THE BYZANTINE AMBASSADOR

  • Home

  • Blog

  • Reading List

  • Films

  • Documentaries

  • Guides

  • About

  • More

    • Pinterest - White Circle
    • All Posts
    • Art
    • Theology
    • Byzantium
    • Architecture
    • Byzantine Society
    • Military
    • Gaul
    • Rome
    • European Union
    • Food
    • Travel
    Search
    Leo III: Double Agent or Saviour of the Romans?
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Apr 5
    • 4 min

    Leo III: Double Agent or Saviour of the Romans?

    “The Power of God’s words… shall never pass away.” Leo III, Ecloga [1] In 705, the noseless Justinian II returned to Constantinople and...
    188 views0 comments
    The Road from Heraklios to Islam
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Apr 1
    • 5 min

    The Road from Heraklios to Islam

    “Since the days of Scipio, no bolder enterprise has been attempted than that which Heraclius achieved for the deliverance of the empire.”...
    540 views0 comments
    Ex Occidente Lux: The Byzantine Reception of St Aquinas
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Mar 26
    • 4 min

    Ex Occidente Lux: The Byzantine Reception of St Aquinas

    Aquinas arrived on the Byzantine literary scene on 24th December, 1354, when Kydones completed his translation of Summa contra gentiles....
    638 views0 comments
    Golinduch: the Iranian Living Martyr
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Mar 25
    • 4 min

    Golinduch: the Iranian Living Martyr

    Few will have heard of Golinduch.[1] She’s not in the western canon and – despite her extraordinary life and “death” – she is not a...
    484 views0 comments
    Who Were the Excubitores?
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Mar 18
    • 6 min

    Who Were the Excubitores?

    The sixth-century bureaucrat John Lydus wrote that Roman military dress had changed over time but that there were still some troops who...
    466 views0 comments
    What year is it? From Archons to Anno Domini: Early Western Dating Systems
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Mar 11
    • 4 min

    What year is it? From Archons to Anno Domini: Early Western Dating Systems

    Around 500 BC the Greeks began dating events by reference to the name of an important local office holder e.g. the priestess of Hera at...
    205 views0 comments
    Sacred Geography: The Development of Relics
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Mar 4
    • 4 min

    Sacred Geography: The Development of Relics

    Around the late 340s Cyril – the future bishop of Jerusalem – announced that the city’s church was in possession of the “wood of the...
    194 views0 comments
    Top Roman Sites in Britain
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Feb 25
    • 3 min

    Top Roman Sites in Britain

    I’ve tried to omit some of the obvious big ticket items like Aquae Sulis (modern Bath, which is Roman only really up to the stylobate)...
    230 views0 comments
    Germanic Assemblies in the Post-Roman West
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Feb 18
    • 4 min

    Germanic Assemblies in the Post-Roman West

    A parenthesis about Clovis in a passage I wrote here inspired this article. I outlined how Clovis’ appointment as consul by Anastasius...
    278 views0 comments
    St. Pantaleon of Cologne: Theophanou’s Final Resting Place
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Feb 11
    • 5 min

    St. Pantaleon of Cologne: Theophanou’s Final Resting Place

    Bruno of Cologne was appointed to the court of his older brother Otto the Great at the age of fifteen. Thirteen years later he was made...
    147 views0 comments
    Volk Auf Dem Weg: Ethnogenesis in the West
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Feb 4
    • 3 min

    Volk Auf Dem Weg: Ethnogenesis in the West

    Having recently written about Russian and English ethnogenesis, it’s time to alight on what ethnicity meant in the medieval period....
    706 views1 comment
    Nicaea: the Ecumenical Council the West Ignored
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Jan 28
    • 3 min

    Nicaea: the Ecumenical Council the West Ignored

    As with the Arian controversy (318-) Nicaea took place without any considerable Western involvement, a trend that continued until roughly...
    482 views0 comments
    The Birth of the British Church
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Jan 21
    • 3 min

    The Birth of the British Church

    It’s not certain how Christianity got to Gaul let alone Britain. Perhaps the most prominent theory is that the faith entered Marseilles...
    264 views0 comments
    The Night Watch: Hadrian's Wall in the Dark Ages
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Jan 14
    • 3 min

    The Night Watch: Hadrian's Wall in the Dark Ages

    There has always been the assumption that Roman Britain became post-Roman (or “sub-Roman”) the moment it was denuded of Roman troops (by...
    442 views1 comment
    The First Ottoman Patriarch: Scholarios on the Throne
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Jan 1
    • 4 min

    The First Ottoman Patriarch: Scholarios on the Throne

    George Scholarios was about fifty years old when Constantinople fell in 1453. Three years earlier he had taken the name of Gennadios on...
    437 views1 comment
    A Letter From the Lord: the Road from Abgar to Magic
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Dec 26, 2020
    • 3 min

    A Letter From the Lord: the Road from Abgar to Magic

    The New Testament is about Christ and the consequences of his life. Yet it contains no words written directly by the Messiah. This...
    419 views0 comments
    Muslims on Medieval Europe
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Dec 24, 2020
    • 5 min

    Muslims on Medieval Europe

    Talking of Europe to a European would have been irrelevant for much of Western history. Not because the occidental peoples didn’t have...
    1,401 views0 comments
    Eat Like a Byzantine
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Dec 24, 2020
    • 2 min

    Eat Like a Byzantine

    Proverbial wisdom has it that the fastest way to a man’s heart is via his stomach. Though bumptious sorts like to add it’s really through...
    749 views0 comments
    Muslims in Constantinople before 1453
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Dec 10, 2020
    • 3 min

    Muslims in Constantinople before 1453

    “O Hagia Sophia that great temple! O the wonders and antiquities in the Hippodrome!... Constantinople is greater even than its name! May...
    475 views0 comments
    A History of Circumcising Women: FGM in Egypt
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips
    • Dec 3, 2020
    • 5 min

    A History of Circumcising Women: FGM in Egypt

    Roland Betancourt’s recent book Byzantine Intersectionality (2020), which I negatively reviewed here, contained the claim that the...
    298 views0 comments
    {"items":["606a20a54cc1d20015a38fa2","6064e4dc5fb31e00156ac86e","605dac1085ef1b00579ac984","605b3adc4511f90015981fa2","6050f276ff7f63001563c2d7","603d068e402e150057e282cc","603d0337b8295f0057164501","602bbc0399b2980017258064","6021249676b22e0034c9b001","6016fcf782815900174a5485","600ae2997b76a100182f42ca","5ffee487ad993b00175aafd1","5ffee0f29ab75200176c7287","5ffecdb475d9c10017c304f0","5fe48f850847a00017169514","5fe48cd53349ba0034abb4a3","5fcf748b226ff60017fd7123","5fe3806536746800171678aa","5fce45f73177470017201b27","5fc8d05c829d480017e215f5"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":1,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"value":"#BFBFBF"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}
    1
    2345