{"product_id":"ethnography-after-antiquity-foreign-lands-and-peoples-in-byzantine-literature-hardback-9780812245318","title":"Ethnography After Antiquity; Foreign Lands and Peoples in Byzantine Literature (Hardback) 9780812245318","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eEthnography After Antiquity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eForeign Lands and Peoples in Byzantine Literature\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eAnthony Kaldellis (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780812245318\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 22 August 2013\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e288 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.666 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\"Kaldellis has written a considered, very readable book that is bound to stimulate intellectual debate.\" (Teresa Shawcross, \u003ci\u003eEnglish Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e) \"It is a joy to read a book where the logic of the argument is so clear and so solidly based on the sources. Anthony Kaldellis argues for a new approach to Byzantine identity and self-definition, one that accepts Byzantines' own account of themselves as Romans surrounded by barbarians. The book is a must-read not only for Byzantinists but also for those involved in broader conversations about identity in late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern period.\" (Tia Kolbaba, Rutgers University)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough Greek and Roman authors wrote ethnographic texts describing foreign cultures, ethnography seems to disappear from Byzantine literature after the seventh century C.E.-a perplexing exception for a culture so strongly self-identified with the Roman empire. Yet the Byzantines, geographically located at the heart of the upheavals that led from the ancient to the modern world, had abundant and sophisticated knowledge of the cultures with which they struggled and bargained. \u003ci\u003eEthnography After Antiquity\u003c\/i\u003e examines both the instances and omissions of Byzantine ethnography, exploring the political and religious motivations for writing (or not writing) about other peoples.\u003cbr\u003e Through the ethnographies embedded in classical histories, military manuals, Constantine VII's \u003ci\u003eDe administrando imperio\u003c\/i\u003e, and religious literature, Anthony Kaldellis shows Byzantine authors using accounts of foreign cultures as vehicles to critique their own state or to demonstrate Romano-Christian superiority over Islam. He comes to the startling conclusion that the Byzantines did not view cultural differences through a purely theological prism: their Roman identity, rather than their orthodoxy, was the vital distinction from cultures they considered heretic and barbarian. Filling in the previously unexplained gap between antiquity and the resurgence of ethnography in the late Byzantine period, \u003ci\u003eEthnography After Antiquity\u003c\/i\u003e offers new perspective on how Byzantium positioned itself with and against the dramatically shifting world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreface\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 1. Ethnography in Late Antique Historiography\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 2. Byzantine Information-Gathering Behind the Veil of Silence\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 3. Explaining the Relative Decline of Ethnography in the Middle Period\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 4. The Genres and Politics of Middle Byzantine Ethnography\u003cbr\u003e Chapter 5. Ethnography in Palaiologan Literature\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue: Looking to a New World\u003cbr\u003e List of Abbreviations\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Pennsylvania Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52676762108184,"sku":"9780812245318","price":52.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/ethnography-after-antiquity-foreign-lands-and-peoples-in-byzantine-literature-hardback-9780812245318","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}