Justinian

This article offers a survey of scholarship on the historian Procopius of Caesarea in the last eleven years (2003-2014). It reviews his origins and upbringing in Caesarea in Palestine before moving on to consider his portrayal of the reign of Justinian (527-565); it argues that his accounts of Justinian’s rule remain central to modern assessments of the period. But because his works have survived in their entirety and because Justinian’s reign has attracted so much attention, there is a danger that both historian and ruler may distort our picture of the sixth-century empire: neither Procopius nor Justinian may have been as exceptional as is often thought. And while the sixth century did witness a general rise in intolerance of heretics and pagans, it may be that Justinian was reacting to a general tendency in society rather than leading the charge. The article concludes by discussing Procopius’ three works and recent publications devoted to them, noting that scholarship has sometimes suffered as a consequence of an unawareness of research being carried out simultaneously by other scholars.

"Il saggio traccia una sintesi della civiltà bizantina, dalla fondazione di Costantinopoli alla Quarta Crociata. A tutti gli effetti continuazione dell'impero romano, Bisanzio riuscì ad assimilare positivamente le Völkerwanderungen che determinano il crollo della prima Roma, facendo della multietnicità e del dinamismo verticale delle élites un punto di forza e una costante. Se nell'effimero progetto giustinianeo di riunificazione dell'impero universale prevalevano ancora una gravitazione occidentale e un’ottica vetero-romana, il superamento, a partire da Eraclio, della prospettiva italocentrica segnò il vero inizio dell'età bizantina. A Eraclio vanno ascritti due traguardi fondamentali: la creazione del sistema dei temi e il definitivo soggiogamento dell’impero persiano, nella gran parte dei cui ex-territori subentrerà ben presto, tuttavia, il nuovo interlocutore arabo. Tra il VII e l’VIII secolo, con l'accentuazione dei tratti aneuropei in campo economico, sociale, artistico, culturale, si assiste alla vera e propria nascita della concezione bizantina del potere. L’età dell'iconomachia, a lungo giudicata “buia”, coincide in realtà con una fase di prosperità economica: il compiersi del processo di deurbanizzazione e la trasformazione territoriale favoriscono l’accentuarsi della vocazione statalista e predispongono il grande “risorgimento culturale” del IX-X secolo. La sconfitta dell'iconoclasmo vede anche la sconfitta del platonismo e l'affermarsi dell'aristotelismo come filosofia ufficiale del cristianesimo medievale. Il regno di Basilio I e della dinastia macedone segna la cosiddetta "età d'oro" dell'impero bizantino. Il X e XI secolo conoscono più tormentati rapporti tra stato e chiesa, che culminano nello scisma del 1054 tra chiesa d’oriente e chiesa d’occidente (in definitiva sfida del patriarca Cerulario al basileus) e un incremento politico ed economico della nobiltà militare provinciale, che si affermerà definitivamente con la dinastia dei Comneni. Proprio con il regno comneno, in particolare con la concessione dei privilegi commerciali a Venezia da parte di Alessio I, deve farsi coincidere l’inizio della fase calante dell'economia bizantina, ininterrotta fino al XV secolo, simmetrica e inversa all'ascesa del protocapitalismo occidentale dei traffici, cui l’antica egemonia di Bisanzio sarà progressivamente sottomessa e la sopravvivenza stessa della basileia infine sacrificata. Al riaccendersi della prospettiva di restaurazione dell'impero universale corrisponderà – nelle forme del ripiegamento sociale e dell'indebolimento statale – maggiore vulnerabilità nella politica pratica. Con queste premesse Bisanzio subirà, nel 1204, la forza distruttiva della “deviazione” della Quarta Crociata: una catastrofe inaspettata e forse per questo ancora più traumatica della definitiva caduta del 1453 sotto i turchi osmani.

