Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World

Animals have recently become recognized as significant agents of history as part of the ‘animal turn’ in historical studies. Animals in Byzantium were human companions, a source of entertainment and food – it is small wonder that they made their way into literature and the visual arts. Moreover, humans defined themselves and their activities by referring to non-human animals, either by anthropomorphizing animals (as in the case of the Cat-Mice War) or by animalizing humans and their (un)wanted behaviours.

The Routledge Handbook of Human-Animal Relations in the Byzantine World offers an in-depth survey of the relationships between humans and non-human animals in the Byzantine Empire. The contributions included in the volume address both material (zooarchaeology, animals as food, visual representations of animals) and immaterial (semiotics, philosophy) aspects of human-animal coexistence in chapters written by leading experts in their field.

This book will appeal to students and scholars alike researching Byzantine social and cultural history, as well as those interested in the history of animals. This book marks an important step in the development of animal studies in Byzantium, filling a gap in the wider research on the history of human-animal relations in the Middle Ages.

Przemysław Marciniak is a Research Professor and the Director of the Center for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. His research focuses on Byzantine performative culture, the reception of Byzantium, and recently on animals and nature in the Byzantine world. His publications include articles on Byzantine entomology and a co-edited volume on the reception of Byzantium in the popular imagination.

Tristan Schmidt is Assistant Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. His research is focused on human-nature relations in the Byzantine world as well as on the aristocracy and military leadership between the 11th and 13th centuries in Byzantium. His animal-related publications include a monograph on animal imagery in Byzantine political discourse, and studies on concepts of animal agency in Byzantine texts and on ecological awareness in Byzantine society.