Knowing bodies, passionate souls : sense perceptions in Byzantium /
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook,editor.
Mullett, Margaret,editor.
"Byzantine culture was notably attuned to a cosmos of multiple dominions: material, bodily, intellectual, physical, spiritual, human, divine. Despite a prevailing discourse to the contrary, the Byzantine world found its bridges between domains most often in sensory modes of awareness. These different domains were concretely perceptible and were encountered daily amidst the mundane no less than the exalted. Icons, incense, music, sacred architecture, ritual activity; saints, imperial families, persons at prayer; hymnography, ascetical or mystical literature: in all of its cultural expressions, the Byzantines excelled in highlighting the intersections between human and divine realms through sensory engagement (whether positive or negative). Byzantinists have been slow to look at the operations of the senses in Byzantium, especially those of seeing, its relation to the other senses, and phenomenological approaches in general. More recently, work on smell and hearing has followed that on seeing, and yet the areas of taste and touch--the most universal and most necessary of the senses--are still largely uncharted. Nor has much been done to explore how Byzantines viewed the senses, or how they envisaged the sensory interactions with their world. A map of the connections between sense-perceptions and other processes (of perception, memory, visualization) in the Byzantine brain has still to be sketched out. How did the Byzantines describe, narrate, or represent the senses at work? It is hoped to further studies of how individual senses in Byzantium operated in the context of all the senses, and their place in Byzantine thought about perception and cognition. Recent work on dreaming, on memory, and on the emotions has made advances possible, and collaborative experiments between Byzantinists and neurological scientists open further approaches. The happy coincidence of this symposium with the upcoming Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium, 'Sound and Scent in the Garden, ' and a forthcoming exhibition at the Walters Art Museum on the five senses enables cross-cultural comparisons that include gardens in Islamic Spain, Hebrew hymnography, Syriac wine-poetry, Mediterranean ordure, and Romanesque and Gothic precious objects that were not just looked at but also touched, smelled, and heard. Architects, musicologists, art historians, archaeologists, philologists can all contribute approaches to the revelation of the Byzantine sensorium"--Publisher's website.
Papers from a symposium held April 25-27, 2014 at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.
Introduction  /  Susan  Ashbrook  Harvey  and  Margaret  Mullett  --  Sense  lives  of  Byzantine  things  /  Glenn  Peers  --  The  materiality  of  sensation  in  the  art  of  the  late  Middle  Ages  /  Martina  Bag noli  --  Perceptions  of  sound  and  sonic  environments  across  the  Byzantine  acoustic  horizon  /  Amy  Papalexandrou  - Kalophonia  and  the phenomenon  of  embellishment  in  Byzantine  psalmody  /  Spyridon  Antonopoulos  --  Geographies  of  silence  in late  antiquity  / Kim  Haines-Eitzen  --  Scent,  sound,  and  the  senses  in Islamic  gardens  of  Al-Andalus  /  D. Fairchild  Ruggles  --  Olfactory  associations  with  the  past  in  premodern  Greece  /  Felipe  Rojas  and  Valeria  Sergueenkova  --  The  work  of  holy  oil  /  Susan  Ashbrook  Harvey  --  Struggling  with  Romanos's  dagger  of  taste  /  Thomas  Arentzen  --  Monks  baking  bread  and  salting  fish  :  an  archaeology  of  early  monastic  ascetic  taste  /  Darlene  L.  Brooks  Hedstrom  -  Byzantine  Christianity  and  tactile  piety  (fourth-fifteenth  centuries)  /  Béatrice  Caseau  - -  A    touch  of  violence  :  feeling  pain,  perceiving  pain  in Byzantium  /  Galina Tirnanić --  To  touch  or not  to  touch  :  erotic  tactility  in  Byzantine  literature  /  Ingela  Nilsson  -- Virtual  sensations  and  inner  visions  : words  and  the  senses  in late  antiquity  and Byzantium  /  Ruth  Webb  --  Bitter  waters  and  dew  of  rest  :  corruption  and  creation  in  two  late  ancient  Jewish  hymns  / Laura  Suzanne  Lieber  --  The  spiritual  senses, monastic  and  theological  /  Marcus  Plested.
