Growing scientific evidence from modern climate science is loaded with implications for the environmental history of the Roman Empire and its successor societies. The written and archaeological evidence, although richer than commonly realized, is unevenly distributed over time and space. A first synthesis of what the written records and multiple natural archives (multi-proxy data) indicate about climate change and variability across western Eurasia from c. 100 B.C. to 800 A.D. confirms that the Roman Empire rose during a period of stable and favorable climatic conditions, which deteriorated during the Empire's third-century crisis. A second, briefer period of favorable conditions coincided with the Empire's recovery in the fourth century; regional differences in climate conditions parallel the diverging fates of the eastern and western Empires in subsequent centuries. Climate conditions beyond the Empire's boundaries also played an important role by affecting food production in the Nile valley, and by encouraging two major migrations and invasions of pastoral peoples from Central Asia.

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Climate Change during and after the Roman Empire: Reconstructing the Past from Scientific and Historical Evidence

This book explores the nexus of art, personal piety, and self-representation in the last centuries of Byzantium. Spanning the period from around 1100 to around 1450, it focuses upon the evidence of verse inscriptions, or epigrams, on works of art. Epigrammatic poetry, Professor Drpic argues, constitutes a critical - if largely neglected - source for reconstructing aesthetic and socio-cultural discourses that informed the making, use, and perception of art in the Byzantine world. Bringing together art-historical and literary modes of analysis, the book examines epigrams and other related texts alongside an array of objects, including icons, reliquaries, ecclesiastical textiles, mosaics, and entire church buildings. By attending to such diverse topics as devotional self-fashioning, the aesthetics of adornment, sacred giving, and the erotics of the icon, this study offers a penetrating and highly original account of Byzantine art and its place in Byzantine society and religious life.

Epigram, Art, and Devotion in Later Byzantium

Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom offers a new history of the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. It is the first study in English to trace how scholars identified a space or site as monastic within the Egyptian landscape and how such identifications impacted perceptions of monasticism. Brooks Hedstrom then provides an ecohistory of Egypt's tripartite landscape to offer a reorientation of the perception of the physical landscape. She analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history before turning to the extensive archaeological evidence of Christian monastic settlements. In doing so, she illustrates the stark differences between idealized monastic landscape and the actual monastic landscape that was urbanized through monastic constructions. Drawing upon critical theories in landscape studies, materiality and phenomenology, Brooks Hedstrom looks at domestic settlements of non-monastic and monastic settlements to posit what features makes monastic settlements unique, thus offering a new history of monasticism in Egypt.

The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt: An Archaeological Reconstruction

This handy reference guide makes it easier to access and understand histories written in Greek between 600 and 1480 CE. Covering classicizing histories that continued ancient Greek traditions of historiography, sweeping, fast-paced 'chronicle' type histories, and dozens of idiosyncratic historical texts, it distills the results of complex, multi-lingual, specialist scholarship into clear explanations of the basic information needed to approach each medieval Greek history. It provides a sound basis for further research on each text by describing what we know about the time of composition, content covered by the history, authorship, extant manuscripts, previous editions and translations, and basic bibliography. Even-handed explanations of scholarly debates give readers the information they need to assess controversies independently. A comprehensive introduction orients students and non-specialists to the traditions and methods of Byzantine historical writing. It will prove an invaluable timesaver for Byzantinists and an essential entry point for classicists, western medievalists, and students.

Guide to Byzantine Historical Writing

Part I. Narrative: 1. Rome and Iran to the beginning of the third century AD 2. Rome and the Sasanian Empire - a chronological survey Part II. Sources and Contexts: 3. Political goals 4. Warfare 5. Military confrontations 6. The diplomatic solutions 7. Arabia between the great powers 8. Shared interests - continuing conflicts 9. Religion - Christianity and Zoroastrianism 10. Emperor and King of Kings 11. Exchange of information between West and East Part III. Appendices.

Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals

The chronicle of John Malalas

The Sixth Century: End or Beginning?,

I THE DISCIPLINE 1 Byzantine Studies as an academic discipline 2 Instrumenta: tools for the study of the discipline Primary sources Chronology and dating Weights and measures Archaeology Critical approaches to art history Iconography Literary criticism Textual criticism Lexicography and electronic textual resources Palaeography, codicology, diplomatic Documents: imperial chrysobulls Documents: Athos Documents: Venetian Crete Epigraphy Sigillography Numismatics Prosopography Dendrochronology Brickstamps Topography of Constantinople II THE PHYSICAL WORLD: LANDSCAPE, LAND USE AND THE ENVIRONMENT 1 The political geography of the Byzantine world Geographical survey Political-historical survey 2 Communications (roads, bridges, etc) 3 Population, demography and disease 4 Settlement Towns and cities Villages 5 Buildings and their decoration Building materials Churches and monasteries Secular and military buildings Wallpaintings and mosaics 6 Production, manufacture and technology Agriculture and agricultural technology Fabrics and clothing Silk production Ceramics Metal work Ivory, steatite, enamel, and glass Book production Military technology and warfare Shipping and seafaring Everyday technologies III INSTITUTIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS 1 Hierarchies Emperor and court Bureaucracy and aristocracies Clergy, monks, and laity 2 The State Structures and administration Army Revenues and expenditure 3 The Church Structures and administration Councils The Two Churches Liturgy Monasticism and monasteries Charitable institutions 4 The economy 5 Society Role of women Families and kinship Patronage and retinues Food, wine, and feasting Entertainment, theatre and hippodrome Hospitals and hygiene 6 Justice: legal literature 7 The spiritual world Byzantine theology Philosophies 8 The symbolic world Art and text Art and liturgy Art and pilgrimage Art and iconoclasm Icons Art and the periphery 9 Language, education and literacy Language Education Literacy Numeracy and science Libraries 10 Literature Rhetoric Historiography Theology Hagiography Homilies Epistolography Poetry and romances Military texts 11 Music IV THE WORLD AROUND BYZANTIUM 1 Byzantium and its neighbours 2 Byzantium's role in world history LISTS OF RULERS, PATRIARCHS, AND POPES

Elizabeth Jeffreys

Papers

The chronicle of John Malalas

The Sixth Century: End or Beginning?,

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies

Studies in John Malalas

Rhetoric in Byzantium