Research

Byzantine Epigraphy

Constantinople/Istanbul, Pammakaristos Church, Parekklesion, cornice (© Andreas Rhoby)

Contact

Andreas Rhoby

Description

Even if Byzantium was no “civilisation d’épigraphie”, as once stated so appropriately by the epigraphis Loius Robert regarding the Roman Empire, Byzantine inscriptions in prose and verse form (“epigrams”) characterized Byzantine civilisation as well.

The project cooperates with the Epigraphy Commission of the Association Internationale des Études Byzantines (AIEB), which initiated the international cooperative project Inscriptiones Graecae Aevi Byzantini (IGAB), co-ordinated at the Division of Byzantine Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The project was also accepted by the Union Académique Internationale (UAI) under the supervision of the Department of Byzantine Resarch (A. Rhoby). 

The aim of the project is the systematic edition and interpretation of Byzantine inscriptions. The term “inscription” is to be understood in a very broad sense, involving not only inscriptions on stone, but also painted and incised ones which are preserved on any material (expect for coins and seals).

Byzantine inscriptions are edited, analysed and interpreted by international collaborators for publication in the series. Strong interactions exist with the projects “Epigrams” und „Sigillography“, as well as „Language and Literature“ especially with regard to issues of word and image.

An introductory volume with contributions by different authors was published in 2015 (ed. A. Rhoby, Inscriptions in Byzantium and Beyond. Methods – Projects – Case Studies. Wien 2015).

In July 2014, a Summer Workshop in Byzantine Epigraphy at the British School at Athens took place, organized and run by Ida Toth (Oxford University) and Andreas Rhoby.

In September 2018, a Summer Programme in Byzantine Epigraphy, which was funded by Koç University Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, was held at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED)  of Koç University, Istanbul. It was organized and run by Ida Toth (Oxford University) and Andreas Rhoby.

In April 2023, the Institute for Medieval Research (Andreas Rhoby, Andreas Zajic) and the Austrian Archaeological Institute (Veronika Scheibelreiter-Gail) organized an “Epigraphy Spring School” at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW) and at Stift Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria). The School’s topic was "Socialisation" and "Communitisation" of inscriptions . This concept was created by U. Ehmig.

In September 2023, Emmanuel Moutafov, Ida Toth and Andreas Rhoby organized a Summer Course entitled Byzantine Epigraphy in situ at Nessebar (Bulgaria).

The volume Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Istanbul is a revised and updated edition of the booklet originally produced for the Summer Programme in Byzantine Epigraphy. This collection of 37 essays has been prepared by Ida Toth and Andreas Rhoby to provide a broad coverage of Constantinople's (Istanbul's) inscriptional material dating back to the period between the 4th and the 15th centuries. It is intended as a comprehensive teaching tool and also as a dependable vademecum to the extant traces of Istanbul’s rich late antique and medieval epigraphic legacy.

Further events:

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße I

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße II

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße III

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße, Lecture Series, Lecture I

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße, Lecture Series, Lecture II

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße, Lecture Series, Lecture III

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße, Lecture Series, Lecture IV

Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße, Lecture Series, Lecture V 

„Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße" (called after the OEAW buidling in Hollandstraße 11-13, 1020 Wien) (founded by Andreas Rhoby, Veronika Scheibelreiter-Gail, Andreas Zajic) is an intercultural and transdisciplinary initiative of the following fields: Medieval Research, Byzantine Research, Archaeology, Egyptology, Indology, Tibetology, Jewish Studies, Iranian Studies etc. Two clusters in the framework of "Epigraphik in der Hollandstraße" were published in the journal "Medieval Worlds": "Global Epigraphy I" (10, 2019) and "Global Epigraphy II. Perception and Representation of the Foreign" (16, 2022).

The following volumes are currently in preparation:

The Greek Inscriptions of Crete, 13th–17th C. (ed. V. Tsamakda et al.)

The Dated and Datable Byzantine Inscriptions of Constantinople and Its Hinterland (ed. C. Mango, A. McCabe)

The Greek Inscriptions of Mt Athos

Inscriptions tardoantiques et byzantines de la Basilique de Saint-Jean Prodrome à Ephèse (ed. D. Feissel) 

STUDIES IN BYZANTINE EPIGRAPHY:

The "Studies in Byzantine Epigraphy“ are a new series, which is published with Brepols Publisher. Editors are Andreas Rhoby (Vienna) and Ida Toth (Oxford). The editors envisage that the series includes collective volumes as well as single studies. The time range is 4th to 15th century. Volume 1 was published in February 2023.

