361-386

Contribution to the heraldry of commemorative and funerary plaques from the period of the Gattilusi on Mytilini

• Μαζαράκης,  Ανδρέας

The object of this article is to trace the clash between Byzantine symbolism and Western heraldry.The case of Mytilini under the rule of the Gattilusi is taken as an example, in the belief that it is the most representative. The coat-of-arms of the Genoese authorities was investigated in the Genoese archives, in conjunction with the corresponding development of Byzantine symbolism. These two different expressions of social life are approached through the inscriptions. A complete catalogue has been compiled, together with a commentary, and detailed observations, with the aim of facilitating their comparison in the future with similar inscriptions from different parts of Greece. The result of the investigation confirms the superficial influence of heraldry as part and product of a social model.The inventiveness of symbolism and its ability to maintain its self-sufficiency gave a new impulse that was interrupted by the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire. The blending of heraldry and symbolism was now at an end and, wherever the former is found after this date in the Greek world, it is imposed by foreign rulers and is not accompanied by the long tradition of eastern symbolism.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Επιγραφές
• Archaeology and art

Ευχαριστώ τον καθηγητή X. Μπούρα για τις χρήσιμες υποδείξεις του., Περιέχει συντομογραφίες, Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος: Μέρος Α'-Μελέτες