xxii, 287 pages, [32] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliographic Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
Contents:
Background: from late antiquity to the middle ages -- Restructuring the empire: the seventh century -- Reconstruction: the ninth and tenth centuries -- Decentralization and "feudalization" of the Byzantine state -- Decentralization -- Urban evolution in the provinces: archaeological and literary evidence -- Urban evolution in the provinces: arts and crafts -- Urban economy and institutions -- "Feudalization" of the Byzantine social structure -- The nature of the Byzantine estate -- The nature of the Byzantine nobility -- Changes in the social character of the Byzantine aristocracy -- Changes in the bureaucracy -- Popular and aristocratic cultural trends -- Popular tendencies in Byzantine society -- Changes in the daily regime: dress, diet, and diversion -- Popular elements in literature -- Popular features in religious life -- The "aristocratization" of culture -- The Byzantine family -- Search for legitimacy: the importance of lineage -- The Creation of an aristocratic ideal -- Image of the ideal ruler -- Epitome of aristocracy: digenis akritas -- The Pursuit of knowledge -- The Educational system -- Academic institutions -- Academic politics -- Intellectuals in society -- The Assimilation of the classical tradition -- Byzantium and the authors of antiquity -- The Byzantine reading of classical literature -- Art and antiquity -- Law -- Byzantine science -- Intimations of rationalism: theology and ideology -- Rationalism and the imperial ideal -- Byzantium and alien cultures -- Traditional attitudes toward "Barbarians" -- Contact with alien cultures: the frontier zone -- Contact with alien cultures: the center -- Breakdown of some of the traditional barriers -- Effects of foreign influence -- Unbreachable barriers -- Man in literature and art -- Artist, audience, and object -- From the ideal to the ordinary -- Abstraction to naturalism -- Impersonal to personal