Collaborative Projects

2010

Dr Charalambos Dendrinos
International Research Project: Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus.
Scholastic thought in Late Byzantium is an area which remains largely unexplored. The influence of Thomas Aquinas’ (1225-74) writings on Byzantine intellectual circles, both Latinophile and Orthodox, has recently attracted revived interest among scholars. The project aims to contribute to the scholarly discussion by producing the source material for the study of this important subject, namely critical editions of Greek translations of, and commentaries on, various works by Thomas Aquinas composed by Byzantine scholars and theologians between the late thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The majority of these texts remain hitherto unpublished, or partially edited, or published on the basis of a limited number of manuscripts, often lacking information on sources cited therein. Following standard modern methodology, the critical editions, prepared by scholars and doctoral students participating in the project, are based on all extant manuscripts; they comprise a short introduction on the text and the manuscript tradition, while the text is accompanied by an apparatus fontium and an apparatus criticus. An index verborum, an index locorum and facsimiles of selected folios of the extant manuscripts are also included. The editions of these texts will shed more light on the philosophical and theological dialogue among distinguished scholars and theologians in the Greek East and the Latin West in a period of intensive intellectual creativity. In this sense, the publication of these texts, in both printed and electronic form, will become an indispensable tool for scholars and students of Byzantine and Western European history and thought.

Hosted by the Institute for Byzantine Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, the Project is currently funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Hellenic Ministry of Economy. Other collaborating research Institutes include the Fundación Tomás de Aquino, Navarra, the Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, the Institut für mittelalterliche Philosophie und Kultur “St Kliment Ohridski” University of Sofia, the Pontificio Istituto Orientale, and Thomas-Institut, University of Cologne. For a list of advisors, collaborators and texts so far included in the project please visit website
For further information please contact Dr John A. Demetracopoulos, Editor, “Thomas de Aquino Byzantinus”, Institute for Byzantine Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vasileos Konstantinou Av., Athens 116 35, Greece, tel: +30 210 7273619, fax: +30 210 7273629; e-mail or Dr Charalambos Dendrinos, The Hellenic Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, tel. +44 (0)1784 443791, fax +44 (0)1784 433032; e-mail.

Professor John Haldon
International Medieval Logistics Project
The International Medieval Logistics Project began with EU funding in the UK in 2000 and is now run jointly between Princeton and Birmingham/UK. This project uses Grid-aware distributed simulation techniques to model movement and sustainability of historic armies as well as to synthesise data for pre-modern landscapes and land-use. The study involves multiple simulations of transient populations (armies) moving within a digital environmental database. Alongside primary and secondary source material, the data will be used to interpret events related to warfare and resource distribution and consumption and to act as a control on the historical sources. Such simulation methodologies have a wide applicability and allow the re-use of models and processes in comparable regional or period studies. See the papers from the first Logistics Workshop: J. F. Haldon, ed., General issues in the study of medieval logistics: sources, problems and methodologies Leiden 2006); and website.

Digital Manzikert Project
The Digital Manzikert Project brings together historians, archaeologists and computer scientists to model the logistical arrangements relating to a particular campaign, that resulting in the battle of Manzikert (AD 1071), a key event in Byzantine history. The defeat of the Emperor Romanos IV by the Seljuk Turks, and the civil war that followed, resulted in the collapse of Byzantine power in central Anatolia. Given the significance attributed to these events and, ultimately, the collapse of Byzantine power regionally, the lack of consensus between historians on a range of key issues concerning manpower and resources, and the route taken by the Byzantine army to Manzikert, is profound. Repeated debate on the arrangements leading to this critical encounter suggest the need for alternative methodologies that can break cycles of academic claim and counter-claim, have a wider applicability to military research and appreciate the role of military studies within broader cultural studies. The project involves a fundamental re-analysis of the Manzikert campaign and will illustrate the use of Grid-aware distributed simulation techniques to model movement and sustainability of historic armies. It involves multiple simulations of varied army units moving within a digital environmental database. Alongside primary and secondary source material, the data will be used to interpret events related to the battle and assess contemporary interpretation of historic sources. Such simulation methodologies have a wide applicability and allow the re-use of models and processes in comparable regional or period studies. The project is configured as one element in the wider Medieval Logistics project, and a workshop presenting the progress achieved so far will take place on 27th-28th April 2010 at Princeton (see below).
See website.

