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The New Roman Empire - A History of Byzantium (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis The New Roman Empire - A History of Byzantium (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,152 Discovery Miles 11 520 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A major new history of the eastern Roman Empire, from Constantine to 1453. In recent decades, the study of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, has been revolutionized by new approaches and more sophisticated models for how its society and state operated. No longer looked upon as a pale facsimile of classical Rome, Byzantium is now considered a vigorous state of its own, inheritor of many of Rome's features, and a vital node in the first truly globalized world, with far-flung connections to the Carolingians, Vikings, Arabs, Ethiopians, Indians, and Chinese. The New Roman Empire is the first full, single-author history of the eastern Roman empire to appear in over a generation. Covering political and military history as well as all the major changes in religion, society, demography, and economy, Anthony Kaldellis's volume is divided into ten chronological sections which begin with the foundation of Constantinople in 324 AD and end with the fall of the empire to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century. The book incorporates new findings, explains recent interpretive models, and presents well-known historical characters and events in a new light.

Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters - The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (Hardcover): Michael Psellos Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters - The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (Hardcover)
Michael Psellos; Edited by Anthony Kaldellis
bundle available
R2,820 Discovery Miles 28 200 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters makes available for the first time complete English translations from the works of Michael Psellos (1018-1076?), a key philosopher of the Byzantine Empire. Psellos was not simply a philosopher, he was also a courtier, historian, and monk, and his works betray a dazzling engagement with philosophy, theology, history, and science. These interests were expressed in some eleven hundred works, including formal rhetorical texts, history writing, letters, poetry, and texts written for his students. This book contains the works that Psellos wrote about his family, including a long funeral oration for his mother that features unique recollections from a childhood spent in Constantinople; a funeral oration for his young daughter Styliane, which includes a detailed description of her physical appearance and a moving account of her illness and death; a legal work pertaining to the engagement of his second, adopted, daughter; and various letters and other works that relate to the private life of this Byzantine family. These works offer us a rare and comprehensive picture of the family life of a medieval Byzantine courtier and philosopher. Much of the material follows the rules of rhetoric inherited from classical and Christian antiquity, but Psellos was always recasting the conventions of those genre to express his own revolutionary views regarding the relation of body and soul. Some of these works also have an apologetic or legal purpose, as Psellos sometimes used them to get himself out of some trouble. Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters will appeal to all who study medieval women, childhood, and the family, especially as it provides a Byzantine perspective that has been absent from most modern discussions of those topics.

Hellenism in Byzantium - The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Hardcover):... Hellenism in Byzantium - The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R3,427 R3,181 Discovery Miles 31 810 Save R246 (7%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This text was the first systematic study of what it meant to be 'Greek' in late antiquity and Byzantium, an identity that could alternatively become national, religious, philosophical, or cultural. Through close readings of the sources, Professor Kaldellis surveys the space that Hellenism occupied in each period; the broader debates in which it was caught up; and the historical causes of its successive transformations. The first section (100-400) shows how Romanisation and Christianisation led to the abandonment of Hellenism as a national label and its restriction to a negative religious sense and a positive, albeit rarefied, cultural one. The second (1000-1300) shows how Hellenism was revived in Byzantium and contributed to the evolution of its culture. The discussion looks closely at the reception of the classical tradition, which was the reason why Hellenism was always desirable and dangerous in Christian society, and presents a new model for understanding Byzantine civilisation.

Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians - Texts in Translation, with Introductions and Notes (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians - Texts in Translation, with Introductions and Notes (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R3,966 Discovery Miles 39 660 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The survival of ancient Greek historiography is largely due to its preservation by Byzantine copyists and scholars. This process entailed selection, adaptation, and commentary, which shaped the corpus of Greek historiography in its transmission. By investigating those choices, Kaldellis enables a better understanding of the reception and survival of Greek historical writing. Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians includes translations of texts written by Byzantines on specific ancient historians. Each translated text is accompanied by an introduction and notes to highlight the specific context and purpose of its composition. In order to present a rounded picture of the reception of Greek historiography in Byzantium, a wide range of genres have been considered, such as poems and epigrams, essays, personalized scholia, and commentaries. Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians is therefore an important resource for scholars and students of ancient history.

