Rural Lives and Landscapes in Late Byzantium

Abstract

This is the first book to examine the late Byzantine peasantry through written, archaeological, ethnographic and painted sources. Investigations of the infrastructure and setting of the medieval village guide the reader into the consideration of specific populations. The village becomes a micro-society, with its own social and economic hierarchies. In addition to studying agricultural workers, mothers and priests, lesser-known individuals, such as the miller and witch, are revealed through written and painted sources. Placed at the center of a new scholarly landscape, the study of the medieval villager engages a broad spectrum of theorists, including economic historians creating predictive models for agrarian economies, ethnoarchaeologists addressing historical continuities and disjunctions, and scholars examining power and female agency.

Ordinary women in Byzantine funerary contexts from Greece; a view from the bones

“…Observations regarding demography, health, and disease follow. Age-atdeath of early 23 and later periods 24 show that this was usually lower for females; they generally reached the age of 35/40. Minor urban-rural variations cannot be statistically validated due to the small number of sexed individuals from several sites.…”

“…Similar cases of collective, family burials are reported from Panakton, Abdera and Rhodes. 40 There now follows and in more detail the case of ordinary women from a Byzantine, urban cemetery in Thebes (Boeotia, Central Greece). Byzantine times were fourishing ones for Boeotia; during that period, Thebes became the seat of the General of the Theme of Hellas and an important commercial and economic center with powerful landowners specializing in agriculture and stock-breeding.…”