Byzantine Gender

by Leonora Neville

Why were virtuous Byzantine women described as manly? Why were boys' bodies thought to be closer in constitution to those of women than adult men? Did Byzantines think eunuchs were men?  This lively and personal book explains some key aspects of how people of the Medieval Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) conceived of men and women, masculinity and femininity, and proper behaviour for men and women. By laying bare fundamental ideas about how gender was defined and performed, Byzantine Gender enables readers to understand Byzantine society more fully. And by providing background information about Byzantine gender, it makes it easier to approach and appreciate the fascinating otherness of Byzantine culture.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

112 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2019

About the author

Leonora Neville is the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Professor of Byzantine History at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply informative and perhaps a necessary introduction to Byzantine self-conceptions of gender and gender performance (and connected morality). The most useful point Neville makes is that Medieval Rome (aka Byzantium) was a deeply rhetorical society, so often it is a mistake to read primary sources merely at a surface level; it is important to question the motives and authorial choices behind everything. Even a poorly written work was still written in this sociocultural context, and must be held up for closer examination.

I wish I’d read this before or during some of my classes studying Byzantium as the ideas presented would have made me reconsider many initial impressions of the culture garnered from various histories and hagiographies.

[Ruben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cannot emphasise what a delight it was to read this book. In this book Neville succeeds in explaining some of the key points of gender in Byzantine history and historiography. She has written this book not necessarily in an academic way, though she does explicitly say that it can be used by academics. To me, someone not as initiated as others in the subject of gender history itself (contrary to Byzantine history generally), it makes the subject quite accessible. You could finish this within a day. It reads lightly thanks to Neville’s writing style and her usage of examples. If I were to give a point of critique, then it would have to be the chapter division. She tells the reader concretely that the chapter on military moralism is lacking (which you might see in the few pages that are dedicated to it). Which in my opinion isn’t an excuse: either omit it, communicate the problem in some sort of conclusion or do more research into the subject. Although the insides given are still better than nothing, I would’ve liked to read more. The same goes for the final chapter. In my opinion it could’ve used more historiography or other insights. It read more like a glorified conclusion. Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and I would recommend anyone interested in the Byzantine world, gender history, or social history to read it!

[Diarmuid Angland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing I will take from this book is how it enables one to read Byzantine works with a new and deeper understanding of what the original Byzantine writer was seeking to say, it adds significant nuance for the reader.

The author by putting the understanding of gender in an east west context and highlighting that masculinity was about self control unlocks a key motivation for actions taken.

[Anatolikon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but lively treatment of the subject of gender in Byzantium. Neville makes no pretenses about this not being a summary of the state of the field. Instead, she gives us her opinion, perhaps borrowing a bit from the rhetoric of her subject Anna Komnene, since Neville is probably the most qualified person to write such a book.

As I see it the book is trying to speak to two audiences simultaneously, and this actually works. On the one hand, this is an introductory text and so has to spend a fair bit of time explaining that Byzantine gender norms are not western European (whether medieval or modern, it matters not) gender norms and that as a result Byzantium has been viewed negatively as a society awash in gender deviance. The other group being addressed are scholars of Byzantium, for which the main argument is "Look how everything is a reflection of gender and this is how texts should be read." This is a fair point, and thankfully we have Neville's books on Bryennios and Anna Komnene to illustrate all that in depth.

Anyway, so, what's in this book? The first chapter questions the received wisdom about gendered perceptions of weak men and powerful women in Byzantium, largely coming from medieval European sources and modern European scholarship. She ends the chapter with one of the book's key arguments: that gender in Byzantium is performative and often something that is under discussion in the medieval texts, but which has been taken at face-value by later scholars. The second chapter sets out Byzantine notions of gender, showing their classical and Christian antecedents, and arguing that because gender is performative, agency can be attained through specific performances. This leads right into the third chapter on gender and virtue. Neville outlines some of the virtues and vices, notably how women posed a threat to men's self-control, which itself was the very definition of masculinity. Since this performative masculinity existed on a spectrum it was not confined to men, and women could use it to do things. This is the subject of the following chapter, in which Neville argues that women could either demonstrate that they were not subject to feminine passions in order to act in the world, or could appeal to feminine weakness to get things done on their behalf. The penultimate chapter looks at men and martial virtue. The main contribution here is that we need to give more attention to gender in the texts that are used to write Byzantine military history. The final chapter considers change over time and raises some important questions behind Kazhdan's work on cultural change in the 11-12th c. that gender can shed a light on.

[Styx · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gives a great overview of the history of gender from late antiquity to the High Middle Ages in Byzantium; womens history, the preformative roles of men and women, and the role of eunuchs in this history.

Highly recommend!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshingly conversational and easy to read, a lovely introduction to the topic. Best read, as suggested, with a meal and beverage of choice.

[Langston Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the topic.