Books by Louise Blanke
This book situates discussions of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine within the socioec... more This book situates discussions of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine within the socioeconomic world of the long Late Antiquity, from the golden age of monasticism into and well beyond the Arab conquest (fifth to tenth century). Its thirteen chapters present new research into the rich corpus of textual sources and archaeological remains and move beyond traditional studies that have treated monastic communities as religious entities in physical seclusion from society. The volume brings together scholars working across traditional boundaries of subject and geography and explores a diverse range of topics from the production of food and wine to networks of scribes, patronage, and monastic visitation. As such, it paints a vivid picture of busy monastic lives dependent on and led in tandem with the non-monastic world.
Series preface viii eries pre ace and Umayyad Spain (Sam Ottewill-Soulsby), an Arabist and histor... more Series preface viii eries pre ace and Umayyad Spain (Sam Ottewill-Soulsby), an Arabist and historian of the medieval Middle East (Edward Zychowicz-Coghill), an archaeologist working on late antique and early Islamic Jordan and Egypt (Louise Blanke), an architectural historian exploring the transition from Byzantine to Ottoman (Suna a aptay), a late antique historian who has turned her attention to Ottoman Greece (Elizabeth Key Fowden), a PhD student with a background in Classics studying urban planning in nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Italy (Sofia Greaves) and a principal investigator specializing in Roman social history and urban archaeology in Italy (Andrew Wallace-Hadrill). Other Cambridge colleagues joined our discussions on a regular basis, notably Tom Langley, writing a PhD on ideas of the city in Greek Patristic writers, Professor Amira Bennison, a historian of the medieval Maghrib, especially its cities, Professor Rosamond McKitterick, a leading figure in the study of Carolingian France and papal Rome, and Professor Martin Millett, a Roman archaeologist with a longstanding interest in urbanism. We benefited from the support and advice of the members of our Advisory Committee, both in Cambridge (in addition to the above named, Cyprian Broodbank, Robin Cormack, Garth Fowden, Alessandro Launaro, Robin Osborne and John Patterson) and beyond-Luuk de Ligt (Leiden), i dem Kafescio lu (Istanbul), Ray Laurence (Sydney), Keith Lilley (Belfast) and from Oxford, Josephine Quinn, Bryan Ward-Perkins and Chris Wickham. We also enjoyed the invaluable support of two administrators, Nigel Thompson of the Classics Faculty and Beth Clark, whose calm efficiency facilitated conferences and seminars, enabled foreign travel and smoothed contact with the bureaucracies at both ends. We invited many scholars, from Cambridge or further afield, to share their knowledge with us at our weekly seminars. We also organised one-day workshops, including one on the Roman and Islamic city in North Africa and one on Cities and Citizenship after antiquity (that led to an l as special issue) 1 , as well a panel for the 2018 Leeds International Medieval congress on 'Memory' and two three-day conferences, one in Istanbul and one in Rome. The last three underlie the three volumes in the present series. In each of those conferences, the members of our group contributed, but we knew that to cover the ground we needed to bring in international colleagues. The three volumes that constitute the present series are far from exhausting the output of the project, and each of us has papers and monographs in the pipeline or already out. Each of the three volumes has its own set of questions, but together they build up an overriding collective agenda of exploring how the cities of the Greek and Roman past, and such ideas of the city that were articulated around them, have impacted on the city and the idea of the city in later periods.
https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=115326
The White Monastery in Upper Egypt ... more https://www.isdistribution.com/BookDetail.aspx?aId=115326
The White Monastery in Upper Egypt and its two federated communities are among the largest, most prosperous and longest-lived loci of Coptic Christianity. Founded in the fourth century and best known for its zealous and prolific third abbot, Shenoute of Atripe, these monasteries have survived from their foundation in the golden age of Egyptian Christianity until today.
At its peak in the fifth to the eighth centuries, the White Monastery federation was a hive of industry, densely populated and prosperous. It was a vibrant community that engaged with extra-mural communities by means of intellectual, spiritual and economic exchange. It was an important landowner and a powerhouse of the regional economy. It was a spiritual beacon imbued with the presence of some of Christendom’s most famous saints, and it was home to a number of ordinary and extraordinary men and women, who lived, worked, prayed and died within its walls.
