The concept of the elect nation in Byzantium / / by Shay Eshel.

• Superior document: The Medieval Mediterranean ; Volume 113
• VerfasserIn: Eshel, Shay,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Medieval Mediterranean ; Volume 113.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (viii, 224 pages).

In The Concept of the Elect Nation in Byzantium , Shay Eshel shows how the Old Testament model of the ancient Israelites was a prominent factor in the evolution of Roman-Byzantine national awareness between the 7th and 13th centuries. The Byzantines' interpretation of the 7th century epic events as manifestations of God's wrath enabled them to incorporate the events into a paradigm which they now embraced: the Old Testament paradigm of the Israelite Elect Nation's complex relationship with God, a cyclic relation of sin, wrath, punishment, repentance and salvation. The Elect Nation concept enabled the Byzantines to express the shift in their collective identity toward a shrunken, yet more clearly defined, national awareness.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- The Elect Nation Concept as Part of the Byzantine Response to the Calamities of the Seventh Century -- The Institutional Adoption and Use of the Elect Nation Concept, from Heraklios to Leo III -- The Elect Nation Concept as an Identity Element of the Embattled Byzantine Society, Seventh–Ninth Centuries -- The Effect of the Iconoclast Controversy upon the Byzantine Elect Nation Concept -- The Macedonian Dynasty and the Expanding Empire, Ninth–Tenth Centuries -- Two Concepts of Election, Influence and Competition: Byzantium and the Franks during the Crusades -- Summary and Conclusions -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index.