Managing Emotion in Byzantium: Passions, Affects and Imaginings

The study of emotion in Byzantium has evolved since Henry Maguire's 1977 article, with classicists and western medievalists developing new ways to understand how emotional communities work. This volume is the first to look at the constellation of Byzantine emotions, focusing on power, gender, rhetoric, and asceticism. Contributors explore how emotions were communicated and exchanged across linguistic, political, and social boundaries. The book aims to understand what the Byzantines thought of as emotions and how theory shaped their appraisal of reality.

Format: Hardback
Length: 504 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Byzantinists have significantly contributed to the study of emotion, with Henry Maguire's groundbreaking article on sorrow published in 1977. Since then, classicists and Western medievalists have explored new perspectives on how emotional communities function and how ancient concepts of emotion differ from our own. Byzantinists have also begun to examine emotions beyond sorrow.

This volume, the first of its kind, examines the constellation of Byzantine emotions. Originating from an international colloquium at Dumbarton Oaks, the papers in this volume explore various aspects of Byzantine society, such as power, gender, rhetoric, and asceticism, through the lens of a single emotion or a cluster of emotions. Contributors delve into the construction of emotions concerning perception and cognition, as well as the transmission and exchange of emotions across linguistic, political, and social boundaries.

The primary objectives of this volume are to gain insights into what the Byzantines considered emotions and to understand how theoretical perspectives shaped their perception of reality. It will appeal to researchers and students interested in Byzantine perceptions of emotion, Byzantine culture, and medieval perceptions of emotion.

Weight: 1090g
Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138561618