Videos by Barbara Crostini
As part of a larger project on the Prophet Elijah, I have studied the Elijah scenes at Dura. I ar... more As part of a larger project on the Prophet Elijah, I have studied the Elijah scenes at Dura. I argue that they are related to performance more directly than to written texts. The Elijah sequence can be understood as paradigmatic for the programme of paintings in the Dura synagogue (c. 240 CE) 22 views
Papers by Barbara Crostini
An interpretation of the paintings of the Synagogue at Dura-Europos, esp. the Moses infancy panel... more An interpretation of the paintings of the Synagogue at Dura-Europos, esp. the Moses infancy panel and the panel of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.
Henoch, 2023
in Heretic Jews/Judaizing Heretics. The Construction of Christian Orthodoxy and Anti-Jewish Polem... more in Heretic Jews/Judaizing Heretics. The Construction of Christian Orthodoxy and Anti-Jewish Polemics in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. by Claudio Schiano and Immacolota Auli-sa [= Henoch, Historical and Textual Studies on Ancient and Medieval Judaism/Studi storicofilologici su giudaismo e cristianesimo in età antica e medievale 43.2 (2022 [2023])], 443-466.
Manuscript Studies: A Journal of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, 2018
I argue that the baptistery is not an initiatic but a funerary space, where relics were venerated... more I argue that the baptistery is not an initiatic but a funerary space, where relics were venerated. Its painting cycle makes a lot more sense in this perspective. I also emphasize the common aspects between this building and the synagogue, which also had a bone deposit at its threshold.
IKON, 2021
The eleventh-century psalter Vat. gr. 752 has four images of saints on pillars, of which only two... more The eleventh-century psalter Vat. gr. 752 has four images of saints on pillars, of which only two are of a well-known stylite
saint, St Simeon the Elder, while the other two are attributed to Saint Dositheos and Saint Silvester respectively. By examining the miniatures in the context provided by their captions and references to psalm verses, I argue that the identification of the non-stylite saints is accurate, and that therefore there must be a different reason for their being represented on pillars than that of a mistake by the artist or scribe. Through significant comparanda from the iconography of stylites and the representations of some scenes on the Genoa mandylion, I suggest that these non-stylite stylites, and by extension also the images of Simeon, break the adherence of the figuration of saints according to their Lives, and instead present us with representations of monuments to these saints, specifically, as busts on pillars, whether at shrines within churches or as street shrines. This iconography encapsulates the legitimacy of saints’ cult and intercession, witnessing to what is perhaps the most ancient form of iconography for saints, as reported by Theodoret for Simeon the Elder.
in Proceedings of the 14th International Congress on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts, ed... more in Proceedings of the 14th International Congress on the Care and Conservation of Manuscripts, ed. by Michael Driscoll and Raghneduir Mosesdottir (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2014), pp. 373–382.
Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 69, 2020
Content of JOEB 69 / 2019
Artikel
Fabio Acerbi, Byzantine Rechenbücher: An Overview with an Edit... more Content of JOEB 69 / 2019
Artikel
Fabio Acerbi, Byzantine Rechenbücher: An Overview with an Edition of Anonymi J and L Benedetta Contin, The Problem of Evil and the Theory of Contraries from Alexandria and Athens to Armenia in Late Antiquity
Barbara Crostini, Another True Cross: Psellos, Heraklios, and the Cross of the Archangel Michael at Sykeon
Beatrice Daskas, The Church of All-the-Saints (olim St Theophanô) at the Holy Apostles: a Reappraisal of the Dossier of Sources
Tomasz Derda, Adam Łajtar, Organization of the Church in Medieval Nubia in the Light of a Newly Discovered Wall Inscription in Dongola
Nikolas Hächler, Der Exarchat von Ravenna unter Kaiser Herakleios. Transformation und Kontinuität staatlicher Herrschafts- und Verwaltungsstrukturen in den Peripherien des byzantinischen Reiches in der ersten Hälfte des 7. Jahrhunderts
