Taft R. F. The Great Entrance. A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Preanaphoral Rites of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. [A History of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, vol. II]. Roma, 1975. (Orientalia Christiana Analecta; 200).

This article examines the merchant and commodity networks of Trebizond as well as routes at the regional, interregional, and international levels that connected the city to Constantinople, the rest the Black Sea, Armenia, the Near East and the Caucuses in the early Middle Ages. After a brief survey of the commercial history of Trebizond from the late antique period to the eleventh century, the economy of the Pontic region and its commercial exchanges with various regions are investigated in detail. The available evidence shows that the list of commodities exchanged between Pontos and its neighbours were longer, and the networks of merchants and routes were more complex than assumed thus far. Trebizond's advantage as a port town for landlocked territories to its south and east (especially the large Iranian and Iraqi markets at the end of the Silk/Spice Route), as well as its close ties with Constantinople and the rest of the Black Sea, established the Pontic capital as a vital emporium. Benefiting from the increasing economic development in Byzantium and its neighbours, the prosperity of the Pontic region and is main city Trebizond is most visible in the period from the mid-ninth to the mid-eleventh centuries.

This paper examines annotations inscribed in three manuscripts by Demetrios Laskaris Leontares (1418 – post-1475), an aristocrat whose possession or use of a dozen codices is documented. Palaeographic and historical criteria place all three texts in his adolescence around the 1430s. The primary focus is tenth-century Laur. gr. 55.4, a well-known collection of military treatises, in which successive generations of the Laskaris Leontares family inserted notices on personal and imperial events (1408-50). Overlooked by previous scholarship, on blank folio 197v Demetrios Leontares penned and signed a short letter addressed to an emperor, which constitutes a rare autograph specimen of Byzantine epistolography. This item was previously transcribed by Bandini (1768), who declined to edit and interpret its ‘barbaric and utterly illiterate’ script. Providing a new edition and first translation, this study situates the text within the evolution of epistolographic conventions in the early fifteenth century, as evidenced in contemporary letters and/or prescribed in letter-writing manuals. Whether interpreted as a draft or copy of an actual letter or a classroom exercise, this short private text adds uncommon ‘domestic’ and documentary dimensions to the study of Late Byzantine rhetoric, ideology and epistolary culture. The investigation widens to include two other undated annotations that can likewise be assigned to Demetrios Leontares’ youth: a co-ownership notice in recently commissioned Marc. gr. Z. 399 (5r) and a previously unpublished missive to an unnamed relative in twelfth-century Vat. gr. 586 (429v). Collective consideration of these three modest informal texts assists in clarifying their contexts and chronology, while elucidating broader themes of children, education, language and books in an aristocratic household.

This paper examines how John Kantakouzenos' leading political opponents were later presented in his memoirs, and how he assigned blame for the ruinous civil war of 1341-47. The ideas first presented here were later developed in a considerably more nuanced and systematic manner in my Ph.D. thesis.

Abstract
This article examines the longstanding rivalry of Rome and Parthia, which began as an unintended consequence of Crassus’ decisive defeat at Carrhae in 53 BCE. It synthesizes the accounts and opinions of numerous Graeco-Roman writers from the Augustan Age to late antiquity in order to help illustrate the new and interconnected post-Carrhae world and its legacy. The rivalry of the Romans and Parthians became a primary focus of their foreign policies and drastically expanded their perceptions of the world in which they interacted. Even after the fall of the Parthians to the rebellious Sassanid Persians in the 220s CE, the Romans continued to find their three-century-long rivalry with the Parthians of interest and relevant to the changing world of late antiquity.

The defensive policy of the Byzantine state, a result of international relations, political ideology and significant circumstances, is closely connected both with its financial policy and the overall state of the economy. The interaction between them is conspicuous in army recruitment and formation, as well as in its superiority in terms of numbers at times and the quality of the military forces.
Moreover, the rather common and ongoing practice of granting the army certain financial privileges is in force in Byzantine times. The way is which this privileged treatment is applied is particular and evolves throughout the three –as are conventionally defined – major periods of Byzantine history. In Late Byzantium, in particular, the kind of military privileges that are defined and conferred upon soldiers is considered to be indicative of the recruitment procedure and the direct or indirect connection of military men with public land and privileged land-ownership.
This paper, by pointing out indicative state decisions and fiscal regulations during the evolution of military recruitment and privileges from Middle to Late Byzantium, aims at providing an answer to the dual question of the title, which is not a figure of speech but rather a crucial concern during the final centuries of the Byzantine Empire.

В истории «даров волхвов» из монастыря святого Павла на Афоне можно проследить по историческим источникам следующие периоды: 1) «дароносивые златые сосуды, иже принесоша Христу с дары волсви» в XI-XII вв. хранились в ризнице св. Софии; 2) в 1470 г. Мара Бранкович, дочь сербского деспота Георгия Бранковича и Ирины Кантакузины, жена османского султана Мурата II, принесла «дароносивые златые сосуды, иже принесоша Христу с дары волсви» в дар сербскому монастырю св. Павла на Афоне, о чем гласил турецкий фирман, утраченный во время пожара 1902 г.; 3) в XVI-XVII вв. «дароносивые златые сосуды, иже принесоша Христу с дары волсви» были переделаны в золотой пояс, насчитывающий 9 золотых пластин и 69 бусин из смеси ладана и смирны; 4) после 1744 г., когда монастырь св. Павла вновь заселили греки, число пластин увеличилось до 28, а бусин убавилось на 7.

A biography of this eminent female scholar emphasizing her scholarship. Her life, after her early years on Constantinople, was spent between Paris and the United States.  A pioneer in Armenian studies especially Armenian art, she was author of a dozen books and hundreds of notes and monographs.

Доклад «’’Звенигородский чин” прп. Андрея Рублева: современные проблемы изучения» на III Чтениях памяти В.А. Плугина на историческом факультете МГУ 14 ноября 2017 г.  В докладе полностью доказана по данным всего комплекса источников неоспоримая принадлежность знаменитого «Звенигородского чина» кисти великого иконописца прп. Андрея Рублева († 17.10.1428). Тем самым начисто развенчаны легковесные мнения молодых сотрудников ГТГ Л.В. Нерсесяна и С.В. Свердловой (поддержанных только А.М. Лидовым), прозвучавшие на круглом столе в Третьяковской галерее 21 июня 2017 г., что «Звенигородский чин» 1396 г. якобы не был написан прп. Андреем Рублевым и отличается от его общепризнанных икон, таких, как чудотворная икона «Живоначальная Троица». Такие незрелые суждения не соответствуют уровню современного научного знания об этих шедеврах и обусловлены недостаточной осведомленностью авторов «сенсации» о творческой биографии всемирно известного иконописца Древней Руси, которая взята ими для корреляции: «получается, что Рублев, будучи еще совсем молодым мастером, создал одно из самых совершенных и сложных по технике произведений древнерусской живописи, но через четверть века по какой-то неизвестной причине радикальным образом изменил свою манеру» (Софья Свердлова).
Доклад проф. О.Г. Ульянова, заведующего Сектором церковной археологии ФГБУК «Центральный музей древнерусской культуры и искусства имени прп. Андрея Рублева», подготовлен на базе научно-исследовательского проекта «Преподобный Андрей Рублев в Спасо-Андрониковом монастыре».

"I versi funebri di Bessarione dedicati a Cleopa Malatesta, consorte di Teodoro II Paleologo, prematuramente deceduta per cause misteriose e sepolta a Mistrà, costituiscono lo spunto per l’analisi di un mistero archeologico solo parzialmente svelato. Dopo la prima casuale ispezione del sito da parte di Maurice Barrès nel 1900, la campagna di scavi condotta negli anni Cinquanta da Nikolaos Drandakis ha portato alla luce i resti semi-mummificati di un cadavere femminile elegantemente abbigliato. Le analisi paleoantropologiche ma soprattutto quelle dei frammenti dell’insieme vestimentario e in particolare quelle sui tessuti (compiute a Ginevra nel 1999/2000 dall’équipe multidisciplinare diretta da Marielle Martiniani-Reber) hanno permesso di comprendere composizione, provenienza e datazione dell’abito indossato al momento della sepoltura, e hanno confermato la possibilità — già avanzata dall’autrice e comunque non priva di interrogativi –  di un’identificazione della cosiddetta “mummia di Mistrà” con Cleopa stessa o con una delle damigelle del suo seguito. La foggia occidentale dell’abito testimonia in ogni caso l’innesto genealogico dell’aristocrazia italiana nell’ultima corte bizantina.

Bessarion’s funeral verses, dedicated to Cleopa Malatesta, Theodore II Palaeologus’ wife, who died prematurely of mysterious causes and was buried at Mystras, are the starting point for the analysis of an archaeological mystery which has been solved only in part.  After Maurice Barrès’ haphazard inspection of the site in 1900, the excavations carried out in the 1950s by Nikolaos Drandakis brought to light the half-mummified remains of an elegantly dressed, female cadaver. Paleo-anthropological analyses and, more importantly, analysis of the fragments of clothing and their fabric  (conducted in Geneva in 1999/2000 by an interdisciplinary team under the direction of Marielle Martiniani-Reber) established the composition, provenance, and date of the garment worn at the time of burial and confirmed the possibility — already tentatively posited by the author – of an identification of the so-called “Mystras mummy” with Cleopa or one of her ladies-in-waiting. In any case, the Western style of dress is evidence of the genealogical graft of the Italian aristocracy on the last Byzantine court.
"

"I versi funebri di Bessarione dedicati a Cleopa Malatesta, consorte di Teodoro II Paleologo, prematuramente deceduta per cause misteriose e sepolta a Mistrà, costituiscono lo spunto per l’analisi di un mistero archeologico solo parzialmente svelato. Dopo la prima casuale ispezione del sito da parte di Maurice Barrès nel 1900, la campagna di scavi condotta negli anni Cinquanta da Nikolaos Drandakis ha portato alla luce i resti semi-mummificati di un cadavere femminile elegantemente abbigliato. Le analisi paleoantropologiche ma soprattutto quelle dei frammenti dell’insieme vestimentario e in particolare quelle sui tessuti (compiute a Ginevra nel 1999/2000 dall’équipe multidisciplinare diretta da Marielle Martiniani-Reber) hanno permesso di comprendere composizione, provenienza e datazione dell’abito indossato al momento della sepoltura, e hanno confermato la possibilità — già avanzata dall’autrice e comunque non priva di interrogativi –  di un’identificazione della cosiddetta “mummia di Mistrà” con Cleopa stessa o con una delle damigelle del suo seguito. La foggia occidentale dell’abito testimonia in ogni caso l’innesto genealogico dell’aristocrazia italiana nell’ultima corte bizantina.

Bessarion’s funeral verses, dedicated to Cleopa Malatesta, Theodore II Palaeologus’ wife, who died prematurely of mysterious causes and was buried at Mystras, are the starting point for the analysis of an archaeological mystery which has been solved only in part.  After Maurice Barrès’ haphazard inspection of the site in 1900, the excavations carried out in the 1950s by Nikolaos Drandakis brought to light the half-mummified remains of an elegantly dressed, female cadaver. Paleo-anthropological analyses and, more importantly, analysis of the fragments of clothing and their fabric  (conducted in Geneva in 1999/2000 by an interdisciplinary team under the direction of Marielle Martiniani-Reber) established the composition, provenance, and date of the garment worn at the time of burial and confirmed the possibility — already tentatively posited by the author – of an identification of the so-called “Mystras mummy” with Cleopa or one of her ladies-in-waiting. In any case, the Western style of dress is evidence of the genealogical graft of the Italian aristocracy on the last Byzantine court.
"

Στον βυζαντινό και λατινοκρατούμενο ελληνικό χώρο, μετά την Άλωση του 1204, ο συγχρωτισμός με τους επήλυδες ‘επιχειρηματίες’ της Ευρώπης, καθώς και οι τεράστιες απώλειες εδαφών που υφίστανται οι ανώτερες τάξεις, οδηγεί στην ανεύρεση νέων πηγών πλουτισμού, και την ανάδειξη οικογενειών όπως οι Zaccaria, οι Gattilusi, οι Acciaiuoli κ.ά.
Η οικογένεια Zaccaria ήταν ακόμη μια οικογένεια προερχόμενη από την οικονομική άρχουσα τάξη της Γένουας, η οποία προσπαθεί, χωρίς ιδιαίτερη επιτυχία, να ανταγωνιστεί την μεγάλη αντίπαλό της, Βενετία, για την κυριαρχία στο εμπόριο της ανατολικής Μεσογείου.
Η σύνδεση της οικογένειας με το Βυζάντιο ξεκινά λίγο μετά τα μέσα του 13ου αιώνα, κατά την υπογραφή της συνθήκης του Νυμφαίου (1261), ενώ το 1275, ο Μιχαήλ Η΄ παραχώρησε στον Manuele Zaccaria την άδεια για εκμετάλλευση των ορυχείων στυπτηρίας στην περιοχή της Φώκαιας. Από το 1304 εως το 1329, η κυριαρχία της οικογένειας επεκτείνεται στη Χίο και τη Λέσβο, εντάσσοντας το εμπόριο της μαστίχας στην οικονομική αυτοκρατορίας τους.
Ταυτόχρονα, οι Zaccaria αναπτύσσουν στενότατους δεσμούς με την παποσύνη, εξασφαλίζοντας πολλαπλά οικονομικά προνόμια, ενώ αναλαμβάνουν στρατιωτική δράση εναντίον των Οθωμανών, εμφανιζόμενοι ως υπέρμαχοι της Χριστιανοσύνης. Στο απόγειο της, η εμπορική αυτοκρατορία των Zaccaria, έχει να επιδείξει μεγάλα οχυρωματικά έργα, πολλαπλές νομισματικές κοπές, σύνδεση με άλλες λατινικές οικογένειες του ελλαδικού χώρου και έντονη διπλωματική δραστηριότητα.
Η ιστορία της οικογένειας Zaccaria και η δράση της στον βυζαντινό χώρο είναι ενδεικτική μιας ολόκληρης ομάδας ανθρώπων που έδρασαν στην ανατολική Μεσόγειο κατά τον Ύστερο Μεσαίωνα, και παρουσιάζουν ένα καινούριο και πολύπλευρο κοινωνικό προφίλ.