Byzantine Epigraphy, Selected Sources and Secondary Literature

Cooperation partners

  • Dr. Ida Toth, Oxford University
  • Prof. Dr. Vasiliki Tsamakda, Universität Mainz, Christliche Archäologie und Byzantinische Kunstgeschichte

Publications

  • A. Rhoby, The Meaning of Inscriptions for the Early and Middle Byzantine Culture. Remarks on the Interaction of Word, Image and Beholder, in: Scrivere e leggere nell’alto medioevo. Spoleto, 28 aprile – 4 maggio 2011 (Settimane di Studio LIX). Spoleto 2012, 731–753
  • A. Rhoby (ed.), Inscriptions in Byzantium and Beyond. Methods – Projects – Case Studies (Veröffent­lichun­gen zur Byzanzforschung 38). Wien 2015 
  • A. Rhoby, Inscriptions and Manuscripts in Byzantium: A Fruitful Symbiosis? In: M. Maniaci – P. Orsini (eds.),Scrittura epigrafica e scrittura libraria: fra Oriente e Occidente (Studi e ricerche del Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia 11). Cassino 2015, 15–44 
  • A. Rhoby, Challenges of Byzantine Epigraphy in the 21st Century. A Short Note, in: A.E. Felle – A. Rocco (eds.), Off the Beaten Track. Epigraphy at the Borders. Proceedings of the VI EAGLE International Meeting (24–25 September 2015, Bari, Italy). Oxford 2016, 85–90 
  • A. Rhoby, Tower stablished by God, God is protecting you: Inscriptions on Byzantine Fortifications – Their Function and Their Display, in: Chr. Stavrakos (ed.), Inscriptions in the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art. Proceedings of the International Symposium „Inscriptions: Their Contribution to the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine History and History of Art (Ioannina, June 26-27, 2015)“. Wiesbaden 2016, 341–369
  • A. Rhoby, Schrift und Buchkultur I: Gemalt, gemeißelt und geritzt - die inschriftliche Überlieferung, in: F. Daim (ed.), Byzanz. Historisch-kulturwissenschaftliches Handbuch (Der Neue Pauly, Supplemente, 11). Stuttgart 2016, 971–981
  • A. Rhoby, Text as Art? Byzantine Inscriptions and Their Display, in: Text as Art? Byzantine Inscriptions and Their Display, in: I. Berti – K. Bolle – F. Opdenhoff – F. Stroth (eds.), Writing Matters. Presenting and Perceiving Monumental Inscriptions in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Materielle Textkulturen 14). Berlin – Boston 2017, 265–283
  • A. Rhoby, Epigraphica-Palaeographica. Weitere Überlegungen zur epigraphischen Auszeichnungsmajuskel in byzantinischen Handschriften, vor allem auf Basis der Analyse von Texten in Versform. Scripta 11 (2018) 75–91
  • A. Rhoby – V. Scheibelreiter-Gail - Andreas Zajic, Global Epigraphy: The Scholarship on Inscriptions of Eurasia from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. Medieval Worlds 10 (2019) 177–183
  • A. Rhoby, Inschriftliche griechische Epigramme in frühbyzantinischer Zeit (4.–6. Jh.). Eine Fallstudie zur Evidenz auf den Inseln des östlichen Mittelmeers, in: N. Kröll (ed.), Myth, Religion, Tradition, and Narrative in Late Antique Greek Poetry (Wiener Studien, Beiheft 41). Wien 2020, 211–229
  • A. Rhoby, Post-Byzantine Metrical Inscriptions and Their Context, in: Διεθνές επιστημονικό συμπόσιο προς τιμήν του ομότιμου καθηγητή Γεωργίου Βελένη. Θεσσαλονίκη, Αμφιθέατρο Αρχαίας Αγοράς, 4-7 Οκτωβρίου 2017. Πρακτικά / International Symposium in Honour of Emeritus Professor George Velenis. Thessaloniki, Amphitheatre of Ancient Agora, 4-7 October 2017. Proceedings. Athen 2021, 1527–1540
  • A. Rhoby – I. Toth, Byzantine Epigraphy: Whence and Whither? In: Studies in Byzantine Epigraphy, vol. 1. Turnhout 2023, 19–23

Links

Further publications and list of publications

List of subprojects