Ein Vortrag von Dr. Theodora N. Konstantellou (Athen) / A lecture by Dr. Theodora N. Konstantellou (Athens)
The year 1204, crucial for the Byzantine Empire and its territorial power, marked the beginning of several processes that altered the landscape of sovereignty in the Aegean Sea. In the area of modern Cyclades, a Latin insular polity, the Duchy of the Aegean or Archipelago was established. This new chapter in the history of the Cyclades is now largely identified with the history of its western rulers. In this historical narrative, the local rural communities, barely detectable in written sources, remain almost invisible. In this lecture I aim to give voice to the historical subjects that lived in the countryside of the islands forming the Duchy of the Aegean. The bulk of the evidence consists of inscriptions and portraits found in painted rural churches. The systematic collection of this material and its subsequent historical analysis has allowed me to reconstruct the image of an active and lively, but largely invisible and unknown society that has evaded the scrutiny of Byzantinists.