In John Skylitzes’ A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057, there is no shortage of mentions of women in and around the happenings and imperial proceedings at the palace in Constantinople. This paper examines the view of women in Byzantium that can be understood from reading A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811-1057, focusing exclusively on the years 867-1025. Before an examination of the Synopsis can be done, it must be acknowledged that Skylitzes clearly expresses in his foreword that his work is “a summary, that is, which will provide them [future readers] with a brief overview of what has taken place at various times and thus free them of the need to consult massive tomes of memoirs.” His work is upfront in saying it is not an in depth …show more content…
The two major examples from the period examined are Danielis and Zoe Karbonopsina. Danielis is a woman Basil I encounters when he is traveling in the Peloponnese with his master Theophilos before he was emperor. While there, a monk randomly greats Basil as if he is an emperor and disrespects Basil’s master. Danielis, described as “ranked first in that region, by both her way of life and her high-birth,” heard the story of the monk’s behavior and knowing he had the power of “foretelling the future,” asked the monk why he acted so. The monk told her Basil would one day be Emperor and those chosen by God should be revered. This causes Danielis to summon Basil and gift him considerable favors and gifts, the only thing she requested in return was that he formal bond with take her son. Basil agrees and also promises Danielis that if he does become emperor he would make her “mistress of all that area.” Years later, once Basil is emperor, he has kept his word in having a bond with Danielis’ son, who was a protopatharios, and sends for Danielis to come to Constantinople. When she arrives after being “carried in relays by three hundred strong young servants of her choosing,” Basil holds a reception for her in the Manguara, which is usually reserved for very distinguished guests. The last description of Danielis is when she visits Leo VI once he is emperor and names him heir to all her worldly goods. In Synopsis, Danielis is not defined through her marriage, her children, or through participation of a malevolent act. Danielis has agency, something few women in Synopsis exercise and she uses it for purposes that are not murder or seizing power. Danielis is the true outlier of all of the women reviewed in this paper as she is a relevant and revered woman, who acts on her own accord for purposes that are not outright evil. Danielis’ unique status is more than likely a result of the fact that she
...hristians and the Monophysites (Koeller, 1996). Even though Theodora died, the empowerment she gave to women of the Byzantine Empire will live on forever.
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
Roman Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine Empire in 330 CE as a continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. The characteristics of the empire led to the modern definition of “Byzantine,” which means “strangely complicated.” This was true, as in the Byzantine Empire was very chaotic, complex, and strange at times, but it was very massive and influential worldwide. The empire heavily influenced modern religion, laws, and engineering making it worthwhile learning about the empire.
Hill, Barbara. Imperial Women in Byzantium 1025-1204: Power, patronage and ideology. New York: Longman, 1999. Print.
Procopius, The Secret History (Byzantine). 1. What is the difference between a. and a. The document Procopius, The Secret History, is about the Byzantine society. This document was written by Procopius, a historian.
The Ottoman Empire were Muslims and included Hungary, Syria, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Albania, and they marched on land. The Ottoman Empire is said to have first appeared somewhere around the 1300’s, and can be related to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. They began conquering Christian lands and by the late 1600’s all Christians were afraid of the “terrible Turk”. It is no wonder that many other people were afraid of the Ottoman Empire since they seem to be really rather powerful and they conquered a lot of land. It was in the 1330’s when the Morroccan Abu Abdallah Ibn Battuta passed through Constantinople and became impressed with the Ottomans who seemed to be gaining power rather quickly, he noticed that they had close to 100 forts and
Lefkowitz, Mary R., and Maureen B. Fant. Women's Life in Greece and Rome. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2005.
What do Plato, Aristotle, mosaics, and icons have in common? They are all important parts of Byzantine culture, which spans the course of over 1,000 years, from the fall of Rome to the decline of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines were important facilitators of the Renaissance. The Byzantines preserved Greek and Roman traditions and created many of their own, which would have a great impact during the Renaissance.