A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities - Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from History's Most Orthodox Empire (Hardcover):... A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities - Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from History's Most Orthodox Empire (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R483 R395 Discovery Miles 3 950 Save R88 (18%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Weird, decadent, degenerate, racially mixed, superstitious, theocratic, effeminate, and even hyper-literate, Byzantium has long been regarded by many as one big curiosity. According to Voltaire, it represented "a worthless collection of miracles, a disgrace for the human mind" for Hegel it was "a disgusting picture of imbecility." A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities will reinforce these old prejudices, while also stimulating a deeper interest among readers in one of history's most interesting civilizations. Many of the zanier tales and trivia that are collected here revolve around the political and religious life of Byzantium. Thus, stories of saints, relics, and their miracles-from the hilarious to the revolting-abound. Byzantine bureaucracy (whence the adjective "Byzantine"), court scandals, and elaborate penal code are world famous. And what would Byzantium be without its eunuchs, whose ambiguous gender produced odd and risible outcomes in different contexts? The book also contains sections on daily life that are equally eye-opening, including food (from aphrodisiacs to fermented fish sauce), games such as polo and acrobatics, and obnoxious views of foreigners and others (e.g. Germans, Catholics, Arabs, dwarves). But lest we overlook Byzantium's more honorable contributions to civilization, also included are some of the marvels of Byzantine science and technology, from the military (flamethrowers and hand grenades) to the theatrical ("elevator" thrones, roaring mechanical lions) and medical (catheters and cures, some bizarre). This vast assortment of historical anomaly and absurdity sheds vital light on one of history's most obscure and orthodox empires.

The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361–630 (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis, Marion Kruse The Field Armies of the East Roman Empire, 361–630 (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis, Marion Kruse
R2,879 R2,426 Discovery Miles 24 260 Save R453 (16%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book presents a new history of the leadership, organization, and disposition of the field armies of the east Roman empire between Julian (361–363) and Herakleios (610–641). To date, scholars studying this topic have privileged a poorly understood document, the Notitia dignitatum, and imposed it on the entire period from 395 to 630. This study, by contrast, gathers all of the available narrative, legal, papyrological, and epigraphic evidence to demonstrate empirically that the Notitia system emerged only in the 440s and that it was already mutating by the late fifth century before being fundamentally reformed during Justinian's wars of reconquest. This realization calls for a new, revised history of the eastern armies. Every facet of military policy must be reassessed, often with broad implications for the period. The volume provides a new military narrative for the period 361–630 and appendices revising the prosopography of high-ranking generals and arguing for a later Notitia.

The Christian Parthenon - Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis The Christian Parthenon - Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R2,511 Discovery Miles 25 110 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Byzantine Athens was not a city without a history, as is commonly believed, but an important center about which much can now be said. Providing a wealth of new evidence, Professor Kaldellis argues that the Parthenon became a major site of Christian pilgrimage after its conversion into a church. Paradoxically, it was more important as a church than it had been as a temple: the Byzantine period was its true age of glory. He examines the idiosyncratic fusion of pagan and Christian culture that took place in Athens, where an attempt was made to replicate the classical past in Christian terms, affecting rhetoric, monuments, and miracles. He also re-evaluates the reception of ancient ruins in Byzantine Greece and presents for the first time a form of pilgrimage that was directed not toward icons, Holy Lands, or holy men but toward a monument embodying a permanent cultural tension and religious dialectic.

