Material Culture and Well-Being in Byzantium (400-1453)

Studies on everyday life commonly focus on housing conditions, eating and drinking, clothing, hygiene and medical care, professions, land and sea communications, and generally, on production and consumption. Material objects are dominant in these areas; nevertheless, mental aspects can also frequently be considered the carrier and/or symbol of concepts or values. For this reason, an international symposium held in Cambridge in 2001, which counted the Viennese Institute of Byzantine Studies among its organizers, was intent upon including the concept of "well-being" in its multi-facetted aspects, in the material, legal and philosophical-religious dialogue.