Ida Toth | University of Oxford (original) (raw)
Books by Ida Toth
by Ida Toth, Andreas Rhoby, Anna M Sitz, Canan Arıkan-Caba, Matthew Kinloch, Maria Tomadaki, Estelle INGRAND-VARENNE, Desi Marangon, Nikos Tsivikis, Roman Shliakhtin, Nicholas Melvani, Efthymios Rizos, Ivana Jevtic, Nektarios Zarras, Brad Hostetler, Georgios Pallis, Maria Lidova, Alex Rodriguez Suarez, Meriç T. Öztürk, and Ivan Drpić
The volume 'Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in ... more The volume 'Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Istanbul' is a revised and updated edition of the booklet originally produced for the Summer Programme in Byzantine Epigraphy. This collection of 37 essays has been prepared by Ida Toth and Andreas Rhoby to provide a broad coverage of Constantinople's (Istanbul's) inscriptional material dating back to the period between the 4th and the 15th centuries. It is intended as a comprehensive teaching tool and also as a dependable vademecum to the extant traces of Istanbul’s rich late antique and medieval epigraphic legacy: https://austriaca.at/8370-9
Papers from the Forty-Ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Exeter College, Oxford, 18-20 March 2016, 2020
In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains unchar... more In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains uncharted territory. The volume of the Proceedings of the 49th SPBS Spring Symposium aims to promote the field of Byzantine epigraphy as a whole, and topics and subjects covered include: Byzantine attitudes towards the inscribed word, the questions of continuity and transformation, the context and function of epigraphic evidence, the levels of formality and authority, the material aspect of writing, and the verbal, visual and symbolic meaning of inscribed texts. The collection is intended as a valuable scholarly resource presenting and examining a substantial quantity of diverse epigraphic material, and outlining the chronological development of epigraphic habits, and of individual epigraphic genres in Byzantium.
Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzanti... more Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzantine Empire and its sphere of influence, this volume addresses a paradox. Advanced literacy was rare among imperial citizens, being restricted by gender and class. Yet the state's economic, religious and political institutions insisted on the fundamental importance of the written record. Starting from the materiality of codices, documents and inscriptions, the volume's contributors draw attention to the evidence for a range of interactions with texts. They examine the role of authors, compilers and scribes. They look at practices such as the close perusal of texts in order to produce excerpts, notes, commentaries and editions. But they also analyse the social implications of the constant intersection of writing with both image and speech. Showcasing current methodological approaches, this collection of essays aims to place a discussion of Byzantium within the mainstream of medieval textual studies.
by Foteini Spingou, Charles Barber, Nathan Leidholm, Thomas Carlson, Ivan Drpić, Alexandros (Alexander) Alexakis, elizabeth jeffreys, Theocharis Tsampouras, Mircea G . Duluș, Nikos Zagklas, Ida Toth, Alexander Riehle, Brad Hostetler, Michael Featherstone, Emmanuel C Bourbouhakis, Shannon Steiner, Efthymios Rizos, Divna Manolova, Robert Romanchuk, Maria Tomadaki, Kirsty Stewart, Baukje van den Berg, Katarzyna Warcaba, Florin Leonte, Vasileios Marinis, Ludovic Bender, Linda Safran, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Rachele Ricceri, Luisa Andriollo, Alex J Novikoff, Annemarie Carr, Marina Bazzani, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Renaat Meesters, Daphne (Dafni) / Δάφνη Penna / Πέννα, Annemarie Carr, Alexander Alexakis, Jeremy Johns, Maria Parani, Lisa Mahoney, Irena Spadijer, and Ilias Taxidis
ISBN: 9781108483056 Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3 In this book the beauty and m... more ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Book Chapters, Papers, Conference Volumes by Ida Toth
The authors reflect on methodological and terminological problems connected with the critical fie... more The authors reflect on methodological and terminological problems connected with the critical fields of Byzantine and so-called Post-Byzantine Art in the Balkans. Departing from the traditional, frequently controversial, issues of continuity and identity, this chapter proposes a more effective conceptual framework, which favours the ideas of multiculturality, hybridity, and horizontal exchange. The present essay also addresses the questions of cultural history, and, especially, of Western influences in Orthodox painting after the 15th century, and it urges that art of any period should be measured against the standards of its own time. More generally, it suggests that the reception of Orthodox Christian art in the Balkans ought also to be considered to fall within the purview of scholars of the Western Renaissance, as well as of Ottoman Studies, so as to ensure fruitful academic dialogue across disciplines.