The Crusaders coming to the East, led to significant changes, not only to the political status quo, but throughout public and private life. The economy, in particular, is transformed, since, besides traditional economic activities, new concepts were introduced in the Byzantine Empire, like credit. Branches of the commercial and banking families are settled in the East, where they can easily spread their influence and eliminate their competition.
In the Byzantine and Latin occupied Greece, after 1204, mingling with the newcomer ‘entrepreneurs’ from the West, as well as huge territorial losses that the local upper classes suffered, led to the adoption of new money-making endeavors and the rise of families like the Zaccaria, the Gattilusi, the Acciaiuoli etc.
The Zaccaria family came from the financial upper class of Genoa, a city trying to compete with Venice, for the eastern Mediterranean commerce. The family’s ties with Byzantium began shortly after the mid-13th century, during negotiations for the signing of the treaty of Nymphaion (1261). In 1275, the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus (1259-1282) granted Manuele Zaccaria the right to exploit the alum mines in Phocaea. From 1304 to 1329, the family’s dominion was extended to the islands of Chios and Lesbos, adding the invaluable mastiha trade to their economic empire.
At the same time, the Zaccaria formed strong ties with the Papacy, securing multiple financial benefits, and undertook military action against the Ottomans, appearing as the defenders of Christianity in the region. To its apogee, the Zaccaria rule established great fortifications, issued currency, was connected with prominent families of the Latin Greece, and excelled as diplomats.
The history of the Zaccaria family and their activity is indicative of a larger group of people residing in the eastern Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages, presenting a new and complex social profile.

The second civil war, fought between the regency for the minor Ioannes V and Ioannes Kantakouzenos, has given birth to many discussions about its nature. It has been said that the middle and lower classes supported the regency and attacked, in an act of social reaction, the followers of Kantakouzenos who represented the landed aristocracy. The regency is supposed to have initiated measures in favour of the middle and lower classes. This policy is believed to have culminated in the regime of the Zealots in Thessalonike.
However, a closer examination of the sources reveals that this picture is misleading. The regency, apart from the confiscations against the supporters of Kantakouzenos and which are supposed to have strengthened the state treasury, did not initiate any other measure against aristocracy.
The main supporters of Kantakouzenos named in our sources were none other than his relatives, friends and oikeioi. Many aristocrats adopted a rather ambiguous attitude and shifted their allegiance according to their needs and the balance of power.On the other side, it seems certain that the people in most cities of the empire retained their loyalty to the regency. Their shift of allegiance had only to do with the growing power of Kantakouzenos in the area. Nevertheless, we should not assume that the uprisings were something spontaneous or necessarily had social roots. We have definite evidence that in many cases these uprisings were stirred up by the authorities.

A. CAMERON, Bizanslılar. İstanbul 2015. Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 323 sayfa (24 resim, 10 harita ile birlikte). Çev. Ö. Akpınar. ISBN: 9786053326571 Mehmetcan ŞAHİN Libri: Kitap Tanıtımı, Eleştiri ve Çeviri Dergisi'nde bulunan içeriklerin tümü kullanıcılara açık, serbestçe/ücretsiz 'açık erişimli' bir dergidir. Kullanıcılar, yayıncıdan ve yazar(lar)dan izin almaksızın, dergideki kitap tanıtımı, eleştiri ve çevirileri tam metin olarak okuyabilir, indirebilir, dağıtabilir, çıktısını alabilir ve kaynak göstererek bağlantı verebilir. Libri, uluslararası hakemli elektronik (online) bir dergi olup değerlendirme süreci biten kitap tanıtımı, eleştiri ve çeviriler derginin web sitesinde (www.libridergi.org) yıl boyunca ilgili sayının içinde (Volume II: Ocak-Aralık 2016) yayımlanır. Aralık ayı sonunda ilgili yıla ait sayı tamamlanır. Dergide yayımlanan eserlerin sorumluluğu yazarlarına aittir. Atıf Düzeni M. Şahin, Bizanslılar. Yazar: A. Cameron. Libri II (2016) 381-383.

