Apostolos Spanos

• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). Was Innovation Unwanted in Byzantium? In Nilsson, Ingela & Stephenson, Paul (Ed.), Wanted Byzantium. The Desire for a Lost Empire. Uppsala universitet. ISSN 9789155489151. p. 43–56.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). Political Approaches to Byzantine Liturgical Texts. In Eriksen, Roy Tommy & Young, Peter (Ed.), Approaches to the Text: From Pre-Gospel to Post-Baroque. Fabrizio Serra Editore. ISSN 978-88-6227-695-5. p. 63–81.
• Spanos, Apostolos & Zarras, Nektarios (2010). Representations of Emperors as Saints in Byzantine Textual and Visual Sources. In Borgolte, Michael & Schneidmüller, Bernd (Ed.), Hybride Kulturen im mittelalterlichen Europa/Hybride Cultures in Medieval Europe. Akademie Verlag. ISSN 978-3-05-004695-2. p. 63–78. Show summary

  The paper discusses principles and expressions of Byzantine political ideology, concentrating on the sacred character of the imperial authority and office. Furthermore, it examines the representation of the holiness of emperors in textual and visual sources, using by way of example the cases of empress Irene (797-802), and emperors Nikephoros II Phocas (963-969), John III Vatatzes (1221-1254) and Manuel II Palaiologos (1391-1425), all of whom were celebrated as saints in Byzantine Greek hagiographical and/or hymnographical texts.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2010). Imperial Sanctity and Politico-Ecclesiastical Propaganda in Byzantium (Ninth-Fifteenth century). In Michaels, Axel (Eds.), Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual. Harrassowitz Verlag. ISSN 9783447062039. p. 197–213.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2010). Leimoniako Zitima. Anekdota patriarchika eggrafa apo to Archeio tou Mitropoliti Methymnes Nicephorou Glyka (1881-1888) [=The Leimoniakon Issue. Unpublished patriarchal documents from the Archives of the Bishop of Methymna Nicephoros Glykas (1881?1888)], Hagia Sion. Diocese of Mytilene. p. 73–120. Show summary

  The Archives at Leimonos Monastery, Lesbos, Hellas, consist of some 2,500 documents. A part of the Archives, namely the Archives of Nicephoros Glykas, the Bishop of Methymna [1881-1896], that consist of 332 documents, is related to the so-called Leimoniakon issue. By Leimoniakon issue is meant a composite conflict between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Diocese of Methymna on the one side, and the local authorities and the monks of Leimonos Monastery on the other. The main point of the Leimoniakon issue was the claim of the local authorities to use a part of the revenues of the rich Leimonos Monastery to build up a new school in the conterminous village (today: Kalloni) and to support the educational needs of the area. This conflict should be considered within the framework of the rise of the bourgeoisie in Lesbos in the second half of the 19th c. and its effort to share some of the authority that the Church was exercising over the Greek people. The whole problem influenced the social, educational, economic, political, and ecclesiastical life of the province for some twenty years and resulted in acts like the occupancy of the monastery by local people and the monks(!) and the excommunication of the protagonists by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This paper presents the edition of thirty-seven patriarchal letters related to the Leimoniakon issue. The majority of them is addressed to the abbot and the brotherhood of the Leimon monastery, while some are sent to the bishop of Methymna Nicephoros Glykas and the local authorities. Most of these letters were hitherto unpublished. Their content demonstrates the efforts of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to find a solution to the problem, which arose because of the claims and movements of the local authorities.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2010). "To every innovation, anathema"(?) some preliminary thoughts on the study of Byzantine innovation. In Knudsen, Harald; Falkenberg, Joyce Eileen S; Grønhaug, Kjell & Garnes, Åge (Ed.), Mysterion, strategike og kainotomia : et festskrift til ære for Jonny Holbek. Novus Forlag. ISSN 978-82-7099-585-1. p. 51–59. Show summary

