This study presents a comprehensive paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Byzantine and Early Islamic western Negev Desert communities during the 4th-8th centuries CE. The study is based on 33 ...pollen samples and hundreds of charcoal remains that were recovered from the villages of Shivta and Nitzana. The results demonstrate that during the 5–6th centuries CE flourishing desert agricultural communities existed on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). The presence of diverse fruit-tree horticulture is revealed by both pollen and charcoal remains (grape, fig, olive, carob, almond/apricot, pomegranate, date palm and the exotic hazelnut). The rich botanical assemblages also provide evidence of the cultivation by irrigation of conifers and other Mediterranean trees common to the more humid Mediterranean vegetation zone, including the prestigious cedar of Lebanon. The palynological reconstruction of an ornamental garden at Shivta indicates the ability to invest water and labor, not only for horticultural and construction purposes, but also for ornamental greenery. We therefore suggest that the Byzantine Negev Desert community was a luxury society in contrast to societies living in a mode of survival in challenging desert environments. During the Early Islamic period (since the second half of the 7th century CE), our data show a dramatic decline in fruit-tree horticulture coupled with indicators signifying overexploitation for fuel of the nearby natural woody desert environment. Hence, we claim that in addition to previous possible explanations for the demise of the Negev Byzantine communities (plague pandemic, climate change, the Muslim conquest), overexploitation of the natural vegetation should also be taken into account. This study therefore helps address historical questions that are also pertinent to the modern era, regarding the existence of flourishing societies in challenging environments, overexploitation of the natural environment, and neglect of sustainability.
Though we do not usually associate the art of single combat with the Eastern Roman Empire, we know from the sources that Eastern Roman soldiers were well trained for single fight – indeed, a needed ...skill in any professional army – and that they often engaged in duels, both with enemy’s “champions” or in the heat of battle. This article has the aim to analyze the extant evidence concerning training, feats of arms and the evidence of single combat itself in the Eastern Roman Empire (from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages).
Номады активно контактировали с такими важными субъектами мировой истории, как Китай и Восточная Римская империя. Интерес к ним был отнюдь не случайным: Хазарский каганат являлся перевалочным пунктом ...на северной ветви Великого Шёлкового пути. Восточная Римская империя и Арабский халифат поддерживали тесные политические и экономические связи с Хазарией. В результате о ней сохранились греко- и арабоязычные письменные свидетельства. Статья посвящена краткому анализу информации о хазарах, представленной в китайских нарративных источниках. Мы приводим не известные в русскоязычной науке сведения из китайских хроник, датируемых эпохой династии Тан. Есть все основания полагать, что Хазарский каганат находился в поле интересов Китая.
It has long been known that nomads were in vivid interactions with such important actors of world history as China and the Eastern Roman Empire, since the Khazar Khaganate was a transit point on the northern branch of the Great Silk Road. The Eastern Roman Empire and the Arab Caliphate maintained close political and economic ties with Khazaria. As a result, the testimonies written down in Greek and Arabic have been preserved about it. In the paper, the data about the Khazars from Chinese chronicles dating back to the era of the Tang Dynasty are cited and analyzed, which have not yet been considered in the works of Russian scholars. There is every reason to believe that the Khazar Khaganate was in the area of Chinese interests.
Review of: Justinian: Empire and Society in the Sixth Century. Debates and Documents in Ancient History Series. By F.K. Haarer. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. ISBN 978-0-7486-3979-2 (web-ready ...PDF). vi + 257 pp. £95.
An Addendum to the Plre? Christian Michel
Classica Cracoviensia,
10/2019, Volume:
22
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Addendum to the PLRE? The short article deals with the existence of a court eunuch that was named Novianos. The person in question can be found in a study of the French Byzantinist Rodolphe Guilland, ...but seems to be non-existent in the classical sources.
The Greek terms that appear in the title of this article: “φίλος τε καὶ ξύμμαχος” are a translation of Procopius of Caesarea from the Latin words: “socius et amicus” whose objective was to ...demonstrate that, through these titles attributed to the barbarian kings, such kings would submit to the Roman power and that the diplomatic relations between the barbarian kingdoms and the Roman Empire had been peaceful due to the concession of a legal right attributed, in this case, to the Vandals to possess and occupy Roman territories in Africa. This strategy of placing the Vandals as submissive of the imperial power aimed to demonstrate that the Roman Empire had not lost its territories in the Pars Occidentalis. These diplomatic relations are explored in this article through the letters of Emperor Justinian to the Vandal king Gelimer who wouldn't recognize this submission to Roman power, going so far as to dethrone his cousin Hilderic for considering him very close not only to the emperors in the East, but also of Roman traditions and heritages. Thus, our objective is to understand how the letters of Gelimer and Justinian present the diplomatic relations between these peoples and even help us to understand the growing hostility that culminated in war.
