This is my most viewed image on Fickr. A pov shot looking up towards the dome in the sanctuary of San Vitale in #Ravenna. Gives a good sense of the mosaic program. Over 11K views!
#MosaicMonday:
Image of what is likely a Crowned Crane (Balearica spp.), endemic to continental Africa, on the #Byzantine floor mosaic of the Petra Church, Jordan, 5th-6th c. CE. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jordan1222.jpg #BirdsInArt
Mary of Egypt reportedly converted to Christianity during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. One of the earliest pilgrim accounts of Jerusalem is that left behind by a Roman woman named Egeria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egeria_(pilgrim)
In the mid-1200s in #Greece, Theodora of Arta was recognized as a #saint for putting up with a real jerk of a husband, who was the ruler of the #Byzantine successor state of Epiros at the time. He even drove her out of his house (for her to live by begging with their young son) for five years while he lived with his mistress instead. Eventually they made up, and she founded a convent (and retired to it).
The Seljuk #Turks intermarried with the #Byzantine imperial family, and because of their polygamy, the sultans' harems often became centers of #Christianity, which provided patronage and influence for church leaders. "Harem Christianity," as one scholar termed it, remains an important yet poorly understood component of women's history.
The #Byzantine Empire wanted to make peace with the #Mongols, so emperor Michael VIII (r. 1258-82) sent an illegitimate daughter named Maria (Palaiologina) for a marriage alliance. After her husband Abaqa died in 1280, she returned to Constantinople, and eventually became head of an important monastery. The church was called "St. Mary of the Mongols," and is today the only Byzantine church in Istanbul never to have been converted into a mosque. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Palaiologina
A later #Byzantine princess was married to Ozbek Khan of the Golden Horde (in what is today Russia). The Moroccan Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta reports her name as Bayalun, but what her Greek name was is lost. Her husband being Muslim, she appeared as a lackluster Muslim in the Mongol imperial camp, but reverted to #Christianity when she returned to Constantinople to give birth to their child in the 1330s.
Apse and sanctuary of the "double church" or "Church of Mary" at #Ephesus. It's believed that the Council of Ephesus was held here in 431. It was the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the #Theotokos
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A first time in Istanbul & with all the episodes we're making on the Venetians, Byzantines & others, seemed mad that we hadn't seen #Constantinople or the Hagia Sophia yet
'Dumbarton Oaks Papers, which has been a leading academic journal in the field of Byzantine Studies since 1941, has unveiled a new website where all of its issues are open-access and available to read for free.'
Archaeologists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology recently carried out preliminary excavation at the ancient site of Hyrcania in the northern Judean Desert, coming at the heels of increased activity by antiquities looters.
Register now for the virtual workshop 'An Introduction to nodegoat for Byzantinsts' by Jesse W. Torgerson (Wesleyan University) on Friday, October 13, 2023, 12:00–3:00 PM EDT.
This workshop is organised by the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and the Byzantine Studies Association of North America.
Museum discovers origin of rare polychrome gladiator relief: Recent archival research has revealed the previously unknown background of a 2nd century A.D. gladiator funerary relief with rare preserved polychrome paint. http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/67953
Unearthing ancient faith: Byzantine Greek inscription of Psalms 86 found in Hyrcania (phys.org)
Archaeologists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology recently carried out preliminary excavation at the ancient site of Hyrcania in the northern Judean Desert, coming at the heels of increased activity by antiquities looters.