Social Groups, Structures, Networks – Investigations into the Synthesis of the Middle-Byzantine Society (7th-11th c.)

总体而言，该项目的目的是对拜占庭帝国中期（公元7 - 11世纪）的社会进行社会历史和历史文化分析，重点关注选定的主题优先事项，每个主题都涉及某些社会群体，其结构和网络。调查主要基于在“中拜占庭帝国体位学”（PMBZ）框架内编制的综合体位学数据材料，但也包括最近的体位学研究。该项目集中于四个选定的专题优先事项：A.妇女和太监（性别研究）；B.神职人员和平信徒；C.族裔和部落群体；D.青年和老年。特别是分析的核心包括对某些社会群体及其结构的更密切的调查和解释，即他们的内部等级制度以及他们的社会定位，以及网络，即他们的内部联系和相互作用，他们彼此之间的联系以及与总体人口的联系。为此，应采用现代社会科学方法。对于所选择的主题重点的不同社会群体，各种现代社会科学的理论和模型都可以应用于历史研究。尤其是针对女性与太监的问题，对精英阶层的社会学分析以及社会网络分析有着明显的相关性。必须要问的是，这些社会群体是否形成了各自的精英或共同的精英，或者他们是否仅仅是整个社会精英的一部分，以及这些群体是否发展了自己的社会网络。对于神职人员和俗人来说，社会网络分析的问题显得更加重要。展示这些社会群体内部的社会联系和等级结构，展示其各自网络之间的共性和差异。这两种网络之间是否存在着交织、转化和融合的可能性？关于种族和部落群体，即某些地区的土著人民，在来源中仍然是有形的，必须提出认同理论的问题。还必须问的是，这些群体的种族-文化特性具有什么意义，它如何与假定的优越的罗马-拜占庭或基督教特性相对应。青年和老年的复杂主题需要系统地纳入考古研究及其结果，特别是坟墓考古和骨骼发现的年龄测定，以便得出关于拜占庭人或某些社会群体的预期寿命的更精确和更有根据的结论。

The aim of the project is - quite generally - a socio-historical and historico-cultural analysis of the society of the Byzantine Empire of the middle period (7th–11th c.) focused on selected thematic priorities which each refer to certain social groups, their structures and networks. The investigation is primarily based on the comprehensive prosopographical data material compiled in the framework of the "Prosopography of the Middle-Byzantine Empire" (PMBZ) but also includes recent prosopographical research. The project concentrates on four selected thematic priorities: A. Women and Eunuchs (Gender Studies), B. Clerics and Laypersons, C. Ethnic and Tribal Groups, and D. Youth and Old Age. The core of the analysis - in particular - consists of a closer investigation and interpretation of certain social groups and their structures, i. e. their internal hierarchization as well as their social localization, and networks, i. e. their internal conjunctions and interactions, their connections with each other and with regard to the overall population. In so doing modern socio-scientific methods shall be applied. Regarding the different social groups of the selected thematic priorities various theories and models of the modern social sciences can be applied in historical research. With a view to women and eunuchs particularly questions of the sociology of the elites as well as social network analysis have an obvious relevance. It must be asked whether these social groups formed each an elite of their own or a common elite or whether they were merely part of an elite of the society as a whole, and whether these groups developed their own social networks. With a view to clerics and laypersons questions of social network analysis gain even more importance. The social interconnections and hierarchizations within these social groups shall be displayed and the commonalities and differences between their respective networks shall be shown. It should also be asked which possibilities of interweaving, transformation and integration existed between the two kinds of networks. With regard to ethnic and tribal groups, i. e. the indigenous peoples of certain regions still tangible in the sources, questions of identity theory have to be asked. It must also be asked, which significance the ethnic-cultural identity of these groups had and how it corresponded to an assumed superior Roman-Byzantine or Christian identity. The thematic complex of youth and old age requires a systematic inclusion of the archaeological research and its results, especially of tomb archaeology and age determination of skeletal finds, in order to arrive at more precise and better-founded conclusions about the life expectancy of the Byzantines or of certain social groups.