This essay outlines and classifies the earliest occurrences of the Trinitarian Synthronoi iconography in the Byzantine cultural sphere: the image of the human figures of the Father and the Son, seated on a shared throne and accompanied by the dove of the Holy Spirit. The Synthronoi became a popular image in Western art after the twelfth century to vividly convey the Latin teaching about the procession of the Holy Spirit from both the Father and the Son, the so-called filioque. However, the Eastern appearance of this iconography in the fourteenth century is much less self-evident, given that the Orthodox questioned the filioque formula in the Western Creed, since according to their position, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only. By exploring the underlying motives of appropriating a Western Trinitarian iconography in Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, this study reconsiders the question of the transmission of Trinitarian iconography between the Christian West and the East in light of their disagreement about the Holy Trinity.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110695618-008/html

In order to understand the introduction of Thomism into Byzantium, one should start with the Dominican professor who introduced Demetrius Cydones to Thomism. This article fills the void  by connecting East and West prior to Plested´s discussion of the reception of St. Thomas in Byzantium in his recently published "Orthodox Reading of Aquinas."
The present article serves to connect Demetrius Cydones to the Dominicans he knew and admired, as well as their educational system in Pera. This project was started in 2009 per the invitation of Walter Senner, OP, to whom I'm eternally grateful for his encouragement and request for the following study.

ÖZET: İmrozlu Mihail Kritovulos, Bizans tarih yazıcılığının son temsilcilerinden biri olup, 1451-1467 yılları arasındaki dönemi konu alan "Istoria" adlı eseriyle bilinir. Bu eser, Osmanlılar tarafından Konstantinopolis'in fethi, Mora'nın fethi, Trabzon ve Midilli'nin alınması, Venediklilerle yapılan savaş ve Bosna ile Arnavutluk'a düzenlenen seferleri ele almakla birlikte, özellikle Konstantinopolis'in Osmanlılar tarafından fethedilmesine odaklanmıştır. Topkapı Müzesi arşivinde bulunan eserin özgün ve tek kopyası, Carl Müller tarafından ilk defa Paris'te "Fragmentum Historicorum Graecorum" serisi içinde yayımlanmıştır. Pavlos Karolidis Efendi tarafından Osmanlı Türkçesine çevrilen eser, 1908 Meclisi'nde İzmir mebusu olan bir hukukçu tarafından çevrildi. Muzaffer Gökman tarafından 1967'de sadeleştirilen çevirisi günümüz Türkçesi için temel alınmıştır. İmrozlu Mihail Kritovulos, diğer Bizans tarihçilerine kıyasla daha az çalışılmış bir figürdür. Türkiye literatüründe yapılan çalışmalar sınırlıdır ve genellikle Semavi Eyice tarafından yazılan bir makale haricinde dikkate değer bir ilgi görmemiştir. Gökman'ın adaptasyonu, tarihçiler tarafından referans alınan bir edisyon olmuştur, ancak dil bakımından esasen bir Osmanlı vekayinamesi gibi görünmesi incelikli detayların fark edilmesini zorlaştırmıştır. Ari Çokona tarafından çevrilen ve notlandırılarak yayına hazırlanan Kritovulos Tarihi, Topkapı Sarayı Yazmalar Kütüphanesi'ndeki mevcut yazmanın yüksek çözünürlüklü kopyalarının basımını içerir. İlber Ortaylı'nın önsözünde belirttiği gibi, Kritovulos'un sadece basit bir vakanüvis olmadığını, olayları geriye gidişlerle ortaya koyduğunu ve çevirisinin önemini vurgular. Metnin çevirisi sırasında özgün metne sadık kalınmıştır. Kritovulos, Osmanlılarla barışık bir tarihçi olarak nitelendirilir ve eserinde Türklere yönelik ötekileştirme bulunmaz. Ancak, Fâtih Sultan Mehmet'e sunulan eserde Osmanlılar'a yönelik eleştirilere yer verilmiştir. Kritovulos'un, Konstantinopolis'in Türkler tarafından fethedilmesini bir "Tanrısal kaçınılmazlık" olarak gördüğü belirtilir, bu da Ortaçağ tarihçiliğindeki kökleşmiş bir anlayışı yansıtır. Kritovulos'un, Fâtih Sultan Mehmet'i antik fâtihlerle kıyaslayan bir portre çizdiği belirtilir. Ona göre, Fâtih Sultan Mehmet, antik dünya liderleriyle benzer bir hükümdardır ve bu portre, antik dünya ile ilişkisi bağlamında önemlidir. Metnin dil ve üslubu konusunda çeşitli yaklaşımlar bulunmakla birlikte, çeviri sırasında özgün metne sadık kalındığı, Yunanca yazılmış bir eserin Batı'da da önemli olacağına inanılarak çevrildiği vurgulanır. Sonuç olarak, Ari Çokona'nın çevirisi, literatüre önemli bir katkı sağlamış olup, özgün metni yüksek çözünürlüklü kopyalarla birleştirerek araştırmacıların ve yabancı okuyucuların da yararlanacağı bir edisyon niteliğini haizdir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Kritovulos, Geç Bizans Tarihyazımı, Bizans Tarihi, Osmanlı Tarihi, Fâtih Sultan Mehmet.

