Византијски свет на Балкану I-II

Convergence and Divergence between the Patriarchal Register of Constantinople and the Ponemata Diaphora of Archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Achrida/Ohrid

Convergence and Divergence between the Patriarchal Register of Constantinople and the Ponemata Diaphora of Archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Achrida/Ohrid
(Convergence and Divergence between the Patriarchal Register of Constantinople and the Ponemata Diaphora of Archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Achrida/Ohrid)

Author(s):Günter Prinzing
Language:English
Subject(s):13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Page Range:1-16
No. of Pages:16
Keywords:Patriarchal Register; Ponemata Diaphora; Ohrid original copy
Summary/Abstract:My paper is concerned with special points regarding the form and content of the “Ohrid Corpus of Acts”, i.e. the Ponemata diaphora of Chomatenos, in comparison with the Patriarchal Register of Constantinople (= PRC) that has come down to us in two original manuscripts of the register for the years 1315–1372 and 1379–1402, the Vienna Codices Historici Graeci 47 and 48. The critical new edition of the PRC is a current major project of Vienna Byzantine Studies. Since 1981, three volumes of the PRC and several accompanying publications have appeared within the framework of the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. However, the main focus of my paper is on the Ohrid corpus of acts that owes its origin to the fact that Archbishop Chomatenos, a competent jurist, conducted his official business, as it were, like a patriarch when, in the years 1216–1236, he headed the autocephalous Archbishopric of Bulgaria with its see in Ohrid. (See fig. 1: Map)

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О односу управне и црквене организације на подручју охридске архиепископије

О односу управне и црквене организације на подручју охридске архиепископије
(On the Relationship of Administrative and Ecclesiastical Organisation In the Territories of the Ohrid Archbishopric)

Author(s):Bojana Krsmanović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Military history, Political history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:17-39
No. of Pages:23
Summary/Abstract:This paper considers the data on the military, civil and ecclesiastical organisation, which Byzantium set up in the Balkans after 1018/1019. It presents the view that the development of military and ecclesiastical organisation can be followed in satisfactory continuity and that the system of military and church authority coincided territorially with each other to a high degree. In establishing authority in the Balkans, Byzantium largely relied on conditions linked with the epoch of Samuel and his successors. The aforesaid was reflected in the military system of power, although after 1018/1019, Byzantium adjusted it to its own needs, in particular the organisation of the Church. The Archbishopric of Ohrid preserved to a great extent the episcopal structure of the Bulgarian Church from the period of Samuel and his successors in the territorial sense, until some time around the middle of the 11th century. The insistence of Basil II on continuity with the previous, Bulgarian epoch (visible on the basis of the bishoprics that were assigned to it, its autocephalous position, the choice of a “domestic” archbishop) represents one of the consequences of the significance that the Bulgarian Church had, as an institution in the process of Byzantium's taking control of the region in the interior ofthe Balkans. Also the assumption is presented that the church organisation set upin 1018/1019, was a substitute for the poorly developed civil system of authority in certain Balkan regions. Although the Archbishopric of Ohrid represented the most enduring Byzantine achievement in the Balkans, the system that had been established under Basil II underwent many changes in the course of the second half of the 11th century. The most striking testimony of the advanced process of Rhomaization was visible in the creation of a tradition regarding the origin of the Ohrid Archbishopric, according to which it was connected with Justinian I. Importance was already attached to that theory in the time of the Ohrid Archbishop Leo (middle of the 11th century). Just before the mid–12th century, this theory led to overlooking the Bulgarian origin of the Ohrid Church, which was finally confirmed by the official acceptance of the title of the head of the Ohrid Church — the Archbishop “of the First Justinian and All Bulgaria” in the time after 1261.

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Појам Бугарске у XI и XII веку и територија Охридске архиепископије

Појам Бугарске у XI и XII веку и територија Охридске архиепископије
(The Term Bulgaria in the 11th and 12th Centuries and the Territory of the Archbishopric of Ohrid)

Author(s):Predrag Komatina
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Geography, Political history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:41-56
No. of Pages:16
Summary/Abstract:The notion Bulgaria in historical sources survived the end of the First Bulgarian State in 1018. The use of this term in the sources of the 11th and 12th centuries is not related to the adminstrative unit of the theme of Bulgaria, because it exceeds this unit both geographically and chronologically. This term was used by Byzantine, Latin (predominantly crusader) and Slavonic writers of the time to name the territory that stretched from the Rivers Sava and Danube in the North to the northern ranges of the Pindus Mountains in the South, and from the mountains between Ohrid and Durazzo in the West to the mountain gorges east of Sofia, in the East. It also covered a narrow strip of coastline around Valona, on the Ionian Sea. The term was applied consistantly to this same territory, in order to distigiush it from the rest of the Byzantine territory in the Balkans, which was called Romania, or Greece. This territory coincides with the jurisdictional area of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, the official name of which was the Archbishopric of Bulgaria. It preserved the name of the old Bulgarian Empire, with its traditions, for the land and the people under its jurisdiction. This Bulgaria should be treated by historians as a separete geographical and historical entity. It was divided between Serbia and the new Bulgarian state of Trnovo at the end of the 12th century.

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Печат цара Алексија I из тврђаве Рас

Печат цара Алексија I из тврђаве Рас
(The Seal of the Emperor Alexios I from the Fortress of Ras)

Author(s):Vujadin Ivanišević
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Archaeology, Social history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:57-68
No. of Pages:12
Summary/Abstract:During 2010, on the eastern slope of the fortress of Ras, a lead seal of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos was discovered beneath the stone fort. The obverse of the seal bears image of a bearded Christ, facing forwards and seated on a throne with a high back. Around the head of Christ is a nimbus. He wears a tunic and a colobion, and is giving a blessing with his right hand, while in his left, he holds the Gospel. The feet of Christ are resting on a circular pedestal. The inscription is not preserved but according to analogies with identical seals, it is certain that it contained the abbreviation IC — XC. The reverse shows the image of the emperor Alexios I facing forwards, standing on a pedestal. The emperor has a beard, is wearing a crown with prependoulia and is dressed in a divetesion, a maniakon and a loros, which is draped over his left shoulder. In his right hand he holds a labarum, which rests on the ground, and in his left hand holds a globus cruciger. One can distinguish only some of the letters in the inscription which formed a frame around the presentation. In the process of being pressed, the lead blank was not well-positioned in relation to the boulloterion, so that the imprint of the obverse and reverse were shifted in relation to the lead blank. The upper parts of the images, the head of Christ on the obverse and the upper part of the emperor's head on the reverse, are missing. Apart from that, the blank was narrower than the boulloterion itself, so that the inscriptions in the field on the obverse and along the rim of the reverse were not clearly imprinted. The seal itself has a diameter of 30 mm and weighs 20.5 g. Despite the fact that the inscription is poorly preserved and practically illegible, the identification of the seal does not present a particular problem. Based on the iconographic and stylistic features, it can be attributed to the emperor Alexios I Komnenos, whose seals are distinguished by a specific iconographic scheme with the presentation of Christ enthroned on the obverse and the standing figure of the ruler, facing forwards, who is holding a labarum and a globus cruciger on the reverse. According to the classification of the seals, proposed by G. Zacos and A. Veglery, in their corpus “Byzantine Lead Seals” our specimen would belong to the first variant of lead seals, subcategory two — n¿ 102b. For the consideration of our find, certainly the most important discovery in the area of Sirmium, Ma~vanska Mitrovica, to be more exact, is the seal of the sebastos and megas domestikos Alexios Komnenos, the future emperor, which Bo`idar Ferjan~i} dated to between the end of 1078 / beginning of 1079 and the month of March in 1081. This find, according to B. Ferjan~i}, represents an important testimony about the duration of Byzantine rule during the seventies and the beginning of the eighties of the 11th century. The discovery of the seal of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos in the fortress of Ras indicates the presence of Byzantine rule in this important stronghold in the region that bears the same name, and the find itself belongs to the time of the Byzantine take-over of the castle and the construction of the first fortification with an earthen palissade. The seal of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos points to the importance of fortifying the exposed Byzantine strongholds that were under constant threat from the Serbs, and his care for the Empire's western border. The importance which that border had for Byzantium is clearly testified in the reports by Anna Komnenos about the fact that the emperor Alexios visited the mountain passes between Dalmatia and Byzantium — at the border facing Serbia. He personally dealt with the fortification by constructing valli: trenches, palisades, observation towers, and wooden towers, as well as the construction of forts — towers made of brick and stone. Part of the policy of the emperor Alexios I was certainly the fortification of large military strongholds for the purpose of defending the Byzantine borders.

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Самуилово царство и Угарска

Самуилово царство и Угарска
(Samuel’s Empire аnd Hungary)

Author(s):Boris Stojkovski
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Diplomatic history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:65-76
No. of Pages:12
Summary/Abstract:The relations between Samuel’s empire and young Christian kingdom of Hungary are very complicated. Two most important aspects of these relations are the ones considering the dynastic marriage and alliance between the two states. Hungarian historiography places the marriage between Samuel’s son and unknown sister of king Stephen of Hungary between 980’s and even 1018. Chronology of the marriage as well the alliance between Hungary and Byzantium in their war against Samuel is uncertain, but on the basis of vast sources and literature the conclusions and our assumptions are the following. The end of the alliance between Samuel’s state and Hungary as well as the break up of the marriage between Gavril Radomir and unknown Hungarian princess happened around 1001/02. A few years after Hungary were part of coalition against Samuel and led an attack on his state. In the year 1004 Stephen’s army got all the way to Skopje. Probably in the monastery of Gorg or more probably in Staro Nagori~ino they took relics (head) of Saint George which were later transferred to Belgium, to the church in Namur. The relics were maybe not of the well known holy warrior George but of a certain bishop killed, i. e. decapitated by Krum.

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Белошева опатија архиђакона Стефана - рефугијум Домбо и Баноштор

Белошева опатија архиђакона Стефана - рефугијум Домбо и Баноштор
(Beloš’s Abbey Of Stephen The Archdeacon — Refugium Dombo And Banoštor)

Author(s):Janko Maglovski
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Geography, Local History / Microhistory, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:77-95
No. of Pages:19
Summary/Abstract:In scientific treatise so well as in readings held by occasion on feasts it was considered as most probable, by now even regarded as a proved fact, the Monasterium Bani (Banov Manastir) had its site in area of contemporary village Banoštor. Recently granted statements about history and archeology of this part countryside of Srem the possibility to discuss those opinion again. In this article the author points some remarkable mistakes out. As main one seems to be related to the origin of the name for contemporary village Banoštor. Its name, as it was helden with, derives not from the name of the Benedictine abbey founded by Ban Beloš mentioned in Hungarian historical sources as Monasterium Bani. In fact its name comes from notion, economic one, willa monasterii Bani, i.e. the village with man contributed to the Monasterium Bani. One other misleading mistake was about the archeological site Gradina in Novi Rakovac, correctly recognized as refuge Dombo but quite wrongly identified with abbey of St. George of Dombo (St.Georgius de Dombo). The name Dombo for this small refuge for local peasants, proofed by documents and geographical maps, came in fact after its builders, inhabitants of nearest village Dombovo being obligated to erect it in hurry. After elimination of this two cardinal misunderstandings in interpretation of Hungarian documents author pays attention to well known historical sources of Turkish Empire serving to show that the oldest findings on the site Gradina were remains of abbey of Archdeacon Stephan founded by Ban Beloš. Revised reading of Hungarian sources dictates the necessity for making a clear difference of old term Monasterium Bani (1309.) from the Hungarian toponym Banmonostra (1476). Shoves that in historical note in proprio fondo suo, qui appellatur Keu (1198) so well as in Civitas de Ku que alio modo Monasterium Bani nominatur (1309) the name Ke (Keu, Ku) is to be understood as name of a region. Not as the name for a place within that region. This area Ke (Petrik) extended somewhere from Sremska Kamenica to Banoštor or Koruška on the very bank of Danube, right one. The kind of rough mistakes, recognized in papers, required an exact proof of significance of few single terms of mediaeval Latin language. It was necessary, as the first, to grasp real meaning of the phrase in proprio fondo suo as well as the fundo suo, written down by the very end of 12. century. Then, it was necessary too, to understand in a correct way the words civitas, castrum and villa. An acceptable and trustworthy explication of them will result with better explanation of since long times used historical sources. More than one century ago, Hungarian scholar D. Csanky extracted some twenty sentences or parts of them in order to testify the old existence of contemporary village Banoštor. His understanding of the terms villa and civitas in sense of classical Latin as denotation for village and town was due to many mistakes. The term civitas was written down in a document at the year 1309. The exact meaning of both terms offers Glossarium ad Scriptores Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis, Auctore Carolo Dufresne, Domino Du Cang. Correct acceptance of mediaeval phrases containing the word civitas was explained with: “Civitas, Urbs Episcopalis, cum cåterå Castra vel oppida dicerentur…”. In this explanation some difficulties can be caused by understanding of phrase Urbs Episcopalis, if the notion urbs is accepted in other way than as centrum, seat, residence (of episcope, episcopate) as Csanky did. Another phrase brought by Csanky in his capital work about Hungarian mediaeval topography is Villa monasterii Bani, from a document dated in the year 1309 too. In Glossarium of Du Cange one can find a correct explanation for the mediaeval Latin word villa. After quoted examples for older meanings of word he adds a citation: “Villas, hodie, non quomodo Latini praedia rustica; sed complurium in agris mansionum vel ådium collectionem appellamus”.

