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Chronographia of George the Synkellos & Theophanes by Jesse W. Torgerson
The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes: the Ends of Time in Ninth-Century Constantinople, 2022
Open Access Publication: https://brill.com/view/title/58361?language=en Abstract: The ninth-cen... more Open Access Publication:
https://brill.com/view/title/58361?language=en
Abstract:
The ninth-century Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes is the most influential historical text ever written in medieval Constantinople. Yet modern historians have never explained its popularity and power. This interdisciplinary study draws on new manuscript evidence to finally animate the Chronographia’s promise to show attentive readers the present meaning of the past.
Begun by one of the Roman emperor’s most trusted and powerful officials in order to justify a failed revolt, the project became a shockingly ambitious re-writing of time itself—a synthesis of contemporary history, philosophy, and religious practice into a politicized retelling of the human story. Even through radical upheavals of the Byzantine political landscape, the Chronographia’s unique historical vision again and again compelled new readers to chase after the elusive Ends of Time.
A survey of the surviving medieval manuscripts of two monumental (in their own time) and extremel... more A survey of the surviving medieval manuscripts of two monumental (in their own time) and extremely important (for scholars today) historical works produced in Constantinople and its environs between 808-815: the "Chronography" of George Synkellos and the "Chronicle" of Theophanes the Confessor. The article argues that, based on the surviving evidence, the two works were not read separately but as a single Account of the World ("Universal History" or "Chronography"). That is, in every surviving manuscript there is evidence that the works originally circulated in the same manuscript codices (books) where they were joined back-to-back. What this means for how we should now read and study the works today remains to be discussed.
by Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance ACHCByz, Marek Jankowiak, Warren Treadgold, Constantin Zuckerman, Andrzej Kompa, Jesse W. Torgerson, Filippo Ronconi, Irina Tamarkina, Geoffrey Greatrex, Bernard POUDERON, Anna Kotłowska, Łukasz Różycki, Salvatore Cosentino, Muriel Debié, Andy Hilkens, and Lee Mordechai
TM XIX, 2015
This book presents the proceedings of the conference “The Chronicle of Theophanes: sources, compo... more This book presents the proceedings of the conference “The Chronicle of Theophanes: sources, composition, transmission,” organized by the editors in Paris in September 2012. The first section of the volume is devoted to the question of the authorship of the Chronicle, raised by C. Mango almost forty years ago. The second section is devoted to issues of transmission, both direct (manuscript tradition) and indirect (readership, translations). The third section concerns Theophanes’ sources for early Byzantine history. A separate section hosts papers by some of the major actors in the current debate on Theophanes’ Eastern source. The last section of the book deals with the later part of the Chronicle and with its sources. ISBN 978-2-916716-58-9
Time: Sense, Space, Structure, 2016
Ἐν ἀρχῆ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν In the beginning God created the heaven and the... more Ἐν ἀρχῆ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth genesis 1,1 Ἐγὼ τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ, ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end apocalypse of john 22,13 Near the beginning of the ninth century, while residing in the environs of Constantinople, George Synkellos began composing a grand synthesis of the passage of all time-a chronography-from the Creation of the world up to his present day. Though the work, thus described, would seem to be an ideal candidate for a "Byzantine view of time," the absence of even a sketch of the author's life and career makes it particularly difficult to set George Synkellos and his text in context, let alone to posit the Chronography as representative. Still, we do what we can with what we have. The little that is currently known about our author's life is extrapolated from a few fragments of data buried in the Chronography.1 Many of these clues link George Synkellos to Syria-Palestine, but the only sure information is George's epithet, Synkellos.2 Though scholars usually refer to George Synkellos as 1 Alexander Kazhdan, "George the Synkellos," Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford, 1991) (hereafter odb). The most comprehensive assessment of Synkellos' biography has just appeared in Warren Treadgold's Middle Byzantine Historians (New York, 2013). I am indebted to the author for advance consultation. 2 Synkellos spent significant time in Syria-Palestine; Synkellos originating from the region remains plausible. See
Constantinople by Jesse W. Torgerson
Digital Medieval Studies—Practice and Preservation, 2022
The next computing revolution in study of the Middle Ages is upon us: it is time to bring the dig... more The next computing revolution in study of the Middle Ages is upon us: it is time to bring the digital turn to pedagogy. This chapter argues that we take this turn by bringing technological structures we already use into better alignment with the way we actually want to think and work and share. In what follows I narrate my mediocre, in-process online teaching encyclopedia project in a manner that aims to inspire others to follow a similar path.
By approaching instruction as collaboration, I was able to develop a process for students to use their own learning to create material that would teach others. Embracing the digital gave me the means to curate this material into an interactive, topographically-organized, pixelated collection of medieval Constantinopolitan paraphernalia—the CONSTANTINOPLE AS PALIMPSEST PROJECT.
Constantinople as Palimpsest, 2021
The Constantinople as Palimpsest Project is a collaborative, online, interactive, topographically... more The Constantinople as Palimpsest Project is a collaborative, online, interactive, topographically-indexed teaching encyclopedia of the city of Constantinople from AD 330 to 1453. It was created through and is hosted on the web 2.0 tools of ArcGIS online (https://www.arcgis.com). It is curated by Jesse W. Torgerson (College of Letters, Wesleyan University). It was and is created, maintained, and updated by the cocuratorial, editorial, and design work of research students in the Traveler's Lab at Wesleyan University (https://travelerslab.research.wesleyan.edu). The content was written by undergraduate students as a part of their required coursework for Wesleyan University classes from 2015 to the present. The Constantinople as Palimpsest encyclopedia uses the "Map Notes" feature of ArcGIS online to provide click-able notations on a topical series of digital maps of the historical city of Constantinople during the period in which it was the capitol of the Roman Empire (AD 330-1453). These notations are written by students for students as brief encyclopedia entries on the places, structures, items, and events in the history of Constantinople. The goal of the project is to provide a tool to create a historically-informed mental topography in which to imagine figures in and events of Constantinople in a comprehensive and integrated context.
History - Theory and Practice by Jesse W. Torgerson
Medieval Worlds, 2016
Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction... more Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre."
Please download the article directly from the Medieval Worlds website :
http://www.medievalworlds.net/?arp=0x0034027b
The authors wrote a formal response in (Medieval Worlds v. 5, 2017) available here: https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00369e45.pdf
Richard W. Burgess and Michael Kulikowski's "A Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre from its Origins to the High Middle Ages" (Volume I in the authors' planned series "Mosaics of Time: The Latin Chronicle Traditions from the First Century BC to the Sixth Century AD") posits that medieval studies has neglected to engage in a systematic, historically-informed reflection on the genre of chronicles. The present article asserts that this challenge to the field presents a unique opportunity for an interdisciplinary discussion of wide scope and lasting duration. I thus argue that Burgess and Kulikowski's larger points may be reconciled with current scholarship on medieval chronicles by updating the theoretical premises that underlie our identification of historical genres. I aim to contribute to the discussion by turning to a consensus in current theoretical work, that genre is best discussed as a description of the way texts and their readers communicated. The article concludes by applying this hypothesis to an experiment in comparison: if it is not the differences but the similarities that stand out when Cicero and Isidore of Seville's respective meditations upon chronicles are set side by side, then what are the implications for our methods of reconstructing the significance of chronicles in their own milieus?
Medieval Worlds, 2016
Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction... more Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre." Please download the article directly from the Medieval Worlds website : http://www.medievalworlds.net/?arp=0x0034027b The authors wrote a formal response in (Medieval Worlds v. 5, 2017) available here: https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00369e45.pdf Richard W. Burgess and Michael Kulikowski's "A Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre from its Origins to the High Middle Ages" (Volume I in the authors' planned series "Mosaics of Time: The Latin Chronicle Traditions from the First Century BC to the Sixth Century AD") posits that medieval studies has neglected to engage in a systematic, historically-informed reflection on the genre of chronicles. The present article asserts that this challenge to the field presents a unique opportunity for an interdisciplinary discussion of wide scope and lasting duration. I thus argue that Burgess and Kulikowski's larger points may be reconciled with current scholarship on medieval chronicles by updating the theoretical premises that underlie our identification of historical genres. I aim to contribute to the discussion by turning to a consensus in current theoretical work, that genre is best discussed as a description of the way texts and their readers communicated. The article concludes by applying this hypothesis to an experiment in comparison: if it is not the differences but the similarities that stand out when Cicero and Isidore of Seville's respective meditations upon chronicles are set side by side, then what are the implications for our methods of reconstructing the significance of chronicles in their own milieus?
