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Greek Palaeography, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Codicology, Byzantine History, Medieval History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, and 25 moreByzantine Studies, Byzantine historiography, Byzantium, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Byzantine Diplomatics (Imperial and Patriarchal Chancellery), Byzantine, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Paleography and Codicology, Latin codicology, byzantine art, Illuminated Manuscripts, paleography and codicology, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Greek codicology, Palaeography, Latin Palaeography, Medieval Palaeography, Greek Palaeography and Codicology, History of the Book, Book History, Mani Codex, Codex Vaticanus, Byzantine art, Byzantine History,Literature, Archeology, and Byzantine Literature edit
This issue is dedicated to the centenary of the famous scholar at Byzantine studies Alexander Petrovich Kazhdan (03.09.1922–29.05.1997), who was a researcher at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences until his... more
This issue is dedicated to the centenary of the famous scholar at Byzantine studies Alexander Petrovich Kazhdan (03.09.1922–29.05.1997), who was a researcher at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences until his emigration. The issue contains 15 works reflecting the main interests of the scholar – historiography and hagiography of Byzantium, Armenia and Russia; written and ritualreligious practices of the Byzantines; Greek and Armenian manuscripts; artefacts of Eastern Christian culture. Special mention should be made of the memoirs of the leading specialists at Byzantine studies Simon D. Franklin and Mikhail V. Bibikov about their mentor and senior colleague. The chronology of the works covers a wide period from the 6th to the 16th century, i. e. the history of the Byzantine (East Roman) Empire and its cultural heritage of the Byzance après Byzance period. The issue will be of interest and use not only to specialists in Byzantine history, but also to researchers dealing with late antique and medieval literary and writing practices.
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Hagiography, Armenian Studies, Byzantine Literature, Byzantine Studies, and 10 moreByzantine History, Old Rus', Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Byzantine Numismatics, Byzantine Hagiography, Byzantine art, Armenian manuscripts, Armenian medieval art, and Alexander P. Kazhdan / Aleksandr Petrovič Každan
This chapter of the collective monograph about different types of Majuscule Script (Palestinian, Biblical, and Non-Palestinian or Capital) deals with two majuscule manuscripts of the 8th–9th centuries, wrote in Non-Palestinian or Capital... more
This chapter of the collective monograph about different types of Majuscule Script (Palestinian, Biblical, and Non-Palestinian or Capital) deals with two majuscule manuscripts of the 8th–9th centuries, wrote in Non-Palestinian or Capital Sloping Ductus. The first one is the famous Paris manuscript ‘Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις’ of Claudius Ptolemy (Paris. gr. 2389) and the second one is the ‘Christian Topography’ by Cosmas Indicopleustes (Vat. gr. 699). Both manuscripts were written in the middle – second part of the 8th century in Constantinople. Both manuscripts had no original system of diacritical signs. The first one, Paris. gr. 2389, was written by two scribes, belonged to the same school of calligraphy, wrote in the same sloping majuscule ductus and worked on this complex manuscript of Ptolomey’s rare treatise in close cooperation with one another, apparently in the same scriptorium. The second one, Vat. gr. 699, was written by three scribes, belonged to the same school of calligraphy and apparently to the same scriptorium. The article proclaims the new methodological approach to the complex problem of dating of early Byzantine Greek manuscripts, based on formal criteria, which can give new reliable chronology of Majuscule codices.
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, Greek Paleography, and 12 moreByzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, History of Byzantine Education and Culture, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Ptolemy, Greek manuscripts, Claudius Ptolemy, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), and Cosmas Indicopleustes
The paper focuses on the attribution of two unique artefacts – a Greek manuscript and a funerary reliquary – associated with the du Bellay brothers. The Greek manuscript of the 16th century Grech. 150, stored in the Russian State Library... more
The paper focuses on the attribution of two unique artefacts – a Greek manuscript and a funerary reliquary – associated with the du Bellay brothers. The Greek manuscript of the 16th century Grech. 150, stored in the Russian State Library (Moscow), written by the wonderful calligrapher Angelos Vergikios, contains the commissioner’s coat of arms in the headpiece. This is the coat of arms of the noble Anjou family du Bellay, which allows us to unequivocally believe that the manuscript was commissioned by one of the four brothers du Bellay – Guillaume, Jean, Marten, or Rene. The analysis of the brothers’ personal coats of arms with various additional attributes suggests that the manuscript belonged to either Guillaume or Rene. In the first case, the manuscript RGB. Grech. 150 would be datable to 1535–1541, in the second case, to 1535–1536. In 2019, during an archaeological study of La chapelle Notre Dame du Chevet de la cathédrale du Mans, a unique heart-shaped reliquary was found. It can be almost unambiguously attributed to Bishop Le Mans Rene du Bellay, who died in 1546 and bequeathed to place his heart just in this chapel of “musical angels”.
Research Interests:
Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Renaissance Studies, Renaissance Humanism, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscript Studies, and 15 moreHeraldry, 16th Century (History), Manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Post-byzantine art history, Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art, Heraldic, Coat of Arms, Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, Heraldica, Medieval and Renaissance Greek Manuscripts; Greek Paleography; Byzantine Scriptoria, Du Bellay, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), and Héraldique
The paper offers a new date of a Greek parchment illuminated manuscript from the Lavra of St. Athanasius on Mount Athos: Mt. Athos, Lavra A 15 (Eustratiades 15) – the Four Gospels with prologues by St. Irenaeus of Lyon and catenae, with... more
The paper offers a new date of a Greek parchment illuminated manuscript from the Lavra of St. Athanasius on Mount Athos: Mt. Athos, Lavra A 15 (Eustratiades 15) – the Four Gospels with prologues by St. Irenaeus of Lyon and catenae, with four miniatures of the Evangelists and three additional “arches” for the tables of canons. In the special literature this manuscript was dated differently: from the 9th to the 10th century, and even from the 14th century. The first part of the paper deals with the paleography of the manuscript. It is concluded that three scribes worked on this manuscript. The minuscule (main text) and majuscule (scholia in the margins) handwritings of these three scribes and the decoration of the manuscript (headpieces and initials) belong to the first half of the 10th century – to the era of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. The second part of the pare presents a study of inset miniatures with images of the four Evangelists. The miniatures have been dated in the literature to the beginning of the 14th century. However, we believe that they are works of Comnenian art of high artistic level, that is, they date to the beginning of the 12th century.
Research Interests:
Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination, and 14 moreGreek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Byzantium, Greek manuscripts, byzantine art, Illuminated Manuscripts, paleography and codicology, Byzantine art, Paleography and Codicology, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Byzantine manuscripts, Greek Palaeography and Codicology, Byzantine and Medieval Art, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), and illuminated Greek manuscripts
The paper proposes a new dating of the codex Paris. gr. 1788: the beginning of the 14th century. Also, the author argues that the manuscript was created in Constantinople. Accordingly, the variant of the famous list of the tombs of... more
The paper proposes a new dating of the codex Paris. gr. 1788: the beginning of the 14th century. Also, the author argues that the manuscript was created in Constantinople. Accordingly, the variant of the famous list of the tombs of Byzantine emperors placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, which is contained in this manuscript, has the same dating – the beginning of the 14th century. Therefore, the list was compiled when the Church of Saint Apostles still stood and was actively used not only for church services, but also for councils and church meetings, and so, the list of the tombs was a practically used document.
Research Interests:
Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, and 5 moreByzantium, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine manuscripts, Medieval and Renaissance Greek Manuscripts; Greek Paleography; Byzantine Scriptoria, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The author suggests paleographical, codicological, art historical, and historical arguments for the attribution of the famous purple codex Neapol. gr. 2* (ex Vindob. Suppl. gr. 12) to Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (867–886). The book... more
The author suggests paleographical, codicological, art historical, and historical arguments for the attribution of the famous purple codex Neapol. gr. 2* (ex Vindob. Suppl. gr. 12) to Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (867–886). The book reflects the final stage of the tradition of making luxurious purple majuscule codices with gold and silver letters, which originated in the Late Antiquity. The use of archaic majuscule letters in this manuscript of the second half of the 9th century (the period of the expansion of minuscule) has an obvious explanation in Emperor Basil’s low level of education.
Research Interests:
Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscript Studies, Paleography, Paleography (Historical Auxiliary Sciences), Byzantine Studies, and 15 moreGreek Paleography, Byzantine History, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Byzantium, Paleografia, Manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine art, Paleography and Codicology, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The article is concerned to the paleography and codicology of two collections of polemiological works of Vat.gr.1164 and Paris.gr.2442 & Barb.gr.276 written in Perlschrift. The collections are identical in composition of Ancient and... more
The article is concerned to the paleography and codicology of two collections of polemiological works of Vat.gr.1164 and Paris.gr.2442 & Barb.gr.276 written in Perlschrift. The collections are identical in composition of Ancient and Byzantine texts. According to their paleographic characteristics, both codices should be dated the second half of the 10th century. The three scribes of these two manuscripts worked in the writing style of the famous Constantinople scribe of the middle of the 10th century monk Ephraim. The perfect codicology of manuscripts and the “businesslike” but refined design, including complicated illustrations, finally confirm their Constantinople elitist origin. Judging by the content of the manuscripts, they were created in the Palace library in Constantinople, where there was every opportunity to compile such a collection, which included rare ancient texts and the most modern for the middle of the 10th century Byzantine tactics. The dating of the final work in both collections the treatise De velitatione bellica of the autumn — winter of 969 allows determining the date of the work on manuscripts to this time. It is possible that the manuscripts were commissioned by Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas and his brothers Leo and Constantine.
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Paleography, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 14 moreByzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Palaeography, Byzantium, Manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine Military History, Military Literature in the Byzantine period, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), and Greek and Roman Military Manuals
The article discusses several successive small groups of Byzantine intellectuals of the 10th century: “Anonymous Professor” and his students, which included the famous scribe Monk Ephraim and a circle of scribes focusing on the monk... more
The article discusses several successive small groups of Byzantine intellectuals of the 10th century: “Anonymous Professor” and his students, which included the famous scribe Monk Ephraim and a circle of scribes focusing on the monk Ephraim, two of them, calligrapher Basil and the priest John, are known to us by name. Separately, it is worthy to pay attention to the “descendant” of the Monk Ephraim “ὁ ἀπόγονος”, who wrote the ‘Perlschrift’ manuscript in the second half of the 11th century and who remembered his famous predecessor. It is a unique for Byzantium of the 10th – 11th centuries case of tracing the continuity of the “schools” of writing and other intellectual activities. It is mostly important, that the process of emergence of the all-Byzantine capital style ‘Perlschrift’ of the second half of the 10th – 11th centuries from the Monk Ephraim’s handwriting, which was traced by paleographers according to formal criteria, receives a human dimension of the transmission of tradition from teacher to student (or descendant) within three or four generations of scribes.
Research Interests:
Intellectual History, Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 11 moreSociology of Intellectuals, Intellectual and cultural history, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, History of Byzantine Education and Culture, Byzantine Humanism, Byzantium, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine epistolography, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), and Macedonian Renaissance
The article is devoted to the identification of the donor of the famous illuminated codex, which received the name “Niketas Bible” in historiography. The name of the donor Niketas, and his position as a ‘koitonites’ are known from the... more
The article is devoted to the identification of the donor of the famous illuminated codex, which received the name “Niketas Bible” in historiography. The name of the donor Niketas, and his position as a ‘koitonites’ are known from the epigram in this manuscript. Until now, researchers cannot come to a decision about the date of the “Niketas Bible” and hesitate about the identification of its owner to one of the Niketas of the 10th century known to us. Dating to the 960s – 970s has until now been considered the most reasonable. However, all the arguments related to the paleography and the decoration of this manuscript are quite random and don’t make it possible to narrow down its dating on reasonable grounds. In the historiography there was no coherent research of the biographies of those men named Niketas, who could potentially be identified with the eponymous owner of this luxurious manuscript. On the basis of the prosopographical and historical-cultural analysis, we proposed a new identification of the owner of the manuscript and restored his ‘cursus honorum’, which allows us to obtain a new “narrow” date for ordering the codex of the “Niketas Bible” and identify another manuscript that belonged to him. The only ‘koitonites’ Niketas, which would satisfy all the indirect indications of the personality of the donor of “Niketas Bible”, is the protospatharios and ‘koitonites’ Niketas. He was the addressee of one of the letters of Metropolitan of Nicaea Theodore. All the surviving letters of Metropolitan Theodore fit into the period from 956 to 959, and it is precisely this time period that his letter to ‘koitonites’ Niketas should be dated to. It turns out that the codex of “Niketas Bible” is associated with a person who is mentioned in the sources between 956 and 959. There is a solid ‘terminus ante quem’ to limit the residence of ‘koitonites’ Niketas in this position at the court. After the death of Emperor Constantine VII in November 959, his son Romanus II removed all of the courtiers that worked under his father from his posts. Obviously, Niketas had to lose his position along with all the other courtiers. It is possible to identify ‘koitonites’ Niketas with patrician, protospatharios, and droungarios of the fleet Niketas. Courtier Niketas is known as the donor of “Niketas Bible”, while the droungarios Niketas is known as a person who wrote the Paris. gr. 497 manuscript. The Paris. gr. 497 manuscript was written by him when he was in captivity in Africa; after his returning to Constantinople in 968 he decorated this manuscript and in 970 donated it to the church of St. George in Cyprus. ‘Koitonites’ Niketas ordered the manuscript of “Niketas Bible” in the second half of the 950s, ‘terminus ante quem’ – November of 959, or the very beginning of 960. Courtier Niketas is most likely the same person as patrician Niketas. The life story of the eunuch Niketas, the courtier, the commander and the bibliophile, is quite typical for the close circle of Emperor Constantine VII’s and Basil Lecapenos the Nothos.
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 15 moreByzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Palaeography, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine and Medieval Cyprus (History and Art), Greek paleography; Byzantine scriptoria, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Macedonian Renaissance, and Byzantine court
The manuscript Paris. gr. 2389 is the oldest parchment codex of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy. The manuscript was written in the sloping uncial of Constantinopolitan origin by two scribes of the same school of calligraphy in a... more
The manuscript Paris. gr. 2389 is the oldest parchment codex of the Almagest by Claudius Ptolemy. The manuscript was written in the sloping uncial of Constantinopolitan origin by two scribes of the same school of calligraphy in a Byzantine scriptorium. The codex is reliably localized in Constantinople. Since the original diacritics are completely absent in this majuscule manuscript, its production should be attributed to the second half of the eighth century, to the period before the appearance of diacritical signs at the turn of the eighth and ninth centuries.
Research Interests:
The article considers a fairly common practice of compiling the codices of the original letters and other charters in Byzantium. Until now, this phenomenon in the history of the Greek book was completely unobserved. Methods. The... more
The article considers a fairly common practice of compiling the codices of the original letters and other charters in Byzantium. Until now, this phenomenon in the history of the Greek book was completely unobserved. Methods. The methodological basis of the investigation is a combination of epistolography, text critics, prosopography, palaeography, and codicology. Analysis. The article investigates the codicology and the composition of a unique collection of the 16 th century compiled by the well-known intellectual and publisher David Hoeschel of the letters of the Greek scholar Maximos Margunios. This extant example of the " book of letters " provides a completely new approach to the study of the famous collection of letters of the so-called Anonymous Teacher of the first half of the 10 th century from the London manuscript British Library. Add. 36749. The study of this manuscript shows that this is either the original autograph of the Anonymous author himself, or its copy made by one of his students. The study of the manuscript and its historical context, in particular, make it possible to identify confidently one of the addressees of letters by the name of Ephraim with the famous scribe the monk Ephraim. In turn, all these observations make it possible to better understand one of the passages of the letter of courtier scholar Michael Psellos to his friend caesar Ioannes Doukas, in which Psellos writes that Ioannes makes a book out of his letters. Results. As a result, we have three examples of compiling a codex of letters as such: the earliest – the first half of the 10 th century, a short narrative passage of the second half of the 11 th century, and the 'ethnographic' example of the late 16 th century. Thanks to the really existing post-Byzantine manuscript, we can better understand the history of the manuscript of the first half of the 10 th century, and more accurately interpret the narrative of the 11 th century.
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 15 moreGreek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Byzantium, Medieval Manuscripts, Greek epistolography, Greek manuscripts, Paleography and Codicology, Byzantine epistolography, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Byzantine manuscripts, Greek Palaeography and Codicology, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Paleography, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 9 moreByzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, 16the century Mediterranean, Greek manuscripts, Medieval Greece, Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art, Byzantine manuscripts, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
Research Interests:
Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Eastern Christianity, 17th-Century Studies, Byzantine Studies, Mount Athos Studies, and 8 moreGreek Paleography, Russian Orthodoxy, Greek Palaeography, 17th Century Mediterranean, XVII century, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
In the article I indentify the autograph of Nicephorus Gregoras according to the individual peculiarities of his handwriting in the famous manuscript Paris. gr. 510. In this codex Gregoras made a duplication of an extinct poetic epigram.
Research Interests:
Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Greek Palaeography, and 9 morePalaeography, Byzantium, Greek manuscripts, byzantine art, Illuminated Manuscripts, paleography and codicology, Byzantine art, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Byzantine manuscripts, Greek Palaeography and Codicology, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The article is a polemical response to the publication of 2015 by A.Yu. Vinogradov and M.I. Korobov “Gothic graffiti from the Mangup basilica” (Srednie veka. Vol. 76 (3–4). 2015. P. 57–75). Our article analyzes the principles of dating... more
The article is a polemical response to the publication of 2015 by A.Yu. Vinogradov and M.I. Korobov “Gothic graffiti from the Mangup basilica” (Srednie veka. Vol. 76 (3–4). 2015. P. 57–75). Our article analyzes the principles of dating Greek graffiti on two stones, on which Gothic inscriptions were found. The article demonstrates that the Greek inscriptions, defined by A.Yu. Vinogradov as “minuscule” and dated on this terms the 9th – 11th centuries; in fact, are “cursive” and can be dated from the 4th to the 15th century. Also, the article confutes A.Yu. Vinogradov’s attempts to date the “uncial” inscription, because it is based on single paleographic evidence, which in fact cannot be a dating feature. The attempts of paleographic dating of graffiti by A.Yu. Vinogradov, proposed by him in the “Inscriptiones antiquae Orae Septentrionalis Ponti Euxini graecae et latinae” (IOSPE), were methodologically and pragmatically not substantiated. Thereby, the narrow date of Greek inscriptions in the article by A.Yu. Vinogradov and M.I. Korobov is erroneous, and this fact deprives us of the possibility of the narrow dating of Gothic graffiti.
Research Interests:
The paper offers new arguments for the more exact dating – autumn-winter of 963 – of the manuscript of the treatise De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Leipzig, Univ. Bibl. Rep. I 17). At the end of the list of the tombs of the emperors in... more
The paper offers new arguments for the more exact dating – autumn-winter of 963 – of the manuscript of the treatise De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae (Leipzig, Univ. Bibl. Rep. I 17). At the end of the list of the tombs of the emperors in the Mausoleum of Constantine the Great in the Church of the Holy Apostles, included in this compilation treatise, the scribe missed three empty lines. The last emperor in the list of buried emperors is Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus; there is no sarcophagus of his son Roman II, known from the later lists of tombs. The list ends with a mention of the "small sarcophagus"; and there is no indication, whether there was someone buried there. Judging by the chronicles of Yahya of Antioch and Leo Deacon, as well as The Brief History by Michael Psellos, since the death of Emperor Roman II there was a constant danger of the liquidation of his children – Basil, Constantine and Anna. Apparently, this small coffin was prepared for them, and the scribe of the codex left a place to finish the final distribution of the last representatives of the imperial house in the mausoleum. However, all the children saved their lives, and three blank lines in the manuscript were never filled. Consequently, the manuscript was already completed after August 16, 963, and it is unlikely that the work on it was completed much later than the autumn-winter of 963.
Research Interests:
The paper presents the interpretation of the Turkish marginalia on the famous Greek manuscript BnF, Grec 923 “Sacra Parallela”. This marginalia is a price label “100 akçe”, which was written in the second half of the XVth century after... more
The paper presents the interpretation of the Turkish marginalia on the famous Greek manuscript BnF, Grec 923 “Sacra Parallela”. This marginalia is a price label “100 akçe”, which was written in the second half of the XVth century after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. This means that until this moment the Sacra Parallela manuscript was kept in Constantinople, and after that it was bought for money in someone’s private library and after some time was got at Mount Athos.
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, and 8 moreByzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine art, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
In this paper I present the investigation of five Greek manuscripts of the 9th–11th century, which were collected and deposited at the monastery of St. Catherine by the person named Ṣā‛id bn Dānīl bn Bišr. These manuscripts were marked by... more
In this paper I present the investigation of five Greek manuscripts of the 9th–11th century, which were collected and deposited at the monastery of St. Catherine by the person named Ṣā‛id bn Dānīl bn Bišr. These manuscripts were marked by his Arabic record, presumably dating back to the 12th century. Thus, we have a trace of the private library of the 12th century, owned by the Arabic-speaking collector of “antique” Greek manuscripts. In the paper the dating and localization of all five Greek codes were clarified. In addition, the study of the majuscule fragment NE MG 25 and the Arabic record on it allows us to make substantial amendment to the reconstruction of the ancient stage of the manuscript tradition of works of Gregory of Nazianzus: establishing the existence in the 9th century Byzantium a two-volume edition of Nazianzus’ Homilies.
Research Interests:
Medieval History, Byzantine Literature, Manuscript Studies, Medieval Islam, Byzantine Studies, and 14 moreGreek Paleography, Byzantine History, Gregory of Nazianzus, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Palaeography, Byzantium, Arabic Manuscripts, Medieval Manuscripts, Medieval manuscripts & early printed books; history of libraries; visual arts & digital media, Greek manuscripts, Islamic Manuscripts, and Sinai
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Byzantine Literature, Manuscript Studies, Paleography, and 14 moreCodicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Paleography and Codicology, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Byzantine history and archaeology, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The paper intends the analyses of paleography and codicology of the manuscript Lipsiensis bibl. Urb. Rep. I 17 of the treatise “De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae”. The dating of the manuscript, which can be established by paleography, is the... more
The paper intends the analyses of paleography and codicology of the manuscript Lipsiensis bibl. Urb. Rep. I 17 of the treatise “De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae”. The dating of the manuscript, which can be established by paleography, is the second half of the 10th century. Objectively it is impossible to narrow this dating by paleographic methods. The main text and marginalia were written by one scriber. The handwriting, the get-up of the codex, the particularities of marginalia, and the peculiarities of abbreviations show vividly that it is a text, which was written by a specialist for other professionals. It is a real “Book of ceremonies”, written by the “Master of ceremonies” for the need of different references. The scriber-compiler was the manager, who operates the ceremonies in the Imperial Palace, but not by a real high-level politician. The manuscript Lipsiensis bibl. Urb. Rep. I 17 is original script, and the second manuscript-palimpsest (Athos Vatopedinus 1003 + Chalcensis S. Trinitatis 125 (133)) of this treatise was its copy. Their comparison shows that the palimpsest was a copy, made for the chancellery of the Patriarch of Constantinople. It is obvious that there is no reasonable data to connect these two manuscripts, containing the text of the treatise, with famous Byzantium courtier Basil Lekapenos the Nothos.
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Byzantine Literature, Manuscript Studies, Codicology, and 18 moreByzantine Studies, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Greek codicology, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, Manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Paleography and Codicology, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Byzantine manuscripts, Byzantine history and archaeology, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The paper is the first part of the study of manuscript's history, paleography and historical context of creating the famous Codeх – Lipsiensis bibl. Urb. Rep. I. 17., containing a single comprehensive copy of the treaty De cerimoniis... more
The paper is the first part of the study of manuscript's history, paleography and historical context of creating the famous Codeх – Lipsiensis bibl. Urb. Rep. I. 17., containing a single comprehensive copy of the treaty De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae owed by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913–959). The study traces all the major stages in the history of the manuscript from the moment it entered the European collections of humanists-antiquarians, and then the history of publishing the Greek text of the treaty and the initial steps of its study. The history of Leipzig manuscript today can be traced only from the second half of the 15th century. At that time the manuscript was in the Library of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus Hunyadi (1443–1490). The emersion of the manuscript in Europe at that moment is an evidence of its origin from the collections of Constantinople, transported from there after the fall of the Byzantine capital in 1453. Therefore, with high probability, we can guess that the manuscript since its inception and up to mid-15th century was in the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Since the making of the text in the second half of the Xth century for almost 500 years there are no signs of its copies or even a single mention about it: the second partial copy of the text also dates back to the 10th century. This suggests that after the completion of the work of the group of Emperor Constantine VII and his collaborators, this text was not copied. The Manuscript with the text of De cerimoniis was not even the accessory of elite culture in the Constantinople court, but an artifact belonging to the narrowest circle of intellectuals surrounding the Emperor Constantine VII. The next key point of the history of the manuscript was the 1751 edition of the Greek text of the treaty De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae, made by the outstanding German classicist, orientalist and byzantinist Johann Jakob Raiske (1716–1774). This edition was the basis of the publication of De cerimoniis in the famous Corpus of Byzantine history writers made by B.G. Niebuhr, who 75 years later completely published Raiske’s comments. This volume of Corpus Scriptorium Historiae Byzantinae was used in all historical and philological studies up to the Australian edition of the English translation of the text and new commentary in 2012. The second part of our investigation will be dedicated the paleographical and codicological questions.
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Byzantine Literature, and 22 moreRenaissance Studies, Renaissance Humanism, Renaissance, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Medieval Europe, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Greek codicology, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, byzantine art, Illuminated Manuscripts, paleography and codicology, Byzantine art, Paleography and Codicology, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination - paleography and codicology, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscript Studies, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, and 10 moreByzantine Paleography and codicology, Ancient Greek History, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Palaeography, Byzantium, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine art, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
"The paper produces the analyses of historical data about the applying the faked letters, falsification and identifying of individual handwritings and seals in Byzantium and Caliphate in the 10th century. In our paper we tried to analyze... more
"The paper produces the analyses of historical data about the applying the faked letters, falsification and identifying of individual handwritings and seals in Byzantium and Caliphate in the 10th century. In our paper we tried to analyze specific records of sources (Theophanes Continuatus, John Skylitzes, The Life of Euthymius, al-Masʻūdī & etc.) about handwritings and its identifications.
10th century was the epoch of so-called «First Humanism», when a significant number of byzantine politicians and representatives of the byzantine upper classes gained access to the intellectual activities and became like professional literati. The same processes took place in Islamic world of Caliphate. Attainments connected with the identification of handwritings have become a part of everyday practice in high cultured society. Educated courtiers and other noble Byzantines and Arabs paid attention to the form and style of writings and seemed to understand, who had written this or that text.
Clear evidence of this is found in a small episode during the reign of Leo VI the Wise: in the description of the intrigue of eunuch parakoimomenos Samonas, who had a great influence on Emperor Leo VI, against another favorite of the Emperor and Augustus patrician Constantine. Samonas with trusted people composed a letter-pamphlet filled with insults against the Emperor, designed to discredit the patrician Constantine. Samonas attracted to his goals a professional scriber: the letter was composed by Constantine of Rhodes. The plotters turned to a professional scriber, who had special skills and knew all the nuances of design of such letters, as well as, apparently, Constantine of Rhodes was the holder of a handwriting-like eunuch Constantine’s or his secretary’s handwriting.
Samonas had quite reasonable grounds to use a false letter to discredit his opponent in the eyes of the Emperor. Leo VI the Wise sorted out in the handwriting of people from his surroundings: once, exactly in the same situation with a forged letter, Leo VI at a first glance identified the writing of his classmate Patriarch Nicholas I Mysticos.
Another explanation of a strong Samonas’s preference for intrigue with letters may be due to his origin – Samonas was an Arab. Samonas’s intrigue refers to the number of typical: fake letters were constantly used in oriental despotic states, primarily as a means of slander – the political system and the subculture of court society of Byzantium and the Caliphate disposal to such methods. In the Arab world forged letters were extremely common tool of political intrigue, there appeared special instructions on how to use them in the political struggle. In the Arabic courts it was the whole problem, which required control measures verifying the authenticity of the documents."
10th century was the epoch of so-called «First Humanism», when a significant number of byzantine politicians and representatives of the byzantine upper classes gained access to the intellectual activities and became like professional literati. The same processes took place in Islamic world of Caliphate. Attainments connected with the identification of handwritings have become a part of everyday practice in high cultured society. Educated courtiers and other noble Byzantines and Arabs paid attention to the form and style of writings and seemed to understand, who had written this or that text.
Clear evidence of this is found in a small episode during the reign of Leo VI the Wise: in the description of the intrigue of eunuch parakoimomenos Samonas, who had a great influence on Emperor Leo VI, against another favorite of the Emperor and Augustus patrician Constantine. Samonas with trusted people composed a letter-pamphlet filled with insults against the Emperor, designed to discredit the patrician Constantine. Samonas attracted to his goals a professional scriber: the letter was composed by Constantine of Rhodes. The plotters turned to a professional scriber, who had special skills and knew all the nuances of design of such letters, as well as, apparently, Constantine of Rhodes was the holder of a handwriting-like eunuch Constantine’s or his secretary’s handwriting.
Samonas had quite reasonable grounds to use a false letter to discredit his opponent in the eyes of the Emperor. Leo VI the Wise sorted out in the handwriting of people from his surroundings: once, exactly in the same situation with a forged letter, Leo VI at a first glance identified the writing of his classmate Patriarch Nicholas I Mysticos.
Another explanation of a strong Samonas’s preference for intrigue with letters may be due to his origin – Samonas was an Arab. Samonas’s intrigue refers to the number of typical: fake letters were constantly used in oriental despotic states, primarily as a means of slander – the political system and the subculture of court society of Byzantium and the Caliphate disposal to such methods. In the Arab world forged letters were extremely common tool of political intrigue, there appeared special instructions on how to use them in the political struggle. In the Arabic courts it was the whole problem, which required control measures verifying the authenticity of the documents."
Research Interests:
History, Historical Anthropology, Political Philosophy, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, and 20 moreMedieval Literature, Arabic Literature, Medieval History, Medieval Studies, Byzantine Literature, Political Science, Medieval Islam, Early Medieval History, Byzantine Studies, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Medieval Islamic History, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Orientalism, Oriental Studies, Arab-Islamic History and Civilization and their relations with Byzantium, Byzantine history and archaeology, and Arabo-Byzantine Traffic of Manuscripts and the Connection between the Greco-Arabic Translation Movement and the First Byzantine ‘Renaissance’ (9th–10th Centuries)
Research Interests:
Philology, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Manuscript Studies, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, and 13 moreLate Antiquity, Byzantine History, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Palaeography, Byzantium, Greek manuscripts, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Humanism (15th-17th c.), Greek (Byzantine) Texts, and Byzantine Diplomatics (Imperial and Patriarchal Chancellery)
Research Interests:
In the paper we make an attempt to prove the attribution of codex RNB. Grech. 55 to Basil the Nothos with the help of paleographic identification of the scribe, who wrote two manuscripts – RNB. Grech. 55 and Athos Dionisiou 70. Both books... more
In the paper we make an attempt to prove the attribution of codex RNB. Grech. 55 to Basil the Nothos with the help of paleographic identification of the scribe, who wrote two manuscripts – RNB. Grech. 55 and Athos Dionisiou 70. Both books were sponsored by Basil. And we try to support the idea that the ring from Louvre belonged to Basil too.
