The Byzantine Court Source of Power and Culture Papers from the Second International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Sympos

The designation of Istanbul by the European Unions Council of Ministers as the European Capital of Culture for 2010 was instrumental in the decision to focus on Constantinople in the Second International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium, which was held on 2123 June 2010 at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The particular theme of the symposium, The Byzantine Court: Source of Power and Culture, was selected, on the other hand, in view of Constantinoples essential role as Byzantine imperial capital soon after its foundation by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great on 11 May 330. The aim of the symposium was to evaluate, from administrative, political, social, economic, and religious perspectives, the impact of the political power that spread out from the Great Palace and, as of the twelfth century, from the Blachernai Palace to the rest of the empire, and to investigate the reflections of this power in the cultural sphere.
Presented in this volume are thirty out of the forty papers delivered at the Second International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium. The papers have been grouped under the following four section headings: Byzantine Palace Architecture, The Byzantine Court as the Center of Imperial Power, Ceremonies at the Court and in the City, and Court Culture and Visual Arts.

PREFACE

• Ömer M. Koç

EDITORS' FOREWORD

• Ayla Ödekan, Engin Akyürek, Nevra Necipoğlu

OPENING SPEECH

• Ayla Ödekan

1. BYZANTINE PALACE ARCHITECTURE

• Berger, Albrecht / The Byzantine Court as a Physical Space
• Denker, Asuman / Excavations at the Byzantine Great Palace (Palatium Magnum) in the Area of the Old Sultanahmet Jail
• Crow, James / Water and the Great Palace in Constantinople
• Niewohner, Philipp / The Rotunda at the Myrelaion in Constantinople: Pilaster Capitals, Mosaics, and Brick Stamps
• Schreiner, Peter / The Architecture of Aristocratic Palaces in Constantinople in Written Sources 
• Redford, Scott / Constantinople, Konya, Conical Kiosks, Cultural Confluence Simon Malmberg
• The New Palace of Mehmed Fatih and its Byzantine Legacy

2. THE BYZANTINE COURT AS THE CENTER OF IMPERIAL POWER

• Magdalino, Paul / Power Building and Power Space in Byzantine Constantinople: The Ethics and Dynamics of Construction and Conservation
• Littlewood, Antony R. / Palatial Gardens as Symbols of Imperial Power Alicia Walker
• The Emperor as Cosmopolitan Ruler: Imaging Middle Byzantine Imperial Power
• Auzepy, Marie-France / The Great Palace and the Iconoclast Emperors
• Herrin, Judith / Female Space at the Byzantine Court
• Schrijver, Frouke / Daily Life at the Blachernai Palace: The Servants of the Imperial Bedchamber (1261-1354)
• Jacoby, David / Between the Imperial Court and the Western Maritime Powers: The Impact of Naturalizations on the Economy of Late Byzantine Constantinople
• Necipoğlu, Nevra / Circulation of People between the Byzantine and Ottoman Courts

3. CEREMONIES AT THE COURT AND IN THE CITY

• Maguire, Henry / Art, Ceremony, and Spiritual Authority at the Byzantine Court Leslie Brubaker
• Processions and Public Spaces in Early and Middle Byzantine Constantinople
• Pitarakis, Brigitte / From the Hippodrome to the Reception Halls of the Great Palace: Acclamations and Dances in the Service of Imperial Ideology
• Featherstone, J. Michael / De Cerimonlis: The Revival of Antiquity in the Great Palace and the 'Macedonian Renaissance'
• Parani, Maria G. / Dressed to Kill: Middle Byzantine Military Ceremonial Attire
• Koray Durak / Diplomacy as Performance: Power Politics and Resistance between the Byzantine and the Early Medieval Islamic Courts
• Macrides, Ruth / Inside and Outside the Palace: Ceremonies in the Constantinople of the Palaiologo

4. COURT CULTURE AND VISUAL ARTS

• Mullett, Margaret / Did Byzantium Have a Court Literature?
• Karpozilos, Apostolos / History Writing as Political Propaganda in Late Byzantium
• Markopoulos, Athanasios / The School in Byzantium: Structure and Problems
• Mavroudi, Maria / Translations from Greek into Arabic at the Court of Mehmed the Conqueror
• Jevtic, Ivana / Antiquarianism and Revivalism in Late Byzantine Court Culture and Visual Arts
• Eser, Meryem Acara / Cultural Aspects of Power in the Byzantine Empire: The Court as Patron of Metal Art Objects
• Bulgurlu, Vera / Byzantine Lead Seals Representing the Kanikleios of the Imperial Palace

CLOSING SPEECH

• Ayla Ödekan