Dr Christos Karydis
European Funded R&D Projects in Conservation Science

Research Project Title: MED-COLOUR-TECH, Revival of Traditional Natural Colouring Techniques Applied on Art-e-facts in the Mediterranean Area

Description
Colouring or painting with natural dyeing materials has been fundamental in art and intrinsic to the cultural identity of the Mediterranean area since antiquity. However, since the mid-19th century synthetic substances almost entirely expelled natural dyes from the market. The reconstruction and revival of traditional manufacturing processes for natural colorants, as well as of dyeing procedures or painting techniques is essential for the preservation of the Mediterranean cultural heritage. Rationally produced natural dyes can be used for artworks and folk applied art crafts, and this can also invest to the creation of new jobs, introducing a social-economic impact on the quality of human life. Furthermore, developing environmentally more acceptable products is a positive action towards the ecosystem. The proposal implies several coordinated activities, such as: (i) Analytical study of representative artworks/artefacts as far as the identification of the organic colouring materials, and the technology of their application is concerned.
(ii) Practical revival/approbation of reconstructed application techniques/technologies of the dyes and derived organic pigments on several substrates, e.g. textile, paper and paintings, for the creation of artefacts according to ancient recipes.
(iii) Optimisation of the application techniques through the investigation of interrelation between application physicochemical conditions and final result in terms of colour hue, strength and fastness.
(iv) Synthesis and production of major colouring components, utilized as standards for dyestuff identification, at a molecular level.
(v) Dissemination of the newly produced materials (pigments and standards).
(vi) Recommendations for conservation strategies, based on the analytical results.
(vii) Creation of a database for standard dyeing protocols with corresponding references to the relevant ancient recipes.
Research Web site: www.medcolourtech.org

Research Project Title: Post-Byzantine textiles of the Monastery of Simonos Petra (Mount Athos): Dyes and preventive conservation Acronym: Byz-tex-Athos
Supported by the Getty Foundation, U.S.A

Description
A multi-disciplinary approach will be employed to study thirty textile works from the Monastery of Simonos Petra of Mount Athos, as follows.
Stylistic and historical investigation
A detailed stylistic examination of the selected artworks will be performed. Patterns and methods of construction will be recorded and compared with corresponding data found in other textiles (either Ottoman or Western textiles) and from different historical periods (historical study).
Clarification of the origin of the dyes contained in the textiles
The biological sources of the dyestuffs used for during dyeing of post-Byzantine textiles from Mount Athos (including textiles from the monastery of Simonos Petra) are to a large extent unknown. Knowledge is mainly based on tradition rather than scientific evidence. A multi-disciplinary approach will be followed to perform the chemical investigations including optical microscopy, colorimetry, µFTIR, µRaman, HPLC-PDA-MS, GC-MS and SEM-EDS.
Documentation
The achievement of the previous two objectives will lead to the detailed documentation of the artworks through an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach. The assessment of the origin of the raw materials (e.g. dyestuffs), the clarification of the history of the artworks (mainly through the stylistic studies as historical documents are not available) and the elucidation of the religious, historic and social meanings which are hidden behind the symbols of the artworks will provide the basis to understand the art of these objects.
Preventive Conservation
Ethics in the preservation of cultural artefacts following conservation, restoration or preventive conservation treatments can be a complicated subject as each object treatment is unique and recipes or strict guidelines cannot be used. There will be always different risks to consider when any object is going to be treated, and assessing these risks is a daily task for a preventive conservator. Whether an ecclesiastical garment or a fabric is requested to go on loan outside Mount Athos, or to be handled by the brotherhood or the researchers, there are many issues to consider and what may be right for one object may not be acceptable for another. Results from the current survey point out the need to prioritise preventive rather than interventive conservation.
Participants
A strong, international consortium has been formulated to ensure that the objectives of the project will be achieved. Partners and partner leaders are summarized as follows:
(i) Ormylia Foundation, Art Diagnosis Center (Greece); coordinator; leader: Dr. Ioannis Karapanagiotis
(ii) Dr. Christos Karydis, Preventive Textile Conservator – expert in ecclesiastical textiles (Greece)
(iii) CNRS, CIHAM/Laboratoire d'Histoire et d'Archéologie (Lyons) and LRMH (Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques), Champs-sur-Marne, France; leader: Dominique Cardon
(iv) Getty Conservation Institute – Science (USA); leader: Cecily Grzywacz
(v) University of Lincoln, Faculty of Art, Conservation and Restoration (UK); leader: Sue Thomas
(vi) Monastery of Simonos Petra, Mount Athos (Greece); leader: monk Iakovos