Any examination of women in Livy’s writing demands not only a literal interpretation of their character development and values, but also must account for their symbolic importance—thus creating a much more complex representation. Livy, an ancient historian, authored The Early History of Rome to be an exploration of Rome from its foundation, focusing on historical events and societal organization. In it, he examines the patriarchal society that stabilized Rome throughout its dominance. However, as a result of this explicitly defined hierarchy in Rome, women were seen as secondary figures in society. Most were viewed as submissive and passive, and it was well within the rights of men to assert their dominance—many women even agreed with these values. This can be seen in Livy’s portrayals of such women as the Sabine women, Horatia, and Lucretia. Yet Lucretia provides an interesting complexity to the exempla of women. On a symbolic level, Lucretia is an important catalyst in affecting the political organization of Rome. This representation is furthered with Livy’s descriptions of Lavinia, Rhea Silvia, and Verginia. Despite the work of Livy to create an accurate portrayal of women in ancient Rome, other authors showed women to actively defy this patriarchal society he describes. However, Livy’s effort to create the most accurate explanation of early Rome through a historical representation drives this discrepancy in characterization through genre. Therefore, Livy’s work serves as both an accurate and complex examination of the role of women in ancient Rome. According to Livy, a woman’s role was defined by her sacrifice; culturally, women were to be subordinate to men in the patriarchal structure of society, but also served as important...
The city of Byzantium was built in the seventh century and was proved to be both beneficial for Romans and Greeks. Emperor Constantine wanted to unite the Roman empire and realized the strategic importance of Byzantium upon reuniting the Empire of Rome because it was placed on the European side of Strait of Bosporus, so in 324 AD, Constantine decided to build his new capital their and named it Constantinople. Constantinople was built in the hope of reuniting the Roman Empire. Before Constantinople, the Empire was divided into two parts; Emperor Diocletian ruled the East and Emperor Constantine ruled the West. Emperor Constantine was ruthless and when an Emperor named Lucinius took complete power of the East in 313 A.D, Constantine challenged and defeated Lucinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis and became the Emperor of the whole Roman Empire. Now that Constantine was the Emperor of the whole, reunited Empire, he needed to relocate Rome’s capitol somewhere besides old Rome because the infrastructure was of the city was weak, the eco...
The time is the sixth century, the place is Rome and the person is Lucretia, a woman who contributed to one of the biggest parts of Roman history: the creation of the Roman republic. The rape of the virtuous Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of Tarquinius Superbus' (an Etruscan king) was the final straw for the Roman people and pushed them to want to change from a monarchy to a republic. From the accounts of the rape of Lucretia from ancient historians like Livy, Cicero and Dionysius, it is clear that Lucretias rape not only spurred the roman people to want to get rid of the Etruscan King and his family, but also revealed the important role of virtue in women in roman society.
Meyer, Jargen C. “Women in Classical Athens in the Shadow of North-West Europe or in the Light from Istanbul”. Women’s Life in Classical Athens. www.hist.uib.no/antikk/antres/Womens life.htm. Accessed: March 10, 2012
Introduction An empire is defined as a group of nations or countries governed by a single, powerful force; often an emperor or empress. The Byzantine Empire, originally known as the East-Roman Empire and also known as Byzantium, is an example of an influential civilization that significantly altered the past ways of living in order for societies today to develop in the manner that they have. The Byzantine Empire contained countless crucial elements that caused the civilization to be the intriguing society that it was. Politics were essential to the rise of the Byzantine Empire. The political structure was like that of the Romans and created much success for the Empire during its peak.
Theseus, Duke, Lord, and Governor of Athens is revered in The Knight’s Tale as a “conqueror with no greater beneath the sun than he” (Overton 738-780). This depiction certainly glorifies that of man in this time. However, Theseus wed Hippolyta who became queen as a result of such a union and was brought to Theseus’ home “in glory and with great pageantry” (Overton 738-780); this would create an ideation that Hippolyta, a Queen, representing women of the community would only be perceived in the light of property and as beauty thus portraying her and other women in what is now recognized as a negative light. Although currently women wish to be perceived in such a light that would warrant more substance than pageantry, it is understood that during the times of this story, to be seen as such was an honor bestowed upon only the most privileged.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.