Author Archives: Hiperboreea

Over the last two decades, the old conception of the Classical civilization’s decline in the Mediterranean area has become more and more replaced with a different vision that could be summarized as “The Transformation of the Roman World” (which is the title of a series of books that produced substantial contributions to the study of the period between 3^rd and 7^th centuries). Luca Zavagno, who has already published in the past decade some preliminary studies on the topic at hand, presents us with another work that fits within the existing paradigm of Classical studies, as applied to the evolution of urban life in the eastern part of the Mediterranean.

In the first chapter (“The Byzantine City: A Symphony in Three Movements”) the author lays out the methodological framework for the study of the different transformations of the landscape and functions and structure of the Byzantine cities in Asia Minor, in the islands and in continental Greece. He insists on the definition of the “Byzantine city” as a multifunctional settlement, whose evolution was influenced by the dynamic relations between its social composition and the urban structures. For instance, it was observed that the urban functions were often dispersed in different places (in Epirus, the bishoprics were located in settlements with a hybrid character, between rural and urban). The fluctuating use of the public and private functions of the urban space traced by the archaeological research in different cities attests to the survival of urban life, and contradicts the idea of the constant crisis which would have followed the beginning of the 7^th century.

The second chapter (“The Historiography of Byzantine City: Interpretations, Methodology, and Sources”) is a detailed survey of the debates on the fate of urban life between 7^th and 13^th centuries in the Mediterranean space. The now prevailing opinion contradicts the idea of a decline specific to that period, by including it in a larger perspective of a longue durée of adaptations determined by interactions between the central and local administration, the Church, the hinterland of the cities and the macro-economy of the whole Mediterranean area, in which the Byzantine cities were interconnected. The development from one type of urbanism (Roman) to another one (the early Byzantine) was shaped by the exchange systems of the entire Mediterranean scale, in the same way as the Italian merchant city-states. This process was not a decline, but a transformation, evidenced by the archaeological research which attests to the development of the artisanal and commercial activities in cities like Corinth, Thebes, Monembasia or Athens.

A particular problem is the significance of the names applied to the Byzantine cities, such as polis and kastron. The presence of bishoprics was defining for a polis even if the settlement was in decline, while kastron (used after the 7^th century) was specific to any fortified administrative or military center. The presence of a bishop or of churches with relics of patron saints enabled the resilience and development of urban life. They gave spiritual protection to the cities whose strong walls, built in many cases with recycled stones, and not always erected in response to attacks, attest to the need for security for the new kind of urban community. Some data about city life was provided by hagiographies, but the progress of the archaeological research offers now a different view than that proposed by Aleksander Kazhdan in 1954, namely of the decline and revival of the cities in the framework of a feudal system.

The decreasing number of coins is not a testament to collapse, but a lesser need for cash in the new type of settlements and for the new type of military organization, as was demonstrated by Michael Hendy. On the contrary, the study of Byzantine pottery production reveals a flourishing economy, integrated in the Mediterranean space, which contradicts the catastrophic vision supported, for instance, by Clive Foss. Currently, extensive excavations and the refining of ceramics studies are providing a better understanding of the Early Byzantine urban economy. The survival of urban life was enabled by the coastal position which gave to those cities the opportunities to belong to what could be called a Byzantine koine. The development of the urban centers was also stimulated by the presence of the archontes, the local aristocrats, who founded churches, monasteries and other buildings. Their need for various goods determined the growth of trade and artisanal activities in the cities. The Italian city states had a certain influence in this evolution.

In Chapter 3 (“Urbanism in the Byzantine Heartland and the Coastal/Insular koine”),the evolution of urban life in three regions, Anatolia, the Aegean heartland, and the islands or other littoral places, is discussed according to the available literary sources and archaeological excavations. In Anatolia, one of the best researched cities is Amorium, whose importance as theme residence increased after the middle of the 7^th century in relation to the needs of defense against Arab attacks. The upper part of the city, soon rebuilt after the siege of 838, remained an important military and economic center until the expansion of the Seljuqs.

Another city from Anatolia, Ancyra, also illustrates the resilience of urban life after the grave Arab attack of 838, while at Amastris the development benefitted from shipping connections. Other Anatolian cities that preserved a high level of urban life were Nicaea, Ephesos and Attaleia. In the Aegean heartland, Thessalonike is impressive for its strong fortification system (several times repaired after earthquakes), but also for the flourishing economic life ensured by the harbor and by the influx of pilgrims. The prosperity increased when peaceful relations were established with the northern Bulgarian neighbors, for whom this city was a marketplace.

