Late Antique and Byzantine Studies

As there are only a few sources for the study of city politics in late antique Italy, each existing account needs to be analysed exhaustively before any conclusions could be drawn. This is especially the case of a narrative of the siege of Naples, particularly rich in detail, written by Procopius (Wars v:8). The aim of the article is to establish the extent to which he stylised himself at Thucydides – and therefore, how much actual
information is conveyed by his account. At first, the reasons for describing this episode are investigated, revealing Belisarius’s interests in propagating a positive image of these
ferocious events. This analysis is followed by a meticulous comparison of Procopius’s Naples account with Thucydides’s narrative of the siege of Plateia, showing that for
Procopius following his great predecessor meant rather thinking like him than just copying his text. Then, the use of the words demos, politai and plethos in Procopius’s writings is analysed; thus it is proved that in the eyes of the historian the only way to
force the city to open its gates was to persuade the majority of its inhabitants to this decision. Finally, having compared the events in Naples to the situation of the rest of Italy at the eve of the Justinian’s re-conquest, one may conclude that in 536 AD urban politics in this important Western Mediterranean city followed traditional pattern in which decisions were reached through persuading the majority of inhabitants through
open debate.

Over the recent decades, archaeologists have unearthed abundant evidence for the existence of a prosperous rural world in the late antique East. However, only very slowly did the historians of late antiquity become aware of this phenomenon and comprehensive studies of its agricultural and socio-economic aspects started to appear as recently as the last few years. One of the key factors which must have facilitated the unparalleled development of agriculture underlying the prosperity of the late antique countryside were climatic fluctuations. Thanks to the growing body of scientific evidence, in particular palynological and limnological research, it is now possible to claim with relative certainty that late antiquity was a period of unusual humidity in the climatic history of the Mediterranean, and it was followed by a particularly dry centuries of the early Middle Ages. This study evaluates the degree to which these changes influenced agricultural developments by discussing three regional case studies: south-western Asia Minor (Lycia, Caria and Pisidia), the plains of south-central Anatolia, and Palestine. In almost every case, the more favourable late antique hydrological conditions made significantly easier, if not encouraged, the expansion of cultivation into environmentally marginal lands, while this boom in agricultural production must have created incentives for the development of rural economy in areas with more stable natural conditions. These complex technological and socio-economic processes attest to the capability of the eastern Roman society to respond skilfully to the changing natural conditions, which it owed to the complexity and flexibility inherited from the previous generations.

The aim of this paper is to study the history of landscape in northern Asia Minor – primarily Pontus
and Paphlagonia – since Late Antiquity till the end of the Middle Byzantine period (6 th-13th c. AD).
Most of the conclusions presented in this paper are based on palynological material, as potentially
relevant archaeological and textual evidence is scarce and poses serious interpretational problems.
In order to properly use the pollen data collected by Bottema, Woldring and Aytuğ, new age-
depth models were constructed with the use of clam age-modelling software, on the basis of the
radiocarbon dates obtained by the original investigators. Thus, the key turning points in the history
of northern Anatolian landscapes in the Byzantine era were identified. First, the transition from Late
Antiquity to the Middle Ages, which meant some diminishment of complex agricultural activities
in the very north of the region and their collapse in the south; second, relatively short “pasturing
phases” which seems to have occurred in many areas in the early medieval period; third, the Middle
Byzantine agricultural expansion halted most probably by the Turkish invasion; finally, the late
medieval recovery of agricultural activities. Unfortunately, as the archaeological evidence is very
inconclusive, almost nothing is known as regards the transformations of settlement which must have
accompanied each environmental change.

The two key questions: Dating: the only undoubtedly early medieval fortifications in Asia Minor are the imperial fortresses, e.g. Nicea, Amastris, Amorium, Amaseia, or Dereağzı in Lycia. Their chronological attribution is based on inscriptions, written sources or radiocarbon dating. On the ohter hand, there has been no excavations of any rural fortifications, up till now they have only been surveyed. Foss&Winfield (1986) proposed to use the presence of the "early medieval mortar type" (rubble stone+lime mortar, no facing) as a means of dating. Despite the critical reviews of Ousterhout and Bonde, this intuition has been widely accepted by the byzantinists. Possible functions: elite residences, military installations, fortified villages, seasonal shelters for flocks and shepherds, local quasi-urban centres, monasteries, temporary refuges, and also -old sites which were not used at all? The written sources hardly help to address this question.

This paper examines the archaeological, palynological and textual evidence for economic prosperity in the Anatolian countryside in Late Antiquity. Thanks to the separate analysis of data for coastal and inland regions, it shows that we do not see any substantial differences in the functioning of the rural economy between these two geographical zones. Therefore, the new demand from Constantinople for agricultural produce or a local economy’s proximity to a long-distance exchange network, cannot explain fully the observed phenomena. The vitality and complexity of local economies must also have played an important role in the economic expansion of Anatolia’s late antique countryside.

Adam Izdebski’s chapter focuses on intermediaries who may have transferred the knowledge of how Greek philosophers and rhetoricians taught and organised school life to the communities of Syriac-speaking Christians in Persian Mesopotamia. It therefore studies all possible channels of cultural communication between the School of Nisibis and the late antique Roman East. It turns out that the journeys of single individuals – in particular the future patriarch of the East, Mar Aba – may have provided the background for the striking similarities between these educational environments.

The purpose of this text is to introduce the reader to current debates on climate and history in Byzantium and the medieval Middle East (often referred to together as the Eastern Mediterranean). The first part presents recent advances in palaeoclimatic research concerning this part of the world, and explains differences between various scientific ways of studying the climate of the past. It is followed by a discussion of methodological and practical problems arising from linking the scientific study of the palaeoclimate with ‘classical’ historical research, pointing out the efforts that are currently being undertaken in order to overcome these challenges. The final
section reviews studies of the relationship between climate and history in the medieval Eastern Mediterranean published throughout the last few years by historians and archaeologists.

Summary of the introduction: This text summarises the state of research on the East Syriac School of Nisibis and its Canons; it is followed by a Polish translation of Arthur Vööbus’ critical edition of the Canons’ Syriac version. After presenting briefl the sources available for the study of the School, the paper discusses the current understanding of the School’s
history, theology and organisational structure. It pays special attention to the selfawareness of this community, its contacts with the Western(Roman) world as well as its relation to the East Syriac monastic movement. The fial section is devoted to
the textual tradition of the Canons.