Studies on the Internal Diaspora of the Byzantine EmpireHarvard University Press
Héléne Ahrweiler and Angeliki E. Laiou
ISBN: 0884022471
price: $31.50 hardcover
Although ethnicity is a modern concept and would not have been
recognized by the Byzantines, throughout its history the
Byzantine Empire was a multi-ethnic state. The papers in this
volume examine questions of the uniformity and separateness of
the various Byzantine populations and the degree and mechanisms
of acculturation. The cultural uniformity that the Byzantine
church and state pursued through Orthodoxy and the Greek language
did not erase all distinct traits of different groups--nor was
that their intention. This volume provides examples of the
multiple forms of integration and resistance to integration in a
society that for a long time functioned as an integral state and
an articulated society that accepted diversity.
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