Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta
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Publisher: Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
ISSN: 0584-9888
eISSN: 2406-0917
Pages
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- A note on homer the raven
- In the works of Clement of Alexandria pieces of Homeric verses surface from time to time as a testimony to a Christian truth or an interpretation of Scripture. Such instances in Gnostic writings presented evidence that these Gnostic writers treated Homer as their own prophet. It seems that in light of these accusations, Clement takes care to note that Homer did not understand the words he gave a voice to, any more than a raven does when he echoes what he hears. Furthermore, in all cases where Clement comes conspicuously close to implying a prophetic-like status for Homer, he does not fail to employ a phrase which explicitly divorces the poet from any theological authority. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177032: Tradition, Innovation and Identity in the Byzantine World]
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- A prolusion on the history of the text of Dušan’s Code
- Based on the analysis of the manuscript tradition behind Dušan’s legislation, this prolusion offers arguments in favor of including legal texts copied with Dušan’s Code into a textological examination which aims to reconstruct the history of the Code’s text (the genealogy of its manuscripts) and its original recension. The analysis also includes manuscripts belonging to the so-called incomplete Dušan’s legislation, which contains copies of the accompanying texts without Dušan’s Code itself. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177025: Srpsko srednjovekovno društvo u pisanim izvorima]
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- A propos du cesar Preljub et de sa femme Irene
- La vie du cesar Preljub et celle de son epouse Irene sont tres mal connues, alors qu’il s’agit de personnages de premier plan des regnes des empereurs serbes Dušan et Uroš, et qu’ils sont les parents de Thomas, futur despote de Ioannina. En particulier, on ignore tout de leur origine familiale et geographique. Pendant longtemps la bibliographie a presente Irene comme la fille du tsar Dušan et de la tsaritsa Helene de Bulgarie, mais cette idee est aujourd’hui abandonnee. Cet article reexamine donc les donnees a disposition et conclut qu’Irene etait une proche parente d’Helene et une membre de la famille regnante de Bulgarie. En particulier, sur la base d’un passage de Cantacuzene, il examine de faзon favorable l’hypothese selon laquelle elle etait la soeur de la tsaritsa Helene.
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- A quasi patriarch in the state of Epirus
- The paper sketches the life and work of the archbishop of the autocephalous Byzantine archbishopric of Boulgaria/CAmd, Demetrios Chomatenos (fungit 1216-1236). His main work, the corpus of records Ponemata diaphora (=PD), appeared in 2002 in a critical edition in Vol. 38 of the CFHB. The PD prove to be a first quality historical source, also for the history of Serbia. This present paper is thus based on numerous new findings from the analysis of the PD and other relevant sources. In particular, it deals with the quasi-patriarchal self-understanding and work of Chomatenos, who was an excellent canonist and nomotriboumenos (legal expert): The increased rivalry between Nicaea and Epirus in the years 1215-1230 enabled him to act like a patriarch in the area controlled by the rulers of Epirus. In so far as he reached beyond the boundaries of his archbishopric in this connection, as a rule he acted with the consent of further metropolitans and bishops in the state of Epirus who — unlike him — were formally subject to the patriarch. This also applies for the coronation of Emperor Theodores Doukas which he carried out in 1227.
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- A woman’s graffito drawing from Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
- This paper sheds light on the graffito-drawing from Hagia Sophia. It mainly discussed the possibility that the graffito presented a Western medieval woman donating a chalice. It is also very probable that the graffito was a work of the 15th century, produced by a anonymous skilled author, who must have been familiar with the woman’s fashion of his time.
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- About the composition and processing of precious metals from the Serbian medieval mines
- Account Books of the Caboga (Kabužić) Brothers 1426-1433 (Squarço - Reminder, Diary and Ledger) from the Historical Archive of Dubrovnik provide new evidence about the high degree of treatment and composition of precious metals from the Serbian medieval mines. First of all, that the residue, after the purification of unprocessed into fine silver, was copper. Even the price of this process is listed. In the Squarço, in two items in a receipt from 1430, there is previously unknown data about auriferous silver (argento di glama), the composition of which, besides gold, also included copper, and the precisely determined shares of these metals per litre. Apart from the Account Books of the Caboga (Kabužić) Brothers, other written sources and hitherto geological explorations have provided no clues regarding the presence of copper in the auriferous silver mines.
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- About the reception of Isaurian Ekloge in Byzantine Italy
- Aim of the contribute is to offer a new key to analyse the matter concerning the influence of Byzantine law sources on the development of the legal system in Southern Italy. In addition to a historical and juridical survey about the reception process of the Isaurian Ekloge in the territories controlled by the Byzantines, a comparison is tried considering the diffusion of the compilation also in the Slavian world and especially in the Balkan regions: to study the reasons, which persuaded Stefan Du{an to use the text to compose his Zakonik, could be very useful to understand the characters - totally different because of political grounds - of the preservation of the Isaurian Ekloge in the manuscripts coming from Southern Italy.
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- Akt prota Teofana za manastir Veriota (april 1312, ind. 10) u starosrpskom prevodu XV veka
- (francuski) Alors que l'acte grec du prôtos Théophane, daté d'avril 1321 (n° 100; sign topographique A 7/4), dont des copies sont conservées dans les archives de Saint-Pantéléè-môn et de Vatopédi, a déjà été publié à trois reprises avec les actes de ces monastères, sa traduction en ancien serbe est quasiment restée inconnue jusqu'à présent. En son temps, Ljubomir Kovacevic l'avait incluse dans un recueil des actes de Chilandar, déjà apprêté pour l'édition mais dont la parution a été empêchée par la Première Guerre mondiale. Par un jeu de hasard, trois feuillets d'imprimerie, contenant entre autres l'édition de Kovacevic de notre document, nous sont parvenues. Ceci nous a permis, compte tenu de la forte mutilation de cet acte, écrit sur papier causée par l'humidité depuis sa transcription par Lj. Kovacevic d'utiliser pour la présente édition sa lecture, en tout point correcte, tant pour certains passages du texte, aujourd'hui totalement perdus, que pour des lettres et mots, entre temps devenus illisibles. Nous considérons que l'acte grec du prôtos Théophane a été traduit en ancien serbe, vraisemblablement à Chilandar, à l'occasion d'un litige opposant les moines serbes à ceux de Vatopédi au sujet d'un rucher (v. notice au verso, n° 3). Le traducteur, qui était un bon connaisseur du grec et de l'ancien serbe, s'est efforcé de traduire à la lettre le contenu de l'acte grec. De ce fait, la traduction s'en trouve par endroit peu claire, de sorte que nous avons également recouru pour sa compréhension, ainsi que pour nos notes, aux éditions des copies grecques et aux commentaires de leurs éditeurs. La présence des copies de l'acte du prôtos Théophane à Saint-Pantéléèmôn et à Vatopédi ainsi que de sa traduction en ancien serbe à Chilandar, tendrait à suggérer que ces trois monastères ont possédé, durablement ou provisoirement, une partie des biens de l'ancien monastère de Berroiôtou.
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- An early Byzantine colloquial use of the adjectιve πιθανόσ
- The adjective πιθανός ‘persuasive, credible’, attested for the first time in Aeschylus, and ever since in use in the Greek language has a special meaning ‘beautiful’ in a group of early Byzantine texts. The development of this later meaning can be traced since the comedian Menander and the epigrammatist Asclepiades. The early examples are attested in poetry or philosophical prose, always as a characteristic of female persons, seductive and fatal. On the other hand, the later examples, attested since probably late fourth century until the early seventh, are all to be found in works written in a more casual literary register, and in dialogues and passages with a pronounced ironical tone. Defined like this by chronology, literary register and, it seems geography - all these texts were written in Palestine or Egypt - this usage can be characterized as colloquial.
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- An example of the influence of the gospel lectionary on the iconography of medieval wall painting
- The influence of the Gospel lectionary (evangelistarion) on the iconography of medieval wall painting was rather sporadic. One of the rare testimonies that it did exist, nevertheless, is the specific iconographic formula for the scene of Christ in the house of Martha and Mary, preserved in a number of King Milutin's foundations - Gračanica (ca. 1320), Chilandar katholikon (1321) and St. Nicetas near Skopje (ca. 1324). In all three churches, the iconographic formula corresponds for the most part to the description in the Gospel (Lk 10, 38-42). A large number of figures were painted against an architectural background, intimating that the action in the event was taking place indoors (draw. 1, figs. 1, 2). Among the figures, only Christ is marked by a halo. He is sitting on a small wooden bench, and addressing a woman, who is standing in front of him. This is certainly Martha. Her sister Mary is sitting at the feet of Christ. Next to Christ is Peter, and one or two more disciples, while numerous onlookers, men and women, are depicted behind Martha. There is no mention of either them or the apostles in the Gospel of Luke. The appearance of the disciples' figures, however, is easy to explain because they appear usually in greater or lesser numbers with Christ, in the scenes from the cycle of Christ's Public Ministry. In addition to this, this passage from the Gospel intimates that Christ entered the village in the company of his disciples. As for the figures behind Martha, at a first glimpse, one would assume that they are Judeans, the same ones that sometimes, according to the Gospel of John (11:19-31), appear in the house of Martha and Mary in the episodes painted next to the Raising of Lazarus. Still, such an assumption is not plausible because among the mentioned figures in the depictions in Gračanica, Chilandar and St. Nicetas, one can distinguish a woman above the other figures, her right arm raised, addressing Christ. This figure enables an explanation for the unusual iconographic formula and indicates its connection with the evangelistarion. The section of the Gospel that speaks of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42) is read out during the liturgy of the feasts of the Birth and the Dormition of the Virgin and, in the lectionary, these five verses are accompanied by a reading of two another verses the Gospel of Luke (Lk 11:27-28). The two verses recount the conversation of Christ and a woman during the Saviour's address to the assembled crowd who tempted him, demanding a sign from Heaven. Recognizing the Lord, the woman raised her voice so as to be heard above the crowd and said: 'Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you'. Two different events and two separated passages from Luke are joined in the lectionary in such a way that from the combination of the readings, it proceeds that the mentioned woman is addressing Christ while he is speaking to Martha. As a result, an iconographic formula emerged that was applied in Gračanica, the Chilandar katholikon and in