Over forty East Roman coins have been found in China over the past hundred years but many of them have no archaeological context, so it is almost impossible to establish when they got the Celestial ...Empire. Besides, a significant part of the finds are rather crude initially or heavily worn. Fake coin printing was also frequent on the Silk Road. It is believed that sometimes this was not even malicious intent — Byzantine and Iranian coins acted as stable monetary units, the position of which was stronger because China, with all its role in international trade had been fragmented starting from the 3rd century CE for hundred years. And this fragmentation, in contrast, for example, with the Eastern Zhou period (771—221 BCE), was accompanied by the constant emergence and disappearance of kingdoms and empires, which rarely existed for more than one century (especially in the north). Of course, in such a “political climate” the value of foreign coins, which had a standard mass and precious metal content, increased significantly. It is no less obvious that this prompted many to produce solidus “analogs” in an artisanal way, and such “craftsmen” could act on areas from Near East to the Yellow Sea. Genuine and questionable coins of the Eastern Roman Empire are spread along the Silk Road (modern Xinjiang Uygur and Ningxia-Hui autonomous regions, Gansu, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, partly also south of Inner Mongolia). For example, in the area of Xi'an city, the bright find of Justinian solidus (the authors of the excavations, however, tend to regard the coin as belonging to Justinian's reign) was printed in the tomb (571 CE) of the Sogdian Kan Ye. We put this golden coin into circulation in 2018. However, the study of Byzantine coins in China sheds light on events in the Eastern Roman Empire itself. The “conjugation” of the processes described above is the focus of this work.
Номады активно контактировали с такими важными субъектами мировой истории, как Китай и Восточная Римская империя. Интерес к ним был отнюдь не случайным: Хазарский каганат являлся перевалочным пунктом ...на северной ветви Великого Шёлкового пути. Восточная Римская империя и Арабский халифат поддерживали тесные политические и экономические связи с Хазарией. В результате о ней сохранились греко- и арабоязычные письменные свидетельства. Статья посвящена краткому анализу информации о хазарах, представленной в китайских нарративных источниках. Мы приводим не известные в русскоязычной науке сведения из китайских хроник, датируемых эпохой династии Тан. Есть все основания полагать, что Хазарский каганат находился в поле интересов Китая.
The article studies naming conventions among Germanic immigrants who settled in the Eastern Roman empire during the Migration Period. The author uses information from both narrative and epigraphic ...sources. Many immigrants, finding themselves in a cultural environment alien to them, sought to preserve their own identities. As a means of maintaining family memory, some Goths who lived in Byzantium gave their children names that would testify to their Kinsmanship. This was typical of some families among the highest Byzantine nobility having barbarian origins. This indicates that the social environment of these immigrants and their descendants generally treated them favorably. However, since the second half of the 6th century, members of such families began to appear mainly under Greek and Latin names, which can be stemmed from the growth of religiosity in the aristocratic circles. The processes of integration and assimilation for ordinary migrants largely depended on the social environment and the nature of contacts with it. Thus, many Goths who lived in Thrace retained their identities at least until the end of the 6th century. In all likelihood, they lived apart from the indigenous people. As a result, the tradition of naming their own descendants by Germanic names existed among them for a long time. Finally, Goths, whose military service took place in Asia Minor, quickly assimilated to the new environment. In all cases known to us, their sons received non-Germanic names.
The purpose of the study is to compare the history of relations between the early China’s medieval states and the Eastern Roman Empire with Mongols’ policy in relation to the Roman states, and to ...identify the similarities. The most important sources include the archaeological materials (coins and their imitations, art objects from the territory of China and Mongolia), epigraphy from the Yuan Empire Nestorians burials, Chinese narrative sources data about the “Great Qin and Fulin” as well as references to Mongolian relations with the Roman states work of medieval authors from Asia Minor. Despite the active relationship of the Chinese kingdoms and empires (as well as their northern neighbors, herders) with the Eastern Roman Empire in the early Middle Ages this topic is not widely studied in Russian literature. Meanwhile, on the basis of archaeological and narrative sources (and their mutual criticism) it can be concluded that there are numerous parallels in perception of Byzantium, on the one hand, by the Chinese, and on the other, by the Mongols. Probably one of the reasons for Chingizids very tolerant attitude towards the Romans was the Nestorianism spread (traditionally associated in China with the “Great Qin”, that is the Roman Empire and its successors) north of the Yellow River (including in the Yuan Empire in the 14th c.). Both Chinese in the era of Nanbeichao, Sui and Tang, and the Mongols in the 13th — 14th cc. were (with a few exceptions) positively disposed towards the Eastern Roman Empire (and its fragments like Trebizond and Nicaea). At the same time, of course, due to the common border and Chingizids’ high military potential the latter acted as the “senior” side in this “alliance”.
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