Description
Book SynopsisExplores the exceptional roles that women played in the vibrant cultural and political life of medieval Byzantium. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, this title focuses on the importance of marriage in imperial statecraft, the tense coexistence of empresses in the imperial court, and the critical relationships of mothers and daughters.
Trade ReviewJudith Herrin, Winner of the 2016 Dr A.H. Heineken Prize, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences "Herrin has followed her publisher's excellent advice that she preface each piece with a generous account of when and how it came to be written. This means that, together with her general introductions for the two volumes, the reader has an extraordinary glimpse into the evolution of Byzantine studies from the 1960s onward as well as for the personal development of Herrin herself as a Byzantine historian. The two volumes are a kind of intellectual autobiography. I know of nothing quite like them in the time-honored tradition of collecting a scholar's papers. We can see clearly, step by step, how Herrin became the historian she is today as well as the environment that supported her, and through her, the field to which she has dedicated her life."--G.W. Bowersock, New York Review of Books "[A] welcome corrective to long-standing cartoon-like images of Byzantine women as over-sexed in public and over-pious in private."--Christopher Kelly, Times Literary Supplement
Table of ContentsAbbreviations ix Introduction xiii 1.Women in Byzantium 1 2.In Search of Byzantine Women: Three Avenues of Approach 12 3.Women and the Faith in Icons in Early Christianity 38 4.Mothers and Daughters in the Medieval Greek World 80 5."Femina Byzantina": The Council in Trullo on Women 115 6.Public and Private Forms of Religious Commitment among Byzantine Women 133 7.The Imperial Feminine in Byzantium 161 8.Political Power and Christian Faith in Byzantium: The Case of Irene (Regent 780-90, Emperor 797-802) 194 9.Moving Bones: Evidence of Political Burials from Medieval Constantinople 208 10.The Many Empresses of the Byzantine Court (and All Their Attendants) 219 11.Theophano: Considerations on the Education of a Byzantine Princess 238 12.Toleration and Repression in the Byzantine Family: Gender Problems 261 13.The Icon Corner in Medieval Byzantium 281 14.Marriage: A Fundamental Element of Imperial Statecraft 302 Index 321