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Свети Сава и подизање Милешеве

Свети Сава и подизање Милешеве
(Saint Sava and the Construction of Mileševa)

Author(s):Gojko Subotić, Ljubomir Maksimović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, History of Church(es), Local History / Microhistory, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:97-109
No. of Pages:13
Summary/Abstract:The portraits of the historical personalities in Mile{eva are a primary source for the question of when the monastery was built, considering that the biographers of the archbishop Sava Nemanji}, either make no mention of the latter's role in its construction (Domentijan) or do not record that role specifically, even though connecting it with the time of King Vladislav (Teodosije). In the naos, Vladislav is depicted as the donor, and in the narthex he appears, on the western wall, with the members of his family, conducted by St. Simeon, while depicted on the southern wall are SS. Constantine and Helen and an unknown person in the robes of a Byzantine ruler. Having in mind that Saint Sava was also the creator of the thematic program in the Church of the Mother of God in Studenica, we should focus our consideration on a text — the famous inscription at the base of the dome — penned by Saint Sava himself. The inscription stresses that the Grand Zhupan Simeon Nemanja was the svat of the Greek emperor Alexios (III) Angelos (meaning that Alexios' daughter Eudokia was married to Nemanja's son, Stefan.) The cited words are all the more worthy of attention by virtue of the fact that in 1208/9, when the inscription was composed, Eudokia was no longer married to Sava's brother, nor was Alexios III even on the throne of the Byzantine Empire to see the fall of Constantinople in the IV Crusade (1204). The inscription testifies to the unchanged relationship towards Byzantine authority even after such a colossal disaster as the first collapse of the Empire in 1204. One can see the same relationship in Mile{eva as well. Here, with the image of Stefan the First Crowned, just as with Nemanja in Studenica, direct kinship is highlighted with the Byzantine ruling house, that is to say, with Alexios III. Be side the portrait of Stefan, in the right, preserved part of the inscription, one can read: Stefan, son of Saint Simeon Nemanja, son-in-law of the Greek emperor, kyr Alexios. For those reasons, it is certain that the image of the Byzantine ruler in Mile{eva represented the emperor Alexios III Angelos. With a clear scheme en compassing the members of the two dynasties and determining their relationships, Sava closed the thematic circle dedicated to the historical personalities who were direct and indirect involved in the construction of Mile{eva and its decoration.

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Стефан Немањић и његов брат Сава у списима Димитрија Хоматина

Стефан Немањић и његов брат Сава у списима Димитрија Хоматина
(Stefan Nemanjić and his Brother Sava in the Acts of Demetrios Chomatenos)

Author(s):Vlada Stanković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:111-118
No. of Pages:8
Summary/Abstract:Almost simultaneously with becoming the archbishop of Ohrid (Bulgaria) in 1216/1217, as a protege of Theodore Angelos, Demetrios Chomatenos embarked on settling the political relations of the State of Epirus with the neighboring rulers, among whom the archzhupan, and from 1217 king of Serbia, Stephen, was on of the most prominent personalities. Chomatenos' acts bear witness to the intensive communication between the State of Epirus, some of which went through the Archbishopric of Ohrid, and Serbia, conveying some unique information about family ties between the two neighboring regions. Of particular importance are the quality and the fashion of Chomatenos' communication with Stephan Nemanjić and his younger brother Sava, that confirm their complete inclusion in to the Byzantine world of the first decades of the thirteenth century, revealing, at the same time, the strong political role of the archbishop of Ohrid. According to the analysis of Chomatenos' acts, it seems conceivable that Theodore Angelos attempted to pursue a more neutral policy toward Serbia and its ruler in the first years of his rule, until the final agreement with Stephan Nemanjić and the marriage of his daughter Anna with Stephan's heir in 1219/1220. The turnabout in policy toward an alliance with Stephan Nemanjić was not looked upon favorably by all bishops of Chomatenos' diocese (act 3), and Chomatenos might have personally shared the views of some opponents of Theodore Angelos' new policy, since his authority was challenged and strongly undermined with the recognition of the Serbian autocephalous church that Sava obtained from Nicaea in 1218/1219.

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Архиепископ Лав - творац иконографског програма фресака у Светој Софији Охридској

Архиепископ Лав - творац иконографског програма фресака у Светој Софији Охридској
(Archbishop Leo — The Creator of the Iconographic Fresco Program in Saint Sophia in Ohrid)

Author(s):Branislav Todić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 6th to 12th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:119-142
No. of Pages:24
Summary/Abstract:The church of Saint Sophia in Ohrid was built by Archbishop Leo (1037–1056), “the first of the Greek” since the founding of the Archbishopric of Ohrid (1019), on the site of an older church. On the model of the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, he dedicated the church to St. Sophia, and its chapels to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, Saint John the Baptist and the Holy Apostles, whose relics are kept in their Constantinople church. No doubt, the painters were brought from the capital, as well; certain scenes distinctive of Constantinople art were also painted in St. Sophia, again probably by the intervention of Archbishop Leo. His imprint is most perceptible in the decoration of the sanctuary. Certain dogmatic-liturgical themes are presented there, whose iconography coincides for the most part with Leo’s viewpoints expressed between 1052 and 1054 in his epistles addressed to Bishop John of Trani, and also the entire Western clergy including the Pope. In his polemic with the West, the Archbishop of Ohrid drew mostly from the Pauline epistles and argued that leavened bread was the only true body of Christ, and as such needed to be used in the Eucharist. There is, therefore, very little doubt why the Eucharist should be painted in the apse of the church in Ohrid instead of the Communion of Apostles. This image contains subtle iconographic meanings, very closely related to the theological discussions of the time. Two scenes from the north wall are also connected to the Communion of Apostles: the Vision and the First Service of Saint Basil, depicting the origin of Byzantine liturgy. It stems from Christ and the Apostles, for it was Christ who inspired St. Basil to compose his Liturgy, which Basil himself served in the sanctuary immediately thereafter. It was probably Leo again who had the eminent Greek hierarchs gathered around St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom painted in the apse, along with several scenes from the Old Testament prefiguring the Incarnation and the New Testament service. There is no doubt that Archbishop Leo is to be further accredited with the representations of the great number of holy bishops and with their order. They served to assert the primacy of the Patriarchate of Constantinople which constituted the center of all the local Orthodox churches. This ideal image of Christian ecumenism also included the Western Church, which was represented by the images of Roman Popes honored by the Byzantine world. Furthermore, Leo accounted for the origin of his Archbishopric by the portraits of the popes Innocent and Vigilius who recognized the autocephaly of the Vicariate of Thessaloniki and Justiniana Prima, Church organisations preceding first the Bulgarian, and then the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The Bulgarian Church — the second component which led to the creation of the autocephaly of the Archbishopric of Ohrid — was presented in the Ohrid fresco-painting by the images of SS. Cyril and Clement, whereas the constitution of the Archbishopric of Ohrid was represented by the portrait of Patriarch Eusthatius (1019–1025), during whose time the Archbishopric was established. Taking all of this into account, one should regard Archbishop Leo as the real creator of the fresco programme in St. Sophia in Ohrid: he authorized it, but also propagated certain themes which he found particularly important. Those were associated with liturgy, the issue of communion bread, the relationship between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and Rome, as well as with the autocephaly of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The frescoes are permeated with references to the events at the time of the Great Schism, in which Archbishop Leo played one of the most important roles. Today, without the historical context it would be hard to understand the frescoes in Ohrid and their iconography. Therefore, the frescoes should be dated between the years 1052, the start of the polemic with Rome and 1056, the passing of Archbishop Leo. In his cathedral church, he not only created a first-rate work of art, but also an artwork which marks the threshold of a new era in Byzantine art after 1054.

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Христолошки значај представе премудрости у цркви Свете Софије Охриду

Христолошки значај представе премудрости у цркви Свете Софије Охриду
(The Christological Significance of the Presentation of Divine Wisdom in the Church of St. Sophia in Ohrid)

Author(s):Zdravko Peno
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:137-146
No. of Pages:10
Summary/Abstract:The countenance and role of portraits on the partly preserved fresco in St. Sofia church in Ohrid showing manifestation of Divine Wisdom have been differently interpreted. Starting from the hagiography of St. Basil the Great, some art historians have interpreted this fresco as Christ’s and holy Apostle’s epiphany to St. Basil the Great, who is being called to the service in the holy altar. Other art historians have envisaged the composition in a wider context, primarily pointing to a special place of St. Paul in the apostolic choir, as well as to a special bond between Paul the Apostle, the most meritorious New Testament herald of the Holy Wisdom, and his best hermeneutist, St. John Chrysostom. It is certain that the painter of the St. Sofia Church found an inspiration for the presentation of Holy Wisdom in sophiological texts of the Old Testament, in St. Paul’s epistles as well as in the testimonies of St. Proclus of Constantinople re corded in the Hagiography of St. John Chrysostom. The representation of the Holy Wisdom as a girl stems from the tradition relying on the King Solomon’s tales, in which the Holy Wisdom builds a home and summons people to eat bread and wine she has prepared (9, 1–5). In this context, the representation of the Holy Wisdom should not be interpreted regardless of the image of Jacob’s ladder, since this representation, being placed in the altar symbolizing Heaven, makes present the very incarnation of the Son who came down from Heaven (John 3, 13). The liturgical context of Holy Wisdom representation is underlined by the image of St. Basil the Great, certainly the most significant Divine Liturgy maker/creator, beside St. John Chrysostom. Both of these compositions, the Jacob’s ladder and Service of St. Basil the Great, related to the epiphany of Holy Wisdom to St. John Chrysostom, enclose both aspects of “Divine Economy”: the coming of Christ into the world and his Eucharistic sacrifice in Liturgy. The position of Holy Wisdom in the altar suggests not only “symbolic interpretation of an exceptional rhetorical gift” nor just “Divine inspiration — a dream of St. John Chrysostom” since both the rhetorical gift and divine inspiration need the same life-giving source — the Holy Eucharist. The participation in the agape that Holy Wisdom prepared (as it is stated in the 3rd line of the 9th chapter of King Solomon’s tales) refers to, according to St. John of Damascus, ineffable future goods that Holy Wisdom would give to those who take her Body as their meaningful food and her Blood as their meaningful drink. The Holy Wisdom’s agape, which was prepared long before, in the words of St. Maximus the Confessor, is a final destination and purpose of the painting in the Church of St. Sofia in Ohrid.

Price: 4.50 €

Представе светог Климента Охридског у зидном сликарству средњовековне Србије

Представе светог Климента Охридског у зидном сликарству средњовековне Србије
(Presentation of St. Kliment of Ohrid in the Wall-Painting of Medieval Serbia)

Author(s):Dragan Vojvodić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:145-176
No. of Pages:23
Summary/Abstract:Images of St. Kliment of Ohrid seem to have already appeared in the monumental art of medieval Serbia from the first decade of the 14th century. There are more of them than it was thought earlier and they were represented in the churches of the old lands of Rascia as well as in Macedonia. Probably the earliest presentation of St. Kliment of Ohrid in Serbian wall-painting is preserved in the altar of the Church of the Ascension in Žiča. The wall-painting in that part of the church in Žiča, which is marked by certain archaic features of style, should be dated to the time of the Archbishop Jevstatije II, or more precisely, a little before 1309. St. Kliment of Ohrid was also depicted in some of King Milutin's endowments, which were decorated with frescoes by the zographs from his “royal workshop”. It is highly probable that the portrait of the said saint was represented in the programs of our Lady of Ljeviša in Prizren (1309–1313), the King's Church in Studenica, in Gračanica (around 1320) and in Hilandar (1320–1321). In all those churches, presentations were painted of the saintly bishop bearing the name Kliment, with the facial features of the patron of Ohrid. The presentation of St. Kliment in Staro Nagoričane (1316) was painted next to the presentations of St. Constantine Kabasilas and the Serbian archbishop Sava, within the framework of the composition with Officiating bishops. This presentation of Kliment, like those in Žiča, is inscribed with the definition “of Ohrid”. It is much less certain that the holy patron of Ohrid was represented in St. Nicholas ton Orphanon in Thessaloniki. The topographical definition “of Ohrid” also accompanies the images of St. Kliment in some churches of the Serbian donors from the period of the king and emperor Dušan, such as the Bela Crkva (White Church) of Karan (1332–1337), the Virgin Hodegitria in Pe} (until 1337), and Mateič (around 1350). A little later in Psača, the Markov Manastir near Skoplje and Andreaš (St. Andrew's church) on the River Treska, St. Kliment was painted without a topographical definition in the inscription but with all the essential physiognomical features of the patron of Ohrid. It is likely that St. Kliment of Ohrid was also depicted in the Church of St. George in Rečane near Prizren (around 1370), as well as in some other Serbian churches dating from the 14th century. Where 15th century Serbian painting is concerned, it was possible to reliably identify his portrait only in the recently destroyed church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin in Dolac near Klina (Metohija), dated to around 1450, and in Poganovo (1499).