  A very well established notion in Byzantine (and generally, medieval) studies is that Byzantium was a civilization, one of the most characteristic features of which was its conservatism. This general idea influenced the evaluation of innovation in Byzantium, which has been presented by modern scholars as either absent or as being decisively opposed to. The article makes a preliminary effort of reflecting over this notion by studying lexicographical and other textual sources and questioning whether the negative evaluation of Byzantine innovation has not been as thorough as it should and, probably, methodologically incorrect.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2009). He Sylloge Cheirografon tes Mones Leimonos [=The Collection of Manuscripts at the Monastery of Leimon]. In Spanos, Apostolos & Kalamatas, Athanasios (Ed.), Hiera Mone Leimonos. Historia - Palaiografia - Techne. Praktika Synedriou, Mone Leimonos 27-30 Septembriou 2001 (=The Holy Leimon Monastery. History - Palaeography - Art. Conference Proceedings, Leimon Monastery, 27-30 September 2001). Bartzoulianos. ISSN 9789606817137. p. 35–51. Show summary

  Paper presenting the manuscript collection at the Monastery of Leimon, Lesbos, Greece, published in the Acts of a conference held at the Monastery in 2001.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2008). Two groups of bookbindings of the Byzantine type, products of a Constantinopolitan(?) scriptorium, in Byzantine manuscripts at Leimonos Monastery, Vivlioamphiastis 3. The Book in Byzantium. Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Bookbinding. Proceedings of an International Symposium. Athens 13-16 October 2005, Edited by Niki Tsironis. Hellenic Society for Bookbinding - Institute for Byzantine Research/Na. p. 287–315. Show summary

  The paper presents two groups of post-Byzantine bookbindings in Byzantine manuscripts at Leimonos monastery, Lesbos, Greece. These bookbindings are made in a scriptorium that operated, most probably in Constantinople, in the second half of the 16th century. The study is based on the examination of the decorative tools and the technique used by the bookbinder(s).

• Spanos, Apostolos (2004). Chronological and other questions on the Vita of Saint Ignatios, the founder of Leimonos Monastery. Gregorios ho Palamas : dimeniaion theologikon kai ekklesiastikon periodikon, organon tes Hieras Metropoleos Thessalonikes. ISSN 1011-3010. 87, p. 55–68.

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• Spanos, Apostolos (2021). Games of History: Games and Gaming as Historical Sources. Routledge. ISBN 9780367358907. 200 p. Show summary

  Games of History provides an understanding of how games as artefacts, textual and visual sources on games and gaming as a pastime or a “serious” activity can be used as sources for the study of history. From the vast world of games, the book’s focus is on board and card games, with reference to physical games, sports and digital games as well. Considering culture, society, politics and metaphysics, the author uses examples from various places around the world and from ancient times to the present to demonstrate how games and gaming can offer the historian an alternative, often very valuable and sometimes unique path to the past. The book offers a thorough discussion of conceptual and material approaches to games as sources, while also providing the reader with a theoretical starting point for further study within specific thematic chapters. The book concludes with three case studies of different types of games and how they can be considered as historical sources: the gladiatorial games, chess and the digital game Civilization. Offering an alternative approach to the study of history through its focus on games and gaming as historical sources, this is the ideal volume for students considering different types of sources and how they can be used for historical study, as well as students who study games as primary or secondary sources in their history projects.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2013). Λειμωνιακό Ζήτημα. Ιστορική προσέγγιση και έκδοση εγγράφων από το Αρχείο Νικηφόρου Γλυκά (=Leimoniakon Issue. Historical Approach and Edition of Documents from the Archives of Nikephoros Glykas). Portal forlag. ISBN 9788292712887. 565 p. Show summary

  The Archives at the Leimonos monastery consist of some 2,500 documents. A part of the Archives (namely the Archives of Nicephoros Glykas, the Bishop of Methymna [1881–1896], that consist of 332 documents) is related to the so-called Leimonos Issue. By the term is meant a composite conflict between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Diocese of Methymna on the one side, and the local authorities and the monks of Leimonos monastery on the other. The conflict, the main point of which was the claim of the local authorities to use a part of the revenues of the rich Leimonos monastery for supporting the educational needs of the area and building up a new school in the conterminous village (today: Kalloni), must be considered within the framework of the rise of the bourgeoisie in Lesbos in the second half of the 19th c. and its conflict with the Church for sharing the authority that the Church was exercising over the Greek people. The whole problem influenced the social, educational, economic, political, and ecclesiastical life of the province for some twenty years. The book, which was originally my MA dissertation (University of Athens, 1999), consists of: (a) historical introduction; (b) the annotated edition of 243 documents (most of them hitherto unpublished); (c) five appendices containing the edition of six more documents indirectly related to the subject, twenty-six articles published in newspapers and journals in 1881–1885, and topographical data on towns, villages and settlements recorded in the documents; (d) a glossary of Turkish words that appear in the documents. The book sheds light to the most important problem that the province of Methymna faced during the 19th century. A lot of information is given about the Leimonos monastery, as well as the educational system, the economy and the everyday life in northern and western Lesbos, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Diocese of Methymna, and the main problems of the Orthodox Church during the second half of the nineteenth century.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2010). Codex Lesbiacus Leimonos 11. Annotated Critical Edition of an Unpublished "Menaion" for June. Walter de Gruyter (De Gruyter). ISBN 9783110221299. 452 p. Show summary

