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This paper aims at systemising the observations on the constructions used for expressing Future tense in the three known Old Slavonic translations of Vita Antonii Magni by Athansius Alexandrinus. The text was first translated in the early Old Church Slavonic period, while two other (Middle Bulgarian) translations were written in ca. 14th century. This makes the text suitable for observing the different strategies for expressing Future tense, both regarding the translation technique and its dynamics on a synchronic level, i.e., vis-à-vis other translations from the period, and from a diachronic perspective, i.e., paying closer attention to the discrepancies between the three translations themselves. The paper focuses on the Future periphrastic constructions used in the three Slavonic translations of the Life of St Anthony the Great by Athanasius of Alexandria. The approach is based on the relation with the Greek Vorlage, thus analysing closely the situation attested in the Greek original. Observations are made regarding the usage of the periphrases in the Slavonic texts adducing comparative material for similar phenomena from other early (Preslavian) and Middle Bulgarian texts. Some examples provided, as well as those from other texts, might suggest that the Old Church Slavonic periphrases were used not only to express Future tense per se, but for every non-Indicative (or non-factual) Present.

Galen’s great treatise on drugs, Simple Medicines, begins with 5 theoretical books which explain the mechanisms of drug actions in the following catalogues. The key agent of change is the mixture of the qualities hot, cold, wet and dry. But drugs also have substance, the leaf, root or fruit of plants, the material of animals and minerals. How does substance act on the human body? This is one of the key questions for the theory of drugs, since mixtures had already been explored by Galen in Mixtures. Galen’s exploration of substance brings him to the composition of a drug – in thick or fine particles – and to the notion of substances in the plural and the notion of whole substance in the cases of foods and poisons, all of which Galen places in the class of drugs. Whole substance is the core of the paper. Galen’s understanding of substance as of qualities depends heavily, as often, on Aristotle. The paper presents an argument based on the key passages in Simples I–V, which I have recently translated for the Cambridge Galen series, as too on related passages in Mixtures and On the Capacities of Foods.

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the text of the 12th book of Geoponica for the purpose of identification of vegetable plants, which were described by Cassianus Bassus. The analysis will serve as the first step for further inquiries that will include the reconstruction of recipes that require some of the vegetables presented in the text. The text of Geoponica is a basic source learn about the agriculture but also the culinary art of the Byzantine Empire, even though it is rather hard to read due to the complicated style and quite a large number of technical terms (i.e. botanical, agronomical or astrological to name just a few). As already mentioned, the first part of the analysis is to identify the plants mentioned by Bassus, which will allow me to take further steps, i.e. to reconstruct the culinary recipes, in which the plants mentioned by the Author can be found. Without this precise identification, the reconstruction of the recipes would not be possible at all. In the 12th book of his Geoponica Bassus gave descriptions of several plants that should be taken into consideration while planning the garden, mostly for their medicinal or cooking properties. Amongst them, Author mentioned garlic, artichoke, melon, leek, radish, celery, and cucumbers. Having the rather big number of plants narrowed down will allow to demonstrate in vivo how they were served according to De re coquinaria by Apicius and present the practical usage of vegetables proposed by Bassus for cultivation. As Apicius’ cookbook is the only one preserved from Antiquity, it will remain the major source of the recipes presented in this paper.

Medieval architecture of the South Caucasus developed a unique tradition of making acroteria shaped as three-dimensional models of churches. Since the church-shaped acroteria have never been thoroughly explored in Georgia, this paper focuses on examples surviving in the region. Special attention is paid to analyzing the architectural and sculptural aspects of the acroteria, as well as their function. This paper aims at discussing both the formal and functional aspects of the church-shaped acroteria from Georgia. It is intended to explore what kind of church models were usually created in Georgia, how they were designed, and to what extent they resemble or differ from the real architecture. Typically, the model erected on the top of the gables of a church was made of stone, though glazed ceramic acroterion can be found as well, such as that of the Alaverdi Cathedral in Georgia. As the research has shown, the models do not replicate real architecture; they represent abridged images of actual buildings, repeating only their general layout (cross-domed or, rarely, single-nave structure) and a selected number of elements that were evidently considered essential or were typical elements of the architectural repertoire of the period in which the acroterion were created.

The paper points to a hitherto not recognized quotation from Galen in the Old Church Slavonic Life of S. Cyril of the 9th century (chapter XI, 15) which demonstrates the Galenic maxim “contraria contrariis curentur”. The Galenic argument is brought forth by the Christian philosopher Cyril in a discussion with Jewish theologians. The paper firstly demonstrates that the author of VC does not only enrich Cyril’s speech with allusions to Biblical formulations but makes also the Jewish interlocutors use a direct quotation from Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians. The Christian and Jewish arguments complement each other leading to the ultimate Christian answer that Christ is the real physician to heal body and soul. In contextualizing the findings and pointing to another passage of Vita Cyrilli the paper shows, that the metaphor of “Christ, the physician” both times occurs in a context, where the Original sin is the main topic. Finally, the paper is concerned with the rhetoric of the metaphor and the limits of what can be possibly expressed by it. The ultimate healing in a Christian sense is expressed in the faith into bodily resurrection and thus transcends the comparison with concrete physical therapy. In contrast to concrete bodily health the qualities of a “body of the resurrection” cannot be positively named and thus are designated by the metaphor of “enjoying the fruit” in the heavens.

This paper will focus on several sources from Scandinavia and the Balkans, and compare the types of genealogies portrayed in them – descent from gods, descent from another kind of supernatural being, descent from a legendary hero. The paper will examine the types of genealogies and the purpose they serve; how and why they were commissioned? Is there a difference in the establishment of the image of the ruler if the latter has descended from gods, legendary heroes, or a specific clan or dynasty? Does Christianity change the tradition of writing genealogies and the stories they retell? Are personal qualities enough to provide legitimate claims?

During the last dеcade the history of the Synodikon of the Оrthodoxy in Medieval Bulgaria has been tackled upon from different points of view. The author of this paper provided substantial evidence proving that the Synodikon of Tsar Boril did not survive in its original form. By the end of the 14th c. the original translation was amended and edited in order to be installed in a canonical-liturgical compilation (archieratikon) that includes texts and services related to the Feast of Orthodoxy. The compilation is kept in the National Library in Palauzov’s collection No 289. Additional information about the different sources of some rubrics of the Synodikon, which do not correspond to its Greek version, was also provided. Recently we have discovered that the text, preserved in a collection of Damasckin type from the beginning of 16th c. (Drinov’s copy) represents indeed a compilation: its first part (the canonical one) contains the translation of the Palaeologan version of the Synodikon, which survived also in a triodion from the Library of the Romanian Academy of Sciences. The second part of the compilation however coincides with the text of the Synodikon of Tsar Boril with all amendments related to the Bulgarian history – rulers, patriarchs, bishops and nobles. This “Bulgarian” part of the Synodikon includes a series of anathemas against Bogomils, that do not have Greek correspondences and generally repeat the anti-Bogomils anathemas taken from the Letter of Patriarch Kosmas in a simpler language more understandable to the faithful. This paper is tracing the connection between these anathemas and the Anti-Bogomils anathemas in the Discourse of Kosmas the Presbyter against the Bogomils.

The paper investigates the establishment of the office of the epi ton kriseon during the Reign of emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055), analysing the reasons behind its creation and its initial character. In addition, a list of all holders of this office is provided, based on all available sources – sphragistic, epistolary, rhetorical, documentary, etc. The list is divided into two parts – before and after the sack of the Byzantine capital by the Crusaders in 1204. Certain conclusions are reached at the end of the paper based on the data from the first part of the list. Different aspects of the problem are examined, including the honorific titles of the epi ton kriseon, their other offices, activities and social bonds. Individuals who held this position include prominent figures such as Konstantinos, nephew of patriarch Michael I Keroularios (1043–1058) and the addressee of many letters from Michael Psellos, as well as the 12th–13th century historian Niketas Choniates. In the 11th–12th century, these officials were an indelible part of the Byzantine bureaucratic elite and the Constantinopolitan society; they exerted their power not only in the capital, but also in the provinces.

The figure of the first Roman emperor in many ways had an impact on the Polish culture, especially in historiography and literature. In my paper I focus on some issues connected with the subject. I discuss the ideas presented by Tadeusz Zieliński, one of the most eminent researchers of the ancient world in Europe in the first part of 20th century. He devoted a significant part of his opus to present his own vision of Augustus seen as a reformer of the Roman state religion. Zieliński built the emperor’s image as the saviour of the Roman world in the face of „the end of times”. This term played significant role in Zieliński’s thinking about Roman history at the end of the Republic. For the Polish scholar celebration of the secular game in 17 BC was the final task done by Augustus. This task Zieliński defined as the sacred mission and connected with the figure of Sibyl and the impact of the Etruscan theory of saeculum. For Zieliński, Augustus belonged to the most important men of providence in Roman history. In the same way I discuss the ideas presented by Ludwik Piotrowicz and Mieczysław St. Popławski. Both scholars analised the question of imperial cult in depth. Popławski expressed original view on Augustus apotheosis seen as the development of imperial cult in transcendental perspective. Piotrowicz instead saw this problem as a purely political phenomenon. Last part of my paper is devoted to short resentation of the echos of Augustus’ bimillenium in Polish scholar activity.

The paper discusses a group of monumental crucifixes from the 13th-century East Adriatic and Italy, pained or executed in low relief, that display a verse inscriptions on the transverse limb of the cross. The main scope of the paper is to examine the provenance of the text inscribed in order to yield clearer insight into their function, use and original location in the church interiors. The paper specifically aims at analyzing three monumental crucifixes from the East-Adriatic city of Zadar which, although have already been the subject of a respectable number of studies, have not attracted attention as objects of devotion. My interest, therefore, is turned towards verse inscription as their distinctive feature and, as I shall argue, a key aspect in understanding their function. Examining the nature of the text displayed, iconography and materiality of these crucifixes, my main argument is to demonstrate how these objects provoked a multi-faced response from their audience, since were experienced by seeing, hearing and touching respectively.

The paper studies terms describing cooks and cooking activities that are preserved in Byzantine literature and draw their origins from the ancient Greek literature as well as from biblical and theological texts. Despite some development regarding the preference to the term opsopoios and opsartytēs without ceasing to use the term mageiros for the male cook, as well as the term demiourgos, only the latter is used for women to signal solely the preparation of pastries. It is proved that the conceptualization and connotations of the term mageiros, which are presented in detail, prevented its attribution to women. Further proof on the use of feminised masculine nouns for female professions or occupations in literature and the more concrete evidence on the services recorded in the typika of nunneries display the absolute abiding of the conscious avoidance of the term for women’s involvement in cooking.

The paper provides the addenda to A. Kompa, Gnesioi filoi: the search for George Syncellus’ and Theophanes the Confessor’s own words, and the authorship of their oeuvre, Studia Ceranea 5, 2015, p. 155–230. All the expressions crucial to the stylistic and stylometric argument on the authorship of the Chronography of Theophanes have been updated after 7 years and verified in the expanded TLG database. The updated results are presented below. The conclusions confirm the previous opinions on the individual, singular authorship of the chronicle of Theophanes with differences in style from the first part of the universal history, written by George Syncellus. At the same time, both works should be treated as a single project, and the prooimion to Theophanes’ part as a sound base faor the reconstruction of the writing process. The clauses ὡς προέφην, καθὼς καὶ προέφην, ὡς προέφημεν, and καθὼς προέφημεν are specific to the Chronography of Theophanes in their frequency and diversity, but they seem to be known and used by the circles from which Theophanes acquired his literary skills.

