Tag: Constantinople

March 14, 2023

The Three Romes Moscow, Constantinople, and Rome

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Free Download Francis R. Nicosia, "The Three Romes: Moscow, Constantinople, and Rome"
English | ISBN: 1138539120 | 2017 | 332 pages | EPUB | 1191 KB
Moscow, Constantinople (now Istanbul), and Rome itself are vitally alive in the present and are magnets for tourists. Also going back a long way, each lives in history. These cities have their points in common, each wanting to rule the world and establish Rome of the Caesars, Constantinople of the Emperors, and Moscow of the Tsars were also the Rome of St. Peter, the Constantinople of the Patriarchs, and the Moscow of the Orthodox Metropolitans. These were cities on earth that aspired to heaven, kingdoms that succeeded each other as standard-bearers of Christianity from the fourth century on. Indeed, the Russian monk declared to the Tsar: "Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth shall never besh the kingdom of heaven on earth. People, recognizing this, link them together as the Three Romes. These cities differ, though, in their understanding of man’s nature and business. The Three Romes are three places and also states of mind. Now, with a new introduction which describes the contemporary significance to these cities this book will be assessable to the modern reader at all levels.

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February 25, 2023

Constantinople and its Hinterland

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Cyril Mango, Gilbert Dagron, "Constantinople and its Hinterland: Papers from the Twenty-Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Oxford, April 1993"
English | 1995 | pages: 444 | ISBN: 0860784878 | PDF | 45,6 mb
From its foundation, the city of Constantinople dominated the Byzantine world. It was the seat of the emperor, the centre of government and church, the focus of commerce and culture, by far the greatest urban centre; its needs in terms of supplies and defense imposed their own logic on the development of the empire. Byzantine Constantinople has traditionally been treated in terms of the walled city and its immediate suburbs. In this volume, containing 25 papers delivered at the 27th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies held at Oxford in 1993, the perspective has been enlarged to encompass a wider geographical setting, that of the city’s European and Asiatic hinterland. Within this framework a variety of interconnected topics have been addressed, ranging from the bare necessities of life and defence to manufacture and export, communications between the capital and its hinterland, culture and artistic manifestations and the role of the sacred.

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February 19, 2023

The Hypotyposis of the Monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis, Constantinople

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R. H. Jordan, "The Hypotyposis of the Monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis, Constantinople "
English | ISBN: 140943687X | 2012 | 330 pages | EPUB | 731 KB
This book forms part of the Evergetis Project which aims to investigate all surviving texts associated with the Monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis founded in 1049 near Constantinople. A book-length introduction sets out the historical significance of the house for the development of Byzantine monasticism and discusses its administration, liturgy and way of life. An English translation of the Hypotyposis (the monastery’s foundation document) is provided, accompanied by detailed notes. Previous scholarship on the authorship of the Hypotyposis and the evolution of the text is discussed and linguistic analysis used to suggest that traces of the original foundation document by Paul Evergetinos can be identified within it. The Hypotyposis was widely used as a model for later Byzantine and Slavonic typika and the precise relationship of these documents one to the other is demonstrated in detail. The volume also includes prosopographical material on the known patrons of the monastery, a discussion of its library, English translations of later Greek and Latin texts referring to the monastery and a suggested reconstruction of Paul Evergetinos’ original foundation document.

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February 18, 2023

Between Constantinople and Rome An Illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book

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Kathleen Maxwell, "Between Constantinople and Rome: An Illuminated Byzantine Gospel Book"
English | 2014 | pages: 392 | ISBN: 1409457443, 0367600889 | PDF | 96,9 mb
This is a study of the artistic and political context that led to the production of a truly exceptional Byzantine illustrated manuscript. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, codex grec 54 is one of the most ambitious and complex manuscripts produced during the Byzantine era. This thirteenth-century Greek and Latin Gospel book features full-page evangelist portraits, an extensive narrative cycle, and unique polychromatic texts. However, it has never been the subject of a comprehensive study and the circumstances of its commission are unknown. In this book Kathleen Maxwell addresses the following questions: what circumstances led to the creation of Paris 54? Who commissioned it and for what purpose? How was a deluxe manuscript such as this produced? Why was it left unfinished? How does it relate to other Byzantine illustrated Gospel books? Paris 54’s innovations are a testament to the extraordinary circumstances of its commission. Maxwell’s multi-disciplinary approach includes codicological and paleographical evidence together with New Testament textual criticism, artistic and historical analysis. She concludes that Paris 54 was never intended to copy any other manuscript. Rather, it was designed to eclipse its contemporaries and to physically embody a new relationship between Constantinople and the Latin West, as envisioned by its patron. Analysis of Paris 54’s texts and miniature cycle indicates that it was created at the behest of a Byzantine emperor as a gift to a pope, in conjunction with imperial efforts to unify the Latin and Orthodox churches. As such, Paris 54 is a unique witness to early Palaeologan attempts to achieve church union with Rome.

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