The paper examines inscriptional material dating back to a pivotal period in Byzantine writing cu... more The paper examines inscriptional material dating back to a pivotal period in Byzantine writing culture. The seventh century has been identified as the time when inscribed texts diminish in number, and entire inscriptional categories disappear, while much less attention has been paid to the more productive aspects of its epigraphic habit. These include the appearance of twelve-syllable inscriptional verses, strong epigraphic evidence for imperial ideology, warfare and factional strife, and, most outstandingly, the proliferation of inscribed objects associated ever more elaborate religious practices, and, more generally, everyday life and popular beliefs. To some extent seventh-century inscriptions continue late antique traditions, but they also testifying to the introduction of some novel epigraphic practices, and to the messages of beneficence, piety and commemoration as their most prevalent features. This paper explores the epigraphic manifestations and ramifications of this transformation.
![Research paper thumbnail of ‘Fighting with Tales: The Byzantine Book of Syntipas the Philosopher’, in: C. Cupane and B. Krönung, eds., Fictional Storytelling in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond, (8th-15th centuries), [Brill] Leiden 2016, 380-400](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57158882/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](The BSP survives as an eleventh-century translation from Syriac into Greek, whose plot revolves a... more The BSP survives as an eleventh-century translation from Syriac into Greek, whose plot revolves around the theme of the role of philosophers in princely education, and as advisors to rulers. The text features an array of colourful characters – a great king, a young prince, a wily wife, an erudite teacher, and seven wise men – and a series of twenty-four tales told by the protagonists in the main story. An epigram and a prologue disclose the identities of the author, and of the translator of the book into Greek, as well as of his patron, and help contextualize the early transmission of the BSP. Later Greek versions show some morphological, syntactical, lexical and stylistic modifications. Their linguistic range spans from the middle-register Byzantine koinē to several more liberal renditions into modern Greek. The printed editions of the BSP had a long run and wide circulation in Greek, as did their eighteenth- and nineteenth-century translations into Romanian, Bulgarian and Serbian.
Symposia, Conferences, Workshops by Ida Toth
XV International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Vienna 28th August – 1st September 2017) ... more XV International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Vienna 28th August – 1st September 2017)
Thematic panels on Byzantine Epigraphy (the timetable and abstracts: https://epicongr2017.univie.ac.at/en/programme/thematic-panels/late-antique-and-byzantine-epigraphy/)
Chairs: Andreas Rhoby and Ida Toth
Contributors: Antonio E. Felle, Arkadii Avdokhin, Christoph Begass, Mustafa Sayar, Catherine Saliou, Ida Toth, Georgios Pallis, Anna Sitz, Estelle Ingrand-Varenne, Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Vasiliki Tsamakda, Christos Stavrakos, Dimitrios Liakos
by Emmanuel Moutafov, Melina Paissidou, Antonio, Enrico Felle, Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu, Angeliki Katsioti, Jelena Erdeljan, Ivan Stevovic, Dimitris Liakos, Aleksandra Kucekovic, VALENTINA CANTONE, Konstantinos Vapheiades, Andromachi Katselaki, Nenad Makuljevic, Ida Toth, Antonis Tsakalos, and Margarita Voulgaropoulou
That is the final program for the 2017 conference, commented with the participants. It contains o... more That is the final program for the 2017 conference, commented with the participants. It contains only the schedule for the Old Art Module.