This essay outlines the history of Byzantine civilisation from the founding of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade.  In every way a continuation of the Roman empire, Byzantium succeeded in assimilating to positive effect the Völkerwanderungen that determined the fall of the first Rome, creating a point of strength and allegiance out of the multi-ethnic, ascendant vertical dynamism of the élites.  If gravitation toward the West and an antiquated Roman perspective still prevailed in Justinian’s ephemeral project to reunify the universal empire, the shift beyond the Italo-centric perspective from Heraclius on marked the true beginning of the Byzantine era.  Two fundamental achievements are ascribed to Heraclius: the creation of the system of themes and the definitive subjugation of the Persian empire, to whose ex-territories, however, the new Arab interlocutor would soon succeed.  Between the 7th and 8th centuries, with the accentuation of non-European traits in economic, social, artistic, and cultural fields, we begin to see the emergence of the authentic Byzantine concept of power.  Long considered “dark,” the age of iconomachy coincided, in reality, with a phase of economic prosperity.  The culmination of the process of de-urbanisation and transformation of the territory favoured the accentuation of a state-centred vocation and set the stage for the great “cultural revival” of the 9th and 10th centuries.  The defeat of iconoclasm also saw the defeat of Platonism and the affirmation of Aristotelianism as the official philosophy of Medieval Christianity.  The reign of Basil I and the Macedonian dynasty marked the so-called “golden age” of the Byzantine empire.  The 10th and 11th centuries saw more tormented relations between church and state, culminating in the Schism of 1054 between the Eastern and Western churches (ultimately the patriarch Cerularius’ challenge to the basileus) and a political and economic increase in the provincial military nobility that would assert itself definitively with the Comnenian dynasty.  The beginning of the decline of the Byzantine economy - uninterrupted until the 15th century, symmetrical in nature and the inverse of the ascent of Western trade proto-capitalism to which the ancient hegemony of Byzantium would be gradually subjugated and the very survival of the basileia ultimately sacrificed - began precisely with the Comnenian dynasty, in particular, with the concession of commercial privileges to Venice by Alexius I.  To the reawakening of the prospect of a restoration of the universal empire would correspond – in the form of social withdrawal and weakening of the state – greater vulnerability in political practice. Under these conditions Byzantium would, in 1204, be subjected to the destructive force of the “detour” of the Fourth Crusade: an unforeseen catastrophe and perhaps for this reason even more traumatic than the definitive fall in 1453 at the hands of the Osmanli Turks. 
"

The late Antique mosaic of Orpheus decorated a small room, approximately 18 m2 in area, connected with two even smaller ones, in 4 m2 and the other 2 m2 in area, belonging most likely to a small funerary chapel (or tomb) discovered in the ancient necropolis by the Damascene Gate in Jerusalem; it was discovered in 1901 by H. Vincent.
The author proposes a new interpretation of the iconographic program of the Orpheus myth used by wealthy Christians in a sepulchral context (see Olszewski M.T. «Orphée endeuillé de la mosaïque funéraire de Jérusalem», in Rey Mimoso-Ruiz, B. ed., Actes du colloque «Orphée entre Soleil et ombre», à l’Institut Catholique de Toulouse du 16 au 17 novembre 2007, Inter Lignes, numéros spécial – mars 2008, pp. 205-214, 226). He also proposes a new interpretation of the role Orpheus played in Roman funerary art, concentrating on the importance of the play on words and the visual and textual punning that was popular in ancient art and especially in funerary art. He rejects the popular interpretation of Orpheus as Christ in the Roman catacombs and proposes to interpret the image as that of Orpheus, bard of the departed souls, without any ahistorical connection with Christ. The program of the mosaic from Jerusalem is thus explained as a play on the words Orpheus-orphanos and Chiron (Chi-Rho) and Pan [Παν(τοκράτωρ)].The frequently used Christian funerary formula of resting in peace, Christ or the Lord corresponds
perfectly with the mood created around the mythical bard.
Orpheus’ universal role as singer and musician moving even the most stony of hearts, extolling the beloved departed, is absolutely justified in the context of a 6th-century Christian tomb. Orpheus is a popular and neutral figure, meaning that in effect it does not constitute a threat to Christian theology and can be tolerated by the educated Christians of Jerusalem.

Reinventing Procopius Abstract
Competing Histories in the Sixth Century: Procopius and Justinian

