2023
English
Africa and Byzantium
ABOUT
Medieval art history has long emphasized the glories of the Byzantine Empire, but less known are the profound artistic contributions of Nubia, Egypt, Ethiopia and other powerful African kingdoms whose pivotal interactions with Byzantium had an indelible impact on the medieval Mediterranean world. Bringing together more than 170 masterworks in a range of media and techniques—from mosaic, sculpture, pottery, and metalwork to luxury objects, panel painting, and religious manuscripts—African and Byzantium recounts Africa’s centrality in transcontinental networks of trade and cultural exchange. With incisive scholarship and new photography of works lately or never before seen in public, this long-overdue publication sheds new light on the staggering artistic achievements of late antique Africa. It reconsiders northern and eastern Africa’s contributions to the development of the premodern world an offers a more complete history of the region as a vibrant, multiethnic society of diverse languages and faiths that played a crucial role in the artistic, economic, and cultural life of Byzantium and beyond.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Africa and Byzantium: A Prologue — Andrea Myers Achi
FROM CARTHAGE TO AKSUM: AFRICA IN LATE ANTIQUITY
Byzantine Egypt
- Late Roman Visual Culture in Egypt and North Africa —
Elizabeth S. Bolman - Multilingualism in Late Antique Egypt — Roger S. Bagnall
- "Magic" in Late Antique Egypt — Andrea Myers Achi
- Representations of Egyptian Holy Men — Thelma K. Thomas
- Early Monasticism in Egypt — Arielle Winnik
Byzantine North Africa
- The Transformations of Roman North Africa in Late Antiquity — Sailakshmi Ramgopal
- Christian Terracotta Tiles — Nejib Ben Lazreg
- African Red Slip Ware — Moez Achour
- North African Mosaics — Liz James
- Jewish Art in Late Antique Africa — Pratima Gopalakrishnan and Naila Razzaq
The Kingdoms of Nubia
- Between Meroe and Rome: Late Antique Nubia — Annissa Malvoisin
- Boxes and Bronzes from Late Antique Nubia — Andrea Myers Achi
The Aksumite Empire
- The Aksumite Empire of East Africa: From the Red Sea to Byzantium and Beyond — Jessica L. Lamont
- Aksum and Byzantium — Felege-Selam Yirga
- Aksumite Coinage — Irene Soto Marín
Black Africans of the Mediterranean
- Representations of Black People in Mediterranean Antiquity —
Sarah F. Derbew - Dark-Skinned Figures in Late Antique Egyptian Textiles — Katrin Colburn
Post-Byzantine Africa
- Bright as the Sun: Religions, Translations, and Circulation in Post-Byzantine Africa — Vince L. Bantu
- Ifriqiya in the Early Islamic Period — Michelle Al-Ferzly
Post-Byzantine Egypt
- Egypt after Byzantium: Transitions, Memory, and Cultural Preservation — Andrea Myers Achi
- Egyptian Monasteries — Stephen. Davis
- Coptic Liturgy — Mary K. Farag
- Sinai as Monastic Center and Destination for Pilgrims — Helen C. Evans and Hieromonk Justin of Sinai
Nubia, Byzantium, and Beyond
- Nubia and Byzantium — Giovanni R. Ruffini
- Qasr Ibrim — Arielle Winnik
- Conservation Efforts at the Faras Cathedral — Aleksandra Sulikowska-Bełczowska
LEGACIES: BLACK BYZANTIUM
Ethiopia and Byzantium
- Faith on the Nile, Faith across the Seas: Circulation and Visual Translations in Northern and Eastern Africa — Kristen Windmuller-Luna
- Ethiopia and Byzantium — Jacopo Gnisci
- Ethiopian Crosses: Art in Motion — Jacopo Gnisci and Father Abate Gobena
- The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela: Bridging Local and Global Christian Culture — Marie-Laure Derat
- Medieval Islamic Inlaid Metalwork in the Churches of Lalibela — Deniz Beyazit
Ethiopian Icons
- Icons in Ethiopia and the Advent of Panel Painting — Claire Bosc-Tiessé and Sigrid Mirabaud
Artistic Renaissance in Christian Ethiopia
- The Artistic Renaissance of Early Modern Ethiopia — Kristen Windmuller-Luna
- Mural Paintings from the Church of Abba Ințonyos, Gondar — Claire Bosc-Tiesse
- Ethiopian "Magic" Scrolls — Eyob Derillo
Contemporary Reflections
- A Critical Geography — Andrea Myers Achi
- Theo Eshetu's "The Return of the Aksum Obelisk" — Emmanuel Iduma
- Artist's Statement — Tsedaye Makonnen
- Imagined Futures, Imagined Pasts — Suzanne Conklin Akbari
Author and Exhibition Context
- Associate Curator at The Met (IG)
- “Andrea Achi holds a BA from Barnard College and a PhD from New York University. Trained as a Byzantinist, Dr. Achi’s scholarship and curatorial practice focus on late antique and Byzantine art of the Mediterranean Basin and Northeast Africa. She has a particular interest in manuscripts and archaeological objects from Christian Egypt and Nubia, and she has brought this expertise to bear on exhibitions like Art and Peoples of the Kharga Oasis (2017), Crossroads: Power and Piety (2020), and The Good Life (2021) at The Met and in presentations and publications. Currently, she is working on exhibition projects related to Egyptian monasteries, the material culture of Late Antiquity, and Byzantine Art in Africa.“ (source)
- https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/africa-byzantium
Notes
Emmanuel Iduma
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Byzantium and Islam, Age of Transition: 7th-9th Century
The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261
The Universe History of Art and Architecture:
Early Christian and Byzantine
The Pelican History of Art: Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture