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Deno John Geanakoplos here offers a prodigious collection of source
materials on the Byzantine church, society, and civilization (many
translated for the first time into English), arranged
chronologically and topically, and knit together with an analytical
historical commentary. His selections from Byzantine writers as
well as from more obscure documents and chronicles in Latin,
Arabic, Slavic, Italian, Armenian, and French reflect all the
diversity of Byzantine life--the military tactics of the
long-invincible cataphract cavalry and the warships armed with
Greek fire, the mysticism of Hesychast monks, the duties of
imperial officers, the activities of daily life from the Hippodrome
and Hagia Sophia to the marketplaces, baths, and brothels.
Geanakoplos not only covers the traditional areas of political,
ecclesiastical, socioeconomic, administrative, and military life,
but also provides a vivid picture of Byzantine culture--education,
philosophy, literature, theology, medicine, and science. Of
particular interest are the insights into the empire's relations
with the Latin West, the Slavs, the Arabs, the Turks, and other
neighboring peoples.
"Byzantium" is much more than a sourcebook. The running commentary
reflects the most recent scholarly research in Byzantine studies
and places each translated source in its precise historical
context. Through the use of both primary sources and commentary,
Geanakoplos has represented in all its richness and complexity one
of the world's great civilizations. There is no comparable book on
Byzantine history and civilization in any language.
Contents Include Part 1, The Background; And Part 2, The
Disseminators.
The glory of the Italian Renaissance came not only from Europe's
Latin heritage, but also from the rich legacy of another
renaissance - the palaeologan of late Byzantium. This nexus of
Byzantine and Latin cultural and ecclesiastical relations in the
Renaissance and Medieval periods is the underlying theme of the
diverse and far-ranging essays in ""Constantinople and the West"".
Addressing the disputed, provocative question of Palaeologan
influence on Italian Renaissance humanism, the author
systematically demonstrates that Byzantine scholars were not merely
transmitters of ancient Greek writings to the West. More
significantly, the Byzantine emigre scholars in Italy, through
their intimate knowledge of the Alexandrian and Byzantine
traditions, alone were able to unlock and authentically interpret
the more difficult texts of Aristotle, Plato, Hermogenes, and other
Greek thinkers. Geanakoplos shows that the Byzantine refugee
scholars and their Italian disciples were able to promote a fusion
of elements of both the Italian and Palaeologan renaissances. Other
essays concern the careers of influential Palaeologan humanists
such as Theodore Gaza, the leading secular Aristotelian of the
early Italian Renaissance, and John Argyropoulos, who was probably
chiefly responsible for shifting the emphasis of Florentine
humanism from rhetoric to Platonic philosophy. The essays in the
second half of the book deal primarily with ecclesiastical
relations. The author probes deeply into encounters between Greek
and Roman churches at councils in Lyons, Florence, and elsewhere,
which reflect the centuries of recurring religious schism and
attempted reunion. He also offers a revealing glimpse of the Greek
exaltation, and of Hagia Sophia and its properties, after
Constantinople's liberation from Latin rule in 1261. While all of
the essays have been printed previously, the author has revised and
brought them entirely up to date for this volume. ""Constantinople
and the West"" should be invaluable to those interested in the
Byzantine and Italian Renaissance, and reward students of Medieval
history, church history, and those who are interested in the
comparative history of the East and West.
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