The task that the Editorial Council of Studia Ceranea has set before itself is the gradual creation of a scientific journal, interdisciplinary in character, which will offer specialist articles, reviews and notes on newly published monographs. Along these lines, we will attempt to cross the limits of the narrow specializations restricted to Byzantine or Slavic studies; the papers contributed would represent various aspects of the Late Ancient, Byzantine and Slavic culture of the eastern Mediterranean Area largissimo sensu and South-East Europe, which – we claim – forms an integrity, for all its diversity. Consequently, the journal, based on previous models of other respectable journals devoted to similar subject matters, utilizes the methodology and achievements of disciplines used in the study of Late Antiquity, Middle Ages and early Modern Era and is ready to face the new challenges posed by contemporary humanist thought.
Assessing the Demographic and Economic Parameters that Determined the Residential History of Medieval Central Greece: the Case of Western Sterea Hellas
The principal objective of this study is to investigate the demographic and economic parameters that shaped the settlement dynamics of medieval Central Greece (Sterea Hellas) over a broad chronological span extending from the 12th to the 16th century. Given the fragmentary and often insufficient nature of surviving Byzantine-era sources, the most effective means of avoiding vague generalizations is to adopt a long-term analytical perspective, using the comparatively rich Ottoman data from the mid-15th to the 16th century as a basis for retrospective interpretation. Throughout this period, the spatial organization of the region – particularly the contrast between the mountainous and semi-mountainous zones of Aetoloakarnania and Evrytania and the lowland plains of Fthiotida – profoundly influenced patterns of agricultural production and pastoral activity. Documentation from the late Byzantine period regarding settlement structures remains limited, with narrative sources, primarily historiographical in nature, offering only sporadic and anecdotal references. By contrast, the Ottoman fiscal censuses (tahrir defters) provide a far more systematic dataset, recording local tax revenues and offering detailed information on the composition of the taxable population, thus enabling a more grounded reconstruction of settlement and economic patterns in the region. The available evidence points to a relatively smooth transition following the establishment of Ottoman rule in the region. In this context, the consolidation of political authority contributed to the stabilization and even revitalization of the local urban network and the broader settlement landscape, suggesting that the process of Ottoman integration fostered a degree of continuity and structural reinforcement rather than abrupt disruption.
Copyright (c) 2025 George Terezakis https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Text-Critical Notes to Constantine of Preslav’s Didactic Gospel
Constantine of Preslav’s Učitel’noe evangelie was written at the end of the ninth century but came down to us in only four full, much later, copies from the twelfth (the single East Slavonic manuscript [S]) to the fourteenth century (the other three South Slavonic manuscripts [G, H, W]). Copies are both scarce and distant in time and place as well as different in script from their lost (Glagolitic) protograph, with the result that scribal errors are inevitable, yet not always noted. The article proposes three methodological approaches to reconstruct some of the lexemes distorted by the manuscript tradition, even in passages without an attested Greek source text. The first approach relies on variant readings in situations that lack a Greek parallel. In cases that lack variant readings, the second method is applied, which considers references and allusions to Biblical or patristic texts to elucidate the meaning behind sometimes incomprehensible phrases. The third approach counts on the very meaning of the respective portion of text (i.e., the direct context of a word) and the rhetorical techniques used in it.
Old Bulgarian / Old Church Slavonic translations from Greek
Copyright (c) 2025 Ekaterina Dikova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Octopus as a Literary Figure in Imperial-Era Literature
An examination of didactic and scholarly texts composed between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE reveals that the passages concerning the octopus exhibit recurring thematic and structural features. These commonalities suggest the existence of a literary model for representing the octopus during this period. Moreover, they exemplify the use of fictional narratives as a vehicle for artistic and entertainment purposes. In them, the figure of the octopus appears as a thief who, equipped with the qualities attributed to him by literary traditions (including the ability to walk, climb a tree, unusual culinary tastes, cunning character, and thieving inclinations) commits a sneaky theft, not infrequently linked to an assault, a fight and a sad end to the negative character. The tales about the octopus are thus part of the trend of sophistically created adventure plots based on playing with literary heritage.
