Abstract
Byzantine political philosophy (BPP), in general, is a reflection on the political practices and the nature of the Empire, on the divine origin of emperorship, on the hierarchical order of imperial government, civil ranks and the community of Christian states, under the guidance of the Byzantine Emperor. In a more particular sense, it is a reflection that goes further and comments on its own foundations in Christian metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology. This second approach to the BPP is rather problematic because of the scarce textual evidence. The Byzantines felt not much need to theorize, taking for granted that their Empire is a gift from God. It was also usual in that time to impose the general theological and philosophical modes of thought on political thought, not taking into account their sophisticated interaction with facts. Thus, the BPP tended to be just a part of the imperial ideology.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Agapetus Diaconus, C. P. (1865). Expositio capitum admonitorium, per partitiones adornata. PG t. LXXXVI.1, coll. 1164A–1186B, Paris.
Ernest, B. (1957). Social and political thought in Byzantium from Justinian I to the last Palaeologus. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Eusebius. (1902). Tricennelia. In I. Heikel (Ed.), EusebiusWerke (Vol. I, (GCS 7), pp. I–XVIII). Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs.
Kekaumenos. (1896). Strategicon et incerti scriptoris de officiis regiis libellus. In B. Vasilievskij & V. Jernstedt (Eds.), Zapiski Istorikofilologicheskogo Fakul’teta Imperatorskogo Peterburgskogo universiteta. Sankt-Peterburg: Tipografija B. S. Balasheva i Co.
Nikephoros, B. (1906). Andrias basilikos. Studien zu den griechischen Fürstenspiegeln (Vol. I). München: ProgramMaximians-Gymnasium.
O’Meara, D., & Jacques, S. (Eds.). (2006). Miroirs de prince de l’Empire roman au IVe siècle. Friburg/Paris: Academic/Editions du Cerf.
Photios. (1983). Ep. 1, Michaeli principi Bulgarorum. Photii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Epistula et Amphilochia, vol I: Epistolarum pars prima (pp. 1–39). Leipzig: Teubner.
Theophylactus. (1864). Bulgariae arciepiscopus Institutio regia ad Porphyrogenitum Constantinum. PG t. CXXVI, coll. 253A–288B, Paris.
Thomas, M. (1865). Oratio de regis officii ad Andronicum II Palaeologum. PG t. CXLV, coll. 448A–500D, Paris.
Secondary Sources
Anastos, M. (1978). Byzantine political theory: Its classical precedents and legal embodiment. In S. Vryonis Jr. (Ed.), The past in medieval and modern Greek culture. Byzantina kai Metabyzantina 1 (pp. 13–53). Malibu: Undena.
Angelov, D. (2007). Imperial ideology and political thought in Byzantium 1204–1330. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Angelov, D. (2012). Classifications of political philosophy and the concept of royal science in Byzantium 23–50. In B. Bydén & K. Ierodiakonou (Eds.), The many faces of Byzantine philosophy (Papers and Monographs from the Norwegian Institute at Athens, Series IV, Vol. 1, pp 23–50). Athens: The Norwegian Institute at Athens.
Beck, H.-G. (1970). Res publica Romana. Vom Staatsdenken der Byzantiner. Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosoph-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 2. München: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Beck, H.-G. (1981). Nomos, Kanon und Staatsraison in Byzanz. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophhistorische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 384. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Cameron, A. (1983). Eusebius of Caesarea and the rethinking of history. In E. Gabba (Ed.), Tria Corda. Scritti in onore di Arnaldo Momigliano. Biblioteca di Athenaeum 1 (pp. 71–88). Como: New Press.
Döllger, F. (1953). Byzanz und die europäische Staatenwelt. Ausgewählte Vorträge und Aufsa¨tze. Ettal: Buch-Kunstverlag.
Dvornik, F. (1966). Early Christian and Byzantine political philosophy. Origins and background (Vol. 1–2). Washington, DC: The Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies.
Gadolin, A. (1970). A theory of history and society. With special reference to the Chronographia of Michael Psellos; 11th century Byzantium (Stockholm Studies in the History of Literature 11). Stockholm/Göteborg/Uppsala: Almquist & Wiksell.
Hunger, H. (1982). State and society in Byzantium. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 82C, 197–209.
Karagiannopoulos, I. E. (1970). Ē politikē theōria tōn Byzantinōn. Byzantina, 2, 39–61.
Nicol, D. M. (20076). Byzantine political thought. The Cambridge history of medieval political thought, c. 350–c. 1450 (pp. 51–87). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Meara, D. (2012). Political philosophy in Michael Psellos: The Chronographia read in relation to his philosophical work. In B. Bydén & K. Ierodiakonou (Eds.), The many faces of Byzantine philosophy (Papers and Monographs from the Norwegian Institute at Athens, Series IV, Vol. 1, pp 153–170). Athens: The Norwegian Institute at Athens.
Obolensky, D. (1971). The Byzantine commonwealth. Eastern Europe, 500–1453. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Ostrogorsky, G. (1956). The Byzantine Empire and the hierarchical world order. Slavonic and East European Review, 35, 1–14.
Papanikolaou, A. (2012). The mystical as political: Democracy and non-radical orthodoxy. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Runciman, S. (1977). The Byzantine theocracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Treitinger, O. (1938). Die oströmische Kaiser- und Reichsidee nach ihrer Gestalttung im höfischen Zeremoniel. Vom oströmischen Staats und Reichsgedanken. Jena: W. Bierdermann.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Christov, I. (2017). Political Philosophy, Byzantine. In: Lagerlund, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_411-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1151-5_411-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
Online ISBN: 978-94-024-1151-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities