What is it about?
Later Byzantine (1261–1453) diplomacy was generally characterised by pragmatism. Among its more distant allies were the different Mongol polities that stretched from Central Asia up to the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Despite not being immediate neighbours, the relationship between Byzantium and the Mongols was marked by intermediation. Within this frame, the following article will attempt a preliminary assessment of the Mongol element in later Byzantine art and material culture, and its possible use as a secondary source on this complex relationship. It will argue that while the Mongol contribution to Byzantine art and material culture was visible especially during the fourteenth century, there are instances which reveal a certain ambivalence towards it.
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Why is it important?
This is an underexplored subject, offering perspectives on later Byzantine culture and its position in the cultural map of late medieval Eurasia.
Perspectives
The article places Byzantium in the heart of the debates on the Global Middle Ages.
Nikolaos Vryzidis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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This page is a summary of: The Archaeology of Intermediation: Prolegomena on Mongol Elements in Later Byzantine Art and Material Culture, Crossroads, October 2023, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/26662523-bja10015.
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