Copyright (c) 2025 Marta Czapińska-Bambara https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Autocephalous Structure of the Orthodox Church in a Historical – Canonical Perspective
It is well known that the foundations of Church organization were established by the Holy Apostles themselves, who were the first to spread the teachings of Christ. They fulfilled this mission in accordance with the command of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18–19), as they traveled to various regions to establish Christian communities. Initially, each Christian community, led by its bishop, constituted a distinct ecclesiastical unit, which may be regarded as the prototype of the modern local autocephalous Churches. The existence of multiple, distinct, and independent local Churches does not hinder conciliarity within the Church. On the contrary, the major issues concerning the life of the entire Church were historically resolved through conciliar processes. With the recognition of Christianity as a legally equal religion under Emperor Constantine the Great, the organization of Church dioceses began to mirror the administrative divisions of the Roman Empire. By the 4th century, this alignment was fully realized. In the centuries that followed, the structuring of local Churches developed gradually, shaped by historical circumstances.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ivan Yovchev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Beautiful and ‘Fiery in Spirit’? The Complexity of the Image of Emperor Isaac II Angelos in the History by Niketas Choniates
The depiction of Isaac II Angelos in the History of Niketas Choniates, rounded off with the full description of the emperor in the final paragraph of the account on his first reign (1185–1195), is by far the most complex of all imperial portrayals penned by the respectable historian. The outdated, typically negative image of Isaac II in modern historiography is based only on the surface level of Choniates’ intricate historical narrative, which has been analyzed in greater depth only in the more recent studies. As this paper shall hopefully demonstrate, despite of all literary distortion of his personality, Isaac II remains the most realistically represented character in the History, and the most tangible one, embodying the author’s philosophical-anthropological thought on human nature. The aforementioned description represents a set of authentic body features that meet the criteria of the Byzantine (male) beauty ideal, but it possibly connotes additional meaning, thus making the overall portrayal of Isaac II in the History uniquely complete.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Cagić https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Once Again About the Short Slavic Redactions of Zonaras’ Chronicle
Recent research into the history of the transmission of Zonaras’ Chronicle in the Slavic Orthodox World has shown that three short redactions of it were compiled from the so-called full Slavic redaction, an abridged version of the Greek original. Only one of those redactions, known as Paralipomenon, has been published and studied. Dating back to the beginning of the 16th century, it survives in a Russian copy (Moscow, Russian State Library, depository 113, MS Volokolamskij 655, ff. 1–122v). The second short redaction has been preserved in two Serbian manuscripts (Belgrade, Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, MS 42, ff. 125r–221v, the second fourth of 15th century around 1430/1440) and Cavtat, Collection of Baltazar Bogišič, MS 52, 1st section ff. 1–83v, the third fourth of the 16th century. The third short redaction is preserved in a draft copy, kept in the library in Zograph monastery under № 105 and dated 1433. This redaction is in its structure and segmentation based on the text of the second short redaction. However, it contains a large number of interpolations taken mostly from the prophetologion. The article reveals links between these two redactions and attempts to prove that Constantine of Kostenets was involved in the compilation of both of them. The relevant evidence is provided by editorial remarks that follow the text of the Chronicle. The remarks were copied into both the Belgrade 42 and Cavtat 52 manuscripts by mistake. The excerpted and analyzed linguistic material undoubtedly confirms Constantine’s intervention in both redactions.
Copyright (c) 2025 Anna-Maria Totomanova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Theodore Syncellus, The Homilies ‘On the Robe’ and ‘On the Siege’, trans. with introduction and notes by Michael Whitby, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2024 [= Translated Texts for Historians, 86], pp. 156
Copyright (c) 2025 Zofia Aleksandra Brzozowska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The 722 Slavic Manuscript from the Library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest and the Polish Chronicle
This article is devoted to a brief Cyrillic text, known as “Polish Chronicle”. Presently kept in the library of the Romanian Academy in Bucharest, it was included in a 16th century Tetraevangelium (BAR, Ms. sl. 722). Only a small part of the text has survived, as the rest of the folio was cut off. It is a local chronicle from Galicia (then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) recording various events, most of which pertain to Polish-Tatar relations. From the surviving fragment, one may conclude that it is a kind of sylva rerum – a form of chronicle writing which was popular in that region and during this era. Although the text is brief and poorly preserved, I believe that researchers should be familiar with it.
