Beihammer A., Constantinou S., Parani M. (eds.) Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean: Comparative Perspectives

Leiden: Brill, 2013. — 606 p.Publicly performed rituals and ceremonies form an essential part of medieval political practice and court culture. This applies not only to western feudal societies, but also to the linguistically and culturally highly diversified environment of Byzantium and the Mediterranean basin. The continuity of Roman traditions and cross-fertilization between various influences originating from Constantinople, Armenia, the Arab-Muslim World, and western kingdoms and naval powers provide the framework for a distinct sphere of ritual expression and ceremonial performance. This collective volume, placing Byzantium into a comparative perspective between East and West, examines transformative processes from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, succession procedures in different political contexts, phenomena of cross-cultural appropriation and exchange, and the representation of rituals in art and literature.Comparative Approaches to the Ritual World of the Medieval Mediterranean.
Rituals and the Transformations of the Roman World.
Imperial Birthday Rituals in Late Antiquity.
'Phthonos': A Pagan Relic in Byzantine Imperial Acclamations?
Ritualized Encounters: Late Roman Diplomacy and the Barbarians, Fifth-Sixth Century.
The Architecture of Allegiance in Early Islamic Late Antiquity: The Accession of Mu'awiya in Jerusalem, ca. 661 CE.
Succession Procedures and their Ritual Articulations.
Describing Rituals of Succession and the Legitimation of Kingship in the West, ca. 1000 - ca. 1150.
Ritual and Reality: The 'Bay'a' Process in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Courts.
Comnenian Imperial Succession and the Ritual World of Niketas Choniates' 'Chronike Diegesis'.
Coronation Speeches in the Palaiologan Period.
Invention, Appropriation and Transformation between East and West.
Ritual, Politics, and the City in Mamluk Cairo: The Bayna al-Qasrayn as a Mamluk 'lieu de mémoire,' 1250-1382.
Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
Featuring the King: Rituals of Coronation and Burial in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.
'Adventus', Arrivistes and Rites of Rulership in Byzantium and France in the Tenth and Eleventh Century.
Ritual performances and their Reflections in Art and Literature.
Violence in the Palace: Rituals of Imperial Punishment in Prokopios's 'Secret History'.
The 'Court of Amorous Dominion' and the 'Gate of Love': Rituals of Empire in a Byzantine Romance of the Thirteenth Century.
Parodies of Imperial Ceremonial and Their Reflections in Byzantine Art.
Look Like an Angel: The Attire of Eunuchs and Its Significance within the Context of Middle Byzantine Court Ceremonial.
Designing Receptions in the Palace ('De Cerimoniis' 2.15).
Tented Ceremony: Ephemeral Performances under the Komnenoi.