After 476, Flavius Gundobadus, King of the Burgundians (473–516), sought ways and means to consolidate and strengthen his power, including through legal regulation of the relations between the Burgundians themselves, on the one hand, and between the Burgundians and the Gallo-Romans, on the other. Thus, Liber Constitutionum sive Lex Gundobada was issued, the main purpose of which is the legal regulation of the complex relations in the kingdom, through a codification of the preserved customary law – an embodiment of tribal traditions, practices, and customs, with reasonable use of Roman legal ideas, notions, and norms. The translation and analysis of selected provisions from Lex Gundobada in this paper show the extent to which the Burgundians perceived, received, adopted, and adapted some of the most valuable Roman legal and moral rules and principles, especially the Roman concepts of iustitia and corruptio, and how the rights of both the Burgundians and the Romans were regulated and protected through them. Lex Burgundionum is part of a series of legal Barbarian codes, compiled, adapted, published, and applied in the Barbarian regna between the 5th and 9th centuries. These codes are one of the significant and true sources for the historical reconstruction of the socio-political, socio-cultural, and legal-administrative transition from the late Roman Empire to the German kingdoms and early medieval Europe. They manifest how historically the arena of clashes, confrontations, and wars between Romanitas and Barbaritas gradually became a contact zone of legal reception, of cultural, legal, and socio-political influences, from which a new world will be born, a successor to the old ones, and a new legal system – the Romano-Germanic one.

The phenomenon of “fat shaming” (in particular with its aspect of the especially harsh criticism of the corpulence in young adult women) seems nearly non-existent in the ancient Classical literature. The extant satirical depictions of fatness are uncommon and aimed, almost exclusively, at overweight men. The author of the paper analyses this satirical description, its background in the ancient moral philosophy, as well as comments on plumpness and gluttony in the context of assessments of the female physical beauty. He also attempts to explain how some ancient ideas may have evolved in the attitudes of today, showing some examples from the 19th-century prose as a step in the reshaping of the ancient ideas. Eventually, the author makes an attempt to offer a better understanding of this contemporary phenomenon, which only in some of its elements may be seen as rooted in Antiquity.

The Chronicon Bruxellense does not simply provide useful information on the date of the date (year, month, and day) of the Rus’ attack on the Constantinople (18 June 860), but is crucial for a deeper understanding of nature of this chronicle and his sources. The article reveals important details about the date and structure of the Chronicon Bruxellense. It also offers his sources of description of Rus’ raid and identifies George Monachus Continuatus’s chronicle as the principal model. By seeking to construction the victory over the Rus’, his anonymous author presents as a skilled compiler. This paper engages with recent discussion on the first attack of Rus’ on the Constantinople, while also contributing to the renewed interest in the reception of the Chronicon Bruxellense in the late Byzantine literature.

Byzantine incubation literature is the term used in research to denote early Byzantine collections of healing miracles (5th–7th century) in which the saint’s miraculous intervention is related to the incubation experience. Despite the centrality of the concepts of disease and healing in such literature, the relationship between medicine and Christian religion needs to be further explored. Based on the Egyptian collection of Miracles of Cosmas and Damian contained in manuscript Lond. Add. 37534 (BHG 373b) as a case study, this paper intends to: (1) present those miraculous accounts where food is treated as medicament, starting from a close reading of the relevant passages; (2) looking at the (Byzantine) medical knowledge integrated in these narratives.

The paper is devoted to a detailed analysis of direct and indirect references to Tărnovo, the capital of the so-called Second Bulgarian Tsardom (12th–14th centuries) in Roman history of Nikephoros Gregoras, an outstanding Byzantine scholar of the first half of the fourteenth century. An analysis of the passages devoted to this city leads to a conclusion that the status of the city was fully obvious to the Byzantine historian – this was the main, capital city of the Bulgarian state, in which its rulers permanently resided, without holding which one could not be a fully legitimate tsar of the Bulgarians and exercise real power of the northern neighbours of Byzantium. Thus the conflicts over power in contemporary Bulgaria focused primarily on taking Tărnovo. The Bulgarian tsar departed with military expeditions most often from this city, having gathered in its vicinity armed forces, and to this city Byzantines and rulers of other neighbouring countries sent their envoys to meet with the Bulgarian autocrat.

The multiple similarities between the Greek and Syriac eucharistic liturgies of Antioch and its hinterland on the one hand and the Jerusalem Liturgy of Saint James on the other hand situate Jerusalem within a single cultural area as regards liturgical life. Compared with Antioch, however, we have much more early evidence for the Liturgy of the Hours in Jerusalem. Main sources, which are briefly presented in the paper, are a) the Itinerary of Egeria, who in the 380s produced extensive liturgical notes on celebrations in the Anastasis cathedral and the related stational sites; b) the Armenian Lectionary, 5thcentury, which gives more specific detail of the services held in Jerusalem; c) the Georgian Lectionary, 6thcentury, which gives a slightly later stage of the material described in the Armenian Lectionary; d) the Old Iadgari, or first Jerusalem Tropologion, entirely preserved in Georgian. It is clear from these documents that the Anastasis Cathedral was officiated by monastic communities of different ethnic origins who used their own languages for their liturgical offices. We also have considerable evidence for this period for the Lavra of Saint Sabbas in the Judaean desert, where several ethnic communities prayed separately in their own languages, coming together only for the Eucharistic synaxis (in Greek). This multi-ethnic situation continues today on Mount Athos and continued throughout the Middle Ages on Sinai. The vast library of manuscripts at Saint Catherine’s monastery is well known. It contains manuscripts in a very wide variety of Christian languages, including numerous liturgical texts. The Manuscript Sinai Arabic 232 (13th century) contains a complete Psalter, a complete Horologion and other texts. It can be shown to be of Alexandrian Melkite origin, used by Arabic-speaking monks who were part of the Sinai community. There are archaic and specifically Egyptian, and even Coptic, elements that are of special interest.

The paper examines the terminology used by the Byzantine authors of the 10th and 11th century as regards the Samuel’s State, which was largely shaped by the Byzantine ideology and momentary aim of the political propaganda. The analysis of the Byzantine sources shows that by the end of the 10th century Basil II became known as “Scythicus”, because of his military achievements against Samuel’s State. The same context derives from Basil II’s verse Epitaph which contains ideological message about the accomplished mission given to Basil II by Christ himself in defeating the “Scythians”. Hence, Basil II was known and wanted to be remembered, among other, as the victor over the Scythians, thus designating the enemies coming from the Samuel’s State. Following this notion, in his narrative Michael Psellos portrayed Basil II as the vanquisher of the Scythians. Psellos even provided ideological context of the subjugation of the Samuel’s State, remarking that by this Basil II actually converted these people and turned them towards God.

