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Chrysovalantis Kyriacou examines how memories of the pre-Christian past, Christian militarism, power struggles, and ethnoreligious encounters have left their long-term imprint on Cypriot culture. One of the most impressive examples of this phenomenon is the preservation and transformative adaptation of Byzantine heroic themes, motifs, and symbols in Cypriot folk songs. By combining a variety of written sources and archaeological material in his interdisciplinary examination, the author reconstructs the image of the Byzantine warrior hero in the songs, recovering the mentalities of overshadowed social protagonists and stressing the role of subaltern communities as active agents in the shaping of history.
What do the mysterious Roman author Vegetius, the Byzantine emperor Leo VI, and the Chinese general Li Jing all have in common? They are three of the dozens of authors across the medieval Mediterranean world and beyond who wrote works of military literature, sometimes called military handbooks, manuals, or treatises. This book brings together a multidisciplinary international team of scholars who present cutting edge essays on diverse aspects of medieval military literature. While some chapters offer novel approaches to familiar authors like Vegetius, some present research on under-valued topics like Byzantine military illustrations, and others provide holistic studies on subjects like early modern treatises, they all move the discussion of medieval military literature forward. Contributors are Michael B. Charles, Georgios Chatzelis, Pierre Cosme, Maxime Emion, Immacolata Eramo, Michael Fulton, David Graff, John Haldon, Catherine Hof, John Hosler, Savvas Kyriakidis, Łukasz Różycki, Katharina Schoneveld, Georgios Theotokis, Conor Whately, Michael Whitby, and Nadya Williams.
Jeremiah Reynolds and the empire of knowledge -- The United States exploring expedition as Jacksonian capitalism -- The United States exploring expedition in popular culture -- The Dead Sea expedition and the empire of faith -- Proslavery explorations of South America -- Arctic exploration and US-UK rapprochement.
Byzantine Military Rhetoric in the Ninth Century is the first English translation of the ninth-century Anonymi Byzantini Rhetorica Militaris. This influential text offers a valuable insight into the warrior ethic of the period, the role of religion in the justification of war, and the view of other military cultures by the Byzantine elite. It also played a crucial role in the compilation of the tenth-century Taktika and Constantine VII’s harangues during a period of intense military activity for the Byzantine Empire on its eastern borders. Including a detailed commentary and critical introduction to the author and the structure of the text, this book will appeal to all those interested in Byzantine political ideology and military history.
In 1807 the reformist Sultan Selim III was overthrown in a palace coup enacted by the elite special forces of the day-the Janissaries. The Ottomans were bankrupt and had been forced to make peace with Napoleon after Austerlitz, but it was Selim III's efforts to reform an empire that had suffered successive military defeats, and to reform along the lines of modern principles-with an end to the privileged 'feudal' position of many in elite Ottoman civil-military society-which sealed his fate. This book seeks to situate Turkey's reactionary revolutions of 1807 into a wider European context, that of the French Revolution and the outbreaks of revolutionary activity in the German states, Britain and the US. The Ottoman Empire was an interconnected and crucial part of this early-modern world, and therefore, Aysel Yildiz argues, must be analyzed in relation to its European rivals. Focusing on the uprising, and the socio-economic and political conditions which caused it, this book re-orientates Ottoman history towards Western Europe, and re-situates the late-Ottoman Empire as a key battle-ground of political ideas in the modern era.
“A brilliant picture of a great medieval warrior and crusader, clear and concise, which brings to life the whole Mediterranean world in an age of crisis” (John France, author of Perilous Glory). Bohemond of Taranto, Lord of Antioch, was the unofficial leader of the First Crusade. A man of boundless ambition and inexhaustible energy, he was one of the most remarkable warriors in medieval Mediterranean history. While he failed in his quest to secure the Byzantine throne, he succeeded in founding the most enduring of all the crusader states. In this authoritative biography, Georgios Theotokis presents a detailed portrait of Bohemond as a soldier and commander. Covering Taranto’s contribution to the crusades, Theotokis focuses on his military achievements in Italy, Sicily, the Balkans, and Anatolia. Since medieval commanders generally receive little credit for their strategic understanding, Theotokis examines Bohemond’s war-plans in his many campaigns, describing how he adapted his battle-tactics when facing different opponents and considering whether his approach to war was typical of the Norman commanders of his time.
This book discusses the role Western military books and their translations played in 17th-century Russia. By tracing how these translations were produced, distributed and read, the study argues that foreign military treatises significantly shaped intellectual culture of the Russian elite. It also presents Tsar Peter the Great in a new light – not only as a military and political leader but as a devoted book reader and passionate student of military science.
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Urban Governance Under the Ottomans focuses on one of the most pressing topics in this field, namely the question why cities formerly known for their multiethnic and multi- religious composition became increasingly marked by conflict in the 19th century. This collection of essays represents the result of an intense process of discussion among many of the authors, who have been invited to combine theoretical considerations on the question sketched above, with concrete case studies based upon original archival research. From Istanbul to Aleppo, and from the Balkans to Jerusalem, what emerges from the book is a renewed image of the imperial and local mechanisms of coexistence, and of their limi...