Byzantium Transformed

WARREN TREADOOLD. The Byzantine Revival 780–843. Stanford : Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. xv, 504. $49.50 (US). Reviewed by J.F. Haldon     

Autobiography and Hagiography in Byzantium

This article explores the interaction between hagiography and autobiography in Byzantine literature. As the most productive narrative genre, hagiography influenced the structure and content of autobiographical accounts. On the other hand, for some vitae the protagonist's autobiographical account constituted the primary written source. A hagiographical work, again, may have a highly autobiographical character insofar as the author refers to himself as the saint's associate who eye-witnessed the saint's exploits. In many cases the hagiograph's autobiographical remarks are sprinkled over the whole narrative. Other authors present the life, or part of it, in a separate section, located usually toward the end of the text. The present study also points to common features in hagiographical autobiography and other forms of autobiographical writing, that constitute the conventions of a standardized way of written self-representation in Byzantium.     

Cases of stroke on the throne of Byzantium

The authors describe the fatal illnesses of three Byzantine emperors, Alexander, Michael IX Palaeologus and Manuel II Palaeologus, who may have died of a stroke. From the texts of Byzantine historians and the indications of chroniclers, it was found that Alexander died of a stroke (possibly cerebral hemorrhage); Michael IX Palaeologus died of what seems to have been the same disease and the the last of these emperors, Manuel II Palaeologus, of hemiplegia. This paper provides the opportunity to see how the non-medical texts of historians and chroniclers adopt and express the scientific Byzantine terminology of the medical writers of the period, which is used differently today.     

Byzantium confronts its neighbours: Islam and the crusaders in the twelfth century

Abstract

The fall of the Byzantine empire at the end of the twelfth century and the debacle of 1204 had complex causes, most of which are far beyond the scope of a short paper. However, it is very evident that military failure was a powerful element in the Byzantine collapse. The enquiry that follows seeks to establish the reasons for this failure by examining the nature of the empire's armies and the events of particular campaigns. It is evident that sweeping generalizations about military failure need considerable qualification and that the outcome of individual expeditions was influenced by particular circumstances. Yet it does appear that it is possible to see certain general factors at work undermining, or at least limiting, the military efforts of Byzantium.     

Everyday Life in Byzantium: Some Problems of Aproach

Abstract

In 1554 a Franciscan friar of Angoulěme, André Thevet, published at Lyons his Cosmographie de Levant. The author had recently returned from a three year journey to Constantinople and the Holy Land, and the Cosmographie was the first of a number of geographical works.     

开罗会议新论

开罗会议不仅对维护中国主权和领土完整、提高中国国际地位具有重要的意义 ,而且它是一次构建远东国际新体系的尝试。中美两国的首脑从各自的国家利益出发 ,在讨论战时远东政治、军事问题的同时 ,也在规划战后的远东国际政治格局 ,并确立了中美两国在其中的战略关系和合作模式 ,笔者称之为开罗设想。虽然开罗设想存在严重缺陷 ,在抗战后期被远东雅尔塔体系所取代 ,但它充分体现了罗斯福和蒋介石的外交思想