Arietta Papaconstantinou is Reader in Classics at the University of Reading and Associate Faculty Member in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. [1] [2] [3] She is an expert in the religious, social and economic history of Egypt and the Near East during the transition from the Roman Empire to the Caliphate.
Papaconstantinou was educated at the German School of Athens and Deree College in Athens. [4] She received a Masters in Archaeology and a PhD in Ancient History from the Université de Strasbourg. Her doctoral thesis was entitled Le Culte des saints en Egypte d'après la documentation papyrologique et épigraphique grecque (Ve - VIIe siècle) (1993). [5] Papaconstantinou was Maître de Conférences at the Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, where she taught since 1999. [6] [4] She joined Reading University in 2011.
Papaconstantinou was a Summer Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks in 1998. Her project was “The Cult of Saints in Byzantine and Umayyad Egypt: The Contribution of Greek and Coptic Papyrological and Epigraphical Evidence”. [7] She was a Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, 2006–7. Her research project was 'The Rise and Fall of Coptic: A Cultural History of the Language and its Speakers'. [8] She contributed to the University of Oxford's 'Cult of Saints Project', funded by the European Research Council, [9] and she collaborated on the 'Provinces et empires: l'Égypte islamique dans le monde antique' Project at the Institut français d’archéologie orientale. [10] With David B. Hollander and Andrew Erskine, Papaconstantinou is a General Editor for the Encyclopedia of Ancient History, published by Wiley. [11]
Hippolyte Delehaye, S.J., was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographical scholar and an outstanding member of the Society of Bollandists.
Auguste Choisy was a French architectural historian and author of Histoire de l'Architecture.
Jean Leclant was a renowned Egyptologist who was an Honorary Professor at the College of France, Permanent Secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Letters of the Institut de France, and Honorary Secretary of the International Association of Egyptologists.
The "Coptic period" is an informal designation for Late Roman Egypt and Byzantine Egypt. This era was defined by the religious shifts in Egyptian culture to Coptic Christianity from ancient Egyptian religion, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century.
The Hodegon Monastery in Constantinople was allegedly founded by Saint Pulcheria (399–453), a daughter of Emperor Arcadius. The monastery is considered one of the three main Marian foundations built in the city along with the Blachernai and the Chalkoprateia.
Euchaita (Εὐχάϊτα) was a Byzantine city and diocese in Helenopontus, the Armeniac Theme, and an important stop on the Ancyra-Amasea Roman road.
Sirarpie Der Nersessian was an Armenian art historian, who specialized in Armenian and Byzantine studies. Der Nersessian was a renowned academic and a pioneer in Armenian art history. She taught at several institutions in the United States, including Wellesley College in Massachusetts and as Henri Focillon Professor of Art and Archaeology at Harvard University. She was a senior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks, its deputy director from 1954–55 and 1961–62, and a member of its Board of Scholars. Der Nersessian was also a member of several international institutions such as the British Academy (1975), the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1978), and the Armenian Academy of Sciences (1966). By the 1970s, she was recognized as the leading scholar in Armenian studies.
Vestes was a Byzantine court title used in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Mutilation was a common method of punishment for criminals in the Byzantine Empire, but it also had a role in the empire's political life. By blinding a rival, one would not only restrict his mobility but also make it almost impossible for him to lead an army into battle, then an important part of taking control of the empire. Castration was also used to eliminate potential opponents. In the Byzantine Empire, for a man to be castrated meant that he was no longer a man—half-dead, "life that was half death". Castration also eliminated any chance of heirs being born to threaten either the emperor's or the emperor's children's place at the throne. Other mutilations were the severing of the nose (rhinotomy), or the amputating of limbs.
The Theme of Samos was a Byzantine military-civilian province, located in the eastern Aegean Sea, established in the late 9th century. As one of the Byzantine Empire's three dedicated naval themes, it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy.
The Byzantine John the Deacon is the author of a tract on the veneration of saints and against the doctrine of soul sleep.
Paul Magdalino is a British Byzantinist who is Bishop Wardlaw Professor (Emeritus) of Byzantine History at the University of St Andrews. He received the 1993 Runciman Award for his monograph on the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180), which challenged Niketas Choniates' negative appraisal of the ruler.
Alain Ducellier was a French historian and professor emeritus at Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail who specialized in Byzantine studies and Christianity in the middle east. He was the author or editor of more than 40 books.
Cécile Morrisson is a French historian and numismatist. She is Director of Research emeritus at the French National Center for Scientific Research and specializes in the study of the Byzantine Empire.
Alice-Mary Talbot is an American Byzantinist. She is director of Byzantine studies emerita, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Sophia Antoniadis was a Greek Byzantinist. She was the first female professor at the Leiden University, the first female Humanities professor in the Netherlands and during her career was one of the few Greek women to hold a position at a European university.
Gilbert Dagron was a French historian, Byzantine scholar, professor at the College de France (1975-2001), president of the International Association for Byzantine Studies, member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Arts.
This article lists historical events that occurred between 501–600 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.
Marcelle Gabrielle Baud was a French Egyptologist and artist.
Jacques Jarry was a French linguist and archeologist.