Second to Thessalonike in importance, Corinth was a terrestrial and maritime crossroad as well, whose prosperity was preserved during the early and middle Byzantine period, especially as a production center. On a lesser level, Athens and Thebes resisted as administrative and ecclesiastic centers, where the manufacturing activity is documented by the literary sources and archaeological discoveries.

A special case is Monembasia, founded in the 7^th century as a refuge place. Its position ensured an important place on the maritime route between west and east, with commercial and military significance. The last section of the chapter presents several cities from the islands of Crete (Gortyn, Eleutherna), Cyprus (Salamis), Sicily (Syracuse, Catania, Palermo) and Sardinia (Cagliari), as well as from the Dalmatian coast (Butrint, Dyrrachium) and Crimea (Cherson). They belonged to what the author calls the “koine of the other sea”, a fragmented periphery of the Byzantine space, which remained more or less under the domination of the empire. The fragmentation of the maritime routes after the 7^th century and the frequent Arab raids affected somewhat the economic life of these cities ruled by archontes or by strategoi, but the urban features survived, including artisanal activity (pottery, metal working, constructions).

The general conclusions (chapter 4) summarizes the considerations in regard to the resilience of urban life evidenced by archaeological research even for the worst period of the Byzantine Empire (7th-9th centuries). The reason for the survival of the artisanal and building activity was the presence of the secular and ecclesiastic elites in these cities.

As a general statement, it could be concluded that Luca Zavagno’s book provides a comprehensive critical overview of the research conducted on early Byzantine urban life, as can be seen from the large bibliographies annexed to each chapter. It is obvious that the author was able to manage a large amount of data from differrent regions of the Byzantine area and use them to demonstrate his approach to the problem of the continuity of urban life.  

Alexandru Madgearu, PhD, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Defence Studies and Military History in Bucharest, Romania

Imagining Bosnian Muslims in Central Europe. Representations, Transfers and Exchanges is a result of a project led by Fratišek Šístek and Peter Hladký. According to the editors, the purpose of the book is to point out “contacts, transfers and exchanges between people of Central Europe and Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, and also to monitor the development of the national identity of Bosnian Muslims. Therefore, the book can be divided into two parts. The first part follows past Central European relation towards Muslims. The second part deals with the period after the World War II, аnd it covers a wider range of topics from the official recognition of the national identity of Bosnian Muslims to contemporary perceptions of their identity in the diaspora.

Aside from the Introduction and Conclusion the book is comprised of thirteen chapters. Beginning with the introduction, “The Turkish Threat’ and Early Modern Central Europe: Czech Reflections,” authors Ladislav Hladký and Petr Stehlík explore the change in perception of the Turkish threat in the “Lands of the Bohemian Crown”. Their section consists of two thematic units. In the first unit, the authors examine the financial and military contribution to the “Lands of the Bohemian Crown” in the Habsburg defense against the Turks. While in the second part they point to the transformation of the “Turkish threat” in the period between the 16th and 18th centuries. The authors conclude that over time, the Czech struggle with the Turks was regarded in the collective memory as a relic of some ancient heroic past.

The next chapter, “The Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina between Millet and Nation,” by Božidar Jezernik, follows the development of national identity among Bosnian Muslims through the different periods and reigns, from the Ottoman era through the Austro-Hungary to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The author points out the overlap of religious and national identity and also discusses the pressure on Muslims to accept “Serbian or Croatian national identity.” Jezernik also made a mistake stating that 1453 was the year of publication for the Ahdname to the Franciscans, instead 1463 (43 pp).

In the third chapter, “Ambivalent Perceptions: Austria-Hungary, Bosnian Muslims and the Occupation Campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878)” Martin Gabriel writes about the perceptions of public opinion in Austro-Hungary expressed through newspapers, but also in memoirs from the participants in the occupation. For example, as the Muslims were presented as “savages” (pp. 68), it was a response to the armed resistance to the occupation, but also had a foothold in the collective memory of the Austro-Ottoman wars of earlier times.