2009

Post-Byzantine Textiles of the Monastery of Simonos Petra (Mount Athos): Colouring Matters and Preventive Conservation (Byz-tex-Athos)

Ioannis Karapanagiotis, Christos Karydis, Sue Thomas, Dominique Cardon, Witold Nowik, Cecily Grzywacz

Mount Athos has been an Orthodox spiritual centre since 1054 and has enjoyed an autonomous status since Byzantine times. Today, the “Holy Mountain” is still a major centre of the Christian religion with over 20 large, occupied and active monasteries, which according to UNESCO are considered to have outstanding universal value. Peerless artworks of inestimable religious, spiritual and historical importance have been guarded by the monasteries for several centuries. Among them, important textiles can be found which have been barely studied.

In the project a multi-disciplinary approach will be employed to study thirty textile works from the Monastery of Simonos Petra of Mount Athos with the collaboration of the following Institutions: (i) Ormylia Foundation, Art Diagnosis Center – Greece; (ii) CNRS, CIHAM/Laboratoire d'Histoire et d'Archéologie in collaboration with LRMH (Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques) – France; (iii) University of Lincoln, Faculty of Art, Conservation and Restoration –UK; (iv) Getty Conservation Institute – Science - USA.
The goals of the project are sumarised as follows.

Clarification of the origin of the dyes contained in the textiles
The biological sources of the dyestuffs used for during dyeing of post-Byzantine textiles from Mount Athos (including textiles from the monastery of Simonos Petra) are to a large extent unknown. Knowledge is mainly based on tradition rather than scientific evidence. A multi-disciplinary approach will be followed to perform the chemical investigations including optical microscopy, colorimetry, µFTIR, µRaman, HPLC-PDA-MS, GC-MS and SEM-EDS.

Stylistic and historic investigation of the artworks
A detailed stylistic examination of the selected artworks will be performed. Patterns and methods of construction will be recorded and compared with corresponding data found in other textiles (either Ottoman or Western textiles) and from different historical periods (historical study).

Documentation of the artworks
The achievement of the previous two objectives will lead to the detailed documentation of the artworks through an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach. The assessment of the origin of the raw materials (e.g. dyestuffs), the clarification of the history of the artworks (mainly through the stylistic studies as historical documents are not available) and the elucidation of the religious, historic and social meanings which are hidden behind the symbols of the artworks will provide the basis to understand the art of these objects.

Preventive Conservation of the artworks
Ethics in the preservation of cultural artefacts following conservation, restoration or preventive conservation treatments can be a complicated subject as each object treatment is unique and recipes or strict guidelines cannot be used. There will be always different risks to consider when any object is going to be treated, and assessing these risks is a daily task for a preventive conservator. Whether an ecclesiastical garment or a fabric is requested to go on loan outside Mount Athos, or to be handled by the brotherhood or the researchers, there are many issues to consider and what may be right for one object may not be acceptable for another. Results from the current survey point out the need to prioritise preventive rather than interventive conservation.

Acknowledgment. Support by the Getty Conservation Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

2006

The Medieval Logistics Project

The Medieval Logistics Project is shared between Birmingham University (Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity) and Princeton University (History Dept.). A new website, with updated details of current work and projects, will shortly be set up at Princeton to complement that at Birmingham: see www.medievallogistics.bham.ac.uk

2005

The British Academy Network for Medieval Friendship Networks

Friendship was for a long time regarded by medievalists as marginal to key concepts, events and movements in society, and also as fundamentally unproblematic, as an easily recognised universal. In the first half of the 20th century, it was studied by some historians, but their approach was partial, mostly focusing on theological or spiritual aspects. Later, more differentiated ways of studying the subject developed, resulting in a great variety of publications. Scholars focused for example on ecclesiastical networks and the philosophy of friendship in western medieval history, they concentrated on lay friendships and constitutional history, or they became embroiled in issues of kin versus non-kin in Byzantine society. Most of these studies have in common that ‘the question of friendship’ has been pursued predominantly as an aspect of the history of spirituality or of psycho-history, often commenting on specific texts in isolation, both discursive theoretical treatises and texts, narrative and interactive, which demonstrate friendship in action.