  The book is an annotated critical edition of an unpublished collection of hymnographical texts, preserved in the eleventh-century Greek manuscript 11 of the library of Leimonos monastery, Lesbos, Greece. This important codex is a Menaion for June comprising thirty akolouthiai on saints; nineteen of them are hitherto unpublished. The edition of the texts is accompanied by an introduction, a liturgical, palaeographical, and hymnographical commentary, appendices of unpublished hymns preserved in manuscripts other than Lesbiacus Leimonos 11, and indices. The introduction examines codex Lesbiacus Leimonos 11 and its importance from a liturgical, hymnographical, and palaeographical perspective. It is divided into four chapters. The first presents the liturgical environment of the period from the ninth century, when most of the texts edited were composed, to the eleventh, when the production of the codex could be placed, and the liturgical books used in the period, the structure of the akolouthiai and the festal calendar of the Byzantine church. The second chapter deals with the content of the texts edited. Chapter Three presents briefly the life and the hymnographical work of the authors of the texts. The last chapter of the introduction is devoted to the manuscript tradition of the texts.

• Spanos, Apostolos & Kalamatas, Athanasios (2009). Hiera Mone Leimonos. Historia - Palaiografia - Techne. Praktika Synedriou, Mone Leimonos 27-30 Septembriou 2001 (=The Holy Leimon Monastery. History - Palaeography - Art. Conference Proceedings, Leimon Monastery, 27-30 September 2001). Bartzoulianos. ISBN 9789606817137. 17 p. Show summary

  Acts of a conference held at the Monastery of Leimon in 2001. It contains twelve papers on the history of th monastery, its founder St Ignatios Agallianos, the libary of the monastery, its collection of icons, the erchitecture and the decoration of its main church (katholikon).

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• Spanos, Apostolos (2022). Den historieskapte marionetten.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2022). Den historieskapte marionetten.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2020). Innovation as a mode of historical existence.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2017). Approaching Innovation in Byzantium: theoretical and methodological challenges.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2017). Innovation and Innovations in Byzantium.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2017). Athina-Alexandria. Apo ti sofia tis agoras stin polimathia tis bibliothikis. Bartzoulianos Books. ISSN 978-960-6817-74-8.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2016). Towards a multidisciplinary study of innovation. Show summary

  The paper focuses on theoretical blind spots in the study of innovation and the current discourses. It is based on the hypothesis that innovation has become the recent decades an “essentially contested concept” (Gallie 1956). Innovation discourses seem to overlook the complexity of innovation, as both a phenomenon and a concept. Defining innovation has been, more often than not, limited to dictionary-type definitions, approaching innovation in a unidimentional way, responding to the needs of the current student. The paper proposes and discusses five different approaches to innovation, namely as (a) a content, i.e. an idea, a practice, or an artefact; (b) a process (of implementation, adoption, adaptation of an idea/practice/artefact); (c) a historical situation (as the Koselleckian Zustand); (d) a phenomenon, in other words how an innovation is experienced by the unit of adoption and/or the social units around it; and (e) a concept, i.e. the synchronic and diachronic onomasiology and semasiology of terms related to innovation. A central working question is whether both the theoretical and the practical innovation discourses need, accordingly, five different definitions of and approaches to innovation. Furthermore, the paper approaches innovation as a historical phenomenon by taking into consideration theories of historical layers and temporalities. Another working question is related to the more general concepts, or phenomena, in relation to which innovation may be understood better. In other words where should innovation be placed in a relevant “ladder of abstraction” (see Sartori 1970).

