Books by Meredith Riedel
The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886–912), was not a general or even a soldier, like his predecessor... more The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886–912), was not a general or even a soldier, like his predecessors, but a scholar, and it was the religious education he gained under the tutelage of the patriarch Photios that was to distinguish him as an unusual ruler. This book analyses Leo's literary output, focusing on his deployment of ideological principles and religious obligations to distinguish the characteristics of the Christian oikoumene from the Islamic caliphate, primarily in his military manual known as the Taktika. It also examines in depth his 113 legislative Novels, with particular attention to their theological prolegomena, showing how the emperor's religious sensibilities find expression in his reshaping of the legal code to bring it into closer accord with Byzantine canon law. Meredith L. D. Riedel argues that the impact of his religious faith transformed Byzantine cultural identity and influenced his successors, establishing the Macedonian dynasty as a 'golden age' in Byzantium.
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Book Chapters by Meredith Riedel
Zwei Sonnen am Goldenen Horn? Kaiserliche und patriarchale Macht im byzantinischen Mittelalter, 2011
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Oxford History of History Writing, vol. 2 (History Writing in the Middle Ages), 2012
Medieval cultures in the East were generally more reticent than Western ones in describing warfar... more Medieval cultures in the East were generally more reticent than Western ones in describing warfare in bloody detail. As events that involved the death or mutilation of large numbers of people, battles are traumatic experiences that tend to inhibit creative literary description of them. The three cultures examined in this chapter approached the recording of war very differently. The Tang Chinese histories are formulaic, abstract to the point of statistics; they offer only names and casualty numbers. Byzantine writing about warfare is pragmatic, gives some operational details, and is concerned for the character of commanders, but avoids exalting them. Abbasid war poetry and chronicles glorify the moral superiority of Muslim commanders, especially in comparison to non-Muslim opponents, yet present the brute facts of battles in an epigrammatic way. All three cultures combined accounts of war with the exigencies of religion, which influenced their goals before battle and means of commemoration after battle. For the purposes of this chapter, ‘medieval’ will refer to the period between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. In taking an explicitly comparative approach, this investigation aims to illumine certain principles common to war-making in early medieval cultures, whilst also exposing religious biases that serve to differentiate opponents. Three cultures will be examined:
- the Tang dynasty in China (618–908),
- the Macedonian dynasty in Byzantium (867–1025)
- and the Abbasid caliphate in the Middle East (750–1258).
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The Bible in Byzantium: Appropriation, Adaption, Interpretation, ed. by C. Rapp & A. Külzer, Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements 25.6, 2018
This essay proposes to present an analysis of how the emperor Leo VI (r. 886‒912) used scriptural... more This essay proposes to present an analysis of how the emperor Leo VI (r. 886‒912) used scriptural language and biblical references to mold his vision of proper Christian political identity. He was not following cultural norms, but rather deliberately attempting to set them. As an elite, educated porphyrogennetos of the middle Byzantine era, Leo was comfortable using and referencing scriptural materials. Moreover, he was also unafraid to do that most un-byzantine of things: innovate. In particular, biblical references from one political document attributed to Leo VI – his military manual, the Taktika – reveal his particular approach to using the Bible.
Based on evidence from the Taktika, this essay will present a preliminary sketch of Leo’s exegetical method, and then consider how this contributes to his concept of ideal Byzantine Christianity. His use of scripture is interesting for its creativity, flexibility, and sometimes-overt cheekiness. It thus provides an initial direction for theorizing the use of religious language in Middle Byzantium.
