Böcker av Henry Maguire

The Byzantines surrounded themselves with their saints, invisible but constant companions, who were made visible by dreams, visions, and art. This book aims to analyze the logic of the saint's image in Byzantium, both in portraits and in narrative scenes. It emphasizes on the poems inscribed by the Byzantines upon their icons.

Presents twelve studies which are linked together by a common theme, namely the relationship of Byzantine art to the imaginary. This book shows how art enabled the Byzantines not only to imagine the sacred events of the past, but also to visualize the invisible present by manifesting the spiritual world that they could not see.

The imperial court in Constantinople is central to the outsider's vision of Byzantium. However, in spite of its fame in literature and scholarship, there have been few attempts to analyze the court in its entirety as a phenomenon. These studies provide a unified composition by presenting Byzantine courtly life in all its interconnected facets.