Additional information
by Florin Curta (Author)
This volume traces the social, economic and political history of the Greeks between 500 and 1050. The book adopts an interdisciplinary approach and uses archaeological evidence, as well as coins and seals, fiscal documents, medieval chronicles, and hagiographic literature to examine the development of Greek culture in the early medieval period. Several themes provide the foundation for this volume and run through the chapters; these include the Balkan context, the Social Role of the Army and the Onset of Economic Growth. Special attention is paid to the size of the economy in early medieval Greece. Both the social and the economic are privileged and analyzed together as integrally connected spheres of life, thus filling a major gap in existing literature on this period.
Back Jacket
Winner of the Nicolae Iorga prize of the Romanian Academy, 2013 This very learned and detailed investigation represents an advance in the field. Florin Curta has undertaken an ambitious and urgently needed study of a very difficult and controversial subject and historical era... There is no comparable book. Walter Kaegi, American Historical Review Curta's attention to detail... has produced well-supported conclusions incorporating archaeological evidence into Mediterranean history, a difficult task. Jason Fossella, Bryn Mawr Classical Review Offers a completely new dimension in the history of the region by bringing together archaeological and historical research of early medieval Greece This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the economic and social history of Greece during the early Middle Ages. From the collapse of the urban economy in the early seventh century to the beginning of prosperity during the first half of the eleventh century, it examines the crucial transformations taking place in Greece during the 'Dark Ages' and the Middle Byzantine period. Preconceived ideas about ethnic identity rooted in nationalism have long hindered an adequate study of early medieval Greece. By contrast, Florin Curta adopts a wide-ranging approach which highlights the similarities and differences in the archaeological evidence associated with a range of social and ethnic groups, whose identities were much more fluid than previously imagined. Florin Curta is Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida
Author Biography
Florin Curta is Waldo W. Neikirk Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida. He is the author of the Making of the Slavs. History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 (Cambridge University Press, 2001), which won the Herbert Baxter Adams Prize of the American Historical Association in 2003. Curta also wrote Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, ca. 500-1250 (Cambridge University Press, 2006), and edited three collections of studies dedicated to such diverse themes as Eastern and East Central Europe in the early Middle Ages; barriers, borders, and ethnogenesis in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; nomads in Eastern Europe between the sixth and the twelfth century. He is the editor-in-chief of the Brill series "Eastern and East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450" and member of Medieval Academy of America Publication Advisory Board and the Advisory Board of the Cursor Mundi series of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