Constanze Höpken, Sattel und Hufeisen – Pferd, Muli oder Esel im Mar Salomon-Kloster in Doliche
Dirk Krausmüller, Attitudes towards Fasting in Constantinopolitan Monasticism (Fifth to Eleventh Centuries)
Dirk Krausmüller, The Encomium of the Apostle Philip by Michael the Monk (BHG 1530a). Edition and English Translation
Marion Kruse, The Epitomator Ioannes Xiphilinos and the Eleventh-Century Xiphilinoi Paolo Odorico, La sténographie de Michel Psellos
Peter Schreiner, Neues zu Leben und Werk des Isidor von Kiev. Kritische Bemerkungen zu zwei Biographien
Juan Signes Codoñer, A Note on the Dossier of Geographical Glosses Used by the Compilers of the So-called Version B of the Logothete Chronicle under the Macedonian Emperors Staffan Wahlgren, Symeon the Logothete and Theophanes continuatus
Besprechungen
Eustathii Thessalonicensis exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem, recensuerunt indicibusque instruxerunt P. Cesaretti – S. Ronchey (Péter Bara)
Helga Gickler, Kaiser Michael IX. Palaiologos: sein Leben und Wirken (1278 bis 1320). Eine biographische Annäherung (Martin Marko Vučetić)
Mediterranean Holocene Climate, Environment and Human Societies (Quaternary Science Reviews 136, Special Issue), ed. A. Gogou – A. Izdebski – K. Holmgren (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller)
Kostas N. Konstantinides, Ἠπειρωτικὰ Μελετήματα. Ζητήματα ἀπὸ τὴν πνευματικὴ ζωὴ στὴ μεσαιωνικὴ Ἤπειρο / Epirotan Studies. Aspects of Intellectual Life in Medieval Epiros (Andreas Rhoby)
Storytelling in Byzantium. Narratological approaches to Byzantine texts and images, ed. Ch. Messis – M. Mullett – I. Nilsson (Carolina Cupane)
Alexios G. C. Savvides, The Beginnings and Foundation of Byzantine Studies. A Survey with a Bibliographical Appendix (Andreas Rhoby)
Michele Trizio, Il neoplatonismo di Eustrazio di Nicea (George Karamanolis) Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae
https://www.peeters-leuven.be/detail.php?search_key=9789042937857&series_number_str=286
Νέα ̔Ρώμη. Rivista di ricerche bizantinistiche 15 (2018) [2019] [= Κῆπος ἀειθαλής. Studi in rico... more Νέα ̔Ρώμη. Rivista di ricerche bizantinistiche 15 (2018) [2019] [= Κῆπος ἀειθαλής. Studi in ricordo di Augusta Acconcia Longo, III, ed. by Francesco D’Aiuto, Santo Lucà, and Andrea Luzzi], pp. 137-165 and 49 figs.
L’unico manuscritto di contenuto classico della collezione del Trinity College di Dublino, un frammento consistente di Iliade con commenti marginali e interlineari, non era stato finora studiato. Nell’occasione di un nuovo catalogo digitale dei manoscritti greci di questa biblioteca, ho avuto l’opportunità di collegare questo esemplare alla produzione omerica di Terra d’Otranto in base ad uno studio paleografico e sull’ornamentazione delle iniziali del manoscritto. L’articolo presenta in dettaglio i parametri e i risultati di questa nuova attribuzione di Iliade otrantina.
https://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/sjbmgs/index
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Videos by Barbara Crostini
Papers by Barbara Crostini
saint, St Simeon the Elder, while the other two are attributed to Saint Dositheos and Saint Silvester respectively. By examining the miniatures in the context provided by their captions and references to psalm verses, I argue that the identification of the non-stylite saints is accurate, and that therefore there must be a different reason for their being represented on pillars than that of a mistake by the artist or scribe. Through significant comparanda from the iconography of stylites and the representations of some scenes on the Genoa mandylion, I suggest that these non-stylite stylites, and by extension also the images of Simeon, break the adherence of the figuration of saints according to their Lives, and instead present us with representations of monuments to these saints, specifically, as busts on pillars, whether at shrines within churches or as street shrines. This iconography encapsulates the legitimacy of saints’ cult and intercession, witnessing to what is perhaps the most ancient form of iconography for saints, as reported by Theodoret for Simeon the Elder.
