Marginalization and Marginal Groups in Byzantium: Prostitutes, Actors, and Tavernkeepers

Marginalization and Marginal Groups in Byzantium: Prostitutes, Actors, and Tavernkeepers

Edited by: Despoina Ariantzi

 

This volume is the result of a first attempt to explore the phenomena of social marginalization and marginal groups in the context of a pre-modern society situated at the crossroads between East and West and between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, namely Byzantium between the fourth and fifteenth centuries, using as examples three different but functionally and spatially closely related types of marginal occupations, namely female prostitutes, actors, and tavern keepers. Although it is impossible to cover all aspects of such a multifaceted topic as marginalization and marginal groups in one volume, an attempt has been made to cover several key elements as they occurred throughout the Byzantine millennium and to take an interdisciplinary approach to the subject by examining a large body of written sources in conjunction with pictorial representations and archaeological material. A contribution on the medieval West highlights similarities and differences between the Latin and Byzantine spheres. The book consists of a theoretical and methodological introduction and four thematic sections devoted to prostitutes and prostitution, tavern keepers and innkeepers, actors and performers, and the narratological analysis of texts dealing with these three groups. This volume breaks new ground in the field of Byzantine Studies, with a special emphasis on the social history of the Eastern Mediterranean world in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, with a strong interdisciplinary focus on the use of analytical tools and methods of modern social sciences. 

 

eBook published on:

December 5, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9783112213155

Hardcover published on:

December 5, 2025

Hardcover ISBN:

9783119147309

Front matter:

14

Main content:

328

Illustrations:

1

Frontmatter

Open Access

	I
Open Access Transformation of the Millennium Studies Open Access

	V
Dedication Open Access

	VII
Acknowledgments Licensed
Contents Open Access

	V
Part 1: Theory and Historiography
At the Fringes of Byzantine Society: Prostitutes, Actors, and Tavernkeepers Despoina Ariantzi Open Access

	1
Theoretical Approaches to the Byzantine Outsider Dion C. Smythe Open Access

	37
Part 2: Prostitutes
Prostitution and Marginality in Byzantium Charis Messis Open Access

	63
Zeugnisse zur Prostitution in kirchlichen Gerichtsakten der spätbyzantinischen Zeit (13.–15. Jh.) Günter Prinzing Open Access

	95
Mary Magdalene and the Prostitute Saints: East and West, Marginalized and Demarginalized Cecily Hennessy Open Access

	119
Prostituierte in mittelalterlichen Städten – zwischen Achtung und Verachtung Frank Meier Open Access

	147
Part 3: Actors
Exile on Main Street: A Few Τhoughts on the Curious Case of the Marginal Mime Andrew W. White Open Access

	179
Byzantine Mime: A Marginalized Profession? Przemysław Marciniak Open Access

	197
Part 4: Tavernkeepers
Einrichtungen byzantinischer Gastlichkeit – zwischen aselgeia und euergesia Ewald Kislinger and Despoina Ariantzi Open Access

	211
Wohltätige Fremdenherbergen in byzantinischer Zeit: Xenodocheia und ihre Vorsteher (5.–12. Jh.) Max Ritter Open Access

	233
Where are the Inns in Byzantine Asia Minor? Archaeological Evidence of Mansiones, Pandocheia, and Tavernae Beate Böhlendorf-Arslan Open Access

	269
Part 5: Discourse-Analytical Approaches to Marginals in Hagiographic Literature
On the Margins of Sanctity: Prostitutes, Actors, and Tavernkeepers in Greek Hagiography Julie Van Pelt Open Access

	297
Notes on Contributors Licensed
Index Open Access