Byzantine Women and Their World

Byzantine Women and Their World, the first exhibition of its kind, explores the representation of women during the span of the Byzantine Empire and assembles almost 200 objects including jewelry, icons, religious amulets, textiles, coins, and household items that date from the 4th through 15th centuries. The display is organized into two categories: Women in the Public Sphere, which focuses on female images of authority, and the use of female images on public objects, and Women in the Private Sphere, which incorporates a wide variety of objects relating to four primary categories: items of adornment, including toiletries and jewelry; protective and luck bringing devices, such as amulets and charms; objects used in personal devotion; and household articles.

The exhibition grew out of a graduate seminar taught at Harvard University by Ioli Kalavrezou, Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Art. To develop the project, Kalavrezou and three of her graduate students, Alicia Walker, Elizabeth Gittings, and Molly Fulghum Heintz, worked for more than two years researching the Byzantine collections at Harvard and at other North American museums.

A fully illustrated catalogue organized according to the exhibition themes accompanies Byzantine Women and Their World. The catalogue features introductory essays written by Ioli Kalavrezou and noted Byzantine historian Angeliki Laiou, as well as section essays by Alicia Walker, Eilzabeth Gittings, Molly Fulghum Heintz, and Bissera Pentcheva. Harvard students and other scholars in the field have contributed catalogue entries.

The exhibition and catalogue have been supported by generous donations from The Florence Gould Foundation, The J. F. Costopoulos Foundation, The M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Fund, The Parthenon Group, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Weatherbie, The Louise E. Bettens Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Fund for Educational Initiatives, Mr. and Mrs. Jose M. Soriano, The Carnegie Corporation, Mr. Joseph Koerner, The Gurel Student Exhibition Fund, Mrs. Jessie Lie Farber, The Goldman Sachs Foundation, The Diane Heath Beever Fund, and anonymous donors.