Abstract
Around the turn of the first Millennium AD, both in Christian polities such as the Byzantine Empire as well as in regions with Buddhist communities such as in Heian Japan, expectations of an end of times emerged. Although based on different religious and independent chronological interpretations, they gained attraction at the same time due to the parallel observation and interpretation of the same astronomical phenomena (such as sightings of Halley´s comet in 989 AD) or of simultaneous climate anomalies, which can partly be connected with the Oort Solar Minimum of the 11th century. This paper explores and compares the interplay between natural phenomena, religious and political unrest, apocalyptic interpretations and individual decision-making for Byzantium and Japan on the basis of historical and natural scientific evidence.
Publisher
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Subject
Literature and Literary Theory,Philosophy,Religious studies,Visual Arts and Performing Arts,History,Cultural Studies
Reference142 articles.
1. “The Andreas Salos Apocalypse. Greek Text, Translation, and Commentary” by Lennart Rydén. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 28 (1974): 197-261.
2. Adamson, George C. D., and David J. Nash, “Climate History of Asia (Excluding China)”, in The Palgrave Handbook of Climate History, ed. Sam White, Christian Pfister, and Franz Mauelshagen, 203-211. London: Palgrave, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_18
3. Adolphson, Mikael S., The Gates of Power. Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.
4. al-Maqrīzī, Ighāthah, trans. Adel Allouche, Mamluk Economics: A Study and Translation of al-Maqrīzī's Ighāthah, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994
5. Andrews, Tara L., Mattʿēos Uṙhayecʿi and His Chronicle. History as Apocalypse in a Crossroads of Cultures, Leiden: Brill, 2017.