BMCR 2009.06.52: Marciniak on Jeffreys, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford Handbooks

Elizabeth Jeffreys, John F. Haldon, Robin Cormack (ed.), The Oxford
Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford Handbooks.  Oxford/New York:
Oxford University Press, 2008.  Pp. xxix, 1021.  ISBN 9780199252466.
$158.00.

Reviewed by Przemyslaw Marciniak, University of Silesia/Freie
Universitaet Berlin ([email protected])
Word count:  1233 words
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Orchideenfach (orchid discipline) is the the German for rare academic
disciplines. Undoubtedly (and possibly unfortunately) Byzantine Studies
are not part of the scholarly mainstream. It is fairly young for an
academic discipline compared to classical philology. This contributes
to the fact that students of Byzantine Empire do not have at their
disposal all necessary scholarly tools. There are no modern
dictionaries of Greek language from the Byzantine period (though works
of Erich Trapp and the successors of Emmanuel Kriaras, when finished,
will become indispensable tools for all scholars dealing with
Byzantium); we still await a grammar of mediaeval Greek (our hopes are
running high for the project "Grammar of Medieval Greek" based in
Cambridge whose outcome should be a 'comprehensive description of the
Greek language between 1100 and 1700' [[1]]). However, from the point
of view of either students beginning their studies or a simple
enthusiast of Byzantium all sorts of introductions and manuals are
equally important. Such works were certainly produced before by Otto
Mazal, Guyla Moravcsik and Constable Giles and Alexander Kazhdan.[[2]]
To a certain extent, these introductory works are complemented by the
work edited (in Italian) by Guglielmo Cavallo.[[3]] Still, none of them
have a scope comparable to the present volume.

It is a signum temporis and a sign of modern scholarship that one
single scholar is unable to produce a work that would cover equally
well all subdisciplines of a given specialty. The book under review
clearly shows its editors' awareness of this fact. The editors have
brought together over seventy eminent specialists from various areas of
Byzantine studies --  from archaeology to history to literature. The
scholarly perspective is by no means limited to the British one since
among the contributors one can find representatives from many European
(and non-European) academic centres. The book is clearly aimed at
undergraduate students (or enthusiasts) of the Byzantine Empire since
it provides readers with basic information and suggests further
reading. Undoubtedly, the editors have achieved their purpose and this
splendid work will serve future Byzantinists well.

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies is divided into four parts:
"The Discipline", "The Physical world", "Institutions and
relationships", and finally "The World around Byzantium". All four
parts are made up of chapters and some chapters are divided into
section and sub-sections (though all contributions are called
'chapters' by the editors). The divisions are clear and allow
cross-references throughout the book. The reader will also find two
appendices with lists of Eastern Romans ruler, 324 - 1453 and
patriarchs and popes, and an index.

This is not a book that one reads from cover to cover (though there is
no obstacle to doing so). Each contribution can be read separately as
an entry in the dictionary. The length of the contributions vary from a
couple of pages to dozens. All of them are followed by the bibliography
and many by suggested further reading (Wolfram Hoerandner's and
Athanasios Markopoulos's contributions are exemplary here). This
facilitates the use of the Handbook as a reference book but at the same
time some works are listed time and again (number one on the top ten
list is Herbert Hunger's Die Hochsprachliche profane Literatur der
Byzantiner). Paul Lemerle's Le premier humanisme byzantin is usually
listed in French original except for the text of Elizabeth Jeffreys,
"Rhetoric" who uses the English translation by A. Moffat and H. Lindsay
(Canberra 1986). It would have been useful to have a separate general
bibliography encompassing major works on Byzantium but I realize that
is one of those things easier said than done.