Artikel
Fabio Acerbi, Byzantine Rechenbücher: An Overview with an Edition of Anonymi J and L Benedetta Contin, The Problem of Evil and the Theory of Contraries from Alexandria and Athens to Armenia in Late Antiquity
Barbara Crostini, Another True Cross: Psellos, Heraklios, and the Cross of the Archangel Michael at Sykeon
Beatrice Daskas, The Church of All-the-Saints (olim St Theophanô) at the Holy Apostles: a Reappraisal of the Dossier of Sources
Tomasz Derda, Adam Łajtar, Organization of the Church in Medieval Nubia in the Light of a Newly Discovered Wall Inscription in Dongola
Nikolas Hächler, Der Exarchat von Ravenna unter Kaiser Herakleios. Transformation und Kontinuität staatlicher Herrschafts- und Verwaltungsstrukturen in den Peripherien des byzantinischen Reiches in der ersten Hälfte des 7. Jahrhunderts
Constanze Höpken, Sattel und Hufeisen – Pferd, Muli oder Esel im Mar Salomon-Kloster in Doliche
Dirk Krausmüller, Attitudes towards Fasting in Constantinopolitan Monasticism (Fifth to Eleventh Centuries)
Dirk Krausmüller, The Encomium of the Apostle Philip by Michael the Monk (BHG 1530a). Edition and English Translation
Marion Kruse, The Epitomator Ioannes Xiphilinos and the Eleventh-Century Xiphilinoi Paolo Odorico, La sténographie de Michel Psellos
Peter Schreiner, Neues zu Leben und Werk des Isidor von Kiev. Kritische Bemerkungen zu zwei Biographien
Juan Signes Codoñer, A Note on the Dossier of Geographical Glosses Used by the Compilers of the So-called Version B of the Logothete Chronicle under the Macedonian Emperors Staffan Wahlgren, Symeon the Logothete and Theophanes continuatus
Besprechungen
Eustathii Thessalonicensis exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem, recensuerunt indicibusque instruxerunt P. Cesaretti – S. Ronchey (Péter Bara)
Helga Gickler, Kaiser Michael IX. Palaiologos: sein Leben und Wirken (1278 bis 1320). Eine biographische Annäherung (Martin Marko Vučetić)
Mediterranean Holocene Climate, Environment and Human Societies (Quaternary Science Reviews 136, Special Issue), ed. A. Gogou – A. Izdebski – K. Holmgren (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller)
Kostas N. Konstantinides, Ἠπειρωτικὰ Μελετήματα. Ζητήματα ἀπὸ τὴν πνευματικὴ ζωὴ στὴ μεσαιωνικὴ Ἤπειρο / Epirotan Studies. Aspects of Intellectual Life in Medieval Epiros (Andreas Rhoby)
Storytelling in Byzantium. Narratological approaches to Byzantine texts and images, ed. Ch. Messis – M. Mullett – I. Nilsson (Carolina Cupane)
Alexios G. C. Savvides, The Beginnings and Foundation of Byzantine Studies. A Survey with a Bibliographical Appendix (Andreas Rhoby)
Michele Trizio, Il neoplatonismo di Eustrazio di Nicea (George Karamanolis) Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae
L’unico manuscritto di contenuto classico della collezione del Trinity College di Dublino, un frammento consistente di Iliade con commenti marginali e interlineari, non era stato finora studiato. Nell’occasione di un nuovo catalogo digitale dei manoscritti greci di questa biblioteca, ho avuto l’opportunità di collegare questo esemplare alla produzione omerica di Terra d’Otranto in base ad uno studio paleografico e sull’ornamentazione delle iniziali del manoscritto. L’articolo presenta in dettaglio i parametri e i risultati di questa nuova attribuzione di Iliade otrantina.
saint, St Simeon the Elder, while the other two are attributed to Saint Dositheos and Saint Silvester respectively. By examining the miniatures in the context provided by their captions and references to psalm verses, I argue that the identification of the non-stylite saints is accurate, and that therefore there must be a different reason for their being represented on pillars than that of a mistake by the artist or scribe. Through significant comparanda from the iconography of stylites and the representations of some scenes on the Genoa mandylion, I suggest that these non-stylite stylites, and by extension also the images of Simeon, break the adherence of the figuration of saints according to their Lives, and instead present us with representations of monuments to these saints, specifically, as busts on pillars, whether at shrines within churches or as street shrines. This iconography encapsulates the legitimacy of saints’ cult and intercession, witnessing to what is perhaps the most ancient form of iconography for saints, as reported by Theodoret for Simeon the Elder.
