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Byzantine Studies and History
Research Guide
What is Byzantine Studies and History?
Byzantine Studies and History is the academic field that examines the Byzantine Empire, its intellectual culture, religious identity, historical texts, cultural exchange, philosophy, the spread of Christianity, and Mediterranean trade dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean from late antiquity to the medieval period.
This field encompasses 188,691 works focused on Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean, covering topics such as Medieval Christianity, intellectual culture, and cultural exchange. Key areas include the development of Byzantine philosophy, Christian Orthodoxy, and historical texts. Research addresses the empire's role as the Greek continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire between the Islamic Middle East and Catholic Europe.
Topic Hierarchy
Research Sub-Topics
Byzantine Philosophy and Neoplatonism
This sub-topic examines Proclus, Psellos, and later Neoplatonic thinkers in Byzantine intellectual tradition. Researchers trace transmission to Renaissance Europe and theological adaptations.
Byzantine Religious Iconography
This sub-topic studies icons, mosaics, and their theological roles in Orthodox worship. Researchers analyze iconoclasm debates and devotional practices.
Cultural Exchange in Byzantine Eastern Mediterranean
This sub-topic covers artistic, textual, and technological transfers with Arabs, Slavs, and Latins. Researchers map hybrid artifacts and diplomatic influences.
Byzantine Hagiography and Saints' Lives
This sub-topic analyzes hagiographical texts as historical and literary sources. Researchers investigate cult formation, miracle narratives, and social functions.
Mediterranean Trade in Byzantine Economy
This sub-topic explores commerce networks, coinage, and ports from 7th-15th centuries. Researchers study silk trade, shipping, and economic decline.
Why It Matters
Byzantine Studies and History informs understanding of cultural and religious transitions in the Eastern Mediterranean, with applications in prosopography, sigillography, and digital humanities. The Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit documents over 20,000 individuals from 641 to 1025, enabling detailed biographical analysis of Byzantine Italy and the Early Middle Ages. The BHAI project applies artificial intelligence to Byzantine sigillography, as in the ANR-21-CE38-0001 initiative at Sorbonne Université, enhancing the scholarly edition of lead seals via SigiDoc 1.0, an XML-based EpiDoc-compliant standard from the DFG-ANR DigiByzSeal project. Peter Brown’s "The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity" (1981, 1199 citations) and "The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity" (1990, 1057 citations) provide foundational insights into religious practices influencing modern studies of sanctity and gender, as seen in recent works on the cult of saints in Caucasia using Armenian, Georgian, Byzantine, and Russian sources.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
"Framing the Early Middle Ages" by Chris Wickham (2005, 1238 citations) provides an accessible entry by contrasting the unified Roman Empire with fragmented early medieval regional histories, directly relevant to Byzantine transitions.
Key Papers Explained
Chris Wickham’s "Framing the Early Middle Ages" (2005) sets the context for post-Roman fragmentation, building on Fernand Braudel’s "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II" (1974, 2862 citations) for long-term Mediterranean dynamics. Peter Brown’s "The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity" (1981, 1199 citations) and "The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity" (1990, 1057 citations) detail religious developments linking to Byzantine Orthodoxy. J. G. Peristiany’s "Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society" (1966, 1115 citations) connects social values across the region.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Current frontiers include AI applications in sigillography via the BHAI project (ANR-21-CE38-0001) and SigiDoc 1.0 from DigiByzSeal. Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit extends biographies to 1025, while Edinburgh Byzantine Studies examines Caucasia relics with new source integrations. Mary Jaharis Center grants support interdisciplinary Byzantine art and culture research.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staying with the trouble: making kin in the Chthulucene | 2017 | Gender Place & Culture | 4.0K | ✕ |
| 2 | The Ritual Process. Structure and Anti-Structure | 1971 | Journal of Religion in... | 3.5K | ✕ |
| 3 | The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Ph... | 1974 | Geographical Review | 2.9K | ✕ |
| 4 | Information, Natural Law, and the Self-Assembly of Rhythmic Mo... | 2015 | — | 1.3K | ✕ |
| 5 | Framing the Early Middle Ages | 2005 | Oxford University Pres... | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 6 | Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion | 1985 | The Classical World | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 7 | The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christi... | 1981 | The American Historica... | 1.2K | ✕ |
| 8 | Honour and Shame: The Values of Mediterranean Society. | 1966 | Man | 1.1K | ✕ |
| 9 | The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in E... | 1990 | The American Historica... | 1.1K | ✕ |
| 10 | Before European hegemony: the world system A.D. 1250-1350 | 1990 | Choice Reviews Online | 1.0K | ✕ |
In the News
Call for Applications: Mary Jaharis Center Grants 2026 ...
objects.
Byzantine Sigillography meets Artificial Intelligence: The BHAI Project
Sorbonne Université - STIH et UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée Abstract: the “BHAI - Artificial Intelligence applied to Byzantine Sigillography” interdisciplinary project (Projet-ANR-21-CE38-0001) i...
GO.INVESTIGATIO Grants
third-party funding application.
News - The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture
**The Mary Jaharis Center invites applications for its 2022–2023 grant competition. Scholars working in any discipline of Byzantine studies broadly conceived are encouraged to apply. We offer **Dis...
