bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Parental Validating and Invalidating Responses and Adolescent Psychological Functioning
Authors: Shenk Chad E. , Fruzzetti Alan E.
Published: June 2013

The current study assessed the extent to which parental validating and invalidating behaviors (a) could be reliably measured in parent–adolescent relationships, (b) differed significantly between clinic and nonclinic families, and (c) were associated with measures of adolescent emotion dysregulation, behavior problems, and parent–adolescent relationship satisfaction. Adolescents ( N = 29; age range = 12–18; 62% female) and their parents completed a variety of self-report and parent-report measures of adolescent functioning. Ratings of parents’ validating and invalidating responses during video-recorded social support and problem-solving interactions were obtained. Results indicated that parental validating and invalidating behaviors (a) were measured with a high degree of reliability, (b) differed significantly between clinic and nonclinic families, and (c) were correlated, in expected directions, with adolescent emotion dysregulation, externalizing problem behaviors, and adolescent relationship satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of both research and potentially improved family interventions.
No excess of mitochondrial DNA deletions within muscle in progressive multiple sclerosis
Authors: Campbell Graham R , Reeve Amy K , Ziabreva Iryna , Reynolds Richard , Turnbull Doug M , Mahad Don J
Published: June 2013

Background:

Mitochondrial dysfunction is an established feature of multiple sclerosis (MS). We recently described high levels of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions within respiratory enzyme-deficient (lacking mitochondrial respiratory chain complex IV with intact complex II) neurons and choroid plexus epithelial cells in progressive MS.

Objectives:

The objective of this paper is to determine whether respiratory enzyme deficiency and mtDNA deletions in MS were in excess of age-related changes within muscle, which, like neurons, are post-mitotic cells that frequently harbour mtDNA deletions with ageing and in disease.

Methods:

In progressive MS cases ( n=17), known to harbour an excess of mtDNA deletions in the central nervous system (CNS), and controls ( n=15), we studied muscle (paraspinal) and explored mitochondria in single fibres. Histochemistry, immunohistochemistry, laser microdissection, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), long-range PCR and sequencing were used to resolve the single muscle fibres.

Results:

The percentage of respiratory enzyme-deficient muscle fibres, mtDNA deletion level and percentage of muscle fibres harbouring high levels of mtDNA deletions were not significantly different in MS compared with controls.

Conclusion:

Our findings do not provide support to the existence of a diffuse mitochondrial abnormality involving multiple systems in MS. Understanding the cause(s) of the CNS mitochondrial dysfunction in progressive MS remains a research priority.
Asking about reasonable accommodation in England
Authors: Shah Prakash
Published: June 2013

Interviews conducted with leading actors in England asking a range of questions about religious diversity and the legal framework and, in particular, about reasonable accommodation, helped identify a number of areas of concern. There was some doubt about whether specific legal provision should be brought in to guarantee reasonable accommodation. However, there was broad support for having the principle adopted in the practice of employers, whereas some preferred the current informality rather than the principle being enforced through litigation. None of the respondents came up with illustrations outside Judaism, Christianity or Islam. The results are consistent with recent critical studies showing that the assumption in social sciences that religion is a universal has been imported from theology. Religion-based questions only pick out certain phenomena specific to some cultures and an inevitable skew is created when asking such questions because they make sense only within an Abrahamic religious framework. Although enabling the identification of some aspects of culture considered to merit reasonable accommodation on the grounds of religion, the results also pose questions about the adequacy of current standard research methodologies which assume that religion is a universal.
Explaining differences in age at autism spectrum disorder diagnosis: A critical review
Authors: Daniels Amy M , Mandell David S
Published: June 2013

The diagnosis of autism is often delayed, which translates into a missed opportunity to provide treatment during a critical developmental period. This study reviews studies that assessed factors associated with age at autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and provides recommendations on future research, programs, and policies to improve early detection. A search for all peer-reviewed articles containing the words autism, age, and diagnosis in either the title or abstract was performed. A total of 42 studies published from January 1990 through March 2012 were identified. Mean age at diagnosis for all autism spectrum disorders ranged from 38 to 120 months and has decreased over time. Factors associated with earlier diagnosis included greater symptom severity, high socioeconomic status, and greater parental concern about initial symptoms. Family interactions with the health and education systems prior to diagnosis also influenced age at diagnosis. Geographic variation in age at autism spectrum disorder diagnosis was identified in a number of studies, suggesting that community resources and state policies play a role in early identification. Early detection efforts should include enhanced parental and provider education on the early recognition of developmental problems, interventions aimed at streamlining the process from first concern to eventual diagnosis, and strategies that target underserved populations.
Healing history? Aboriginal healing, historical trauma, and personal responsibility
Authors: Waldram James B.
Published: June 2013

What can an exploration of contemporary Aboriginal healing programs such as those offered in Canadian prisons and urban clinics tell us about the importance of history in understanding social and psychological pathology, and more significantly the salience of the concept of “historical trauma”? The form of Aboriginal “healing” that has emerged in recent decades to become dominant in many parts of the country is itself a reflection of historical processes and efforts to ameliorate the consequences of what is today often termed “historical trauma.” In other words, contemporary notions of “healing” and the social, cultural, medical, and psychological disruption and distress caused by colonialism and captured in the term “historical trauma” have coevolved in an interdependent manner. I also argue that there is a tension between the attribution of this distress to both specific (e.g., residential schools) and generalized (e.g., colonialism) historical factors, as evident in the “historical trauma” concept, and the prevailing emphasis in many healing programs to encourage the individual to take personal responsibility for their situation and avoid attributing blame to other factors. I conclude that “historical trauma” represents an idiom of distress that captures a variety of historical and contemporary phenomena and which provides a language for expressing distress that is gaining currency, at least among scholars, and that the contemporary Aboriginal healing movement represents an effort to deal with the absence or failure of both “traditional” Aboriginal healing and government-sponsored medical and psychological services to adequately deal with this distress of colonialism.
Democracy unbound? Non-linear politics and the politicization of everyday life
Authors: Chandler David
Published: June 2013

In liberal modernity, the democratic collective will of society was understood to emerge through the public and deliberative freedoms of associational life. Today, however, democratic discourse is much more focused on the formation of plural and diverse publics in the private and social sphere. In these ‘non-linear’ approaches, democracy is no longer seen to operate to constitute a collective will standing above society but as a mechanism to distribute power more evenly through the social empowerment of individuals and communities as the ultimate decision-makers. Government is brought back ‘to the people’ and democracy is seen to circulate through the personal decisions made in everyday life. This article seeks to analyse the development of non-linear approaches to the political sphere, which seek to overcome the rationalist assumptions of the public/private divide, paying particular attention to the work of two key liberal theorists, John Dewey and Friedrich von Hayek.
The effect of stakeholder involvement on legislative duration: Consultation of external actors and legislative duration in the European Union
Authors: Rasmussen Anne , Toshkov Dimiter
Published: June 2013

Despite the increased use of stakeholder consultations, little is known about their impact on the legislative process. We examine how consultation of external actors during policy preparation affects decision-making duration and efficiency. We test our predictions on EU legislative decision-making and we find that although stakeholder consultations in policy preparation may increase the democratic legitimacy of decision-making, they result in efficiency losses in the subsequent legislative processes. Hence, rather than smoothing the way for quick legislative reconciliation, consultations increase the transaction costs of subsequent bargaining by prolonging the time needed to form the necessary coalitions and reach legislative deals. However, despite the proliferation of different tools for involving external actors, we find no differences in legislative speed between open and restricted consultations.
Individual and Collective Dimensions of Resilience Within Political Violence
Authors: Sousa Cindy A. , Haj-Yahia Muhammad M. , Feldman Guy , Lee Jessica
Published: June 2013

Research has documented a link between political violence and the functioning of individuals and communities. Yet, despite the hardships that political violence creates, evidence suggests remarkable fortitude and resilience within both individuals and communities. Individual characteristics that appear to build resilience against political violence include demographic factors such as gender and age, and internal resources, such as hope, optimism, determination, and religious convictions. Research has also documented the protective influence of individuals’ connection to community and their involvement in work, school, or political action. Additionally, research on political violence and resilience has increasingly focused on communities themselves as a unit of analysis. Community resilience, like individual resilience, is a process supported by various traits, capacities, and emotional orientations toward hardship. This review addresses various findings related to both individual and community resilience within political violence and offers recommendations for research, practice, and policy.
Personality Traits and the Sense of Civic Duty
Authors: Weinschenk Aaron C.
Published: June 2013

Recently, a burgeoning literature has developed around the idea that personality traits influence political attitudes and orientations. There has also been increasing recognition that orientations like the sense of civic duty exert a powerful influence on voting behavior. Despite the theoretical and empirical importance of civic duty, little research has investigated its antecedents. This article turns to individual personality traits as a potential explanation for why some people feel a stronger sense of civic duty than others. The analysis shows that a number of the Big Five traits shape an individual’s sense of civic duty, with Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness having statistically significant ( p < .05) effects. The effects of personality traits rival and, in some cases, exceed the influence of variables that have typically been used to explain the sense of duty, including income. In the end, this study provides new evidence that personality traits influence broad orientations toward political life.
Interest in medical therapy for celiac disease
Authors: Tennyson Christina A. , Simpson Suzanne , Lebwohl Benjamin , Lewis Suzanne , Green Peter H. R.
Published: June 2013

Objectives:

A gluten-free diet is the treatment for celiac disease, but pharmaceutical agents are being developed. The level of interest amongst patients in using a medication to treat celiac disease is unknown. This study examined the level of interest amongst patients in medication to treat celiac disease.