Price: 4.50 €

Српски владарски портрети у Григоријевој галерији Свете Софије у Охриду и њихов програмски контекст

Српски владарски портрети у Григоријевој галерији Свете Софије у Охриду и њихов програмски контекст
(Serbian Rulers’ Portraits in Gregory’s Gallery of Saint Sophia in Ohrid and Their Program Context)

Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, History of Church(es), Visual Arts, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:169-198
No. of Pages:30
Summary/Abstract:The fragments of three rulers’ images are preserved in the highest zone of the eastern wall of what is known as Gregory's Gallery in the exonarthex of the Ohrid cathedral. They are represented on each side of the images of the Deesis, with Christ on the throne, flanked by the images of two archangels, and two saints who mediate for the rulers. Based on the number of the ruler’s portraits, scholars assumed that these are the portaits of the Serbian emperor Dušan, his wife Jelena, and their son Uroš. Therefore, the mural paintings of the gallery are dated to the period between 1350 and 1355 because of the great stylistic similarity between the frescoes of the gallery and those on the first floor of the narthex which were painted by John Teoryanos and his assistants at the end of the fifth decade of the 14th century. One can reliably assume that the first ruler’s image from the left side of the north wall is, in fact, the portrait of the male member of the family. Such an assumption is based on the existence of the small fragment of an extremely long loros, a detail that was not observed by researchers. On the right side of the adjacent figure, a fragment of a semicircular decorative detail is preserved. This detail is reminiscent of the semicircular ornaments on the male sakkos. However, the possibility that the mentioned image is a portrait of the empress Jelena should not be excluded. Namely, one may think that the detail in question is, in fact, the fragment of a long, wide sleeve of a female ruler’s dress. Portraits of Jelena in Saint Nicholas Bolnički in Ohrid and in Lesnovo point to this conclusion. In addition, one should pay attention to the fact that the throne and the legs of Christ are intentionally directed to the south side. That is why we assume that the portait of Dušan was represented on that side, and the portraits of his son and wife who is nearer to Christ , were on the opposite, north side of the eastern wall of the gallery. Based on the existence of a supaedion, on which the figure nearest to Christ on the north side is standing, one can conclude that it is the image of the Virgin. The vertical decorative stripes on her dress are almost identical to those in the churches of Saint Demetrios in the Patriarchate of Pe}, Marko’s Monastery, Lesnovo and Konče. The assumption that the bishop represented on the opposite side of Christ should be identified as Saint Clement of Ohrid cannot be accepted without reserve. Namely, he was not represented with the long pointed beard that covers a part of his omophorion, as was the case on almost all of the images of Saint Clement. That is why the possibility that the image of some other holy bishop is in question seems more acceptable. One should especially examine the possibility that it was Saint Nicholas of Myra. Primarily, the only holy bishop that was represented in the Deesis in Eastern Christian iconography instead of Saint John the Forerunner was, as far as we know, just Saint Nicholas. As valid comparative examples, one can mention the images of the Deesis from the diakonikon of Sopo}ani, above the portal of the narthex of Saint Nicholas Domnesc in Kurtea de Arges, or the Deisis represented on the Russian icon from Tver, painted at the begining of the 16th century. It should be emphasized that Saint Nicholas was greatly respected during the reign of Dušan. This Serbian ruler had an almost personal attitude towards this saint and bishop. Evidence of this is Dušan’s gift to the basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari, dedications of the smaller church of his mausoleum and the paraklession in Dečani, as well as from the texts of several of his charters. In some of the aforementioned documents, the mediating role of Saint Nicholas is especially stressed. Such a status was assigned to Saint Nicholas in the western part of the Dečani naos, as well. There is a “spatial Deesis” consisting of the figure of the Christ, the Virgin, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas. Finally, since Saint Nicholas was the namesake of the archbishop of Ohrid, there are grounds for assuming that it was the archbishop who wanted Saint Nicholas to be represented in the Deesis composition.

Price: 4.50 €

Неумски кодекс Охрид бр. 53 у рукописној традицији XI века

Неумски кодекс Охрид бр. 53 у рукописној традицији XI века
(Neumed Codex Ohrid no. 53 in the Written Tradition of the 11th Century)

Author(s):Vesna Sara Peno
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Music, History of Church(es), 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:191-203
No. of Pages:13
Summary/Abstract:The Sticherarion No. 53 from the National Museum in Ohrid is one of a few notated neumed monuments that belong to the Paleobyzantine period of musical literacy. It is dated at the end of the 11th — beginning of the 12th century, completely written in Greek. Originally, it was not exclusively intended for chanters. The neumes were added later, above the stichera automela. Concerning the notation type, Ohrid No. 53 belongs to the Coislin codex group. The most frequent neume signs suggest developed Coislin symiography. The analogy with the manuscripts dated later is also striking. Namely, there are apparent similarities between Ohrid No. 53 and Vindobonensis theol. gr. 136, which was written during the first half of the 12th century. The elements of so-called Round or Middle Byzantine notation are characteristic for both of the codices. Some of the great — or hyaeronomic signs are also present in the Sticherarion No. 53. The Ohrid neumed collection deserves its place among the family of codices from the second half of the 11th and first decades of the 12th century also for its liturgical text structure. Of special interest are those services indicating the possible Constantinopolitan origin of the collection. By indicating the typical paleographic features of Ohrid No. 53, its approximate position in the written musical tradition of Byzantium is determined.

Price: 4.50 €

Лична побожност на подручју Охридсе архиепископије у светлу археолошких налаза од XI до XIII века

Лична побожност на подручју Охридсе архиепископије у светлу археолошких налаза од XI до XIII века
(Personal Religiosity In the Area of the Archbishopric of Ohrid in the Light of Archeological Evidence from the 11th to the 13th Century)

Author(s):Perica Špehar
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Social history, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:205-220
No. of Pages:16
Summary/Abstract:Within the process of the reorganization of the Byzantine Empire, after the defeat of the Bulgarians in 1014, the Archbishopric of Ohrid, with 33 dioceses, was established in 1025. Christianizing missions on the Balkans, originating from Constantinople, which started in the second half of the 9th century, could be traced through the literary sources, changes in the funeral character and through the remains of church architecture. Also, after the archbishopric was founded, the massive use of items of personal religiosity began. Those items can be divided into encolpia, cross-pendants, small icons, medallions, ampoules and rings. So far, from the territory of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, more than 600 items of personal religiosity have been published. Since the original archbishopric covered the territories of several modern countries, these types of finds were not published. Although their number is not final, it can be said that this is a small amount of items of personal religiosity, used by the relatively numerous Christian population on the broad territory during the two centuries. The items of personal religiosity, which had an apothropaic use, represented also a sign of belonging to a new social group. According to the available data, the most numerous are finds of encolpia and cross-pendants, certain types of which are characteristic just for some parts of the Archbishopric of Ohrid, while the other groups of items of personal religiosity are much less represented. Most of the finds with a certain archaeological background were discovered in the rural cemeteries, where inhumation according to the Christian funeral ritual was practiced. In most of the cases those finds were sporadic, with the exclusion of the necropolis near the Church of St. Panteleimon in Niš, where a large amount of finds was found. The quantitative analysis of the items of personal religiosity indicates that, most probably, for the use of those finds, the level of the urbanization of a certain town and religious centre, such as Ohrid, Prilep, Niš, Braničevo and Durostorum, had great importance. The Archbishopric of Ohrid played a significant role in the process of the Christianization of the Balkans, since during the first two centuries of its existance the new religion was firmly established. The completely Christian funerary practice, the development of the church architecture and the use of the items of personal religiosity testify to this. However, relicts of pagan customs were also registered. Those were explained mainly as the consequence of the low level of the Christianization, although it could also be explained by the necessity of the people to reach out for all the available assistance of “higher forces” during hard times.

Price: 4.50 €

Средњовековни Цариград у старим српским родословима, летописима, записима и натписима

Средњовековни Цариград у старим српским родословима, летописима, записима и натписима
(Medieval Constantinople in the old Serbian genealogies, annals, notes and inscriptions)

Author(s):Radivoj Radić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:221-233
No. of Pages:13
Summary/Abstract:Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, was one of the most important cities in the Middle Ages, a city resembling a giant lighthouse shedding light on all of Christendom. As it was also a very important city in Serbian history, it was mentioned in the old Serbian genealogies, annals and inscriptions. In reference to the medieval Constantinople, the first news about the city on the Bosphorus relate to the 4th century, and then, after an interval of several centuries, the 9th, then 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It refers to various events primarily connected with Byzantine-Serbian relations in the Late Middle Ages, but not only those. If we look at the individual mention of medieval Constantinople, by centuries, then the following scenario exists: 4th century — two events, 9th century — three, 13th — five, 14th six, 15th century (concluding the year 1453) — six events. Speaking about the way Constantinople was referred to, the term most frequently used was Constantine’s city, then Constantinople, followed by the term “Imperial City.” The old Serbian genealogies, annals and inscriptions, besides Constantinople, also mention cities like Belgrade, Skopje and Ni{ less frequently, and then Vienna, Budapest and Moscow in the centuries following the Middle Ages.

Price: 4.50 €

Утицај Византије на аграрне односе у средњовековној Србији

Утицај Византије на аграрне односе у средњовековној Србији
(The Influence of Byzantium on the Agrarian Conditions in Medieval Serbia)

Author(s):Miloš Blagojević
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:235-252
No. of Pages:18
Summary/Abstract:For centuries, medieval Serbia had been exposed to various influences from Byzantium, especially in the spiritual sphere. So, the entire spiritual superstructure of the Orthodox Serbs was shaped under Byzantine influence. In the material sphere, on the other hand, nothing like that happened. Only slight incentives came from Byzantium, which would improve some branch of the economy, like mining, metallurgy, craftsmanship, trade and even agriculture. However, agrarian relations and a system of taxes did develop under Byzantine influence in certain areas of the Serbian medieval state — namely in areas which Serbia took from Byzantium, at the end of the 13th and in the first half of the 14th century. In Byzantium, there were such taxes which essentially represented payments in kind but, as time passed, they were transformed into permanent financial payments. This did not happen with the obligation of farmers to give their masters “three usual gifts” per year. It was common that the “gift” consisted of: bread, a chicken, a modium of barley and half a measure of wine, usually at Christmas, Shrovetide and Easter. The process of the transformation of certain payments in kind into financial taxes stopped in Northern and Central Macedonia between the 1180s and 1280s. When Serbian King Milutin occupied these regions (1282) he did not change the system of taxes that he found, so the farmers gave to the state or their feudal masters: “a tenth” of their wheat, wine, sheep, pigs and bees, i.e. bee-hives. This was expected in the territory of Macedonia, but the appearance of Byzantine taxes in the old Serbian lands which were under the rule of Stefan Nemanja in the second half of the 12th century and, later, under his successors, was somewhat surprising. “A tenth” of bee-hives was given during the reign of Stefan Nemanja, and perhaps even before that. In the old Serbian lands, a tenth of the farm animals was given only by professional cattle-breeders — those in the category of “Wallachian donors,” while other Wallachians gave “the small tenth,” but they were also required to perform various jobs for the ruler or for the feudal masters, in accordance with their main occupation. What especially attracts attention is the fact that farmers on the Coast, between the towns of Ston and Kotor (Cattaro), gave their masters two or three gifts per year, usually bread and a chicken, and sometimes other food supplies. Even more significant is the appearance of “the tenth” in the vicinity of Kotor, along the Zeta Coast and in the wider area of the city of Skadar. The farmers who worked on church land in these regions were obliged to give to the churches “a tenth” of the harvest or from the vineyards they would cultivate. It is also very interesting that, in the wider area of Skadar at the start of the 15th century, proniarions received for their upkeep from their farmers “a tenth” of the complete yield from their fields, vineyards and orchards. The appearance of Byzantine taxes in the territory of the Serbian state was the result of long-lasting direct Byzantine rule, i.e. the presence of Byzantine administrative units — the themata.

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Благослов и венчање великог жупана Стефана Немањића: структура, извори, симболичка и идеолошко-политичка стратегија обреда

Благослов и венчање великог жупана Стефана Немањића: структура, извори, симболичка и идеолошко-политичка стратегија обреда
(The "Blessing and Crowning" of Grand Župan Stefan Nemanjić: the Structure , Sources, Symbolic and Ideological-Political Strategy of the Rite)

Author(s):Milan Radujko
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Political history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:253-285
No. of Pages:33

Price: 4.50 €

Проучавање "централних насеља" у историјској географији византијског царства на Балкану и могућности примене нове методологије

Проучавање "централних насеља" у историјској географији византијског царства на Балкану и могућности примене нове методологије
(Study of “Central Places” in the Historical Geography of the Byzantine Empire in the Balkans and Possibilities of Applying the New Methodology)

Author(s):Jelena Mrgić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Geography, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:285-297
No. of Pages:13
Summary/Abstract:The paper aims to further promote the historical-geographical studies of urban centers in the medieval Balkans, by highlighting the results achieved by Johannes Koder in the field of Byzantine studies, and pointing out further possibilities of applying his research methodology. In his numerous works, Koder both improved the methodology of historical geography, and in practice, conducting the project Tabula Imperii Byzantini (TIB) for over four decades proves how it is possible to enlarge our knowledge of medieval social and cultural landscapes. Those works for me were the ‘gate’ to obtain a proper insight into this particular scientific discipline and showed me the prospects of yielding new results in the field of my own research — medieval Bosnia. By applying his methodology of combining various historical sources (narrative, diplomatic, travelogues, topographical, cartographical etc.) with certain theoretical concepts, such as von Thunen’s location theory and ‘central place theory’, it was possible both to establish a much denser urban settlement network in the regions of Western and Northern medieval Bosnia, as well as to analyze correlations between the city and its agrarian hinterland, with or without the centers with a lesser impact, i.e. lower hierarchical level. Therefore, there are numerous future prospects of improving the research methodology of urban studies in medieval Serbia, together with more extensive archaeological research.

Price: 4.50 €

Мрежа насеља и њихова структура на северу Илирика у 6. веку - археолошки подаци

Мрежа насеља и њихова структура на северу Илирика у 6. веку - археолошки подаци
(The Network of Settlements and their Structure in the North Ilirika in the 6th Century - Archaeological Data)

Author(s):Mihailo Milinković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Archaeology, Historical Geography, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:299-314
No. of Pages:16

Price: 4.50 €

О такозваној "хроници српских владара" из списа De Administrando Imperio цара Константина VII Порфирогенита

О такозваној "хроници српских владара" из списа De Administrando Imperio цара Константина VII Порфирогенита
(On the so Called “Chronicle of the Serbian Rulers” of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus’ De Administrando Imperio)

Author(s):Tibor Živković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Diplomatic history, Political history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:313-332
No. of Pages:20
Summary/Abstract:The analysis of sources Constantine Porphyrogenitus used for his text De Administrando Imperio has shown, on the example of chapters 43–46, and 50, that the emperor used first-rate documents: orders to Byzantine district commanders and officials, and their reports from the field, instructions to diplomatic missions in foreign countries, diplomatic letters sent to the rulers of foreign nations and their replies, the payroll of imperial officials, last wills, chrysobulls, orders on promotions to the high ranks of patrician, proconsul, protospatarios and various reports of the “ministries” for foreign affairs and for finance. The abundance of archive material which the emperor used and the consistent methodology which he implemented throughout the writing, lead to the conclusion that he could not have deviated much from this methodology even in chapter 32, dedicated to the Serbs. And while the first part of the presentation about the Serbs was written on the basis of a source that covered the history of the Serbs from the time of their settlement in Dalmatia to around 856 AD, for the period from 890 to 933 AD, Constantine Porphyrogenitus used the same type of sources he used for chapters 43–46, and 50 — primarily diplomatic letters exchanged between the emperors in Constantinople and the Serbian archontes. The relative chronology that appears in chapter 32 was most probably established on the basis of an indiction which these letters were dated by — because diplomatic letters in Byzantium were dated solely by indictions until the 13th century, without absolute chronology. This excludes the possibility that, for this part of the presentation about the Serbs, Constantine Porphyrogenitus used the so-called Chronicle of Serbian Rulers, as it has been believed in historiography so far.

