A social history of Antioch under Justianian, amidst political turmoil and environmental downturns.

Jews were among the founders of Antioch and contributed greatly to the social and material evolution of the city. How they adjusted to the imperial agendas of Late Antiquity, as well as their characterization in the textual record are the main objects of inquiry.

A systematic review of the Classical, Late Antique, and Byzantine sources that underpin the study of Antioch.

Amidst all of the ills that struck Antioch in the sixth century, the bubonic plague ranks high. This chapter addresses the actual entity of the pestilence, calling into question the reports in the ancient sources.

The Alexander Romance was translated from different languages into Slavonic and within the Slavic realm enjoyed a long-lasting life from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries. Translations circulated between different kingdoms and Alexander’s deeds were the matter of the first literary work composed in Old Czech. From various traditions and at different times, Alexander of Macedon was mainly known as a fully Christianised prince, a model to follow, either for having enclosed the Impure Peoples, or for having been able to listen and learn from Aristotle, or even ascend into the heavens. We have more than one Slavic Alexander, and not only due to the source language used. We have as many Alexanders as the political and propagandistic needs of the time required, until the printing press arrived and the Alexander as an explorer became clearly the most popular.

The Byzantines had direct access to much ancient material about Alexander, and so their view of him, compared to that of other cultures, tended to be more grounded in history. Yet they also continued to develop the Romance tradition in new directions and combined it with parallel Christian interpretations that tied the Conqueror to prophesies made in the book of Daniel and apocalyptic scenarios involving Gog and Magog. These different elements combined in various permutations when the Byzantine historians turned to Alexander in their surveys of world history. Alexander was also invoked in rhetoric that praised the Byzantine emperors, often to show that they had surpassed him, but he was not a meaningful model of kingship for them as he imparted no lessons about how to actualy rule a kingdom.