Output details

Mapping the Jewish Communities of the Byzantine Empire

www.byzantinejewry.net

This online resource enables specialists, general scholars and the public at large to generate online maps of the Jewish communities of the Byzantine empire to their own specifications, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The work was funded by the European Research Council; the Principal Investigator was Nicholas de Lange, assisted by two postdoctoral researchers, Alexander Panayotov and Gethin Rees, and fieldworkers in Italy, Greece and Turkey. Further technical advice and support was provided by HUMlab, Umeå University.

The project aims to fill a gap in two fields, Byzantine history and Jewish history. Additionally, it is hoped that that the application of GIS technology to the study of a historical subject will furnish a model that can be followed in other historical projects.

The website can be accessed in either of two formats: a list of data responding to the criteria of the search, together with reference to published or unpublished sources, or maps locating the sites. A range of filters makes it possible to narrow down the search, for example to a chronological period, a group of localities, or the type of source.

It can thus be used both to provide ready answers to questions, or to provide access to sources for further research.

The project utilises the totality of dated and localised data for the Jewish presence in Byzantium and former Byzantine territories from the mid-7th to late 15th centuries, and is thus by far the most complete and reliable resource for the study of the subject, which has been notably neglected in modern research.

For more information see the project website mjcb.eu. A more detailed description has been uploaded as a PDF to the REF output depository for transfer to the HEFCE submission system.