General Review Articles by Jesse W. Torgerson
The Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes: the Ends of Time in Ninth-Century Constantinople, 2022
Open Access Publication: https://brill.com/view/title/58361?language=en Abstract: The ninth-cen... more Open Access Publication:
https://brill.com/view/title/58361?language=en
Abstract:
The ninth-century Chronographia of George the Synkellos and Theophanes is the most influential historical text ever written in medieval Constantinople. Yet modern historians have never explained its popularity and power. This interdisciplinary study draws on new manuscript evidence to finally animate the Chronographia’s promise to show attentive readers the present meaning of the past.
Begun by one of the Roman emperor’s most trusted and powerful officials in order to justify a failed revolt, the project became a shockingly ambitious re-writing of time itself—a synthesis of contemporary history, philosophy, and religious practice into a politicized retelling of the human story. Even through radical upheavals of the Byzantine political landscape, the Chronographia’s unique historical vision again and again compelled new readers to chase after the elusive Ends of Time.
A survey of the surviving medieval manuscripts of two monumental (in their own time) and extremel... more A survey of the surviving medieval manuscripts of two monumental (in their own time) and extremely important (for scholars today) historical works produced in Constantinople and its environs between 808-815: the "Chronography" of George Synkellos and the "Chronicle" of Theophanes the Confessor. The article argues that, based on the surviving evidence, the two works were not read separately but as a single Account of the World ("Universal History" or "Chronography"). That is, in every surviving manuscript there is evidence that the works originally circulated in the same manuscript codices (books) where they were joined back-to-back. What this means for how we should now read and study the works today remains to be discussed.
by Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance ACHCByz, Marek Jankowiak, Warren Treadgold, Constantin Zuckerman, Andrzej Kompa, Jesse W. Torgerson, Filippo Ronconi, Irina Tamarkina, Geoffrey Greatrex, Bernard POUDERON, Anna Kotłowska, Łukasz Różycki, Salvatore Cosentino, Muriel Debié, Andy Hilkens, and Lee Mordechai
TM XIX, 2015
This book presents the proceedings of the conference “The Chronicle of Theophanes: sources, compo... more This book presents the proceedings of the conference “The Chronicle of Theophanes: sources, composition, transmission,” organized by the editors in Paris in September 2012. The first section of the volume is devoted to the question of the authorship of the Chronicle, raised by C. Mango almost forty years ago. The second section is devoted to issues of transmission, both direct (manuscript tradition) and indirect (readership, translations). The third section concerns Theophanes’ sources for early Byzantine history. A separate section hosts papers by some of the major actors in the current debate on Theophanes’ Eastern source. The last section of the book deals with the later part of the Chronicle and with its sources. ISBN 978-2-916716-58-9
Time: Sense, Space, Structure, 2016
Ἐν ἀρχῆ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν In the beginning God created the heaven and the... more Ἐν ἀρχῆ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth genesis 1,1 Ἐγὼ τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ, ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end apocalypse of john 22,13 Near the beginning of the ninth century, while residing in the environs of Constantinople, George Synkellos began composing a grand synthesis of the passage of all time-a chronography-from the Creation of the world up to his present day. Though the work, thus described, would seem to be an ideal candidate for a "Byzantine view of time," the absence of even a sketch of the author's life and career makes it particularly difficult to set George Synkellos and his text in context, let alone to posit the Chronography as representative. Still, we do what we can with what we have. The little that is currently known about our author's life is extrapolated from a few fragments of data buried in the Chronography.1 Many of these clues link George Synkellos to Syria-Palestine, but the only sure information is George's epithet, Synkellos.2 Though scholars usually refer to George Synkellos as 1 Alexander Kazhdan, "George the Synkellos," Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford, 1991) (hereafter odb). The most comprehensive assessment of Synkellos' biography has just appeared in Warren Treadgold's Middle Byzantine Historians (New York, 2013). I am indebted to the author for advance consultation. 2 Synkellos spent significant time in Syria-Palestine; Synkellos originating from the region remains plausible. See
Digital Medieval Studies—Practice and Preservation, 2022
The next computing revolution in study of the Middle Ages is upon us: it is time to bring the dig... more The next computing revolution in study of the Middle Ages is upon us: it is time to bring the digital turn to pedagogy. This chapter argues that we take this turn by bringing technological structures we already use into better alignment with the way we actually want to think and work and share. In what follows I narrate my mediocre, in-process online teaching encyclopedia project in a manner that aims to inspire others to follow a similar path.