Justinian’s laws (including both the Corpus Iuris Civilis and the Novels) and Procopius’ writings are two of the most extensive and significant corpora available for the study of the sixth century.  Despite their importance, however, the two bodies of work are generally studied separately by scholars with different specialties and research interests.  The legal codes are used as a source for earlier Roman law and contemporary administrative reform, while Procopius is primarily used as a source for Justinian’s foreign policy and contemporary reactions to his reign, both positive and negative.  Although there have been some discussions of Procopius’ reaction to specific laws in the Secret History, in particular his subversion of Justinian’s carefully cultivated self-representation as the ‘sleepless emperor,’ there has not been any work on Procopius’ responses to the laws in the Wars.  Moreover, scholars have yet to come to a consensus on the precise relationship between the Wars and Secret History.  The current paper addresses both of these questions by focusing on discussions of the consulship in Justinian’s Novels, the Wars, and the Secret History. 
The current paper argues that Belisarius’ triumphant entry into Syracuse on 31 December 535, reported at Wars 5.5.17-9, is a carefully coded response to Justinian’s Novel 105, in which the emperor modified the financial responsibilities and rights of consulship.  The paper continues to show that the discussion of Novel 105 in the Wars complements, but at no point overlaps with, the explicit discussion of that Novel in the Secret History.  Several conclusions are drawn from these facts.  First, the Secret History was intended to function as a coherent work and act as a key for decoding and understanding oblique discussions of contemporary events found in the Wars.  Second, Procopius was intimately familiar not only with the rhetoric of Justinian’s laws, but also their specifics, and that his depiction of Belisarius was meant to frustrate the narrative of consular decline that Justinian’s legal team articulated in Novel 105.  Third, just as Procopius inverted the narrative of the ‘sleepless emperor’ in the Secret History to attack Justinian’s reform program, his discussion of Novel 105 in the Wars inverts the logic of that law to imply that the imperial office, not the consulship, was in decline.
The paper concludes in the spirit of the conference’s search for new methodologies for the study of Procopius by opening two new avenues of inquiry: using the Secret History as a key to detect oblique discussions in the Wars and investigating the role of Justinian’s laws in shaping Procopius’ discussions of contemporary events.  Specifically, the paper suggests that Justinian’s laws may have played a role in shaping the structure of the Wars, in particular the division of material into chronologically distinct campaigns (for which Appian is the only classical precedent), which form counternarratives to the model of imperial success articulated in Justinian’s provincial reform laws, especially Novel 24.

In 553, the Second Council of Constantinople issued a series of anathemas against various doctrines and certain bishops in order to settle the so-called " Three Chapters Controversy. " It also condemned Origen and several of his theses, including that of the " pre-existence of Souls " : their fall and their return to the Divine through a series of successive existential ordeals. One can consider these theses as underlying those of Reincarnation and Reintegration. This paper presents the two main characters who are Origen (b. 184 or 185 / d. 253 or 254 CE), the theologian in question, and Emperor Justinian I (also known as Justinian the Great, ca. 482 – 565 CE), who promoted the Council. It examines the works of the former and the political actions of the latter, thereafter the circumstances of the Council itself, before turning to a discussion of the philosophical, historical, and theological themes that nourished the premises, the progress and the consequences of this ecclesiastical event. De la fermeture des écoles d'Athènes au Concile de Constantinople II: la répudiation d'une tradition antique par Thierry Guinot, PhD Résumé En 553, le deuxième Concile de Constantinople a prononcé une série d'anathèmes contre diverses doctrines et certains évêques afin de régler la « querelle des Trois-Chapitres ». Il a également condamné Origène et plusieurs de ses thèses, dont celle de la préexistence des âmes, de leur chute et de leur retour vers le divin par une série d'épreuves existentielles successives, pouvant être considérées comme sous-jacentes aux théories de la réincarnation et de la réintégration.