The article refers to some aspects of the history of today’s Bulgarian and Romanian territories, going back to the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. First, the author emphasizes the impact of the Teutonic Order in Burzenland on Bulgarian-Cuman relations in the period under question. The article provides a different alternative viewpoint on the events of the second decade of the 13th century. Contrary to researchers who focus on the South and the Bulgarian-Latin conflict, the author seeks a solution to the problem by analyzing events in the North, reaching the lands of Burzenland region in Eastern Transylvania. He analyses the Teutonic-Cuman conflict of 1211–1222 and the success of the Teutons in Cumania after 1215. The author concludes that the dramatic change in the Bulgarian-Cuman relations could be explained by a new source of military and political influence that emerged in the second decade of the 13th century – the Teutonic Order. Next, the paper is aimed at the highly discussed and controversial issue of Bulgarian-Vlach relations during the rule of the Assenid dynasty. Based on the written sources, the author explains the mass presence of Vlachs in the actions of the first Assenids with specific social, economic and political factors in the last two decades of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century.

The issue of the Bosnian church – or more precisely the dualist heresy in Bosnia – has caused serious controversies among scholars since the 19th century. The main aim of this paper is to shed new light on this controversial issue, through the analysis of the doctrine of Slavonic dualism (ordo Sclavoniae) based on Western sources. The subject of the analysis will be the sources concerning the contacts of the Cathars from France and Italy with the heretics from Sclavonia and especially the sources containing information on the doctrine, such as the 13th-century Italian sources presenting the doctrines of the Cathars belonging to ordo Sclavoniae (Cathar churches of Bagnolo and March de Treviso) and later, 14th and 15th-century sources presenting the teachings of the heretics from Bosnia. The aim of the analysis will be to reconstruct the doctrines of Slavonic dualism (ordo Sclavoniae) in order to find its distinctive features (especially comparing with two main forms of Bogomil-Cathar dualism – Bulgarian and Drugunthian) and to answer the following question: which doctrinal conceptions had the most significant influence on its formation? Knowledge concerning the sources of inspiration for the dualist doctrine of the ordo Sclavoniae will enable us to draw conclusions concerning the origins of Slavonic dualism, its evolution and to assume an attitude towards scholars’ conceptions concerning the character of the Bosnian heresy.

Historiography about the medieval Bosnian Church is a vast and complicated labyrinth, with many different sections and subsections regarding its teachings, where authors are least likely to find a compromise, or some common ground. Very often, the ruling ideologies have intertwined their interests and influences in this field of medieval study, causing the emergence of very intense emotions in wider circles of population. One remarkable episode in history of research and study of the Bosnian Church is the occurrence of medievalist from United States of America, John V. A. Fine Jr., who arrived in Bosnia and Yugoslavia at the peak of the Cold War. Fine proved to be a very meticulous researcher, who produced a book under the title: The Bosnian Church: A New Interpretation. A Study of the Bosnian Church and its Place in State and Society from the 13th to the 15th Centuries which immediately caused disturbance and wide range of reactions. With his aligning with the historiographical stream which doesn’t see the Bosnian Church as a dualistic heretical institution, rather a monastic community independent from both of the big churches of the time, Fine gave additional fuel to this theory, a theory somewhat weakened in that period as its main protagonist Jaroslav Šidak had a change of mind. The main goal of this paper is to study the immediate reactions on Fine’s thesis, in forms of reviews of his book, as well its influence in the subsequent decades of the historiographical studies of the Bosnian Church.

This text supplements another, a paper presented a decade ago on the portrayal of Umayyad rulers in Chronography of Theophanes the Confessor (B. Cecota, Islam, the Arabs and Umayyad Rulers according to Theophanes the Confessor’s Chronography, “Studia Ceranea” 2, 2012, p. 97–111). I am limiting myself here to discussing only those source remarks which directly concern one of the Abbasid Caliphs, or alternatively, to narratives structured in such a manner that they implied certain traits of a ruler. General remarks concerning the portrayal of the entire dynasty have been included, both in the main text and in the footnotes, only where this was necessary for the understanding of the context in which the Caliphs’ descriptions appear.

The paper discusses the differences between Eastern and Western Christians during the Middle Ages through the prism of the lists of ritual deviations and bad habits of the ‘Latin heretics’, which were circulated in Byzantium in the second half of the 12th century (following the Great Schism of 1054). The translations and revisions of these lists remained popular among the Orthodox Christians in the Balkans and Eastern Europe up until the end of the 17th century. Special attention has been given to the reception among the Slavs of two Byzantine accusations levelled on the westerners – (1) that their priests shave; (2) that they eat various ‘unclean’ animals and creatures. The examples of the peculiar mundanity of the religious dialogue and polemics analysed in the paper suggest that this was a trend resulting from the ambition of the Orthodox societies in the Balkans and Eastern Europe to strengthen through various means their ethnic and religious identity in the context of the fierce political and confessional confrontation with the Catholic world of Western Europe. Also highlighted is the need for the research of medieval polemical texts to embrace the archaeological, ethnological and folkloristic evidence, which would allow us to clarify the sources and trends in the development and transformation of the key features of the identity of Slavic Orthodox societies during the Middle Ages and Modernity.

The physician Krateuas lived in the first part of the 1st century BC, worked at the court of Mithridates and wrote a Rhizotomikon (Herbal) of which only a few fragments remain. More than a century ago, Max Wellmann studied this physician (1897; 1898) and collected his Testimonies (T) and Fragments (F) as an appendix of his edition of Dioscorides De materia medica (1914). After Wellmann, only short studies (mostly encyclopedia entries) have been carried on Krateuas, whose work influenced Dioscorides. This paper is a first step towards a monograph on this physician and a new edition of T and F with translation and historical commentary.