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Болести царева у Хронографији Михаила Псела

Болести царева у Хронографији Михаила Псела
(Emperors’ Illnesses in the Chronographia of Michael Psellos)

Author(s):Milena Repajić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Political history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:333-348
No. of Pages:16
Summary/Abstract:Michael Psellos’ Chronographia is renowned as one of the masterpieces of Byzantine historiography and literature in general, but it is only in the last few decades that his subjectivity is not condemned by modern historians. Nowadays it is regarded as valuable for revealing the author’s attitudes and objectives in writing the history, especially if one considers that from the eleventh century onwards historians tend to figure in their works, starting with Psellos himself. He is, with Anna Comnene, the most prominent author in this regard, and his autobiographical “insertions” are so numerous and scattered through the text at many levels, that it can be said that he himself is the central character of his historical work. Psellos’ descriptions of characters are exceptional, and no other Byzantine historian can compare with him in this regard. Since he considered that emperors were key figures in creating history and major political changes, the Byzantine eleventh-century rulers were, at least on the surface, central figures in his historical work as well. Therefore, this paper deals specifically with their descriptions as presented by Psellos via their physical appearance and specifically one aspect of their illnesses. The descriptions of the emperors’ illnesses in the Chronographia are the means of characterizing them in a more candid and subtle manner, namely showing whether or not they were worthy of the imperial position they occupied. Therefore, we do not find any in the portraits of idealized emperors — Basil II, Constantine and Michael Doukas — nor in those of the emperors who were disqualified in other ways — Romanos Diogenes, Michael V, and Michael VI. In the strongly negative portraits of Constantine VIII, Romanos Argyros and Constantine Monomachos, the descriptions of illnesses are very detailed and brutal, and their physical appearance is otherwise disregarded (or, as in the case of Monomachos, his malady is placed in stark contrast to his beauty at the very beginning of his reign), thus showing their unworthiness of the throne. Not even the emperors whom Psellos observed as mainly positive — Michael Paphlagon and Isaac Komnenos — are spared these descriptions, which are carefully and intentionally placed so that they are connected with their misdeeds and thus indicate the punishment for their behavior. The true meaning of the emperors’ illnesses in the Chronographia is further revealed with the metaphor of the illness of the Empire, which is placed near the end of the first part of the history. Psellos here presents the decline of Byzantium in the period he deals with in the Chronographia by using medical terminology and indicating that the emperors after the death of Basil II led “the body of the state” (to swma thj politeiaj) into a state of utter decline and sickness, although Isaac Comnenus tried to cure it, but he used the wrong measures that were too abrupt. In this way, Psellos gives us guidance on how to read his long passages on the maladies of the emperors.

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Ана Комнина - аутобиографске белешке

Ана Комнина - аутобиографске белешке
(Anna Comnene - Autobiographical Notes)

Author(s):Larisa Orlov
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 6th to 12th Centuries, Theory of Literature
Page Range:349-365
No. of Pages:17
Summary/Abstract:The paper deals with the autobiographical impulse in the Alexiad of Anna Comnene. We tried to analyze certain passages in order to show in which way Anna’s personal views influenced her description and presentation of certain personages. We will show how her elaborate portrayal is not a mere rhetorical exercise, but is intended by the author as both praise and a critique of the people who influenced her life, and encouraged or suppressed her ambitions. Apart from a physical description, which she used for the evaluation of moral character, and personal judgment, the important thing is the role she ascribed to certain personages. The most beautifully depicted and praised characters were, quite intentionally, the key figures in her struggle to defend her imperial right, of which she was deprived after the birth of John Comnenus. We also analyzed two extensive passages that openly show Anna’s never surpassed imperial ambition and malice toward her younger brother John. Those are narratives about her birth, followed by the birth of Princess Maria and Prince John, and about Alexios’ final days. In both stories, Ana Comnene depicts herself as the central figure of family love, emphasizing the emotional connection she established with her parents, especially Alexios, while still in her mother’s womb. At her father’s deathbed she represents herself as the child most committed to her dying father, without forgetting to give us a sarcastic hint about the emperor’s successor who had left the palace, in order to seize the throne. We have also discussed her silence about certain events, or personages, stressing in the first place, that she rarely mentions her brother John, and even when she does, she often juxtaposes him with the overwhelmingly praised Constantine Doukas, or Nicephoros Bryennios. We found some stylistic features that show in how many different ways theauthor appeared in her own text. We have considered just the possessive pronoun “emos” which she used extensively mentioning her father, mother, husband, and her beloved siblings (i.e. Maria and Andronicus). By using this pronoun, she put herself into the story, where she appears almost always, constantly stressing her connection with the protagonists, and especially the hero, which she mentions as “emos pater” in all cases, 92 times. In the end, we are still left with many more questions than answers. It is certain that Ana’s presence in her own story has to be examined much more deeply, and that quite often, passages and notes that appear in the first place as non-autobiographical reveal a great deal about her and slightly change the perception of the final aims of her work. Therefore, we openly ask what the aim was of such an endeavor as the Alexiad? Was it aimed to be a heroization of Alexios and the construction of an ideal ruler in a new imperial ideology, or was it the self-praise of his first-born child, that even in the days of the third Comnenian ruler refused to admit the ultimate downfall of all her ambitions?

Price: 4.50 €

Никава - загонетна област Јована Кинама

Никава - загонетна област Јована Кинама
(Nikava — The Mysterious Region Mentioned by John Kinnamos)

Author(s):Siniša Mišić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Geography, Local History / Microhistory, Military history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:367-371
No. of Pages:5
Summary/Abstract:In 1149, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos had left Pelagonia, heading the campaign against the Grand Prince Uroš II, who had been attacking the Byzantine territories. The aim of the campaign was the town of Ras, soon conquered by the Emperor; afterwards, he devastated the region of Nikava, from where he headed to the Ibar valley; there he besieged and captured the town of Galič. The region of Nikava was encompassing the territory between the today’s region of Rožaje and Štavice. That is the territory through which led the roads between Ras and the region of Polimlje, between Shkoder and Ras, between Ras and Metohia, as well as the road to Pešter and the Ibar valley. Since the antique times, this region was well guarded; the remnants of more than 25 fortresses dated 4th to 6th century had been preserved. The region of Rožaje and Štavice is identical to Kinnamos`s description, and its position is in concordance with the military logic of the campaign. Also, the name of the river Makva, situated near the source of the Ibar River, indicates etymologically to Nikava.

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Страх од Турака у писмима Димитрија Кидона (1352'-1371)

Страх од Турака у писмима Димитрија Кидона (1352'-1371)
(Fear of the Turks In The Letters Of Demetrios Cydones (1352–1371))

Author(s):Bojana Pavlović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Diplomatic history, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:373-383
No. of Pages:11
Summary/Abstract:The letters of Demetrius Cydones, one of the greatest intellectuals of late Byzantium, represent a very valuable source for the history of the Empire. They have proven to be a real treasury of significant information which make our knowledge and understanding of the situation within the Byzantine Empire, as well as the issues of its foreign affairs, more complete and elaborate. Having occupied a very high position at the court of both John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaeologos, Cydones was able to participate in the politics of the Empire at a time of the great crisis his country was undergoing. Cydones witnessed the rise and fall of Kantakouzenos, the turbulent years of John V Palaeologos’ reign, and, most importantly, the failure of the Byzantine negotiations with the West of which he himself was a strong supporter. As a witness of the turmoil Byzantium was facing in the 14th century, Cydones left very thorough accounts about the almost constant threats to the Empire caused by the Ottoman Turks. The fear and terror of an unknown future made the lives of Cydones and his countrymen hard and uncertain. Those, who, at the beginning of the 14th century were nothing but one of the many tribes on the eastern borders of the Empire of Constantine the Great, soon turned out to be very dangerous “allies” and fearsome conquerors of its territories. The battle of Didymoteicho in 1352, of which we find the accounts in two of Cydones’ letters, is certainly one of the most important battles in the civil war between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaeologos. The muslim “allies” of the elder emperor prevailed over the Serbian allies of Palaeologos. As it is known, this battle paved the way for the further penetration of the Ottomans into the Balkans, and opened the gates to the conquerors of the Balkan Peninsula. It is at this point that Cydones’ interest in the Turks and his almost constant appeals to the Byzantines and the Westerners to find a way for mutual actions against the “infidels” started. In the letters Cydones’ wrote to his friends (John Laskaris Kalopheros, Georgios Synadenos Astras, John Kyparissiotes, Simon Atoumanos), we find numerous warnings that the gates of the Great City might soon become a prison for its inhabitants. Therefore, according to Cydones, a serious defense had to be undertaken with the help of the Westerners in the form of a crusade. The negotiations turned out to have led to small crusades of the Cypriot king, Peter I Lousignan, and Amadeo VI, the count of Savoy, but they brought no true relief to the Empire. The danger was becoming ever more serious and fear was spreading very fast. The great disappointment of the “Roman journey” 1369–1371, led to an even greater disillusionment after the battle at the Maritza. The bloody outcome of this decisive battle was, as we presume, recorded in one of the letters of Cydones’ correspondence. The “Turkish threat” together with Cydones’ appeals to both the Byzantines and the Westerners for cooperation in the fight against the “infidels” is one of the central themes of Cydones’ correspondence. These letters reveal a man of action, an intellectual who, unlike most of his contemporaries who searched for eschatological explanations for the misfortunes that befell their country, tried to find realistic answers and a solution to the problem of the Turks. They provide us with an insight into the discrepancies between the three different worlds and uncover Cydones’ personal views on the foreign policy of Byzantium.

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Срби у опсади Филаделфије

Срби у опсади Филаделфије
(The Serbs in the Siege of Philadelphia in 1390)

Author(s):Marko Šuica
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Military history, 13th to 14th Centuries, The Ottoman Empire
Page Range:385-396
No. of Pages:12
Summary/Abstract:Soon after the Kosovo battle (1389), new Ottoman sultan Bayezid I Yildirim moved in rush from the region of Balkan Peninsula to Anatolia in order to consolidate his authority and reign. In the next two years, he had led several war campaigns against the Turkish emirates which he had wanted to conquer and include in Ottoman state. At the same time Bayezid I didn’t want to give up on the results of Europe conquest achieved by his father, trying to provide financial and military resources from already subordinated Balkan Christian states. The heirs of prince Lazar have accepted Bayezid’s supremacy by the year 1390. The exact chronology of referral Serbian legation to Ottoman ruler, headed by prince Stefan Lazarević who sworn allegiance and handed over his sister Olivera, as vassalage forfeit, has not been confirmed yet. The crucial argument for taking in consideration the year 1390 as a date when Serbian legation could have come to sultan Bayezids’ camp, could be traced in the Hagiography of Stefan Lazarević by Constantine the Philosopher. According to this source, the Byzantine emperor Manuel II and Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević at certain point have shared the same war experience in Bayezid’s campaigns. If the meeting of vassals in Serres in 1393 is excluded, which could not be considered as the military event, the reconstruction of possible joint participation in Ottoman campaigns leads us to two potential war episodes. The first is related to the siege of Philadelphia in 1390, the last Byzantine town in Anatolia. The second refers to the Ottoman conquest of Synope and Kastamonia from the year 1391. Stefan Lazarević’s possible presence in the Ottoman war camp during the siege of Philadelphia, indirectly constructed from the text of Byzantine historian Duca, some historians have used as the unquestionable fact. On the other hand, one letter from 1391, written by Manuel Paleologus during the mentioned Bayezids’ campaign leaves the hypothetical possibility that Serbian vassal troops, who had been fighting in Anatolia, were recruited from the Stefan Lazarević’s territory. Although it is impossible to give complete and fully reliable testimony of Stefan Lazarević’s formal participation in the conquest of Philadelphia, the confirmed presence of Serbian vassal troops in Anatolian campaigns show that political and social processes derived from the acceptance of Ottoman supremacy among the Balkan states were rampant. In the next historical phase of Ottoman conquests those changes brought to the complete breakdown of Christian states in the Balkans.

