Cultural Encounters on Byzantium's Northern Frontier, c. AD 500–700
Coins, Artifacts and History

Reinterpretation of the Danube frontier in Late Antiquity, drawing on literary, archaeological, and numismatic sources.

Andrei Gandila (Author)

9781108455978, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 August 2021

396 pages, 69 b/w illus. 19 maps
24.4 x 17 x 2.1 cm, 0.633 kg

‘… Andrei Gandila’s monograph makes an impressive contribution to our understanding of the world they inhabited and the nature of their relations with the empire and the Lower Danube frontier. It should be essential reading for anyone studying diplomacy, frontiers and the history and archaeology of south-eastern Europe in the Early Byzantine / Early Medieval period.’ Alexander Sarantis, The Royal Numismatic Society

In the sixth century, Byzantine emperors secured the provinces of the Balkans by engineering a frontier system of unprecedented complexity. Drawing on literary, archaeological, anthropological, and numismatic sources, Andrei Gandila argues that cultural attraction was a crucial component of the political frontier of exclusion in the northern Balkans. If left unattended, the entire edifice could easily collapse under its own weight. Through a detailed analysis of the archaeological evidence, the author demonstrates that communities living beyond the frontier competed for access to Byzantine goods and reshaped their identity as a result of continual negotiation, reinvention, and hybridization. In the hands of 'barbarians', Byzantine objects, such as coins, jewelry, and terracotta lamps, possessed more than functional or economic value, bringing social prestige, conveying religious symbolism embedded in the iconography, and offering a general sense of sharing in the Early Byzantine provincial lifestyle.

Introduction
1. The Roman frontier in Late Antiquity
2. Cultural diversity in the Danube region and beyond – an archaeological perspective
3. Christianity north of the Danube
4. Contact and separation on the Danube frontier
5. The flow of Byzantine coins beyond the frontier
6. Putting the Danube into perspective – money, bullion and prestige in Avaria and Transcaucasia
7. Money and barbarians – same coins, different functions
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], European history [HBJD]