The Christian Parthenon - Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Paperback): Anthony Kaldellis The Christian Parthenon - Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Paperback)
Anthony Kaldellis
R946 Discovery Miles 9 460 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Byzantine Athens was not a city without a history, as is commonly believed, but an important center about which much can now be said. Providing a wealth of new evidence, Professor Kaldellis argues that the Parthenon became a major site of Christian pilgrimage after its conversion into a church. Paradoxically, it was more important as a church than it had been as a temple: the Byzantine period was its true age of glory. He examines the idiosyncratic fusion of pagan and Christian culture that took place in Athens, where an attempt was made to replicate the classical past in Christian terms, affecting rhetoric, monuments, and miracles. He also re-evaluates the reception of ancient ruins in Byzantine Greece and presents for the first time a form of pilgrimage that was directed not toward icons, Holy Lands, or holy men but toward a monument embodying a permanent cultural tension and religious dialectic.

Romanland - Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis Romanland - Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,254 R1,046 Discovery Miles 10 460 Save R208 (17%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A leading historian argues that in the empire we know as Byzantium, the Greek-speaking population was actually Roman, and scholars have deliberately mislabeled their ethnicity for the past two centuries for political reasons. Was there ever such a thing as Byzantium? Certainly no emperor ever called himself "Byzantine." And while the identities of minorities in the eastern empire are clear-contemporaries speak of Slavs, Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews, and Muslims-that of the ruling majority remains obscured behind a name made up by later generations. Historical evidence tells us unequivocally that Byzantium's ethnic majority, no less than the ruler of Constantinople, would have identified as Roman. It was an identity so strong in the eastern empire that even the conquering Ottomans would eventually adopt it. But Western scholarship has a long tradition of denying the Romanness of Byzantium. In Romanland, Anthony Kaldellis investigates why and argues that it is time for the Romanness of these so-called Byzantines to be taken seriously. In the Middle Ages, he explains, people of the eastern empire were labeled "Greeks," and by the nineteenth century they were shorn of their distorted Greekness and became "Byzantine." Only when we understand that the Greek-speaking population of Byzantium was actually Roman will we fully appreciate the nature of Roman ethnic identity. We will also better understand the processes of assimilation that led to the absorption of foreign and minority groups into the dominant ethnic group, the Romans who presided over the vast multiethnic empire of the east.

Hellenism in Byzantium - The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Paperback):... Hellenism in Byzantium - The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition (Paperback)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,516 Discovery Miles 15 160 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This 2008 text was the first systematic study of what it meant to be 'Greek' in late antiquity and Byzantium, an identity that could alternatively become national, religious, philosophical, or cultural. Through close readings of the sources, Professor Kaldellis surveys the space that Hellenism occupied in each period; the broader debates in which it was caught up; and the historical causes of its successive transformations. The first section (100 400) shows how Romanisation and Christianisation led to the abandonment of Hellenism as a national label and its restriction to a negative religious sense and a positive, albeit rarefied, cultural one. The second (1000 1300) shows how Hellenism was revived in Byzantium and contributed to the evolution of its culture. The discussion looks closely at the reception of the classical tradition, which was the reason why Hellenism was always desirable and dangerous in Christian society, and presents a new model for understanding Byzantine civilisation.

Ethnography After Antiquity - Foreign Lands and Peoples in Byzantine Literature (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis Ethnography After Antiquity - Foreign Lands and Peoples in Byzantine Literature (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,986 R1,797 Discovery Miles 17 970 Save R189 (10%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Although Greek and Roman authors wrote ethnographic texts describing foreign cultures, ethnography seems to disappear from Byzantine literature after the seventh century C.E.-a perplexing exception for a culture so strongly self-identified with the Roman empire. Yet the Byzantines, geographically located at the heart of the upheavals that led from the ancient to the modern world, had abundant and sophisticated knowledge of the cultures with which they struggled and bargained. Ethnography After Antiquity examines both the instances and omissions of Byzantine ethnography, exploring the political and religious motivations for writing (or not writing) about other peoples. Through the ethnographies embedded in classical histories, military manuals, Constantine VII's De administrando imperio, and religious literature, Anthony Kaldellis shows Byzantine authors using accounts of foreign cultures as vehicles to critique their own state or to demonstrate Romano-Christian superiority over Islam. He comes to the startling conclusion that the Byzantines did not view cultural differences through a purely theological prism: their Roman identity, rather than their orthodoxy, was the vital distinction from cultures they considered heretic and barbarian. Filling in the previously unexplained gap between antiquity and the resurgence of ethnography in the late Byzantine period, Ethnography After Antiquity offers new perspective on how Byzantium positioned itself with and against the dramatically shifting world.

Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians - Texts in Translation, with Introductions and Notes (Paperback): Anthony Kaldellis Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians - Texts in Translation, with Introductions and Notes (Paperback)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,295 Discovery Miles 12 950 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The survival of ancient Greek historiography is largely due to its preservation by Byzantine copyists and scholars. This process entailed selection, adaptation, and commentary, which shaped the corpus of Greek historiography in its transmission. By investigating those choices, Kaldellis enables a better understanding of the reception and survival of Greek historical writing. Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians includes translations of texts written by Byzantines on specific ancient historians. Each translated text is accompanied by an introduction and notes to highlight the specific context and purpose of its composition. In order to present a rounded picture of the reception of Greek historiography in Byzantium, a wide range of genres have been considered, such as poems and epigrams, essays, personalized scholia, and commentaries. Byzantine Readings of Ancient Historians is therefore an important resource for scholars and students of ancient history.

The Secret History - with Related Texts (Paperback): Prokopios The Secret History - with Related Texts (Paperback)
Prokopios; Edited by Anthony Kaldellis
R449 Discovery Miles 4 490 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

By exposing the perversion, repression, corruption, and injustice at the heart of Justinian's regime, Prokopios' The Secret History destroyed forever that emperor's reputation as the great and benevolent ruler of a vast Byzantine state. Faithfully rendered here in blunt and idiomatic English, Prokopios' tell-all is as shocking today as it was in the sixth century. Kaldellis' substantial Introduction addresses, among other topics, the historical background to The Secret History ; Prokopios' literary style and major themes; and the relationships between Prokopios, Justinian, and Empress Theodora. Maps, genealogies, a glossary, and a selection of related texts (including excerpts from Prokopios' Wars and Buildings and several contemporary documents) enhance and support the reading of this scandalous and suspenseful book.

Byzantium Unbound (Paperback, New edition): Anthony Kaldellis Byzantium Unbound (Paperback, New edition)
Anthony Kaldellis
R550 Discovery Miles 5 500 Ships in 12 - 17 working days
The Histories, Volume II (Hardcover): Laonikos Chalkokondyles The Histories, Volume II (Hardcover)
Laonikos Chalkokondyles; Translated by Anthony Kaldellis
R841 R777 Discovery Miles 7 770 Save R64 (8%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Among Greek histories of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the work of Laonikos (ca. 1430 ca. 1465) has by far the broadest scope. Born to a leading family of Athens under Florentine rule, he was educated in the Classics at Mistra by the Neoplatonist philosopher Plethon. In the 1450s, Laonikos set out to imitate Herodotos in writing the history of his times, a version in which the armies of Asia would prevail over the Greeks in Europe. The backbone of the Histories," a text written in difficult Thucydidean Greek, is the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from the early 1300s to 1464, but Laonikos s digressions give sweeping accounts of world geography and ethnography from Britain to Mongolia, with an emphasis on Spain, Italy, and Arabia. Following the methodology of Herodotos and rejecting theological polemic, Laonikos is the first Greek writer to treat Islam as a legitimate cultural and religious system. He followed Plethon in viewing the Byzantines as Greeks rather than Romans, and so stands at the origins of Neo-Hellenic identity.

This translation makes the entire text of The"Histories" available in English for the first time."

