Rural lives and landscapes in late Byzantium
Subtitle: art, archaeology and ethnography
By: Sharon E. J. Gerstel (University of California, Los Angeles)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2016
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Subjects: Rural conditions; Villages; History; Peasants; Landscapes; Economic conditions; Social life and customs; Byzantine Painting; Social archaeology; Ethnoarchaeology
Description: "This is the first book to examine the late Byzantine peasantry through written, archaeological, ethnographic, and painted sources. Investigations of the infrastructure and setting of the medieval village guide the reader into the consideration of specific populations. The village becomes a micro-society, with its own social and economic hierarchies. In addition to studying agricultural workers, mothers, and priests, lesser-known individuals, such as the miller and witch, are revealed through written and painted sources. Placed at the center of a new scholarly landscape, the study of the medieval villager engages a broad spectrum of theorists, including economic historians creating predictive models for agrarian economies, ethnoarchaeologists addressing historical continuities and disjunctions, and scholars examining power and female agency"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The landscape of the village; title: Communication and the village church; title: The village woman; title: Village men, village labor; title: In the service of the church; title: The body and the soul.