The Serpent Column and the talismanic ecologies of Byzantine Constantinople. (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Griebeler, Andrew
• Is Part Of: Byzantine and modern Greek studies. Volume 44:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 105
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Serpent Column, -- hippodrome, -- talismans, -- occult science, -- Constantinople; Byzantine Empire -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Greece -- History -- 323-1453 -- Periodicals; Greece -- Periodicals; Byzantine Empire -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 949.5005
• DOI: 10.1017/byz.2019.25
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0307-0131

Abstract

Abstract : This study examines how the Serpent Column in Constantinople came to be recognized as a talisman against snakes and snakebites in the 1390s. It first gives a working definition of what a talisman was in Byzantium. It shows that, despite the co-existence of different ideas of what talismans were, they share the basic principle that the talisman acts within a broader network of non-human forces and entities. Second, it shows how contemporaries used this understanding of talismans when they began to recognize the Serpent Column as a talisman.