kolbaba (Princeton University)

Most scholars who discuss Byzantine ideas of just war and holy war contrast Byzantine attitudes and western European ones. We frequently read that Byzanhnes did not understand holy war, that they maintained a classical idea of just war, and that they therefore found the crusades unintelligible and barbarous. Moreover, this theory continues, Byzantine wars were not holy wars because holy wars must be declared by religious authorities, as crusade and jihad were, while Byzantine wars were fought on imperial authority. On the other hand, Byzantine writers often glorify the emperors as defenders of the faith and their wars as holy wars. Based on such accounts, other scholars have argued that Byzantium did indeed have a crusade idea, and had it long before the West did.

This paper tries to accommodate the truth in both of these views. Byzantine wars often were holy wars--albeit holy wars which differed significantly from both crusade and jihad. One way to demonstrate this point is to analyze Byzantine criticism of the crusades. Before 1204, complaints about the crusades take two forms, both of which we can see in the Alexiad of Anna Comnena. First, there are complaints about Latin armies being unruly and about crusaders who refuse to bow to imperial authority. Second, the princess joins Michael Cerularius and others in objecting to a specific violation of canon law: namely, bishops and priests fighting. No writer, so far as I know, objects to the idea of a war against the infidel.

Only after 1204 do Byzantine authors begin to complain about other features of the crusades. Shortly after the Fourth Crusade, for example, Constantine Stilbes complains about the Latin idea that a soldier killed in battle against the infidel goes straight to heaven.

Notably, however, he does not deny the validity of religious warfare per se.

Three significant problems accompany failure to recognize both that Byzantines had their own ideas of holy war, and that their condemnations of Latin holy war changed over time.

First, failure to recognize the change after 1204 is failure to recognize the extent to which our own perceptions of Greeks, Latins, and the crusades is influenced by the events of 1204--that is, by our knowledge of a crusade directed against orthodox Christians.

Second, generalizations about Byzantine attitudes toward the crusades often lead to the conclusion that the Greeks were somehow not warlike. This conclusion can be used against them, as in Gibbon's portrayal of "effeminate Greeks". Or it can be used positively, making them more "like us" in their understanding that war is Hell. Either way, the result is more an anachronistic stereotype than a portrait of real people.

Finally, and most fundamentally, the claim that Byzantine wars were not holy wars because they were under imperial, not ecclesiastical, authority rests on the assumption that church and state in Byzantium were separable. They were not.

A Moment of East-West Cultural Exchange: Byzantine Funerary Chalices

Eric A. Ivison (Clarion Slate University of Pennsylvania)

Scholarship has tended to minimize or even dismiss any influence of Westem culture on Byzantine society following the Fourth Crusade, despite the lack of comprehensive research on the subject. Studies to date have been restricted in focus and scope, using only written texts, which emphasize the differences and conflict between Latins and Greeks and do not take into account material culture and the social implications derived from its study. Archaeological studies of other opposing cultures have found plenty of evidence for exchange between them, and the late medieval Aegean is no exception. My paper aims to open a critical debate on Latin-Byzantine cultural relations, by using archaeological evidence in combination with literary sources. Hero I will present an aspect of Byzantine burial practices.

My paper discusses two glazed ceramic goblets associated with burials at Nicaea in Asia Minor (Iznik, Turkey) and Peritheorion in Thrace (ancient Anastasioupolis, Greece). Both goblets date to the early Palaeologan period and have similar shapes and inscriptions, followed by invocations for two named individuals. I identify the Nicaea and Peritheorion goblets as communion chalices on the basis of their inscriptions, which are eucharistic in spirit, and their shapes, both of which closely imitate those of chalices in precious metals. Probable chalices are also known from other contemporary graves and different contexts, and although there are precedents in Canon Law for the burial of the Host with the clergy in the twelfth century, chalices are absent from Byzantine graves prior to the thirteenth.

The practice of placing chalices in graves begins in the Latin West up to three centuries before 1200, where they are restricted to clergy as a symbol of ordained rank and as an apotropaic talisman. In the light of Eastern and Western evidence, I propose that the Byzantine pottery chalices served the same purpose, being made especially for burial. Given the unheralded appearance of chalices in the thirteenth-century East, I submit that this custom is derived from the Latins, and that it is a consequence of Frankish influence in Byzantine lands in the wake of the Fourth Crusade (1204).

The implications of my conclusions for understanding the sources and the period are important and wide ranging. The silence of the written sources in the face of archaeological remains demonstrates that new methods, using and comparing both corpora of data, must be adopted in this form of enquiry. Such analysis has the potential to strip away our own and Byzantine preconceptions about the period and its sources, revealing a far more complex and subtle picture of competition and mutual emulation between the Latin and Byzantine elites than previously assumed. This instance of cultural exchange is indicative of a wider social phenomenon, one that needs more in-depth study if we are to trace the exchange and even fusion of Byzantine and Latin culture after 1204.

The Economy of I4'^° Century Corinth: Commercial and Agricultural Administration During the Acciaioli Period

Frederick A. Schultz (The Ohio State University)

When the French and Italian knights of the fourth crusade set themselves to the task of taking actual possession of the lands they parceled out after the fall of Constantinople, they faced obstacles beyond the purely military problem of occupying the land: they had to administer their new territories and exploit them efficiently; they had to govern an indigenous population that had its own language, ruling elite, legal tradition and cultural norms-all drastically different than those of the west; in short, they had to establish a modus vivemfi with their new subjects without allowing themselves to be assimilated entirely by the Greek population. The resulting clash of local and foreign elements created a complex society in the Frankish Balkans based on Western feudalism but altered by existing economic, religious and even political realities.

This paper, based on economic documents of the Acciaioh period, describes certain aspects of this complex society. Specifically, i have addressed the nature of commercial activity in Corinth and the process of agricultural exploitation of the Corinthia. The picture that emerges is one of fairly sophisticated administrative and commercial structures that rested on a cash-poor economy. This resulted in elaborate mechanisms to remunerate officials, merchants and artisans. The document also sheds tight on the commerial status of Greeks and Jews in Corinth and their relationship to the Italian aristocracy.

The Medieval Settlement at the Hexamilion Fortress at Isthmia: A Byzantine Center in the Corinthia Joan Marguerite Downs (University of Michigan)

In this paper I examine some of the excavated, but hitherto unanalyzed, material from the Byzantine fortress at Isthmia near Corinth. This research illustrates both the methodological problems of incorporating old but unstudied material into the corpus of knowledge on Byzantine archaeology and the

necessity of such study. Research on the context material from the Isthmian excavations of the 1960s illustrates that this major Byzantine military settlement experienced growth associated with both periods of military threat and security, and exhibited substantial trade links. This study has produced information on the life of the settlement, including more detailed analysis of its phases of habitation, and their relationship to demographic patterns in the Byzantine northern Corinthia.

The site of Isthmia was of great importance in part because of its strategic location. It ties on the isthmus which connects the Peloponnese to Attica and stood as the first tine of defense for Corinth. The excavators' immediate goat was the clearing of the fortress wall of debris. They focused their attention on the recovery of spolia from the classical Greek sanctuary and the lowest strata which sometimes contained classical material. However, in the process many Byzantine houses with watts preserved m more than two meters in height, industrial features, like kilns, and more than 50 burials came m tight, as well as hundreds of coins, coarse ceramics, imported and local fine wares and many interesting portable items of metal, glass and bone.

This paper focuses on the remains in the vicinity of the only gate into the fortress in the fourteenth and fiftecnih centuries. The monumental Early Byzantine gates of the fortress were blocked and this gate, known as the West Gate, was the heart of the small community poised at the juncture of the

routes across the isthmus for both land and sea trade. This community is interesting as it is one in a string of inhabited loci which shifted around inside the fortress over time and because this area has yielded such a varied array of material finds. It is clear that the character of the settlement in the fortress changed throughout its history in terms of its primary purpose as either a defensive station or as an agricultural community poised at one of the busiest intersections of trade in Greece.

This reinvestigation of context material and excavation records functions m illustrate the degree to which important information on Byzantine phases of classical sites and Byzantine demography and material culture have been obscured by the priorities of previous scholarship. This paper also illustrates the methods and feasibility of recovering this information and the character of a vital Byzantine garrison and community.

X. THEOLOGY IN AN EASTERN CONTEXT

Chair: Sidney Griffith (Catholic University of America)

l. Robin Darling Young (Catholic University)
"Eznik of Kolb on the Nature of the Creator"

2. Patrick T.R. Gray (York University)
"Theological Discourse in the Seventh Century: The Heritage from the Sixth Century"

3. Daniel J. Sahas (University of Waterloo, Canada)
"Hesychastic and sufi experiences in the Confutatio Hagareni of Bartholomeus of Edessa (9th c.?)"

Eznik of Kolb on the Nature of the Creator

Robin Darling Young (Catholic University)

Eznik of Kolb, bishop of Bagrevand in Armenia during the first half of the fifth century, was the first writer to compose a work in the Armenian language. This long discussion, written ca. 991-998, has received a dual title from its editors: De Deo, or Against the Sects. The purpose of the work was twofold; it was apologetic in the manner of Athanaslus' Contra Gentes, but it was also catechetical. It aimed to instruct believers, primarily other bishops and priests, in the proper understanding of the Scriptures since these were being translated at about the same time as the composition of Ezn1k's treatise.

Of his work Eznik remarked, "the work of the church of God is the following: without the Scriptures to reproach those on the outside of the truth of things, and to convince those on the inside (lacking true opinions) by means of the holy Scriptures." Hence he employs logic to oppose the Marcionites, Manichaeans, Zoroastrians and Platonists, and also discusses the Trinity, Christ, the genesis o£ evil, and human free will.

Eznik based his work on the Greek and Syriac patristic texts collected by early Armenian Christian scholars. These works include Methodius' On Free Will as well as the works of Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Basil, Arlstides, Diodore of Tarsus, Basil of Caesarea and Ephrem of Syria. But the structure of the De Deo is his own, and his connection of Valentinian Gnostic theology with the doctrines of Zrvanism signals that Eznik thought the two were similar. He also attacked Greek philosophical cosmology and pagan astral determinism before devoting his lengthy final section to the errors of Marcionism, a group with a large following in neighboring Syria.

This paper will discuss the way in which Eznik advances his description of a Trinitarian God by way of argumentation with erroneous opinion. It will discuss the relationship between Eznik's theology and that of the Antiochene theologians who seem to have influenced it, and through It, the early Christian mission to Armenia.

Theological Discourse in the Seventh Century: The Heritage from the Sixth Century

Patrick T.R. Gray (York University)

'trends beginning in the Fifth Century led, in the Sixth, to a radical transformation of the discourse known as theology, whether Melkite or Monophysite: The relatively open and creative discourse of the age of the fathers became a cramped and scholastic kind of

discourse treating those very fathers of the previous age as ultimate authorities who had established all doctrine, and seeing its own task as the organizing and exegetng of what was assumed to be a monolithic doctrinal heritage. Part of this process of "patrification" (the making of a father) involved the association of the fathers, as champions of and sufferers for the faith, with the prestige long accorded to martyrs and monastics.

During the Seventh Century, on the Monophysite side, this trend was carried on in the form of progressively more authority's being ascribed to that church's own fathers, Dioscorus, 'timothy Aelurus, and above all Severus. By the end of the century the latter had been invested, quite explicitly, with a status virtually equal to that of Athanasius.or Cyril. Theology could now be done simply by exegeting his writings. Not surprisingly, lie was lauded as a sufferer for the faith. On the Melkite side, Anastasius Sinaiticus illustrates the perpetuation of scholastic discourse: he argued about the "texts of the fathers", and who was truly loyal to them; he addressed, not a Seventh-Century Monophysite, but - typically - Severus, showing that, for this discourse, one needed to deal only with the past. Moreover, theological discourse on all sides had taken the trend further: the fathers were not merely the authorities to be exegeted, but enunciators of "exact" and "precise" doctrines. As such, their every assertion was to be examined minutely in exactly the spirit in which a modern fundamentalist examines biblical texts, desperately seeking to resolve any apparent conflicts. Such an approach expressed itself alike in the ridiculous-for instance, a dead-serious argument about people flying (because Athanasius had spoken of "men who flew with wings and lifted themselves to life")-and the sublime-for instance, the profound reflections of Maximus on the anibigua of Gregory of Nazianzus.

Hesychastic and sufi experiences in the Confutatio Hagareni of Bartholomew of Edessa (9th c.T)

Daniel J. Sahas (University of Waterloo, Canada)

The Confutatio Hagareni (PG 104: 1384-1448), attributed to an elusive but erudite Edessene monk, Bartholomeus, can not claim to be a specimen of finesse and civility, as rarely polemic literature can do for that matter. And yet, in the midst of hyperbole, vulgarities, name-calling, insults, paternalism, and repetitive refutations, this little known treatise contains a wealth of information and allusions of textual, historical, theological, cultural, and comparative significance about Islam, and Christianity in Syria, most likely in the ninth century. As a staunched and proud ascetic, the author seems particularly interested in Muslim folkloric spirituality and the emerging sufi movement, which were nurtured by and shaping the evolving Hadith.

For Bartholomew, as for the sufis, Muhammad's miraculous ascension to heaven (mi'Mj) is of particular importance and thus a prime subject of refutation. The paper will concentrate on Bartholomeus' varying accounts of the theme in relation to its Muslim interpretation and its influence on sufi ideals and spirituality; in itself an insight into the evolution of the miracle within the Hadith. It will also examine the historical value of Bartholomeus' descriptions of, or allusions to, Muslim mysticism and spirituality in conjunction with Byzantine monastic-hesychastic ideals and experiences. One cannot miss the point that the word mir'dj literally means "Ladder"!

XI. PROSOPOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

Chair: Claudia Rapp (University of California at Los Angeles)

1. Thomas Brauch (Central Michigan University)
"Byzantine and Patristic Evidence of an Urban Prefectship for Themistius under Valens"

2. Hagith Sivan (Institute for Research in the Humanities, Princeton)
"Forbidden Unions in the Early Byzantine Empire: A Prosopographical Evaluation"

3. Ralph W. Mathisen (University of South Carolina)
"The Integration of Barbarian and Roman Society in the Early Byzantine Empire: Evidence from the Biographical Database for Late Antiquity"

4. Hugh Elton (Trinity College, CT)
"The Isaurians and the Early Byzantine Empire: AD 300-700"

5. Dion C. Smythe (King's College, London)
"Traditional Middle-Byzantine Family Values?"

Byzantine and Patristic Evidence of an Urban Prefectship for Themistius under Valens

Thomas Brauch (Central Michigan University)

In a paper delivered at the 1992 Byzantine Studies Conference the present speaker challenged the modern consensus that Themistius served as Prefect of Constantinople once in his career, in AD 384 under Theodosius I; contemporary Greek, Byzantine Greek and tenth century Arabic sources show that Themistius was eastern urban prefect in 362 during Julian's reign. But other Byzantine sources report an urban prefectship of Themistius in the reign of Valens. Poem XI, 292 of the Greek Anthology satirizes an unnamed intellectual who sought worldly glory by taking the office of urban prefect, and manuscript notes to the poem in both the Palatine and Planudean editions of the Greek Anthology identify the unnamed individual as Themistius and date the office referred to in the poem to the joint rule of Valentinian I and Valens.

Although scholars consider these notes an error or a confusion with the prefectship of 384, an urban prefectship of Themistius during the reign of Valens can be confirmed in the correspondence of Gregory of Nazianzus. In his Letter 24, written sometime between 365 and 369, Gregory asks Themistius' aid for his nephew Amphilochius in a taw case in the eastern capital. In one passage of the letter the church father compares Themistius to Plato's philosopher-magistrates for uniting outstanding magisterial power and philosophy in Constanlinople; later in the letter Gregory reports that Themistius was at the time administering justice in the city. Both descriptions imply that Themistius was the current prefect of Constanlinople.

Three considerations provide a more precise date for this prefectship. Letter 24 is one of three letters written by Gregory to highly placed individuals at Constantinople concerning Amphilochius' legal problems during the years 365 to 369; the two other letters, Letters 22 and 23, were written to the influential dignitaries Caesarius and Sophronius. From their descriptions in these letters it appears that Caesarius and Sophronius were also prefects of Constantinople during the years 365 to 369, and from a comparison of the presentations of Letters 22, 23 and 24 Themistius seems to have been the last of the series of the three prefects for 365 to 369 and to have been in office in 368. In addition, Themislius' Oration 8, given in March of 368, shows the orator to be especially close to Valens' regime. Hence this prefectship should be dated to 368. However, Gregory's Letter 38, also addressed to Themislius, suggests that Themistius remained in office until early 369.

The conclusions of this study are as follows. Modem prosopography should account an eastern urban prefectship for Themistius in 368 as well as 362 and 384. The prefectships under Julian and Valens will require a revised modern understanding of Themistius' career. Themistius should not be viewed simply as a courtier, imperial advisor and royal panegyrist, but also as an imperial official who several times occupied high administrative office. Themistius must have harbored more political ambitions or considered official appointments to be far more important to his public career than modern observers have recognized.

Forbidden Unions in the Early Byzantine Empire: A Prosopographical Evaluation

Hagilh Sivan (Institute for Research in the Humanities, Princeton)

A number of early Byzantine laws appear to have as their intent the prohibition of marriages between certain classes of individuals. CTh 3.14.1 of the early 370s, for example, states, "Nulli provincialiuur ... cum barbara sit uxore coniugium, nee ulli gentiliurn provincialis femina copuletur."

CA 9.75 of 388 (cf. CTh 3.7.2, CJ 1.9.6-7) decrees, "Ne quis Christianam mulierem in matrimonio ludaeus accipiat neque ludaeae Chrislianus coniugium sortiatur." Such laws, which seem to contradict the usual Roman "open door" policy that traditionally had encouraged the absorption of foreigners, from both inside and outside the borders of the Roman Empire (whatever they may have been), into the fabric of Roman society, have been the cause of much discussion and debate.

In the past such prohibitions usually have been interpreted as representing some form of generalized imperial policies regarding the kinds of persons who ought or not to marry bused on state perceptions of the classes of individuals named. That is to say that prohibitions of marriages with barbarians have been seen as reflecting a general imperial distrust of barbarians, and those involving Jews as having some type of pro-Christian, anti-Semitic basis. I have suggested elsewhere, however, and my continuing research confirms, that such decrees, although their incorporation into the law codes has the appearance of giving them empire-wide validity, were almost certainly ad hoc measures initially enacted to deal with particular situations in particular places at particular times which had nothing to do with any imperial policy of matrimonial exclusion. This may explain, for example, why marriages of Romans with harbanans and Jews happened to be prohibited in the extant legislation, but marriages between, say, Christians and pagans or heretics were not.

But such considerations of purpose and policy say nothing at all about social realities. How did real people perceive each other in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries? Do the legal prohibitions against certain kinds of unions, regardless of whether or not they reflect any kind of imperial "policy,"

accurately portray what was going on in early Byzantine society. Were certain kinds of unions in fact avoided'! Such questions can only be answered by the use of a prosopographical methodology. So this paper will also consider specific cases of different kinds of attested unions among Romans and barbarians on the one hand, and orthodox Christians and pagans or heretics on the other. In so doing, it should be possible to discover not only the extent to which certain kinds of unions actually were avoided, but also, to some degree, the reasons behind any types of unions that may have been truly "forbidden," not by legislation, but by actual social practice.

The Integration of Barbarian and Roman Society in the Early Byzantine Empire: Evidence from the Biographical Database for Late Antiquity

Ralph W. Mathisen (University of South Carolina)

In 1988, ut the Houston BSC, 1 presented a discussion of the Biographical Database for Late Antiquity, a project designed to create a database which will incorporate as many as possible of the individuals attested to have lived during Late Antiquity. In that presentation I discussed the "nuts and bolls" of how the database was created, such as the criteria for inclusion, and the means by which literary and epigraphical, and other evidence was reduced to computer format. Currently, the database includes individuals drawn from such sources as Ammianus Marcellinus, Gregory of Tours, Duchesne's fasti of Gallic bishops, the Bibliotheca hagiographica latina and other hagiographical sources, the Corlms insrriptionum latbtarum and other epigraphical sources, and volume two of the Prosopography of the Later Rontan Engrire.

This presentation wilt discuss one way in which the material in the database can be applied to the study of early Byzantine history. Specifically, it wilt discuss what an analysis of the nearly 30,000 per­sons included in the database can tell us about the integration of the barbarian and Roman populations during the early Byzantine period. The analysis will be broken down variously by period, by source, by nationality, and by occupation. A study of different sources, for example, shows that for the period before the fifth century, rather over 30% of the individuals mentioned in Ammianus appear to be barbar­ians, but only 2% of those in Duchesne. The reasons for such divergent numbers will be discussed. With regard to occupation, the civil, military, and ecclesiastical spheres will be considered. The percentage of barbarians among those attested in military occupations, for example, ranges from 48% in Anunianus for the late fourth century, to 85% in Gregory of Tours, for the period 395-527. Other examples of apparent preferences for Romans or barbarians in particular kinds of occupations, the reasons for them, and how they changed over time will be presented. Particular attention will be given to the biases of the sources with regard to the kinds of individuals they discuss.

In general, it will be suggested that quantitative studies tike this can help us to clarify the general picture we have of the integration of Roman and barbarian society during the crucial period from the fourth through the sixth centuries. This discussion makes it very clear that in our studies of social evolu­tion we need to be very sensitive to the kind of source material we are studying, for the biases of the source material can easily outweigh the actual phenomena. Someone studying only Ammianus atone would come up with different conclusions from someone studying Gregory atone. Furthermore, this study also demonstrates that even supposedly comprehensive secondary catalogues are far too biased and incomplete to allow us to use them to do significant social research on aggregate populations.

The Isaurians and the Early Byzantine Empire: AD 300-700

Hugh Elton (Trinity College, CT)

During the Early Byzantine period, men of Isaurian origin were of great importance to the Empire. They constituted a large part of the imperial armed forces and one of them, Zeno, became emperor in 474. The heavy reliance by the army on these men from the mid-fifth century onwards is often said to be the result of emperors seeking a counterbalance to the Germans who had dominated in the fourth and early fifth centuries.

Although Isaurians have been the subject of much attention in the past, most of this has focused either on the Isaurian wars of the fourth century or on the reign of Zeno and a wider perspective is necessary to appreciate the role of Isauria in the Empire. Furthermore, recent work has called into question both the extent and impact of the German domination of the army, while political crises once interpreted as showing anti-Germanism (e.g. the Gainas affair) have been re=evaluated. With the traditional background to the influx of Isaurians now being called into question, it seems worth investigating systematically both the extent and impact of the Isaurians on the Early Byzantine Empire.

This paper outlines the contribution of Isauria to the military forces of the Byzantine Empire and suggests that there was little change from the fourth to seventh centuries in the numbers of generals and soldiers recruited from this region.

The most successful of these generals was Zeno. When he had become emperor, he promoted men he could trust, i.e. Isaurians, accounting for their short-term prominence in the late fifth century. The temporary Isaurian political success may be exaggerated by the contribution of the History of Candidus, an Isaurian, to the surviving source material. After Zeno's reign we continue to find Isaurian soldiers, though generals are present in smaller numbers. The political importance of Isaurians in the late fifth century was the result only of Zeno's elevation to emperor and this phenomenon had nothing to do with the presence of Germans at court or in the army.

Traditional Middle-Byzantine Family Values?

Dion C. Smythe (King's College, London)

The Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire, in co-operation with the Berlin­Brandenburg Akademie's Prosopographie der mittefbyzantinischen Zeit, is a major research project of the British Academy, creating a computerised relational data-base containing all people related to Byzantium (interpreted broadly) mentioned in the sources for the period 641-1261. The main function of this paper is to open lines of communication and interaction between Byzanlinisls and the Prosopography, not to give a progress report on the project as it nears electronic publication of Volume 1 (641­867), nor to outline the methodologies of data collection and storage.

By funding PBE, the British Academy intends to create a major historical resource for the English-speaking Byzantine world which would allow investigation of a wide range of historical questions. It is increasingly accepted as a truism of prosopography that what prosopographers do is not to examine and record the details of an individual's life and career, but to examine and record the connections between people. These connections are of two types. Firstly there are the connections between individuals which are recorded in the sources: we know that "x" was a blood relation of "_y'"; we know that "a" succeeded "b" in a particular post; we know that "k" and "ni" were married [to each other]. Secondly, there are more abstract connections that can be drawn between members recorded in a prosopography: because of similarities in the career-line history of "p" and "d", by historical analysis we may draw conclusions about them, which are supported by the sources, but which are not proven by direct statements in our sources; because of lime-specific events recorded in the sources -- that "r" wrote to "s" five times, that "s" wrote to "t" promoting "r s" cause -- we may draw historical conclusions about the relationships between 'Y', "s" and "t", though those relationships are not explicitly stated in the sources.