Copyright (c) 2025 Ivan Biliarsky https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Gone Like Smoke or Mist – the Beauty and Wonders of Constantinople in Vernacular Laments on its Fall in 1453
In this paper, I will focus on the images of Constantinople’s past glory in literary texts written between the fifteenth and seventeenth century in vernacular Greek to express the sorrow after the fall of the City in 1453. To depict the images of Constantinople in the collective memory of the Greeks, I am going to discuss the following anonymous vernacular laments: Ἀνακάλημα τῆς Κωνσταντινόπολης, Ἅλωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Θρήνος και κλαυθμός περί της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως and Θρῆνος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. The four texts deserve attention not only for linguistic and literary reasons, but also for providing a number of interesting insights into the relationship between the East and West and the way the Greeks perceived the past glory of Byzantium. For further exemplification, I will also use some monodies written in a rhetorical style in classicizing Greek. The comparative analysis will reveal common patterns of perception of Constantinople’s past glory in the Greek world after the fall of the City, as well as common ways in which Constantinople was conceptualised in the post-Byzantine period, in various, sometimes distant regions of the Greek world, where the City had already been largely perceived in mythical terms.
Copyright (c) 2026 Michał Bzinkowski https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
How to Justify a Murderer: Ancient Rhetorical Echoes in Alexandre Sylvain Van den Bussche’s Épitomes de cent histoires tragiques
In 1581, Alexandre Sylvain Van den Bussche published in Paris his most significant work, Épitomes de cent histoires tragiques, a collection formally indebted to Seneca the Elder’s Controversiae. The thematic material is derived both from classical and contemporary sources, while also reflecting the inventive capacity of an erudite author who freely appropriates ancient exempla in order to illuminate the realities of the sixteenth century. Each epitome is structured in three parts: an initial exposition of the case, followed by two opposing orations articulating pro et contra positions. Of particular scholarly interest is the judicial discourse that subjects the act of homicide to moral evaluation. In this context, one observes – often with considerable astonishment – the paradoxical construction of the speaker’s ethos (whether as prosecutor or advocate), the deployment of a rigorously organized network of arguments and rhetorical figures, and the calculated appeal to the affective disposition of the reader, who assumes the role of witness to a simulated trial. Through these strategies, the author foregrounds a striking form of axiological relativism. Such a procedure deliberately destabilizes the interpretive horizon of the audience, compelling them to interrogate values that might otherwise appear self-evident. It provokes a series of unsettling questions: must the individual who has killed with premeditation necessarily be judged guilty? Are we confronted with sophistic reasoning? Can the author be regarded as a neutral arbiter? Ultimately, it is the reader who bears the responsibility of exercising critical initiative in the search for answers.
Copyright (c) 2025 Justyna Giernatowska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Image of Caliph ‘Ali in the Chronography of Theophanes
The article is an attempt to analyse the references used in Theophanes’ Chronography regarding the last rightly guided caliph, ‘Ali. Despite the importance that this ruler ultimately acquired in the historiography of Islam, the Chronography references do not confirm this at all. Theophanes did not even recognize him as a legitimate ruler. He presented ‘Ali as a usurper who had lost the war with Mu‘awiya. Moreover, he appears in these fragments as a man supported either by the “desert people” or by the Persians, elements alien to the core of the new Muslim state, which for Theophanes seems to be Syria and Egypt. The differences in the presentation of Mu‘awiya’s victor by the Byzantine historian and the Abbasid historiography, as well as the contradictions between Theophanes’ version and those presented by Syriac sources, suggest that Theophanes may have presented the Umayyad version of events in certain fragments of his work regarding intra-Islamic conflicts.