Recent research however has established the relationship of friendship and networks of friendship to important social and political networks in medieval society by showing that these texts relate to a specific, explicitly acknowledged ideal of disinterested public friendship and to identifiable social networks with important political implications. Medievalists now try to interpret the language of friendship related rigorously to its context and the historical circumstances of its deployment, through a more sophisticated reading of the texts, and to understand the role of such exchanges in the formation, maintenance and activation of networks, and ultimately to the workings of politics. Or they discuss the problem of understanding friendship as the expression of a social as well as a personal relation which refers to the broader context of social structures and textual or educational environments.

The British Academy Network for ‘Medieval Friendship Networks’ (2004-2010) is an international network of western medievalists and Byzantinists bringing together different methodological approaches to friendship and to friendship texts in a rigorous comparative matrix of Scandinavia, western Europe and the Byzantine world. The aim of this network is to develop a better understanding of the language of friendship in its social, political and cultural context, to create methodologies for the reconstruction and analysis of relations and networks, and to visualize multi-layered processes of communication. Through a period of five years, international workshops and congresses on various topics (e.g. letters and narrative in medieval social networks, the (body) language of friendship, gesture in art and literature, functioning of political/episcopal/monastic/secular networks, detection of relationships, friendship across the boundaries (for example Islam, medieval Jewish communities, Rus), digital network mapping, friendship and gender) are planned. Research results will be presented through individual contributions, as well as through generalizing, comparative and cross-fertilizing publications. A website, containing an extensive bibliographical database on friendship and networks in Medieval Europe (300-1500), is under construction.

Directors: Julian Haseldine, University of Hull
Margaret Mullett, Queen’s University Belfast
Jon Vidar Sigurdsson, University of Oslo

Coordinators: Michael Grünbart, University of Vienna
Walter Ysebaert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel/FWO-Vlaanderen

2003

Michael Jeffreys: Prosopography of the Byzantine World
To judge from the royalties, many members of the SPBS have purchased the CD of the Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire (PBE), available (for individuals) from Ashgate more cheaply than most of their books. It covers the period 641 to 867, giving scholarly articles on around 8,500 persons, with excellent indices, which, after some practice, may be combined in very sophisticated searchesn.....[continued].

2002

Aesthetics and Cognition

Project at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (Oslo) in the academic year 2002/03: 'Aesthetics and Cognition: The Development of an Anthropology and an Aesthetic in Early Byzantine Theology.' This interdisciplinary project, directed by Jostein Børtnes and Tomas Hägg of the University of Bergen, will study the development of a specific anthropology and aesthetic within Christian Orthodox theology from the Cappadocian Church fathers to Dionysios the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. The team consists of Andrew Louth (University of Durham), John McGuckin (Union Theological Seminary), Hugo Montgomery (University of Oslo), Edgars Narkevics (University of Riga), Frederick W. Norris (Emmanuel School of Religion), Eustratios Papaioannou (Catholic University of America), Philip Rousseau (Catholic University of America), Samuel Rubenson (Lund University), and Torstein Tollefsen (University of Oslo); some of the invited scholars will spend the whole academic year at the Centre, others will come for periods of one to five months each. Special emphasis will be on Gregory of Nazianzus and his influence, and this will also be the topic of the international symposium to be arranged at Solstrand Fjord Hotel (outside Bergen) 21-25 May, 2003. For further information, contact Jostein.Bortnes@krr.uib.no or Tomas.Hagg@krr.uib.no.

Database of the Madrid Skylitzes Miniatures

As part of the AHRB Centre for Byzantine Cultural History (Belfast, Newcastle and Sussex), a project is underway to create a database of the images of the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript (Bib.Nac.vitr. 26-2). The database construction is run from the University of Sussex by Liz James and Bente Bjørnholt and forms a section of the Centre's Skylitzes project. Once complete, the database is intended for public use.

