Download PDF | Byzantine Papers_ Proceedings of the First Australian Byzantine Studies Conference, Canberra, 17-19 May 1978.
184 Pages
Preface
The First Australian Conference of Byzantine Studies, held at Canberra on May 17-19 1978, was a memorable event on several counts. To begin with the number of those participating was to an outsider truly astonishing. Some eighty Byzantinists and mediaevalists came from all over the Australian continent to listen to fifteen papers delivered for the most part by young scholars. Impressive were the variety of topics covered in the papers - ranging from hagiography and the study of vernacular literature to art history- their high quality, and the use they made of new research techniques. Whether offering a typology in early saints' lives, viewing the Byzantines through the eyes of Arab literary rather than conventional historical texts, or applying computer-generated concordances to an analysis of the style of Byzantine romances in popular language, the speakers were at the forefront of what is- or at least should be- the tasks of our discipline today.
Anyone who came there with the attitude that progress in Byzantine Studies is the province solely of Europe and America was in for a surprise. Such people might for a moment have consoled themselves by noting that a number of those present, both lecturers and listeners, had received their training or inspiration at Oxford, London, Rome, or Dumbarton Oaks, but they soon also became aware that Australia has an advantage unparalleled almost anywhere: the presence in several major Australian cities of alert Greek-speaking communities, in some cases several hundred thousand strong, which supply the Byzantinists there with students and fellow researchers and give them intellectual and moral support. A third memorable feature of the conference was that it led to the formation of the National Committee of Byzantine Studies. Once formed, the Committee applied for membership in the International Association of Byzantine Studies, and by now Byzantinists of Australia have joined that international body.
The fourth, and most important, result of the conference is the publication of the present volume. We owe its appearance both to the energy of Dr Ann Moffatt, Mrs Elizabeth Jeffreys and Dr Michael Jeffreys and to the enlightened attitude of the academic authorities at Canberra who provided the venture with financial backing. Ten of the fifteen papers delivered at the conference appear here. ·In a comparative study, Dr John Moorhead investigates the involvement of:Eastern and Western saints of the early period with their respective communities.He also shows that the business of expelling demons preoccupied Eastern saints more than it did their Western counterparts. Mr Roger Scott looks into the sources of Malalas' notices on Justinian's legislation, and addresses the question as to the kinds of sources a chronicler used to compile his chronicle. Miss Jenny Ferber, pursuing a similar line of thought and using Theophanes as an example, elicits the principles of how the narrative is organized in Byzantine chronography and shows how Theophanes blamed Heraclius' defeats on his abandonment of orthodoxy.
Dr Ahmad Shboul uses literature as a source for intellectual history and holds up the Arab mirror to the Byzantines. In that mirror the Byzantines occasionally appear as barbarians and their ruler as a tyrant. Mrs Margaret Riddle draws upon pictorial evidence and non-canonical and poetical writings to explain the appearance of a concept absent from the Bible- the representation of Joseph as emperor of Egypt. Professor Leslie Rogers discusses the passages of the saga of Edward the Confessor that report the Anglo-Saxon migration to Byzantium after 1066 in the light of new chronicle evidence that was brought into the debate in the last few years. Mr Sasha Grishin establishes the chronology of the frescoes in the ossuary of Backovo in Bulgaria. Dr Michael Jeffreys reinterprets the poem celebrating the arrival of a Western imperial bride to Constantinople, sides with those who date the work to 1179, and offers challenging views on possible Western influences on the emergence of vernacular poetry in the Comnenian period. In her lucid survey, Mrs Elizabeth Jeffreys argues for the existence of a traditional oral style of which we possess written reflections in the late Greek verse romances.
Finally, Father Ted Stormon analyzes the twenty-six works written by Bessarion before 1473 and collected in an autograph manuscript. In so doing, he sketches a portrait of the young Christian humanist not favorable to mysticism, not yet familiar with the literary and theological culture of the West, but already aware of the flourishing state of that culture. In sum, Australian Byzantinists may justly be proud of their achievements. Byzantinists worldwide have good reason to hope this first collective publication of the young Australian school will be followed by others of equal excellence. To have witnessed the beginnings of this volume at the conference in Canberra was a remarkable experience. I shall cherish the memories of the deliberations themselves, of the landscape, and of old friendships renewed and new friendships made during travels in the vast continent. I wish to express my thanks to my many hosts, foremost among them Dr Ann Moffatt, the Jeffreys, and Professor Ralph Elliott, Acting Director of the Humanities Research Centre in Canberra. Ihor Seveenko Harvard University
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