Narrow your search

Library

KU Leuven (1)


Resource type

book (1)


Language

English (1)


Year
From To Submit

2018 (1)

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by

Book
Leo VI and the transformation of Byzantine Christian identity : writings of an unexpected emperor
Author:
ISBN: 1108650058 1107281962 110857274X 9781108572743 Year: 2018 Publisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press,

Loading...
Export citation

Choose an application

Bookmark

Abstract

The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886-912), was not a general or even a soldier, like his predecessors, but a scholar, and it was the religious education he gained under the tutelage of the patriarch Photios that was to distinguish him as an unusual ruler. This book analyses Leo's literary output, focusing on his deployment of ideological principles and religious obligations to distinguish the characteristics of the Christian oikoumene from the Islamic caliphate, primarily in his military manual known as the Taktika. It also examines in depth his 113 legislative Novels, with particular attention to their theological prolegomena, showing how the emperor's religious sensibilities find expression in his reshaping of the legal code to bring it into closer accord with Byzantine canon law. Meredith L. D. Riedel argues that the impact of his religious faith transformed Byzantine cultural identity and influenced his successors, establishing the Macedonian dynasty as a 'golden age' in Byzantium.

Listing 1 - 1 of 1
Sort by