Byzantine studies

Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire.

About 100 years after the final conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans, Wolf began to collect, edit, and translate the writings of Byzantine philosophers.

In the later Middle Ages, the interest in Byzantium (in particular the original Greek sources) was carried on by Italian humanism, and it expanded in the 17th century throughout Europe and Russia.

Emperor Justinian I (527–65) reconquered Italy, north Africa, and southern Spain, but after the expansion of Islam (634/98) a reorganized Byzantium, now based on administration by Themes, was limited to the Greek-speaking regions of the Balkan peninsula, Asia Minor, and southern Italy; Latin was abandoned as the language of officialdom.

An empire weakened in part through civil war suffered a severe blow when Thessalonica was captured in 1430, and finally fell to the Ottomans (Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and of Mistras in 1461).

From the Byzantine administration, broadly construed, we have works such as description of peoples and cities, accounts of court ceremonies, and lists of precedence.

[3] Modes of transmission entails the study of texts that are preserved primarily on papyrus, parchment or paper, in addition to inscriptions, coins, and medals.

The papyrus rolls of antiquity (papyrology) are quickly replaced by the parchment codices of the Middle Ages (codicology), while paper arrives in the 9th century via the Arabs and Chinese.

With the economic and political decline of the late period, the gold standard was abandoned in the final century of Byzantine history, and replaced by a silver-based system.

A great number of measures of length were used, including modified forms of the Greek and Roman units of the finger, kondylos, anticheir, palaiste, dichas, spithame, pechys, pace, fathom, schoenus (field measurement), plethron, mile, allage, and an average day's journey.

[8] Measures of weight were krithokokkon, sitokokkon, gramma, obolos, drachme, ungia, litra, kentenarion, gomarion and pesa.