St. Nicetas near Skopje. Judging by the preserved examples, this formula was characteristic only of the painting in the foundations of King Milutin. None of the other known depictions of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary, Byzantine or Serbian included the figure of a third woman, singled out from the mass of onlookers speaking to Christ. With minor variations, the text of the closing verses of Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke was, in the main, almost literally illustrated. The origin of this unique iconographic formula in several of King Milutin's foundations remains unknown. The most logical thing would be that the combined illustration of the two separate passages from Luke's Gospel came from an illuminated lectionary of Byzantine origin. However, the quests for such a manuscript so far have not confirmed this assumption. In the only lectionary, known to us, which depicts Christ in the house of Martha and Mary - the Dionysiou cod. 587 - the iconographic formula is the pictorial expression of the last verses of Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke. The two verses of Chapter 11 in Luke's Gospel, which are also included in the text of the lection, read out during the liturgy of the Birth and of the Dormition of the Virgin, had no effect on the iconography of the scene of Christ in the house of Martha and Mary in the famous Dionysiou lectionary, even though in it, the mentioned scene illustrate this very lection. The scene is located in the place where the said lection appears for the first time in the lectionary, within the framework of the readings envisaged for the feast of the Birth of the Virgin (September 8). The second part of the lectionary which refers to the same lection, i.e. to its reading for the feast of the Dormition (August 15), is illuminated with the representation of the death of the Virgin. The Dormition of the Virgin is painted in the corresponding place in several more lectionaries, while beside the pericope that is read during the liturgy of the feast of the Birth of the Theotokos, sometimes there was an appropriate depiction of the Birth of the Virgin, or simply a single figure of the Virgin. Most often, however, that part of the lectionary was left without an illustration, which can be explained by the fact that the vast majority of illuminated Byzantine lectionaries either did not have any figural ornamentation or merely contained the portraits of the evangelists. The absence of narrative illustrations is particularly characteristic of the Byzantine lectionaries that originate from the Palaeologan era. The illumination of Serbian lectionaries from that epoch is also reduced to ornamental headpieces, initials, and, in some cases, the evangelist portraits. Nevertheless, one should not altogether exclude the possibility that in some unknown or unpublished Byzantine or Serbian manuscripts of the evangelistarion, there was an iconographic formula that was applied in the painting of King Milutin's foundations. In any case, it does not seem plausible that this unusual iconographic formula may have arrived from the West. The scene of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary was also presented in the Latin lectionaries based on the five Gospel verses in which it was described (Lk 10:38-42) even though, in the appropriate pericope of the lectionaries of the Roman Church, these five verses are also accompanied by a reading of two another verses the Gospel of Luke (Lk 11:27-28). The influence of the lectionaries is not visible even in the presentations of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary that are preserved in the medieval wall painting of the western European countries.
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- An unknown letter by Joannes/Jean-Baptiste/ Thibaut, French Byzantines-musicologist 1899
- This work concerns the letter sent from the French College in Phillipopoli/Plovdiv (Bulgaria) by Pater Joannes /Jean-Baptiste/ Thibaut, the French Byzantines — musicologist, to Tihomir Ostojić, professor at the Secondary school (Gymnasium) in Novi Sad, a literature historian and expert on Traditional Serbian Church Chant. At that time Thibaut was widening his research interest in Byzantine Chant and neumatic notation, to include Slavonic Chant Tradition, first Russian Chant and later that of the Balkan peoples as well. He was one of the first foreigners to show interest in the Orthodox Chant Tradition of the Southern Slavs, and perceived that, contrary of the Russians, South Slavs never adopted early Byzantine neumatic notation. Visiting monasteries in Bulgaria he tried to find reasons for this lack of Byzantine notation among the Southern Slavs. In the above letter he posed very serious questions regarding Chant in the Serbian Orthodox Church, more precisely regarding the "Karlovci Chant". Unfortunately, it is not known if Thibaut received any kind of reply from Ostojić, nor have we found the reply sent to him by the Serbian Patriarch Georgije Branković, whom he also addressed, asking for help. Answers by those experts to the Thibaut's well formulated questions would be an extremely important contribution to studies of Traditional Serbian Church Chant.
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- Appoiting the heir’s heir and family trust (fideicommissum) in Byzantine legal sources
- Testamentary substitutions are the subject of this article. The issue has not been fairly highlighted in the field of Byzantine studies. Definitions of this legal institute are frequent in the Byzantine legal sources, and are based on the Roman legal tradition; yet, they are sporadic, particularly in the younger codes. Researching on them could lead to better understanding of different legal stipulations, the ones found in the official and private legal codes. From there, definitions of various testametary substitutions were translated and adopted in medieval Serbian sources - “Zakon gradski“, translation of Byzantine legal code Prochiron Nomos within the Nomocanon of Saint Sava, and the Old Serbian translation of Syntagma of Matthew Blastares. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija, identitet u vizantijskom svetu]