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by Luca Zavagno
Research on early medieval Cyprus has focused on the late antique " golden age " (late fourth/early fifth to seventh century) and the so-called Byzantine " Reconquista " (post-AD 965) while overlooking the intervening period. This phase was characterized, supposedly, by the division of the political sovereignty between the Umayyads and the Byzantines, bringing about the social and demographic dislocation of the population of the island. This book proposes a different story of continuities and slow transformations in the fate of Cyprus between the late sixth and the early ninth centuries. Analysis of new archaeological evidence shows signs of a continuing link to Constantinople. Moreover, together with a reassessment of the literary evidence, archaeology and material culture help us to reappraise the impact of Arab naval raids and contextualize the confrontational episodes throughout the ebb and flow of Eastern Mediterranean history: the political influence of the Caliphate looked stronger in the second half of the seventh century, the administrative and ecclesiastical influence of the Byzantine empire held sway from the beginning of the eighth to the twelfth century. Whereas the island retained sound commercial ties with the Umayyad Levant in the seventh and eighth centuries, at the same time politically and economically it remained part of the Byzantine sphere. This belies the idea of Cyprus as an independent province only loosely tied to Constantinople and allows us to draw a different picture of the cultural identities, political practices and hierarchy of wealth and power in Cyprus during the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages.
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Mediterranean Historical Review
Cyprus between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (ca. 600–800)
Al-Masāq
Located astride the shipping routes linking southern Asia Minor with the coasts of Syria and Palestine and Egypt, the island of Cyprus has always been regarded as a stepping stone of the cultural and economic communications interconnecting different areas of the eastern half of the Mediterranean. Politically this role has been first enhanced during the Hellenistic, Roman and then in the early medieval period when in the seventh century Cyprus acquired an important role as military Byzantine stronghold. Economically, the significance of Cyprus in the passage from the late antiquity to the early middle ages (i.e. between 500 to 800 A.D.) benefitted from its essential role as hub along the eastern tax-spine through which Egypt fed Constantinople (until mid-seventh century) and along the long-distance trade-routes based upon the sea-movement of luxury goods. This multifunctional role of Cyprus as a bridge between different regions of the eastern Mediterranean can be further assessed through the analysis of the numismatic (and partially sigillographic) material. Here, indeed, the study of the coins and coinage yielded by the archaeological excavations in urban centres like Salamis-Constantia, Paphos-Saranda Kolones, and Kourion should be paired with both the reassessment of the publication of the old Cypriot hoards and stray finds and the recent studies on the so-called Arab-Byzantine coinage (late seventh-beginning of the eighth century) found both in Cyprus and in the closer Syria-Palestine region. The examination of this material allows to develop a different interpretative scheme than the one traditionally adopted to interpret the fate of Cyprus after the Muslim raids and the occupation of Syria and Palestine. Cyprus and its cities were still frequented in the passage from late antiquity to the early middle ages, preserving a variable but still traceable degree of monetary economy including Byzantine emissions (dated to late seventh-beginning of the eighth century) and Arab specimens, inferring the maintenance of political, commercial and cultural (as pointed out by the complex issues of imagery and prototypes of all these coins) relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Umayyad Caliphate.
The Legends Avrupa Tarihi Çalışmaları Dergisi
2018, Pamatky Archeologicke
This paper aims to both tip the chronologically-unbalanced rural surveys conducted on the island of Cyprus in the last decades (as focusing almost exclusively on the Roman and Late Antique period) and re-assess the traditional historiographical interpretation of the fate of local rural settlements and population in the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages (i.e. between the late sixth to the early ninth century). Indeed, we cannot simply take for granted that at the time under scrutiny Cyprus was overwhelmed by Arab incursions turning the island into a no man’s land, severing commercial and shipping routes, bringing to an end any economic, social and cultural form of life in the countryside, causing massive depopulation and abandonment of prosperous rural villages along the coasts in favor of hastily built and fortified (often seasonal) hilltop settlements. In the light of the latter remark, the authors will use the preliminary results of a recent extensive rural surv...