Copyright (c) 2025 Błażej Cecota https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Eugénie Rébillard, Imposer l’ordre. La police dans les villes et les campagnes de l’Iraq abbasside (132–334/750–945), Presses de l’Ifpo, Beyrouth 2024 [= Études arabes, médiévales et modernes, 306], pp. 724, https://doi.org/10.4000/13m0h
Magic, Demons, and Heretics: Three Puzzling Cases in The Letter of Euthymius of Akmonia
This study explores the theme of magic and demons in the anti-heretical Letter written by Euthymius, an 11th-century monk from the Monastery of Theotokos Perivleptos in Constantinople. The Letter was aimed at his fellow countrymen from Acmonia and primarily targeted the Phundagiagites, also known as the Bogomils, along with the Armenians. Given the significant role of the demonic nature of heresies in his accusations, it is crucial to examine the Christian Church’s perception of how heretics are believed to communicate with demons. The paper argues that Euthymius used accusatory arguments about demons in two main ways: first, through a general characterisation of heresies, and second, by recounting several fictional stories involving levitation, lycanthropy, lecanomancy, and teleportation. It aims to provide an interpretation of three of these stories that have been previously misunderstood or overlooked in research: the desecration of a newly constructed church by a priest at Hieron, the lecanomancy involving teleportation performed by a magus for the heretic Lycopetros, and the unsuccessful attempt at teleportation by Terevinthos. By analysing these cases, the author aims to deepen our understanding of the rhetorical strategy of heresiological texts, which incorporate narratives about sacrilege, magic, and demons to condemn heresies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Mirena Slavova https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Représenter la flaua bilis: le portrait du colérique dans l’Iconologia de Cesare Ripa
Representing the flaua bilis: the Portrait of the Choleric in Cesare Ripa’s Iconology. The theory of the four humours (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) forms the basis of ancient medicine. Coming from the Hippocratic corpus and completed by Galen of Pergamum (129–216 AD) in his De Temperamentis by means of individual complexions (blood, phlegmatic, angry, melancholic), this theory is essential in modern Europe after more than two thousand years of transmission, development and practice of medicine. Our article aims to examine its fortune in the Iconology of the Italian scholar Cesare Ripa (1555–1622). Starting with the Roman edition of 1603, he enriched his famous allegorical repertoire with a complex entry encoding the four temperaments: Collerico per il fuoco, Sanguigno per l’aria, Flemmatico per l’acqua, Malenconico per la terra. We work here only with the Choleric and undertake to determine the reasons which governed the choice of the attributes retained by C. Ripa (youth, nudity, sword, shield adorned with a flame, lion, fury in the gaze) to offer poets, painters and sculptors the archetype of a figure dominated by yellow, hot and dry bile. To this end, we analyze the medical, literary and iconographic sources on which the author relies, considering also the richness and complexity of the medical discourse he had at his disposal and the very purpose of his Iconology.
Copyright (c) 2022 Magdalena Koźluk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Representing the atra bilis: The ‘Said’ and ‘Unsaid’ of the Melancholic in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia
This article is the third in a series of works which aims to contribute to documenting the influence of the medical theory of individual temperaments, derived from the theory of the four humors, through the major work Iconologia by the Italian humanist Cesare Ripa (1555–1622). Here, we studied the allegory of the melancholic. Beyond the work aimed at situating it within the medical tradition, we were particularly interested in the relationship between text and image and the interplay between expression (explicite) and silence (implicite) that is so frequent in the work. We thus undertook to analyse all the symbolic attributes of Ripa’s composition according to whether they appear in the engraving, in the text, in both, and whether they are commented on or not. The importance given at the end of the text to the teachings of the School of Salerno also allowed us to better understand the synthetic thought of the Italian humanist and, consequently, the overall economy of the Iconologia. Thus, in the course of our reflection on the modes of expression of the ‘said’ and ‘unsaid’ in the definition of the melancholic temperament in Ripa, we attempted to account for the internal mechanics of his work and the nature of the rhetorical strategies (both textual and visual) of his discursive architecture.
textual and visual rhetorical strategies
Copyright (c) 2024 Magdalena Koźluk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Relations between the Komitopules and the Peoples of the Steppes of Eastern Europe. A Vain Hope for an Alliance
Medieval Bulgaria maintained relations with the Pontic nomadic communities. The times of the rule of the Komitopules were not exceptional in this respect. In the face of a difficult war with Byzantium, the Hungarians and Pechenegs could prove to be valuable allies. Relations with the former deteriorated during the construction of the feudal kingdom of the Arpads, associated with Latin Christianity. Only John Skylitzes writes about the would-be alliance of the Bulgarians with the Pecheneg tribes. It was supposed to take place in 1017, but the Pechenegs gave up supporting the Bulgarians. The reason could have been the actions of the Byzantines, who, by intervening in Black Sea Khazaria or exerting diplomatic pressure, could have persuaded the Pechenegs to withdraw. It cannot be ruled out that the Pechenegs were threatened by Rus’ or actions taken by Bolesław I the Brave, who after the mission of St. Bruno entered into closer relations with the Pechenegs. After all, Bulgaria after 1017 could not count on the support of potential northern allies.