Una progresión que vale por una constante histórica quiere que los focos culturales se sucedan en el tiempo siguiendo el derrotero del sol. A tenor de esta ley singularmente patentizada en los pueblos costeros, y de modo especial en el Mediterráneo, para el oriental lo occidental es rústico e inexperto, y al revés: a los de acá los del otro, hijos de
civilizaciones más antiguas, se les antojan decadentes y afeminados. Al extremo que, bizantino y bizantinismo son vocablos que en nuestra lengua cotidiana suenan a cosa banal o a excesiva sutileza. Nuestra tradición de hombres de Occidente, de francos, suele prevenirnos - contra todo aquello que haga referencia a Bizancio. Aferrados al
cómodo expediente de fechar en 476 la caída del Imperio romano; incluidos por la
pluricelular tarea de la formación de nuestras nacionalidades y de hacer a la Iglesia
independiente de la potestad civil, olvidamos con frecuencia que ese Imperio duró
todavía mil años, defendiéndose bravamente de las naciones jóvenes que lo acosaban desde los cuatro puntos cardinales. Esa laboriosa gestación del mundo occidental, y la escisión consiguiente de la Iglesia, desembocaron en las Cruzadas, en un movimiento que, si no en la mente de sus promotores en su desarrollo había de resultar fatal para el
mantenimiento del Imperio de la Nueva Roma. Los socorros de Europa no llegaron a la Constantinopla así puesta en trance de muerte, sino (aunque vanamente, ante el ímpetu otomano) a aquellas naciones cortadas en el manto del antiguo Imperio.
Esta es una lección que el historiador no puede olvidar, Y es curioso que, al paso que los propios francos en lucha con los bizantinos acabaron por asimilar la civilización oriental, el recuerdo de las Cruzadas siga figurando, en Occidente, entre las determinantes de nuestro desde hacia Bizancio al modo como la caída de Constantinopla, y la consiguiente diáspora de los sabios de la ciudad imperial, no valió a difundir la cultura bizantina mas a reforzar el estudio de los clásicos griegos. Había sido menester llegar a los Finlay a los Bury, a Krumbacher, a la escuela francesa egregiamente presidida por Schlumberger y sobre todo por Charles Diehl, el gran orientalista recientemente fallecido, para que la civilización bizantina adquiriese a nuestros ojos el lugar destacado que le corresponde. Sin embargo, una rama considerable de los estudios bizantinos quedaba por incorporar al acervo occidental: la de la pléyade de cronistas e investigadores eslavos, y concretamente los de esa Rusia
que se considera, no sin razón, hija y heredera de Bizancio. Ese vacío ha sido colmado con la magnífica obra de Alejandro Vasíliev que hoy tenemos el honor de presentar a los lectores de lengua española. Por vez primera se añaden aquí a los frutos de las modernas investigaciones occidentales los resultados conseguidos por la ciencia eslava.
Con ello, no sólo se renuevan muchos puntos de vista, sino que se ha logrado una visión de conjunto que difícilmente podrá ser modificada, salvo en los detalles. Por las manos de Vasíliev, ha pasado cuanto se haya podido escribir acerca de Bizancio; todo ha sido puesto por él a contribución, todo ponderado y jerarquizado al escribir esta obra,
imprescindible —pese a su carácter sumario— a cuantos se interesan en la historia europea de quince siglos acá.
No se crea, sin embargo, que la universalidad de los conocimientos del autor haga prolijas las argumentaciones y árida la exposición. enamorado del tema de sus estudios, el autor ruso traza brillantemente el cuadro de la existencia de Bizancio, incluso con pasión. Lo cual le lleva, tal cual vez, a presentar las cosas de Occidente de una manera
que no concuerda con nuestras ideas al respecto. Sólo en esos casos y sin que ello encierre la menor censura al autor, nos hemos permitido traer a pie de página otros puntos de vista, por si ello ayuda al lector a, tener una visión total del problema.
También hemos creído oportuno acompañar el texto de esta obra ejemplar con un conjunto de ilustraciones, probablemente el más nutrido que hasta la fecha se haya publicado en España sobre Bizancio; con un índice onomástico, y con unos cuadros cronológicos, harto incompletos por desgracia. Con esto y la recomendación, al lector
no especialmente preparado, de dejar para el final la lectura del primer capítulo de Vasíliev —en el cual se expone con tanta claridad como competencia el estado actual de los estudios bizantinos— ponemos punto a esta nota.
Juan Ramón Masoliver

... Inspired by Rabun Taylor's article [1], which proposes that Hagia Sophia's original vaulting system consisted of an upper dome supported by a fenestrated drum, the present team of authors, which includes both engineers and scholars of Byzantine Greek, undertook to analyze ...

At first sight the present-day Saint Sophia seems to have an appearance that is almost that of the 6th century, with the only difference being the presence of Ottoman furnishings for its use as a mosque.
However, closer examination reveals various signs of reuse in the building. These range from what is best known and most visible – the porphyry columns in the exedrae – to others that are less evident but no less important for our understanding of  the monument’s long history. The paper will have two parts. The first will be dedicated to the evidence of the Byzantine period. The second will deal with interventions subsequent to the building’s transformation into a mosque. Analysis of this material shows a recurring feature of the way in which reuse was achieved, i.e. a sort of “internal” reuse that adapted itself to its context so as not to be in contrast with the formal unity of the building.

I cannot help but recognize, in the first awestruck commentators on the Megale Ekklesia, the great sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, kindred spirits of a deep and special sort. I refer, of course, to Procopius, historian of Justinian, who wrote a long description of Hagia Sophia in his book on the emperor's buildings, and Paul the Silentiary, a court official and poet, who penned a comparably lengthy account, the Description of Hagia Sophia. 1 It is not just the excitement that they convey in putting into words the miracle that is this building. It is their sense of the experience and what attracts their attention that is striking, prominent being the marbles and other colored stones that transform the surfaces of the church into a glistening array (Figure 2.1).

