A conversation with Anna Sitz (Universität Heidelberg) on how Byzantines read ancient inscriptions - or modified, re-used, and defaced them. Ancient cities were full of inscribed texts, many on temple walls or referring to the gods in prominent ways. How did Christians cope with these monuments when they took over the cities of Greece and Asia Minor? We talk about a number of cases, including the massive inscription of Augustus' Res Gestae in Ankara. The conversation is based on Anna's book Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers: The Afterlives of Temples and Their Texts in the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean (Oxford University Press 2023).
81. Surviving the Mongol storm, with Nicholas Morton
80. Diagrams: from sundials to the schematics of the Trinity, with Linda Safran
79. The enduring power of ancient statues in Constantinople, with Paroma Chatterjee
78. How to be philanthropic in early Byzantine Christianity, with Dan Caner
77. How did most people in the Roman empire get by? with Kim Bowes
76. Exploring the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, with Sergey Ivanov
75. The politics of archaeological heritage and reclamation, with Jonathan Hall
74. Laments for the Fall: Constantinople and Tenochtitlan in counterpoint, with Eleni Kefala
73. When did women “bind up” their hair, and why?, with Gabriel Radle
72. What do we mean by “Byzantine literature”?, with Stratis Papaioannou
71. Manuel II Palaiologos (1350-1425) had a lot to say, with Siren Çelik
70. Trees have histories too, with Alexander Olson
69. The experiences of Byzantine children, with Oana-Maria Cojocaru
68. Classical scholarship and philology in Byzantium, with Filippomaria Pontani
67. Wherein Tina and I take bad scholarly habits to task, with Tina Sessa
66. The perils of childbirth, with Christian Laes
65. Who was Hypatia of Alexandria and what does she stand for? with Silvia Ronchey
64. How did emperors make decisions?, with Michael Grünbart
63. The religion of simple believers, with Jack Tannous
62. Byzantine dress and fashion, with Jennifer Ball and Elizabeth Dospěl Williams
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