Bulgaria and Byzantium in 10th–11th century
Copyright (c) 2025 Jarosław Dudek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Zofia A. Brzozowska, София – олицетворенная Премудрость Божия. История сюжета в византийско-славянской культуре [Sophia – the Personification of Divine Wisdom. The History of the Notion in the Byzantine-Slavic Culture], Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2024 [= Byzantina Lodziensia, 48], pp. 402, https://doi.org/10.18778/8331-545-4
Copyright (c) 2025 Justyna Dopierała https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Codex Suprasliensis. Kodeks Supraski czyli Cyrylicka Księga Supraska w przekładzie na język polski [Codex Suprasliensis. Suprasliensis Cyryllic Book in Polish Translation], ed. priest H. Paprocki, Książnica Podlaska, Białystok 2023, pp. 438
Representing the Ideal: The Portrait of the Sanguine in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia
This article is the fourth and final in a series of works aimed at contributing to the documentation of the success of the medical theory of individual complexions, derived from the theory of the four humours, through the major work of the Italian humanist Cesare Ripa (1555–1622), the Iconologia. We study the allegory of the sanguine complexion, whose primacy over the other three is explicitly established in medical tradition. We analyze, through the allegorical attributes mentioned in the text (youth, joy, a crown of flowers, a ruddy face tinged with white, a lute, an open book of music, a ram grazing on a cluster of grapes), the way in which Ripa seeks to portray this ideal of health. We also demonstrate that the author slightly diverges from the medical canon. Firstly, his extensive synthesis of the doctrine leads him to introduce certain pathological dissonances, perceptible in the use of unexpected terms. Secondly, to account for a well-tempered character, he prefers to follow an ancient literary tradition which, nonetheless, maintains very close links with the Hippocratic corpus since its origins. Finally, it appears that the Sanguigno per l’aria contains no new symbolic invention, matching what we previously observed in the Flemmatico and the Malenconico.
Copyright (c) 2025 Magdalena Koźluk https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Translation of Medieval Sources and Historical Reconstruction: a New Perspective on the Problem of the Birth Year of the Bulgarian Tsar John II Assen (1218–1241)
The article examines the important topic of the limits of interpretation when studying medieval sources through the prism of a particular example taken from the History of George Akropolites. Without sufficient information to establish the facts, scholars often resort to analyzing separate words and expressions from the source text, whose translation and interpretation may prove decisive in clarifying the information contained within it. As the present paper demonstrates, however, the possibilities of this approach are sometimes limited and do not always allow the study to be carried out to completion. In such cases, it is crucial to clearly distinguish between irrefutable conclusions, on the one hand, and assumptions, on the other. The superimposition of a number of hypotheses and a historical reconstruction based on them may lead to long-term negative consequences for researching a given scientific problem by giving inaccurate ideas about historical events, phenomena and processes, and may mislead the next generations of historians.