• Spanos, Apostolos (2016). Is Innovation an Essentially Contested Concept?
• Spanos, Apostolos (2016). Innovation approaches to historical temporalities.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Innovation in Byzantium.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Historical approaches to the concept of innovation.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Introduction to the historical study of innovation.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Rethinking innovation in Byzantium. Show summary

  Was Byzantium really a traditional civilisation, sceptical, if not hostile, toward innovation? How is this possible for a civilisation that survived for over a millennium and produced striking innovations, not only in the material world but also in politics, religion, literature and other intellectual fields? Is the perception of the Byzantines as anti-innovative a result of the lack of research focused on Byzantine innovation? Furthermore, how do Byzantinists approach the concept of innovation and the understanding of time orientation that comes along?

• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). "Historical Approaches to the Idea of Innovation". Show summary

  The historical study of innovation, both as a concept and as a historical phenomenon, seems to suffer from an underdeveloped theorization. The lack of a historical definition of innovation, for example, often results in an approach based on a vague understanding of the concept and a hazy use of the term. The lecture focuses on the contemporary idea of innovation, approaching it from a historical perspective. Its main aim is to discuss: a) some of the primary innovation concepts, b) aspects related to the temporal dimension of innovation, c) the possibility of a general «historical» definition of innovation, and d) a historical typology of innovation.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). "Towards a Historical Definition of Innovation: Conceptual Challenges".
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). History and Historiography: use, misuse, and abuse.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Research, scientific paradigms and path dependence.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Editing Byzantine texts.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2015). Iconoclasm and the Macedonian renaissance: an introduction.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). Rethinking Innovation: the Battle between the Old and the New.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). Ancient Greece, Byzantium and Modern Greek Identity.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). Nightmares of the Byzantine scribe.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). The political side of Byzantine icons.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2014). The invisible side of Byzantine icons.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2013). Approaches to the relationship between state and church in the period of Iconoclasm and the Macedonian dynasty.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2013). Studying Byzantine texts: the canonization of the emperor John III Vatatzes.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2013). Liturgical texts and imperial propaganda.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2012). Modern Greeks and Byzantines: An introduction to the Byzantine Civilization.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2012). Byzantium, Metaphysics, and the "World of Nothing".
• Spanos, Apostolos (2012). Å drepe i Guds navn (Katedralskole).
• Spanos, Apostolos (2012). Å drepe i Guds navn (Dahlske).
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Menaion.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Byzantine innovation: Not wanted?
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Βυζαντινά χειρόγραφα, κείμενα και γνώση (=Byzantine manuscripts, texts and knowledge).
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Μεταβυζαντινά χειρόγραφα (Post-Byzantine manuscripts).
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Aυτοκρατορική αγιότητα στο Βυζάντιο: Ιωάννης Γ´ Βατάτζης (=Imperial sanctity in Byzantium: John III Vatatzes).
• Spanos, Apostolos (2011). Politiske noter i bysantinsk hymnografi.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2010). Ιστορία της καρδιάς. Από την αρχαιότητα ώς τις μέρες μας (Istoria tis kardias. Apo tin archaiotita os tis meres mas). Bartzoulianos. ISSN 9789606817304.
• Spanos, Apostolos (2008). Digital Library of Leimonos Monastery. Show summary

  An on-line data-base that presents the Byzantine manuscripts at Leimonos Monastery, on the island of Lesbos, Hellas. The DB includes photographic reproductions of 108 manuscripts, covering a period from the 10th to the 15th c., accompanied by brief paleographical descriptions.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2008). Emperors and Saints. Imperial sanctity and politico-ecclesiastical propaganda in Byzantium. Show summary

  The paper discusses aspects of Byzantine Church ritual and its dynamics in the period from the 8th through the 15th c., particularly cases of imperial sanctity, as well as cases in which sanctification became a tool of the imperial policy or propaganda. It may be divided into three parts that present briefly: (a) Byzantine emperors and empresses celebrated as saints and the historico-political background of their canonisation. (b) Efforts by emperors to use sanctification as a political tool, by establishing for example the cult of members of their dynasties as saints. (c) Cases of political sanctification employed by the Church for its own political purposes.

• Spanos, Apostolos (2007). An annotated critical edition of an unpublished byzantine Menaion for June : codex Lesbiacus Leimonos 11. Universitetet i Bergen. ISSN 9788230804261.

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