Montag, 12. Juni 2017, 18:30 - 19:30 iCal

Manning the Byzantine Administration:

The Families of Bureaucrats (11th - 12th c.)

Vortragender: Dr. Kostis Smyrlis (Department of History / New York University)

Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik
Postgasse 7/1/3, 1010 Wien

Vortrag


The issue of the staffing of the administration holds the answers to some of the most important questions students of the society, the economy, and the political system have to deal with. Investigating the desireability of fiscal office, the process of selection of officials, and the socio-economic significance of office for the incumbents in an empire where private wealth mostly came from the management and allocation of fiscal resources may unlock issues like social mobility or immobility, the economic attitudes of the wealthy, and the ways state appointment was used by the emperor in his dealings with the elite. This paper investigates the selection of fiscal officials focusing on the role of kinship, one of the three determinants of the selection, along with individual talent and official or unofficial payments. The study of officials with known careers and the evidence provided by the administrators’ surnames highlight the importance of family for the selection and advancement of individuals.

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Veranstalter

Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik, Österreichische Byzantinische Gesellschaft, Wittgensteinpreis-Projekt "Moving Byzantium"


Kontakt

Petra Greger
Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik
Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
4277 41001
petra.greger@univie.ac.at