Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences

Beyond the purple plots. Towards a dynamic perspective on imperial formations of the past

Popular perceptions of empires are still shaped by their cartographic representation as vast assemblies of territory in loud colours. More recent studies of geography, however, have argued for more “cobwebby” spatial manifestations of imperial rule as “series of nodes (population centres and resources) joined through corridors (roads, canals, rivers)”.[1] Historians have introduced the concept of “imperial ecology”, defined as the “particular flows of resources and population directed by the imperial centre” on which its success and survival depended[2] ; and environmental scientists have proposed various tools to survey and analyse these flows of the “social metabolism” of a society or urban community.[3] Furthermore, empires have been characterised as “regimes of entanglements”, in which certain structural and habitual circumstances – principles, rules, standards and mutual expectations – allow for the establishment of enduring long term linkages through the mobility of people, goods and ideas.[4]
This paper combines these approaches with tools of social network analysis and digital cartography in order to explore more patchy spatial manifestations and dynamic “fluidities” of imperial formations. It presents case studies based on a single text as well as some using large-scale historical and archaeological data sets, comparing imperial connectivity and mobility for the Roman, Byzantine and Chinese Empires in the late antique and medieval period.[5] Thereby, it aims at “Moving Byzantium” as well as other polities of the past.[6]

Responsable : Anca Dan