The Histories, Volume I (Hardcover): Laonikos Chalkokondyles The Histories, Volume I (Hardcover)
Laonikos Chalkokondyles; Translated by Anthony Kaldellis
R840 R776 Discovery Miles 7 760 Save R64 (8%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Among Greek histories of the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the work of Laonikos (ca. 1430 ca. 1465) has by far the broadest scope. Born to a leading family of Athens under Florentine rule, he was educated in the Classics at Mistra by the Neoplatonist philosopher Plethon. In the 1450s, Laonikos set out to imitate Herodotos in writing the history of his times, a version in which the armies of Asia would prevail over the Greeks in Europe. The backbone of the Histories," a text written in difficult Thucydidean Greek, is the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from the early 1300s to 1464, but Laonikos s digressions give sweeping accounts of world geography and ethnography from Britain to Mongolia, with an emphasis on Spain, Italy, and Arabia. Following the methodology of Herodotos and rejecting theological polemic, Laonikos is the first Greek writer to treat Islam as a legitimate cultural and religious system. He followed Plethon in viewing the Byzantines as Greeks rather than Romans, and so stands at the origins of Neo-Hellenic identity.

This translation makes the entire text of The"Histories" available in English for the first time."

Procopius of Caesarea - Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis Procopius of Caesarea - Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis
R1,515 Discovery Miles 15 150 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

"Important, well argued."--"Choice" Justinian governed the Roman empire for more than thirty-eight years, and the events of his reign were recorded by Procopius of Caesarea, secretary of the general Belisarius. Yet, significantly, Procopius composed a history, a panegyric, as well as a satire of his own times. Anthony Kaldellis here offers a new interpretation of these writings of Procopius, situating him as a major source for the sixth century and one of the great historians of antiquity and Byzantium. Breaking from the scholarly tradition that views classicism as an affected imitation that distorted history, Kaldellis argues that Procopius was a careful student of the classics who displayed remarkable literary skill in adapting his models to the purposes of his own narratives. Classicism was a matter of structure and meaning, not just vocabulary. Through allusions Procopius revealed truths that could not be spoken openly; through anecdotes he exposed the broad themes that governed the history of his age. Elucidating the political thought of Procopius in light of classical historiography and political theory, Kaldellis argues that he owed little to Christianity, finding instead that he rejected the belief in providence and asserted the supremacy of chance. By deliberately alluding to Plato's discussions of tyranny, Procopius developed an artful strategy of intertextuality that enabled him to comment on contemporary individuals and events. Kaldellis also uncovers links between Procopius and the philosophical dissidents of the reign of Justinian. This dimension of his writing implies that his work is worthy of esteem not only for the accuracy of its reporting but also for its cultural polemic, political dissidence, and philosophical sophistication. "Procopius of Caesarea" has wide implications for the way we should read ancient historians. Its conclusions also suggest that the world of Justinian was far from monolithically Christian. Major writers of that time believed that classical texts were still the best guides for understanding history, even in the rapidly changing world of late antiquity. Anthony Kaldellis teaches Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University. He has translated Genesios's "On the Reigns of the Emperors" and has written books on Psellos's "Chronographia" and (in Greek) on the Roman and Byzantine history of Lesbos.

Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood - The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade (Paperback): Anthony Kaldellis Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood - The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade (Paperback)
Anthony Kaldellis
R825 Discovery Miles 8 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In the second half of the tenth century, Byzantium embarked on a series of spectacular conquests: first in the southeast against the Arabs, then in Bulgaria, and finally in the Georgian and Armenian lands. By the early eleventh century, the empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean. It was also expanding economically, demographically, and, in time, intellectually as well. Yet this imperial project came to a crashing collapse fifty years later, when political disunity, fiscal mismanagement, and defeat at the hands of the Seljuks in the east and the Normans in the west brought an end to Byzantine hegemony. By 1081, not only was its dominance of southern Italy, the Balkans, Caucasus, and northern Mesopotamia over but Byzantium's very existence was threatened. How did this dramatic transformation happen? Based on a close examination of the relevant sources, this history-the first of its kind in over a century-offers a new reconstruction of the key events and crucial reigns as well as a different model for understanding imperial politics and wars, both civil and foreign. In addition to providing a badly needed narrative of this critical period of Byzantine history, Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood offers new interpretations of key topics relevant to the medieval era. The narrative unfolds in three parts: the first covers the years 955-1025, a period of imperial conquest and consolidation of authority under the great emperor Basil "the Bulgar-Slayer." The second (1025-1059) examines the dispersal of centralized authority in Constantinople as well as the emergence of new foreign enemies (Pechenegs, Seljuks, and Normans). The last section chronicles the spectacular collapse of the empire during the second half of the eleventh century, concluding with a look at the First Crusade and its consequences for Byzantine relations with the powers of Western Europe. This briskly paced and thoroughly investigated narrative vividly brings to life one of the most exciting and transformative eras of medieval history.

