1.21 TS – Within and Beyond: The Islands of Byzantium

Islands are both central and liminal spaces; the sea creates a paradox of separation and connectedness. Like the tides that touched the shores of the empire, despite their geographical fixedness, many islands proved fluid entities, falling beyond the political reach of Constantinople yet remaining within its political and cultural grasp while at the same time remaining an integral part of a Byzantine economic koine encompassing large Mediterranean islands (as well as coastal hubs). In fact, although the Balearics, Sardinia, Malta, and Sicily each slipped from direct rule (whereas Crete and Cyprus were reincorporated in the empire only in the tenth century), they remained part of the wider oikumene, linked via cultures of trade, religion, and artistic expression. In this panel, we will explore aspects of insular life in Byzantium as centered around themes of belonging, connection, and formation and expression of identity beyond the center. In particular, we will try to link the concept of islandness to that of “Romanitas”, as large islands present us with peculiar political, administrative, and socio-economic strategies of survival as well as material culture reflecting peculiar local identities rooted in the ontological dualism of “isolation vs. connectivity”.