Basileia: Essays on Imperium and Culture in Honour of E.M. and M.J. Jeffreys

Abstract

The collection of studies published here began as a series of papers delivered at the Fifteenth Biennial Conference of the Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, held at the University of New South Wales in Sydney in February of 2008. The conference, held in honour of the eminent Byzantinists Elizabeth and Michael Jeffreys, took as its theme "Imperium and Culture", which also serves as the main subject of this volume. Elizabeth is Emeritus Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern languages, and an Emeritus Fellow of Exeter College. She is also an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Michael still serves as quondam Sir Nicholas Laurentius Professor of Modern Greek at the University of Sydney and is a Researcher at the Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity. The Jeffreys' reputation internationally and their long and warm association with Australian Byzantine Studies has resulted in the addition of contributions not originally included in the conference. The result, among other things, is to reinforce not only the quality of the essays here, but also to indicate a measure of our admiration and respect. Accordingly, both the authors and the editors collectively seek to honour Elizabeth and Michael for contributions to the field of Byzantine Studies spanning close to forty years, as well as their especial attachment to Australia. This volume touches upon an enduring topic in modern postclassical historiography. The ways in which politics and culture intertwined in the Byzantine world has been a key and continually evolving area of research amongst historians, archaeologists, philologists and art and architectural historians. Interest not only in the academic world, but also recently among the general public - with major exhibitions at European and American museums - has served to encourage deeper exploration of the interplay between political power and various forms of cultural expression.