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Chapter 3 - Gregorios Antiochos

Disabled Bodies and Desired Becomings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2024

Maroula Perisanidi
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
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Summary

Chapter 3 uses the letters of Gregorios Antiochos to explore the scholar’s body. Antiochos, who experienced chronic illness from a young age, combined his own bodily feeling with gender discourses to create a subversive image of the scholar which challenged ideals of military masculinity. He juxtaposed the strong body of the soldier, forged through physical exercise, to the frail body of the learned man hunched over his books, and declared his preference for the latter. He also expressed his own relationship with books and the furniture that facilitated his scholarly work, in disability terms: his cane, staff, armrest and guides. When at points the connection with scholarship was severed, Antiochos felt truly disabled. A body in crisis emerged that was assailed by unwanted becomings, prime among them the possibility of becoming-horse and losing his rationality. Despite this emphasis on reason, speech and self-determination, Antiochos’ letters present us with unexpected configurations of human and non-human bodies which blur the lines between organic and inorganic and help decentre man. In doing so, they posit the Eastern Roman scholar with his books and study furniture as a kind of antipode to the Western knight and his horse.

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Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000–1200
Scholars, Clerics and Violence
, pp. 73 - 102
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Gregorios Antiochos
  • Maroula Perisanidi, University of Leeds
  • Book: Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000–1200
  • Online publication: 07 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009499781.004
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  • Gregorios Antiochos
  • Maroula Perisanidi, University of Leeds
  • Book: Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000–1200
  • Online publication: 07 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009499781.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Gregorios Antiochos
  • Maroula Perisanidi, University of Leeds
  • Book: Masculinity in Byzantium, c. 1000–1200
  • Online publication: 07 November 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009499781.004
Available formats
×