The book attempts to present –for the first time in the international bibliography– a detailed description of the historical life of Abydos (Άβυδος) of Hellespont (Ελλήσποντος, Δαρδανέλλια); the latter was an important ancient and medieval Greek city, situated on the Asiatic shore of Dardanelles, at the once narrowest part of the local Straits (usually named "Stenon of Abydos") and in the surrounding area of the promontory of Nara (an Ottoman and modern Turkish naval base, where free access is prohibited). The monograph also detects the  relations between Abydos and other known settlements in the wider region of northwestern Asia Minor (Troad, Hellespont, Mysia, Hellespontine Phrygia).

Αbydos was founded predominantly as a colony of Miletus (ca. 680-650 BC) and had a continuous historical life that lasted about 2.000 years (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD). The prosperous ancient city minted various coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD. Its lively port was used for centuries as a key point for the passage from Europe to Asia and the cruise from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (and vice versa) as well as a major customs station ("telonion Abydou" during the Roman imperial years, "demosion teloneion" or "kommerkion" or "dekateuterion Abydou" during the medieval period of the city). Byzantine Abydos was also an important administrative center, a military and naval base and an ecclesiastical seat (bishopric and later metropolis).

However, the long and turbulent history of Abydos and its region is virtually unknown in modern years, despite the fact that the city's reputation was particularly widespread during ancient and medieval times in the Mediterranean world. Moreover, for many reasons noted in the book, the settlement does not exist archaeologically in the last two centuries. In short, Abydos constitutes a very interesting case of a virtually lost city during the modern times.

For various reasons, also described in the book, the importance of Abydos had declined during the 13th c. AD and the city was finally abandoned by its population in the early 14th c. AD., mainly because of the Turkish threat in the area. From mid. 15th c. AD the new city of Çanakkale was established gradually (initially named as Kale-i Sultaniye) 5-6 km to the south of Abydos. The ruins of the abandoned urban area of ​​the latter have been systematically pillaged -mainly for construction and other purposes- between the 14th - early 19th c. AD.

For the reconstruction of  the long historical life of Abydos (mid. 7th c. BC - early 14th c. AD) and an in-depth analysis of its numerous and largely unknown institutions, the study relies though on the information providing by the written (ancient and medieval) texts but also on the scarce and dispersed epigraphic and the much richer numismatic (the city minted coins between 6th c. BC - 3rd c. AD) and sigillographic data and other archaeological findings regarding (or deriving from) the city. It also takes into account all the contemporary related publications.

[VANIAS publications,  Thessaloniki 2017,  752 pages,  ISBN: 978-960-288-342-6,  text in Greek language with an English summary]

This thesis is a systematic examination of the use of the term phoideratos in Greek and how it relates to the Greek word symmachos. The term was recognized as not precisely equivalent to its Latin cognate foederatus over a century ago by Jean Maspero, but no complete study of every use of the term has been made until now. This has been facilitated by the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, an online database of searchable Greek texts. These terms are important since they provide a framework within which foreigners came to serve the Roman army. They also reveal the changing nature of that army, and how the foederati, formerly allies who came to serve the Roman state in exchange for a combination of land, supplies, and cash became the phoideratoi, an elite regular unit in the Roman army. Meanwhile, symmachos came to refer to those who were formerly called phoideratoi. This interpretation is crucial since some modern historiography has considered the phoideratoi of the sixth century as equivalent to the foederati of the fourth.

This dissertation argues that martial virtues and images of the soldier’s life represented an essential aspect of early Byzantine masculine ideology. It contends that in many of the visual and literary sources from the fourth to the seventh centuries CE, conceptualisations of the soldier’s life and the ideal manly life were often the same. By taking this stance, the dissertation challenges the view found in many recent studies on Late Roman masculinity that a Christian ideal of manliness based on extreme ascetic virtues and pacifism had superseded militarism and courage as the dominant component of hegemonic masculine ideology.

