Emotions and Gender in Byzantine Culture

This book examines the gendered dimensions of emotions and the emotional aspects of gender within Byzantine culture and suggests possible readings of such instances. In so doing, the volume celebrates the current breadth of Byzantine gender studies while at the same time contributing to the emerging field of Byzantine emotion studies. It offers the reader an array of perspectives encompassing various sources and media, including historiography, hagiography, theological writings, epistolography, erotic literature, art objects, and illuminated manuscripts. The ten chapters cover a time span ranging from the early to the late Byzantine periods. This diversity is secured by an expanded and enriched exploration of the collection’s unifying theme of gendered emotions. The scope and breadth of the chapters also reflect the ways in which Byzantine gender and emotion have been studied thus far, while at the same time offering novel approaches that challenge established opinions in Byzantinestudies.

Forward; David Konstan.- INTRODUCTION.- 1. Towards an Approach to Gendered Emotions in Byzantine Culture: An Introduction; Mati Meyer.- PART I.- 2. ‘Emotioning’ Gender: Plotting the Male and the Female in Byzantine Greek Passions and Lives of Holy Couples; Andria Andreou.- 3. Pity and Lamentation in the Authorial Personae of John Kaminiates and Anna Komnene; Leonora Neville.- 4. Gendering Grief: Emotional Eunuchs – Consoling Constantine the Paphlagonian; Shaun Tougher.- PART II.- 5. Justifiably Angry or Simply Angry?: Empresses in Byzantine Society; Andriani Georgiou.- 6. Emotions on Stage: The ‘Manly’ Woman Martyr in the Menologion of Basil II; Valentina Cantone.- PART III.- 7. Eros as Passion, Affection and Nature: Gendered Perceptions of Erotic Emotion in Byzantium; Charis Messis and Ingela Nilsson.- 8. ‘Weaver of Tales’: The Veroli Box and the Power of Eros in Byzantium; Diliana Angelova.- 9. Stirring up Sundry Emotions in the Byzantine Illuminated Book: Reflections on the Female Body; Mati Meyer.- CONCLUSIONS.- 10. Gendered Emotions and Affective Genders: A Response; Stavroula Constantinou.

Stavroula Constantinou is Associate Professor in Byzantine Studies at the University of Cyprus. Her research interests include gender, ritual, performance and narrative literature. Currently, she is writing a monograph on the art of Byzantine Greek miracle collection and she is co-editing (with Christian Høgel) a volume on rewriting hagiographical legends in Byzantium.

Mati Meyer is Associate Professor at the Open University of Israel. Her research focuses on gender, aesthetics and cultural and biblical issues in Byzantine art. Among her current projects is a monograph on representations of the female body and its reception in the Byzantine illuminated book.