Macedonian Renaissance

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Macedonian Renaissance is a label sometimes used to describe the period of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867-1056), especially the 10th century, which some scholars have seen as a time of increased interest in classical scholarship and the assimilation of classical motifs into Christian themes. Other variants of the term sometimes used are: Middle Byzantine Renaissance ot First Byzantine Renaissance (the Palaiologan Renaissance from the 13th century on being the second). Macedonian art refers to the art of the period.

Because the term Renaissance was created in the 15th century by Italian humanists to describe their own time, its use outside of that context is problematic, however the period in question certainly did produce ideas and works of art that reflected a reassessment of classical ideals.^[1]

The term Macedonian Renaissance was first used by Kurt Weitzmann in The Joshua Roll; a work of the Macedonian Renaissance, Studies in Manuscript Illumunation III (Princeton, 1948).

See Macedonian art for discussion of art produced during the period.