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Greek and Roman Military Manuals, J. Chlup and C. Whately (eds.), New York, 2020
The author examines the military manual of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise. It is a unique ... more The author examines the military manual of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise. It is a unique work of consolidation and innovation: while Leo's Tactics draws upon Earlier military texts, he also imbues it with Christian ideals - that is, he presents a Christianized general. This balance of imitation and innovation would appear to give a new lease of life to the military manual. These chapters appear to agree that one aspect of military thinking is the focus on how to conceptualize the enemy. Whereas the Greeks and romans considered themselves as superior fights to their foreign (barbarian) enemies, by the Byzantine period there appears to be a recognition that this was no longer the case. In this sense, Maurice and Leo balance between following the generic traditions of the military manual and creating texts that are relevant to the shifting realities of warfare in that period.
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‘Photios’ Hermeneutic for Wisdom Literature in Amphilochia 9’, Reception of the Bible in Byzantium: Texts, Manuscripts, and their Readers, R. Ceulemans and B. Crostini (eds.), Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia, Uppsala (Sweden), Jan 2021
The Amphilochia of Photios (d. ca.895) is a collection of letters that explain difficulties in th... more The Amphilochia of Photios (d. ca.895) is a collection of letters that explain difficulties in the scriptures and related doctrines of the church. In Amphilochia 9, Photios applies himself to harmonizing what appears to be a conundrum in Orthodox theological anthropology:
How does one reconcile the saying of David ‘human life is like grass’ (Psalm 102.15) with the proverb of Solomon ‘man is great and precious’ (Prov 20.6)? [Πως του θεοπατορος Δαυιδ ειποντος ‘ανθροπος ωσει χορτος αι ημεραι αυτου’ και εξης, ο τουτου παις Σολομων αποφαινεται ‘μεγα ανθρωπος και τιμιον ανηρ’;]
This is more philosophical than exegetical, in terms of the content of these particular biblical sayings from the wisdom literature of the LXX. Photios approaches the problem with several concerns in mind. First, he must deal with the immediate question of the significance of humanity in the divine oikonomia. Second, the sayings of two of the Byzantines’ favourite biblical models of kingship, David and Solomon, must be reconciled or harmonised without impugning either David (a model claimed by Basil I) or Solomon (the model later applied to Basil’s son, Leo VI). As biblical prototypes, the wisdom of these two Israelite kings, particularly for Byzantine emperors, cannot be overstated. After the period of exile in which Photios wrote the first 75 treatises of the Amphilochia, he rather famously authored two mirrors-of-princes, directed to the newly-baptized Boris-Michael of Bulgaria and to his former pupil Leo VI, so his analysis of these conflicting sayings is also useful to understanding how he theorized kingship and authority.
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Papers by Meredith Riedel
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2012
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The English Historical Review, 2022
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The Byzantine emperor Leo VI “the Wise” (r. 886-912) rewrote civil law in an attempt to bring it ... more The Byzantine emperor Leo VI “the Wise” (r. 886-912) rewrote civil law in an attempt to bring it into conformity with the ecclesiastical canons of the eastern Christian church. In the context of the later ninth century and the adjustment of the empire to a cultural context where iconophile theology had won a decisive battle, Leo wanted to demonstrate unimpeachable orthodoxy in the citizenry and to develop unity and harmony in a religious context that had been shredded for more than a century over the iconoclast controversy. His method for achieving this required reshaping the behavior and customs of his subjects by means of an extensive legislative program. Leo’s introduction to his new laws described the endeavor as cleansing ("anakatharsis" is the Greek term he uses).
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Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Christian Identity
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Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Christian Identity
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Greek and Roman Military Manuals, 2020
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Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Christian Identity
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The Bible in Byzantium, 2018
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Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle
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Encyclopedia of the Medieval Chronicle
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Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, 2016
This article examines the two extant military speeches attributed to Constantine VII Porphyrogenn... more This article examines the two extant military speeches attributed to Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos for their biblical references and allusions. These speeches demonstrate imperial Byzantine exegesis, establish biblical grounds for the ‘chosen’ status of Byzantine Christians, and reveal that the non-soldierly emperor Constantine VII appropriated the role of a mediating priestly figure as a way of claiming authority over his fighting forces. In this, he follows in the footsteps of his father, the emperor Leo VI (r. 886–912). Both speeches are explicitly Christian, and were used to bolster military morale and to reinforce imperial authority.
