The Byzantine Neighbourhood Urban Space and Political Action

The Byzantine Neighbourhood contributes to a new narrative regarding Byzantine cities through the adoption of a neighbourhood perspective. It offers a multi-disciplinary investigation of the spatial and social practices that produced Byzantine concepts of neighbourhood and afforded dynamic interactions between different actors, elite and non-elite. Authors further consider neighbourhoods as political entities, examining how varieties of collectivity formed in Byzantine neighbourhoods translated into political action. By both acknowledging the unique position of Constantinople, and giving serious attention to the varieties of provincial experience, the contributors consider regional factors (social, economic, and political) that formed the ties of local communities to the state and illuminate the mechanisms of empire. Beyond its Byzantine focus, this volume contributes to broader discussions of premodern urbanism by drawing attention to the spatial dimension of social life and highlighting the involvement of multiple agents in city-making.

Introduction: A Neighborhood Perspective on Byzantine Cities Benjamin Anderson and Fotini Kondyli Part I: Defining Byzantine Neighborhoods 1. The View from Byzantine Texts Albrecht Berger 2. The View from Byzantine Archaeology Fotini Kondyli Part II: Byzantine Neighborhoods as Social Spaces 3. Who is the Person Living Next Door? Neighborly Relations in Early Byzantine Assos Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan 4. Urban Space and Collective Action in Late Antique Arisnoë Amy Papalexandrou, William Caraher, and R. Scott Moore 5. Water and Social Relationships in Early Byzantine Neighborhoods Jordan Pickett Part III: Byzantine Neighborhoods as Political Agents 6. The Oxeia: A Neighborhood Biography Benjamin Anderson 7. Gortyn, Eleutherna, and Their Neighborhoods: The Politics of Transformation (4th-Early 9th Centuries) Christina Tsigonaki 8. A Tale of Two Cities: Thebes and Chalcis in a World of Change (9th-15th Centuries) Nikos D. Kontogiannis 9. Privacy, Friendship, and Social Regulation in Byzantine Neighborhoods Leonora Neville

Fotini Kondyli is Associate Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology at the University of Virginia. Benjamin Anderson is Associate Professor of the History of Art and Classics at Cornell University.