ABSTRACT: Mihail Kritovulos of Imbros, one of the last representatives of Byzantine historiography, is known for his work "Istoria", which covers the period between 1451-1467. This work deals with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans, the conquest of the Peloponnese, the capture of Trabzon and Lesbos, the war with the Venetians and the expeditions to Bosnia and Albania, with a particular focus on the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans. The original and only copy of the work in the archive of the Topkapi Museum was first published in Paris by Carl Müller in the "Fragmentum Historicorum Graecorum" series. Translated into Ottoman Turkish by Pavlos Karolidis Efendi, the work was translated by a jurist who was a member of the Izmir Parliament in 1908. The translation simplified by Muzaffer Gökman in 1967 is the basis for today's Turkish. Mihail Kritovulos of Imbros is a less studied figure compared to other Byzantine historians. His work in the Turkish literature is limited and has generally received little attention, except for an article by Semavi Eyice. Gökman's adaptation has been the edition most often cited by historians, but its linguistic appearance as essentially an Ottoman vekayinam, makes it difficult to recognise subtle details. The History of Kritovulos, translated and annotated by Ari Çokona, includes a high-resolution reprint of the existing manuscript in the Topkapı Palace Manuscripts Library. As İlber Ortaylı states in his preface, he emphasises that Kritovulos was not just a simple chronicler, that he presented events in retrospect and emphasises the importance of his translation. The translation is faithful to the original text. Kritovulos is described as a historian at peace with the Ottomans and his work does not marginalise the Turks. However, in the work presented to Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, there are criticisms against the Ottomans. It is stated that Kritovulos sees the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks as a "divine inevitability", which reflects an ingrained understanding in medieval historiography. It is stated that Kritovulos draws a portrait comparing Fâtih Sultan Mehmet with the ancient conquerors. According to him, Fâtih Sultan Mehmet is a ruler similar to the leaders of the ancient world and this portrait is important in the context of his relationship with the ancient world. Although there are various approaches to the language and style of the text, it is emphasised that the translation was faithful to the original text and that it was translated believing that a work written in Greek would also be important in the West. In conclusion, Ari Çokona's translation has made an important contribution to the literature and is an edition that will benefit researchers and foreign readers by combining the original text with high-resolution copies.

Keywords: Kritovulos, Late Byzantine Historiography, Byzantine History, Ottoman History, Sultan Mehmet II. 

ABSZTRAKT: Mihail Kritovulos Imbros, bizánci történész írta az "Istoria" című művét, amely az 1451-1467 közötti eseményekre, nevezetesen az oszmán hódításokra és konfliktusokra összpontosít. A Topkapi Múzeumban őrzött művet először Carl Müller adta ki Párizsban. Oszmán török nyelvre lefordítva Muzaffer Gökman 1967-es adaptációját széles körben idézik. Annak ellenére, hogy a török irodalomban kevés figyelmet kapott, Ari Çokona nemrégiben megjelent, nagyfelbontású újranyomást tartalmazó fordítása fényt derít a Kritovulosra. A történész, bár általában véve kedvezően viszonyul az oszmánokhoz, a Hódító Mehmet szultánnak ajándékozott példányban finoman kritizálja őket. Kritovulosz Konstantinápoly elestét "isteni elkerülhetetlenségnek" tekinti, és Mehmetet az ókori hódítókhoz hasonlítja. Çokona hű fordítása, amely hangsúlyozza a mű nyugati aktualitását, értékes hozzájárulás a kutatók és a külföldi olvasók számára.

Kulcsszavak: Kritovulosz, Késő Bizánci Történetírás, Bizánci Történelem, Oszmán Történelem, Szultán Mehmet II. 

АБСТРАКТ: Михаил Критовулос из Имброса, византийский историк, написал книгу "Истории", посвященную событиям 1451-1467 годов, в частности османским завоеваниям и конфликтам. Эта работа, хранящаяся в Музее Топкапы, была впервые опубликована в Париже Карлом Мюллером. Перевод на османский турецкий язык, адаптация Музаффера Гёкмана 1967 года, широко цитируется. Несмотря на ограниченное внимание к турецкой литературе, недавний перевод Ари Чокона, представленный в виде репринта с высоким разрешением, проливает свет на Критовулоса. Историк, в целом благосклонно относящийся к османам, тонко критикует их в копии, подаренной султану Мехмету Завоевателю. Критовулос рассматривает падение Константинополя как "божественную неизбежность" и сравнивает Мехмета с древними завоевателями. Добросовестный перевод Чоконы, подчеркивающий актуальность произведения на Западе, является ценным вкладом для исследователей и иностранных читателей.

Ключевые слова: Критовулос, поздневизантийская историография, византийская история, османская история, султан Мехмет II.