Methods:

A questionnaire was distributed to celiac disease patients and data were collected on demographics, presentation, and interest in medication. Three validated celiac disease-specific instruments were incorporated: Celiac Disease Associated Quality of Life, the Celiac Symptom Index, and the Celiac Dietary Adherence Test.

Results:

Responses were received from 365 individuals with biopsy-proven celiac disease. Respondents were 78% ( n = 276) female, 48% ( n = 170) over 50 years of age, and experienced a classical (diarrhea predominant) presentation in 44% ( n = 154). Of the 339 individuals answering the question regarding use of a medication to treat celiac disease, 66% were interested. Interest was greatest in older individuals (71% >50 years of age versus 60% <50 years of age, p = 0.0415), men (78% men versus 62% women, p = 0.0083), frequent restaurant customers (76% versus 58%, p = 0.0006), those dissatisfied with their weight (73% versus 51%, p = 0.0003) and those concerned with the cost of a gluten-free diet (77% versus 64%, p = 0.0176). Length of time since diagnosis, education, presentation, and symptoms with gluten exposure did not demonstrate any effect. Interest in medication was associated with a worse quality of life (CD-QOL 69.4 versus 80.1, p < 0.0001).

Conclusions:

Most individuals with celiac disease are interested in using a medication. Interest was highest among men, older individuals, frequent restaurant customers, individuals dissatisfied with their weight or concerned with the cost of a gluten-free diet, and those with a worse quality of life.
Controversies on individualized prostate cancer care: gaps in current practice
Authors: Joniau Steven , Pfister David , de la Taille Alexandre , Gaboardi Franco , Thompson Alan , Ribal Maria J.
Published: June 2013

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a heterogeneous disease with a wide spectrum of aggressiveness. Evidence-based guidelines are invaluable but cannot be expected to be extensive enough to provide detailed guidance on the management of all patients. As such, the use of individualized, risk-adapted approaches to the management of PCa is indispensable. However, wide variation in treatment approaches observed for patients in practice suggests that there is an unmet need to improve the individualized approach towards patient care. A holistic approach that encompasses guidelines and evidence-based medicine could be used to guide individualized care for patients with PCa, from first contact through to final outcomes. As a result of an international expert meeting, this paper proposes this approach and highlights some of the factors that can be considered when aiming to identify patients’ profiles; individualize treatment; and improve communication between patients and the healthcare teams.
Hand-based swing traction splinting for intra-articular proximal interphalangeal joint fractures
Authors: Hirth Melissa J , Jacobs David J , Sleep Kate
Published: June 2013

Introduction

Acute intra-articular fractures of the proximal interphalangeal joint have always presented as a difficult injury to manage for the treating surgeon and therapist. Traction management enabling ligamentotaxis and motion is a popular method to manage these injuries. This case series presents the design and results of hand-based swing traction splinting which is less cumbersome for patients than other forms of traction splinting.

Methods

Five patients presenting with intra-articular proximal interphalangeal joint fractures underwent surgery whereby a transverse K-wire was inserted across the middle phalanx. The treating Occupational Therapist fabricated a hand-based swing traction splint to provide a distraction force from the K-wire to the splint. Range of motion and patient satisfaction were the primary outcome measures.

Results

All five patients reported satisfaction with their hand function following therapy involving swing traction splinting. Furthermore, range of motion was comparable to other forms of traction management reported in the literature with an 88° mean arc of motion at the proximal interphalangeal joint.

Conclusion

This case series demonstrates that hand-based swing traction splinting is a viable treatment option for the management of intra-articular proximal interphalangeal joint fractures. With similar outcomes to other forms of distraction that enable early movement, such as the pins and rubber traction system, this design is an alternative. The less cumbersome splint design is the main advantage over other splinting methods that apply distraction whilst also enabling early motion.
A study to compare two goniometric methods for measuring active pronation and supination range of motion
Authors: Cimatti Bruno , Marcolino Alexandre M , Barbosa Rafael I , De Cássia Registro Fonseca Marisa
Published: June 2013

Introduction

Movement of the forearm allows positioning the hand during several functional activities of daily living. Assessing range of motion of supination and pronation is essential for clinical identification of functional limitations, although many methods can be used. Confounding values can be found due to different techniques used by therapists. The purpose of this study was to compare two standard goniometric methods for measuring active range of motion of forearm pronation and supination, aiming to define its reliability and ease of use.

Methods

The study included 33 individuals, 13 injured and 20 non-injured volunteers. We analyzed two standard goniometric methods for measuring pronation and supination. For the first method, the volunteers had to hold a pencil as a guide for the movable arm of the goniometer and for the second method the movable arm was in contact with the distal dorsal surface of the wrist near the ulna head, and the hand was free. Two trained examiners performed the evaluations. Intraclass correlation coefficient and limits of agreement of Bland and Altman were used to analyze the data.

