Dumbarton Oaks Studies

Turyn here examines book scripts and subscriptions from dated Greek manuscripts in the libraries of Great Britain. He extensively interprets the prosopographical and linguistic elements of the manuscripts while elucidating their origins, their character as documents of Byzantine culture, and their role in the transmission of ancient and medieval Greek literature.

This book is a study of the complete extant repertory of Greek and Slavonic Communion hymns preserved in Byzantine, Russian, and Moldavian musical manuscripts of the twelfth to sixteenth centuries.

Tokali Kilise (Buckle Church) was the principal sanctuary of a large monastic center in Byzantine Cappadocia, now central Turkey. This cave church was carved into the soft volcanic stone of the region and decorated with frescoes in several stages between the mid-ninth and mid-tenth centuries, and is one of the richest ensembles of painting to survive from the early Middle Ages.

Thomas examines the private ownership of ecclesiastical institutions to determine the nature and extent of private ownership of religious institutions in the Byzantine Empire. This includes churches, monasteries, and philanthropic institutions such as hospitals and orphanages, which were founded by private individuals and retained for personal administration independent of the public authorities of the state and church.

The Kariye Camii remains one of the most important and best-known monuments of the Byzantine world. Rebuilt and decorated in the early fourteenth century by the statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites, the Kariye Camii played a key role in the development of Late Byzantine art. Ousterhout presents a detailed structural history and architectural analysis of this important building, and shows that the Kariye Camii was equally important in the development of Late Byzantine architecture.

The text explores the iconographic and stylistic sources of the Greek mosaicists, as well as the departures from Byzantine norms, and the relationship of the decoration to contemporary work in the royal foundations. Also included is a chapter on the architecture of the church by Slobodan Çurciç.

This is the first monographic study of a single Armenian manuscript, the Glajor Gospel, a fourteenth-century illuminated manuscript. In addition to critical studies of the iconography of the illuminations, Mathews and Sanjian provide the history of the Glajor Gospel and the political and cultural setting in which it was produced, as well as the history of the monastery and school of Glajor. All full-page illuminations from the Gospel are reproduced at their original size, with twenty-four color illustrations.

Sirarpie Der Nersessian’s scholarship has influenced the understanding of Armenian art and its Byzantine context. These two volumes are the culmination of six decades devoted to the exploration of Armenian art, and reflect a deep knowledge of the manuscripts and their creators.

The impact of the life of Sabas and his exceptional system of monastic life has endured from the fifth century to the present. In this study, which originated from an archeological survey, Joseph Patrich examines the Sabaitic contributions to Palestinian monasticism, from Sabas’s role as founder and abbot to the theological struggles after his death.

The military achievements of the emperors Nikephoros Phokas, John Tzimiskes, and Basil II brought the Byzantine Empire to the height of its power by the early eleventh century. This volume presents new editions and translations of two military treatises–the Praecepta militaria of Nikephoros Phokas and the revised version included in the Taktika of Nikephoros Ouranos.

This volume examines the use of florilegia—anthologies of earlier writings—by these councils. The manuscript provides new information concerning the beginning of the Filioque controversy and the use of Iconophile florilegia by the seventh ecumenical council in 787. Also discussed is the archetype’s role in the negotiations between Rome and Constantinople that led to the Union of the Churches, and the indirect involvement of Thomas Aquinas through his Contra Errores Graecorum.

The nature of the typika, discussed by John Thomas in the introduction, was one of flexible and personal documents, which differed considerably in form, length, and content. Not all of them were foundation documents in the strict sense, since they could be issued at any time in the history of an institution. Some were wills; others were reform decrees and rules; yet others were primarily liturgical in character.

The "Parangelmata Poliorcetica" and the "Geodesia," two Greek treatises on the construction of devices for siege warfare, are products of 10th-century Byzantium. The texts are presented here in critical editions based, for the first time, on the archetype manuscript "Vaticanus graecus 1605" and accompanied by an English translation and commentary. The illustrations, reproduced in this edition, go beyond the traditional ground plans of the time and show elevations to represent finished devices in action.

In this work, David and June Winfield discuss the language of Byzantine church decoration, methods of plastering, proportional rules, system of coloring, and the working methods of the Byzantine painter.

More than fifty years after the earthquake of 365 destroyed Kourion, the seat of the Roman administration of Cyprus, a Christian basilica was built upon the remains of its pagan predecessor. Replete with mosaics and revetment, the basilica was the center of the ecclesiastical administration until its destruction in the late seventh century. In this long-awaited report, A. H. S. Megaw and colleagues present in full the results of excavations from the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s.

The longevity of the Byzantine state was due largely to the existence of variegated and articulated economic systems. This three-volume study examines the structures and dynamics of the economy and the factors that contributed to its development over time. The first volume addresses the environment, resources, communications, and production techniques. The second volume examines the urban economy; presents case studies of a number of places, including Sardis, Pergamon, Thebes, Athens, and Corinth; and discusses exchange, trade, and market forces. The third volume treats the themes of economic institutions and the state and general traits of the Byzantine economy.

Until the 1980s, the Roman frontier in modern Jordan was among the least studied of the empire’s far-flung border regions. From 1980 until 1989, excavation focused on the late Roman legionary fortress of el-Lejjun as well as four smaller but contemporaneous forts. This report presents detailed results from the excavated forts, a broad range of material evidence from animal bones to bedouin burials, and provides a synthesis of the history of this frontier, which witnessed the first confrontation between the Byzantine Empire and the forces of Islam.

Leo’s firsthand experience of the campaigns and courts of two Byzantine emperors provides vivid descriptions of sieges, pitched battles, and ambushes. His account of the conspiracy against Nikephoros II Phokas, murdered as he slept on the floor in front of his icons, is one of the most dramatic in Byzantine narrative histories.

Based on four seasons of fieldwork, this book presents the results of the first systematic site survey of a region rich in material remains. From architecture to fresco painting, Cappadocia represents a previously untapped resource for the study of material culture and the settings of daily life within the Byzantine Empire.

Following its initial publication in 2005, A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia has become a seminal work in interpreting the rich material remains of Byzantine Cappadocia. This revised edition builds upon its predecessor with an updated preface, a new bibliography, and a new master map of the Çanlı Kilise site.

Built around 1100, the church of Asinou in Cyprus is decorated with accretions of images, from the fresco cycle executed shortly after construction to those made in the seventeenth century. This volume sets Asinou’s art and architecture in the context of the surrounding area’s changing fortunes under Byzantine, Lusignan, Venetian, and Ottoman rule.

John Haldon’s critical commentary on Byzantine emperor Leo VI’s Taktika, the first to appear in any language, addresses in detail the varied subjects touched on in the treatise. Three introductory chapters examine the context, sources, language, structure and content of the text and the military administration of the empire in Leo’s time.