The Ideology of the Feminine in Byzantine historical narrative: The role of John Skylitzes' Synopsis of Histories

Abstract

The medieval Eastern Roman Empire (commonly referred to as the Byzantine Empire) is the least well documented of all the early medieval Christian societies. Modern historians studying the Byzantine world are inordinately dependent on a small number of histories and chronicles that are themselves secondary products. As a further impediment to modern scholars, Byzantine authors made no secret of their view that history, in all its forms, was primarily a tool of persuasion. This thesis explores the transmission of the Byzantine ideology of feminine behaviour with particular reference to John Skylitzes' Synopsis of Histories.