All authors had a difficult task to perform --  to present complex
issues as concisely and clearly as possible (which is even more
difficult if the contributors are world-class specialists and could
easily write a thick book instead of a short article). In my view, they
succeeded. The texts gathered in the book are written in a clear style
and introduce fairly complex matters in such a way that they can be
digested by a beginner. I found texts such as the introductions to
Byzantine weights and weighting by Christopher Entwistle or to
prosopography by Dion Smythe to be exemplary. All texts in the section
'Literature' are written in a very clear, instructive way, and what is
perhaps especially important, present studies on Byzantine literature
as a modern and important discipline (cf. the contributions of
Elizabeth Jeffreys, Margaret Mullett, Alice-Mary Talbot, Wolfram
Hoerandner etc.) Inevitably, the way of presenting the topic to the
reader varies from one author to another, and hence some texts are more
academic in style whilst others have a more 'anecdotal' approach.
Anthony Bryer's enjoyable text on chronology is, however, not very
informative for a person looking for basic definitions and concepts.
More useful would be the chapter in Rautman's book on the daily life in
the Byzantine Empire.[[4]]

A reviewer can always find things to cavil at; and can always suggest
that something is missing, especially when it comes to bibliography. I
understand that limited space did not allow extensive bibliographies
but I think that Albrecht Berger's study on Byzantine baths (Das Bad in
der byzantinischen Zeit) has earned its place in the chapter on health,
hygiene and healing by Peregrine Horden (Berger's work is listed,
however, in Michael Decker's chapter on everyday technologies which
proves once again that a general bibliography would be helpful).
Charlotte Roueche/, in the very interesting chapter on entertainment,
mentions Walter Puchner's article "Acting in Byzantine theatre" but
there is a newer book of the same author which better summarises modern
studies on performances in Byzantium (The Crusader Kingdom of Cyprus --
a Theatre Province of Medieval Europe?). Contrary to what Roueche/
states, I would argue, pro domo mea, that not all modern works on
Byzantine theatre are really based on the studies of Walter Puchner
whose contribution is of course invaluable. Nonetheless, I am very glad
that Roueche/ highlights (quite correctly, in my opinion) the idea of
performativity of Byzantine culture. It is a pity that, in the same
chapter, there is no mention about Anthony Bryer's article "Byzantine
games". This text, though popular in character, is a very good
introduction to  tzykanion (polo) mentioned only en passant. These are
of course minute changes that does not detract from the general,
utterly positive, picture.

The texts in the Handbook cover virtually all areas of Byzantine life
and culture. Still, there is at least one more field that should become
a part of Byzantine Studies, as it is a part of classics: the study of
the reception of Byzantium. This is a sub-discipline that has become
fairly popular in the last decades and the number of studies on the
reception of Byzantine art and the image of Byzantium in modern
literature is growing. It should be embraced by Byzantinists as it was
embraced by classical philologists.

The book, including the appendices, has 1021 pages; it is edited almost
flawlessly. Even though I tried hard, I found only a handful of
typographical errors (e.g. 'byzantine' instead of 'Byzantine' on p.
794, 'Literator' instead of 'Literatur' on p. 906).

This book was not intended as an oeuvre to shake the foundations of
Byzantine Studies. Nonetheless, it is a magnificent work which will be
an invaluable help to all students of Byzantium. In times of crisis,
this compliment is worth more than before --  the Handbook is worth
every penny (or cent) spent on it.


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Notes:


1.   http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/greek/grammarofmedievalgreek/aims/
(http://www.mml.cam.ac.uk/greek/grammarofmedievalgreek/aims/) .

2.   O. Mazal, Handbuch der Byzantinistik. Geschichte - Religion -
Gesellschaft - Sprache -  Kunst, Graz 1989. G. Moravcsik, Einfuehrung
in die Byzantologie, Darmstadt 1976. A. Kazhdan, G. Constable, People
and Power in Byzantium. An Introduction to Modern Byzantine Studies,
Washington 1982.

3.   G. Cavallo (ed.), Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo. 3. Le Culture
circostanti. Vol. 1. La cultura bizantina, Roma 2004.

4.   M. Rautman, Daily life in the Byzantine Empire, Westport-London
2006, 1-8.