Byz. Congress, Belgrade, Round Table
by Jas Elsner, Ida Toth, Marek Jankowiak, Anne McCabe, Paschalis Androudis, Emmanuel Moutafov, Pamela Armstrong, Georgios Pallis, Nicholas Melvani, Foteini Spingou, Georgios Deligiannakis, Andreas Rhoby, Antonio, Enrico Felle, Niels Gaul, Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt, Brad Hostetler, Arkadiy Avdokhin, Maria Lidova, and Paweł Nowakowski
The 49th Spring Symposium of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies INSCRIBING TEXT... more The 49th Spring Symposium of the Society
for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
INSCRIBING TEXTS
IN BYZANTIUM:
CONTINUITIES AND TRANSFORMATIONS
18-20 March 2016, Exeter College, Oxford
In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material – over 4000 Greek texts produced in the period between the sixth and fifteenth centuries – Byzantine Epigraphy remains largely uncharted territory, with a reputation for being elusive and esoteric that obstinately persists. References to inscriptions in our texts show how ubiquitous and deeply engrained the epigraphic habit was in Byzantine society, and underscore the significance of epigraphy as an auxiliary discipline. The growing interest in material culture, including inscriptions, has opened new avenues of research and led to various explorations in the field of epigraphy, but what is urgently needed is a synthetic approach that incorporates literacy, built environment, social and political contexts, and human agency. The SPBS Symposium 2016 has invited specialists in the field to examine diverse epigraphic material in order to trace individual epigraphic habits, and outline overall inscriptional traditions. In addition to the customary format of panel papers and shorter communications, the Symposium will organise a round table, whose participants will lead a debate on the topics presented in the panel papers, and discuss the methodological questions of collection, presentation and interpretation of Byzantine inscriptional material.
Papers by Ida Toth
program and abstracts symposium of epigraphies of Anatolia, From antique to Ottoman times. For s... more program and abstracts symposium of epigraphies of Anatolia, From antique to Ottoman times.
For several millennia most of the civilisations
of Anatolia used inscription on stone to preserve
important texts – whether public documents
or private commemorations. While this
procedure is found in many civilisations across
the world, the particular wealth of Anatolia in
high-quality stones and marbles has ensured
an exceptionally rich harvest of texts. Over the
last couple of centuries, work on these documents
has helped us understand more and
more of this deep and multi-layered historical
heritage, which is constantly developing and
enriching our understanding.
The aim of the symposium is to allow experts,
who work on the inscribed texts of different
cultures, to present their work and compare
their experiences, building a sense of the history
of the epigraphic discipline. During the
symposium we intend to look at how earlier
generations have interacted with such texts by
tracing the steady development of methodologies.
We will examine how inscribed texts have
introduced us to languages which had been
unread for several millennia. Finally, we will
look at how we can teach the necessary skills
and find ways to offer the fullest possible access,
both in and beyond Turkey, to this
unique storehouse of knowledge.
by Ida Toth, Andreas Rhoby, Anna M Sitz, Canan Arıkan-Caba, Matthew Kinloch, Maria Tomadaki, Estelle INGRAND-VARENNE, Desi Marangon, Nikos Tsivikis, Roman Shliakhtin, Nicholas Melvani, Efthymios Rizos, Ivana Jevtic, Nektarios Zarras, Brad Hostetler, Georgios Pallis, Maria Lidova, Alex Rodriguez Suarez, Meriç T. Öztürk, and Ivan Drpić
The volume 'Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in ... more The volume 'Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Istanbul' is a revised and updated edition of the booklet originally produced for the Summer Programme in Byzantine Epigraphy. This collection of 37 essays has been prepared by Ida Toth and Andreas Rhoby to provide a broad coverage of Constantinople's (Istanbul's) inscriptional material dating back to the period between the 4th and the 15th centuries. It is intended as a comprehensive teaching tool and also as a dependable vademecum to the extant traces of Istanbul’s rich late antique and medieval epigraphic legacy: https://austriaca.at/8370-9
Papers from the Forty-Ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Exeter College, Oxford, 18-20 March 2016, 2020
In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains unchar... more In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains uncharted territory. The volume of the Proceedings of the 49th SPBS Spring Symposium aims to promote the field of Byzantine epigraphy as a whole, and topics and subjects covered include: Byzantine attitudes towards the inscribed word, the questions of continuity and transformation, the context and function of epigraphic evidence, the levels of formality and authority, the material aspect of writing, and the verbal, visual and symbolic meaning of inscribed texts. The collection is intended as a valuable scholarly resource presenting and examining a substantial quantity of diverse epigraphic material, and outlining the chronological development of epigraphic habits, and of individual epigraphic genres in Byzantium.
Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzanti... more Offering a comprehensive introduction to the history of books, readers and reading in the Byzantine Empire and its sphere of influence, this volume addresses a paradox. Advanced literacy was rare among imperial citizens, being restricted by gender and class. Yet the state's economic, religious and political institutions insisted on the fundamental importance of the written record. Starting from the materiality of codices, documents and inscriptions, the volume's contributors draw attention to the evidence for a range of interactions with texts. They examine the role of authors, compilers and scribes. They look at practices such as the close perusal of texts in order to produce excerpts, notes, commentaries and editions. But they also analyse the social implications of the constant intersection of writing with both image and speech. Showcasing current methodological approaches, this collection of essays aims to place a discussion of Byzantium within the mainstream of medieval textual studies.
by Foteini Spingou, Charles Barber, Nathan Leidholm, Thomas Carlson, Ivan Drpić, Alexandros (Alexander) Alexakis, elizabeth jeffreys, Theocharis Tsampouras, Mircea G . Duluș, Nikos Zagklas, Ida Toth, Alexander Riehle, Brad Hostetler, Michael Featherstone, Emmanuel C Bourbouhakis, Shannon Steiner, Efthymios Rizos, Divna Manolova, Robert Romanchuk, Maria Tomadaki, Kirsty Stewart, Baukje van den Berg, Katarzyna Warcaba, Florin Leonte, Vasileios Marinis, Ludovic Bender, Linda Safran, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Rachele Ricceri, Luisa Andriollo, Alex J Novikoff, Annemarie Carr, Marina Bazzani, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Renaat Meesters, Daphne (Dafni) / Δάφνη Penna / Πέννα, Annemarie Carr, Alexander Alexakis, Jeremy Johns, Maria Parani, Lisa Mahoney, Irena Spadijer, and Ilias Taxidis
ISBN: 9781108483056 Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3 In this book the beauty and m... more ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
The authors reflect on methodological and terminological problems connected with the critical fie... more The authors reflect on methodological and terminological problems connected with the critical fields of Byzantine and so-called Post-Byzantine Art in the Balkans. Departing from the traditional, frequently controversial, issues of continuity and identity, this chapter proposes a more effective conceptual framework, which favours the ideas of multiculturality, hybridity, and horizontal exchange. The present essay also addresses the questions of cultural history, and, especially, of Western influences in Orthodox painting after the 15th century, and it urges that art of any period should be measured against the standards of its own time. More generally, it suggests that the reception of Orthodox Christian art in the Balkans ought also to be considered to fall within the purview of scholars of the Western Renaissance, as well as of Ottoman Studies, so as to ensure fruitful academic dialogue across disciplines.
The paper examines inscriptional material dating back to a pivotal period in Byzantine writing cu... more The paper examines inscriptional material dating back to a pivotal period in Byzantine writing culture. The seventh century has been identified as the time when inscribed texts diminish in number, and entire inscriptional categories disappear, while much less attention has been paid to the more productive aspects of its epigraphic habit. These include the appearance of twelve-syllable inscriptional verses, strong epigraphic evidence for imperial ideology, warfare and factional strife, and, most outstandingly, the proliferation of inscribed objects associated ever more elaborate religious practices, and, more generally, everyday life and popular beliefs. To some extent seventh-century inscriptions continue late antique traditions, but they also testifying to the introduction of some novel epigraphic practices, and to the messages of beneficence, piety and commemoration as their most prevalent features. This paper explores the epigraphic manifestations and ramifications of this transformation.
The BSP survives as an eleventh-century translation from Syriac into Greek, whose plot revolves a... more The BSP survives as an eleventh-century translation from Syriac into Greek, whose plot revolves around the theme of the role of philosophers in princely education, and as advisors to rulers. The text features an array of colourful characters – a great king, a young prince, a wily wife, an erudite teacher, and seven wise men – and a series of twenty-four tales told by the protagonists in the main story. An epigram and a prologue disclose the identities of the author, and of the translator of the book into Greek, as well as of his patron, and help contextualize the early transmission of the BSP. Later Greek versions show some morphological, syntactical, lexical and stylistic modifications. Their linguistic range spans from the middle-register Byzantine koinē to several more liberal renditions into modern Greek. The printed editions of the BSP had a long run and wide circulation in Greek, as did their eighteenth- and nineteenth-century translations into Romanian, Bulgarian and Serbian.