Clemens Ruthner’s chapter, “Sleeping Beauty’s Awakening: Habsburg Colonialism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1878-1918,” considers the extent to which the colonial paradigm is applicable to the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author’s dilemma is how to evaluate 40 years of Austro-Hungarian administrations, whether “in terms of civilizational mission or within the paradigm of European colonialism”? (pp. 80). He concludes that the Austro-Hungarian administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be characterized as “Quasi colonialism” (pp. 86).

In his chapter, “The Portrayal of Muslims in the Austro-Hungarians  Primary School Textbooks for Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Oliver Pejić emphasizes Interconfessional education as an important lever of Austro-Hungary’s self-proclaimed civilizing mission. Accorded to the administration, textbooks were supposed to play a double role, in the creation of the collective identity of Bosnian Muslims, and also in the emergence of loyal subjects to the monarchy.

In the following chapter, “Towards Secularity: Autonomy and Modernization of Bosnian Islamic Institutions under Austro-Hungarian Administration,” Zora Hesová focuses on the formation of autonomous Bosnian Islamic institutions whose foundations were laid during the Austro-Hungarian administration and whose heritage is still visible in the modern era. The formation of an Islamic religious community independent of Istanbul was a necessity in political terms as well. She emphasizes the importance of the 1909 Statute, concluding that Austro-Hungary “had a direct” and “formative and long-lasting influence on the character of Bosnian Islamic institutions and practices” (pp. 118).

In “Under the Slavic Crescent: Representations of Bosnian Muslims in Czech Literature, Travelogues and Memoirs 1878-1918,”František Šístek, quotes authors who examined modernization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as some even fantasized that Muslims would accept Catholicism – a “fantasy” that at the beginning of the 20th century gradually faded. The author concludes that in the period from the 1870s to 1918, there was a visible trend of positive representation and humanization of Muslims in Czech texts.

Author Charles Sabatos, in his chapter, “Divided Identities in the Bosnian Narratives of Vjenceslav Novak and Rebecca West,”compares Novak’s short story Maca (1881) and West’s travelogue in terms of different perceptions about Muslim identity. While Novak claims that Bosnian Muslims are not Turks and that they are Croatian brothers of Islamic faith, West claims that Bosnian Muslims are actually Serbs.

After World World II, Austro-nostalgia was revived. Bojan Baškar explores it in the example of Vera Stein Erlich as he discusses her private and public life, emphasizing her feelings of nostalgia for the Austro-Hungarian times. Regarding Muslims, Stein puts forward a bold theory, claiming that the culture and life of Bosnian Muslims was in fact a version of a larger oriental style and she placed the homeland in medieval Muslim Spain (pp. 162). In essence, the theory is incorrect, but according to Baškar, these are Stein’s attempts to connect Bosnia with her favorite area – Mexico (pp. 165).

Marija Mandić, in “The Serbian Proverb Poturica gori od Turčina (A Turk-Convert Is Worse Than a Turk): Stigmatizer and Figure of Speech,” relates the origin of the Proverb to the process of Islamization during the Ottoman Empire. According to the author, Proverb is used in the literal sense, but also in the figurative one. Its purpose is stigmatizing the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, but also the converts.

In the next chapter, “From Brothers to Others? Changing Images of Bosnian Muslims in (Post) -Yugoslav Slovenia,” Alenka Bartulović researches the perception about Bosnians and partly Bosnian Muslims in Slovenian society from the 1980s onward. She points out that Bosnians were first assumed as semi-rural and primitive people, and then Islamophobia and Balkanism emerged. Bartulović asserts that in the early 1990s Islam was set up as the most visible marker and the most obvious sign of the ethnic difference between Bosniaks and Slovenes.

Finally, the works of Aldina Čemernica and Merima Šehagićexplore the position of Bosnian Muslims in Germany. Čemernica deals with the issue of identity in the “Bosnian, European, Berliner” triangle among young Muslims of Bosnian descent (pp. 222). She claims that religion is a significant cohesion factor among Bosnian Muslims. On the same trail is Šehagić’s chapter about the attitude of Western society towards Bosnian Muslims. She concludes that they are understood as representatives of the European form of Islam, are considered white, and consequently they are accepted.

Ultimately, this book represents a significant venture in the study and development of the national identity of Bosnian Muslims, of the past relation between Central Europe and Austro-Hungary with Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as today’s Western perception toward them.

Stojanka Lužija, PhD, senior teaching assistant at the University of Banja Luka, Faculty of Philosophy, History Department.