Results

Intraclass correlation coefficient values were excellent for both groups and movements at inter-rater and inter-methods comparison. Bland and Altman plots showed that, although excellent reliability, some data dispersion was present.

Conclusion

These data suggest that both methods could be used in clinical practice with excellent reliability. The goniometric method with the movable arm placed in contact with the distal dorsal surface of the wrist near the ulna head might be easier to perform and useful in cases where finger prehension is absent or weak, which would prevent the use of a pencil as reference.
Orthotic device and exercise regime for flexor pollicis longus tendon repair in cases with possible Linburg–Comstock anomaly
Authors: Barabas Anthony , Lloyd Nola
Published: June 2013

The Linburg–Comstock anomaly is a variation on normal anatomy of the flexor pollicis longus of the thumb and the flexors of the index finger. If not recognised this may contribute to complications after a flexor pollicis longus repair. This article looks at a case where the anomaly may have led to re-rupture of the tendon repair and proposes an orthosis and exercise regime to manage this anatomical variant.
The imperial governors of Dyrrakhion in the reign of Alexios I Komnenos
Authors: Frankopan Peter
Published: June 2013

This article considers the conclusions that we can draw about the imperial governors of Dyrrakhion in the reign of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. It looks at why Dyrrakhion became increasingly important in the course of the 11th Century and, above all, after Alexios’ usurpation of the throne in 1081. Careful attention is paid to establishing the identity of the various individuals whom we know to have held the position of doux of the town in the period between 1081-1118, and the chronology of and context for the appointments looked at in detail. The significance of Dyrrakhion is further highlighted by drawing attention to the fact that only the very closest intimates of the Emperor — and indeed only senior members of the imperial family itself — were made governors of the town in this period. This study represents a fresh examination of Dyrrakhion, and establishes several new conclusions about the identities and careers of the imperial governors of the town in the reign of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
Sticks and Stones: Byzantine Material Culture
Authors: Grünbart Michael , Stathakopoulos Dionysios
Published: June 2013

Suddenly last summer, research on Byzantine Material Culture, la belle aux bois dormant, was awakened from a prolonged siesta. In the 20th International Congress of Byzantine Studies held in Paris two papers were given in an attempt to chart out the progress made in this particular field in the past decades. T. Kolias assembled the various projects undertaken by individuals or institutions dealing with the different aspects of Byzantine daily life and material culture. M. Mundell Mango focused more on the archaeological evidence at hand and illustrated through the examples of architecture and industrial products how these could be used to detect and explain the interaction between centre and periphery. Just two weeks later, in September 2001 a conference entitled ‘Material Culture and Well-Being in Byzantium (400-1453)’ was organised in Cambridge. A number of suggestions were made during the conference, as for example to initiate a website to host a continuously updateable bibliography and to act as a forum of scholarly exchange in the numerous fields covered by research on material culture.
A tenth-century inscription from Syngrasis, Cyprus
Authors: Papacostas Tassos C.
Published: June 2013

A hitherto unpublished 10th-c. funerary (?) painted inscription from a rather remote middle Byzantine church in rural Cyprus provides unambiguous evidence of the impact of Bardas Skleros’ revolt in areas not directly affected by the rebel’s activities. It also yields information on the floruit of Epiphanius IV, a little known metropolitan of the island. Finally, and most importantly, it furnishes the earliest and most secure terminus ante quern for any medieval building on Cyprus and for the introduction of the cross-in-square church type and the elaboration of its local variant.
A description of the jousts of Manuel I Komnenos
Authors: Jones Lynn , Maguire Henry
Published: June 2013

The thirteenth-century manuscript Greek 1409 in the Vatican Library contains an anonymous Greek ekphrasis of the jousts of an unnamed Byzantine emperor. The text, which has interest for both historians and art historians, has been cited on several occasions in the scholarly literature, but never analyzed in detail. In the following pages we provide a translation of the text, together with a commentary upon the context of the piece. We will argue that the ekphrasis not only describes a specific work of art, depicting a specific event, but also gives valuable information about the visual language through which Byzantine emperors of the twelfth century expressed their power.
A Karamanlidika Inscription from Mount Athos (1818)
Authors: Clogg Richard
Published: June 2013

Recent years have seen an increase in scholarly interest in the karamanli Christians, that sizeable population of Turkish-speaking Orthodox Christians, who were mainly concentrated in Asia Minor, but pockets of whom were to be found in the Crimea-Azov region and in Turkey in Europe. In die absence of extensive written records for the history of these populations, inscriptions in karamanlidika (Turkish karamanlīca), or Turkish written with Greek characters, constitute an important source of historical data; places of origin and places to which they migrated in search of a livelihood; the names in common use among them; the occupations they followed; their membership of guilds; the state of literacy prevailing in the communities in which they lived; some indication of the relative prosperity of die community or the individual; indications as to dieir life span and, in some cases, the cause of death. Clearly, too, the study of inscriptions in karamanlidika has much the same value for the linguist interested in the historical development of the Turkish dialects, as has the study of printed books and documents written in karamanlidika.
Humour and Status Reversal in Greek Shadow Theatre
Authors: Danforth Loring M.
Published: June 2013

Traditional plays of the Greek shadow theatre deal with the adventures of Karaghiozis, a poor Greek who is the embodiment of πovηρία (cunning, slyness). Plays of the comic type, and more specifically, plays in which Karaghiozis assumes a position requiring certain skills, have a standard narrative structure or plot which can be summarized as follows : A wealthy Turkish pasha or vizier, looking for a person to perform a job which requires certain skills, meets Hadziavatis, the subservient town crier, and asks for his help in finding such a person. Hadziavatis agrees at once, sets off, and invariably meets Karaghiozis, who, upon learning of the position the Turk is trying to fill, immediately claims to possess the prerequisite skills. Widi much humour and cleverness Karaghiozis convinces first Hadziavatis and then the Turk that he can in fact perform the job. Karaghiozis then appears on stage as the skilled person widi the appropriate costume or equipment (cook’s hat, doctor’s bag, secretary’s writing implements, etc.). He is transformed from a poor uneducated man of low status into a skilled educated man of high status. In that position he deceives several stock characters, such as Omorphonios, Dionysios and Stavrakas, until his deceit is finally exposed and he is chased off stage.
Guglielmo de Tocco, Captain of Corfu: 1330-1331
Authors: Luttrell Anthony
Published: June 2013

Those portions of the Angevin archives at Naples which had survived earlier disasters were destroyed in 1943, Yet documents issued during the fourteenth century by the various Neapolitan branches of the Angevin dynasty can still be discovered in private archives and elsewhere. Such texts are particularly important when they concern Latin Greece for which the sources are strictly limited. The hitherto unknown act published here shows Angevin administrations at work both on Corfu, where the Latins had established Neapolitan institutions, and at Naples, where the Angevin Princes of Achaea and Taranto kept their archives. This document throws light both on the early genealogy of the Tocco and on the way in which the family initiated the acquisition of its extensive possessions in Greece and the Ionian islands; it contributes to the reconstruction of the history of the Tocco family during the decades before the period described in their family chronicle, the first folios of which are missing so that it now effectively begins around 1375. In the case of Corfu in the early fourteenth century, the existing accounts are based in part on exceptionally unsatisfactory materials in the shape of confirmations of privileges granted to the Jewish community. These confirmations, which were issued around 1370 and which contained copies of earlier documents, were preserved in the archives of the Corfu synagogue. They were available to the nineteenth-century Corfiote scholar Andreas Moustoxydes in certified copies translated into what J. A. C. Buchon, to whom Moustoxydes ‘communicated’ his papers, described as ‘detestable Italian’. Moustoxydes used these documents in a careless way, with misprints and contradictions, while Buchon’s versions of what they contained vary from those of Moustoxydes; any control of their content is now impossible since the archives at Corfu, including those of the Jewish community, were destroyed in 1943. Reliable information such as that provided by the document of 1345 preserved in the Tocco family archives and published below is, therefore, especially valuable.
The Traditional Style of Early Demotic Greek Verse
Authors: M. E. , Jeffreys M. J.
Published: June 2013

The subject of formulaic repetition in early demotic Greek verse has often been raised, but till recently has not been seriously studied. In two articles, one on Imberios and Margarona and the other on the Chronicle of the Morea, we have tried to take the first steps in such an analysis.
A Linguistic Approach to the ‘Language Question’ in Greece
Authors: Babiniotis G.
Published: June 2013

In 1975, one year after the restoration of democracy in Greece, the government made a historic decision regarding the Greek language: Modern Greek – by which I mean the simple, everyday language as it is spoken today by all Greeks who have enjoyed an elementary school education – was adopted as the official language of the state. With this decision we embarked on the definitive solution of one of the longest standing controversies of modern hellenism: the language problem, which has tormented the Greeks for centuries.
Greek Workers in the Intermountain West: The Early Twentieth Century
Authors: Papanikolas Helen
Published: June 2013

The Greeks were among many national and racial groups to inundate the Intermountain West at the turn of the century and in many parts of it were the largest group of workers. Payrolls and newspaper reports, the many self-sufficient ‘Greek Towns,’ large chapters of Panhellenic Unions, and the early establishment of Greek Orthodox churches give us cause to believe that the 1910 Census represented only a portion of Greek immigrants. The men were constantly moving and census-taking was haphazard.
The Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the Greek-Italian War, 1940-1: an Analysis of Zahariadis’ Three Letters
Authors: Loulis J. C.
Published: June 2013

An analysis of the position of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) during the Greek-Italian war is interesting not only because it involves a hitherto unsolved puzzle – how and why the KKE’s General Secretary, Nikos Zahariadis, wrote his ‘three letters’ – but also because, it involves background factors that help explain how the KKE emerged, during the occupation period, in possession of an invaluably useful ‘patriotic’ image. Such an image, obtained from Zahariadis’ ‘first’ letter, undeniably facilitated the party’s successful efforts to build up the country’s largest liberation movement (EAM) and, through this movement, to come close to capturing power during the years 1943-4.
Asceticism in Adversity: An Early Byzantine Experience
Authors: Ashbrook Susan
Published: June 2013

The city of Amida lay on the eastern frontier of the early Byzantine Empire, close to the Persian borders; physically and politically, it led a volatile existence. Its situation was thus a dominant factor in the growth of its ascetic tradition, for if the outlying lands did not offer a suitably peaceful life, the social and religious forces calling for an ascetic presence were intense. The early years of the fourth century found the territory of Amida already harbouring individuals of noteworthy ascetic practice, and it was not long before the city itself sheltered an increasing number of monastic communities in and around the urban arena. But the choice of urban rather than wilderness setting signified practical considerations and not social development. The devastation of Amida and its environs by the Persians in 359/60 stated the realities of Amida’s location: invasions were frequent and brutal. An isolated recluse was not exempt from danger unless utterly remote, and proximity to the shelter of fortified walls and communal protection was a simpler alternative.
The New Constantine and the New Constantinople – 1261?
Authors: Macrides Ruth
Published: June 2013

On 15 August 1261 the emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, born, raised, and crowned in ‘exile’ during the Latin occupation of Constantinople, entered the newly reconquered capital for the first time. Michael carefully planned the ceremonial surrounding his entrance into Constantinople, choosing as his day of entry the feast day of the Dormition of the Virgin, the City’s protectress, and giving her icon, known as the Hodegetria, a place of honour in the celebrations. The entire day’s programme was intended as a thanksgiving to God rather than a celebration of an imperial triumph. Preceded by the icon of the Hodegetria, the emperor walked through the Golden Gate, relinquishing his prerogative to ride in a quadriga through the gate which had received emperors returning triumphant from campaign.
A Reading of The Sacrifice of Abraham
Authors: Hadas Rachel
Published: June 2013

In his famous chapter on Odysseus’ scar at the beginning of Mimesis, Erich Auerbach summarizes the stylistic contrast between the lavish detail and leisurely expansiveness of Homeric narrative on the one hand and the austerity of the Genesis story of Abraham and Isaac on the other.
The Unpublished Drafts of Five Poems on Julian the Apostate by C. P. Cavafy
Authors: Lavagnini Renata
Published: June 2013

The texts which are being published here for the first time are part of a group of drafts conserved in the Cavafy Archive, which George Savidis first brought to light; they are poems ‘which Cavafy did not have time to finish, and which he was considering with distress during the last months of his life. Carefully preserved by the poet himself in makeshift dossiers, each with its provisional title and the date, they cover the period from 1918 to 1932 and, together with the nearly completed drafts of a few already published poems… and of some unpublished but completed poems, offer us a unique, unexpected, extremely moving image of the stages of Cavafy’s creation’. Among these unfinished poems, which number approximately thirty in all, there are five that treat of the emperor Julian the Apostate; these are the ones which we are presenting here, with the dual aim of making accessible in the future this new evidence of Cavafy’s interest in Julian (about which Professor Bowersock writes in this same volume), and of offering a sample of the complete edition of the drafts, which Professor Savidis has authorized me to prepare.
Was Digenes Akrites an Oral Poem?
Authors: Beaton Roderick
Published: June 2013

It is often suggested that Digenes is in some way connected with oral poetry, whether the oral folk poetry of the modern ‘acritic’ ballads or the type of oral epic tradition identified by Milman Parry and A. B. Lord in the Homeric poems and in modern Yugoslavia. Some clarification of the possible role of oral tradition in the composition and transmission of Digenes now seems overdue, and in this paper I propose to examine the texts of the poem in the light of recent work on ‘oral literature’, so as to define more precisely in what sense any of these can be described as ‘oral’, and then, more tentatively, to suggest a possible framework for the growth and transmission of the poem which might account for these results.
The Greekness of Modern Greek Surrealism
Authors: Robinson Christopher
Published: June 2013

Surrealism as a full-blown artistic movement, or, as many of its exponents preferred to see it, a full-blown way of life, was very much a French product. The line of descent from Jarry’s Ubu (1896), via the self-conscious modernism of Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars, to the Dadaist activities of 1916 represents the continuation of that semi-official anti-culture which had existed throughout nineteenth-century France. With the destruction of the officially sanctioned culture of Nationalism and Catholic conformism in the débâcle of the First World War, there was a sudden vacuum in French intellectual circles which the anti-culture was quite ready to fill. In the words of an early member of the movement, Roger Vailland: ‘Surrealism was not a literary school. It was above all a common ground and meeting-place for young petit-bourgeois intellectuals particularly aware of the futility of every activity expected of them by their background and their era’.
The Republicanism of Eleftherios Venizelos: Ideology or Tactics?
Authors: Papacosma S. Victor
Published: June 2013

