Suchergebnisse

Byzantium is a wondrous mosaic, a palimpsest, a crossroads that joins East and West. It was the continuation of the Roman Empire and as a state pattern, included many ethnic groups with different cultural background, language, customs and religion. Byzantine culture was nourished by the diverse traditions of the people who composed it and which were involved in the shaping of the political and social status. This has resulted in Byzantium to be characterized as: multinational, multicultural, multilingual. Besides the internal diversity, Byzantium is a field of interactions with the neighboring people, foreign mercenaries but mostly with the large community of traders who sojourn in major urban centers, especially in Constantinople. In this study the presence of "others" will be considered basically through didactic texts, heroic poetry, satire and Byzantine Dreambooks. The Dreambooks(Oneirocritica) are popular vernacular texts, which aimed to predict the future through the interpretation of dreams. The Byzantine tradition of dream interpretation includes nine Dreambooks with a time range from Late Antiquity to the Late Byzantium (2nd century AD - 15th century AD). In the texts we will seek information about the attitude of the Byzantines against "others"(strangers), whether they are of another ethnicity and religion or belonging to a marginal group. Through dreams interpretation are reflected both the personal perceptions of dream interpreters and the dominant ideology: prejudices, stereotypes, and also the subsequent issues arising among ethnic and religious groups' interaction.