This new study is an attempt to write the biography of the White Monastery federation, to reconstruct its longue durée – through archaeological and textual sources – and to assess its place within the world of Late Antiquity.
Book series by Louise Blanke
Edinburgh Byzantine Studies looks at the literary, historical, material and visual remains, often... more Edinburgh Byzantine Studies looks at the literary, historical, material and visual remains, often from a multi-disciplinary and/or cross-cultural vantage point. I am particularly interested in volumes with an archaeological approach. You are welcome to get in touch if you have ideas that you would like to discuss.
Articles and chapters by Louise Blanke
![Research paper thumbnail of (2024) Down the drain: reconstructing social practice from the content of two sewers in a Late Antique bathhouse in Jerash, Jordan, Journal of Roman Archaeology [open access]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/116410430/thumbnails/1.jpg)
This contribution examines social practices in the Central Bathhouse in Jerash in Late Antiquity ... more This contribution examines social practices in the Central Bathhouse in Jerash in Late Antiquity based on the ceramic assemblage, vessel glass, faunal remains, and small finds retrieved from two sections of the bathhouse's sewer. We argue that although the bathhouse underwent significant architectural alterations from its construction in the 4th c. CE to its abandonment in the late 7th, the activities taking place inside the building remained largely the same. Our study shows that even towards the end of the bathhouse's lifespan, bodily grooming remained integral to the bathing experience, while food and drink were consumed on the premises even though the bathing facilities had been reduced to a bare minimum. The faunal remains indicate the type of food consumed, while the small finds illustrate a lively environment where gaming and gambling took place in a social space frequented by men, women, and children.
Note streets running perpendicular from south decumanus and diagonally from the town centre towar... more Note streets running perpendicular from south decumanus and diagonally from the town centre towards the hilltop © LAJP. 2. Survey map showing location of Trench 5-9 on the southwest hilltop © LAJP. 4. SouthWest view of the excavations in Trench 5, where the large cut in the bedrock and the caving are visible © LAJP. 3. Rock-cut flight of steps leading into the cave in Trench 5. Grooves are carved at the edge of each step, facilitating water to run off if spilled © LAJP.
louise blanke and jennifer cromwell 1 www.stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com. 2 Roseman's Two Monks ... more louise blanke and jennifer cromwell 1 www.stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com. 2 Roseman's Two Monks Bowing in Prayer can be viewed on Washington, DC's National Gallery of Art's website www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.60782.html. 3 Foucault and Miskowiec, 'Of Other Spaces', p. 24. 4 Foucault and Miskowiec, 'Of Other Spaces', p. 27. Foucault's examples of heterotopias included airports, hospitals, monasteries, prisons, and schools.
Authors: L. Blanke, R.H. Barnes, K. Brunner, M. Brøndgaard Jensen, L. Goossens, R. Kneiss, A. Mel... more Authors: L. Blanke, R.H. Barnes, K. Brunner, M. Brøndgaard Jensen, L. Goossens, R. Kneiss, A. Mellah, R. Pappalardo, D. Pilz, and A. Vernet
Archaeological studies have readily embraced the revitalisation of the longue durée concept as an... more Archaeological studies have readily embraced the revitalisation of the longue durée concept as an effective yet flexible historical tool with which to mix and match, on a level platform, the many relevant fields of research in the natural and social sciences. In this new manifestation of longue durée, macrohistory has returned strengthened by the overt validity of the breadth, depth, reliability and often repeatability of diverse data sets, yet also its ability to incorporate microhistories including the contributions of sole actors. 1 Within the flexible boundaries of longue durée, crossovers between theoretical tools can be built, in which a rigorous interrogation of the data can occur to reveal and define the otherwise overlooked characteristics and complex structures that customised past societies. 2 Consequently, an unprecedented opportunity now exists to engage with a wide range of theoretic approaches compatible with a longue durée approach, such as recent and relevant debates on empirical urban theory, 3 the nature of human perception, 4 social and political commentary in art and design, 5 path dependency in regional economics 6 and resilience theory. 7
How many a city We have destroyed in its evildoing, and now it is fallen down upon its turrets! H... more How many a city We have destroyed in its evildoing, and now it is fallen down upon its turrets! How many a ruined well, a tall palace! Qur'an 22.45 It is not quite known: Is it the work of humans for jinn to live in or the work of jinn for humans? al-Buḥturī, Īwān Kisrā Ruins that don't take you back to the past, but coexist on the same plane as buildings still living. Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis, 'Thessaloniki and life' Time is made to curl up end to end, so that distance draws near and the past becomes present; depth disappears in a flattening effect that brings up to the surface what once lay buried. Marina Warner, 'Freud's couch: A case history'
Antiquité Tardive, 2020
* Pour les titres moins courants, éviter les abréviations ou donner la liste des abréviations pro... more * Pour les titres moins courants, éviter les abréviations ou donner la liste des abréviations propres à l'article.
The Encyclopaedia of Ancient History, 2019
Textual sources and archaeological remains document a plethora of monasteries throughout the Late... more Textual sources and archaeological remains document a plethora of monasteries throughout the Late Antique Mediterranean world. Until recently, literary sources, such as hagiographies, served as the primary evidence for the monastic movement, resulting in scholars seeing the eremitic, semi‐eremitic, and coenobitic (communal) lifestyles as its main expressions. Archaeological surveys and excavations of monastic sites have nuanced this picture and underlined the complexity and diversity of not only the monasteries’ internal organization, but also their geographical setting and economic realities. Late Antique monasteries in the eastern Mediterranean (especially Egypt and Palestine) are well represented both archaeologically and textually while early monasteries in the western Mediterranean are mainly known from textual sources.
The Archaeology in Jordan Newsletter in an open access (OA) online publication by ACOR. All the o... more The Archaeology in Jordan Newsletter in an open access (OA) online publication by ACOR. All the original reports published in this journal are free to access immediately from the date of publication. We do not charge fees for any reader to download articles for their own scholarly or educational use.
High-resolution insight into parasitic infections and diet of past populations in Northern Europe... more High-resolution insight into parasitic infections and diet of past populations in Northern Europe and the Middle East (500 BC-1700 AD) was obtained by pre-concentration of parasite eggs from ancient latrines and deposits followed by shotgun sequencing of DNA. Complementary profiling of parasite, vertebrate and plant DNA proved highly informative in the study of ancient health, human-animal interactions as well as animal and plant dietary components. Most prominent were finding of soil-borne parasites transmitted directly between humans, but also meat-borne parasites that require consumption of raw or undercooked fish and pork. The detection of parasites for which sheep, horse, dog, pig, and rodents serves as definitive hosts are clear markers of domestic and synanthropic animals living in closer proximity of the respective sites. Finally, the reconstruction of full mitochondrial parasite genomes from whipworm (Ascaris lumbricoides) and roundworm species (Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris muris) and estimates of haplotype frequencies elucidates the genetic diversity and provides insights into epidemiology and parasite biology.
This is an Accepted Original Manuscript (preprint) of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Levant on 20th December 2017, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00758914.2017.1413812.
Jarash (also Jerash, Greek Gerasa) ranks among the principal urban centres of Late Antique and Ea... more Jarash (also Jerash, Greek Gerasa) ranks among the principal urban centres of Late Antique and Early Islamic Jordan. Despite being one of the most intensively investigated urban sites within the region, the history of Jarash during the Islamic ages, in particular after the massive earthquake of 749, remains a topic of profound disagreement. Drawing on previously unpublished data from recent excavation projects, we present here a critical review of the settlement history of Jarash from 700-1200 CE, emphasising the resilience of local communities and the impact of long-term economic and social trends.
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Books by Louise Blanke
The White Monastery in Upper Egypt and its two federated communities are among the largest, most prosperous and longest-lived loci of Coptic Christianity. Founded in the fourth century and best known for its zealous and prolific third abbot, Shenoute of Atripe, these monasteries have survived from their foundation in the golden age of Egyptian Christianity until today.