The manuscript, which is a twelfth-century illustrated version of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes, contains 574 images of various subject matters related to the events in the text. It is the endeavour of the project to establish a comprehensive database, which will cover as many aspects of the images as possible such as iconographical features, colour, and style. In existing scholarship the images have already been used for many different purposes and it is the aim that the database will fulfil future requirements as far as possible. We want to ensure both that the operation of the database (such as search topics) and the information supplied meets the needs of the users and therefore ask you to tell us which topics would you find valuable to include in the database. Please email your suggestions to us.

E-mail address:  Skylitzesdata@hotmail.com.

Liz James
Bente Bjørnholt

2001

David Turner, Daniel Farrell and Godfrey Tanner:
The Life of St. Anthony the Younger
Critical text, translation and commentary.

Union Theological Seminary, New York:
The Christianities of Ancient Africa
A new collaborative project has been initiated at Union, envisaged to last for the next three to four years, collating and soliciting contributions from academic colleagues at Union/ Columbia and related institutions, as well as doctoral level candidates during their 'taught-courses' stage, and also MA and STM research students. The project aims to gather bibliographic data and make a taxonomy of the state of studies related to the five central sites of pre-medieval African Christianity: The North African Littoral; Alexandria and Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia. The focus of work will be on Christianity from Late Antiquity to the early Medieval periods - leading to a public conference and edited volumes of studies on the theme some time in the future.
Further information can be obtained from Professor McGuckin, Dept. of Church History, Union Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, NY. 10027, USA.

University of California:
Late Antiquity
A Multi-Campus Research Group for Late Antiquity of the University of California, has been established, with the participation of Emily Albu (UC Davis), Harold Drake (UC Santa Barbara), Susanna Elm (UC Berkeley), Claudia Rapp (UCLA, Principal Investigator) and Michele Salzman (UC Riverside). For a detailed schedule of activities, including the Call for Papers for the UCLA Graduate Students' Conference in Late Antiquity, see the website: http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/lateantique/

2000

The Archaeological Hinterland of Constantinople
James Crow, Paolo Bono & Richard Bayliss

The archaeological survey of the Thracian Hinterland of Constantinople led by James Crow (Newcastle University) began in 1994 and its first stage is due for completion this year (2000). The main focus of the project over the past five years has been the Anastasian Wall, a 6^th century monumental linear fortification stretching some 56km from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and situated c.65km from the city itself. In places the Wall survives up to 5m high, but for the most part it lies obscured deep within the forests of central and northern Thrace, together with its associated forts, an outer ditch and a complement of massive towers.

Fifteen kilometres of the wall have now been recorded in detail on a single co-ordinate system, using a combination of GPS and terrestrial (Total Station) survey techniques. Detailed topographical survey has been carried out in a number of sites, including one of the wall forts, which was recorded after undertaking an extensive clearance operation. Our approach has been to target the most accessible areas, which are by their nature the most endangered by increasing human activity in the area.

In 2000 the project enters a new phase with the commencement of a 3-year programme sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, to investigate the water supply of Constantinople in the Byzantine period. The principal component of the system is a 250km long supply line of aqueducts and underground channels built primarily in the 4^th century, which stands claim as the longest water supply line known from Antiquity. Within the city, the great Aqueduct of Valens survives as the most enigmatic reminder of this endeavour, yet the city also boasts nearly a hundred known cisterns of substantial scale. This includes four open-air reservoirs, the sizes of which are best represented by their present-day use as football grounds and recreation centres. The main supply line was supplemented by feeder systems, particularly in the vicinity of the Anastasian Wall and the entire system was subject to a series of substantial repairs throughout the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. The shear volume of archaeological evidence relating to the water supply of the Byzantine city has proved to be the major hindrance in previous attempts to provide a general account of the system.

The aim of the project is to achieve a greater understanding of the Byzantine system by clarifying its character and development, from the sources in the hinterland to the distribution and collection points in the city. Our existing survey methodology will be developed within a GIS environment to allow management and analysis of the data. The project will be undertaken in collaboration with hydrogeologists, palaeobotanists and palaeoseismologists in order to address key issues of chronology and the correlation of sources and channels in the hinterland with points of delivery in the city.

References:

Web site: http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/long_walls/index.html (with full bibliography, reports and computer-based reconstruction illustrations from the survey).

Crow J. and Ricci, A. 1997 'Investigating the Hinterland of Constantinople, an interim report on the Anastasian Long Wall Project', Journal of Roman Archaeology 10, 235-262.

Annual Reports in Anatolian Archaeology and BBBS.