Several of the Jewish manuscripts on view in Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition are thought to have come from the Cairo Genizah, a repository of communal, religious, and business documents housed in the attic of the tenth-century Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo that was re-discovered in 1896 by Cambridge scholar Solomon Schechter.

Read More

Introducing the arts of the Islamic world to a new audience is often a challenge for scholars, not only because the reader may be unfamiliar with the names or chronology, but also because the subject covers such a vast geographic area. Islamic Art and Architecture, 650–1250 by Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina provides a thorough overview to the arts and architecture of the Islamic world from North Africa to Central Asia beginning with the jahiliyya (pre-Islamic) period and ending with the Mongol siege of Baghdad in 1258. The book illustrates a wide array of objects both secular and sacred, luxurious and mundane.

Read More

In the heart of the Bronx, just off the 6 train, is the bustling, welcoming, and "byzantine" church of Saint Anselm. The church was built in 1916 and finished just one year later under Father Bernard Kevenhoerster, a prominent Benedictine prelate.1 Although the original design for the church called for a Gothic building, the structure and format intentionally emulates that of Hagia Sophia, the church built by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century. The massive dome that hovers over the nave, the colonnaded side aisles, and the impression from the exterior of dome shapes piled one atop the other all speak to the inspiration produced by the Constantinopolitan church, one that was shared by other American churches of the early twentieth century.2

Read More

Hagia Sophia is the Orthodox Patriarchal church located in the former Byzantine capital, Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). It was originally built in 360 A.D. during the reign of Constantius II, but was destroyed during a period of riots at he beginning of the fifth century. A second basilica with a wooden roof was constructed under the orders of Theodosius II to replace the destroyed structure, but it, too, was destroyed during the Nika Revolt in 532 A.D.

Read More

Few figures embody the transitional spirit of the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. as fully as does John of Damascus. His life gives a sense of the multicultural milieu of the early Islamic city and its diverse population of Christians and Muslims, Arabs and Greeks.

Read More

Scholars have produced ample studies on the imperial and aristocratic life of Byzantium, focusing on buildings, endowments, clothes, and other aspects. While these studies provide essential insights into the Byzantine world, the empire did not consist solely of emperors, their entourages, or wealthy families, the dynatoi. Another view is offered through the lens of the non-elite society, which existed somewhat independently and shaped the Byzantine community economically, culturally, and socially.

Read More

While many studying the late antique period tend to focus on large-scale political shifts, change on the microlevel is often more difficult to track. Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt offers such a sense of everyday people's daily concerns by allowing us to peek at their correspondence.

Read More

One of the mosaics on view in the exhibition comes from the city of Gerasa (modern-day Jerash, Jordan). Gerasa was an architecturally dense city founded during the second century B.C.E. Under Roman rule it included two theaters, two bath houses, a nymphaeum (public fountain), and a macellum (meat market). Although its prosperity diminished over time, by the third century C.E. the city had regained some of its wealth and reinstituted massive building campaigns.

Read More

New York offers a feast of sounds for early music enthusiasts who would like to immerse themselves in the aural landscape of the medieval and contemporary Middle East. The Met has scheduled a number of musical events in conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition.

Read More