translating and publishing historical sources
terminology on stages of childhood and juvenility
Copyright (c) 2025 Kiril Gospodinov https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Art of Tradition: The Armenian Gospel Books (Seventeenth Century) in the Gulbenkian Collection
This paper presents preliminary notes on three seventeenth-century Armenian Gospel Books preserved in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. For the first time, these manuscripts are examined through a comprehensive art-historical lens, with attention also given to their codicological and material features. These codices attest to an unbroken manuscript tradition flourishing within the Armenian diaspora communities of Constantinople, Isfahan/New Julfa, and Crimea during the seventeenth century. Their production history and the art of their illuminations reveal both the social demand for such works and the enduring artistic preferences rooted in the medieval legacy of Armenian manuscript culture.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hermine Grigoryan, Maria Adelaide Miranda, Lusine Sargsyan, Jorge Rodrigues, Karen Matevosyan, Maria João Melo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Two Unrecognized Hydronyms on the Island of Crete
This paper discusses two possible hydronyms of Ancient Crete. The first question refers to a Cretan river flowing along the boundaries of the ancient city of Lato (IC I, XVI, 5, line 67). It is suggested that the epigraphical phrase καὶ κατὰ ποταμόν “and along a river” should be correctly rendered as καὶ κατὰ Ποταμόν “and along [the river] Potamós”. The ancient river in question is commonly identified as the river called Potamós (or tou Merabéllou to Potámi or Xiropótamos or Xeropótamos ton Potámon), which flowed from the Dicte mountains to the Merabello Bay. It is suggested that the East Cretans preserved the ancient name Ποταμός (literally ‘River’) for more than two millennia. The second problem relates to the Hesychian gloss: †ἀλλάθαρον· ἁλμυρόν. Κρῆτες (“allátharon: something salty. Cretans”). This is a compound noun containing the Greek term ἅλς m. ‘salt’ in the former part and the Anatolian *u̯atharu n. ‘well, spring, source’ (cf. Hittite u̯attaru) in the latter one. The Hesychian gloss may alternatively be interpreted as a proper name Ἀλλάθαρον, which originally denoted a Cretan saltwater source (and river) called Αλμυρός/Αρμυρός in modern times.
Copyright (c) 2025 Elwira Kaczyńska https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Celibacy, Priesthood, Marriage, Puberty and Popular Culture in the Works of 14th Century Tarnovo Authors
This article explores several real examples of celibacy, marriage and puberty in the works of 14th century Tarnovo authors. It explores several key issues: celibacy in both its manifestations – the orthodox and the heretical, among medieval Bulgarians, the interpretation of different problems concerning marriage, puberty, priesthood and spiritual brotherhood in these works, including the conflicts between church and popular culture. Evidence about promiscuity and other deviations is also discussed. Conclusions have been drawn based on analysis of different writings: letters, treatises, biographies of saints, panegyrics, apocryphal works and medieval breviaries.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hristo Saldzhiev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Some Alternative Translations of the Chronicle of Al-AnṬākī
The paper proposes numerous possible changes to the French translation of the chronicle of Al-Anṭākī. The proposed corrections are based on Arabic editions (including neglected variant readings of the manuscripts) and the author’s Polish translation of the said chronicle.
Copyright (c) 2025 Maciej Czyż https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Garum, Fish Blood Taboos in the Judaeo-Christian World and the Evolving Nature of Ancient Fish Sauce
The consumption of a fermented fish sauce appears as a fundamental part of Roman and Greek cuisine at every level of society and, in terms of amphora distribution, it was popular and widely consumed in every region of the empire. In the late Roman period, the fish sauces that were available appear to have subtly evolved in ways that reflect different attitudes to the consumption of fish blood. Sauces fermented using indigenous digestive enzymes from the viscera are in some instances rejected and replaced with the already familiar eviscerated and aged saltfish brines. These changes, though difficult to discern, may in part be related to the Judaeo-Christian prohibition on the consumption of blood which, though normally associated with meat, can also be understood to relate to fish blood. These differing attitudes towards fish sauce in relation to blood are to be found in orthodox Jewish and Christian communities in Palestine, Syria and Cyprus. In the late republic/early empire there appears to be three types of sauce and immense differences in quality depending on the species of fish employed, presence and absence of blood and viscera, salinity and the duration of fermentation. Under the Byzantine empire there is continuity in the consumption of an enzyme fermented sauce, though not as widespread, while in the West, fish sauce had become unpopular in some quarters, and scarce in terms of trade. This period of transition between what was widespread popularity and consumption in the Roman empire to irregular scarcity in the Christian West is discussed in this paper in relation to perceptions of food prohibitions.
