Table Of ContentApproaches to
the Byzantine Family
Edited by
Leslie Brubaker and Shaun Tougher
Birmingham Byzantine and
Ottoman Studies
About the series
Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies is devoted to the history, culture and
archaeology of the Byzantine and Ottoman worlds of the East Mediterranean region
from the fifth to the twentieth century. It provides a forum for the publication of research
completed by scholars from the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek
Studies at the University of Birmingham, and those with similar research interests.
About the volume
The study of the family is one of the major lacunas in Byzantine Studies. Angeliki
Laiou remarked in 1989 that ‘the study of the Byzantine family is still in its
infancy’, and this assertion remains true today. The present volume addresses
this lacuna. It comprises 19 chapters written by international experts in the field
which take a variety of approaches to the study of the Byzantine family, and
embrace a chronological span from the later Roman to the late Byzantine empire.
About the editors
Professor Leslie Brubaker is Director of the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and
Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.
Dr Shaun Tougher is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History in the Cardiff School of
History, Archaeology & Religion at Cardiff University, UK.
Birmingham Byzantine and
Ottoman Studies
The Emperor Theophilos and the East, 829–842
Court and Frontier in Byzantium during the Last Phase of Iconoclasm
Juan Signes Codoñer
Architecture and Hagiography in the Ottoman Empire
The Politics of Bektashi Shrines in the Classical Age
Zeynep Yürekli
The Cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium
Texts and Images
Edited by Leslie Brubaker and Mary B. Cunningham
Art and Identity in Thirteenth-Century Byzantium
Hagia Sophia and the Empire of Trebizond
Antony Eastmond
Famine and Pestilence in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine Empire
A Systematic Survey of Subsistence Crises and Epidemics
Dionysios Ch. Stathakopoulos
Church Law and Church Order in Rome and Byzantium
A Comparative Study
Clarence Gallagher
Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca 680–850): The Sources
An Annotated Survey
Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon
APPROACHES TO THE BYZAnTInE FAMILY
BIRMInGHAM BYZAnTInE AnD
OTTOMAn STUDIES
Volume 14
General Editors
Leslie Brubaker
A.A.M. Bryer
Rhoads Murphey
John Haldon
IV
Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies
University of Birmingham
Approaches to the
Byzantine Family
Edited by
LESLIE BRUBAKER
Birmingham University, UK
SHAUn TOUGHER
Cardiff University, UK
© Leslie Brubaker and Shaun Tougher 2013
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Leslie Brubaker and Shaun Tougher have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street
Union Road Suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
Surrey, GU9 7PT USA
England
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Approaches to the Byzantine Family / [edited] by Leslie Brubaker and Shaun Tougher.
pages cm. – (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Families – Byzantine Empire. 2. Byzantine Empire – Social conditions.
3. Byzantine Empire – Social life and customs. I. Brubaker, Leslie. II. Tougher, Shaun.
HQ513.A67 2013
306.8509495–dc23 2013008921
ISBn 9781409411581 (hbk)
ISBn 9781409411598 (ebk-PDF)
ISBn 9781409472193 (ebk-e-PUB)
Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies
Volume 14
Contents
List of Figures and Table vii
Abbreviations xi
Notes on Contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
Preface xix
1 Looking for the Family: The Greek and Roman Background 1
Mary Harlow and Tim Parkin
2 Family Violence: Punishment and Abuse in the
Late Roman Household 21
Julia Hillner
3 Family Relations and the Socialisation of Children in the
Autobiographical Narratives of Late Antiquity 47
Ville Vuolanto
4 The Death of the Father in Late Antique Christian Literature 75
Fotis Vasileiou
5 Preserving Family Honour: Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Macrina as
Theological Polemic 91
Nathan Howard
6 The Family in the Late Antique West (AD 400–700):
A Historiographical Review 109
Emma Southon, Mary Harlow and Chris Callow
7 The Family in Medieval Islamic Societies 131
Julia Bray
8 Age, Gender and Status: A Three-Dimensional Life Course
Perspective of the Byzantine Family 153
Eve Davies
9 Looking at the Byzantine Family 177
Leslie Brubaker
vi Approaches to the Byzantine Family
10 The Byzantine Child: Picturing Complex Family Dynamics 207
Cecily Hennessy
11 Social Mobility in Byzantium? Family Ties in the
Middle Byzantine Period 233
Claudia Ludwig
12 The Middle Byzantine House and Family: A Reappraisal 247
Simon Ellis
13 Family in the Byzantine Greek Legend of Saint Alexios,
the Man of God 273
Stavroula Constantinou
14 La Vie de Théodora de Thessalonique, un écrit familial 285
Michel Kaplan
15 Imperial Families: The Case of the Macedonians (867–1056) 303
Shaun Tougher
16 An Abbasid Caliphal Family 327
Nadia Maria El Cheikh
17 Byzantine Monastic Communities: Alternative Families? 345
Dirk Krausmüller
18 Families, Politics, and Memories of Rome in the Material for
History of Nikephoros Bryennios 359
Leonora Neville
19 Changes in the Structure of the Late Byzantine
Family and Society 371
Fotini Kondyli
Afterword 395
Shaun Tougher
Index 401
List of Figures and Table
Figures
2.1 (Appendix) A late Roman magistrate’s hypothetical ‘checklist’
on the occurrence of iniuria (ὕβρις) in the household and the
possibilities to allow for legal action 45
9.1 Life of Basil (Paris.gr.510, f.104r), c. 880, © Bibliothèque
nationale de France 179
9.2 Christ in the temple (Paris.gr.510, f.165r), c.880, © Bibliothèque
nationale de France 181
9.3 The infant Virgin Mary with her parents (Paris.gr.1208, f.52r),
mid-twelfth century, © Bibliothèque nationale de France 182
9.4 Basil I with the archangel Gabriel and the prophet Elijah
(Paris.gr.510, f.Cv), c.880, © Bibliothèque nationale de France 183
9.5 Eudokia with Leo VI and Alexander (Paris.gr.510, f.Br), c.880,
© Bibliothèque nationale de France 184
9.6 Solidus: Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia, 437, © Classical
Numismatic Group, Inc., http://www.cngcoins.com/ 186
9.7 Solidus: Marcian and Pulcheria, 450, © The Hunterian,
University of Glasgow 2012 186
9.8 Nomisma: Leo IV and Constantine VI (obverse), Leo III and
Constantine V (reverse), © The Barber Institute of Fine Arts,
University of Birmingham 187
9.9 Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, south gallery mosaic, John II, Eirene
and Alexios with the Virgin, c.1120, © Dumbarton Oaks,
Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Washington, DC 188
9.10 Thessalonike, Hagios Demetrios, Demetrios with father
and son, sixth century, © Author 190
9.11 Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, south gallery mosaic, Zoe and
Constantine IX with Christ, 1042–1050, from nave,
© Dumbarton Oaks, Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives,
Washington, DC 193
9.12 Royal crown of Hungary, front, 1074–1077, © Károly Szelényi,
Hungarian Pictures 194
10.1 Coin of Romanos IV, showing Michael VII, Constantios
and Andronikos on the obverse, Romanos and Eudokia on
the reverse, 1068–71. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler
Museum, Bequest of Thomas Whittemore. © President and
Fellows of Harvard College. 208