The outbreak and Balkan and Anatolian trajectories of the rebellions of Borkluce Mustafa and Sheikh Bedreddin in 1416 still pose a series of religio-historic problems which still do not allow a satisfactory and detailed reconstruction of their chronology. Widening the investigation of the source base for these uprisings and their following remains a crucial desideratum for a better understanding of the turbulent period of the Ottoman interregnum and the Ottoman-Byzantine transition in eastern Anatolia in the early fifteenth century. Apart from the social and political features of the rebellions (which have been treated in a variety of contrasting ideological and methodological frameworks, their striking religious dimension has been also increasingly attracting scholarly and general attention. Earlier and recent research on the Ottoman interregnum period have occasionally advanced arguments for the active participation of Christian heretical groups, whether Christian dualist (Bogomil or Paulician) or radical apocalyptic insurgents of Eastern or Western Christian provenance. Drawing on new advances in research on religious trends in the late Byzantine and Balkan Orthodox and early Ottoman religious life and inter-religious contacts, the paper will offer an reassessment of the evidence of such proposed Christian heretical presence in the uprisings, while also exploring other venues for the provenance of their religious and trans-confessional underpinnings.

The reign of the Doukas dynasty in 1059–1078 was a time when new threats to the Byzantine Empire emerge in Europe and Asia. One of them was the increased activity of Turkmen who were penetrating the lands belonging to the Byzantines. A manifestation of these threats was visible during the rule of Constantine X Doukas (1059–1067) in 1064. We have there an invasion of the tribe of Uzes, who crossed the Danube. They ventured so far, as the vicinity of Thessalonica and the province of Hellas, plundering everything in their path. Their actions surprised the defense of the Byzantines. This attack on the empire was related to their crossing of the Danube, about which Michael Attaliates and Skylitzes Continuatus provides us with interesting information. The main aim of this paper therefore will be related to issues linked to the types of vessels used by Uzes to cross this river, as well as an attempt to assess their boatbuilding skills.

The paper analyses the actions of Ivanko, a Bulgarian nobleman, possibly a member of the ruling family of the Asenides, who in 1196 killed the ruling tsar, Asen, and escaped to Constantinople once his plan to take control of the country failed. Owing to the benevolence of Alexios III Angelos, he joined the Byzantine military and very quickly rose through its ranks until he became the military commander of the region of Philippopolis. In 1198 or 1999 he defected and created an independent dominion on the slopes of the Stara Planina massif, precariously balanced between Bulgaria and the empire, exploiting to his own advantage the constant state of warfare between the two polities. His adventure was short-lived: in 1200 he was captured through deception by the Byzantines, taken prisoner, and presumably executed. While his political career was very short, his importance for the history of medieval Bulgaria is not to be underestimated. It is a testimony of the fluidity of the political situation at the Bulgaro-Byzantine border, whose instability often allowed ambitious and cunning local commanders to carve up autonomous dominions, and of the difficulties experienced by the central power in keeping control of the peripheral areas of the state. It is also proof of the constantly shifting ethnic and cultural allegiances of the citizens of those polities, entangled between different and often conflicting identities, usually regarded as irreconcilable but that were actually the object of a continuous negotiation and adjusting. Ivanko is an interesting case study in regard to all of those factors, especially when considered within the larger phenomenon of provincial separatism in the imperial (and Bulgarian) lands between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century.

The paper is devoted to Lilingis – one of the leaders in the Isaurian uprising against emperor Anastasius I. He was Illus’ half-brother. Illus was an Isaurian who, aside from Zeno, played the most important role in the life of the Byzantine state in the 470s and 480s. It is possible that from 484, Lilingis held the position of the Isaurian comes and was so successful at it that he probably retained it until the end of Zeno’s reign and gained authority among his tribesmen, which resulted in his participation as one of the leaders in the Isaurian uprising. Lilingis was co-commander in the first rebel clash with the emperor’s forces at Kotyaeum (492). He met his death in the battle.

The oral biblical exegesis and oral transmission, or the unwritten tradition, represent pillars in the circulation of texts and ideas since the very dawn of Christianity, both in orthodox and heterodox circles. Namely, this vast topic encompasses the concepts related to the concepts of the written sources and the spoken word, and their interrelation, and, furthermore, to the symbolism of the ear, Logos, and secret teachings (arcana). The role and impact of the oral transmission will be examined on the example of the Bogomils, and this paper will re-assess the importance and function of the oral transmission of the Bogomil doctrine. Therefore, the Biblical exegesis will also be analyzed in that key, and the question of the Bogomil preachers will be addressed. More broadly, the oral transmission of the Bogomil teachings can be observed as one of the modi operandi that the Bogomils resorted to in the aim of propagating their ideas, as well as possibly their interpretative manner to approach the Scriptural material and parables.

The focus of the present paper is the terms θεωρία and ὀπτασία presented in the Greek text of Life of St Anthony the Great by St Athanasius of Alexandria and their translation representation in the Old Church Slavonic versions of the text. The terms are approached diachronically, i.e. in through history of Classical and post-classical Greek literature, thus providing the necessary cultural background for their usage and context. Each term, then, is commented in its exact attestation in the Life, providing also the corresponding translations and their wider context. The translation renderings are further analyzed in perspective of the lexical material in the classical Old Church Slavonic corpus as well as with material from texts and sources, thus aiming at contextualizing them in wider lexicological perspective.

The epithet ‘first witnesses’, conferred on the three saints in the title, is but a conventional designation; it seems fitting as common for the figures of saints, who gave proof of their devotion to Christ. Otherwise, although they make no simultaneous appearance in any of the canonical texts, there are – interestingly – far more interconnections between the three characters in pseudo-canonical and legendary literature than could be surmised from the lack thereof in the Bible. The aim of the paper is to present a literary picture of three New Testament heroes, as commemorated in different literary texts representing diverse cultural registers, even from the Ancient Christian Times until the close of the Middle Ages. Among them there are short and extended lives and passions of saints, liturgical poetry, as well as specific, more popular texts, such as ‘tales’ and legends. The material under discussion largely includes texts that form a part of the Slavic Orthodox tradition, depicting them on the background of fairly wellknown works belonging to the Western Christian tradition. It turns out that the legends are inspired by the canonical text on the one hand, while on the other hand they themselves infiltrate official texts – they become officially sanctioned as soon as their popularity is taken over and adopted by liturgical practice. It should be borne in mind that those legends – part of which is known both in the Eastern and in the Western Christianity – confirm one further crucial characteristic of texts constituting the canonical and pseudo-canonical tradition: the commonness of themes and motifs which can without exaggeration be called ‘wandering’. They determine the fact that there is hardly any originality in the formation of the characters of patron saints; moreover, on the level of creating the notion of sainthood and its reception, there seem to be far more common points than differences between both of the Early Christian traditions – the East and the West. The paper is an attempt to point out how the Christian tradition exemplifies various manifestations of holiness, what means it has for annotating, elucidating and embellishing the Biblical hypertext, and how it adapts pseudo-canonical legends for the purposes of liturgical use.