The Wars of Justinian (Paperback): Prokopios The Wars of Justinian (Paperback)
Prokopios; Translated by H. B. Dewing; Revised by Anthony Kaldellis; Maps by Ian Mladjov
R858 R807 Discovery Miles 8 070 Save R51 (6%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A fully-outfitted edition of Prokopios' late Antique masterpiece of military history and ethnography--for the 21st-century reader. "At last . . . the translation that we have needed for so long: a fresh, lively, readable, and faithful rendering of Prokopios' Wars , which in a single volume will make this fundamental work of late ancient history-writing accessible to a whole new generation of students." --Jonathan Conant, Brown University

The Wars of Justinian (Hardcover): Prokopios The Wars of Justinian (Hardcover)
Prokopios; Translated by H. B. Dewing; Revised by Anthony Kaldellis; Maps by Ian Mladjov
R2,223 R1,971 Discovery Miles 19 710 Save R252 (11%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A fully-outfitted edition of Prokopios' late Antique masterpiece of military history and ethnography--for the 21st-century reader. "At last . . . the translation that we have needed for so long: a fresh, lively, readable, and faithful rendering of Prokopios' Wars , which in a single volume will make this fundamental work of late ancient history-writing accessible to a whole new generation of students." --Jonathan Conant, Brown University

The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis, Niketas Siniossoglou The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis, Niketas Siniossoglou
R4,478 Discovery Miles 44 780 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This volume brings into being the field of Byzantine intellectual history. Shifting focus from the cultural, social, and economic study of Byzantium to the life and evolution of ideas in their context, it provides an authoritative history of intellectual endeavors from Late Antiquity to the fifteenth century. At its heart lie the transmission, transformation, and shifts of Hellenic, Christian, and Byzantine ideas and concepts as exemplified in diverse aspects of intellectual life, from philosophy, theology, and rhetoric to astrology, astronomy, and politics. Case studies introduce the major players in Byzantine intellectual life, and particular emphasis is placed on the reception of ancient thought and its significance for secular as well as religious modes of thinking and acting. New insights are offered regarding controversial, understudied, or promising topics of research, such as philosophy and medical thought in Byzantium, and intellectual exchanges with the Arab world.

Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters - The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (Paperback): Michael Psellos Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters - The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (Paperback)
Michael Psellos; Edited by Anthony Kaldellis
bundle available
R928 R642 Discovery Miles 6 420 Save R286 (31%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters makes available for the first time extensive English translations from the works of Michael Psellos (1018-1081?), a key philosopher of the Byzantine Empire. Psellos was not simply a philosopher, he was also a courtier, historian, and monk, and his works betray a dazzling engagement with philosophy, theology, history, and science. These interests were expressed in some eleven hundred works, including formal rhetorical texts, history writing, letters, poetry, and texts written for his students. This book contains the works that Psellos wrote about his family, including a long funeral oration for his mother that features unique recollections from a childhood spent in Constantinople; a funeral oration for his young daughter Styline, which includes a detailed description of her physical appearance and a moving account of her illness and death; a legal work pertaining to the engagement of his second, adopted, daughter; and various letters and other works that relate to the private life of this Byzantine family. These works offer us a rare and comprehensive picture of the family life of a medieval Byzantine courtier and philosopher. Much of the material follows the rules of rhetoric inherited from classical and Christian antiquity, but Psellos was always recasting the conventions of those genres to express his own revolutionary views regarding the relation of body and soul. Some of these works also have an apologetic or legal purpose, as Psellos occasionally used them to get himself out of trouble. Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters will appeal to all who study medieval women, childhood, and the family, especially as it provides a Byzantineperspective that has been absent from most modern discussions of those topics.

The Secret History - with Related Texts (Hardcover): Prokopios The Secret History - with Related Texts (Hardcover)
Prokopios; Edited by Anthony Kaldellis
R1,216 R1,154 Discovery Miles 11 540 Save R62 (5%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

By exposing the perversion, repression, corruption, and injustice at the heart of Justinian's regime, Prokopios' The Secret History destroyed forever that emperor's reputation as the great and benevolent ruler of a vast Byzantine state. Faithfully rendered here in blunt and idiomatic English, Prokopios' tell-all is as shocking today as it was in the sixth century. Kaldellis' substantial Introduction addresses, among other topics, the historical background to The Secret History ; Prokopios' literary style and major themes; and the relationships between Prokopios, Justinian, and Empress Theodora. Maps, genealogies, a glossary, and a selection of related texts (including excerpts from Prokopios' Wars and Buildings and several contemporary documents) enhance and support the reading of this scandalous and suspenseful book.

Saints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece (Hardcover): Anthony Kaldellis, Ioannis Polemis Saints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece (Hardcover)
Anthony Kaldellis, Ioannis Polemis
R826 R762 Discovery Miles 7 620 Save R64 (8%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Saints of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Greece collects funeral orations, encomia, and narrative hagiography. Together, these works illuminate one of the most obscure periods of Greek history-when holy men played central roles as the Byzantine administration reimposed control on southern and central Greece in the wake of Avar, Slavic, and Arab attacks and the collapse of the late Roman Empire. The bishops of the region provided much-needed leadership and institutional stability, while ascetics established hermitages and faced invaders. The Lives gathered here include accounts of Peter of Argos, which offers insight into episcopal authority in medieval Greece, and Theodore of Kythera, an important source for the history of piracy in the Aegean Sea. This volume, which illustrates the literary variety of saints' Lives, presents Byzantine Greek texts written by locals in the provinces and translated here into English for the first time.

Psellos and the Patriarchs - Letters and Funeral Orations for Keroullarios, Leichoudes, and Xiphilinos (Paperback): Michael... Psellos and the Patriarchs - Letters and Funeral Orations for Keroullarios, Leichoudes, and Xiphilinos (Paperback)
Michael Psellos; Translated by Anthony Kaldellis, Ioannis Polemis
R1,114 R768 Discovery Miles 7 680 Save R346 (31%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Psellos and the Patriarchs: Letters and Funeral Orations for Keroullarios, Leichoudes, and Xiphilinos contains translations of the funeral orations written by Michael Psellos, the leading Byzantine intellectual of the eleventh century, for the three ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople whom he knew best: Michael Keroullarios (1043-1058), Konstantinos Leichoudes (1059-1063), and Ioannes Xiphilinos (1064-1075). The orations are significant sources for the lives and reputations of these patriarchs; they are also a prime source for the educational reforms made by the emperor Konstantinos IX Monomachos in the mid-1040s, and for many events of that turbulent century that Psellos witnessed, including popular uprisings, plots, civil wars, and the battle with the Catholic legates in 1054. Never before translated into English, the orations and letters are introduced by a detailed analysis of Psellos' historical relationships with the patriarchs and an interpretation of the works. The orations are not only important historical sources: they are crucial specimens of Byzantine rhetoric in a period of transition, as well as being key texts in the corpus of Psellos himself. Psellos used them to score important points in support of his own philosophical agenda and to make broader claims about ethics and metaphysics and the role of learning in political and ecclesiastical life. The orations are here accompanied by translations of a long letter that Psellos wrote to Keroullarios and a pair of letters to Xiphilinos, in which he defended key aspects of his philosophical project.

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R5 Discovery Miles 50
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R1,499 R851 Discovery Miles 8 510
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R9 Discovery Miles 90
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R5 Discovery Miles 50
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Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, … DVD R63 Discovery Miles 630
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R80 Discovery Miles 800

 

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