A Most Pleasant Scene and an Inexhaustible Resource: Steps Towards a Byzantine Environmental History

280 Pages·2017·44.262 MB·English, German

by  Henriette Baron, Falko Daim (eds.)

What do we know about the environments in which the Byzantine Empire unfolded in the eastern e A Most Pleasant Scene
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Mediterranean? How were they perceived and how did man and the environment mutually influence r
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each other during the Byzantine millennium (AD 395-1453)? Which approaches have been tried up o and an Inexhaustible Resource
until now to understand these interactions? And what could a further environmental-historical research s
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agenda look like? R Steps Towards a
These questions were the focus of an interdisciplinary conference that took place on 17 and 18 Novem- e
ber 2011 in Mainz. The present conference volume brings together contributions from researchers who bl Byzantine Environmental History
have approached these issues from very different perspectives. They focus on the explanatory power of ti
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traditional as well as »new« sources and the methods of Byzantine Studies and Byzantine archaeology for u
this hitherto little-explored sphere. In this way, we see how closely environmental history is interwoven a
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with the classical topics of Byzantine research – be they of an economic, social or culture-historical nature. x
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Henriette Baron · Falko Daim (eds)
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Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident: e
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Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz r
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Die Reihe Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident wird vom Vorstand des gleichnamigen Leibniz-
WissenschaftsCampus Mainz, einer seit 2011 bestehenden Kooperation des Römisch-Germanischen
Zentralmuseums und der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz sowie weiterer Kooperationspartner,
herausgegeben.
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Die Reihe dient als Publikationsorgan für das Forschungsprogramm des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus, das
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Byzanz, seine Brückenfunktion zwischen Ost und West sowie kulturelle Transfer- und Rezeptionsprozesse n
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von der Antike bis in die Neuzeit in den Blick nimmt. Die Methoden und Untersuchungsgegenstände der B
verschiedenen Disziplinen, die sich mit Byzanz beschäftigen, werden dabei jenseits traditioneller Fächer-
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grenzen zusammengeführt, um mit einem historisch-kulturwissenschaftlichen Zugang Byzanz und seine O
materielle und immaterielle Kultur umfassend zu erforschen. B

Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz
Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident | 6
Veröffentlichungen des Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz
Der Leibniz-WissenschaftsCampus Mainz ist eine Forschungskooperation des
Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums und der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
A Most Pleasant Scene
and an Inexhaustible Resource
Steps Towards a
Byzantine Environmental History
Henriette Baron · Falko Daim (eds)
Interdisciplinary Conference November 17th and 18th 2011 in Mainz
Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums | Mainz | 2017
Redaktion: Stefan Albrecht, Henriette Baron,
Claudia Nickel (RGZM)
Übersetzung des Vorworts und Klappentextes sowie Korrektur
englischer Summaries: Carola Murray-Seegert, Oberursel
Satz: Dieter Imhäuser, Hofheim a. T.
Umschlaggestaltung: Claudia Nickel (RGZM) unter Verwendung von
Cod. Ven. Marc. Gr. Z 479, fol. 2v, ed. I. Spatharakis, The Illustrations
of the Cynegetica in Venice. Codex marcianus graecus Z 479 (Leiden
2005) fi g. 4.
Bibliografische Information
der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in
der Deutschen Nationalbibliografi e; detaillierte bibliografi sche
Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
ISBN 978-3-88467-278-5
© 2017 Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums
Das Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Die dadurch begründeten
Rechte, insbesondere die der Übersetzung, des Nachdrucks, der
Entnahme von Abbildungen, der Funk- und Fernsehsendung, der
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Druck: johnen-druck GmbH & Co. KG, Bernkastel-Kues
Printed in Germany.
