Byzantinists have a tendency, implicitly or explicitly, to adopt the analytical perspective of the central state and its imperial class. We ask what helped the empire survive and/or expand, and we judge the success of a given ruler, official, or policy according to this criterion. I term this tendency methodological imperialism.

Byzantinists have a tendency, implicitly or explicitly, to adopt the analytical perspective of the central state and its imperial class. We ask what helped the empire survive and/or expand, and we judge the success of a given ruler, official, or policy according to this criterion. I term this tendency methodological imperialism.

This chapter analyses Global Byzantium by situating the medieval empire of New Rome in the history of statehood’s generalisation worldwide. Arguing that statehood remains the implicit mental furniture of History at a macro-civilizational scale, and so more or less at the micro too, the chapter proposes the dual concepts of hegemony and c…[Read more]

This chapter analyses Global Byzantium by situating the medieval empire of New Rome in the history of statehood’s generalisation worldwide. Arguing that statehood remains the implicit mental furniture of History at a macro-civilizational scale, and so more or less at the micro too, the chapter proposes the dual concepts of hegemony and c…[Read more]

This chapter analyses Global Byzantium by situating the medieval empire of New Rome in the history of statehood’s generalisation worldwide. Arguing that statehood remains the implicit mental furniture of History at a macro-civilizational scale, and so more or less at the micro too, the chapter proposes the dual concepts of hegemony and c…[Read more]

This chapter analyses Global Byzantium by situating the medieval empire of New Rome in the history of statehood’s generalisation worldwide. Arguing that statehood remains the implicit mental furniture of History at a macro-civilizational scale, and so more or less at the micro too, the chapter proposes the dual concepts of hegemony and c…[Read more]

This article analyses the agency of merchant capital and taxation in processes of urbanisation. The case study is Ani, now abandoned and straddling the Turkish-Armenian border, in the long thirteenth century c.1200-1350. This global-historical conjuncture is defined by the height of the medieval Commercial Revolution and its central Eurasian…[Read more]

Melus, rendered “Meles” in Greek sources, first appears in 1009 when he and a relative named Dattus rebelled against the east Roman governor-general, the katepano, taking Bari, Ascoli and Troia, before being defeated by a new katepano in 1011 and fleeing to the prince of Salerno. This chapter looks at the evidence for identified Armenians in eas…[Read more]

Melus, rendered “Meles” in Greek sources, first appears in 1009 when he and a relative named Dattus rebelled against the east Roman governor-general, the katepano, taking Bari, Ascoli and Troia, before being defeated by a new katepano in 1011 and fleeing to the prince of Salerno. This chapter looks at the evidence for identified Armenians in eas…[Read more]

In this paper I outline a historical materialist framework for the transhistorical critique of ethnicity, providing a case study in the shaape of Armenian settlements in medieval New Rome. This is necessary since constructivism – the dominant theoretical tradition of the last forty years or so – has failed to dethrone common sense, met…[Read more]

In this paper I outline a historical materialist framework for the transhistorical critique of ethnicity, providing a case study in the shaape of Armenian settlements in medieval New Rome. This is necessary since constructivism – the dominant theoretical tradition of the last forty years or so – has failed to dethrone common sense, met…[Read more]

An analysis of Ioannes Zonaras’ history, in particular its preface, in the light of recent debates over East Roman identity and republicanness, drawing a broad set of comparanda from the eleventh and twelfth centuries.