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Ванбрачна деца царева династије Палеолога

Ванбрачна деца царева династије Палеолога
(The Illegitimate Children of Palaiologos Dynasty Emperors)

Author(s):Miloš Cvetković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Political history, Social history, 6th to 12th Centuries
Page Range:397-415
No. of Pages:19
Summary/Abstract:The formal status of illegitimate children in Byzantine society was established by the provisions which were derived from Justinian's codification of Roman law. The essence of these principles would serve Byzantine lawyers to regulate the rights of these groups in the ensuing centuries. Legislators tried to ban the existence of a male and female community that was not in accordance with strict Christian morals. On the other hand, the charity preached by the Church obliged them to legally determine that children from such relationships had to be cared for. Still, the children from extramarital affairs had significantly fewer rights than the legal descendants. In cases when heirs existed, whether they were the children or cousins of the deceased, the illegitimate children could inherit only one twelfth of their father’s property. When it came to the offspring of the Byzantine emperors before the Palaiologos dynasty acceded to the throne, it was recorded that some of the illegitimate princes had the highest court titles and performed the most important duties in the country's government, like the eunuch Basil, the illegitimate son of the emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, or Alexios, the illegitimate son of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Still, these cases are to be regarded more as exceptions than as the common rule. It is noticeable that in the earlier epochs of Byzantine history, the illegitimate princesses did not leave any significant trace in the sources, in contrast to the Palaiologan era when most of the illegitimate daughters were recorded. This could be explained by the fact that political marriages, a mutual characteristic of the illegitimate princesses lives, were very important in the times of the Palaiologan dynasty, which was not the case in the earlier history of the Empire. For a long time, the Byzantine court was not ready to accept their daughters being married to foreign rulers, who were regarded as unworthy of family relations with the emperor and his family. In the sources, news on the illegitimate offspring of the last Byzantine emperors is only incidentally mentioned and mainly regarding the marriages of the emperors’ daughters. Sources note six illegitimate princesses known by name, two anonymous and one illegitimate prince. They were the offspring of five emperors of the Palaiologos dynasty: Maria and Euphrosyne, the daughters of Emperor Michael VIII, Maria, Irene and one anonymous daughter of Emperor Andronikos II, Irene and another anonymous princess who were daughters of Andronikos III and then Zampia (Isabella), who was the daughter of Manuel II and finally Manuel, the son of Emperor John V. Political marriages, being one of the main means of imperial diplomacy during the period of Byzantine military inferiority, were a destiny that the illegitimate princesses shared. Zampia was the only one who was not married to a ruler, but even in her case, the political background of the marriage is obvious. In this regard, there is no significant difference between the legal daughters and those born out of wedlock. Still, there evidently existed a custom of sending illegitimate princesses to the courts of the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate, maintained over three generations, whereas, in the case of legitimate princesses there were no examples of any of them marrying a non-Christian ruler, except Theodora, the daughter of John Kantakouzenos and even this was due to special circumstances. John Kantakouzenos’ weak position during the civil war in Byzantium and the necessity of making a stronger alliance with the Turks forced him to make such an extraordinary decision. The legitimacy of his coronation was also disputed by the Ecumenical Patriarch John XIV Kalekas and the emperor John V Palaiologos, so therefore, it is questionable if his daughter was considered a princess at the time. George Ostrogorsky noted that there had been a time when Romans looked down on even the greatest Christian leaders as unworthy of marriage to Byzantine princesses and that soon there came a time when some of them would end up in eastern rulers’ harems. It is possible that sending illegitimate princesses to the eastern rulers’ courts was supposed to obscure the fact that the Byzantine court was forced to establish family ties with a barbarian family.

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Оригинарни начини стицања својине у средњовековном српском праву

Оригинарни начини стицања својине у средњовековном српском праву
(Originatory Acquisitions of Property in Serbian Mediaeval Law)

Author(s):Srđan Šarkić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):History of Law, 13th to 14th Centuries
Page Range:417-424
No. of Pages:8
Summary/Abstract:Acquisition is the act of becoming the owner of a certain property. It could be original and derivative. Original acquisition is that by which a man secures a property in a thing which is not at the time he acquires it, and in its then existing condition, the property of any other individual. In Serbian medieval law it may result from capturing things from the enemy (booty), finding a thing, occupancy, accession and long use (lapse of time, usucapio).

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Брачне одредбе Жичке повеље између црквеног и народног концепта брака

Брачне одредбе Жичке повеље између црквеног и народног концепта брака
(The Marriage Provisions in the Charter of the Žiča Monastery Between the Church and the Popular Concept of Marriage)

Author(s):Stanoje Bojanin
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Social history, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:425-442
No. of Pages:18
Summary/Abstract:The marriage provisions of the second charter of the Žiča monastery issued by King Stefan the First-Crowned and his son Radoslav (around the middle of the 1220s) are considered as a source for the research of the existing models of marriage in the society of medieval Serbia. Two of them could be recognized as primary models (according to George Duby) — the church and official model of marriage, prescribed in the royal charter and the popular or lay one, deeply rooted in the traditional medieval society. The intention of the legislator was to conform the existing lay marriage traditions to the basic concepts of church marriage introducing the idea of a lifelong indissoluble marriage according to the New Testament (Matt. 5: 32 and 19: 9). For this reason, fines were prescribed as well as the threat of excommunication for the person who would persist in his/her decision to divorce or leave his/her spouse. Nevertheless, local customs can be recognized in many places in the royal charter, mainly in relation to age and gender differences. The marriage was an agreement of two families, the bride was given to her groom by her father, but the father could also break up the marriage and take his daughter back to his home. Instead of data about the church rite of a wedding (“venčanje”), the charter of the Žiča monastery contains terms, such as “take”, “leave”, “let go” and suchlike which describe the popular and lay concept of marriage. The influences of local traditions on the legislator are also recognizable in a provision which declares that the wife, who has left her husband without the support of her parents or family, ought to be punished with corporal punishment by her husband if she is not able to pay a fine. In this case, the husband is also allowed to dissolve the marriage and “sell” his wife to “anybody he wants”. The issue of forbidden marriages is documented only in the prohibition of marriage with the sister-in-law. This issue is closely connected with the matter of kinship which is considered in this essay in the context of the existing different methods for the calculation of kinship (Jack Goody): one according to degree (“stepen”) and another to generation (“koleno”, knee). Those systems are clearly noticeable in the sources of the time, if not in the charter then in the glosses of the contemporary Old Slavonic translation of the Nomokanon done through the efforts of St. Sava of Serbia. Anyway, the popular and lay model of marriage designated in other contemporary sources as “the law” (in Domentian’s writings) or “marriage law” (in the writings of King Stefan the First-Crowned) represented a system which was incorporated in diverse social relations of the lay and popular culture. The provisions of the charter of the Žiča monastery give evidence of the intertwinement and cohabitation of the said models of marriage in the social life of individuals and communities in Serbia at the beginning of the XIII century.

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О једном особеном моделу распоређивања сцена циклуса великих празника: Студеница - Градац

О једном особеном моделу распоређивања сцена циклуса великих празника: Студеница - Градац
(About One Distinctive Deployment Model of Scene Cycle of Major Holidays: Studenica - Gradac)

Author(s):Dragana Pavlović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:443-465
No. of Pages:15

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Светачки лик у контексту: један нерасветљени пример из ексонартекса цркве у манастиру Трескавац

Светачки лик у контексту: један нерасветљени пример из ексонартекса цркве у манастиру Трескавац
(The Saint’s Image in Context: A Neglected Example from the Exonarthex of the Treskavac Monastery Church)

Author(s):Vesna Milanović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:459-486
No. of Pages:28
Summary/Abstract:The images which are the focus of the paper belong to the oldest of several existing fresco ensembles in the sacral complex of Treskavac resulting from different and chronologically clearly separated ktetorial undertakings and renewals between the 14th and 19th centuries. Dating from the times of King Du{an, these images apparently form part of the original painted decoration of the space whose lateral ends are surmounted by domes, and whose emphasized tripartite shape is a result of 19th century alterations. Massive separating wall areas were introduced into the previously undivided and much more integrated internal composition of the exonarthex, thus not only partitioning the area and making it significantly narrower, but at the same time, unfortunately, hiding part of the authentic medieval frescoes on the east and west walls near the entrances. This paper is based on the findings related to recognising the previously unidentified remaining part of a holy monk figure, presented with an interesting and unusual iconographic symbol in his hand — a branch with leaves and fruit. The author of the text points out that it is the branch of a Paradise apple tree, and that the image is that of an otherwise quite seldom depicted figure of Euphrosynus the Cook. The surviving examples of the monk’s vitae story present him as a meek and humble member of the brotherhood in a desert monastery by the River Jordan, despised and even taunted by the other brothers — but at the same time, in the central episode of the story, provide the image of a special person, chosen by God, blessed with dwelling in the Garden of Eden and enjoying the fruit of heavenly trees. It is interesting and worthy of attention that the Treskavac image of St. Euphrosynus stands apart from the incompletely preserved but relatively numerous and homogenous row of holy monks in the zone of standing figures on the west wall, and that his solitary bust portrait is joined to a particular, “unrelated” group of images, i.e. to a quite different category of iconographic content, on the opposite wall surfaces in the southern part of the exonarthex. Part of the findings presented in the paper resulted from reflections on the saint’s unusual and highly specific iconographic attribute, and revealing a layer of meaning that bestowed on this attribute the dimension of a particular biblical and Christian topos. The other part of the findings relate to recognising and interpreting the specific function of the very position given to the saint’s figure among the mentioned group of only seemingly unrelated or not specially related images in the southern part of the Treskavac exonarthex. Among the most prominent ones is the composition of the Baptism of the Lord, also excluded from the category of contents it otherwise usually belongs to (the Great Feasts cycle), and, in contrast to the usual topography, placed in the lowest fresco zone, in the spot immediately below St. Euphrosynus’ image. In all probability, the relevant group of scenes was to include also the bordering representative depiction of a Serbian ruler with the divine investiture motif, in the southern portion of the eastern wall of the central part of the exonarthex area, as well as the nearby contents belonging to the wide-ranging and complex Menologion cycle from the upper zones of the building. Formally the most prominent and most noticeable illustrations are for the March days of the Cycle — the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary (with a pictorial allusion to the Holy Spirit’s power coming down from Heaven) and the Martyrdom of the Forty on a frozen lake (with the detail of placing crowns of heavenly glory on the naked bodies of the martyrs) — situated in the calotte above the southern part of the exonarthex that bears a monumental image of Christ Emmanuel at the centre. Although at the same time also part of a special whole in the central part of the exonarthex, south of the main entrance to the church, the content of the fresco depicting King Du{an’s investiture with a crown from an angel’s hand and the motif of receiving his power Dei Gratia, it was with good reason that its south, now hidden end, abutted on the depiction of Christ’s Theophany at the Jordan in the adjacent area of the wall, whose contents form part of the structure of the frescoes in the mentioned bay under the calotte. All the findings and observations on the selection and relations of the images given here and supported by arguments serve to confirm and shed more light on the special segment in the content of the painted programme from King Du{an’s times — thematically cohesive and integrated through a unique symbolism, and not lacking in specific and indicative analogies in the monuments from this epoch. The concept of the programme, stressing different aspects of the soteriological and eschatological implications of the baptismal theme and the Christian notion of the era of “the grace of God” — where the sacrament of baptism is seen as the “gates of the New Heaven” — at the same time also justifies the identification of the said part of the space with the original position of the existing, and at a later time dislocated, authentic medieval stone agiasma of Treskavac.

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Првобитно сликарство Цркве Св. Николе у Челопеку код Тетова

Првобитно сликарство Цркве Св. Николе у Челопеку код Тетова
(Original Paintings of St. Nicholas At Čelopek Near Tetovo)

Author(s):Smiljka Gabelić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:481-511
No. of Pages:31
Summary/Abstract:Having come under the scientific spotlight almost half a century ago, the Church of St.Nicholas at the village of Čelopek, westward of Skopje, has remained unpublished up to the present day, with just scanty research so far undertaken (notes 2–4). There are no historical data preserved on the said church that was repaired in the 19th century. The original fresco-paintings of this small, single-nave church include fragments preserved in the pendentives (part of the figures of four evangelists), the apse (Old-Church Slavonic scrolls as fragments of the scene of the Officiating Prelates) and in the second register of the side walls, the reduced programme of major iconographic wholes, the Great Feasts and the Passion Cycle: on the south wall are the Nativity of Christ, the Presentation in the Temple, the Baptism, and the Resurrection of Lazarus and on the north wall — the scene of Christ before Pilate, the Way to Calvary, the Crucifixion of Christ and the Resurrection (fig. 1–6). A couple of scenes are of singular iconography. An interesting conception of the Nativity of Christ — iconographically created by the modification of its model — expresses a powerful parallelism between the birth and the death of Christ (notes 6–27). The fresco abounds with allusions of predominantly poetic inspiration, aiming through the scenes of Christ’s coming, to present in a seemingly paradoxical way, a simultaneous emphasis on His (role and) death (the manger as a stone sarcophagus, the Magi offering myrrh, a shepherd playing the flute alluding to a heavenly hymn, the Angels' adoration, the posture of Joseph reveals rather grief than anxiety, and Christ, in the arms of the chief midwife, wrapped up in a burial shroud, with a dark-colored aureole, who looks like the personification of the soul of a deceased person, not a new-born). The fresco is rather uncommon for its time, since the midwife (the apocryphal Salome) faces Christ in the cave whereby she is deprived of her regular iconographic role (pouring water into the basin). Christ before Pilate (fig. 4, note 32–42) stands out from the other examples for its depiction of the tent in which Pilate sits; the judge’s desk is omitted and the servant, bringing the dish and holding the jug — a boy commonly depicted as a young bareheaded man — wears a pinkish-white cap that is sometimes given to Pilate himself. Two events are combined within the composition the Way to Calvary — an advancing procession with Christ and Simon, carrying the cross, and the one presenting Jesus with the vinegar -the episode that does not belong to a standard iconography of the scene the Way to Calvary (fig. 4, n.43–50). The strange figure, standing before Christ and presenting the vinegar, is of an excessive height and ugly appearance, with a head resembling a bearded angel, probably intended to mark a negative person within the scene i.e. the person being mocked. The Crucifixion of Christ is characterised by the agitated posture of the clustered figures gathering around the Virgin, who has a completely languishing body posture (Fig. 5, notes 51–61). The motif of Mary's accentuated pain in this composition has not been commonly applied; however, it seems it was often used within a certain period, in the middle of the 14th century (Staro Nagor~ino, Pološko, Lesnovo, Marko’s Monastery and Čelopek). The motif complies with the laments of the Holy Mother in Byzantine works of literature, specifically in the liturgical drama of the Passion of Christ; still, it might have originated under the influence of contemporary art pieces in the West. As for the characteristics of style, the frescoes of Čelopek have been directly compared with the works of the so-called Skopje workshop, works of which may be registered in a certain part of the programme in the Lesnovo Monastery (the painter of the pendentives and vaults) and in Marko’s Monastery (the artists that painted the mid-area of the naos and the narthex). The painting of this workshop greatly resembles the work of the artist in the narthex of the De~ani Monastery (the painter of the Calendar, after 1343); it also bears a similarity to the iconography in St. Athanasius at Lešak. Their art constitutes a part of a movement of expressionism in Byzantine painting during the Palaeologan era; the term relates to the style characterized by powerful and intense expressions.

