IMC 2013: Sessions
Session 608: Byzantium in Context, II: The Pleasure in Text - Interweaving Spiritual and Earthly Delights in Byzantium
Tuesday 2 July 2013, 11.15-12.45
| Sponsor: | Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Institute of Historical Research, Department of Byzantine Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Ekaterini Mitsiou, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien / Department of Byzantine Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF), Athens |
| Moderator/Chair: | Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Abteilung Byzanzforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien |
| Paper 608-a | Joy and Pleasure of Profit as Seen by Late Byzantine Hagiographers (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Greek, Mentalities |
| Paper 608-b | A Byzantine Cat Looking at a King: The Pleasure of Seeing the Emperor and Other 'Pleasures of the Mind' (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Language and Literature - Greek, Mentalities |
| Paper 608-c | Byzantine Nuns Struggling against Pleasure and Selfishness: A Successful Fight? (Language: English) Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Greek, Monasticism |
| Abstract | This session aims at examining the implicit or explicit contrast between the two kinds of pleasure, spiritual and earthly, in a Byzantine context. The opposition body/soul, a commonplace in Christian mentality, could hide possible concurrences. Aspects of earthly and spiritual pleasures often encountered in the Byzantine texts, like the notions of profit, gift and spiritual struggle in a monastic environment, will be analysed. This will enable us to determine some of the major factors governing the 'harmonisation' of both kinds of pleasure in the Byzantine mentality. |