Byzantium and Its Neighbours: Religious Self and Otherness in Dialogue

The volume is partly inspired by the papers presented during the thematic session Byzantium and its Neighbours: Religious Self and Otherness in Dialogue at the 24th; International Congress of Byzantine Studies held in Venice/Padua in August 2022. Its primary focus lies in Byzantine polemics against religious others, especially Muslims, Jews, Armenians and Latins. The contributions cover a wide range of themes, including the repertoire of topoi and arguments developed by Byzantine polemicists against various opponents, the linguistic and rhetorical strategies employed in the works analysed, and questions of authorship and audience. The volume helps to elucidate aspects of the political and socio-cultural context in which this significant body of Byzantine literature was produced or received, while at the same time opening up new ways of approaching this typology of sources.