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Сцене Пилатовог суда у Марковом манастиру

Сцене Пилатовог суда у Марковом манастиру
(The Scenes of Pilate’s Court in the Monastery of King Marko)

Author(s):Marka Tomić Đurić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:503-528
No. of Pages:26
Summary/Abstract:The group of scenes of Pilate’s Court in the Monastery of King Marko represents the most developed example of this iconographic theme in the fresco painting. It consists of seven episodes. They are part of the Passion cycle and are painted in the third register of the western wall of the naos. The first scene illustrates the verses of John 18:33–38, Matthew 27:11, Luke 23: 3, Mark 15:2 : ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ The second is described in John 18:38 and Luke 23:5. Pilate says to the Jews: ‘I find in him no fault at all.’ The third scene is also according to John 19:10, describing Pilate when he said to Jesus: ‘Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?’.The fourth depicts the moment when Pilate said to the Jews, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law," (John 18:31). In the fifth scene Pilate brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgement seat in a place that is called ‰TheŠ Pavement, but in Hebrew, it is Gabbatha (John 19:13). For the previous scenes there are no analogies which could enrich the iconographic analyses. They demonstrate a narrative attitude and a close connection to the Gospels — their textual source. The most prominent iconographic elements are the depictions of Domus Pilati, Gabbatha and Lithostraton, which indicate the interest in the Loca sancta of Jerusalem. The next scene is the Flagellation of Christ. Its iconography extends over the limits of the textual sources of the Gospels and Apocrypha. The closest parallel is the depiction of the Flagellation in the Church of St. George in Re~ica, near Ohrid. The key motive of the scene is the the coloumn of Christ’s Flagellation. If we compare this type of composition with three figures, it can be seen that it was disseminated in Byzantium as well as in Western Europe. Some of the examples which confirm this are: the icon with Passion scenes from the Vlatadon Monastery (c. 1370), the diptych with miniatures of the Passion from the Chilandar Monastery (beginning of the 14th c.), the engraved scene at the bottom of the Cross from the treasure of Conques (the first half of the 14th c.), the triptych in Namur (c. 1320–1330) etc. The last scene is Pilate washing his hands (Mattew 27:24–25). The most important elements of the iconography are the depiction of the table and implements for writing. According to the Late Roman and Early Byzantine sources, such as Notitia Dignitatum and John the Lydian, these elements represented the insignia of the governmental authorities. This is well illustrated in the Trial miniatures in the Rossano Gospels. Their depiction in the Byzantine monuments of the Palaiologan period is founded on the iconographic experience of the Early Byzantine examples, as well as their administrative context during the Middle Byzantine period and also on contemporary practices. Pilate’s Court in the Church of St. Demetrius reflects the strengthened interest in the trial process. It is represented according to the elements of the Roman juridical process-cognitio. Another important question concerns the reason for devoting so much attention to the Trial scenes in the fresco programme of the Monastery of King Marko. In an attempt to come closer to the answer, we found it useful to bear in mind what the image of Pilate was in Byzantine tradition. The second part of the paper is devoted to the comments and characterization of Pilate in the historical, dogmatic, hymnographic and juridical sources. The subject also included the categories and meanings of the law and justice. The elaborately presented scenes of Pilate’s Court in the Monastery of King Marko are an isolated instance, which, in the absence of analogies, raises numerous questions about the establishment and development of the iconographic themes. However, its contents indicate that the persons, who were responsible for designing the fresco programme, had a knowledge of the doctrinal, historical, political and legal significance of this topic.

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Сакос црквених достојанственика у средњовековној Србији

Сакос црквених достојанственика у средњовековној Србији
(The Sakkos of Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in Medieval Serbia)

Author(s):Tatjana Starodubcev
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:523-550
No. of Pages:28
Summary/Abstract:The sakkos of ecclesiastical dignitaries is festive attire of a rectangular cut, joined at the sides, with very short sleeves. Previous researchers have pointed out that only three Byzantine writers wrote about it. They were Theodore Balsamon, chartophylax of St. Sophia in Constantinople and the Patriarch of Antioch (second half of the 12th century), Ohrid Archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos (first half of the 13th century) and Archbishop Symeon of Thessaloniki (first decades of the 15th century). There is no preserved written source that would testify which Serbian church dignitaries wore the sakkos and when they received the right to wear it. The only sources on the use of the sakkos in the Serbian Church are the preserved representations of its highest dignitaries. St. Sava of Serbia and his successors — archbishops and later, patriarchs — were depicted wearing the sakkos. The oldest paintings date back to the reign of King Milutin (Figs. 1–2). Some time later, in 1334, the ancient city of Ohrid was included in the Serbian state. Its archbishops enjoyed the right assigned to them much earlier, to wear the sakkos, and they retained that right. So in the Serbian Church, the sakkos was worn by the archbishops and later patriarchs, and the Ohrid archbishops, as well. The oldest preserved pictures of the Serbian archbishops clad in the sakkos are the representation of St. Sava of Serbia in the narthex of the Virgin Ljevi{ka church (Fig. 1), decorated between 1307 and 1313, and the portrait of Archbishop Sava III in the illustration of the Christmas sticheron in the passage that leads to the narthex in @i~a (Fig. 2), painted between 1309 and 1316. That means that awarding the right to wear the sakkos occurred in 1313, at the latest. It certainly was not only a religious but also a political gesture. Byzantine state policy toward Serbia and probably church policy as well, significantly changed for the better during the reigns of Emperor Andronicus II and King Milutin. That created fertile ground, enabling the Serbian church dignitaries to receive the honor to wear the most festive ecclesiastical vestments. The Byzantine emperor, apparently, could have had a major influence on the process of bringing such a decision. However, the question arises as to which patriarch of Constantinople granted this right to the Serbian archbishops. At the beginning of the 14th century, the ecumenical patriarchs were John XII Cosmas (January 1, 1294 to June 21, 1303), Athanasius I (second time, from June 23, 1303 to September 1309) and Niphon I (May 9, 1310 to April 11, 1314). At that time, the throne of the Serbian archbishops was occupied by Eustatius II (1292–1309) and Sava III (1309–1316). Very little is known about these Serbian archbishops. On the other hand, there are numerous sources about the Church's policies and attitudes of the mentioned Constantinople patriarchs. Eustatius II could have received the right to wear the sakkos from John XII Cosmas or Athanasios I. For a long time, the former was fiercely opposed to the marriage of the Serbian king and the daughter of the Byzantine emperor. The latter maintained a very strict attitude. He left data on almost all of his moves in numerous letters, in which such a decision is not mentioned. Therefore, the probability that the first Serbian archbishop who received the sakkos was Eustatius II is negligible. Sava III could have obtained that right from Niphon I. That patriarch, along with an inclination for the easy life, pursued a conciliatory policy and pragmatism. So it is possible that, on the initiative of the emperor, he made the decision that the successors to the throne of St. Sava of Serbia should have the right to wear the sakkos. If this assumption is correct, then the Serbian archbishops received the honor to wear the most festive ecclesiastical garments after the appointment of Niphon I to the throne of the Constantinople patriarchs, which was performed on May 9, 1310. Anyway, this occurred after many changes in the political relations between the Byzantine and the Serbian state during the reigns of Emperor Andronicus II and King Milutin. In those crucial years the Serbian Church advanced from an organization whose canonical foundation was denied at the time of Michael VIII Palaeologos, to the archbishopric whose leaders received the right to wear the festive sakkos, like those worn by the ecumenical patriarchs at the time of Andronicus II.

Price: 4.50 €

Плашт српских деспота у 15. веку. Прилог проучавању

Плашт српских деспота у 15. веку. Прилог проучавању
(Mantle of the Serbian Despots in the 15th Century. A Contribution to the Study)

Author(s):Branislav Cvetković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Visual Arts, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:551-566
No. of Pages:16
Summary/Abstract:The royal portrait in the Middle Ages, as a distinctive form of imagery, the purpose of which was to emphasize the celestial origin of the sovereign's power, has been the subject of continuous research. But special attention is paid to the study of varieties when the most common form of the hieratic frontal portrait of a ruler as an "image of God" is supplemented with factors highlighting ideological messages such as success in wartime exploits, the ruler’s special position, or his humility and piety. In the Byzantine sphere of influence, the ruler is usually represented clad in a standard manner that was repeated with slight variations for centuries, the symbolism of which is very well known. The official ruler’s likeness almost always had no mantle. Since one encounters this on a number of examples of portraits of the Serbian rulers in the 15th century, one may ask why it occurred only in some cases, if it was due to the Byzantine influence, or an insignia of Western origin, or another way of displaying a ruler, bearing in mind the well known semantic potential of mantle-robes in all cultures. Recent investigations of the symbolism in medieval costume opens up new possibilities in the research of this question. The mantle on the portraits of Serbian despots is not incompatible with the manner of representing Byzantine emperors and is one of many ways of representing royal figures in the Middle Ages, the meaning of which was to stress the virtue of a pious ruler adorned with the chlamys of meekness. Costume was a ceremonial means of discourse and almost always, whether a real garment or its representation, had a semantic potential. Portraits in a sacred context should not be referred to as the secular part of a painted programme in a church, since the rulers, the clergy and the patrons were also painted for eternity, with the idea of expressing a higher truth and hope that they were already counted among the righteous. Accordingly, the mantle occurs in those royal portraits when its commissioner wanted to stress a specific relationship between the representatives of the earthly and heavenly court, not just the idea of the heavenly origin of the sovereign’s power.

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Три писма Константина Великог код Евсевија Кесаријског, Теодорита Кирског и Сократа Схоластика

Три писма Константина Великог код Евсевија Кесаријског, Теодорита Кирског и Сократа Схоластика
(Three Letters of Constantine the Great in The Works of Theodoretus of Cyrrhus, Eusebius of Caesarea and Sokrates Scholasticus)

Author(s):Il Akad
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, Ancient World, Middle Ages, Historical Linguistics
Page Range:563-569
No. of Pages:7
Summary/Abstract:The literature on the Constantinian documents in Eusebius’ Vita Constantini ha been mostly concerned with the question of their authenticity. The relation of their language and style to the whole of the text has not received comparable attention. The stylistic analysis of these documents must rely on rare and irregular traits prone to scribal emendations. The ideal way of minimizing the impact these have on the textual tradition is to have an alternative source, or to be able to rely on the quotations of other authors. Luckily, there are three letters of Constantine (V. C) quoted by the later Church historians, Theodoretus of Cyrrhus and Sokrates Scholasticus. Comparing the text of these three authors also gives us a much needed means to check which linguistic traits were perceived as abnormalities by the scribes. By doing so, we can identify some traits typical of letters translated from Latin. In addition, these letters also exhibit some traits peculiar to Eusebius. Although there is no way of knowing in which language these letters were distributed in the East, their style was certainly retouched by Eusebius, which makes any reconstruction of a “Constantinian style” using them as a basis tentative at best.

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Етимологије у спису Hodegos Анастасија Синаита

Етимологије у спису Hodegos Анастасија Синаита
(Etymologies in Hodegos of Anastasios Of Sinai)

Author(s):Aleksandar V. Popović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Linguistics, Philosophy of Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:571-578
No. of Pages:8
Summary/Abstract:Almost nothing is known about the biography of Anastasios of Sinai. His identification with Anastasios, the Patriarch of Antioch from the 6th century is today rejected. All that we know about him is that he was a monk on Mt. Sinai during the second half of the 7th century and that he died shortly after the year 700. A great number of writings have been preserved under his name, but today most of them are considered unauthentic. 'Οδηγος' is his most famous authentic work. It is a sort of handbook for fighting heresies, in the first place Monophysitism and Monotheletism, which the author intended for his students. This was a discussion about the terms, i.e. The categories, which were to be used if the person, the believer, wanted to be orthodox. The work is divided into 24 chapters. In the second chapter Anastasios gave the definitions of the theological termini technici which he would use in his polemics. To strengthen his theological argumentation, he introduced more than 120 etymologies of different terms. In most cases these were typical “popular etymologies”, but sometimes Anastasios was on the right track. His etymologies could be roughly divided into several groups. The first group consisted of those from the theological field: God, Trinity etc. After that came the etymologies of the names of animals, human feelings, virtues and vices, of words with the prefix ana- (e.g. anaphora), of the names of the parts of the human body, of celestial phenomena, geographical terms, as also of words from foreign languages (Latin, Hebrew).

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Представа ероса у роману доба Комнина и њена повезаност са савременом реториком

Представа ероса у роману доба Комнина и њена повезаност са савременом реториком
(The Performance of Eros in the Novel The Age of Komnina and Its Relationship With the Contemporary Rhetoric)

Author(s):Dušan V. Popović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):6th to 12th Centuries, Theory of Literature
Page Range:579-584
No. of Pages:6

Price: 4.50 €

Српски преписи химнографских састава Григорија Синаита

Српски преписи химнографских састава Григорија Синаита
(Serbian Transcripts of the Hymnographic Works of Gregory of Sinai)

Author(s):Tatjana Subotin-Golubović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:585-596
No. of Pages:12
Summary/Abstract:In a number of Serbian manuscripts, mainly from the Serbian Athonite monastery of Chilandary, there are some Canons that are ascribed to Gregory of Sinai (1255–1346). The oldest one of them was copied at the end of the 14th century (No. 640). In an older manuscript (No. 342, dating from 1364/74) there are three Canons (dedicated to the Holy Cross, to the Holy Fathers and to the Virgin/Theotokos) however, this one is not of the Serbian, but Macedonian recension. In the Serbian manuscript (Hil.87) there are five Canons considered to be composed by Gregory. The Canon dedicated to the Christ is composed in the 5th tone, and it is also thought to be written by Gregory. In the manuscript Dečani 136 it is clearly noted that Canon dedicated to the Christ is Gregory’s. In the Canon dedicated to the Holy Fathers (Hil. 342) there is even an acrostic containing Gregory’s name. Out of the number of eight Canons registered among the Serbian manuscripts, only three can be considered Gregory’s compositions with a great probability: Canon (suplicatory) to our Lord Jesus Christ, Canon to the Holy Cross and Canon to the Holy Fatrhers. A major impediment to the study of this hymnographic material presents the absence of Greek originals of these texts. There are widespread doubts regarding Gregory’s authorship of the hymnographic texts ascribed to him. Published as a supplement to this paper there is the Canon to the Christ (mss Dečani 136, which is the oldest serbian transcript of this canon) and the Canon of the Holy Cross (mss PMH 59).