Table of Contents
Falko Daim
7 Preface
Henriette Baron
9 Introduction – Steps Towards an Environmental History of the Byzantine Empire
15 Steps Towards Landscapes
Rainer Schreg
17 Siedlungsökologie und Landnutzungsstrategien im byzantinischen Osten
Katie Green
Rural Byzantine Landscapes of the Eastern Mediterranean: New Approaches to Characteri-
35 sation and Analysis
Marlia Mundell Mango
47 Responding to Byzantine Environments: Then and Now
Andrew G. Poulter
The Economy, the Countryside, Forts and Towns: The Early Byzantine Period on the Lower
79 Danube during the 4th - 6th Centuries AD
Carolina Cupane
Wilde und gezähmte Natur. Beobachtungen zur Wahrnehmung von Natur und Landschaft
101 in der byzantinischen Literatur
Stefan Albrecht
»Der Wald, ein Ort, der von Bäumen bestanden wird, der von Feuchtigkeit gedeiht, eine
111 Anhäufung von Holz, ein Morast«
135 Unlocking Sources
Paul Arthur
137 Environmental Archaeology and Byzantine Southern Italy
Anna Elena Reuter
Die byzantinische Kulturlandschaft – Kulturpfl anzen als Indikatoren für byzantinische
149 Mensch-Umwelt-Interaktionen
Henriette Baron
171 An Approach to Byzantine Environmental History: Human-Animal Interactions
J. Riley Snyder
Exploiting the Landscape: Quantifying the Material Resources Used in the Construction of
199 the Long-distance Water Supply of Constantinople
Johannes Koder
217 Byzantinisches Mönchtum und Umwelt
Klaus-Peter Todt · Bernd Andreas Vest
Die Wahrnehmung von Klima, Wetter und Naturkatastrophen in Syrien in den literarischen
241 Quellen des 6.-9. Jahrhunderts
273 List of Contributors
275 Sigles Used
Preface
Dealing with the interdependent relationship between society The natural sciences adopted the subject at an early stage,
and the environment has never been so urgent. Although addressing it as often as possible; nonetheless, the mobili-
there were already cases of ruthless exploitation of resources sation of a substantial part of the population, suffi cient to
in antiquity, such as the deforestation of coastal woodlands induce legislators to undertake far-reaching measures, has
for shipbuilding, this was limited – from a global perspective – so far failed to occur. But in the humanities and cultural
to a tiny area. However, with the development of sea routes studies, the subject is still not well established, despite the
to America, around Africa and to South East Asia, a militar- threat of a global collapse of many societies and their unique
ily superior Europe could grab the natural resources there, cultures. To »nature«, fl ooded cities, devastated landscapes
among which was the guano that since the 19th century has and famine are all the same. The plant and animal world
been shipped overseas in vast quantities, mainly from Peru gradually adapts to the changed conditions, while Hamburg
and Chile. The industrialisation of the 19th century brought and Venice, or more precisely their downfall, play no role
smoking chimneys and contaminated rivers. Only in the 70s from this perspective.
of the 20th century were we able to gain control of this prob- If therefore, there is an urgent need for an intensifi ed,
lem; in many other parts of the world, air and water pollution and also political commitment by the humanities and cul-
are still serious problems. tural studies, this is especially true of archaeology. As early
In our highly industrialised countries, the majority of the as the 19th century, the fi eld was dealing with environmental
population is now well satisfi ed. The cities are no longer as reconstructions in an effort to delineate the framework for
overtly odoriferous as in the 1960s, and the rivers and lakes human existence. The history of the environment, the orig-
are almost clean. And yet the world is on the brink. But the inal American approach to »Environmental History«, goes
warnings of a climate catastrophe affecting all of humanity far beyond that. The question of how humans interact with
no longer seem have an impact. Although there are com- the environment, how they value it and how they make their
plaints about the trains’ lack of punctuality and excessive decisions, especially concerning the use of resources, can be
ticket prices, the endless traffi c jams on the highways and raised in all areas of interdisciplinary research. In contrast to
the scams of many major car brands, most people seem to the social sciences, only historians and archaeologists can
take climate change in stride. And this despite the fact that pursue long-term developments in the exchange between
our security and culture are greatly threatened by increasingly society and the environment. That is why it is all the more
frequent heat waves and the melting of the glaciers, torrential vital to provide in an advisory capacity the synthesised results
rains, fl oods and hurricanes. The harm already caused and the of our research to the political world, and also to address the
economic damage to come are mentioned only in passing. public directly.
