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The Bronze Horseman of Justinian in Constantinople: The Cross-Cultural Biography of a Mediterranean Monument
The Bronze Horseman of Justinian in Constantinople: The Cross-Cultural Biography of a Mediterranean Monument (Cambridge University Press, 2021)2021 •
Justinian’s triumphal column was the tallest free-standing column of the pre-modern world and was crowned with arguably the largest metal equestrian sculpture created anywhere in the world before 1699. The Byzantine empire’s bronze horseman towered over the heart of Constantinople, assumed new identities, spawned conflicting narratives, and acquired widespread international acclaim. Because all traces of Justinian’s column were erased from the urban fabric of Istanbul in the sixteenth century, scholars have undervalued its astonishing agency and remarkable longevity. Its impact in visual and verbal culture was arguably among the most extensive of any Mediterranean monument. This book analyzes Byzantine, Islamic, Slavic, Crusader, and Renaissance historical accounts, medieval pilgrimages, geographic, apocalyptic and apocryphal narratives, vernacular poetry, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Italian, French, Latin, and Ottoman illustrated manuscripts, Florentine wedding chests, Venetian paintings, and Russian icons to provide an engrossing and pioneering biography of a contested medieval monument during the millennium of its life.
DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Elena N. Boeck, The Bronze 221 Horseman of Justinian in Constantinople: The Cross-Cultural Biography of a Mediterranean Monument. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. 451 pages, 69 figures and maps, and 4 tables. ISBN: 97811071972752021 •
Roman emperor Theodosius I (378 – 392) wanted to elevate the power of his capital, Constantinople, by bringing one Egyptian obelisk and erecting it on the Hippodrome. On the base of the Obelisk, on all four sides, are depictions of the Emperor, his family and members of the court. Besides that, there are two inscriptions: one in Greek (language of the common people), and one in Latin (language of the court). The iconographic analysis shows some of the aspects of social life in 4 th century, Constantinople. Very specific order of seating for different social classes at the Hippodrome is shown in this paper. This paper also highlights arrangements of other monuments erected at the Hippodrome, drawing parallels with the Circus Maximus from Rome. The aim of this paper is to view this construction project in wider context of Theodosius' reign.
Aca’ib: Occasional papers on the Ottoman perceptions of the supernatural
The Bronze Horseman of Constantine in 16th Century Acaibs2023 •
This article follows sixteenth-century Ottoman Turkish cosmographers in their exploration of the deep past of early modern Istanbul. Although ʿAcāʾib writers included information regarding Istanbul’s contemporaneous Ottoman monuments, such additions did not challenge the dominance of the city’s ancient past. On the contrary, the authors in question were especially interested in late antique statues and columns. Istanbul is a city of ancient statuary in their works and this article explores why. Through the example about the stories about an ancient colossal sculpture of a bronze horse and its rider, it discusses how the antiquities of sixteenth-century Istanbul were not the insignificant remains of a remote past, as is often assumed, but rather, they contained enduring messages for their Ottoman audiences.
BYZANTINOSLAVICA LXIX 2011, Supplementum 3, Ekphrasis: La représentation des monuments dans les littératures byzantine et byzantino-slaves Réalités et imaginaires, 179-192.
The Monuments in the Late Byzantine Ekphraseis of Cities: Searching for Identities2011 •
Using Images in Late Antiquity, S. Birk, T. M. Kristensen, B. Poulsen, eds (Oxford 2014)
Late Antique Honorific Sculpture in ConstantinopleSummary: This article shows how even small fragments of large-format bronze statues that have been already published some time ago can provide new insights. This is demonstrated by two bronze fragments from Qaryat al-Faw (Saudi Arabia) and Palmyra (Syria). The arrangement of the cuirass leather straps ( pteryges) indicates that the fragments belonged to equestrian statues. This observation can be supported by analogies of bronze equestrian statues from the central Greek-Roman areas of the Mediterranean. The two examples from Syria and Saudi Arabia show that the local Arab rulers in antiquity closely followed Greek-Roman models to document their claim to power.
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Journal of Greek Archaeology
Aneta Petrova. Funerary Reliefs from the West Pontic Area (6th-1st Centuries BC) (Colloquia Antiqua 14). pp. XXII+312, 27 b/w plates. 2015. Leuven–Paris–Bristol, CT: Peeters.2018 •
Edebiyat Fakultesi Dergisi
The Byzantine architectural sculptures with figure at Hellespont2006 •
Byzantinoslavica
Can Parastaseis Syntomoi Xronikai be Considered a Real Guide to the Sculptures of Constantinople during the Isaurian Period?2006 •
2017 •
Niš and Byzantium: The Collection of Scientific Works 11
'Riding into Late Antiquity: A Thracian Rider Relief from Golemo Gradište, Konjuh' in M. Rakocija (ed.), Niš and Byzantium: The Collection of Scientific Works 11 (Niš, 2013) 173-862013 •
Archaeology of the Cities of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity, eds. Ortwin Dally and Christopher Ratté (ann Arbor, 2011)
Sculpture and the Rhetorical Imagination in Late Antique ConstantinopleBULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE,
Andrzej B. BIERNACKI, Elena KLENINA, The Image of Sphinx in Roman Sculpture from Lower Danube Fortresses, in: Proceedings of the First International Roman and Late Antique Thrace Conference, BULLETIN OF THE NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, XLIV, Sofia 2018, p.259-2662018 •
2020 •