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Богослужбени списи посвећени светом Јоаникију Девичком

Богослужбени списи посвећени светом Јоаникију Девичком
(Liturgical Texts Dedicated to Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Author(s):Irena Špadijer
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 13th to 14th Centuries, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:597-605
No. of Pages:9
Summary/Abstract:Evidence of the existence of the cult of St. Ioanikkios of Devi~, the Serbian hermit who lived in the first half of the 15th century, can be found in the texts written several centuries after his death and in his rise to sainthood. These texts were preserved in the 18th century manuscripts — one sinaxar life of the saint and two completely independent church services — the first copied in the Devi~ monastery in 1757, and the second one, written by Antonije, a monk from the Grabovac monastery in Hungary, in 1759. Antonije’s Grabovac service was written, as it were, in a ‘new’ spirit. It portrays a rather generalized character, a saint devoid of individual characteristics and who has very little in common with Ioanikkios’ real personality, not even to the degree that is customary in this type of poetry. The Grabovac service has very little to do with the saint it was dedicated to, both in terms of time and its essence. On the other hand, the text written in the Devi~ monastery is the copy of an older text which may date back to the time when the service was created. For this reason, the Devi~ text is analyzed more closely in this paper and within the context of old Serbian liturgical poetry. The paper examines the structure of the Devi~ service (and sinaxar life of the saint in it) and tries to determine, on the basis of text analysis, the time when the service was written. Judging by the immediate poetic images used to describe the saint, which are indicative of the period in which he lived, as well as by the predominantly hesychast atmosphere of the text — the period when this work was written may have been the fourth decade of the 15th century at the latest. This was the period when hesychasm was strong, and poetry emanated hope and peacefulness. The next decade already marked the unfolding of unfortunate historical events: the fall of Constantinople (1453), the death of Despot Djuradj Brankovi} (1456), the fall of Smederevo (1459) and the Turkish massacre of the Orthodox population, such as the one in Novo Brdo in 1477. Such events added to Serbian literature a tone of sincere desperation, a painful doomsday feeling and expectations of the ‘end times’ that were non-existent in the church service dedicated to St. Ioanikkios. The Appendix contains the issue of the sinaxar life of St. Ioanikkios from the Devi~ service, according to the manuscript written in 1757, which is kept in the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences Archive, No. 71.

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Култ свтог Јоаникија Девичког

Култ свтог Јоаникија Девичког
(The Cult of Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Author(s):Danica Popović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 15th Century, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:607-623
No. of Pages:17
Summary/Abstract:Although veneration of holy hermits was a well-known practice in medieval Serbia, hermits are few among the Serbian saints. The most prominent place belongs to Saint Peter of Koriša (late 12th century), whose cult was programmatically created in emulation of the best models of the hagiographic genre. There is only one more fully and consistently shaped cult of a local hermit, St. Ioannikios of Devič. It is attested in the 15th century, the last period of Serbia’s independence prior to the final Ottoman conquest. This saintly cult emerged in the reign of Despot Djuradj Brankovi} (1427–1456), when eremitism saw a strong expansion. It originated in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, where anchoritism had deep roots and well-developed forms. The historical figure of St Ioannikios is difficult to discern through later layers of legend. Our main source is the saint’s Service with a short Life, preserved as an 18th-century transcript (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 71). The Life tells us that he was a native of Metohija who began his ascetic path at Crna Reka (Ibarski Kolašin), and then moved to the Desert of Devič (Kosovska Drenica). The Life, built upon standard, time-hallowed topoi of eremitic hagiography specifying all phases of the eremitic endeavour, accords an important place to the motif of the encounter between ruler and hermit — Ioannikios and Despot Djuradj, and their joint ktetorship of the Devič monastery church dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin. This piece of information documents the practice, characteristic of the late medieval Serbian environment, of joint patronage of temporal rulers and their spiritual mentors, distinguished hesychast abbas. An integral part of the practice was the holy hermit’s burial in the church, which was also the case with Ioannikios. The holy founder’s grave was central to the status of the monastery as a source of miraculous cures and a focus for pilgrimage. The first written reference to the church of the Dormition of the Virgin at Devič can be found in the 1455 Ottoman tax register for the realm of the Brankovi}s. As the present-day structure is the result of repeated demolitions, alterations and additions over the centuries, its original appearance is difficult to reconstruct, even more so as the monastery suffered heavy damage even in the 20th century — in 1915, 1941 and 2004. The sacred focus of the monastery complex is the small room with the tomb of St Ioannikios, abutting to the eastern wall of the church. Above the tomb, the depiction of the saint’s death is encircled with an inscription of 1578, which, apart from identifying the buried person, informs about the renovation of the shrine through the effort of hegoumenos Pachomios and hieromonk Longinos. A relatively large number of surviving notes made in manuscripts from the late 16th century until the end of the 18th attest to the reverence that Devič enjoyed as the keeper of the saint’s holy relics. The Service being highly important to understanding the nature and function of the cult of St Ioannikios of Devič, the paper offers detailed considerations of the carefully selected topoi describing stages in the hermit’s ascetic endeavour, his saintly attributes and the properties of his relics. It also analyzes the verses relevant to the notions of desert and mountain as anchoritic abodes, defined as sacred spaces where the practice of ascetic discipline leads to the mortification of passions and union with God. The Service is a major source for understanding the theological notions and spiritual aspirations of its times. One of the central topics addressed by the paper is the distinctly hesychast character of the Service, hitherto simply noted by scholars. Among the recognizable hesychast elements are hesychia, joy-bearing tears, mystical visions and the radiance of the light from within. A very important element of the Service is the verses programmatically illustrating the Orthodox notion of the Holy Trinity. As a rule expounded polemically in relation to the Western Trinitarian notions, it constitutes an essential feature of hesychast theology in the late middle ages.

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Псеудо-Методијев спис и реактуализација пророчких текстова у Срба крајем средњег века

Псеудо-Методијев спис и реактуализација пророчких текстова у Срба крајем средњег века
(Pseudo-Methodius’ Writing and Renewal of Prophetic Texts by the Serbs at the End of the Middle Ages)

Author(s):Smilja Marjanović-Dušanić
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Cultural history, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
Page Range:625-635
No. of Pages:11
Summary/Abstract:The paper presents an analysis of the impact that the apocalyptic texts had in the Serbian environment in the 15th and 16th centuries, a period which saw an increasingly important re-actualization of prophetic texts—most of all those attributed to Methodius of Patara and Leo the Wise—characteristic of the time of the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the subsequent Venetian plans for the colonization of the late medieval Mediterranean. In view of the changed historical situation as a result of Ottoman expansion, the purpose of the new versions of prophetic texts, particularly popular in the 16th century, was to foretell the future or second coming of the last liberator king who would re-establish the empire of the Rhomaioi. It was at that time that Byzantine apocalyptic literature rode a new wave of popularity, and that illuminated prophetic manuscripts were created in monastic scriptoria in the conquered Serbian lands. It was no accident that one such manuscript could be found at the monastery of Mileševa, just as it is not surprising that this particular milieu, where the tomb of St. Sava of Serbia was enshrined and which, consequently, was the focus of his cult, attributed the authorship of the prophecy to St. Sava. The paper offers the analysis of a report of Cornelius Duplicius Schepper, the imperial secretary and envoy of the Viennese court, claiming that he saw an illuminated Slavic manuscript of prophecies attributed to St. Sava at Mileševa in 1533. There is no doubt that the manuscript related the prophecy of the fall of Constantinople, because it contained the illustration of a city with seven towers (“seven hills”) and an iron gate. The chancellor also mentions illuminations depicting a fox, an eagle, a crowned lion, and a ship carrying the emperor and soldiers. This incidental information about the now lost manuscript suggests echoes of Pseudo-Methodius’s prophecies or the Oracles of Leo the Wise, whose Slavic translations are known to have appeared quite early. The Mileševa apocalyptic manuscript arose against the background of an already developed literary and genre tradition of prophecy and related writings such as “lamentations” and prayers which contained prophetic elements, possibly in emulation of popular Byzantine models. The earliest illustrations of prophetic texts about the end of the world do not appear until the second half of the 15th century, usually in Late Byzantine manuscripts. The best example is a rare 16th century manuscript kept at the Biblioteca Marciana (gr. VII, 22), a singular compilation of various Byzantine apocalyptic narratives. The text contains 410 illuminations, which are relevant to the topic discussed here insofar as they may shed some light on the enigmatic manuscript referred to by Schepper. Namely, the surviving compilations of Byzantine prophetic texts show that illustrated texts of this type are rare and relatively late, or not earlier than the time of Schepper’s visit to Mileševa. For several reasons, the centre of their origin was certainly Venice, with which Mileševa maintained special relations. As early as the 1530s, which is the time of Schepper’s visit, Božidar Vuković, a publisher and printer who had started his Venetian printing house in 1519, was in close contact with the monastery through its monks. The manuscript known to us only from Schepper’s report may have been the result of direct contact with Venetian models, which, by the way, were widespread in the Venetian colonies in Greece, notably Crete and Cyprus. The 16th century saw the emergence of a number of pseudo-prophetic texts accommodated to the political plans of the Habsburg and Hungarian courts. One of them, known as the Prognosticon, penned by the court astrologer of Matthias Corvinus at about the time of Schepper’s visit to Mileševa (1534), was focused on recent events such as the Ottoman conquest of Belgrade and Rhodes, the fall of Hungary and the failed siege of Vienna. An inevitable subject matter of the illustrations of prophecies created at the scriptoria such as that at Mileševa is the Pseudo-Methodian theme of the fall of the “city of seven hills”, which assumed layered meanings in the given context. Essentially, it is the archetypal Christian fortress which, in the reality of the 1530s, seemed increasingly close to the popular apocalyptic vision

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Исихастички избори метафизике срца у руској религиозној философији

Исихастички избори метафизике срца у руској религиозној философији
(Hesychastic Elections of Metaphysics of Heart In Russian Religious Philosophy)

Author(s):Radoje Golović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Philosophy of Religion, Eastern Orthodoxy
Page Range:637-645
No. of Pages:9

Price: 4.50 €

Српска и светска византологија у 21. веку, или о сталном преиспитивању устаљених мишљења

Српска и светска византологија у 21. веку, или о сталном преиспитивању устаљених мишљења
(Byzantine Studies in Serbia and Abroad at the Beginning of the 21st Century, or About the Need for Constant Reassessment)

Author(s):Vlada Stanković
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Social history
Page Range:647-651
No. of Pages:5
Summary/Abstract:The paper outlines some of the most prominent characteristics of contemporary Byzantine studies both in Serbia, and internationally, pledging for the return of scholarship to direct work with Byzantine sources (ad fontes!), as the beginning and the basis of any serious analysis and scientific research. A critical view of the state of Byzantine studies in Serbia is offered, as well, with the stress laid on systematization of research and greater interdisciplinarity as the two necessary elements for the enhancement of the current research procedures that would contribute to the results being both innovative and more in-keeping with the current scholarly attitudes and methodology and recognized internationally as such in the future.

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Археолошке теме у будућим византолошким истраживањима у Србији

Археолошке теме у будућим византолошким истраживањима у Србији
(Potential Research Topics in the Field of Byzantine Archeology in Serbia)

Author(s):Vesna Bikić, Marko Popović
Language:Serbian
Subject(s):Historical Geography, Ancient World
Page Range:653-665
No. of Pages:13
Summary/Abstract:On the whole, archaeological investigation to date has been extensive and varied in character, ranging from small-scale trial excavations, usually aimed at obtaining basic information about particular sites, and excavations within conservation and restoration projects, to long-term systematic excavations. Consequently, the obtained results vary in value. The best explored so far are the sites in the Danube basin and southwest Serbia, while the archaeological picture of other regions is much vaguer. Despite this disproportion, the results of fieldwork and post-fieldwork analysis provide a solid basis for designing a few major research projects, the final outcome of which is expected to have the value of first-rate historical sources. On this occasion, three projects chronologically corresponding to major phases of Byzantine political, economic and cultural history are proposed. First project is early-Byzantine, encompassing topics relating to fortifications and defence systems, the provisioning of garrisons and trade in general, models and characteristics of planned urbanization and church organization. Second project would deal with topics relating to the period of restored Byzantine control over the Balkans in the 11th and 12th centuries, such as military and administrative seats on the Empire’s re-established border, the Archbishopric of Ohrid, especially the issues such as Christianization and the extent of Byzantinization, including the identification of the symbiosis and distinguishing between Byzantine influence and Slavic legacy. Third project would focus on exploring Byzantine urban and proto-urban centres within the medieval Serbian state, involving programmes of physical and chemical analyses of the recovered archaeological material, which may provide key answers to questions concerning the nature of the economy and trade between the Byzantine core areas and the Balkans. The proposed archaeological projects are expected to come up with some answers to central questions in the field of Byzantine studies. In that sense, the early-Byzantine topics are fully in tune with current concerns within Byzantine studies in Europe, and will make a significant contribution to them. On the other hand, the proposed middle and late Byzantine projects fit into the concerns of Balkan Byzantinology and, as such, have a strong potential for improving the understanding of architecture, culture and art in the Byzantine Balkan provinces. Given that Byzantine archaeology forms an integral part of national archaeology in Serbia, these projects are expected to result in a significant, if not landmark, contribution to understanding the complexity of medieval Serbian culture in general and the decorative arts in particular. In that sense, apart from research based on the archaeological methods, programmes of physical and chemical analyses of products, semi-products and raw materials are proposed for all topics. In addition to identifying the nature of the economy and trade between the Byzantine core areas and the Balkans, such analyses should help clarify technological aspects, i.e. differences and similarities between Byzantine products and contemporary domestic products modelled after them, as well as artefacts of a later date relied on Byzantine technology and style. Of course, publication of excavation and post-excavation results, and the study of artefacts belonging to the Byzantine cultural orbit by origin or inspiration, remain the first and foremost prerequisite for accomplishing the defined project goals.