At its peak in the fifth to the eighth centuries, the White Monastery federation was a hive of industry, densely populated and prosperous. It was a vibrant community that engaged with extra-mural communities by means of intellectual, spiritual and economic exchange. It was an important landowner and a powerhouse of the regional economy. It was a spiritual beacon imbued with the presence of some of Christendom’s most famous saints, and it was home to a number of ordinary and extraordinary men and women, who lived, worked, prayed and died within its walls.
This new study is an attempt to write the biography of the White Monastery federation, to reconstruct its longue durée – through archaeological and textual sources – and to assess its place within the world of Late Antiquity.
Book series by Louise Blanke
Articles and chapters by Louise Blanke
The White Monastery in Upper Egypt and its two federated communities are among the largest, most prosperous and longest-lived loci of Coptic Christianity. Founded in the fourth century and best known for its zealous and prolific third abbot, Shenoute of Atripe, these monasteries have survived from their foundation in the golden age of Egyptian Christianity until today.
At its peak in the fifth to the eighth centuries, the White Monastery federation was a hive of industry, densely populated and prosperous. It was a vibrant community that engaged with extra-mural communities by means of intellectual, spiritual and economic exchange. It was an important landowner and a powerhouse of the regional economy. It was a spiritual beacon imbued with the presence of some of Christendom’s most famous saints, and it was home to a number of ordinary and extraordinary men and women, who lived, worked, prayed and died within its walls.
This new study is an attempt to write the biography of the White Monastery federation, to reconstruct its longue durée – through archaeological and textual sources – and to assess its place within the world of Late Antiquity.
In addition to the problem of how historical layers are related, or disconnected, the image of the palimpsest raises another difficulty that this conference aims to tackle, namely the privileging of the ‘original’. In the case of the textual palimpsest, what is found underneath the visible layer is, in most cases, what most excites scholars. The parallel problem with cities is obvious since the pursuit of the ‘original’ underneath medieval, early modern and contemporary cities has long been the focus of antiquarian, archaeological and historical interest. This fixation on the original and the classical is inseparably fused with European conceptions of antiquity in which the subsequent periods are characterized by decline and ignorance.
In contrast to this tendency, our Impact of the Ancient City Project three-day conference considers the evolutions of both the material and the conceptual city. To facilitate discussion across diverse city case studies, we ask participants to keep in mind fundamental questions of urban development that have been more frequently discussed, such as: Do the central open spaces remain the same after the Greco-Roman period? How are they transformed? How does the relationship between public and private space develop? Do the areas of commercial interaction remain the same? How are neighbourhoods organized, and how do they articulate links between individual households and the broader city fabric? What happens to major public buildings such as gymnasia, theatres or baths? How do processional ways reflect changing social and political needs? How are the old centres of cult transformed by religious conflict and change while remaining in the same locations?
We ask participants also to consider: How was the ancient city imagined at different times and how were the physical remains of the past re-formulated to fit this image? Do we, in fact, find examples when the urban past has been scraped away and forgotten in order to start afresh, as in the case of the textual palimpsest? How best to interpret the frequent phenomenon of adjacent developments, especially in the case of the Arabic Islamic city? Is it more useful to think in terms of turning one’s back on the past than transforming it? What features were cultivated in the Ottoman city that linked the pre-Ottoman past with the present, or could best be understood as a conscious un-linking?
The tangible traces of the Greco-Roman city were made meaningful through diverse ways of reflecting on the past, many of which diverge widely from modern modes of identification and signification. For this reason, the sessions of case studies follow initial papers on the urban imagination in four broad cultural spheres that have animated the Eastern Mediterranean over time: Arabic, Byzantine, Frankish and Ottoman.
The Impact of the Ancient City is a five-year, ERC-funded research project based at the University of Cambridge. Our first major conference, Cities as palimpsests? Urban evolutions in the Eastern Mediterranean, to be held in collaboration with Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul in May 2019.
Elizabeth Key Fowden, Suna Çağaptay, Louise Blanke, Edward Zychowicz-Coghill, and Beth Clark (Co-organisers)