This paper seeks to visualise Justinian’s church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Although this church was demolished after the Ottoman conquest, it was described by Byzantine authors including Prokopios (6th century), Constantine of Rhodes (10th century) and Nikolaos Mesarites (12th century). Interpreting these descriptions helps to recapture some aspects of the lost building. Further insights can be drawn from similar monuments, including the churches of St. John at Ephesos and San Marco in Venice. From the late 19th century onwards, several scholars used this evidence to visualise the lost church. In spite of their great value, these reconstructions include ill-defined areas and sometimes contradict the evidence in our disposal. This paper tries to overcome these obstacles through a reexamination of the historical descriptions of the Holy Apostles. These documents are interpreted graphically by reference to the churches of St. John at Ephesos and San Marco in Venice. Our comparisons with St. John at Ephesos benefit from information which was not available to previous scholars. Indeed, our recent work on the Ephesian church has revealed new evidence regarding the form of the church that Prokopios considered as identical to the Holy Apostles. This helps to examine the descriptions of the Holy Apostles in a new light. This new approach also sets the basis for a re-examination of the possible relationship between the church and the first Fatih Mosque, which was probably built on the same site. In spite of our new findings, many aspects of the Holy Apostles remain obscure. Acknowledging the limited evidence in our disposal, the current paper identifies those parts of the reconstruction that remain conjectural and explores alternative visualisation hypotheses. Shedding light on one of the most sophisticated churches of Constantinople, this paper helps to gain a better sense of the development of ecclesiastical architecture in the Early Byzantine period.

This paper is part of my ordination process for the Christian Universalist Association (http://christianuniversalist.org).  It is a lengthy review of Ilaria Ramelli's book entitled A Larger Hope?  Universal Salvation from Christian Beginnings to Julian of Norwich.

Der Text behandelt die erste Welle der Justinianischen Pest im östlichen Mittelmeerraum, von der zeitgenössische Autoren wie Prokop oder Johannes von Ephesos ein fast schon apokalyptisches Bild zeichnen. Ihnen zufolge wirke die Seuche pandemisch, forderte zahllose Opfer und befiel Menschen jeglicher Konstitution und ungeachtet ihres Alters, Wohnsitzes und Standes. +++ Doch handelte es sich bei der Krankheit wirklich um DIE Pest? Wo und wann brach sie zuerst aus und wie schnell konnte sie sich verbreiten? Auf welchem Weg gelangte sie nach Konstantinopel? Wie sind die historischen Berichte über die Opferzahlen zu bewerten? Welche Auswirkungen und Begleiterscheinungen hatte die Pandemie? Und wie gingen die Menschen mit der tödlichen Gefahr um?

Extracto de la Obra del Profesor Tulio Alberto Álvarez-Ramos, Comentarios a las Institutas de Justiniano. Tomo II [Contratos]. Caracas: Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, 2012. Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas Universidad Católica Andrés Bello.

Contribución para los estudiantes de las clases telemáticas en virtud de la Pandemia COVID-19

The Byzantine Empire had a few great emperors, a few poor emperors, and many mediocre emperors during the fourth through the ninth centuries. Three of the emperors who made the most impact on the Empire were Constantine I, Justinian I, and Heraclius. Constantine restructured the government and the economy, shifted power to the East, legalized Christianity, and watched over the beginnings of the solidification of Church doctrine. Justinian reconquered much of the beleaguered West in an attempt to restore the united Roman Empire, he revamped civil law, stopped the Nika riots, beautified Constantinople, and led the Empire through a devastating plague. Heraclius ended a destructive civil war, restructured the Byzantine military and economy, recovered the True Cross from the Persians, and saved Constantinople from Muslim conquest. Each emperor struggled to overcome great challenges during their reigns, each took extraordinary action to confront these challenges, and each changed the Empire in a significant and lasting way. This is not to say, however, that these emperors were perfect or that their legacies were not tinged by mistakes or unintended consequences. Rather, the totality of their contributions to the Empire had great impact that molded the Byzantine Empire into a powerful force that kept the Roman Empire alive for nearly one thousand years after the fall of the West.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
This article examines Agathias of Myrina's presentation of Italy, Italians, and the Gothic War. His presentation of these subjects is framed around the historical methodology outlined in his preface, which is centered on truth and edification. I argue that he presents the civilian population of Italy as a category distinct from both Romans and barbarians. He does so in order to advance an argument about the devastating consequences of warfare throughout the peninsula during the Gothic War. He also provides moral instruction to his readers about the negative effects of unjust wars, and he offers a veiled critique of Justinian's wars of conquest in this context. I position Agathias as a valuable, insightful source for sixth-century Italian history and cultural change at the time.
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RESUMEN ESPAÑOL
El presente artículo analiza la imagen que de Italia y sus habitantes, así como de la Guerra Gótica, ofrece la obra de Agatías de Myrina. Su presentación de estos temas se articula a partir de la metodología histórica delineada en su prefacio, centrada en los temas de la verdad y la edificación. Se argumenta que Agatías presenta a la población civil de Italia como una categoría distinta tanto de los romanos como de los bárbaros, a fin y objeto de construir un discurso sobre las consecuencias devastadoras de la guerra en la península italiana. Agatías también ofrece a sus lectores una enseñanza moral sobre los efectos negativos de los conflictos bélicos injustos, así como una crítica velada a las campañas justinianeas de conquista. El artículo defiende que Agatías es una valiosa y esclarecedora fuente para el conocimiento de la historia de la península italiana durante el siglo VI y del cambio cultural acaecido durante este período.

