Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. BACKGROUND: FROM LATE ANTIQUITY TO THE MIDDLE AGES
Restructuring the Empire: The Seventh Century
Reconsolidation: The Ninth and Tenth Centuries
II. DECENTRALIZATION AND "FEUDALIZATION" OF THE BYZANTINE STATE
Decentralization
Urban Evolution in the Provinces: Archaeological and Literary Evidence
Urban Evolution in the Provinces: Arts and Crafts
Urban Economy and Institutions
"Feudalization" of the Byzantine Social Structure
The Nature of the Byzantine Estate
The Nature of the Byzantine Nobility
Changes in the Social Character of the Byzantine Aristocracy
Changes in the Bureaucracy
III. POPULAR AND ARISTOCRATIC CULTURAL TRENDS
Popular Tendencies in Byzantine Society
Changes in the Daily Regime: Dress, Diet, and Diversion
Popular Elements in Literature
Popular Features in Religious Life
The "Aristocratization" of Culture
The Byzantine Family
Search for Legitimacy: The Importance of Lineage
The Creation of an Aristocratic Ideal
Image of the Ideal Ruler
Epitome of Aristocracy: Digenis Akritas
IV. THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE
The Educational System
Academic Institutions
Academic Politics
Intellectuals in Society
The Assimilation of the Classical Tradition
Byzantium and the Authors of Antiquity
The Byzantine Reading of Classical Literature
Art and Antiquity
Law
Byzantine Science
Intimations of Rationalism: Theology and Ideology
Rationalism and the Imperial Ideal
v. BYZANTIUM AND ALIEN CULTURES
Traditional Attitudes Toward "Barbarians"
Contact with Alien Cultures: The Frontier Zone
Contact with Alien Cultures: The Center
Breakdown of Some of the Traditional Barriers
Effects of Foreign Influence
Unbreachable Barriers
VI. MAN IN LITERATURE AND ART
Artist, Audience, and Object
From the Ideal to the Ordinary
Abstraction to Naturalism
Impersonal to Personal
Conclusion
Appendix: Texts
Index