Research Interests:
Philology, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, and 23 moreByzantine History, Byzantine Archaeology, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval Balkans, Palaeography, Byzantine Epigraphy, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Greek manuscripts, Late Antiquity and Byzantium (History and Art), byzantine art, Illuminated Manuscripts, paleography and codicology, Byzantine art, Paleography and Codicology, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology, Architecture and History of Art, Byzantine history and archaeology, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Humanism (15th-17th c.), Medieval and Neolatin Texts, Greek (Byzantine) Texts, and Byzantine Diplomatics (Imperial and Patriarchal Chancellery)
Research Interests:
Late Antique and Byzantine History, Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, and 12 moreByzantine Paleography and codicology, Medieval Malta, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Palaeography, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Maltese & Central Mediterranean Prehistory, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Early medieval Bulgaria, Malta and Gozo, Byzantine history and archaeology, and History of Gozo
Research Interests:
Philology, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Byzantine Studies, Late Antiquity, Byzantine History, and 12 moreGreek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Medieval Italy, Medieval Malta, Palaeography, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine art, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Humanism (15th-17th c.), Medieval and Neolatin Texts, Greek (Byzantine) Texts, and Byzantine Diplomatics (Imperial and Patriarchal Chancellery)
Research Interests:
Philology, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Medieval Literature, Liturgy, Manuscript Studies, and 28 moreMedieval Church History, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Church History, Medieval Culture, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine monasticism, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, History of Byzantine Education and Culture, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval Balkans, Palaeography, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Early Church History, Greek manuscripts, History of Book, Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities, Missional Church Theology, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, Byzantine history and archaeology, Textual Circulation and Reception, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Humanism (15th-17th c.), Medieval and Neolatin Texts, Greek (Byzantine) Texts, and Byzantine Diplomatics (Imperial and Patriarchal Chancellery)
For the first time in historiography, this paper introduces and analyses a unique miniature map of Crete from the manuscript Paris. gr. 2737 written by Angelos Vergikios, a famous sixteenth-century Greek calligrapher. This map illustrates... more
For the first time in historiography, this paper introduces and analyses a unique miniature map of Crete from the manuscript Paris. gr. 2737 written by Angelos Vergikios, a famous sixteenth-century Greek calligrapher. This map illustrates the beginning of Book 3 of Pseudo-Oppian’s poem about hound hunting. The creator of the manuscript was a Cretan Greek who first emigrated to Italy and then to France. Naturally, for him Crete was an important location of his personal memory, so this miniature was especially elaborated and marked with the scribe’s special marginalia. An analysis of the peculiarities of the map of Crete suggests that the author of the miniature was also a native of Crete, which provides further support for the hypothesis that Vergikios’ daughter, whose name is unknown, was the miniaturist. For the creators of the manuscript, the miniature was primarily a reflection of their nostalgia for their lost homeland. The map seamlessly combines the ancient antique story of Zeus’ birth on Crete with the sixteenth-century system of four pillars of power of the Venetian maritime Empire on the island. Thus, the Byzantine image of a significant locus of the fantasy world of Antiquity is combined with the geopolitical reality of the Mediterranean of the Modern Age. Consequently, this miniature map illustrates the paradoxical mechanism of the revival of ancient tradition during the sixteenth century Renaissance very well by ‘reinventing’ it, i.e. by copying, revising and modernising the Byzantine model.
Research Interests:
Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, and 13 moreManuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Post-byzantine art history, Post-byzantine art, Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art, Oppian, Byzantine manuscripts, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, Medieval and Renaissance Greek Manuscripts; Greek Paleography; Byzantine Scriptoria, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Angelos Vergikios, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Paintings, and Pseudo-Oppian
The article introduces a unique map of the world from the manuscript Grech. 150 of the mid-16th century of the Russian State Library. The manuscript was written by the famous calligrapher Angelos Vergikios, whose handwriting was... more
The article introduces a unique map of the world from the manuscript Grech. 150 of the mid-16th century of the Russian State Library. The manuscript was written by the famous calligrapher Angelos Vergikios, whose handwriting was determined by Boris L. Fonkich. We identified its owner, the noble bishop-naturalist René du Bellay, by the coat of arms in the manuscript. The world map illustrates a treatise by the Byzantine scholar George Gemistos Plethon. It is not, however, an illustration of Plethon’s text but reflects the ideas about the ecumene characteristic of mid-16th-century French intellectuals. Stylistically, the map is in the ancient Byzantine tradition, but it already features the continent of America. This map shows the mechanism of "revival" and "enrichment" of ancient geographical knowledge in Renaissance France and the special role of Greek emigrants in these processes.