"Byzantine culture was notably attuned to a cosmos of multiple dominions: material, bodily, intellectual, physical, spiritual, human, divine. Despite a prevailing discourse to the contrary, the Byzantine world found its bridges between domains most often in sensory modes of awareness. These different domains were concretely perceptible and were encountered daily amidst the mundane no less than the exalted. Icons, incense, music, sacred architecture, ritual activity; saints, imperial families, persons at prayer; hymnography, ascetical or mystical literature: in all of its cultural expressions, the Byzantines excelled in highlighting the intersections between human and divine realms through sensory engagement (whether positive or negative). Byzantinists have been slow to look at the operations of the senses in Byzantium, especially those of seeing, its relation to the other senses, and phenomenological approaches in general. More recently, work on smell and hearing has followed that on seeing, and yet the areas of taste and touch--the most universal and most necessary of the senses--are still largely uncharted. Nor has much been done to explore how Byzantines viewed the senses, or how they envisaged the sensory interactions with their world. A map of the connections between sense-perceptions and other processes (of perception, memory, visualization) in the Byzantine brain has still to be sketched out. How did the Byzantines describe, narrate, or represent the senses at work? It is hoped to further studies of how individual senses in Byzantium operated in the context of all the senses, and their place in Byzantine thought about perception and cognition. Recent work on dreaming, on memory, and on the emotions has made advances possible, and collaborative experiments between Byzantinists and neurological scientists open further approaches. The happy coincidence of this symposium with the upcoming Garden and Landscape Studies Symposium, 'Sound and Scent in the Garden, ' and a forthcoming exhibition at the Walters Art Museum on the five senses enables cross-cultural comparisons that include gardens in Islamic Spain, Hebrew hymnography, Syriac wine-poetry, Mediterranean ordure, and Romanesque and Gothic precious objects that were not just looked at but also touched, smelled, and heard. Architects, musicologists, art historians, archaeologists, philologists can all contribute approaches to the revelation of the Byzantine sensorium"--Publisher's website.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction / Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Margaret Mullett -- SIGHT -- Sense lives of Byzantine things / Glenn Peers -- The materiality of sensation in the art of the later Middle Ages / Martina Bagnoli -- SOUND -- Perceptions of sound and sonic environments across the Byzantine acoustic horizon / Amy Papalexandrou -- Kalophonia and the phenomenon of embellishment in Byzantine psalmody / Spiro Antonopoulos -- Geographies of silence in late antiquity / Kim Haines-Eitzen -- SMELL -- Scent, sound, and the senses in Islamic gardens of al-Andalus / Dede Fairchild Ruggles -- The smell of time : olfactory associations with the past in pre-modern Greece / Felipe Rojas Silva and Valeria Segueekov -- Fragrant matter : the work of holy oil / Susan Ashbrook Harvey -- TASTE -- Struggling with Romanos's "Dagger of Taste" / Thomas Arentzen -- Monks baking bread and salting fish : an archaeology of early monastic ascetic taste / Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom -- TOUCH -- Byzantine Christianity and tactile piety (fourth-fifteenth centuries) / Beatrice Caseau -- A touch of violence : feeling pain, perceiving pain in Byzantium / Galina Tirnanic -- To touch or not to touch : erotic tactility in Byzantine literature / Ingela Nilsson -- THE SENSORIUM -- Virtual sensations and inner visions : words and the senses in late antiquity and Byzantium / Ruth Webb -- Bitter waters and dew of rest : senses and liturgy in early Byzantine Judaism / Laura Lieber -- The spiritual senses, monastic and theological / Marcus Plested.
Senses and sensation
Senses and sensation
Senses and sensation
Perception
Cognition