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The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2012
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The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2012
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Books by Meredith Riedel
Book Chapters by Meredith Riedel
- the Tang dynasty in China (618–908),
- the Macedonian dynasty in Byzantium (867–1025)
- and the Abbasid caliphate in the Middle East (750–1258).
Based on evidence from the Taktika, this essay will present a preliminary sketch of Leo’s exegetical method, and then consider how this contributes to his concept of ideal Byzantine Christianity. His use of scripture is interesting for its creativity, flexibility, and sometimes-overt cheekiness. It thus provides an initial direction for theorizing the use of religious language in Middle Byzantium.
How does one reconcile the saying of David ‘human life is like grass’ (Psalm 102.15) with the proverb of Solomon ‘man is great and precious’ (Prov 20.6)? [Πως του θεοπατορος Δαυιδ ειποντος ‘ανθροπος ωσει χορτος αι ημεραι αυτου’ και εξης, ο τουτου παις Σολομων αποφαινεται ‘μεγα ανθρωπος και τιμιον ανηρ’;]
This is more philosophical than exegetical, in terms of the content of these particular biblical sayings from the wisdom literature of the LXX. Photios approaches the problem with several concerns in mind. First, he must deal with the immediate question of the significance of humanity in the divine oikonomia. Second, the sayings of two of the Byzantines’ favourite biblical models of kingship, David and Solomon, must be reconciled or harmonised without impugning either David (a model claimed by Basil I) or Solomon (the model later applied to Basil’s son, Leo VI). As biblical prototypes, the wisdom of these two Israelite kings, particularly for Byzantine emperors, cannot be overstated. After the period of exile in which Photios wrote the first 75 treatises of the Amphilochia, he rather famously authored two mirrors-of-princes, directed to the newly-baptized Boris-Michael of Bulgaria and to his former pupil Leo VI, so his analysis of these conflicting sayings is also useful to understanding how he theorized kingship and authority.
Papers by Meredith Riedel
- the Tang dynasty in China (618–908),
- the Macedonian dynasty in Byzantium (867–1025)
- and the Abbasid caliphate in the Middle East (750–1258).
Based on evidence from the Taktika, this essay will present a preliminary sketch of Leo’s exegetical method, and then consider how this contributes to his concept of ideal Byzantine Christianity. His use of scripture is interesting for its creativity, flexibility, and sometimes-overt cheekiness. It thus provides an initial direction for theorizing the use of religious language in Middle Byzantium.
How does one reconcile the saying of David ‘human life is like grass’ (Psalm 102.15) with the proverb of Solomon ‘man is great and precious’ (Prov 20.6)? [Πως του θεοπατορος Δαυιδ ειποντος ‘ανθροπος ωσει χορτος αι ημεραι αυτου’ και εξης, ο τουτου παις Σολομων αποφαινεται ‘μεγα ανθρωπος και τιμιον ανηρ’;]
This is more philosophical than exegetical, in terms of the content of these particular biblical sayings from the wisdom literature of the LXX. Photios approaches the problem with several concerns in mind. First, he must deal with the immediate question of the significance of humanity in the divine oikonomia. Second, the sayings of two of the Byzantines’ favourite biblical models of kingship, David and Solomon, must be reconciled or harmonised without impugning either David (a model claimed by Basil I) or Solomon (the model later applied to Basil’s son, Leo VI). As biblical prototypes, the wisdom of these two Israelite kings, particularly for Byzantine emperors, cannot be overstated. After the period of exile in which Photios wrote the first 75 treatises of the Amphilochia, he rather famously authored two mirrors-of-princes, directed to the newly-baptized Boris-Michael of Bulgaria and to his former pupil Leo VI, so his analysis of these conflicting sayings is also useful to understanding how he theorized kingship and authority.