Historical causation and psychoanalysis: A Byzantine case-study from the early Iconoclastic-Restoration Period

Abstract

The paper illustrates the contribution which a psychoanalytic interpretation of a ninth century Byzantine description of a Marienmirakel in the Chalkoprateia Church can make to our understanding of the socio-cultural milieu from which the work originated. A semeiotic interpretation of the little ninth century work by the oikonomos Elias is taken as point of departure. Actantial and ideological structures thus uncovered are considered to represent a sufficient level of abstraction on the basis of which a number of archetypes, in the Jungian sense of the term, is to be identified. The archetypal dimensions of the Mother Mary-figure and the Child-figure are discussed, as well as the interactional dynamics between them—all from a Jungian perspective. The perspectives gained from the analysis are finally considered to cast light on the grave social impact which Iconoclasm had on ninth century Byzantine society.