The presentation will be followed by discussions and refreshments, and is open to the everyone. Please register at events@roma.uio.no
Ideologies and identities in Byzantine Southern Italy through hagiographical sources
Jakov Gerchman, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki, presently Institutum Romanum Finlandiae
Jakov Gerchman researches the identities of the Greek-speaking population in Middle Byzantine Southern Italy (circa 750-1200), primarily focusing on hagiography. His main aim is to determine whether these South Italian Byzantines identified more with their local province or felt a stronger connection to the broader Roman Empire, as suggested by the writings of the Byzantine aristocracy about their state and their ties to the eastern emperor. This issue can be approached by analyzing the terminology used in the saints' lives and, for example, by examining how the hagiographers portrayed the Byzantine bureaucracy and the emperor. Some hagiographies, depending on their style, were possibly read for audiences ranging from the aristocracy to peasants, as these lives were read aloud. They may have influenced how their listeners perceive their own identities. During this period, Greek was still a relatively uniform language that was understood by all its speakers. In contrast, the situation in the Latin West was different, as Latin used in Western hagiographies had become a language no longer spoken as a native tongue. At the very least, the hagiographies provide insight into the self-understanding of their authors.