Μια ηρωϊκή πόλη δραματικών γεγονότων, επιβλητική όσο και μαρτυρική, βρίσκεται στη δεξιά όχθη του ποταμού Άλυος, χτισμένη στην πλαγιά του βουνού Παρυάδρου, σε υψόμετρο 1600. Ανάμεσα στις ωραίες πόλεις της Ανατολής είναι από τις ωραιότερες! Καθώς η τοποθεσία αυτή βρίσκεται σε δρόμο καραβανιών, κατοικήθηκε απ' την πρώτη χιλιετία πτεμ. Όμως αγνοούμε το τότε όνομα και δεν είναι εύκολο να ταυτίσουμε την Σεβαστεία με τη Μεγαλόπολη, τα Κάραυνα ή τα Τάλαυρα.
Αρχικά δημοσιευμένο στο Ανεξήγητο, στη σειρά Το Βυζάντιο στην Ανατολή, Α’ άρθρο, Απρίλιος 1986, σελ. 82-83
Πρόσφατα επαναδημοσιευμένο στο μπλογκ:
http://www.technova.gr/technova/index.php/2012-06-21-03-15-38/istoria/1905-byzantio-stin-anatoli?showall=&start=1

Book chapter. Corona Encinas, Á. “Apuntes sobre la fundamentación política de las reformas justinianeas ante la crisis de las estructuras administrativas protobizantinas”, in Pérez González, J. & Bermúdez Lorenzo, J.M. (eds.). The Romans before adversity. Forms of reaction and strategies to manage change. Rome: Aracne, 2021, pp. 265-278

Die Ergebnisse des fünften Teils der „Forschungen“ verdeutlichen die bis in die Kaiserzeit andauernde personenrechtliche Ordnung der Außenbeziehungen Roms,  womit quasi vom Ende der in den "Forschungen" in den Blick genommenen Zeitraums zugleich auch die (im bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Diskurs grundsätzlich neue) These der personenrechtlichen Systematik der römischen Außenbeziehungen als juristische und historische Konstante argumentativ erhärtet wird.  Das Ius Italicum war eine Schöpfung der Zeit nach den Bürgerkriegen. Es wurde in der Hauptsache an provinziale Gemeinwesen mit römischem Bürgerrecht (vornehmlich an Kolonien) verliehen. Das Ius Italicum konnte aber auch an peregrine Gemeinwesen verliehen werden, da das Privileg der Steuerbefreiung des Grundbesitzes in Italien seit der Zeit des Augustus prinzipiell nicht an eine bestimmte Kategorie des Grundbesitzes gebunden war. Gehörte ein Grundbesitzer in den Provinzen einer mit dem Ius Italicum ausgestatteten Personengruppe an, hatte er das Privileg, dass bei der Besteuerung seines Grundbesitzes eine für Italien entwickelte Regel angewandt wurde. Sie sah für die unterschiedlichen Arten des Grundbesitzes (ager Romanus, ager Gabinus, ager peregrinus und ager hosticus, vgl. Varro l.l. 5,33 ) die Steuerfreiheit vor. Das Ius Italicum wirkte also, entgegen der heute allgemein akzeptierten Deutung Friedrich Carl Savignys,  steuerrechtlich über den personenrechtlichen Status des Grundbesitzers und nicht über die rechtliche Qualität des Grundbesitzes. Eine vom Status der besitzenden Person lösgelöste Grundbesteuerung kannte die römische Steuerpraxis nicht. Im Kontext der im dritten und vierten Teil der „Forschungen“ gewonnenen Ergebnisse über die republikzeitlichen Varianten der personenrechtlichen Inkorporation der fremden Außenwelt in die Rechts- und hierarchisch gestaffelte Sozialordnung Roms ergibt sich mit den Ergebnissen des fünften Teils der „Forschungen“ ein Anhaltspunkt für einen bemerkenswerten historischen Wandel.  Das Ius Italicum war gegenüber der Praxis der Republik eine neue Form der Integration der Außenwelt in das Zentrum des römischen Herrschaftsgebietes. Erstens wurde das „Zentrum“ des Imperium Romanum neu definiert, indem nun nicht mehr die Stadt Rom, sondern ganz Italien zum Bezugspunkt der rechtlichen und sozialen Integration wurde, wobei Italien nun administrativ und fiskalisch eine Einheit bildete und so bei der Grundstücksbesteuerung zum Modell eines Ius Italicum werden konnte. Zweitens wurde im Unterschied zur republikanischen Praxis nun mit dem Vorgang der Integration qua Ius Italicum ein konkretes Privileg definiert, das allen politisch organisierten provinzialen Personengruppen zugeordnet werden konnte und mit einer materiellen Privilegierung bei der Grundstücksbesteuerung verbunden war. Die personenrechtliche Ordnung der Provinzen erfuhr eine neue Definition ihrer hierarchischen Staffelung, indem für die einzelnen Stände (römische Bürger, Latiner und peregrini) jeweils eine neue Spitze definiert wurde, wobei die mit dem Ius Italicum ausgezeichneten Personen innerhalb ihres „Standes“ jeweils eine herausgehobene Position einnahmen.

