Lamp as a Symbol in Theology and Iconology of Light in the Mediterranean / Light and fire have been a part of the religious experience since the dawn of civilization, its cultic use can be traced back to as early as the Paleolithic. Seen as divine emanations, light and fire were experienced as a symbol of the divine presence. This symbolism can be…[Read more]

Review of Christianization and Commonwealth in Early Medieval Europe: A Ritual Interpretation, by Nathan J. Ristuccia. The Medieval Review (TMR 18.11.01), 2018

Presentation of the architecture and sculpture of a peculiar double medieval church in rural Crete, dating from the 12th to the 16th c.

Bibliography of research on bishops in Anglo-Saxon England and Ottonian-Salian Germany in the tenth and eleventh centuries, as well as comprehensive and comparative studies of this period, as long as either of the aforementioned geographical entities is covered.

The book chapter analyses how bishops saw their role in succession struggles of tenth and early eleventh centuries Germany.

The book chapter looks at the role of bishops in the German royal successions of 984 and 1024.

This paper draws on chinese folklore, chinese medical theory, chinese materia medica and western ethnobotany and comparative religion to construct a theory of how the common infestation of ganoderma lucidum on peach trees in China would have led to an association of peach trees with immortality, daoist alchemy and the ability to vanquish ghosts…[Read more]

This is an Accepted Manuscript, for an article forthcoming in Antiquity (2019), and remains subject to pre-publication type-editing and proofing. Please cite as James M. Harland, ‘Memories of Migration? So-called “Anglo-Saxon” Burial Costume of the 5th Century AD,’ Antiquity 93 (2019). A link to the final publication at Cambridge University Press…[Read more]

Architecture Space and Society Research Centre, Birkbeck (University of London) Friday 1st March 2019
Keynes Library, School of Arts, 43 Gordon Square
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/conquest-and-construction-tickets-55022443610

This study juxtaposes the concerns of Catholicos Timothy I (r. 780–823), leader of the Church of the East, with those of al-Jāḥiẓ (about 776–868/9), a popular Muslim writer, regarding the dangers for each community when Christians appear as plaintiffs or defendants in Islamic courts. Timothy’s Canons attempt to obviate some of the reasons…[Read more]

This is the uncorrected proofs version of my review of Robert Flierman’s Saxon Identities for History journal. Some wording may differ from the final published version. Please refer to the journal website.

The Arabic narrative sources record a host of tales related to the founding of Baghdad and to its founder, the caliph al-Manṣūr. In one account, reported in several versions by al-Ṭabarī and al-Ḫaṭīb al-Bagdādī, a Byzantine ambassador arrives at al-Manṣūr’s court and criticizes the caliph’s new capital. The present paper suggests that the tale m…[Read more]

The Arabic narrative sources record a host of tales related to the founding of Baghdad and to its founder, the caliph al-Manṣūr. In one account, reported in several versions by al-Ṭabarī and al-Ḫaṭīb al-Bagdādī, a Byzantine ambassador arrives at al-Manṣūr’s court and criticizes the caliph’s new capital. The present paper suggests that the tale m…[Read more]

An examination of Mourning and Tears in the works of John Chrysostom, with comparison to his classical and hellenistic predecessors (Aristotle, Seneca, Plutarch).

An examination of Mourning and Tears in the works of John Chrysostom, with comparison to his classical and hellenistic predecessors (Aristotle, Seneca, Plutarch).

An article on the Armenian manuscripts at the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana).

An article on the Armenian manuscripts at the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana).

A translation and study of seven hymns (madrashe) on vigil of Ephrem the Syrian preserved in Classical Armenian.

Eine kurze Geschichte der Heiligenverehrung rund um den wichtigsten serbisch-orthodoxen Heiligen. Dargestellt aus einer kultur-anthropologischen Perspektive und im Kontext der politischen Mythologien verschiedener Bewegungen serbischer Identitätsprojekte: vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit, von dynastischer Kulturpropaganda bis zum…[Read more]

In this article, I suggest Beowulf should be read as a mirror of princes for elderly kings.