Significance and meaning of Byzantine stone bridges

Despite the enormous importance of bridges for all human areas of life, it is astonishing that Byzantine bridges unlike Roman, medieval West European and even Ottoman bridges have not attracted much scholarly attention. No thorough synthetic study of Byzantine bridges exists to date. Compendia on bridges either do not allude to Byzantine bridges at all or laconically mention that the Byzantines continued the Roman tradition of bridge construction, and as a matter of practice they typically reused or reconstructed Roman bridges. Considering this statement, the primary question to be asked is: Can we actually speak of Byzantine bridges? Drawing upon archaeological evidence as well as written and iconographical sources the present project intends to show that the answer is positive. First examined evidence reveals that the Byzantines established new technologies in bridge building, which predated similar developments in Western Europe by centuries; and they formulated a particular, multi-level understanding of the significance and meaning of bridges coinciding with their worldview. The aim of the project is to investigate the particularity of Byzantine bridges in regard to their architecture and construction technique, as well as their multivalent meaning in Byzantine society. The research is based on the primary study of preserved monuments and archaeological evidence as well as on written and iconographical sources. Even though my previous research on the topic, and especially the on-site observations, has been extensive and fruitful, a thorough comparative analysis and numerous aspects concerning the significance and meaning of Byzantine bridges have not yet been tackled. A longer research visit to Dumbarton Oaks with its extensive resources is required to investigate these aspects and to complete the project. The specific goal is to undertake a systematic investigation of written sources, e.g. historical accounts, hagiographic texts, and inscriptions, and representations of bridges in wall painting, mosaic, and manuscript illumination, using the librarys extensive holdings of literary and historical works, the Rare Book Collection, and the Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, ultimately leading to an analysis of a corpus of collected material. By incorporating this secondary visual and textual evidence I will delve into the culturally and historically relevant questions of the political, economic, and symbolic significance that bridges gained in Byzantine times in connection with the worldview of their contemporaries. The project will lead to an extensive monograph that will provide a synthetic presentation of the numerous aspects of Byzantine stone bridges, treating them not as isolated works of engineering but as constructions founded in a specific historical and cultural context and expounding their cross- cultural aspects. Another aim of the project is to present it as the applicants postdoctoral Habilitation as to obtain authorization (Venia Legendi) from the University of Vienna to teach art history.