The fall of imperial authority and the decline of the Byzantine state at the end of the 12th century has its cause not only in foreign policy but also, to a large extent, in the family policy of the Komnenoi emperors. The “clan” system introduced during Alexios I’ reign and continued by his successors, connected the aristocratic elites with the imperial family by blood ties. In the 12th century, the composition of this group, linked by a complicated marriage network, underwent a significant transformation, which could be one of the most important factors of the later crisis. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First: distinguishing two groups of aristocrats within the Komnenos “clan” i.e. “core” Komnenos family and affine families. Second: determining their approximate numer during the 12th century. Relatively large amount of data about aristocratic elites of that period allows for statistical approach. Written sources and sigillography of the 12th century Byzantium is rich in information about high ranking persons. In addition, the Komnenos era has been thoroughly described in prosopographical works. This allows for counting the number of aristocrats and thus obtaining reliable results. Such an approach is not free from estimation and probability. However, the amount of information is sufficient enough to show the overall trends visible in the composition of the elites associated with the Komnenoi. The result of this study is a table that shows the tendency of the weakening of the Komnenos family in face of a constantly growing group of affine aristocratic families. This sheds a new light on the progressive collapse of the imperial authority after the death of Manuel I Komnenos, the key role of destructive actions of Andronikos I, and the weakness of the Angelos dynasty.

In this paper I intend to address the issue of crypto-Catholicism in the early Ottoman Balkans, a complex phenomenon which has drawn historians’ attention over the decades. More specifically, I will attempt to define and clarify the difficult and unresolved issue, taking into account the characteristics of the Balkans where many religious and social groups co-existed. That produced interaction and enmeshment between the various religions and, as a result, identities developed specific distinctive traits and often overlapped. Within that unique Balkan environment – a real confessional melting pot – crypto-Christianity naturally arose. Crypto-Catholics or Orthodoxies, living under Ottoman rule, publicly decided to embrace the Islamic religion but secretly identified themselves as Christians. I have set out to investigate this phenomenon by considering letters and reports produced by Catholic missions involved in the Balkan peninsula.

The paper is devoted to John the Scythian – one of the chiefs of the Byzantine army in the eighties and nineties of the 5th century. Based on the sources, the military career of John the Scythian lasted 16 years. He spent less time defending the borders of the empire and more fighting (often, victoriously) against usurpers and peoples who either had lived in its territory for centuries (the Isaurians) or sought a place to settle there (the Ostrogoths), and whose status kept changing from ally to enemy. John, as evidenced by his nickname, came from a barbarian people, but this did not prevent him from serving the emperor loyally and building his position in the circles of the empire’s elite.

The abundance of gilding is considered to be a particularly characteristic feature of Byzantine art. This attribute can be confirmed by even a cursory analysis of works of art. In short, Byzantine artists used gold on a large scale, showing great technical skill. It is therefore quite surprising that this issue has not yet received a separate, comprehensive study. Admittedly, researchers recognize the presence of gold but unfortunately, they almost do not go beyond general observations. On the one hand, they emphasize the primary role of the symbolic meanings of gold, and, on the other, they indicate the high material value of this precious metal. These comments are usually very general and their authors rarely refer to specific primary sources. Their observations, however, speak more about present-day ideas about Byzantine culture than about it itself. The indicated problem is an important and extensive task to be done, hence this paper is only an outline of the most important questions, each of which requires a separate and in-depth study. Therefore, this synthetic article introduces the most basic points associated with the understanding of gold in Byzantium. For this purpose, selected examples of Byzantine texts in which their authors referred to gold in a strictly artistic context are analysed. Thus, the main thesis is as follows: in Byzantine painting, gold, one of the most important devices of artistic expression, was used on a large scale primarily for aesthetic reasons.

This article aims to expand information on the life and academic career of a historian from Łódź, the co-founder of Polish post-war Byzantine studies – Halina Evert-Kappesowa. Based on student files preserved at the University of Warsaw, as well as employee and promotion records in the Archives of the University of Łódź, the author has established facts such as the date and place of Kappesowa’s birthday, subsequent stages of education and reasons for her delayed promotions. She has also addressed Evert-Kappesowa’s achievements and their reception. This paper provides vital additions to the debate on the contribution of female historians to the development of Polish history. The text consists of two parts; the first is devoted to the biography of the heroine and her research interests. The second concerns the course of her scientific career.

One can say without hesitation that during the highly dynamic medieval epoch rivalries and military clashes were of paramount importance in the struggles for dominance over the Balkan Peninsula. During the entire period, war-time activities included the capturing of those who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the enemy. Various groups of soldiers and civilians alike have repeatedly tested the bitterness of captivity. Attempts to trace the fate of war-captives are, for understandable reasons, directly dependent on the data in the written records. The comparison of the various historical accounts is rather typical, even if the records deal with events that are different in time, place and participants. The present paper also compares two descriptions. This study encompasses two well-known historical accounts: the first one is from the chronicle (Synopsis historiarum) of John Skylitzes, while the second one is excerpted from Kritoboulos’ History of Mehmed the Conqueror. Despite all distinctions, there are some particular similarities. Both fragments concern the division of the spoils of war and the fate of the captured population and provide additional knowledge of the practices relating to prisoners of war in the Balkan medieval past.