News | Department of Historical Studies - CEU
The Department of Historical Studies, Central European University (Vienna, Austria) in collaboration with the ProletGard ERC Starting Grant project, Kassák Foundation (Budapest, Hungary) is plea...
Code & Tools
SigiDoc 1.0 - The XML-based and EpiDoc-compliant encoding standard for the scholarly edition of Byzantine lead seals and coin-like objects. Newest ...
## Repository files navigation # SigiDoc Guidelines These are the guidelines of SigiDoc 1.0, an encoding standard - clean subset of EpiDoc - for ...
These are the guidelines of SigiDoc 1.0 - The XML-based and EpiDoc-compliant encoding standard for the scholarly edition of Byzantine lead seals an...
Library and tools for analyzing the quorum structure of Federated Byzantine Agreement Systems (FBASs) like Stellar and MobileCoin . Related researc...
# F2ED-LEARNING: Attacks and Byzantine-Robust Aggregators in Federated Learning CircleCI This repository contains the evaluation code for the f...
Recent Preprints
Edinburgh Byzantine Studies
- The first systematic study of the history of the cult of saints and relics in Caucasia - Introduces and discusses a wide variety of sources: Armenian, Georgian, Byzantine, and Russian, that have ...
Byzantine Studies // Medieval Institute // University of Notre Dame
It investigates the long-lived and influential Byzantine Empire, whose territory stood between the Islamic Middle East and Catholic Europe. As the Greek continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, it...
Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit
The _Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period_ is a comprehensive biographical dictionary for the Eastern Mediterranean, including Byzantine Italy, in the Early Middle Ages. It is published in ...
Supplementa Byzantina
In addition to the Berlin series of _Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae_, the internationally renowned and interdisciplinary _Supplementa Byzantina_ series, founded in 1968, publishes works on top...
Routledge Research in Byzantine Studies | Taylor & Francis eBooks, Ref
- Connect with us Registered in England & Wales No. 3099067 5 Howick Place \| London \| SW1P 1WG© 2025 Informa UK Limited Back to Top
Latest Developments
The latest developments in Byzantine Studies and History research include the upcoming 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Vienna from August 24-29, 2026, which will feature hundreds of presentations on recent research and findings (ICBS 2026, AIEB). Additionally, the Byzantine Studies Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks on April 24-25, 2026, will focus on the lifecycle of Byzantine manuscripts, utilizing new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches (Dumbarton Oaks). Other recent scholarly activities include conferences, symposiums, and publications exploring Byzantine manuscripts, sigillography, and cultural history, as well as ongoing research series such as Routledge's "Research in Byzantine Studies" (Routledge) and recent articles on digital approaches and Greek studies (Cambridge Core).
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions
What sources are used in recent studies of the cult of saints in Caucasia?
Edinburgh Byzantine Studies introduces and discusses Armenian, Georgian, Byzantine, and Russian sources that have not been studied together before. It offers an original approach to gender, sanctity, and queenship in this region. This is the first systematic study of the history of the cult of saints and relics in Caucasia.
What is the scope of the Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit?
It is a comprehensive biographical dictionary for the Eastern Mediterranean, including Byzantine Italy, in the Early Middle Ages. Published in two sections of five volumes each, it documents over 20,000 people. The first section covers 641 to 867, and the second extends to 1025.
How does the BHAI project advance Byzantine sigillography?
The BHAI project (ANR-21-CE38-0001) at Sorbonne Université applies artificial intelligence to Byzantine sigillography. It proposes interdisciplinary methods for analyzing lead seals and coin-like objects. SigiDoc 1.0 provides the XML-based, EpiDoc-compliant encoding standard from the DFG-ANR DigiByzSeal project.
What role did Peter Brown play in early Christian studies relevant to Byzantium?
Peter Brown’s "The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity" (1981, 1199 citations) examines the rise and function of saint cults. "The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity" (1990, 1057 citations) analyzes sexual renunciation from Paul to Anthony. These works connect to Byzantine religious identity and Christian Orthodoxy.
What is the focus of Supplementa Byzantina?
Founded in 1968, it publishes works on Byzantine literature beyond the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. It includes critical editions of non-historical works and commentaries on Byzantine and post-Byzantine texts. The series is internationally renowned and interdisciplinary.
Open Research Questions
- ? How do unstudied combinations of Armenian, Georgian, Byzantine, and Russian sources reshape understanding of sanctity and queenship in Caucasia?
- ? What new biographical connections emerge from the Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit for over 20,000 individuals up to 1025?
- ? How can AI improve the analysis of Byzantine lead seals beyond current SigiDoc encoding standards?
- ? In what ways do early medieval regional histories, as framed by Chris Wickham (2005), integrate with Byzantine Empire narratives?
- ? How did Mediterranean trade dynamics from 1250-1350, as in 'Before European hegemony,' influence Byzantine cultural exchange?
Recent Trends
Recent developments feature digital tools like SigiDoc 1.0 for Byzantine seals in the DFG-ANR DigiByzSeal project and the BHAI AI-sigillography initiative.
2025Preprints highlight Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit documenting over 20,000 people to 1025 and Edinburgh Byzantine Studies on Caucasia saints using novel source combinations.
Mary Jaharis Center grants for 2026 fund broad Byzantine studies, signaling growth in interdisciplinary and digital approaches amid 188,691 total works.
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