Power and Subversion in Byzantium: Papers from the Forty-third Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 2010

Description

First published 2013 by Ashgate Publishing. This volume addresses a theme of special significance for Byzantine studies. Byzantium has traditionally been deemed a civilisation which deferred to authority and set special store by orthodoxy, canon and proper order. Since 1982 when the distinguished Russian Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan wrote that 'the history of Byzantine intellectual opposition has yet to be written', scholars have increasingly highlighted cases of subversion of 'correct practice' and 'correct belief' in Byzantium. This innovative scholarly effort has produced important results, although it has been hampered by the lack of dialogue across the disciplines of Byzantine studies. The 43rd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in 2010 drew together historians, art historians, and scholars of literature, religion and philosophy, who discussed shared and discipline-specific approaches to the theme of subversion. The present volume presents a selection of the papers delivered at the symposium enriched with specially commissioned contributions. Most papers deal with the period after the eleventh century, although early Byzantium is not ignored. Theoretical questions about the nature, articulation and limits of subversion are addressed within the frameworks of individual disciplines and in a larger context. The volume comes at a timely junction in the development of Byzantine studies, as interest in subversion and nonconformity in general has been rising steadily in the field. List of Illustrations vii Contributors xi Abbreviations xv 1. Dimiter G. Angelov / Power and subversion in Byzantium: approaches and frameworks 1 Part I: The Politics of Subversion 2. Vasiliki Penna and Cécile Morrisson / Usurpers and rebels in Byzantium: image and message through coins 21 3. Anthony Kaldellis / How to usurp the throne in Byzantium: The role of public opinion in sedition and rebellion 43 4. Demetrios Kyritses / The imperial council and the tradition of consultative decision-making in Byzantium (eleventh to fourteenth centuries) 57 5. Kostis Smyrlis / Financial crisis and the limits of taxation under Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1321) 71 6. Michael Angold / The political arts at the late Palaiologan court (1402–1453) 83 Part II: Art and Subversion 7. Liz James / 'The world turned upside down': Art and subversion in Byzantium 105 8. Antony Eastmond 'It began with a picture': Imperial art, texts and subversion between East and West in the twelfth century 121 Part III: Philosophy 9. Börje Bydén / 'No prince of perfection': Byzantine anti-Aristotelianism from the patristic period to Pletho 147 10. Maria Mavroudi / Pletho as subversive and his reception in the Islamic world 177 Part IV: Literature and Subversion 11. Paul Magdalino / Generic subversion? The political ideology of urban myth and apocalyptic prophecy 207 12. Dimitris Krallis / Harmless satire, stinging critique: Notes and suggestions for reading the 'Timarion' 221 13. Margaret Mullett / How to criticize the 'laudandus' 247 14. Athanasios Angelou / Subversion and duplicity in the 'Histories' of John Kantakouzenos 263 15. Margaret Alexiou / Afterword – Literary subversion in Byzantium: A partial and personal perspective 281 Index 289