Artikel
Fabio Acerbi, Byzantine Rechenbücher: An Overview with an Edition of Anonymi J and L Benedetta Contin, The Problem of Evil and the Theory of Contraries from Alexandria and Athens to Armenia in Late Antiquity
Barbara Crostini, Another True Cross: Psellos, Heraklios, and the Cross of the Archangel Michael at Sykeon
Beatrice Daskas, The Church of All-the-Saints (olim St Theophanô) at the Holy Apostles: a Reappraisal of the Dossier of Sources
Tomasz Derda, Adam Łajtar, Organization of the Church in Medieval Nubia in the Light of a Newly Discovered Wall Inscription in Dongola
Nikolas Hächler, Der Exarchat von Ravenna unter Kaiser Herakleios. Transformation und Kontinuität staatlicher Herrschafts- und Verwaltungsstrukturen in den Peripherien des byzantinischen Reiches in der ersten Hälfte des 7. Jahrhunderts
Constanze Höpken, Sattel und Hufeisen – Pferd, Muli oder Esel im Mar Salomon-Kloster in Doliche
Dirk Krausmüller, Attitudes towards Fasting in Constantinopolitan Monasticism (Fifth to Eleventh Centuries)
Dirk Krausmüller, The Encomium of the Apostle Philip by Michael the Monk (BHG 1530a). Edition and English Translation
Marion Kruse, The Epitomator Ioannes Xiphilinos and the Eleventh-Century Xiphilinoi Paolo Odorico, La sténographie de Michel Psellos
Peter Schreiner, Neues zu Leben und Werk des Isidor von Kiev. Kritische Bemerkungen zu zwei Biographien
Juan Signes Codoñer, A Note on the Dossier of Geographical Glosses Used by the Compilers of the So-called Version B of the Logothete Chronicle under the Macedonian Emperors Staffan Wahlgren, Symeon the Logothete and Theophanes continuatus
Besprechungen
Eustathii Thessalonicensis exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem, recensuerunt indicibusque instruxerunt P. Cesaretti – S. Ronchey (Péter Bara)
Helga Gickler, Kaiser Michael IX. Palaiologos: sein Leben und Wirken (1278 bis 1320). Eine biographische Annäherung (Martin Marko Vučetić)
Mediterranean Holocene Climate, Environment and Human Societies (Quaternary Science Reviews 136, Special Issue), ed. A. Gogou – A. Izdebski – K. Holmgren (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller)
Kostas N. Konstantinides, Ἠπειρωτικὰ Μελετήματα. Ζητήματα ἀπὸ τὴν πνευματικὴ ζωὴ στὴ μεσαιωνικὴ Ἤπειρο / Epirotan Studies. Aspects of Intellectual Life in Medieval Epiros (Andreas Rhoby)
Storytelling in Byzantium. Narratological approaches to Byzantine texts and images, ed. Ch. Messis – M. Mullett – I. Nilsson (Carolina Cupane)
Alexios G. C. Savvides, The Beginnings and Foundation of Byzantine Studies. A Survey with a Bibliographical Appendix (Andreas Rhoby)
Michele Trizio, Il neoplatonismo di Eustrazio di Nicea (George Karamanolis) Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae
L’unico manuscritto di contenuto classico della collezione del Trinity College di Dublino, un frammento consistente di Iliade con commenti marginali e interlineari, non era stato finora studiato. Nell’occasione di un nuovo catalogo digitale dei manoscritti greci di questa biblioteca, ho avuto l’opportunità di collegare questo esemplare alla produzione omerica di Terra d’Otranto in base ad uno studio paleografico e sull’ornamentazione delle iniziali del manoscritto. L’articolo presenta in dettaglio i parametri e i risultati di questa nuova attribuzione di Iliade otrantina.
