IMC 2005: Sessions
Session 1612: Childhood in Byzantium
Thursday 14 July 2005, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | King's College London, Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek |
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| Organiser: | Judith E. Herrin, Department of Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, King's College London |
| Paper 1612-b | Youth and the Byzantine Eunuch (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Daily Life, Gender Studies, Sexuality |
| Paper 1612-c | Children in Byzantine Litigation (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Canon Law, Law, Social History |
| Abstract | This session brings together representations of children in Byzantine art, problems of pre-pubescent males, castrated to ensure their permanently youthful looks, and analysis of children in patriarchal and episcopal court records. Art historical evidence for the more generic portrayal of children (often protected by Christ or saints) will inform the special case of young eunuchs, and of children documented from legal proceedings. From this evidence, largely ignored by modern scholarship, new observations may be made about the social relations of children in Byzantium; about some of the typical problems they faced, and the legal methods used to resolve these problems. |