Rituals and Focal Points in Byzantium under the Emperor Justinian I

Constantine Bourlakis ()
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Constantine Bourlakis: Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Athens University of Economics and Business

No 3105279, Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences

Abstract: Adoption of rituals within a society results in the reinforcement or the inculcation of shared beliefs and values. Following Schelling (1960), when persons are confronted with coordination problems often seem to do surprisingly well when focal points provide to them a point of convergence for individual expectations. I argue in the present paper that Emperor Justinian I (482 CE - 565 CE) in Byzantium followed a set of carefully chosen strategic decisions essential to promote social coordination, and with the aim to convert the city of Constantinople into a strong focal point of religious rituals. Emperor Justinian I in the spirit taken initially by the founder of the City of Constantinople Emperor Constantine?s I (272 CE - 337 CE), and more or less by all of Justinian I predecessors, had to solve a coordination problem among rational players throughout the empire. The rebuilding of the third Church of St Sophia (?Hagia Sophia?) in 562 CE following the Nika revolt in 532 CE, the protection of the property rights of the Christian church including its clergy and its monasteries, alongside the exploitation of the administrative organizational structure of the Christian church that existed within the empire, and the emperor?s stance that unity of faith is a precondition for the unity of the empire, created a strong focal point of religious rituals away from the Holy Land.

Keywords: Economics of Religion; Christianity; Church; Focal Points; Rituals; Economic History (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B11 D70 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 5 pages
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Published in Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 20th International Academic Conference, Madrid, Nov 2015, pages 52-56

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