Reading in the Byzantine Empire and Beyond

Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzantine Empire and its sphere of influence, this volume addresses a paradox. Advanced literacy was rare among imperial citizens, being restricted by gender and class. Yet the state's economic, religious and political institutions insisted on the fundamental importance of the written record. Starting from the materiality of codices, documents and inscriptions, the volume's contributors draw attention to the evidence for a range of interactions with texts. They examine the role of authors, compilers and scribes. They look at practices such as the close perusal of texts in order to produce excerpts, notes, commentaries and editions. But they also analyse the social implications of the constant intersection of writing with both image and speech. Showcasing current methodological approaches, this collection of essays aims to place a discussion of Byzantium within the mainstream of medieval textual studies.

“'Reading in the Byzantine Empire and Beyond is packed with Byzantine scholarship. Its wide range of topics extends from the very first steps of the educational procedure to the results of the Byzantine intellectuality, even outside the empire's borders. It will be a valuable source for specialized researchers as well as an excellent introductory tool for any scholar interested in the Byzantine universe of books and literature.' Elias Petrou, Digital Philology”

'Scholars and interested readers will find a wide range of texts with extensive and informative notes and a lengthy bibliography.' S. Bowman, Choice

Teresa Shawcross is Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, New Jersey. Interested in the pre-modern book, she has studied the materiality of manuscripts, the role of authors, translators and scribes, and the interplay between literacy and orality. Publications include: The Chronicle of Morea: Historiography in Crusader Greece (2009). Ida Toth is Senior Instructor and Lecturer, and Research Fellow at University of Oxford. She convenes graduate courses in Medieval Latin, Byzantine Greek, and Byzantine Epigraphy. She has published on inscriptional culture and court rhetoric, and on the transmission of the Life of Aesop and the Book of Syntipas the Philosopher.

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