A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities

Anthony Kaldellis Oxford University Press 2017 Hb, 248pp, gloss, notes, £12.99, ISBN 9780190625948 The blurb describes this delightful tome as a “vast assortment of historical anomaly and absurdity.” The author, a classics professor at Ohio State University, slyly admits: “The book even has uses for those who do not actually wish to read it: for example, it may be reviewed.”

At least since the Enlightenment, the great eastern Roman Empire has had a bad press: the adjective Byzantine still implies needlessly complicated systems that operate through intrigue, eobfuscation and backstabbing. This book, Prof Kaldellis says, is “primarily a work of entertainment. Each item is self-contained, so the whole can be read in snatches” – perfect for the smallest room in the house. It fits neatly into the Byzantine tradition: “Their culture, after all, produced many thematic anthologies, paradoxography, and collections of edifying tales and miracles, along with books of quotations.” Topics covered by the 18 chapters include marriage and the family, unorthodox sex, animals, food (from aphrodisiacs to garon or rotting fish sauce), eunuchs, medicine, technology, war (flamethrowers, hand grenades etc), saints, heresy and scandal, rogues, insults, punishments, foreigners, and disasters.

Some entries are memorably odd: “Philostorgios (ca. 425) wrote that the unicorn lived in India: it had a serpent’s head and coiled neck, a crooked horn, a beard, and lion’s feet.” And others are quite bawdy: “Theology by flatulence – the Arian theologian Aetios (fourth century) illustrated the various theological positions regarding the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by farting. Three farts of identical volume stood for the theology of his opponents, while three farts of decreasing volume signified his own.” That’s what Theodoros of Mopsuestia tells us, anyway.