XV International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Vienna 28th August – 1st September 2017) ... more XV International Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Vienna 28th August – 1st September 2017)
Thematic panels on Byzantine Epigraphy (the timetable and abstracts: https://epicongr2017.univie.ac.at/en/programme/thematic-panels/late-antique-and-byzantine-epigraphy/)
Chairs: Andreas Rhoby and Ida Toth
Contributors: Antonio E. Felle, Arkadii Avdokhin, Christoph Begass, Mustafa Sayar, Catherine Saliou, Ida Toth, Georgios Pallis, Anna Sitz, Estelle Ingrand-Varenne, Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Vasiliki Tsamakda, Christos Stavrakos, Dimitrios Liakos
by Emmanuel Moutafov, Melina Paissidou, Antonio, Enrico Felle, Dragos Gh. Nastasoiu, Angeliki Katsioti, Jelena Erdeljan, Ivan Stevovic, Dimitris Liakos, Aleksandra Kucekovic, VALENTINA CANTONE, Konstantinos Vapheiades, Andromachi Katselaki, Nenad Makuljevic, Ida Toth, Antonis Tsakalos, and Margarita Voulgaropoulou
That is the final program for the 2017 conference, commented with the participants. It contains o... more That is the final program for the 2017 conference, commented with the participants. It contains only the schedule for the Old Art Module.
Byz. Congress, Belgrade, Round Table
by Jas Elsner, Ida Toth, Marek Jankowiak, Anne McCabe, Paschalis Androudis, Emmanuel Moutafov, Pamela Armstrong, Georgios Pallis, Nicholas Melvani, Foteini Spingou, Georgios Deligiannakis, Andreas Rhoby, Antonio, Enrico Felle, Niels Gaul, Alexandra-Kyriaki Wassiliou-Seibt, Brad Hostetler, Arkadiy Avdokhin, Maria Lidova, and Paweł Nowakowski
The 49th Spring Symposium of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies INSCRIBING TEXT... more The 49th Spring Symposium of the Society
for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
INSCRIBING TEXTS
IN BYZANTIUM:
CONTINUITIES AND TRANSFORMATIONS
18-20 March 2016, Exeter College, Oxford
In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material – over 4000 Greek texts produced in the period between the sixth and fifteenth centuries – Byzantine Epigraphy remains largely uncharted territory, with a reputation for being elusive and esoteric that obstinately persists. References to inscriptions in our texts show how ubiquitous and deeply engrained the epigraphic habit was in Byzantine society, and underscore the significance of epigraphy as an auxiliary discipline. The growing interest in material culture, including inscriptions, has opened new avenues of research and led to various explorations in the field of epigraphy, but what is urgently needed is a synthetic approach that incorporates literacy, built environment, social and political contexts, and human agency. The SPBS Symposium 2016 has invited specialists in the field to examine diverse epigraphic material in order to trace individual epigraphic habits, and outline overall inscriptional traditions. In addition to the customary format of panel papers and shorter communications, the Symposium will organise a round table, whose participants will lead a debate on the topics presented in the panel papers, and discuss the methodological questions of collection, presentation and interpretation of Byzantine inscriptional material.
program and abstracts symposium of epigraphies of Anatolia, From antique to Ottoman times. For s... more program and abstracts symposium of epigraphies of Anatolia, From antique to Ottoman times.
For several millennia most of the civilisations
of Anatolia used inscription on stone to preserve
important texts – whether public documents
or private commemorations. While this
procedure is found in many civilisations across
the world, the particular wealth of Anatolia in
high-quality stones and marbles has ensured
an exceptionally rich harvest of texts. Over the
last couple of centuries, work on these documents
has helped us understand more and
more of this deep and multi-layered historical
heritage, which is constantly developing and
enriching our understanding.
The aim of the symposium is to allow experts,
who work on the inscribed texts of different
cultures, to present their work and compare
their experiences, building a sense of the history
of the epigraphic discipline. During the
symposium we intend to look at how earlier
generations have interacted with such texts by
tracing the steady development of methodologies.
We will examine how inscribed texts have
introduced us to languages which had been
unread for several millennia. Finally, we will
look at how we can teach the necessary skills
and find ways to offer the fullest possible access,
both in and beyond Turkey, to this
unique storehouse of knowledge.