Aside from Hagia Sophia, the monuments of the Byzantine East are poorly understood today. This is in sharp contrast to the well-known architectural marvels of Western Europe�s Middle Ages. In this landmark survey, distinguished art historian Robert Ousterhout introduces readers to the rich and diverse architectural traditions of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean. The focus of the book is the Byzantine (or East Roman) Empire (324-1453 CE), with its capital in Constantinople, although the framework expands chronologically to include the foundations of Christian architecture in Late Antiquity and the legacy of Byzantine culture after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Geographically broad as well, this study includes architectural developments in areas of Italy, the Caucasus, the Near East, the Balkans, and Russia, as well as related developments in early Islamic architecture. Alternating chapters that address chronological or regionally-based developments with thematic studies that focus on the larger cultural concerns, the book presents the architectural developments in a way that makes them accessible, interesting, and intellectually stimulating. In doing so, it also explains why medieval architecture in the East followed such a different trajectory from that of the West. Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of color photographs, maps, and line drawings, Eastern Medieval Architecture will establish Byzantine traditions to be as significant and admirable as those more familiar examples in Western Europe, and serve as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in architectural history, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.

Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture)

Arts & Photography

Ousterhout, Robert G.

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

The Kariye Camii remains one of the most important and best-known monuments of the Byzantine world. Rebuilt and decorated in the early fourteenth century by the statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites, the Kariye Camii played a key role in the development of Late Byzantine art. Robert Ousterhout presents a detailed structural history and architectural analysis of this important building, and shows that the Kariye Camii was equally important in the development of Late Byzantine architecture.

The Architecture of the Kariye Camii in Istanbul (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

History

Europe

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Based on four seasons of fieldwork, this book presents the results of the first systematic site survey of a region rich in material remains. From architecture to fresco painting, Cappadocia represents a previously untapped resource for the study of material culture and the settings of daily life within the Byzantine Empire.

A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

Ancient Civilizations

Following its initial publication in 2005, A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia has become a seminal work in interpreting the rich material remains of Byzantine Cappadocia. This revised edition builds upon its predecessor with an updated preface, a new bibliography, and a new master map of the Çanlı Kilise site.

A Byzantine Settlement in Cappadocia: Revised Edition (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

Cappadocia, a picturesque volcanic region of central Anatolia, preserves the best evidence of daily life in the Byzantine Empire and yet remains remarkably understudied, better known to tourists than to scholars. The area preserves an abundance of physical remains: at least a thousand rock-cut churches or chapels, of which more than one-third retain significant elements of their painted decoration, as well as monasteries, houses, entire towns and villages, underground refuges, agricultural installations, storage facilities, hydrological interventions, and countless other examples of non-ecclesiastical architecture. In dramatic contrast to its dearth of textual evidence, Cappadocia is unrivaled in the Byzantine world for its material culture.
Based upon the close analysis of material and visual residues, Visualizing Community offers a critical reassessment of the story and historiography of Byzantine Cappadocia, with chapters devoted to its architecture and painting, as well as to its secular and spiritual landscapes. In the absence of a written record, it may never be possible to write a traditional history of the region, but, as Robert Ousterhout shows, it is possible to visualize the kinds of communities that once formed the living landscape of Cappadocia.

Visualizing Community: Art, Material Culture, and Settlement in Byzantine Cappadocia (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

Virtually unknown today, John Henry Haynes (1849–1910) may be regarded as the father of American archaeological photography. His travels took him from Athens to Istanbul and on to Mesopotamia. In this landmark study, now revised with additional unpublished photographs published for the first time, Robert G. Ousterhout assesses his unique blend of artistry and documentation. Although he had scant academic credentials and just a short training in ‘aesthetic’ photography, John Henry Haynes broke new ground. In 1900 he uncovered an astounding cache of 23,000 cuneiform tablets that told us much of what we know about the Sumerian literary tradition. And with his discerning eye and artistic sensibility, he captured astonishing sights, many never photographed before, and many no longer in existence. Ultimately he was the victim of rivalry, snobbery and outright skullduggery and died ‘broken in body and spirit’. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION. EARLY LIFE SAILING TO ASSOS A Foothold in the East TRAVELS WITH A CAMERA Anatolia, Syria and Mesopotamia BAGHDAD AND BEYOND The Unsung Hero of Nippur AN EYE FOR THE PICTURESQUE The Photographer as Artist CODA SOURCES

John Henry Haynes: A Photographer and Archaeologist in the Ottoman Empire 1881–1900 (2nd Edition)

Cornucopia Books/Caique Publishing

This book is a sequel to Robert G. Ousterhout’s landmark study on the photographer John Henry Haynes in 2011, which is also now reprinted in a new edition with additional unpublished photographs. Lavishly illustrated with 85 colour plates, including some 80 images that have never before been published, this extraordinary portrait of Palmyra is introduced by Ousterhout and Benjamin Anderson of Cornell University (pictured left). The two other photoghraphs here show the Temple of Baalshamin, where Haynes and his friends camped, and one of the many panormas he took capturing the scale of this magnificent Roman desert city (both courtesy of Cornell University Library). On the cover is a view of the Greet Colonnade. Home to the legendary Queen Zenobia, the Syrian oasis of Palmyra – known as ‘the Pearl of the Desert’ – was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world. A key stop on the Silk Road, it was a vital link between the East and the West, and a prize foug

Palmyra 1885: The Wolfe Expedition and the Photographs of John Henry Haynes

Anderson, Benjamin

Virtually unknown today, John Henry Haynes (1849-1910) may be regarded as the father of American archaeological photography. In a landmark study, with many photographs published for the first time, Robert Ousterhout rediscovers Hayne's career, assessing his unique blend of artistry and documentation. His photographic odyssey took Haynes across the Ottoman Empire, from Athens to Constantinople, across Anatolia, and ultimately to Mesopotamia. Although he had scant academic credentials and just a short training in 'aesthetic' photography, Haynes broke new ground. In 1900 he uncovered an astounding cache of 23,000 cuneiform tablets that are the foundation of much of what we know about the Sumerian literary tradition. And with his discerning eye and artistic sensibility, he captured astonishing sights, many never photographed before, and many no longer in existence. The victim of rivalry, snobbery and outright skulduggery, he died 'broken in body and spirit'. Professor Ousterhout tells the story of Haynes the unsung hero and assesses his unique contribution with insight and addestion.

John Henry Haynes: A Photographer and Archaeologist in the Ottoman Empire 1881-1900

Photography & Video

Cornucopia Books

Indifferent Oracles / Random Objects

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Independently published

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Books by Ousterhout, Robert G.