Alice-Mary Talbot
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Alice-Mary Talbot (born May 16, 1939) is director of
Byzantine studies Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire ...
emerita,
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, ...
. Her particular expertise is the social context of Byzantine religious practices, including hagiography, monasticism and gender studies. Much of her work has focused on the edition and translation of Byzantine texts.


Education and career

Talbot received a B.A. in Classics from
Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...
. She completed her M.A. and
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
(1970) in Byzantine and Ottoman History at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
. Her doctoral thesis was entitled ''The correspondence of Athanasius, patriarch of Constantinople (1289–1293; 1303–1309) with the emperor Andronicus II'' (two volumes). Her PhD supervisor was
Ihor Ševčenko Ihor Ševčenko ( uk, Ігор Іванович Шевченко; 10 September 1922 – 26 December 2009) was a Polish-born philologist and historian of Ukrainian origin. Byzantinist and paleo-Slavic professor of classical philology at Harvar ...
. Talbot taught at several colleges in
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, as well as being a junior fellow of Byzantine studies (1966–1968) at
Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, ...
. She was a senior fellow of Byzantine studies (1978–1983) at Dumbarton Oaks, and a Byzantine studies visiting senior research associate (1991–1992). She was the advisor for the Hagiography Project (1992–1997) and the advisor for Byzantine publications (1996–1997). From 1997 to 2009 she was director of Byzantine studies and editor of '' Dumbarton Oaks Papers.'' She was a senior fellow (ex-officio) of Byzantine Studies (1997–2008). She was the Executive Editor of the
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (ODB) is a three-volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,000 entries, it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzant ...
, published in 1991. Talbot's scholarship profoundly influenced the field of Byzantine studies in America and Europe. She has authored four books, is the editor or co-editor of four further books, and is the author of more than seventy articles.(xxi) She was president of the
Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...
during 2011–12.


Honours

In 2010, Talbot was elected a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. In 2012, Talbot was honoured with a
Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...
, ''Byzantine Religious Culture: Studies in Honor of Alice-Mary Talbot'', published by Brill. This featured twenty-five contributions, and was edited by Denis Sullivan, Elizabeth A. Fisher, and Stratis Papaioannou. Talbot received an honorary doctorate from the
University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...
in 2015. In his laureation address, Tim Greenwood commented on Talbot that 'in a career spanning more than fifty years, she has profoundly transformed the study of religious culture in the world of Byzantium, both through her own scholarly output and her selfless support of others.'


Selected bibliography


Books

* (edited, translated and commentary by Mary-Alice Talbot) ''The Correspondence of Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople: Letters to the Emperor Andronicus II, members of the imperial family, and officials'' (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1975) * ''Faith Healing in Late Byzantium: The Posthumous Miracles of the Patriarch Athanasios I of Constantinople by Theoktistos the Stoudite'' (Brookline, Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1983) * ''Women and Religious Life in Byzantium'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001) * (translated with Scott Fitzgerald Johnson) ''Miracle Tales from Byzantium'', Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 12 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2012) * (Denis F Sullivan; Alice-Mary Talbot; George T. Dennis) ''The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century'' (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, 2017)


Edited works

* (edited with Alexander Kazhdan, et al.) Executive Editor of ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'', 3 vols. (New York, 1991) * ''Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints' Lives in English Translation'' (Washington D.C, 1996) * ''Byzantine Defenders of Images: Eight Saints' Lives in English Translation'' (Washington D.C, 1998) * (edited with Arietta Papaconstantinou) ''Becoming Byzantine: Children and Childhood in Byzantium'' (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2009) * (edited with Richard P. H. Greenfield) ''Holy Men of Mount Athos'', Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 40 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2016)


References


External links

*
Academia Profile Page

Lecture by Alice-Mary Talbot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot, Alice-Mary 20th-century American historians 21st-century American historians American Byzantinists Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Radcliffe College alumni Living people 1939 births Scholars of Byzantine history Women Byzantinists Women medievalists