It seems obvious that 10th century was a period in which the Byzantine polemology flourished once again, before it collapsed one hundred years later. During that period numerous authors of Byzantine military treaties instructed imperial commanders how to wage war. Among many issues organization of the campaign was always an important aspect. In this paper I will try to clarify selected problems. First, I will try to specify what the soldiers ate on a daily basis. Next, I will determine to what extent the provisioning system met the expectations and needs of the Byzantines fighting for the empire. With the help of Tactica and Sylloge Tacticorum, I will try to explain how the rations were gathered, transported and protected. Finally, I will specify how the supplies were utilized not only as a means of nourishment, but also as a tool of war. The following research was carried out on the basis of military treaties from the 10th century, since this time was the peak of Byzantine military revival. Although I mainly base my research on the work of Leon the Wise and the anonymous treaty known as Sylloge Tacticorum, I also occasionally refer to other works, such as Peri Strategias, De velitatione and Praecepta Militaria.

At least from the 14th to the 17th c. – beyond their Middle Ages until their Early Modern Ages – the Rumanians belonged to the so-called Slavia Orthodoxa. Besides the Orthodox faith, they had in common with the Orthodox Slavs the Cyrillic alphabet until the 19th c. and the Church Slavonic, which was the language of the Church, of the Chancery and of the written culture, until the 17th c., although with an increasing competition of the Rumanian volgare. The crisis and decline of the Rumanian Slavonism, the rise of the local vernacular, have been related with Heterodox influences penetrated in Banat and Transylvania. Actually, the first Rumanian translations of the Holy Scriptures, in the 16th c., were promoted, if not confessionally inspired, by the Lutheran Reformation recently transplanted in Banat and Transylvania (some scholars incline to a [widely] Hussite origin of these early translations). Not only Banat and Transylvania, but also Moldavia and Wallachia (the Principalities) were crossed by the border between the Latin and the Byzantino-Slavonic world, the Slavia and the Romania. Influences from the whole Slavia – the Orthodox and the Latin Slavia, the Southern, the Eastern and the Western one – met in the Carpatho-Danubian Space describing what will be derogatively called Slavia Valachica (i.e. Rumanian): a kaleidoscope of Slavic influences in Romance milieu. The appearance of Slavo-Rumanian texts, either with alternate or parallel Church Slavonic and Rumanian, revealed that in the middle of the 16th c. the decline of Slavonism had already started. Mostly but not only in the western regions, beyond the Carpathians, which were under Latin rule, the Orthodox (“Schismatic”) clergy was less and less confident with the Slavonic. This last still remained the sacred language though largely unintelligible, whilst the vernacular still lacked sacred dignity, besides being suspect to spread Heterodoxy. The Slavo-Rumanian Tetraevangelion of Sibiu (1551–1553) is the oldest version of a biblical text in Slavonic and Rumanian and contains the oldest surviving printed text in Rumanian. Apart from evoking icastically – by its twocolumns a fronte layout – the Slavic-Rumanian linguistic border, this fragment of a Four-Gospels Book (Mt 3, 17 – 27, 55) can be considered in many senses a border text: geographically (the border between East and West), chronologically (the decline of Slavonism and the rise of the Rumanian Vernacular), culturally and confessionally (the border between the Latin [i.e. Catholic then Protestant too] West and the Byzantino-Slavonic East). This paper aims to reconstruct, as far as possible, the complex milieu in which the Tetraevangelion was translated, (maybe) redacted and printed, focusing on the Slavonisms in its Rumanian text. A special attention will be paid to any possible interaction between that mainly Latin (Lutheran-Saxon) milieu and the Rumanian Slavonism.

The Journey to the East of the Viking Ingvar the Far-Traveled is one of the events that fit into the history of medieval relations of the Scandinavians with the world of Byzantium. It was a fateful expedition taking place between 1036 and 1041, and to this day it is a source of many controversies and speculations of researchers. The findings of the present paper suggest that the journey did not necessarily proceed to the lands of the Saracens or Byzantium but may have been part of the game played by Constantinople with its ally Tmutarkan, which opposed Jaroslav the Wise, these events unfolding in the north-eastern waters of the Black Sea.

The paper demonstrates the current state of research on the presence of Slavs on the island of Crete in the Middle Ages, as well as in the modern times. The basis for the discussion is a new book of Pantelis Haralampakis, published in 2016. There are numerous controversies surrounding the issues of the exact chronology of Slavic presence on the island, the lexical influence of South Slavic languages on the Cretan dialect of Modern Greek, as well as possible traces of Slavic settlements in the Cretan toponymy.

The objective of this paper is to discuss accounts related to money in Apophthegmata Patrum, a collection of sayings attributed to famous Egyptian monks. The collection as we know it was produced in the 6th century. By describing the organisation of monastic centres in Egypt in the 4th and 5th century Apophthegmata also offer us some information about the period’s economic aspects. However, by and large, the data is very general. It pertains to: prices, wages, tax issues as well as money that was given to monks by pilgrims. Limited as it is, the data confirms that money was present in the everyday lives of Egyptian monks in late antiquity. Naturally, the major consideration behind whether a monk possessed money was whether he had contact with the outside world. This included selling self-made handcraft at markets, particularly woven mats and ropes, clay pots and sometimes also more specialised items (such as copied codices of the Bible). In Apophthegmata Patrum, similarly to what is the case with other Early Byzantium hagiographic texts, we find little information about moral evaluation of money or about the “appropriate” way to manage it.

Byzantium’s arms and armours were researched by many historians. For that reason, the military history of the medieval Roman Empire enjoyed a dominant position in medieval historiography, with the consequence that very often the military history of small nations (under Roman influences) was written from the perspective of the Eastern Romans historians. The aim of the paper is to change this perspective and give the subject of the medieval Armenian military the attention it deserves. The idea is to perform an analysis of the relief on the Door of the Msho Arakelots monastery, where four equestrians and one infantryman are depicted, and to compare it with other Armenian, Byzantine and Muslim sources. In this relief, a spherical mace head and a sword with sleeve cross-guard are represented, suggesting many parallels with East-Roman archaeological and figurative sources. No less important is the depiction of the military trumpet because it is the first image of this object in Armenian art, which can be compared with pictures from the Madrid Skylitzes (13th c.). In addition, the only defensive weapon which is presented in this relief is a round shield with a floral ornament. There are many depictions of round shields in Armenian miniatures and reliefs from 10th–11th c. Moreover, this relief is one of the few where stirrups and the chape of a scabbard are shown. These elements represent an important piece of information because these pictures can be compared with actual archaeological East-Roman artefacts to reconstruct their real look. The conclusions are that the majority of Armenian weapons bear similarities to Byzantine ones but no less important are the Muslim influences, which have been found in some cases. Located between two civilizations (Byzantium and the Muslim Potentates), Armenians adopted the best solutions of their military technologies, creating their own culture. Moreover, thanks to this comparative analysis, further support will be given to the idea that medieval figurative sources are more or less accurate material for studying medieval military history.

