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The papers in this volumes consider literacy, education and manuscript transmission in Byzantium and its neighbouring worlds, areas which to date have received surprisingly little sustained scholarly treatment among Byzantinists. Contributions include an overview, survey papers and individual case studies, many of which draw on recently discovered or rarely consulted sources: literary sources include astrological texts, saints' lives and florilegia as well as documentary texts, art and archaeological evidence. The contributors' fields reflect the interdisciplinary scope of this volume, covering history, art history, literary studies and palaeography. The volume looks in detail at Byzantium, but also includes papers on Rus, the Middle East, and the Jewish contribution. The book's eastern perspectives offer interesting comparisons and contrasts with the medieval West. The book is illustrated with plates showing illuminated manuscripts and archaeological artefacts.
The contributors are Paul Botley, Simon Franklin, Catherine Holmes, Erica Hunter, John Lowden, Paul Magdalino, Margaret Mullett, Stefan Reif, Charlotte Roueche, Natalie Tchernetska, and Judith Waring.
About the author
Catherine Holmes, Ph.D. (1999) in Modern History, University of Oxford, is tutor in Medieval History at University College, Oxford. Her research interests include the political and diplomatic history of Byzantium in the tenth and eleventh centuries.
Judith Waring, Ph.D. (1999) in Byzantine History, Queen's University of Belfast, is currently Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History, based at the Institute of Byzantine Studies, Belfast. She works on aspects of literacy and 'book culture' in Byzantium in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
