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Introduction. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the state, nature and the leadership system of stratiotic forces as part of the Byzantine provincial armed forces of the Early Palaeologian period. The paper aims to determine the methods of organizing Byzantine provincial armed forces in the context of the characteristic of the early Palaeologian armed forces and the institute of pronoia. The author defines the military-strategic, social and economic characteristics of the stratiotic military service.

Methods. Critical use of elements of civilizational, formational and systemic approaches is the methodological basis of this study. It should be noted that the system approach is used to determine the specificity of the relationships within all essential structural elements of the military organization. It also makes it possible to identify the factors of its modernization in connection with social and state processes. It allows to reveal the functional features of the military organization elements.

Analysis and Results. The analysis of act materials and narrative sources shows a clear social difference of soldiers-stratiotes from the rest of the empire's population, including proniares. The author determines that the sources contain information about all economic institutions that characterize stratiotes in their traditional, early byzantine military-technical definition. The statements of Byzantine historians about the participation of stratiotes in military actions clearly indicate the preservation of the military-administrative function of "theme organization". Act materials do not contain information about a specific number of stratiotes. This makes it difficult to determine the total number of stratiotic formations. However, the participation of stratiotic detachments in almost all military operations of the Byzantine army is a well-known fact. Narratives indicate their number. All this makes it possible to draw a reasonable conclusion about the preservation of stratiotic armed forces and the traditional system of their recruitment.

The paper is devoted to identifying the specifics of internal organizational methods used in the Byzantine army during the reign of the Palaeologus. According to the author, the combat capability of the Byzantine army depended not only on logistic support, but also on the use of military and political methods, religious and disciplinary action. Among them, in the using for the soldier's a crucial role played as a completely traditional methods of financial reward, methods psychological and educational nature, and specific for Palaeologus period methods of religious influence. For the military commanders to a greater extent used methods of social and material motivation and the means of social and legal remuneration, which can be described as socially prestigious - titles and marriage alliances. In the system of measures to ensuring the combat capability the special role was assigned to the religious method, which in combination with the other methods represented a complex of elements of influence originating from the doctrine of "Holy war". The content of this doctrine defined by the interaction system of the army and the church which was founded on the conditions of confrontation to enemies who belonged to different religious denominations, as well as on a major role of mercenaries troops as a part of the Byzantine armed forces. Despite a variety of measures to influence the army, the level of discipline in the army remained extremely low. Increasing the number of separatist rebellions, cases of treason and disobedience, typical for early Palaeologian period, that remained unpunished, indicates the weakness of basileus power and inability to use the military-disciplinary measures for the control of the multiethnic contingent of Byzantine troops. It is likely that this situation could be caused by the persistence of archaic state idea in the changed foreign political conditions, and that this idea has not been capable inspire all the Christian warrior-host of the empire on the military exploits and neutralize personal fear of death. At the same time, the effect of such an idea, directed to consolidation of the ranks of byzantine troops before the onslaught of the enemy, in special cases has been intensified by the using of a complex of religious measures of influence. ; Статья посвящена исследованию методов морально-психологического воздействия на солдат и командиров византийских вооруженных сил в период правления первых императоров из династии Палеологов. По мнению автора, боеспособность византийской армии зависела не только от материально-технического обеспечения, но и от применения методов военно-политического, религиозного и дисциплинарного воздействия. Среди них по отношению к рядовому составу важную роль играли как вполне традиционные методы материального, психологического и воспитательного характера, так и специфические для палеологовского периода методы религиозного воздействия. Для командного состава в большей мере использовались методы социально-материальной мотивации, а также средства социально-правового вознаграждения, которые можно охарактеризовать как общественно-престижные (титулы, брачные союзы). В системе мер обеспечения боеспособности особая роль была отведена религиозному методу, который представлял собой набор элементов воздействия, исходящих из доктрины «священной войны». Суть этой доктрины была определена системой отношений армии и церкви, исходившей из условий противостояния врагам, принадлежавшим к различным конфессиям. Помимо этого, учитывалась большая роль наемных контингентов в составе византийских вооруженных сил. Несмотря на разнообразие мер воздействия на войско, уровень дисциплины в армии оставался крайне низким. Увеличение числа сепаратистских выступлений, случаев измены и непослушания, характерных для раннепалеологовского периода, не каравшихся императором, свидетельствует о слабости правящей династии и невозможности применения военно-дисциплинарных мер для контроля над полиэтничным византийским воинством. По мнению автора, данная ситуация была вызвана сохранением архаичной государственной идеи, не способной в изменившихся внешнеполитических условиях воодушевить христианское воинство империи на ратные подвиги и нейтрализовать личный страх воинов перед смертью. Вместе с тем действие такой идеи, направленной на сплочение рядов византийских войск перед натиском противника, в особых случаях усиливалось применением комплекса мер религиозного характера.