Painted in 1295 by the Greek painters Michael Astrapas and Eutychios, the fresco of the Virgin's Death (Koimesis) in the church of Panagia Peribleptos in Ohrid, Macedonia, highlights the main events described by the apocryphal stories on the death, the burial, the resurrection and the assumption of Mary, reinterpreted by the theologians and the hymns' writers. This mural painting integrates in a diachronic development the scenes of the Virgin's farewell to her friends, the coming of the apostles on clouds, the death, the funeral and the burial of Mary, including the episode on the attempt of desecration, the punishment and the conversion of a Jew named Jephonias, as well as the Virgin's assumption, a subject performed for the first time in art. This article tries to explain and to illustrate the iconographic elements contained in this mural painting, analyzing them from the perspective of three apocryphal texts on the Mary's death and assumption. Through such analysis we would highlight the direct and essential influence of certain Literature (apocryphal) in the creation of certain History, understood at the same time as History of Art (iconography) and History of Religions (dogmatic).

Dialogues and Debates from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium offers the fi rst overall discussion of the literary and philosophical dialogue tradition in Greek from imperial Rome to the end of the Byzantine empire and beyond. Sixteen case studies combine theoretical approaches with in-depth analysis and include comparisons with the neighbouring Syriac, Georgian, Armenian and Latin traditions. Following an introduction and a discussion of Plutarch as a writer of dialogues, other chapters consider the Erostrophus , a philosophical dialogue in Syriac, John Chrysostom's On Priesthood , issues of literariness and complexity in the Greek Adversus Iudaeos dialogues, the Trophies of Damascus , Maximus Confessor's Liber Asceticus and the middle Byzantine apocryphal revelation dialogues. The volume demonstrates a new frequency in middle and late Byzantium of rhetorical, theological and literary dialogues, concomitant with the increasing rhetoricisation of Byzantine literature, and argues for a move towards new and exciting experiments. Individual chapters examine the Platonising and anti-Latin dialogues written in the context of Anselm of Havelberg's visits to Constantinople, the theological dialogue by Soterichos Panteugenos, the dialogues of Niketas 'of Maroneia' and the literary dialogues by Theodore Prodromos, all from the twelfth century. The fi nal chapters explore dialogues from the empire's Georgian periphery and discuss late Byzantine philosophical, satirical and verse dialogues by Nikephoros Gregoras, Manuel II Palaiologos and George Scholarios, with special attention to issues of form, dramatisation and performance.

Une idée-désire hante la Russie et les Balkans à travers leurs Églises et monarchies nationales, que Byzance ne mourût pas le 29 mai 1453, mais survécût en tant que Troisième Rome ou héritage byzantin. Ce livre confirme que Byzance en tant qu’idée ne meurt pas, mais ses représentations du pouvoir changent à tel point au long des deux derniers siècles avant la date fatidique, qu’il n’y a plus d’héritage politique à léguer. De cette transformation naquirent une autre institution universelle, l’Église orthodoxe, centrée sur son patriarche oecuménique, et un espace culturel et géopolitique, l’Orthodoxie. Parmi les innovations iconographiques du XIVe s. une place spéciale reçoit l’icône du Christ empereur et prêtre, vêtu des pièces d’apparat de l’empereur byzantin et du patriarche oecuménique. Cette image éclatante de la fusion des deux fonctions, impériale et sacerdotale, exprime par antithèse la mise en cause de l’idée impériale byzantine, selon laquelle l’empereur vivant était une image du Christ et relance le débat sur la nature des deux pouvoirs à la lumière de la théologie palamite. De la sorte, la monarchie se trouva désacralisée et dépourvue du nimbe ex dignitate officii, alors que les patriarches s’évertuèrent à dépeindre en eux cette image du Christ. La cohérence de cette transformation fut assurée par un groupe de moines théologiens et hommes d’action, amis et disciples de Grégoire Palamas, parmi lesquels l’empereur-moine Jean-Joasaph Cantacuzène et le patriarche Philothée Kokkinos. Les « palamites » accèdent au patriarcat de Constantinople et imposent une réévaluation de l’Empire comme institution accessoire de l’Église. L’idée impériale byzantine, dont les expressions idéologiques remontaient à l’antiquité tardive, se voit démunie de ses raisons d’être avant que la dernière bataille ne soit livrée. De ce mouvement d’idées il résulta que la Troisième Rome n’était pas un Empire, mais tout au plus une Église.