Research Interests:
Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscript Studies, and 15 moreByzantine Studies, French Renaissance, Byzantine Manuscripts Illumination, Rare Books And Manuscripts (Library Science), Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Post-byzantine history, Manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, Post-byzantine art history, Post-byzantine art, Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art, Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, Medieval and Renaissance Greek Manuscripts; Greek Paleography; Byzantine Scriptoria, Postbyzantine Art, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
This article puts forward a new later dating of the Greek manuscript BnF, Paris. gr. 1783 kept in the National Library of France and containing portraits of emperors of the Palaiologoi dynasty. The manuscript contains important texts... more
This article puts forward a new later dating of the Greek manuscript BnF, Paris. gr. 1783 kept in the National Library of France and containing portraits of emperors of the Palaiologoi dynasty. The manuscript contains important texts related to the Constantinople period of court history and culture. Historiographers used to date the manuscript to the fifteenth century according to the portrait of Patriarch Joseph II (†1439), a famous participant of the Ferraro-Florence Council, which can be seen in the Italian fresco paintings of the fifteenth century. Meanwhile, the study of the manuscript’s palaeographical features shows that it was written by an anonymous scribe from Crete who worked in Venice and Rome for Italian humanists in the middle — third quarter of the sixteenth century. The handwriting of the famous Cretan calligrapher, employee of Francis I’s library in Fontainebleau Angelus Vergecius, as well as some other scribes associated with him was typologically close to the handwriting of the main scribe of the manuscript. Analogies to this handwriting can also be seen in the handwriting of Manuel Provataris, another famous scribe of the epoch, a Cretan Greek from Rethymno, employee and copyist of the Vatican Library. The new palaeographic dating of the Paris. gr. 1783 manuscript changes the date of creation of portrait drawings of the Byzantine emperors of the Palaiologoi dynasty and Patriarch Joseph II. Also, it is important to change the dating of all texts contained in the manuscript including such important texts as one of the three lists of imperial tombs of the Church of Sts. Apostles in Constantinople, as well the list of the offices of the Byzantine court. The Paris. gr. 1783 manuscript should be excluded from the circle of Late Byzantine booklore and attributed to post-Byzantine book heritage.
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Byzantine History, Greek Palaeography, and 13 moreByzantine Paleography and codicology, Post-byzantine history, Greek manuscripts, post-Byzantine Greece, Byzantine and post-byzantine art; italian art; renaissance, Post-byzantine art history, Post-byzantine art, Byzantine and Post Byzantine Art, Byzantine and Post-byzantine art, Palaeologan Dynasty (1261-1453 CE), Byzantine and Postbyzantine Manuscripts, Medieval and Renaissance Greek Manuscripts; Greek Paleography; Byzantine Scriptoria, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
The paper examines two Greek manuscripts dated to the first half of 10th century, Syn. gr. 252 (Vlad. 122) and 11th century Syn. gr. 157 (Vlad. 372) from the Synodal Greek collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow, which were... more
The paper examines two Greek manuscripts dated to the first half of 10th century, Syn. gr. 252 (Vlad. 122) and 11th century Syn. gr. 157 (Vlad. 372) from the Synodal Greek collection of the State Historical Museum in Moscow, which were acquired in 1655 by Arseny Sukhanov in the monasteries of Mount Athos. These two codices originated from Galesios Mount, a monastic center north of Ephesus, in the period of its foundation and growth in the 11th century by the stylite St. Lazaros. Our article is the first attempt to identify these manuscripts with one Byzantine monastic library after the works of B.L. Fonkitch, who have already reconstructed the structure of three Athonites libraries (Great Lavra, Vatopedi Monastery and Iviron Monastery). The memories about the origin of these two manuscripts «from Galesiot books» were kept even when the monastery was captured by the Turks in the beginning of 14th century. Our work is based principally on the combination of paleographic and codicological analysis of marginalia.
Research Interests:
Manuscript Studies, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine monasticism, and 3 morePalaeography, Greek paleography; Byzantine scriptoria, and Manuscript studies, codicology, palaeography, medieval paper, Chaucer, circulation of texts and books, history of the book, electronic editing and digital humanities
The article examines the deed of Patriarch Paisius of Alexandria dating back to 1665 and kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents. B.L. Fonkitch identifies the main scribe of the deed, Anastasius from Little Russia. The... more
The article examines the deed of Patriarch Paisius of Alexandria dating back to 1665 and kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents. B.L. Fonkitch identifies the main scribe of the deed, Anastasius from Little Russia. The author proves that the last line before the signature of patriarch Paisius differs from the main text and is his own autograph. The handwriting exemplar of the Ecumenical Patriarch will facilitate the identification of his autographs in deeds and manuscripts.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
В статье исследуется чернильный оттиск печати вселенского патриарха Паисия (1657–1678), который был центральной фигурой в истории греческо-русских связей второй половины XVII в. и сыграл одну из ключевых ролей в «Деле патриарха Никона».... more
В статье исследуется чернильный оттиск печати вселенского патриарха Паисия (1657–1678), который был центральной фигурой в истории греческо-русских связей второй половины XVII в. и сыграл одну из ключевых ролей в «Деле патриарха Никона». Оттиск обнаружен и идентифицирован нами в греческой рукописи из собрания Государственного Исторического Музея в Москве – ГИМ, Влад. 114 (Син. греч. 431) – и служил знаком ее принадлежности владельцу печати. Сама же рукопись содержала важные канонические греческие тексты, то и дело меняла своих владельцев, т.е. была востребована в кругах книжников того времени. Нами также сделана подборка всех разновидностей печатей и подписей Паисия Александрийского на греческих и славянских грамотах, хранящихся в московских собраниях РГАДА и ГИМ, а также определен его почерк.
Research Interests:
The article presents the discovery of the note by Russian monk Arseniy Sukhanov (1600 – 1668), who collected ancient books and manuscripts for Tsar Aleksey Mikchaylovich and Patriarch Nikon in the monasteries on Mount Athos, on the famous... more
The article presents the discovery of the note by Russian monk Arseniy Sukhanov (1600 – 1668), who collected ancient books and manuscripts for Tsar Aleksey Mikchaylovich and Patriarch Nikon in the monasteries on Mount Athos, on the famous manuscript, known as “Sacra Parallela” of the 9th c. This investigation gives us some reference points to determine the localization and the origin of this manuscript from Constantinople.
Research Interests:
Russian Studies, Manuscript Studies, Codicology, 17th-Century Studies, Byzantine Studies, and 10 moreByzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Manuscripts (Medieval Studies), Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Medieval illuminated manuscripts, Palaeography, Greek manuscripts, Byzantine art, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
Research Interests:
This paper investigates the year 1936–1937 in the life of classical philologist, Byzantine historian, and palaeographer Mstislav Antoninovich (Antonovich) Shangin (1896–1942) against the background of archival materials. Shangin spent... more
This paper investigates the year 1936–1937 in the life of classical philologist, Byzantine historian, and palaeographer Mstislav Antoninovich (Antonovich) Shangin (1896–1942) against the background of archival materials. Shangin spent this year as a research fellow at the Chersonese Museum. This paper is based on the documents residing in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and the Chersonese Museum Archive in Sevastopol. Shangin was a versatile scholar, a promising Byzantine historian, a talented palaeographer – and a disciple of world-famous Byzantine historian Fedor Ivanovich Uspenskii (1845–1928). The Appendix to the paper publishes the protocol records of academic and production sessions of the Chersonese Museum to shed light on the intricate history of the Museum in the 1930s. There is also a publication of the only known photograph of Shangin, whose appearance was unfamiliar before.