The paper is devoted to identifying the specifics of internal organizational methods used in the Byzantine army during the reign of the Palaeologus. Based on the results of the study we determined the specificity of methods of moral, religious and material influence on the morale of military at various levels of the hierarchy of the Byzantine armed forces. ; Статья посвящена исследованию методов морально-психологического воздействия на солдат и командиров византийских вооруженных сил в период правления первых императоров из династии Палеологов. По мнению автора, спектр применяемых методов был весьма широким, включая меры морального, религиозного и материального воздействия на войско. Кроме того, установлено, что для разных групп военнослужащих применялись отличные друг от друга методы морально-духовного воздействия.

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to determine the specifics of the Byzantine war strategy in Asia Minor. A qualitative military and political characteristics of the main military expeditions to the eastern borders are crucial for the disclosure of this problem. From this aspect, the study addresses the following issues: defining of the role of the eastern military campaigns in the complex of military-strategic measures on the state scale; characteristics of the features the armed forces used, as well as the tasks solved during military expeditions to Asia Minor; disclosure of the features of military-technical measures to ensure the security of Byzantium eastern borders. Methods. Critical use of elements of civilizational, formational and systemic approaches is the methodological basis of this study. It should be noted that the use of a systematic approach in the analysis of the Byzantine troops combat practice in east direction, allows to determine the strategic objectives of military expeditions in Asia Minor, to reveal the logic of warfare in the eastern theater, to determine the functional purpose of military-technical measures. Analysis and Results. The study reveals the strategic concept of Byzantium armed forces military operations during the reign of the first Palaeologus on the Asia Minor territory. Analysis of combat practice allows us to conclude that the strategic priority of the western and northwestern directions, which required the use of the most combat-ready troops consisting of mercenaries during the reign of Michael VIII, determined the need to use the Byzantine troops at the eastern borders of the empire. TheByzantine army was episodically involved in major defensive expeditions to the borders of the empire. We determined that the purpose of these campaigns is to stop the advance of enemy armies and their subsequent expulsion from the empire. This logic of military operations does not mean the loss of strategic initiative at the eastern direction. The strategy of passive defense which determined the nature of the military confrontation in the Asia Minor region was ensured by the creation of a garrison system, or a line of fortresses, on the eastern borders of the empire. Fortification activities of Michael VIII and Andronikos II in 1280–1282 temporarily stopped the advance of the Turkish troops. However, natural factors and the intensification of the economic crisis at the end of the 13th century made it impossible to preserve the defensive line located along the banks of the rivers that served as the borders of the Byzantine state. In addition, the strengthening of the military-political power of the emirates of Menteşe, Aydinoglu and Osman led to the loss of the initiative by the Byzantine troops and, as a result, the reduction of the Asia Minor territories of the empire. In an effort to change the situation, Andronicus II proceeded to implement an active defense strategy.

Introduction. During the 20th century the functions and essence of museums have undergone changes. One of the most relevant functions of modern museums is museumification. The purpose of the paper is to reveal the features of digital museumification as a promising direction and an actual form of museumification of material and non-material objects included in the socio-cultural environment. Discussion. The undertaken historiographical review allowed us to conclude that there is a sufficient methodological and factual basis for a comprehensive study of the essence of museumification. At the same time, many problems of the theory and practice of museumification have not even received a problematic definition. Analysis. Museumification is of particular importance in the activities of saving, preserving, and introducing cultural heritage objects into the modern socio-cultural environment. In modern domestic and foreign practice museumification develops in two main directions: removal from the natural area and museumification of cultural heritage monuments through actualization or introduction into the socio-cultural environment. The monument, which is a harmonious part of the socio-cultural environment, does not require artificial conservation of the habitat or the area of the monument. It is determined that for such objects of museumification it is reasonable to use the concept of "dynamic museumification". The most adequate form of "dynamic museumification" should be considered digital museumification. Results. Digital museumification should be understood as an activity for the transformation of cultural heritage objects into living objects that develop together with their cultural space and socio-cultural environment. Digital museumification is presented as a combination of actions and means pointed at ensuring the implementation of preservation and popularizations tasks within the framework of the "smart city" system being formed. Digital museumification objectively makes it necessary to create open information bases for all interested persons. The detected connection between the space of a monument and the channels of forming the historical memory determines the need for organizing digital museumification in a digital creative urban space.

The proposed essay is a publication of bibliographic information about scientific works (dissertations, monographs, collections of scientific articles, periodicals) concerning the Byzantine history and published in Volgograd or with the direct participation of Volgograd researchers. The origin and development of studying the Byzantine history in Volgograd is associated with two higher educational institutions – Volgograd State University and Tsaritsyn Orthodox University of St. Sergius of Radonezh, within the walls of which large and internationally recognized periodicals appeared.

Introduction. The recapture of Constantinople by a small detachment of Nicaeans in 1261 looks like an accident and the successful combination of circumstances for the Byzantines. However, we cannot accept this event as accidental. Of particular importance are the consistent conquering efforts of the Empire of Nicaea. In this case, the capture of the city should be considered as the final stage of a long and multifaceted military operation. The main objective of the article is the military-historical reconstruction of these events. The long-term military campaign of Michael VIII Palaiologos to conquer Constantinople is also of interest for the study of combat practice. In addition, it is of particular importance in the study of the Early Palaiologan military-strategic concept and the Late Byzantine military art in general. Methods. The reconstruction of the events of the long-term campaign to retake Constantinople is based on the use of all classical methods of historical research and a systematic approach. Analysis and results. The result of our research makes thinking that Constantinople was not taken by chance in 1261. The retaken of the capital was as a result of the implementation of the essentially insidious plan of Emperor Michael VIII. Lacking sufficient armed forces and means for a full-fledged siege of the city, the emperor twice tried to seize the capital of the Latin Empire. He counted on the effect of an internal factor in the form of treason or support for anti-Latin forces. It is quite obvious that the second option was successful. Authors' contribution. N.D. Barabanov analyzed the event-chronological aspect of the campaign of Michael VIII in 1259–1261, while V.A. Zolotovskiy reconstructed the final military operation to capture Constantinople by Byzantine troops in 1261.

Introduction. The task of the study is to identify and characterize the means of popularization of the regional historical and cultural heritage on the example of archaeological monuments of Volgograd Oblast. Taking into account the need to diversify regional cultural and educational tourism, to actualize new practices in heritage tourism we consider it necessary to focus on the archaeological heritage unique for most regions. Due to its interactivity and the possibility of combining several forms of recreational and cultural and cognitive activities, archaeological tourism can also become one of the most promising forms of promotion of cultural and historical heritage. Developing a methodology for assessing the archaeological potential of the region in the field of tourism will allow us to understand the principle of formation of a unique geo-cultural image of the region as the basis of cultural and historical framework. Methods. Assessment of the archaeotourism potential of Volgograd Oblast is possible with a combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Weighted Linear Combination (WLC), and applied methods, such as the questionnaire and Geographic Information System (GIS). Analysis. We identified the criteria for assessing the archaeotourism potential of the region the number of which can be limited to 1 quantitative and 7 qualitative indicators ranked on an assessment scale with 4 rating points – 0, 2, 4 and 5. Since the selected evaluation criteria play an unequal role in the formation of the tourist potential of the territory, it was necessary to determine the weighted coefficients for each of them. Results. The development of archaeological tourism acting as the most accessible and most popular forms of popularization of cultural heritage will be provided by the development of the territory's historical and cultural framework based on a comprehensive assessment of the tourist potential of the region. The methodology was proposed in the framework of this study. Authors' contribution. V.A. Zolotovskiy prepared the part devoted to the actualization and identification of the research topic. P.I. Lysikov developed an adequate methodology for assessing the archaeotourism potential of the Volgograd Oblast.