In my dissertation Thrace is examined as a geographical unity during the Ottoman conquest in the fourteenth century. In the first chapter the Byzantine and Ottoman sources used are presented. The life and works of the chronographers are discussed to the extent that they assist us in comprehending their ideology and mentality, while the focus is on the contemporary sources of the fourteenth century. The second chapter treats with the diplomatic relations between the Byzantines and the Turks in the fourteenth century before and after the Turkish settlement in Thrace. This provides the reader the base to figure the political situation, which facilitated the Turkish expansion in Thrace. The central part of my dissertation is a topographic analysis of Thrace during the Ottoman expansion. An attempt has been made to research the etymology of the Thracian toponyms and then to locate them on a map, mentioning their Byzantine and modern Turkish, Greek or Bulgarian equivalents, if possible. This visualizes the routes that the Ottomans followed when conquering Thrace. A map of fourteenth-century Thrace accompanies my dissertation.
The fourteenth century was of paramount importance for both the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Emirate. In Byzantine history it marks the end of a great medieval empire, especially relating to its administrative and economic decadence. For Ottoman history, it punctuates the transition of a frontier beglik into a world-dominant empire. Thrace was the first European territory of the Ottomans and functioned as the vaulting horse of their expeditions in the Balkans. The intellectual intercourse of Greek-Orthodox and Turco-Islamic political ideology gave birth to the heir of the Byzantine State.

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]

Il-Ḵh̲ānid Tabrīz became not only a nodal point in the spatial imagination of Christian merchants and missionaries, but was promoted even to a significant landmark in the Biblical and apocalyptic topography of 13th and 14th century Christianity. As this processes were very much connected to the rise of the city as centre of Mongol Iran, its prominence on the (mental) maps dwindled with its political and mercantile importance; yet, the case of Tabrīz provides a most interesting example for the imagination and organisation of space respectively the modification and adaption of these phenomena within the Christian communities confronted with the rise and fall of Mongol power in Iran.

SCHOLARSHIP ON THE VISUAL CULTURES of ancient and early medieval Eurasia has recently benefited from art history’s renewed interest in questions that transcend political and cultural boundaries.1 Issues of cross-cultural interaction, however, have not enjoyed from art historians working on the ancient and early medieval worlds a level of critical attention commensurate with the number of problems arising from the material. As a result, many of those who work in the arts and cultures of the Mediterranean, Near East, and Asia have found themselves drawn closer together, but without a common vocabulary or debate with which to engage.

The organizing goal of this volume is to highlight these theoretical considerations and provide a forum where art historians of the ancient and medieval worlds can explore these problems of cross-cultural interaction with greater rigor. It does not intend to provide a comprehensive theoretical overview or art historical survey of Eurasian artistic interchange, nor an overarching theory. Rather, it aims to contribute critical perspectives drawn from premodern visual cultures to the wider theoretical conversation. The papers contained herein critically evaluate some of the most important problems encountered in the material: the cross-continental movement and selective appropriation of objects and motifs through trade; the impact of new ways of seeing, being seen, and acting introduced by these objects; the role of art and ritual in negotiations of power among empires; and representations and self-portrayals of ethnicity and gender within and beyond dominant visual cultures.

To order: http://www.asia.si.edu/visitor/arsorientalisVolumeOrder.htm

The article deals primarily with the failed attempt of Saint John Capistran to win over the Ser-bian Despot George Branković to the Catholic faith on the eve of the planned crusade against the Ottomans that resulted in the defense of Belgrade in 1456. This episode, which took place during the meeting of the two at the diet of the Hungarian Kingdom in Győr in June 1455, is studied here through the protagonists' correspon dence as well as through contemporary chronicles and other relevant sources. The subsequent indirect relationship between Capistran and Branković is followed until the time of the Franciscan's death. The author also considers the broader context of historical relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in the middle Danube region at that time.

« Autour de l’élément politique du culte en Moldavie de sainte Parascève la Jeune », in: L’empereur hagiographe. Culte des saints et monarchie byzantine et post-byzantine, éd. Petre Guran, avec la collaboration de Bernard Flusin Bucarest, 2001, p. 249-280.

Le culte de la sainte byzantine Parascève (XIe siècle) est peut-être le culte pan-balkanique par excellence et fait objet d’une grande attention de la part des spécialistes. Ce culte a aussi un important aspect politique. Patronne du Second Empire bulgare à partir du XIIIe siècle, quand ses reliques étaient déposées à Tarnovo, ses dépouilles furent abritées après 1521 au Patriarcat œcuménique. L’étude présente accorde une signification particulière à la longue visite du prince Pierre Rares à Constantinople en 1540-41, qui provoqua par la suite, durant son deuxième règne, une véritable accélération de la vénération de sainte Parascève en Moldavie, menant à terme au transfert des reliques de la sainte, exactement un siècle plus tard, de Constantinople à Jassy (1641). Nous interprétons ce culte à la fois comme un symbole des nouvelles relations renforcées entre la Moldavie et le Patriarcat de Constantinople et comme un véhicule de l'idéologie impériale bulgare vers la cour princière de Suceava.