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

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
May 11th, 10:30 AM

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