Social Groups, Structures, Networks – Investigations into the Synthesis of the Middle-Byzantine Society (7th-11th c.)

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Thomas Pratsch
• Subject Area: Ancient History ; Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; Medieval History ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443746803

The aim of the project is - quite generally - a socio-historical and historico-cultural analysis of the society of the Byzantine Empire of the middle period (7th–11th c.) focused on selected thematic priorities which each refer to certain social groups, their structures and networks. The investigation is primarily based on the comprehensive prosopographical data material compiled in the framework of the "Prosopography of the Middle-Byzantine Empire" (PMBZ) but also includes recent prosopographical research. The project concentrates on four selected thematic priorities: A. Women and Eunuchs (Gender Studies), B. Clerics and Laypersons, C. Ethnic and Tribal Groups, and D. Youth and Old Age. The core of the analysis - in particular - consists of a closer investigation and interpretation of certain social groups and their structures, i. e. their internal hierarchization as well as their social localization, and networks, i. e. their internal conjunctions and interactions, their connections with each other and with regard to the overall population. In so doing modern socio-scientific methods shall be applied. Regarding the different social groups of the selected thematic priorities various theories and models of the modern social sciences can be applied in historical research. With a view to women and eunuchs particularly questions of the sociology of the elites as well as social network analysis have an obvious relevance. It must be asked whether these social groups formed each an elite of their own or a common elite or whether they were merely part of an elite of the society as a whole, and whether these groups developed their own social networks. With a view to clerics and laypersons questions of social network analysis gain even more importance. The social interconnections and hierarchizations within these social groups shall be displayed and the commonalities and differences between their respective networks shall be shown. It should also be asked which possibilities of interweaving, transformation and integration existed between the two kinds of networks. With regard to ethnic and tribal groups, i. e. the indigenous peoples of certain regions still tangible in the sources, questions of identity theory have to be asked. It must also be asked, which significance the ethnic-cultural identity of these groups had and how it corresponded to an assumed superior Roman-Byzantine or Christian identity. The thematic complex of youth and old age requires a systematic inclusion of the archaeological research and its results, especially of tomb archaeology and age determination of skeletal finds, in order to arrive at more precise and better-founded conclusions about the life expectancy of the Byzantines or of certain social groups.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants