Summary:
The Byzantine Southern Italy (876-1071) consisted of the themes of Longobardia (modern Apulia), Lucania (modern Basilicata) and Calabria, is the least studied region of the Byzantine Empire. After the Byzantine reconquest of this region from the Lombards and the Arabs, Constantinople organized the political, military and ecclesiastical infrastructure of the region in order to establish on the one hand the Byzantine power, and on the other to intergrade the Lombards and the Latin Church within the Empire. The Byzantine politics and the attitude of the population itself formed a frontier society based on co-existence and tolerance without disputes as every demographic group acknowledged its own different identity and the identity of the other. The Byzantine culture in southern Italy was formed, developed and finally established within this context, but always under the control of the central authorities. Until today the Byzantine art of southern Italy has not been the subject of a special study, but it is always studied briefly as a part of the Medieval art of the region. As a result the Byzantine monuments have not been placed so far within the political, religious, social and ideological context in which they were created. This PhD thesis examines for the first time only the art of the Byzantine period in association with the information of the rich Byzantine archive this region possesses. This methodological approach allowed to study the way the artistic creation, the cults and the state ideology were transferred from Constantinople to the western frontier, the way Byzantine art was developed within the context of the demographic differences of this border area, how Byzantine art was acculturated by a frontier society, the means by which the art, the cults and the state ideology were established and how the interaction between the Byzantines and the Lombards is manifested. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the monuments and the other kind of evidence that are directly or indirectly connected with Constantinople itself such as the praitorion of the Catepans of Italy, the liturgical roll Exultet 1 of Bari, and the various commissions of the Byzantine officials. The detailed analysis of the epigram of Basil Mesardonites for his building activity in the praitorion alongside with the archeological data and the evidence from the written sources led to the reestablishment of the praitorion as the political, military and religious centre of the Byzantines, while an attempt is made for its archeological reconstruction. Regarding the Exultet 1 this thesis challenges for the first time the established view that the roll was commissioned by the Lombard archbishop of Bari alone, explores the role the Byzantines played in its decoration and reveals the mechanisms by which the art and the imperial ideology were transferred directly from Constantinople to the western frontier. The detailed analysis of the commissions of the Byzantine officials challenges the traditional view that the churches and the works of art were sponsored only by the local officials. The second part of this thesis studies monumental art in six built and cave churches, i.e. S. Pietro at Otranto, S. Maria della Croce at Casaranello, S. Cristina at Carpignano, Ss. Stefani near Vaste, the anonymous cave church in Grottaglie and the fragments of frescoes that were excavated in the Church BB in Masseria Quattro Macine. The detailed iconographic and artistic analysis not only led to the identification of unknown saints until today and the redating of some of the paintings, but it also revealed the degree of convergence with the monuments of the rest of the empire regarding the art and the cults, and the degree of deviation from the Byzantine tradition as an expression of local eclecticism. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to local issues of art and cult. Here the question of the liturgical use of the cave churches is analysed and the traditional view that the cave churches were private funerary chapels where the liturgy did not took place is challenged. Another local element that is studied in detail is the Christcentric decoration of the apse and finally the establishment and the diffusion of the popular cults of southern Italy, those of the Virgin Mary, of the archangel Michael, and of St Nicholas as they are attested in monumental art and the written sources.
Keywords:
Southern Italy, Middle Byzantine Period, archeology, iconography, painting, cult, inscriptions, manuscripts, sanctity, cave churches, iconographic program
