The Byzantine world contained many important cities throughout its empire. Although it was not ‘urban’ in the sense of the word today, its cities played a far more fundamental role than those of its European neighbors. This book, through a collection of twenty-four chapters, discusses aspects of, and different approaches to, Byzantine urbanism from the early to late Byzantine periods. It provides both a chronological and thematic perspective to the study of Byzantine cities, bringing together literary, documentary, and archival sources with archaeological results, material culture, art, and architecture, resulting in a rich synthesis of the variety of regional and sub-regional transformations of Byzantine urban landscapes.
Organized into four sections, this book covers: Theory and Historiography, Geography and Economy, Architecture and the Built Environment, and Daily Life and Material Culture. It includes more specialized accounts that address the centripetal role of Constantinople and its broader influence across the empire. Such new perspectives help to challenge the historiographical balance between ‘margins and metropolis,’ and also to include geographical areas often regarded as peripheral, like the coastal urban centers of the Byzantine Mediterranean as well as cities on islands, such as Crete, Cyprus, and Sicily which have more recently yielded well-excavated and stratigraphically sound urban sites.
The Routledge Handbook of the Byzantine City provides both an overview and detailed study of the Byzantine city to specialist scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike and, therefore, will appeal to all those interested in Byzantine urbanism and society, as well as those studying medieval society in general.
Edited by:
Nikolas Bakirtzis,
Luca Zavagno
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
Weight: 1.100kg
ISBN: 9780367196790
ISBN 10: 0367196794
Series: Routledge History Handbooks
Pages: 508
Publication Date: 31 January 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction Nikolas Bakirtzis and Luca Zavagno PART I - Theory and Historiography 1 The Byzantine City and its Historiography Luca Zavagno 2 Theorizing Byzantine Urbanity: The City Constituting Memory, Memory Constituting the City Myrto Veikou 3 The Byzantine City in the Literary Sources Helen Saradi 4 Methodologies for Byzantine Urban Studies Michael J. Decker 5 Spatial Organization in Late Byzantine Cities (13th・14th Centuries) Tonia Kiousopoulou PART II - Geographies of the Byzantine City 6 Cities on the Black Sea Coast and the Circumpontic Exchange Network (c. 500・700) Andrei Gandila 7 The Byzantine ‘City’ in Asia Minor Ufuk Serin 8 Insular Urbanism in Byzantium Luca Zavagno 9 The City in the Byzantine ‘Italies’ Enrico Cirelli 10 Urbanism in Syria and Palestine Between the 7th and 9th Centuries Ian Randall PART III - Architecture and the Built Environment 11 Domes in the Urban Skyline: The Case of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus and its Transformations through Time Nikolaos Karydis 12 Fortifications and the Making of the Byzantine City Nikolas Bakirtzis 13 Monumentality and the Byzantine City Maria Cristina Carile 14 Maintained, Stored and Protected: Water and the Byzantine City E. Giorgi 15 Islamic City, Ottoman City: Byzantine Prousa to Ottoman Bursa Suna Cağaptay 16 Two Views of Ports and Maritime Communities in the Byzantine Mediterranean: Constantinople and Amalfi Michael Jones and Matthew Harpster 17 Alexandria after Antiquity: A City in Transition Athanasios Koutoupas PART IV - Daily Life, Visual and Material Culture 18 “The Arts and the Byzantine City” Ioli Kalavrezou 19 On Early Byzantine Images of Poleis: Meanings and Messages Jenny P. Albani 20 The Consumptive Capital: Commercial Activities and Ceramic Finds at Constantinople (ca. 500・1000) Joanita Vroom 21 Pera Ianuensium Pulcherrima Civitas Est: Creating a Genoese Identity on the Golden Horn (1261・1453) Mabi Angar
Nikolas Bakirtzis is an Associate Professor at The Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus. His research focuses on Byzantine monasticism, medieval cities and fortifications, and the island landscapes of the Byzantine, medieval, and early modern Mediterranean. As the Director of the Andreas Pittas Art Characterization Labs, he leads research on the materiality of medieval and early modern art enhanced through the use of advanced digital and analytical methods. His work has received support from the European Commission, the Cyprus Research and Innovation Foundation, the Princeton Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, and the Getty Research Institute. Luca Zavagno is an Associate Professor of Byzantine Studies at Bilkent University, Turkey. He is the author of many articles and books on the early medieval and Byzantine Mediterranean. His research focuses on Byzantine urbanism and medieval Mediterranean insularity. He has been awarded the Dumbarton Oaks Summer Fellowship twice (in 2011 and 2016) as well as the prestigious Stanley Seeger Fellowship of the Hellenic Studies Center at Princeton University (2012), the Newton Mobility Grant (2018), and he has been twice a fellowship at Center for Advanced Studies ‘Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages’ at the University of Tubingen, Germany (2022 and 2023).