Copyright (c) 2024 Sally Grainger https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
A Sixth-century Story in a Nineth-century Tract? Torna, torna, frater Revisited
This article focuses on the Latin words torna and frater. According to the accounts of Theophylact Simocatta and Theophanes the Confessor, the words were used by soldiers participating in the Byzantine-Avar war campaign in the Haemus mountains in 587. Relying mainly on the passage from the chronicle of Theophanes, Romanian scholars have interpreted the words as an early form of a Balkan Romance idiom spoken by the local population. The two words would not be strong enough evidence to support the view that this is a sample of early Balkan Romance language in the sixth-century Thrace. The analysis of the words, as well as of the context in which they were used, links the phrase “torna, torna, frater” to Vulgar Latin and sermo castrensis. The author also argues that the chroniclers dramatized the accounts of the episode where the words were used. Additionally, the form fratre, which is found in two manuscript copies from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, seems to be an interpolation from a medieval Western Romance language, likely early Italian, and should not be identified with any language used in the Balkans. “Torna torna fratre” should be viewed as indicating a grasp of Italianate Latin within the Middle Byzantine context. This view contradicts the earlier assertions on the subject.
Theophylact Simocatta’s Universal History
Copyright (c) 2024 Elisabeta Negrău https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Byzantine East and Bulgaria – The Eastern Armies of Byzantium in the Wars Against the First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018)
This article deals with the engagement of the Byzantine eastern troops in the wars the empire waged against Bulgaria from the late seventh until the early eleventh centuries. To this end, both narrative and sphragistic sources are examined, and the data obtained are compared in order to get as full as possible picture of the composition of the Byzantine armies which fought against early medieval Bulgaria. Here the subject is analysed mainly from the Byzantine perspective. This helps outline certain trends in the development of the Byzantine army and the general Byzantine military strategy when Bulgaria is concerned.
Copyright (c) 2024 Symeon Antonov https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Clergy during the Fourth Crusade as Portrayed in Robert of Clari’s Chronicle
This article deals with the view of clerical participants in the Fourth Crusade found in Robert of Clari’s Old-French chronicle La conquête de Constantinople. The author has analysed the chronicler’s references to members of the clergy, specifying three different types of clergymen who took part in the expedition to Constantinople.
Copyright (c) 2024 Zdzisław Pentek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Ambroise Paré and Laurent Joubert, Knowledge and Beliefs about Pregnancy in 16th Century France
Our article is devoted to the science of female anatomy in the 16th century, particularly the practices and beliefs related to pregnancy and childbirth. We analysed the academic discourse presented in the Œuvres of Ambroise Paré (1510–1590), physician and surgeon, to compare it with the Erreurs Populaires by Laurent Joubert (1529–1583), physician and professor at Montpellier. Through our research, we were able to establish an overview of the knowledge, beliefs, and methods practiced at the time for treating the female body, not only in the medical field but also among the laypeople. Firstly, we examined the signs and progression of pregnancy as depicted in Paré’s Œuvres and Joubert’s Erreurs Populaires. Next, we focused on childbirth itself, the complications during delivery, and the solutions envisioned at the time to address them. After comparing these different discourses, we found that the approaches and objectives of these two physicians are quite distinct. Paré remains faithful to the theories of the ancients despite his extensive experience, whereas Joubert appears closer to practical applications in his attack on the numerous beliefs prevalent in society. However, while these differences significantly distinguish the two discourses and their targeted readerships differ in nature, both authors generally address the same questions and highlight the problems that women and physicians faced at the time.
French medical discourse of the 16th century
Copyright (c) 2024 Victoria Bujak https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Taxonomy of Patience in Sixteenth-century Florentine Political Thought
This article examines the concept of pazienza present in the writings of Machiavelli and Guicciardini. It turned out that it is closely related to key concepts for their considerations, such as Fortune, Time or Opportunity, and is classified and valued by them in social interaction within the political hierarchy. In Machiavelli, the term pazienza is an expression of patient enduring of an inconvenient situation, which should be assessed positively or negatively depending on who is patient and in what circumstances. In the context of social relations, Machiavelli perceives the effects of patience rather negatively, because for him it is mainly an expression of weakness, leading to or resulting from the loss of political position. For Guicciardini, patience means the ability to endure adversity, but also the ability to wait for the right moment to take action. Guicciardini emphasizes the ambivalent meaning of patience, which, on the one hand, is passive bearing of someone else’s will, and on the other, as an expression of understanding the situation, turns out to be necessary when concluding alliances, negotiations and conducting military activities, i.e. it is simply indispensable in socio-political life, because it promotes implementation of plans, but also limits the use of violence.
Copyright (c) 2024 Marta Czapińska-Bambara https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0