Research Interests:
Historian of Byzantium Mstislav Shangin: the Unremembered Master. The paper deals with the situation in Byzantine studies in Russia between 1920s and 1940s. It clarifi es facts of life of Mstislav Antoninovich (Antonovich) Shangin... more
Historian of Byzantium Mstislav Shangin: the Unremembered Master.
The paper deals with the situation in Byzantine studies in Russia between 1920s and 1940s. It clarifi es facts of life of Mstislav Antoninovich (Antonovich) Shangin (1896–1942), who was a disciple of the prominent world-famous scholar Fyodor Uspenskiy. Shangin was a versatile scholar, a historian of Byzantium and a gifted paleographer. The author discovered documents in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and in the Archives of the Khersones National Park in Sevastopol which add substantially to our knowledge of Shangin’s scholarly and organizational activities during a period in Soviet history that was so hard for science.
The paper deals with the situation in Byzantine studies in Russia between 1920s and 1940s. It clarifi es facts of life of Mstislav Antoninovich (Antonovich) Shangin (1896–1942), who was a disciple of the prominent world-famous scholar Fyodor Uspenskiy. Shangin was a versatile scholar, a historian of Byzantium and a gifted paleographer. The author discovered documents in the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and in the Archives of the Khersones National Park in Sevastopol which add substantially to our knowledge of Shangin’s scholarly and organizational activities during a period in Soviet history that was so hard for science.
Research Interests:
In the paper are discussed some key biographical moments of the historian, classical scholar, byzantinist and palaeographer Mstislav A. Shangin (1896–1942). M.A. Shangin was one of the first who began to work with the Greek manuscripts... more
In the paper are discussed some key biographical moments of the historian, classical scholar, byzantinist and palaeographer Mstislav A. Shangin (1896–1942). M.A. Shangin was one of the first who began to work with the Greek manuscripts from Russian collections. He was actually the first who began a systematic study of Greek manuscripts from the collection of the Library of Academy of Sciences (BAN) in Saint-Petersburg. For some time M.A. Shangin was a fellow worker of BAN. Throughout his life, he, anyway, has been linked with this library and continued to work with the manuscript from its collections. In the paper is presented a first published photo¬graph of Shangin, whose appearance was unknown to modern historiographers of Byzantine studies.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Bibliography, Paleography, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, Greek Palaeography, and 11 moreByzantine Paleography and codicology, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Bibliographic Research, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, Paleografia, Greek manuscripts, Paleography and Codicology, Bibliografia, Bibliografía, Bibliografija, and Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission)
Research Interests:
Bibliography, Paleography, Codicology, Byzantine Studies, Greek Paleography, and 9 moreByzantine History, Greek Palaeography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Codicology of medieval manuscripts, Palaeography, Charters and Paleography, Philology, Codicology, Critical Edition, Paleography and Codicology, and Bibliografia
Research Interests:
The Online International Conference devoted to the Archaeology, the History and Philosophy of War in Byzantine and Mediterranean Contexts (9th-16th c.), to be held virtually via Zoom from 8 to 10 December 2023, seeks to illuminate aspects... more
The Online International Conference devoted to the Archaeology, the History and Philosophy of War in Byzantine and Mediterranean Contexts (9th-16th c.), to be held virtually via Zoom from 8 to 10 December 2023, seeks to illuminate aspects of war in medieval and early modern period. Our Conference does not aim at exhausting the subject of war, but will offer an interdisciplinary forum for a selection of talks that touch upon some of the following aspects:
- Military campaigns, strategies and tactics
- Philosophy of Medieval war in Byzantium and the Mediterranean
- Psychological Warfare Techniques
- Combat arms (lances, swords, sabers, maces, hammers, knives, axes)
- Bows and crossbows
- Turkic bows
- Byzantine and Islamic great crossbows
- Military equipment (helmets, lamellar armors
- Warhorses and their equipment
- Mercenaries in armies
- Rus’ and Varangians
- Byzantine warriors
- Bulgarian warriors
- Arab warriors
- Crusader warriors
- Seljuk warriors
- Mongol warriors
- Mamluk warriors
- Man-powered mangonels
- Man-powered beam-sling mangonel
- Engines to shoot large arrows
- Ballistic machines
- Assault devices
- Stone-throwing counter-weight mangonel (or trebuchet)
- Mangonel balls
- Greek Fire projecting siphons
- Incendiary rockets
- Ceramic Grenades
- Hand cannons
- Early Cannons
- Siege Weapons
- Mobile sheds to protect men
- Byzantine Military Manuals
- Arab Military Manuals
- Latin Military Manuals
- Siege Illustrations in Manuscripts
- Arms in literature (epic poems and romances)
- Depictions of warriors, sieges and combats in art
- Illustrations of arms and combats in the Romance of Varqa ve Gülşah
- Military campaigns, strategies and tactics
- Philosophy of Medieval war in Byzantium and the Mediterranean
- Psychological Warfare Techniques
- Combat arms (lances, swords, sabers, maces, hammers, knives, axes)
- Bows and crossbows
- Turkic bows
- Byzantine and Islamic great crossbows
- Military equipment (helmets, lamellar armors
- Warhorses and their equipment
- Mercenaries in armies
- Rus’ and Varangians
- Byzantine warriors
- Bulgarian warriors
- Arab warriors
- Crusader warriors
- Seljuk warriors
- Mongol warriors
- Mamluk warriors
- Man-powered mangonels
- Man-powered beam-sling mangonel
- Engines to shoot large arrows
- Ballistic machines
- Assault devices
- Stone-throwing counter-weight mangonel (or trebuchet)
- Mangonel balls
- Greek Fire projecting siphons
- Incendiary rockets
- Ceramic Grenades
- Hand cannons
- Early Cannons
- Siege Weapons
- Mobile sheds to protect men
- Byzantine Military Manuals
- Arab Military Manuals
- Latin Military Manuals
- Siege Illustrations in Manuscripts
- Arms in literature (epic poems and romances)
- Depictions of warriors, sieges and combats in art
- Illustrations of arms and combats in the Romance of Varqa ve Gülşah