Remaking the Empire: Socioeconomic Connectivity and Imperial Architecture under Justinian
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Byzantine Studies Association of North America (BSANA)
Organizer Name
Richard Barrett
Organizer Affiliation
Indiana Univ.-Bloomington
Presider Name
Richard Barrett
Paper Title 1
Imperial Architecture on the Move: The "Church Wreck" of Marzamemi
Presenter 1 Name
Andrew Donnelly, Justin Leidwanger
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Loyola Univ. Chicago, Stanford Univ.
Paper Title 2
Castrati Singers of the Hagia Sophia
Presenter 2 Name
Neil Moran
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Paper Title 3
Remaking the Empire: Significance and Meaning of Justinian's Bridges
Presenter 3 Name
Galina Fingarova
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Univ. Wien
Start Date
11-5-2014 10:30 AM
Session Location
Bernhard 106
Description
Justinian's empire saw Constantinople control the most extensive territory it would hold for the rest of its days. These conquests also renewed networks of socioeconomic connectivity across the Mediterranean, bonds that held west and east together and facilitated the movement of not only goods and people, but ideas, styles, and even disease. Within the artistic and architectural spheres, this connectivity--along with the emperor's Mediterranean-wide ambitions--led to a period of building on a grand scale. Broadly Byzantine structures in part modeled on the cosmopolitan style of the imperial heartland appeared throughout the Mediterranean, and even the white marble quarried from the island of Marmara saw use in every corner of the restored Empire. Justinian's building program itself has been well studied and its artistic uniformity is well known. What is comparatively poorly understood are the networks of exchange and communication that facilitated the movement of these ideas and materials, and the situation of these new structures and styles within local settings. Under what directive was marble quarried and shipped? How were building materials transported, and how was this transportation financed and organized by official or private mechanisms? Who were the artisans? And how were these new structures understood by local communities far from the Byzantine core? To what extent did they represent foreign dominance? How might their meanings have been transformed and renegotiated within different local contexts? This session brings together scholars exploring the role of renewed socioeconomic connectivity in the development of the vibrant artistic and architectural programs of late antiquity.
Richard R. Barrett
Remaking the Empire: Socioeconomic Connectivity and Imperial Architecture under Justinian
Bernhard 106
Justinian's empire saw Constantinople control the most extensive territory it would hold for the rest of its days. These conquests also renewed networks of socioeconomic connectivity across the Mediterranean, bonds that held west and east together and facilitated the movement of not only goods and people, but ideas, styles, and even disease. Within the artistic and architectural spheres, this connectivity--along with the emperor's Mediterranean-wide ambitions--led to a period of building on a grand scale. Broadly Byzantine structures in part modeled on the cosmopolitan style of the imperial heartland appeared throughout the Mediterranean, and even the white marble quarried from the island of Marmara saw use in every corner of the restored Empire. Justinian's building program itself has been well studied and its artistic uniformity is well known. What is comparatively poorly understood are the networks of exchange and communication that facilitated the movement of these ideas and materials, and the situation of these new structures and styles within local settings. Under what directive was marble quarried and shipped? How were building materials transported, and how was this transportation financed and organized by official or private mechanisms? Who were the artisans? And how were these new structures understood by local communities far from the Byzantine core? To what extent did they represent foreign dominance? How might their meanings have been transformed and renegotiated within different local contexts? This session brings together scholars exploring the role of renewed socioeconomic connectivity in the development of the vibrant artistic and architectural programs of late antiquity.
Richard R. Barrett