Price: 4.50 €

Византијски свет на Балкану I-II Byzantine World In the Balkans

Convergence and Divergence between the Patriarchal Register of Constantinople and the Ponemata Diaphora of Archbishop Demetrios Chomatenos of Achrida/Ohrid

О односу управне и црквене организације на подручју охридске архиепископије

О односу управне и црквене организације на подручју охридске архиепископије (On the Relationship of Administrative and Ecclesiastical Organisation In the Territories of the Ohrid Archbishopric)

Појам Бугарске у XI и XII веку и територија Охридске архиепископије

Појам Бугарске у XI и XII веку и територија Охридске архиепископије (The Term Bulgaria in the 11th and 12th Centuries and the Territory of the Archbishopric of Ohrid)

Печат цара Алексија I из тврђаве Рас

Печат цара Алексија I из тврђаве Рас (The Seal of the Emperor Alexios I from the Fortress of Ras)

Самуилово царство и Угарска

Самуилово царство и Угарска (Samuel’s Empire аnd Hungary)

Белошева опатија архиђакона Стефана - рефугијум Домбо и Баноштор

Белошева опатија архиђакона Стефана - рефугијум Домбо и Баноштор (Beloš’s Abbey Of Stephen The Archdeacon — Refugium Dombo And Banoštor)

Свети Сава и подизање Милешеве

Свети Сава и подизање Милешеве (Saint Sava and the Construction of Mileševa)

Стефан Немањић и његов брат Сава у списима Димитрија Хоматина

Стефан Немањић и његов брат Сава у списима Димитрија Хоматина (Stefan Nemanjić and his Brother Sava in the Acts of Demetrios Chomatenos)

Архиепископ Лав - творац иконографског програма фресака у Светој Софији Охридској

Архиепископ Лав - творац иконографског програма фресака у Светој Софији Охридској (Archbishop Leo — The Creator of the Iconographic Fresco Program in Saint Sophia in Ohrid)

Христолошки значај представе премудрости у цркви Свете Софије Охриду

Христолошки значај представе премудрости у цркви Свете Софије Охриду (The Christological Significance of the Presentation of Divine Wisdom in the Church of St. Sophia in Ohrid)

Представе светог Климента Охридског у зидном сликарству средњовековне Србије

Представе светог Климента Охридског у зидном сликарству средњовековне Србије (Presentation of St. Kliment of Ohrid in the Wall-Painting of Medieval Serbia)

Српски владарски портрети у Григоријевој галерији Свете Софије у Охриду и њихов програмски контекст

Српски владарски портрети у Григоријевој галерији Свете Софије у Охриду и њихов програмски контекст (Serbian Rulers’ Portraits in Gregory’s Gallery of Saint Sophia in Ohrid and Their Program Context)

Неумски кодекс Охрид бр. 53 у рукописној традицији XI века

Неумски кодекс Охрид бр. 53 у рукописној традицији XI века (Neumed Codex Ohrid no. 53 in the Written Tradition of the 11th Century)

Лична побожност на подручју Охридсе архиепископије у светлу археолошких налаза од XI до XIII века

Средњовековни Цариград у старим српским родословима, летописима, записима и натписима

Средњовековни Цариград у старим српским родословима, летописима, записима и натписима (Medieval Constantinople in the old Serbian genealogies, annals, notes and inscriptions)

Утицај Византије на аграрне односе у средњовековној Србији

Утицај Византије на аграрне односе у средњовековној Србији (The Influence of Byzantium on the Agrarian Conditions in Medieval Serbia)

Благослов и венчање великог жупана Стефана Немањића: структура, извори, симболичка и идеолошко-политичка стратегија обреда

Проучавање "централних насеља" у историјској географији византијског царства на Балкану и могућности примене нове методологије

Мрежа насеља и њихова структура на северу Илирика у 6. веку - археолошки подаци

Мрежа насеља и њихова структура на северу Илирика у 6. веку - археолошки подаци (The Network of Settlements and their Structure in the North Ilirika in the 6th Century - Archaeological Data)

О такозваној "хроници српских владара" из списа De Administrando Imperio цара Константина VII Порфирогенита

О такозваној "хроници српских владара" из списа De Administrando Imperio цара Константина VII Порфирогенита (On the so Called “Chronicle of the Serbian Rulers” of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus’ De Administrando Imperio)

Болести царева у Хронографији Михаила Псела

Болести царева у Хронографији Михаила Псела (Emperors’ Illnesses in the Chronographia of Michael Psellos)

Ана Комнина - аутобиографске белешке

Ана Комнина - аутобиографске белешке (Anna Comnene - Autobiographical Notes)

Никава - загонетна област Јована Кинама

Никава - загонетна област Јована Кинама (Nikava — The Mysterious Region Mentioned by John Kinnamos)

Страх од Турака у писмима Димитрија Кидона (1352'-1371)

Страх од Турака у писмима Димитрија Кидона (1352'-1371) (Fear of the Turks In The Letters Of Demetrios Cydones (1352–1371))

Срби у опсади Филаделфије

Срби у опсади Филаделфије (The Serbs in the Siege of Philadelphia in 1390)

Ванбрачна деца царева династије Палеолога

Ванбрачна деца царева династије Палеолога (The Illegitimate Children of Palaiologos Dynasty Emperors)

Оригинарни начини стицања својине у средњовековном српском праву

Оригинарни начини стицања својине у средњовековном српском праву (Originatory Acquisitions of Property in Serbian Mediaeval Law)

Брачне одредбе Жичке повеље између црквеног и народног концепта брака

Брачне одредбе Жичке повеље између црквеног и народног концепта брака (The Marriage Provisions in the Charter of the Žiča Monastery Between the Church and the Popular Concept of Marriage)

О једном особеном моделу распоређивања сцена циклуса великих празника: Студеница - Градац

О једном особеном моделу распоређивања сцена циклуса великих празника: Студеница - Градац (About One Distinctive Deployment Model of Scene Cycle of Major Holidays: Studenica - Gradac)

Светачки лик у контексту: један нерасветљени пример из ексонартекса цркве у манастиру Трескавац

Светачки лик у контексту: један нерасветљени пример из ексонартекса цркве у манастиру Трескавац (The Saint’s Image in Context: A Neglected Example from the Exonarthex of the Treskavac Monastery Church)

Првобитно сликарство Цркве Св. Николе у Челопеку код Тетова

Првобитно сликарство Цркве Св. Николе у Челопеку код Тетова (Original Paintings of St. Nicholas At Čelopek Near Tetovo)

Сцене Пилатовог суда у Марковом манастиру

Сцене Пилатовог суда у Марковом манастиру (The Scenes of Pilate’s Court in the Monastery of King Marko)

Сакос црквених достојанственика у средњовековној Србији

Сакос црквених достојанственика у средњовековној Србији (The Sakkos of Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in Medieval Serbia)

Плашт српских деспота у 15. веку. Прилог проучавању

Плашт српских деспота у 15. веку. Прилог проучавању (Mantle of the Serbian Despots in the 15th Century. A Contribution to the Study)

Три писма Константина Великог код Евсевија Кесаријског, Теодорита Кирског и Сократа Схоластика

Етимологије у спису Hodegos Анастасија Синаита

Етимологије у спису Hodegos Анастасија Синаита (Etymologies in Hodegos of Anastasios Of Sinai)

Представа ероса у роману доба Комнина и њена повезаност са савременом реториком

Представа ероса у роману доба Комнина и њена повезаност са савременом реториком (The Performance of Eros in the Novel The Age of Komnina and Its Relationship With the Contemporary Rhetoric)

Српски преписи химнографских састава Григорија Синаита

Српски преписи химнографских састава Григорија Синаита (Serbian Transcripts of the Hymnographic Works of Gregory of Sinai)

Богослужбени списи посвећени светом Јоаникију Девичком

Богослужбени списи посвећени светом Јоаникију Девичком (Liturgical Texts Dedicated to Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Култ свтог Јоаникија Девичког

Култ свтог Јоаникија Девичког (The Cult of Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Псеудо-Методијев спис и реактуализација пророчких текстова у Срба крајем средњег века

Псеудо-Методијев спис и реактуализација пророчких текстова у Срба крајем средњег века (Pseudo-Methodius’ Writing and Renewal of Prophetic Texts by the Serbs at the End of the Middle Ages)

Исихастички избори метафизике срца у руској религиозној философији

Исихастички избори метафизике срца у руској религиозној философији (Hesychastic Elections of Metaphysics of Heart In Russian Religious Philosophy)

Византијски свет на Балкану I-II
Byzantine World In the Balkans

О односу управне и црквене организације на подручју охридске архиепископије
(On the Relationship of Administrative and Ecclesiastical Organisation In the Territories of the Ohrid Archbishopric)

Појам Бугарске у XI и XII веку и територија Охридске архиепископије
(The Term Bulgaria in the 11th and 12th Centuries and the Territory of the Archbishopric of Ohrid)

Печат цара Алексија I из тврђаве Рас
(The Seal of the Emperor Alexios I from the Fortress of Ras)

Самуилово царство и Угарска
(Samuel’s Empire аnd Hungary)

Белошева опатија архиђакона Стефана - рефугијум Домбо и Баноштор
(Beloš’s Abbey Of Stephen The Archdeacon — Refugium Dombo And Banoštor)

Свети Сава и подизање Милешеве
(Saint Sava and the Construction of Mileševa)

Стефан Немањић и његов брат Сава у списима Димитрија Хоматина
(Stefan Nemanjić and his Brother Sava in the Acts of Demetrios Chomatenos)

Архиепископ Лав - творац иконографског програма фресака у Светој Софији Охридској
(Archbishop Leo — The Creator of the Iconographic Fresco Program in Saint Sophia in Ohrid)

Христолошки значај представе премудрости у цркви Свете Софије Охриду
(The Christological Significance of the Presentation of Divine Wisdom in the Church of St. Sophia in Ohrid)

Представе светог Климента Охридског у зидном сликарству средњовековне Србије
(Presentation of St. Kliment of Ohrid in the Wall-Painting of Medieval Serbia)

Српски владарски портрети у Григоријевој галерији Свете Софије у Охриду и њихов програмски контекст
(Serbian Rulers’ Portraits in Gregory’s Gallery of Saint Sophia in Ohrid and Their Program Context)

Неумски кодекс Охрид бр. 53 у рукописној традицији XI века
(Neumed Codex Ohrid no. 53 in the Written Tradition of the 11th Century)

Средњовековни Цариград у старим српским родословима, летописима, записима и натписима
(Medieval Constantinople in the old Serbian genealogies, annals, notes and inscriptions)

Утицај Византије на аграрне односе у средњовековној Србији
(The Influence of Byzantium on the Agrarian Conditions in Medieval Serbia)

Мрежа насеља и њихова структура на северу Илирика у 6. веку - археолошки подаци
(The Network of Settlements and their Structure in the North Ilirika in the 6th Century - Archaeological Data)

О такозваној "хроници српских владара" из списа De Administrando Imperio цара Константина VII Порфирогенита
(On the so Called “Chronicle of the Serbian Rulers” of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus’ De Administrando Imperio)

Болести царева у Хронографији Михаила Псела
(Emperors’ Illnesses in the Chronographia of Michael Psellos)

Ана Комнина - аутобиографске белешке
(Anna Comnene - Autobiographical Notes)

Никава - загонетна област Јована Кинама
(Nikava — The Mysterious Region Mentioned by John Kinnamos)

Страх од Турака у писмима Димитрија Кидона (1352'-1371)
(Fear of the Turks In The Letters Of Demetrios Cydones (1352–1371))

Срби у опсади Филаделфије
(The Serbs in the Siege of Philadelphia in 1390)

Ванбрачна деца царева династије Палеолога
(The Illegitimate Children of Palaiologos Dynasty Emperors)

Оригинарни начини стицања својине у средњовековном српском праву
(Originatory Acquisitions of Property in Serbian Mediaeval Law)

Брачне одредбе Жичке повеље између црквеног и народног концепта брака
(The Marriage Provisions in the Charter of the Žiča Monastery Between the Church and the Popular Concept of Marriage)

О једном особеном моделу распоређивања сцена циклуса великих празника: Студеница - Градац
(About One Distinctive Deployment Model of Scene Cycle of Major Holidays: Studenica - Gradac)

Светачки лик у контексту: један нерасветљени пример из ексонартекса цркве у манастиру Трескавац
(The Saint’s Image in Context: A Neglected Example from the Exonarthex of the Treskavac Monastery Church)

Првобитно сликарство Цркве Св. Николе у Челопеку код Тетова
(Original Paintings of St. Nicholas At Čelopek Near Tetovo)

Сцене Пилатовог суда у Марковом манастиру
(The Scenes of Pilate’s Court in the Monastery of King Marko)

Сакос црквених достојанственика у средњовековној Србији
(The Sakkos of Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in Medieval Serbia)

Плашт српских деспота у 15. веку. Прилог проучавању
(Mantle of the Serbian Despots in the 15th Century. A Contribution to the Study)

Етимологије у спису Hodegos Анастасија Синаита
(Etymologies in Hodegos of Anastasios Of Sinai)

Представа ероса у роману доба Комнина и њена повезаност са савременом реториком
(The Performance of Eros in the Novel The Age of Komnina and Its Relationship With the Contemporary Rhetoric)

Српски преписи химнографских састава Григорија Синаита
(Serbian Transcripts of the Hymnographic Works of Gregory of Sinai)

Богослужбени списи посвећени светом Јоаникију Девичком
(Liturgical Texts Dedicated to Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Култ свтог Јоаникија Девичког
(The Cult of Saint Ioannikios of Devič)

Псеудо-Методијев спис и реактуализација пророчких текстова у Срба крајем средњег века
(Pseudo-Methodius’ Writing and Renewal of Prophetic Texts by the Serbs at the End of the Middle Ages)

Исихастички избори метафизике срца у руској религиозној философији
(Hesychastic Elections of Metaphysics of Heart In Russian Religious Philosophy)

Српска и светска византологија у 21. веку, или о сталном преиспитивању устаљених мишљења
(Byzantine Studies in Serbia and Abroad at the Beginning of the 21st Century, or About the Need for Constant Reassessment)

Археолошке теме у будућим византолошким истраживањима у Србији
(Potential Research Topics in the Field of Byzantine Archeology in Serbia)