The bronze horseman of Justinian in Constantinople : the cross-cultural biography of a Mediterranean monument / Elena N. Boeck, DePaul University, Chicago.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boeck, Elena N., 1974- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Justinian I, Emperor of the East, 483?-565--Monuments--Turkey--Istanbul.

Justinian.

Justinian I, Emperor of the East, 483?-565.

Equestrian statues--Turkey--Istanbul.

Equestrian statues.

Monuments--Social aspects--Turkey--Istanbul--History.

Monuments.

Social aspects.

History.

Istanbul (Turkey)--Antiquities, Byzantine.

Istanbul (Turkey).

Turkey.

Turkey--Istanbul.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxvii, 451 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Justinian's triumphal column was the tallest free-standing column of the pre-modern world and was crowned with arguably the largest metal equestrian sculpture created anywhere in the world before 1699. The Byzantine empire's bronze horseman towered over the heart of Constantinople, assumed new identities, spawned conflicting narratives, and acquired widespread international acclaim. Because all traces of Justinian's column were erased from the urban fabric of Istanbul in the sixteenth century, scholars have undervalued its astonishing agency and remarkable longevity. Its impact in visual and verbal culture was arguably among the most extensive of any Mediterranean monument. This book analyzes Byzantine, Islamic, Slavic, Crusader, and Renaissance historical accounts, medieval pilgrimages, geographic, apocalyptic and apocryphal narratives, vernacular poetry, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Italian, French, Latin, and Ottoman illustrated manuscripts, Florentine wedding chests, Venetian paintings, and Russian icons to provide an engrossing and pioneering biography of a contested medieval monument during the millennium of its life.

Contents:

Justinian's Entry into Constantinople: He Came, He Saw, He Conquered

The Making of Justinian's Forum

Defying a Defining Witness: the Bronze Horseman and the Buildings (De Aedificiis) of Prokopios

The Horseman of Baghdad Responds to the Horseman of Constantinople

Soothing Imperial Anxieties: Theophilos and the Restoration of Justinian's Crown

Debating Justinian's Merits in the Tenth Century

The Bronze Horseman and a Dark Hour for Humanity

The Horseman Becomes Heraclius: Crusading Narratives of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

From Exile in Nicaea to Restoration of Constantinople

A Learned Dialogue Across the Ages: Pachymeres Confronts Prokopios

Orb-session: Constantinople's Future in the Bronze Horseman's Hand

Justinian's Column and the Antiquarian Gaze: A Centuries-Old 'Secret' Exposed

A Timeless Ideal: Constantinople in Slavonic Imagination of the 14th-15th centuries

The Horseman Meets its End

Horse as Historia, Byzantium as Allegory

Shadowy Past and Menacing Future

After the Fall: The Bronze Horseman and Eternal Tsar'grad.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 09 Apr 2021).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9781108178341

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.