Western Michigan University, 9–14 May 2022 (online)
From prophet of Israel to miracle-working saint: the transformations of Elijah’s story in Jewish and Christian iconographic traditions
to be presented at the Workshop: Cantieri dell’Agiografia, Rome, 18-19 January 2018, organized by AISSCA (Associazione Italiana per lo Studio della Santità, dei Culti e dell’Agiografia)
http://www.stockholmuniversitypress.se/site/books/10.16993/baj/
Lectures on editing ancient texts
(Sessions at the AAH Annual Conference, online, sponsored by ICMA)
Organiser: Francesca Dell’Acqua, Università degli studi di Salerno, fdellacqua@unisa.it
This session aims at exploring a fundamental issue: female authority through the lens of visual/material culture. It involves prominently the Virgin Mary – as well as figures of female authority in the medieval world – because in the late decades of the 20th century, feminist thinkers pointed at the ‘negative model’ offered by the Virgin Mary since for centuries she had been branded by the Catholic Church as a role model for modesty, submission and virginity. However, between late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Virgin Mary emerged as Queen of Heaven through preaching and liturgical texts, visual arts and public assemblies – that is, the ‘mass media’ of that time. Mary was pictured as a very strong, authoritative figure, rather than weak and compliant.
Already during late Antiquity, Mary was commonly perceived as the mighty protector and spiritual stronghold of capital cities in the Mediterranean. Between the 8th and the 11th centuries, the role of royal women came to the fore, especially in Byzantium and in Ottonian Germany. Very striking is also the case of a number of major Italian city-states between the 12th and the 15th centuries where the Virgin Mary came to be identified with political and economic supremacy. But how did the preaching and missions of mendicant orders affect her image? How has a prominent role for female authorities been transmitted through visual arts and material culture? And what about the roles that women held in Africa and Asia and in other religious traditions?
In sum, this session can help understand what bearing the figure of the humble Virgin Mary eventually had on female leadership, and also how female leadership evolved or not. Topics may include but are not limited to:
• The Virgin Mary as a figure of authority and wisdom in texts and images
• The Virgin Mary in medieval preaching/arts: ‘only’ a model for humility and mercy?
• Female political authority and the Virgin Mary as a role model in texts and images
• Female moral, doctrinal, political and religious authority within and without the Christian
oecumene in texts and images
• Women and power: a difficult relationship.
Line-up
The Virgin as Auctoritas
The Authority of the Virgin Mary and Female Moral–Doctrinal Authority in the Middle Ages
AAH 2021 – ICMA Sponsored Sessions, 15 April 2021
https://eu-admin.eventscloud.com/website/2065/the-virgin-as-auctoritas/
Organiser: Francesca Dell’Acqua, UniSa, fdellacqua@unisa.it
09.30 - 09.45 GMT Welcome
10.00 - 11.15 GMT Introduction and Papers 1 and 2
Chair: Francesca Dell’Acqua
1. Title of Paper: Photios and the Image of the Mother of God in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople; Name of speaker(s): Mary B. Cunningham
2. Title of Paper: The Theotokos and the Widow of Zarepta: women’s authority as widows and prophets; Name of speaker(s): Barbara Crostini
11.45 - 12.50 GMT Papers 3 and 4
3. Title of Paper: Elevation of Mary’s Authority in Late Antiquity: Her Depiction on the Jewelled Throne and the Footstool; Name of speaker(s): Ernesto Mainoldi and Natalia Teteriatnikov
4. Title of Paper: The Coronation of the Virgin as the Queen of City-States; Name of speaker(s): Kayoko Ichikawa
14.30 - 15.35 GMT Papers 5 and 6
Chair: Mary B. Cunningham
5. Title of Paper: Icons of Authority: new light on the competition between images and relics in Trecento Rome; Name of speaker(s): Claudia Bolgia
6. Title of Paper: “All glory is in the King’s Daughter”: depictions of the Virgin as Empress in the late Byzantine world; Name of speaker(s): Andrei Dumitrescu
16.10 - 17.25 GMT Papers 7 and 8 and closing comments
7. Title of Paper: Sainte Foy and the Medieval Imaginary of Female Sacred Power; Name of speaker(s): Bissera V. Pentcheva
8. Title of Paper: Female Authority, Ecclesiology, and Micro-Architecture in Scandinavian Medieval Art; Name of speaker(s): Kristin B. Aavitsland
Sponsored by International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA)
International Congress on Medieval Studies (ICMS), Kalamazoo, MI