Byzantine Greece: Microcosm of Empire?: Papers from the Forty-sixth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies (Publications of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies)

This volume offers a structured presentation of the progress of research into the internal history of a part of the Byzantine world – Greece – in the centuries before the multiple changes induced or accelerated by the Fourth Crusade. Greece is a large area (several Early andMiddle Byzantine provinces), with records, archival, literary, archaeological, architectural, and art-historical, most of which are unequalled in terms of their density and range. This creates opportunities for useful synthesis, and for dialogue with those now engaged in the rewriting, or writing, of the inner history of Byzantium, from Italy to the Caucasus, who have been stimulated by, or involved in, the editing of archives and inscriptions (including sigillographic), and in the publication of monuments, excavations, and surveys (for all of which the ‘Greek space’, the elladikê khôra, is a particular, and fertile, focus of activity, as the conference showed). Much of the material presented here can usually only be found in specialised publication, and indeed much in Greek alone. But, properly contextualised, this material about the ‘Greek space’ deserves to be brought into the dialogues or debates at the heart of Byzantine Studies, for instance about the Late Antique ‘boom’, urban life, the ‘Dark Age’, economic change, the nature of the ‘Byzantine revival’, and of social, socio-economic, and ethnic groups. The studies here synthesise such research, enabling the ‘Greek space’ as a case study in the evolution of a significant region to the west of Constantinople, to take its place more fully as a point of reference in such dialogues or debates. Equally, it provides frameworks for archaeologists dealing with Greece from Late Antiquity onwards – and there are now many – with which to engage, and it makes available a rich source of comparative material for those studying the other regions of the Byzantine world, whether historically or archaeologically, in Southeastern Europe, Italy, or Turkey. "This volume offers a structured presentation of the progress of research into the internal history of a part of the Byzantine world - Greece - in the centuries before the multiple changes induced or accelerated by the Fourth Crusade. Greece is a large area (several Early and Middle Byzantine provinces), with records, archival, literary, archaeological, architectural, and art-historical, most of which are unequalled in terms of their density and range. This creates opportunities for useful synthesis, and for dialogue with those now engaged in the rewriting, or writing, of the inner history of Byzantium, from Italy to the Caucasus, who have been stimulated by, or involved in, the editing of archives and inscriptions (including sigillographic), and in the publication of monuments, excavations and surveys (for all of which the "Greek space", the elladikê khôra, is a particular, and fertile, focus of activity, as the conference showed). Much of the material presented here can usually only be found in specialised publication, and indeed much in Greek alone. But, properly contextualised, this material about the "Greek space" deserves to be brought into the dialogues or debates at the heart of Byzantine Studies, for instance about the Late Antique "boom", urban life, the "Dark Age", economic change, the nature of the "Byzantine revival", and of social, socio-economic, and ethnic groups. The studies here synthesise such research, enabling the "Greek space" as a case study in the evolution of a significant region to the west of Constantinople, to take its place more fully as a point of reference in such dialogues or debates. Equally, it provides frameworks for archaeologists dealing with Greece from Late Antiquity onwards - and there are now many - with which to engage, and it makes available a rich source of comparative material for those studying the other regions of the Byzantine world, whether historically or archaeologically, in Southeastern Europe, Italy, or Turkey"-- Provided by publisher Contents 6 Figures 9 Acknowledgments 15 1 Introduction 16 Part 1 24 2 The Institutional Church in Early Christian Greece 26 3 The Early Byzantine Fortress of Velika on the Coast of Kissavos, Thessaly 37 4 Urban and Rural Settlement in Early Byzantine Attica (4th–7th Centuries) 53 Part 2 66 5 The ‘Byzantine District’ of Gortyn (Crete) and the End of a/the Ancient Mediterranean City 68 6 Maritime Routes in the Aegean (7th–9th Centuries) 94 The 7th-Century Restoration of theAcheiropoietos Basilica and ItsSignificance for the Urban Continuityof Thessalonike during the ‘Dark Age’ 123 8 Some Remarks on the ‘Dark Age’ Architecture of Hagia Sophia, Thessalonike 136 Part 3 150 9 Bridging the Grande Brèche 152 10 Byzantine Butrint vis-à-vis ‘Dark Age’ Athens 181 11 The Defences of Middle Byzantium in Greece (7th–12th Centuries) 197 12 The Demographic and EconomicHistory of Byzantine Greece in theLong Durée 222 13 Middle Byzantine Hierissos 230 Part 4 240 14 Patronage of Religious Foundations in Middle Byzantine Greece (867–1204) 242 15 Church-Building in the Peloponnese 268 16 Hermits, Monks, and Nuns on Chalke, a Small Island of the Dodecanese from Early Christian to Middle Byzantine Times 280 Part 5 294 17 Loving the Poor 296 18 Economic Strategies of Landowners and Peasant Farmers during the 11th and 12th Centuries in Greece 317 19 The Merchant in Middle Byzantine Greece 329 Index 345