In this paper I shall be making historical conclusions, based on prosopographical evidence I have collected from the sources for period III of PBE (namely 1025-1261). Claiming a form of droit du seigneur, I start with the easiest class of relationships between people in IIIPBE, namely family relationships. Broadly, these relationships can be classified into two sorts: relationships by blood-descent and relationships created by marriage-alliance. The manifestation of these two groups of relationships is termed "the family", a false universal present in every human society, but whose identifying characteristics vary from society to society. The main question I ask therefore is: what were the identifying characteristics of the middle Byzantine family? What was its structure? Who were its members? Could individuals exist outside that structure? Did the micro-structure of [lie Middle Byzantine family articulate "traditional Middle Byzantine family values"? If it did, what were those values? flow did the micro­structure of the Middle Byzantine family reflect and interact with the state structure?

One problem with the evidence currently available is that it relates to individuals from the upper levels of society. In time, we hope that PBE wilt address this lack, but for the moment we must draw on the experience of these "movers and shakers" to formulate an upper social level model, with which to compare data from lower social strata when it becomes available. In a fifteen-minute paper I can only touch un these avenues of research, but in doing so I show how the structure of [tie 1'BE database can be used to answer historical questions and to promote and encourage interaction between the project and its natural users, working Byzantine researchers.

XII. WORD AND IMAGE AS INSTRUMENTS OF THE FAITH

Chair: Mary-Lyon Dolezal (University of Oregon)

1. Derek Krueger (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
"Visual Metaphors for Narrative Representation in Early Byzantine Saints' Lives"

2. Glenn Peers (Waterloo, Ontario) "On the Sentience of Images ca. 815"
3. Dorothy Abrahamse (California State University, Long Beach)

"The Vita of David, Symeon and George: Sources, Structure and Date"

4. Federica Ciccolella (University di Roma I "La Sapienza")
"Basil I and the Jews: a Laudatory Poem of the Ninth Century"

5. Kathleen Corrigan (Dartmouth College)
"The Homilies of Gregory Nazianzen, Turin C.1.6, and Its Historiated Initials"

Visual Metaphors for Narrative Representation in Early Byzantine Saints' Lives

Derek Krueger (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)

Early Byzantine theories for the literary representation of saints drew comparisons to theories about the visual arts. Later, however, beginning with John of Damascus, the defense of icons appealed, among other things, to an analogy between the representation of the saints in visual art and the representation of the saints in words, whether in scripture, sermon, or saints' life. while the implications of this analogy for Byzantine art theory have been explored, the literary theory implicit in these arguments remains insufficiently understood. These eighth and ninth century iconophile arguments rest on coherent but as yet unrecovered notions of how Christian literature was expected to "work." Developed in the fourth and fifth centuries, this early Byzantine literary theory or theology of literature proceeded by making analogy with how visual images functioned, ironically the reverse of later iconophile arguments. From the beginnings of the hagiographical tradition, authors such as Athanasius in the Life of Antony, Palladius in his Lausiac History, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus in the Historia Reliciosa drew comparisons between their literary efforts and visual representations in painting and sculpture. While drawing on classical traditions comparing biography with painting, these hagiographers infused their conception of art and literature with an Athanasian theology of creation that stressed that human beings were created in the image of God. Athanasius applied visual metaphors to present Antony as a model of Christian life. Palladius presented his tales as analogous to visits to see the ascetics of the Egyptian desert, and thus composed portraits, and Theodoret made extensive exploration of how narrative and static visual images imitated God's artistic activities both in the creation of human beings and in the inspiration of the composition of salvific literature in the Scriptures. Finally, these analogies linked the emerging Christian literature to a theology of Christian life based in an ethics of imitation that invited the faithful to conceive of their lives both as a writing of a saintly life and the painting of a holy image, encouraging Christians to represent the saints in themselves.

On the Sentience of Images ca. 815

Glenn Peers (Waterloo, Ontario)

While doubts concerning the early date of the Chalke Gate epigram had been expressed earlier, in 1990 Marie-France Auzepy gave the most comprehensive argument for dating this epigram to the early part of the second phase of Iconoclasm (815-43). In her view, the story of the destruction of the Chalke Gate image in the 720s was likely a pious fraud perpetrated by the iconophiles of the inter-regnum of 787-815 to rally supporters to the side of time-sanctioned image worship. Irene and Constantine VI, the regent and emperor at the time of the re-introduction of images in 787, set up an image on the Chalke Gate and claimed that they had restored what had previously been in that place: an image of Christ incarnate. At the proclamation of the second phase of Iconoclasm in 815, the emperor Leo V (r. 813-20) made a conscious return to the successful reign of the eighth-century iconoclasts. If this chronology holds true, then the Chalke Gate epigram must be situated in the context