In recent years, the triumphal procession of SUVs – »Sport Many years ago, specifi c efforts were already being made
Utility Vehicles« – on our roads is an impressive example, on to explore the relationship of the Byzantines to their environ-
the one hand, of government’s reluctance to set fi rm limits ment. Henriette Baron introduces some pioneering projects
on industry. On the other hand, it shows how little the dec- in the following introduction. Ephesus is also a forerunner 1,
ades of publicly conducted environmental discussions have where the handling of the progressive silting of the bay and
been internalised by the citizenry. What we observe here is the port entrance has been studied over a long period of
that fundamental human characteristic, so often described time. The RGZM, too, has produced quite a bit in this respect:
in detail by the social sciences: the tendency to maintain a seminar with Verena Winiwarter in 2008 led to an initial
one’s habitual way of life as long as possible, contrary to all broad-based environmental conference 2. Soon the topic was
knowledge and logic. also taken up in the Byzantinische Archäologie Mainz, and –
1 Most recently S. Ladstätter, 8.12. Ephesos. In: F. Daim (ed.), Byzanz. Historisch- 2 F. Daim / D. Gronenborn / R. Schreg (eds), Strategien zum Überleben. Umwelt-
kulturwissenschaftliches Handbuch. Der Neue Pauly Supplemente 11 (Stuttgart krisen und ihre Bewältigung. RGZM – Tagungen 11 (Mainz 2011).
2016) 678-685.
from 2011 – in the WissenschaftsCampus Mainz: Byzanz I wish to thank Mrs Henriette Baron for the organisation
zwischen Orient und Okzident. Henriette Baron (at that time of the conference and the compilation and editing of the
still Kroll) summarised the hitherto existing archaeozoologi- present volume, the authors for their valuable articles, as
cal fi ndings 3. Anna Elena Reuter joined a little later. She has well as the publishing house of the RGZM for the additional
been involved in the Caričin Grad project since 2014 and is editing and printing.
breaking new ground in many ways 4. As was previously done Given the enormity of the problem facing our earth, our
in Ephesos, the Ainos Port project is also exploring, with the conference and the present volume are only tiny parts in the
help of core drilling, changes in the surface relief and bays greater image, but in concert with the other sciences, it may
around the important city 5. contribute to a change of thought in our society and politics.
The articles presented here follow another conference, ar- Mainz, October 2017
ranged on 17/18 November 2011 by the WissenschaftsCam- Falko Daim
pus Mainz: Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident, with the
specifi c theme of the human-environmental relationship in
the Byzantine world:
A wonderful aspect and of abundant avail?
Man and his Environment in the Byzantine Empire
Wundervoller Anblick und überreicher Nutzen?
Der Byzantiner und seine Umwelt.
Excellent presentations showed great successes in individual
projects, but also made clear how incomplete our knowledge
in this regard still is. Thus, it became apparent where research
must be intensifi ed to obtain a reliable and reasonably uni-
form database. The historical sciences will explore together
how man changes his environment and how this, in turn,
affects human society. The reconstruction of decisions taken
as well as the aesthetic representation of the environment
and nature in poetry and the fi ne arts will show how the
Byzantines acted, thought and felt in their very different
regions. The result is a mirror in which we see both ourselves
and our society.
3 H. Kroll, Tiere im Byzantinischen Reich. Archäozoologische Forschungen im Über- im 1. Millennium AD: bauliche Konzepte, herrschaftliche und religiöse Einfl üsse.
blick. Monographien des RGZM 87 (Mainz 2010). Interdisziplinäre Forschungen zu Häfen von der Römischen Kaiserzeit bis zum
4 In this volume pp. 149-170. Mittelalter 1. RGZM – Tagungen 22 (Mainz 2015) 53-76.
5 H. Brückner / Th. Schmitds / H. Bücherl / A. Pint / M. Seeliger, Zur Frage der Häfen
von Ainos – eine Zwischenbilanz. In: Th. Schmidts / M. M. Vučetić (Hrsg.), Häfen