Kosmos embodied : eunuchs and byzantine art during the Macedonian Dynasty (867-1056)
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation uncovers the aesthetic importance of elite court eunuchs in Constantinople, who were at the height of their power during the Macedonian Dynasty (867-1056). While the period is familiar territory for art historians, the field has largely overlooked the importance of eunuchs to Byzantine visual culture because they are uncommon and difficult to identify in surviving images. Embracing their visual ambiguity, I uncover how eunuchs challenge typical modes of mimetic representation and offer alternative performative, ephemeral, or otherwise shifting images. Records of their roles in the ceremonies of the imperial court, where they were ubiquitous, offer the art historian rich ground for the investigation of figurability and framing. The Byzantines conceived of the earthly court as a mirror image of the heavenly one wherein the emperor played the role of Christ. Attending to how and where eunuchs visually set apart the emperor, I show that eunuchs were a living kosmos. Engaging the dual meaning of kosmos as both "order" and "ornament, " I argue that eunuchs created a blurry edge where signification never quite congealed and the transformative possibilities of adornment could render the earthly court into a vision of heaven. The aesthetic and structural role of this specifically gendered group allows me to uncover a different understanding of social power wrought through ornamentation and beauty as much as political proximity to rulers.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2022; ©2022 |
| Publication date | 2022; 2022 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Webb, Lora Ellen |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Pentcheva, Bissera V |
| Thesis advisor | Pentcheva, Bissera V |
| Thesis advisor | Griffiths, Fiona J |
| Thesis advisor | Maranci, Christina, 1968- |
| Thesis advisor | Vinograd, Richard Ellis |
| Degree committee member | Griffiths, Fiona J |
| Degree committee member | Maranci, Christina, 1968- |
| Degree committee member | Vinograd, Richard Ellis |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Lora Ellen Webb. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Art and Art History. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2022. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/gj296zq7904 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2022 by Lora Ellen Webb
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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