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Author: Christopher Harris Publisher: ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
Captured and castrated as a boy, Zeno is sold into slavery in Constantinople. Bought by the greatest scholar of the age, he is soon drawn into a labyrinth of sex, heresy, murder and intrigue. Though the empire is threatened by a heretic uprising and a barbarian invasion, its rulers think only of themselves. In the cruel and glittering city of Constantinople, a ruthless general, a bisexual boy-emperor, a worldly patriarch, a peasant usurper and a half-Viking empress all vie for power. Unknown to them, the real power lies elsewhere, among the devious and decadent eunuchs of the palace. Zeno conspires, deceives, manipulates and murders, his divided loyalties leading him deeper into danger until he is forced to betray those he loves.
Author: Christopher Harris Publisher: ISBN: Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
Captured and castrated as a boy, Zeno is sold into slavery in Constantinople. Bought by the greatest scholar of the age, he is soon drawn into a labyrinth of sex, heresy, murder and intrigue. Though the empire is threatened by a heretic uprising and a barbarian invasion, its rulers think only of themselves. In the cruel and glittering city of Constantinople, a ruthless general, a bisexual boy-emperor, a worldly patriarch, a peasant usurper and a half-Viking empress all vie for power. Unknown to them, the real power lies elsewhere, among the devious and decadent eunuchs of the palace. Zeno conspires, deceives, manipulates and murders, his divided loyalties leading him deeper into danger until he is forced to betray those he loves.
Author: Shaun Tougher Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135235716 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
The existence of eunuchs was one of the defining features of the Byzantine Empire. Covering the whole span of the history of the empire, from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries AD, Shaun Tougher presents a comprehensive survey of the history and roles of eunuchs, making use of extensive comparative material, such as from China, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as about castrato singers of the eighteenth century of Enlightenment Europe, and self-castrating religious devotees such as the Galli of ancient Rome, early Christians, the Skoptsy of Russia and the Hijras of India. The various roles played by eunuchs are examined. They are not just found as servile attendants; some were powerful political players – such as Chrysaphius who plotted to assassinate Attila the Hun – and others were prominent figures in Orthodoxy as bishops and monks. Furthermore, there is offered an analysis of how society thought about eunuchs, especially their gender identity - were they perceived as men, women, or a third sex? The broad survey of the political and social position of eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire is placed in the context of the history of the eunuch in general. An appendix listing key eunuchs of the Byzantine Empire describing their careers is included, and the text is fully illustrated.
Author: Shaun Tougher Publisher: Classical Press of Wales ISBN: 1914535065 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 285
Book Description
Eunuchism was a subject which both intrigued and embarrassed the ancient world. The special virtue attributed to the castrated male at court, of undistracted loyalty to his ruler, aided the promotion of numerous eunuchs to positions of great power. A literary discourse developed, reviling and sometimes defending the eminence of these 'half-men'. Here, thirteen new studies from an international cast explore how eunuchs were perceived, and also reconstruct the realities of eunuchs' lives in Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Eastern culture.
Author: Shaun Tougher Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135235708 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 359
Book Description
The existence of eunuchs was one of the defining features of the Byzantine Empire. Covering the whole span of the history of the empire, from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries AD, Shaun Tougher presents a comprehensive survey of the history and roles of eunuchs, making use of extensive comparative material, such as from China, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as about castrato singers of the eighteenth century of Enlightenment Europe, and self-castrating religious devotees such as the Galli of ancient Rome, early Christians, the Skoptsy of Russia and the Hijras of India. The various roles played by eunuchs are examined. They are not just found as servile attendants; some were powerful political players – such as Chrysaphius who plotted to assassinate Attila the Hun – and others were prominent figures in Orthodoxy as bishops and monks. Furthermore, there is offered an analysis of how society thought about eunuchs, especially their gender identity - were they perceived as men, women, or a third sex? The broad survey of the political and social position of eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire is placed in the context of the history of the eunuch in general. An appendix listing key eunuchs of the Byzantine Empire describing their careers is included, and the text is fully illustrated.
Author: Piotr O. Scholz Publisher: ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 350
Book Description
A social history of the role of eunuchs in the households and courts of Greece, Rome, China, Byzantine, medieval Europe and the East, which aims to challenge traditional preconceptions about their duties.
Author: Dennis O'Neill Publisher: Trafford Publishing ISBN: 1490789944 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 311
Book Description
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town once said with regard to South Africa’s apartheid policy, “One of the ways of helping to destroy a people is to tell them that they don’t have a history, that they have no roots.” More recently, he described homophobic discrimination as “totally unacceptable and unjust as apartheid ever was.” Unfortunately, it has been particularly difficult for some gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians to remain connected to identify with their own faith traditions because some of these traditions not only treat them as people of secondary status but also teach Christian history as though no people of same-gender attraction or opposite-gender identity had any noteworthy place in it and made no significant contributions at all to Christian tradition. Passionate Holiness tries to remedy this situation by explaining why acquaintance with the stories of certain saints with whom gender minorities can identify can help them to connect with their own history and spiritual legacy and empower them to face a brighter future with a sense of optimism and inclusion.
Author: Clare Teresa M. Shawcross Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108418414 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 745
Book Description
The first comprehensive introduction in English to books, readers and reading in Byzantium and the wider medieval world surrounding it.
Author: Donald M. Nicol Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521522014 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
John Cantacuzene reigned as Byzantine emperor in Constantinople from 1347 to 1354. A man of varied talents, as a scholar, soldier, statesman, theologian and monk, he was unique in being the only emperor to narrate the events of his own career. His memoirs form one of the most interesting and literate of all Byzantine histories. Following his abdication in 1354, he lived the last thirty years of his life as a monk, a writer and a grey eminence behind the throne. This book is not a social or political history of the Byzantine Empire in the fourteenth century. It is a biography of a much maligned man who had a hope, however naive, of coming to terms with the emerging Muslim world of Asia and of winning the co-operation of western Christendom without compromising the Orthodox faith of the Byzantine tradition.
Author: John Philip Thomas Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks ISBN: 9780884022329 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 500
Book Description
The nature of the typkia, discussed by John Thomas in the introduction, was one of flexible and personal documents, which differed considerably in form, length, and content. Not all of them were foundation documents in the strict sense, since they could be issued at any time in the history of an institution. Some were wills; others were reform decrees and rules; yet others were primarily liturgical in character.