Some hundred early Christian churches are attested on Cyprus, dating from the fourth to seventh centuries. Their architectural remains have shaped the Cypriot landscape. The peculiar evolution of the features of the Cypriot church gave rise to a scientific discussion on how to evaluate these specific local developments. In the last decade, individual research as well as conferences and workshops dedicated to late antiquity and the early Byzantine period have contributed towards a new approach and a new impulse for the study of this period in Cyprus. The volume reinforces and furthers this trend taking into consideration relevant parameters reflected on the architectural planning, such as structural knowledge and innovations, cultic behaviours, liturgical traditions, economic capacities, social and political aspirations. Based on current developments in research, new findings in Cyprus and the focus on intercultural contacts, the volume is organised into four different sections: 1) Building the Christian cityscape and landscape; 2) Christian communities and church building, fourth to seventh centuries; 3) Interior arrangement and theological concepts; 4) ›International Byzantine Style‹? Local traditions and adaptations in-and outside Cyprus.
2018, Památky Archeologické
This paper aims to both tip the chronologically-unbalanced rural surveys conducted on the island of Cyprus in the last decades (as focusing almost exclusively on the Roman and Late Antique period) and re-assess the traditional historiographical interpretation of the fate of local rural settlements and population in the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages (i.e. between the late sixth to the early ninth century). Indeed, we cannot simply take for granted that at the time under scrutiny Cyprus was overwhelmed by Arab incursions turning the island into a no man’s land, severing commercial and shipping routes, bringing to an end any economic, social and cultural form of life in the countryside, causing massive depopulation and abandonment of prosperous rural villages along the coasts in favor of hastily built and fortified (often seasonal) hilltop settlements. In the light of the latter remark, the authors will use the preliminary results of a recent extensive rural survey conducted in the plain of Galinoporni/Kaleburnu on the Karpas peninsula to propose a picture of the Cypriot landscape as characterized by the early medieval resilience of the varied range of rural settlements (farms, hamlets and villages) dating back to previous centuries and by the lack of any catastrophic occupational gaps after the mid-seventh century.
Centre d'Etudes Cypriotes 43 (2013)
2014, FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE ANATOLIAN MONETARY HISTORY AND NUMISMATICS 25-28 FEBRUARY 2013 ANTALYA. BİLDİRİLER-PROCEEDINGS
Byzantine Water and Engineering in Constantinople and Thessaloniki: New Results and Approaches International conference organized by Prof. James Crow and Dr. Pagona Papadopoulou at the Museum of Byzantine Civilization in Thessaloniki C. Özkan Aygün, Where did the Longest Roman Water Supply end? Finds from beneath Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and Topkapı area
2021, Ecclesiastical Economies: The Integration of Sacred and Maritime Topographies of Late Antique Cyprus
This article focusses on the relationship of the church with productive landscapes and coastal topographies within numerous Cypriot contexts of the 4th–8th centuries. Through synthesising the archaeological research and architectural remains of these aspects and categories, the coastal settlements of the island are recontextualised in terms of their mercantile, religious, and cultural networks, on inter- and intraregional scales. The advantages of researching late antique insular societies on local, individual scales and within economic contexts are therefore highlighted. These integrative approaches can illuminate the constructions of religious identity across many coastal contexts, particularly in larger islands with micro-regions and trans-Mediterranean connectivity, like Cyprus. By considering the importance of the administrative and economic roles of the late antique church within these maritime topographies, future archaeological research can integrate both the monumentality and pragmatic aspects of sacred landscapes.
2017 May 20th Byzanine Water and Engineering in Constantinople and Thessaloniki: New Results and Approaches International conference organized by Prof. James Crow and Dr. Pagona Papadopoulou at the Museum of Byzantine Civilization in Thessaloniki C. Özkan Aygün, Where did the Longest Roman Water Supply end? Finds from beneath Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome and Topkapı area
2019, Mediterranean Mosaic: History and Art, edited by E. Fonzo and H. Haakenson
2012, Οι βυζαντινές πόλεις (8ος-15ος αιώνας). Προοπτικές της έρευνας και νέες ερμηνευτικές προσεγγίσεις, ed. Τ. Κiousopoulou, Rethymno, University of Crete, 25-45
2017
The injunction to historicize space has not always been on the agenda of researchers in Byzantine Studies. Traditionally, philologists, archaeologists, historians and art-historians have been tempted to take space for granted. And yet, within the recent Spatial Turn in the humanities and the social sciences, research on spatial paradigms and practices has been expanding, gaining great attention across disciplines and vastly different periods. In this context, space has been attributed a complex involvement in historical developments, as a comprehensive concept constituted by the integration of absolute and relative, relational and materially-sensed, physical and social, conceptualized and lived space. An engagement of Byzantinists with these ways of thought and action opens up an entire new set of possibilities for understanding the Byzantine world. Spatialities of Byzantine Culture Many cultural aspects speak for the crucial importance of spatialities for the Byzantines. Their bodies and minds are performed as their most personal spaces of social identity and control. These bodies interact with their natural environments in their struggle to survive and create, thus producing their spatial experiences. In that way they construct their own culturally appropriated spaces, producing Byzantine landscapes. These landscapes are dominated by power relations, which divide them into territories, and performed by cultural practices. Passing from the body to the mind, imaginary spaces host moments of a universe of heaven and human passions. How are all these Byzantine spaces relevant to us, today, and in what ways can we understand them? These are the main issues addressed by this conference. We are welcoming abstracts which interrogate the various understandings of space in Byzantine culture, those which present new methodological approaches to the topic, and case studies which are placed within a wider theoretical context from all fields of Byzantine Studies (history, archaeology, philology, art history, museum studies etc).
The archaeology of Early Christian Cyprus represents one of the most significant case studies of how early Christianity developed because of the island’s unique geohistorical background and the diverse nature of its material remains. When combined with local hagiographical resources, Cyprus’ material culture illustrates the gradual development of a unique form of Early Christian society between the fourth and seventh centuries CE that drew on both local and imperial influences. This chapter contributes to such perspectives by offering an introduction to Early Christian Cyprus’ archaeological corpus vis-à-vis the island’s unique Late Antique eastern Mediterranean context. It examines basilicas, baptisteries, mosaics and church décor, funerary structures, coins and seals, metalwork, epigraphy, and ceramics to reveal the discipline’s main research foci and suggests topics for future investigation.
2008, Reti Medievali Rivista
THE FINAL VERSION OF THE PROGRAM
Cyprus has always been perceived as a stepping-stone of cultural and economic communication joining various areas of East Mediterranean. The Location of Cyprus is usually dealt with in terms of cultural and trade exchange. In first half of 7th century CE the strategic significance of Cyprus on Near East was clearly highlighted. Even partial control over the Island, isolated Egypt, thus making the defense of this province extremely difficult unless impossible. This report is to draw attention to the military importance of the island in the first half of 7th century CE.
2021, Medieval Worlds
This article introduces the themed section »Movement and Mobility in the Medieval Mediterranean: Changing Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Long-Twelfth Century«. This series of articles engages with the ongoing debates in historiography on the role of movement and mobility in the socio-political frameworks of medieval societies throughout the Mediterranean world from Iberia to the Near East. The papers introduced here consider a wide range of contacts and exchange from the diplomatic encounters of late antique Byzantium via the exchange of (religious) ideas and spiritual objects in Italy and the Near East to the fundamental mobility of capital, slaves and goods. Rather than reveal a static, ossified and self-contained range of landscapes, this article will argue that there were not only crosscultural, religious and political contacts but also economic and social connections that fused the Medieval Mediterranean into a heterogenous contact zone of cultures, ideas and products. Using this broader framework of the Mediterranean as a contact zone and border region between and across the longue durée represented by the period from Late Antiquity until the end of the twelfth century allows the contributions to demonstrate movement, not stasis after Rome and the expansion of horizons rather than their restriction.