‘Venizelos himself is as you know the most orderly and conservative of revolutionaries but many of his followers are not.’ This statement, included in a June 1917 telegram to the Foreign Office by Lord Granville, Britain’s diplomatic representative to the Greek Provisional Government in Thessaloniki, provides an important guide for understanding much of Eleftherios Venizelos’ political career. Loyal to the basic principles of turn-of-the-century European liberalism, Venizelos nonetheless committed himself to extremist initiatives and authoritarian methods on several occasions. And despite pressures for more radical action by supporters, Venizelos generally tried to contain the extent of his campaigns for political change. Bearing these broader points in mind, along with his constant attention to Greece’s relations with the European powers, it is also possible to understand Venizelos’ attitudes towards the establishment of a republic in Greece. His controversial role regarding this question, at times seemingly erratic, becomes clearer with a close examination of his private statements, many of which are recorded in his correspondence with trusted friends and colleagues and in the dispatches of foreign diplomats to whom he expressed his thoughts.
The History of the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem as Reflected in Codex Patriarchicus No. 428, 1517–1805
Authors: Vryonis Speros
Published: June 2013

Between 1891 and 1898 the indefatigable Greek archivist A. Papa-dopoulos-Kerameus published in five volumes the , The Analects of Jerusalemite Gleanings, in which he edited a large number of texts and short listings of documents dealing specifically with the history of the Greek patriarchate of Jerusalem and more generally with the broader historical frame of reference. Despite the richness of the documentation which his publications revealed the scholarly world has taken little notice of this rich source of materials for the history of the Jerusalem patriarchate as well as for the details of Ottoman administration of the region. The present state and disposition of the manuscript collections of the patriarchate are not known to me and in contrast to the collections of the Greek patriarchate of Alexandria and of Mount Sinai I am not aware of any detailed program of exploitation and systematic description of this collection.
Tsinganos and Yiftos: Some Speculations on the Greek Gypsies
Authors: Messing Gordon M.
Published: June 2013

In 1956 Manos Hadzidakis composed music for a movie entitled , ‘Hurdy-Gurdy, Poverty and Self-Esteem’. While the film itself enjoyed a moderate success, one of the songs from it, ‘Carnation over the ear’, became enormously popular all over Greece. It was in the form of a modern folksong, and the refrain contained some words which have a direct bearing on the theme I wish to develop here:

‘hit your tambourine, babe,/you Turkish Gypsy girl!’
Literary Subversion and the Aristocracy in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: A Stylistic Analysis of the Timarion (ch. 6–10)
Authors: Alexiou Margaret
Published: June 2013

‘Narrative always says less than it knows, but it often makes known more than it says’

(Gérard Genette)

In this paper I wish to argue the relevance of detailed literary and stylistic analysis for a fuller understanding of learned twelfth-century texts, using as my model the elaborate eulogy in the Timarion of a prominent but hitherto unidentified member of the Doukas-Palaiologos family. The passage in question, so far taken at face value, may be interpreted as a highly-wrought and carefully contrived piece of irony, or, in other words, as a subversive ‘send-up’ of one of the most fashionable branches of the twelfth-century aristocracy.
The Archbishop in the Beleaguered City: An Analysis of the Conflicting Roles and Political Oratory of Makarios
Authors: Cassia Paul Sant
Published: June 2013

In this paper I want to examine the significance of Makarios’ combined roles of Archbishop and President of Cyprus for his style of leadership and his political oratory. In so doing I hope to shed some light on certain aspects of ‘The Cyprus Problem’ which has hitherto received scant attention by political scientists and sociologists.
Rebetiko Tragoudi as a Generic Term
Authors: Gauntlett Stathis
Published: June 2013

The wretched underworld… does not fail to have its songs and these are — for Greece — the rebetika.

Rebetis doesn’t mean underworld, nor is the rebetiko its song.

Contradictory statements such as the above are characteristic of the controversy which has surrounded the song tradition loosely called ‘rebetiko’, since it first became a cultural thème du jour in Greece in the late 1940s.
The Constantinopolitan Greek Factor during the Greco-Turkish Confrontation of 1919–1922
Authors: Alexandris Alexios
Published: June 2013

