Defining Byzantine Identity.

It’s Time To Get F@k’n Serious.

I have been trying to figure out what my voice should be for this site, and, to be honest, I have no F@k’n clue. I tend to write in a stream-of-consciousness style. I basically write what comes into my mind at that moment. It works well for story writing and the creative nonfiction genre. I believe it keeps my thoughts truthful and more meaningful to how I truly feel. But for Rogue History, I am not sure if it is the exact style the site needs to convey its purpose; its intentions.

So, WTF am I supposed to do? A blend of both academic writing and creative nonfiction stream-of-consciousness may be the answer. You can be the judge!

For this post, I want to dive into IDENTITY. More specifically, what do we as Byzantinists mean when we apply this word to Byzantine history and those who lived in this period? What is Byzantine identity, and how does academia represent Byzantine identity?

This is too complex of a question to completely answer here in a single post. In fact, I would say that it would take many posts to even scrape the surface of this question. Therefore, THE BYZ is a series that will explore Byzantine identity and how it is defined by scholarship and how those who lived in the ancient world understood their own identity. THE BYZ is part of a larger project that I am embarking on concerning the Byzantine coin collection at the Nickle Galleries.

I want to understand the role museums play in the representation of Byzantine identity through Coin/Numismatic exhibitions. How does the curation of Byzantine coins affect the public perception of Byzantine identity?

ROMAN OR BYZANTINE?

Why embark on this path?

Simply put, why the F@k not?

Answering a question with a question is definitely how I should respond, but here is another way to respond. You tell me how we should categorize the two coins above? Roman or Byzantine? Is there a distinction? Should there be a distinction, and if there is such a distinction, how do we define it?

The iconography of the above coins is obviously different. One has a more realistic side profile portraiture while the other tends to have that half-assed, Je ne sais quoi appeal? Yet, some may say they are both Roman, others may say both are Byzantine. While, quite possibly, a vast majority will denounce those claims and argue that one is Late Roman and the other Early Byzantine.

How The F@k Are We To Resolve This?

Firstly, we need to define identity and how it is to be applied to the context of Byzantine coins. Second, we need to examine if such a definition is possible given that a mere few f@k’n centuries separate us from the Romans of Byzantium, aka the Eastern Roman Empire. Therefore, we cannot possibly say that we understand identity the way the Romans did. If we could even come close to understanding identity as the Romans did, lived experiences of identity can not be replicated from the Roman past.

What do I mean by that?

Well, take the two coins in the pictures above. One is of Constantine II, son of Constantine the Great, and the other (the one on the right) is of Heraclius and his son. If a Roman had both coins in their hand, ask yourself, would they differentiate one as Roman and the other as Byzantine? How would they understand and interact with the iconography of the coins? How does such iconography influence those who have the coins in their possession? Do they identify as belonging to the same group of people? Is there an ethnic, cultural or political identity that can be taken from the images and can that identity be shared by the owner of the coins? Can ethnic identity be extracted at all from the coins? What consequences does this have? If an emperor is Macedonian and the owner of a coin Armenian, do they share a common identity?

How Then Should These Identities Be Represented In A Museum?

Can A Coin Represent Both?

I think I will leave it there. My brain can go on and on and on and on and on. To conclude, how the sweet baby Yoda are we to make sense of all of this?

Just hang in there. I hope that we can do this together, and by that I mean, sit the F@k down and read what the F@k I have to say.

I VALUE YOUR OPINION SO LEAVE A F@K’N COMMENT!

Next on THE BYZ, we will start to break down the history of how Byzantinist have defined Byzantine identity and then take that shit and explore how the F@k it pertains to Byzantine coins? Maybe we will have to conclude that we should not be calling these coins Byzantine? Who the F@k knows? Stay tuned.