From the Human Body to the Universe... Spatialities of Byzantine Culture International Conference Uppsala University 18-21 May 2017
2013
2021, Space and Communities in Byzantine Anatolia
The integration of the provinces appears to have been a hallmark of Roman rule. Conversely, the subsequent disintegration of the Mediterranean world would seem to have brought about the Dark or Middle Ages. Once, the latter was blamed on Christianity, but more recent scholarship has established that the Roman empire was Christianized first and disintegrated later. Christianization would seem to have come about in a similar way as Romanization, i.e. through a top-down process that emanated from the centre, Rome and later Constantinople, the “New Rome”, and – thanks to the empire’s globalization and connectivity – soon penetrated every nook and cranny in even the most remote provinces. Following the same analogy, Early Christian art was conceived as a Late Antique version of Roman art, i.e. centred on Rome and later on Constantinople, whilst the provinces were considered largely irrelevant. However, more recent evidence for Early Christian art and architecture in Anatolia does not agree with such a scenario. This contribution makes the point that Late Antique churches cannot be conceptualized along the same lines as Roman art and architecture. Early Christian art requires an essentially different approach in so far as it was primarily a provincial phenomenon.
2020, European Journal of Post-Classical Archaeologies
Focusing on the use and abuse in the study of Byzantine archaeology and Urbanism of the idea of the “Invisible Cities” as introduced in literature by Italo Calvino, this article attempts to set a framework for understanding Byzantine cities within clear and scientifically defined analytical categories as part of a modernist agenda. At the same time the article examines the distorting influence of Constantinople, as the capital city, on any and all our efforts to understand Byzantine urbanism as a social phenomenon in its true scale. Italian: L’articolo vuole definire una cornice per la comprensione delle città bizantine attraverso categorie analitiche chiare e scientificamente definite come parte di un’agenda modernista, focalizzandosi sull’uso e abuso dell’archeologia bizantina e dell’urbanesimo e utilizzando il concetto calviniano di “Città Invisibili”. Allo stesso tempo l’articolo esamina l’influenza distorta di Costantinopoli, come città capitale, su tutti gli sforzi per capire l’urbanesimo bizantino come fenomeno sociale alla sua scala reale.
2019, RBN 165
In this contribution a few remarkable Arab-Byzantine coins are discussed. They were struck in late 7th-century Bilād aš-Šām. This core province of the Umayyad Caliphate, adjacent to the Byzantine Empire, is also known as historical (Greater) Syria or the Levant. The aim of this paper is twofold: on the one hand, strengthening certain findings or assumptions of earlier research; on the other, reconsidering a somewhat overlooked hypothesis. In the first category nearly all considered issues can ultimately be traced back to questions of die cutting and die linking. As for the revisited hypothesis, it fits in the broader context of the propaganda war conducted between two rival empires at the end of the 7th century, the Umayyad Caliphate and Byzantium. This paper reflects the modest hope of a non-professional numismatist to offer the specialists some material they can build on, and to broaden, to a limited extent, the debate about early Umayyad coinage and Arab-Byzantine relations.
2021, Taylor & Francis
Italy and the East Roman World in the Medieval Mediterranean addresses the understudied topic of the Italian peninsula’s relationship to the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East, across the early and central Middle Ages. The East Roman world, commonly known by the ahistorical term "Byzantium", is generally imagined as an Eastern Mediterranean empire, with Italy part of the medieval "West". Across 18 individually authored chapters, an introduction and conclusion, this volume makes a different case: for an East Roman world of which Italy forms a crucial part, and an Italian peninsula which is inextricably connected to—and, indeed, includes—regions ruled from Constantinople. Celebrating a scholar whose work has led this field over several decades, Thomas S. Brown, the chapters focus on the general themes of empire, cities and elites, and explore these from the angles of sources and historiography, archaeology, social, political and economic history, and more besides. With contributions from established and early career scholars, elucidating particular issues of scholarship as well as general historical developments, the volume provides both immediate contributions and opens space for a new generation of readers and scholars to a growing field.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection is an institute in Washington, D.C., administered by the Trustees for Harvard University. It supports research and learning internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships and internships, meetings, and exhibitions. Located in residential Georgetown, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes researchers at all career stages who come to study its books, objects, images, and documents. It opens its doors to the public to visit its historic Gardens, designed by Beatrix Farrand; its Museum, with world-class collections of art; and its Music Room, for lectures and concerts. The institute disseminates knowledge through its own publications (such as Dumbarton Oaks Papers and symposium volumes) as well as through the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (published by Harvard University Press). Dumbarton Oaks also makes accessible ever more of its resources freely online. The founding donors, Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, called upon future policy-makers “to remember that Dumbarton Oaks is conceived in a new pattern, where quality and not number shall determine the choice of its scholars; that it is the home of the Humanities, not a mere aggregation of books and objects of art; that the house itself and the gardens have their educational importance and that all are of humanistic value.” These ambitions continue to guide Dumbarton Oaks, but with close attention to ensuring that the Blisses’ “new pattern” retains its vitality through constant renewal.
Between the foundation of Constantinople as capital of the eastern half of the Roman Empire in 330 CE and its sack by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 CE, the Byzantine Empire underwent a full cycle from political-economic stability, through rural insecurity and agrarian decline, and back to renewed prosperity. These stages plausibly correspond to the phases of over-extension (K), subsequent release (Ω) and recovery (α) of the Adaptive Cycle in Socio-Ecological Systems. Here we track and partly quantify the consequences of those changes in different regions of Anatolia, firstly for rural settlement (via regional archaeological surveys) and secondly for land cover (via pollen analysis). We also examine the impact of climate changes on the agrarian system. While individual histories vary, the archaeological record shows a major demographic decline between ca .650 and ca. 900 CE in central and southwestern Anatolia, which was then a frontier zone between Byzantine and Arab armies. In these regions, and also in northwest Anatolia, century-scale trends in pollen indicate a substantial decline in the production of cereal and tree crops, and a smaller decline in pastoral activity. During the subsequent recovery (α) phase after 900 CE there was strong regional differentiation, with central Anatolia moving to a new economic system based on agro-pastoralism, while lowland areas of northern and western Anatolia returned to the cultivation of commercial crops such as olive trees. The extent of recovery in the agrarian economy was broadly predictable by the magnitude of its preceding decline, but the trajectories of recovery varied between different regions.
2016
2016, 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies Belgrade, 22–27 August 2016. Program
The program including title of paper and power point slides presented during the "23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies" on 28th of August 2016, p.37. The Congress was organised by Organized by The Serbian National Committee of Byzantine Studies Association Internationale des Études Byzantines in cooperation with Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology of the Belgrade University Faculty of Law of the Belgrade University
Undergraduate option (2nd/ 3rd year) at UCL Institute of Archaeology. This module examines the fate of the later Roman empire from the fall of Rome through the establishment of the barbarian kingdoms in the west and the rise of Constantinople in the East to the eve of the Arab conquests (AD400-700), interrogating models of decline, catastrophe and transformation through the most recent archaeology. There is, however, much more to the study of the late antique world than the problem of how and why the Roman empire collapsed. We will explore key themes such as decline and fall, barbarians and ethnicity, urbanism, rural settlement, Christianisation, the army and the economy and compare the different trajectories of Europe, Northern Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean in this period.