By approaching instruction as collaboration, I was able to develop a process for students to use their own learning to create material that would teach others. Embracing the digital gave me the means to curate this material into an interactive, topographically-organized, pixelated collection of medieval Constantinopolitan paraphernalia—the CONSTANTINOPLE AS PALIMPSEST PROJECT.
Constantinople as Palimpsest, 2021
The Constantinople as Palimpsest Project is a collaborative, online, interactive, topographically... more The Constantinople as Palimpsest Project is a collaborative, online, interactive, topographically-indexed teaching encyclopedia of the city of Constantinople from AD 330 to 1453. It was created through and is hosted on the web 2.0 tools of ArcGIS online (https://www.arcgis.com). It is curated by Jesse W. Torgerson (College of Letters, Wesleyan University). It was and is created, maintained, and updated by the cocuratorial, editorial, and design work of research students in the Traveler's Lab at Wesleyan University (https://travelerslab.research.wesleyan.edu). The content was written by undergraduate students as a part of their required coursework for Wesleyan University classes from 2015 to the present. The Constantinople as Palimpsest encyclopedia uses the "Map Notes" feature of ArcGIS online to provide click-able notations on a topical series of digital maps of the historical city of Constantinople during the period in which it was the capitol of the Roman Empire (AD 330-1453). These notations are written by students for students as brief encyclopedia entries on the places, structures, items, and events in the history of Constantinople. The goal of the project is to provide a tool to create a historically-informed mental topography in which to imagine figures in and events of Constantinople in a comprehensive and integrated context.
Medieval Worlds, 2016
Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction... more Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre."
Please download the article directly from the Medieval Worlds website :
http://www.medievalworlds.net/?arp=0x0034027b
The authors wrote a formal response in (Medieval Worlds v. 5, 2017) available here: https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00369e45.pdf
Richard W. Burgess and Michael Kulikowski's "A Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre from its Origins to the High Middle Ages" (Volume I in the authors' planned series "Mosaics of Time: The Latin Chronicle Traditions from the First Century BC to the Sixth Century AD") posits that medieval studies has neglected to engage in a systematic, historically-informed reflection on the genre of chronicles. The present article asserts that this challenge to the field presents a unique opportunity for an interdisciplinary discussion of wide scope and lasting duration. I thus argue that Burgess and Kulikowski's larger points may be reconciled with current scholarship on medieval chronicles by updating the theoretical premises that underlie our identification of historical genres. I aim to contribute to the discussion by turning to a consensus in current theoretical work, that genre is best discussed as a description of the way texts and their readers communicated. The article concludes by applying this hypothesis to an experiment in comparison: if it is not the differences but the similarities that stand out when Cicero and Isidore of Seville's respective meditations upon chronicles are set side by side, then what are the implications for our methods of reconstructing the significance of chronicles in their own milieus?
Medieval Worlds, 2016
Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction... more Review article considering the idea of genre in Burgess and Kulikowski's "Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre." Please download the article directly from the Medieval Worlds website : http://www.medievalworlds.net/?arp=0x0034027b The authors wrote a formal response in (Medieval Worlds v. 5, 2017) available here: https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00369e45.pdf Richard W. Burgess and Michael Kulikowski's "A Historical Introduction to the Chronicle Genre from its Origins to the High Middle Ages" (Volume I in the authors' planned series "Mosaics of Time: The Latin Chronicle Traditions from the First Century BC to the Sixth Century AD") posits that medieval studies has neglected to engage in a systematic, historically-informed reflection on the genre of chronicles. The present article asserts that this challenge to the field presents a unique opportunity for an interdisciplinary discussion of wide scope and lasting duration. I thus argue that Burgess and Kulikowski's larger points may be reconciled with current scholarship on medieval chronicles by updating the theoretical premises that underlie our identification of historical genres. I aim to contribute to the discussion by turning to a consensus in current theoretical work, that genre is best discussed as a description of the way texts and their readers communicated. The article concludes by applying this hypothesis to an experiment in comparison: if it is not the differences but the similarities that stand out when Cicero and Isidore of Seville's respective meditations upon chronicles are set side by side, then what are the implications for our methods of reconstructing the significance of chronicles in their own milieus?