The traditional Greco-Turkish antagonism culminated in the bitter military confrontation which took place in Anatolia immediately after the First World War. While the Greeks fought for the establishment of a foothold in western Anatolia and Thrace, the nationalist Turks resisted vigorously the invasion of what they considered to be their indisputable fatherland. The crux of the problem lay in the Greek determination to bring the entire Hellenic race under a single Greek state. This Hellenic Megali Idea (Great Idea) envisaged a future Greater Greece which was to include Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, western Anatolia and the Aegean islands. The ultimate fulfilment of the Megali Idea would be achieved with the incorporation of Constantinople (İstanbul), the most important administrative, religious, commercial, and cultural centre in the Near East, into the future Greek state. According to Greek nationalists, such a state was to materialise with the final dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, a process which they regarded as inevitable. Deeply rooted in Greek national and religious consciousness, the Megali Idea had for one hundred years inspired official Greek foreign policy.
The Great Chronographer and Theophanes
Authors: Whitby L. M.
Published: June 2013

At two places in the tenth-century manuscript of the Chronicon Paschale extracts from an anonymous chronicle have been added, with the attributions and At the first place a series of fourteen extracts, recording natural catastrophes and other disasters from the late fifth century to the mid-eighth century, is inserted in the context of the account of the Nika Riot. At the second place a single extract is inserted in the margin in the context of the account of Phocas’ deposition of Maurice.
Encountering the Epistemological Challenge or, beyond Humanism: Contemporary Greek Criticism and the Languages of Theory
Authors: Lambropoulos Vassilis
Published: June 2013

Just as any act of periodization periodizes the person doing the periodizing, so also, categorization politically categorizes the person categorizing. (Ryan 1982: 102)

It has been a common assumption that the great number of existing Histories of Modern Greek Literature reflects the growing maturity and sophistication of Greek literary studies. Specialists in the field argue that the variety of approaches and perspectives used in these surveys, while establishing a sense of tradition and achievement, has also stimulated both significant research and major reappraisals. If one adds to this scholarly labour the anthologies, the dictionaries, the encyclopaedias, as well as the studies on particular periods and schools, the picture of a thriving critical industry emerges clearly. It is then very difficult to try and reconcile these promising signs with the pervasive scarcity of meta-theoretical work, beginning with the embarrassing absence of a History of Modern Greek Criticism itself. For how can a field develop without introspection? How can a discipline refine its methods or advance its causes without undergoing vigilant self-examination? The lack of theoretical reflexivity on the part of contemporary Greek literary studies gives often the alarming impression that Greek criticism does not even know its history …
‘Jargon’ vs. ‘the Facts’? Byzantine History-Writing and Contemporary Debates
Authors: Haldon John
Published: June 2013

In recent years ‘theory’ has been much debated in journals devoted to, among other areas of study, literary and historical research. Depending on your outlook, theory is seen either as of positive value to an advance in the understanding of a particular problem or set of problems; or as an irritating irrelevance, indeed a hindrance, to the progress of good research work. Many ‘theorists’, certainly, have gone to the extreme of dismissing empirical historical research as itself irrelevant, founded upon epistemologically indefensible premises and hence misleading if not worthless. While such views are hardly designed to encourage serious engagement with theoretical issues, it is the polarisation of positions of which they are symptoms that I would like to look at in what follows. This article is an overview that will deal in basics. I want to look at the role theoretical debate has taken in historiography generally, and in the area of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies in particular, and the attitudes of its practitioners.
The Politics of Criticism: Deconstruction, Kazantzakis, ‘Literature’
Authors: Jusdanis Gregory
Published: June 2013

The Life and Manners of Alexis Zorbas is Kazantzakis’ most popular and successful novel: in Greece it has been reprinted repeatedly, while abroad it has been the subject of many translations, having been adapted also for the stage and screen. In Europe and North America Alexis Zorbas perhaps ranks as the most widely read Greek novel and is widely perceived as the literary work which best represents the essence of Greece. A number of studies have been devoted to it in Greece and overseas, a fact which also attests to the novel’s strong appeal.

Most critics read the novel in biographical terms, that is, they see the narrator as Kazantzakis, and Zorba as the real peasant the author met in Macedonia. They account for the novel’s popularity by pointing to the legend of Zorba that Kazatzakis created, of the man who had a tremendous zest for life and who moved relentlessly towards the radiant path of freedom. Zorba and the entire novel come to be understood as a mythopoiesis of the life force and a parable of its immediate fulfillment on earth. The novel is thus an affirmation of life and the élan vital. It celebrates life’s struggle against inertia and decay.
Myth and Text: Readings in the Modern Greek Novel
Authors: Beaton Roderick
Published: June 2013

‘… they did not suspect that La Mancha and Montiel and the knight’s lean figure would be, for posterity, no less poetic than the episodes of Sinbad … For in the beginning of literature is the myth, and in the end as well.’ J.L. Borges, ‘Parable of Cervantes and the Quixote’

Mythos is used by Aristotle both in its received sense in his day, meaning a story which need not be literally true but has a special institutional status outside of literature, and in a sense which seems to be new in the fourth century B.C., as a rational ordering of events (synthesis ton pragmaton), a mediating term between story (pragmata) and discourse (tragodia). It is specifically by means of mythos (whether invented or traditional) that tragedy (discourse) can be an imitation (mimesis) of action (praxis/story).