Copies of early-printed books have been of interest to to-day’s collectors and researchers not only for their material aspects (names of publishers and places of printing, fonts and composition, number of known copies etc.), but also because they bear signs of their often erratic history following their publication. The path followed by a particular copy of an early-printed book is reflected in its general state as an object (for instance the state of its binding), but also in its internal aspect. On the pages of a copy of an early-printed book, annotations, drawings doodles or graphics testify to the intimate relationship that its owners entertained with it. To better understand how owners dealt with copies of the books they possessed, this paper examines the annotations found in copies of some books that belong to the Carmelite convent in Cracow. We hope to bring to the attention of scholars, copies of works of Galen housed in this library, and primarily to set a perspective on how books were read by cultured individuals of in the 16th century period. To do so, we analyse copies of the 1507 Venice edition of the Articella and a copy of Latin edition of Galien (Iuntae, Venice, 1531). We attempt to identify the intellectual perspectives from which cultured readers approached such texts in the 16th century.

In this paper I would like to concentrate on strategies and methods that were guiding Alexios I and Andronikos I of the Komnenos dynasty during the process of gaining and consolidating their power in the Byzantine Empire. Between these two emperors, who belonged to the same family, there exist many analogies in the way of carrying out a coup and constructing the authority based on a group of faithful aristocrats. It is crucial to highlight the active family politics which characterized both the emperors, as it was the main strategy aimed at ensuring the durability of the freshly acquired power. Between Andronikos’ and his grandfather’s coups passed almost exactly one hundred years. The completely different social and political situation of the Byzantine Empire in the late 12th century forced Andronikos to take a different approach. The most striking change was in the way of eliminating potential threats from the circles of Constantinopolitan aristocracy, especially when it comes to his relatives. Such a comparative analysis leads to some important observations concerning the social changes in the late 11th and 12th centuries, as well as mechanisms of seniority and precedence of power in the Komnenos family.

Arsenije IV Jovanović Šakabenta (1698–1748) was one of the last leaders of the Peć Patriarchate. The period of his service coincided with the so-called Second Great Migration of the Serbs, i.e. the migration of portions of the Serbian society from Kosovo and Metohija to the southern territories of the Habsburg monarchy. This event majorly determined the actions of the patriarch at the end of the 1730s. The article outlines the political ambitions of Arsenije IV, which he tried to realize around that time. Particular focus is given to his vision of the Serbian community under the Habsburgs and to his efforts to retain the privileges which the Serbs had been granted by emperors Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI. Additionally, the analysis covers the internal dynamics of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the territories of the Habsburg monarchy. The paper also touches upon the military issues and discusses the role of Serbian soldiers in the political plans of Arsenije IV Jovanović Šakabenta.

The Panarion treatise is a dogmatic and polemical writing that earned Epiphanius his well-deserved reputation of a zealous defender of the Orthodox faith and a “hunter of heresies”. Its list of heresies was translated into Church Slavonic during the 1st Bulgarian Empire at the time of tsar Symeon and quickly spread throughout the Slavic-Orthodox world. It is a part of the oldest Slavonic version of Syntagma of XIV titles without any commentary (Syntagma XIV titulorum sine scholiis), called Efremovskaya Kormchaya. It is a monumental compendium of the centenary heresiological literature, and is the most complete treatise on heresies that the age of the Fathers left us. The paper presents a description of the three books and seven volumes of the Panarion with a list of eighty heresies, sects and schisms – twenty heresies before the incarnation of Christ and sixty of Christian times. Within the work attributed to Epiphanius, a chapter of the Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret of Cyrus and two other chapters of the theological-philosophical work Arbiter or Umpire by Joannes Philoponus have been identified. A number of 103 heresies was revealed, all of them ascribed to Epiphanius. It is presented as a preliminary study of 140 terms used by an anonymous Slavic translator. To the various lexemes, two different criteria have been applied: grammatical and semantic. The research determines 15 ethnonyms and eponyms, 60 anthroponyms formed on the names of the heresiarchs, 30 calques from Greek and 35 compounds. Among the latter, two distinct groups have been distinguished: structural calques, exactly corresponding to the Greek models, and “neologisms”, formally independent of the Greek formations. Adaptation to the original Bulgarian linguistic system was achieved by the translator (or the editor) by using interpretative supplements, i.e. glosses. It is assumed that the translator’s primary objective was to remain as faithful as possible to the Greek original. It turns out that the translator showed excellent knowledge of the comple XGreek models of word formation and exceptional skills in adapting them to the Palaeoslavic linguistic system. The compound lexemes were created for stylistic reasons and are a result of a specific translation technique.

The notion of identity (tautotes) was discussed, often in contrast to its opposite “otherness” (heterotes), not only during Classical Antiquity but also by Christian and Byzantine authors since Late Antiquity. Fundamental manifestations of every dimension of Byzantine identity – and in particular of collective identity – are language (including culture), religious (and political) commitment, space and time; these phenomena are deeply rooted in human consciousness. This paper deals with the relation between identity and time (temporality). This relation is analysed on the basis of key terms like aion, kairos and chronos and the relations among them; the individualization of temporality becomes manifest in combinations of the mentioned terms with adjectives like emos or hemeteros. Not surprisingly, Byzantine authors – referring to passages in the Old and the New Testament – dealt mainly with eschatological (cosmic) time in relation to individual and collective identity, whereas the interest in the historical dimension of time was limited to authors of a small educated class.