Identities and Ideologies in the Medieval East Roman World

Examines ideas, beliefs and practices of identification in the medieval East Roman world This book offers an interdisciplinary approach - historical, literary, art-historical and archaeological - to the topics of ideology and identity in the medieval East Roman world. The individual chapters explore ideological discourses and practices in various contexts. In particular, they focus on the content of ideas and their role in shaping different kinds of group attachments and identifications within the imperial social order. Moreover, they explore the various visions of community which different collective identity discourses projected within and beyond the political boundaries of the empire. Including both top-down and bottom-up perspectives, and exploring both the empire's centre and its periphery, this collection offers new insights into ideology and identity in the Byzantine world. Yannis Stouraitis is Lecturer in Byzantine History in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh. His recent publications include A Companion to the Byzantine Culture of War, c. 300-1204 and, as co-editor, Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone: Aspects of Mobility between Africa, Asia and Europe, 300- 500 CE.