R. Haensch (ed.), with the collaboration of F. Hurlet et al., Recht haben und Recht bekommen im Imperium Romanum. Das Gerichtswesen der Römischen Kaiserzeit und seine dokumentarische Evidenz. Ausgewählte Beiträge einer Serie von drei Konferenzen an der Villa Vigoni in den Jahren 2010 bis 2012, Taubenschlag Foundation, Warsaw, 2016 (The Journal of Juristic Papyrology. Supplements, XXIV), p. 365-403.

"The broad reception of Vitruvius in architectural history has especially accounted for the fact that fields of knowledge essential for the understanding of ancient processes of design and planning remain hitherto unconsidered. Although Vitruvius discusses various methods for designing ideal type and modularised architecture the question of mathematical and technical basics for creating a real building is still open, i.e. the practical transformation on the actual building site with all its needs such as architectural surveying and logistics. An as yet widely unsolved problem is which knowledge enabled antique and late antique architects and engineers to provide the rationally comprehensive frame needed to make the theoretical constructions calculatable and plannable buildings.The study of the Hagia Sophia (532-537) and its architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus leads us to an important source which can fill this gap of knowledge effectively and which proved to be an indispensable basis for understanding ancient architecture in its whole. Late antique sources and primarily the structure of the building itself document that the exceptional achievements of design and planning must be associated with the writings of Heron of Alexandria. From the 1st century AD to the Byzantine period in his name handbooks for engineers of various disciplines were distributed which provided obligatory instruments of calculation with systematically compiled tasks for all groupsof profession engaged in building. Particularly Heron’s scientific discipline of surveying and his treaty on vaults demonstrated to be revised by Isodore, can be assessed as a basis for planning and building. Only if knowing these sources the processes necessary for transforming an ideal plan into a real still existing construction can be reconstructed. TheHagia Sophia therefore is a unique example in which written sources and architectural remains can be analysed and complement each other in a singular way; at the same time it establishes an entirely new model of interpretation for ancient planning praxis."

In this paper, I am arguing that the theological conflict with Justinian about the aphthartic doctrine was not the main reason for the deposition of patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople. Rather, this affair is connected to the unclear imperial succession at the end of Justinian's life. Eutychius became the victim of a carefully staged plot organised by some high-ranking officials allied with the future emperor Justin II. Their aim was to ensure that a patriarch favourable to Justin would be at the head of the Constantinopolitan church when Justinian died in the foreseeable future. Using the conflict about Aphthartism as a pretext, they managed to influence Justinian to remove Eutychius and replace him with John Scholasticus.

Cet article explore les stratégies déployées par les familles pour favoriser certains de leurs enfants, en consacrant le plus souvent une fille à la vie religieuse menée à la maison à peu de frais. Les cas de consécration d’enfants issues de riches familles de l’aristocratie romaine sont bien connus grâce à Jérôme, mais le phénomène touche aussi des familles de milieu plus modeste comme la famille d’Ausone. Le droit canon et le droit civil cherchent à protéger la liberté des enfants d’embrasser la vie monastique. Basile de Césarée réclame la maturité avant tout engagement dans la vie religieuse et le droit civil interdit aux parents de désheriter les enfants voués à Dieu, mais les voix qui demandent le respect de la liberté de l’enfant à choisir ce chemin ardu vont contre les pratiques sociales et ne seront pas écoutées au Moyen âge.