International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Adrian Elias Negro Cortes
University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain; 
[e-mail]
Tribute Payments in the Byzantium-Islam Frontier, 
an Origin for the Spanish Institution of the Parias?
This paper aims to present the results of a productive new field of research. The parias were 
the payments done by the Muslim taifa kingdoms to the Christian kingdoms in Spain to prevent 
being attacked by them during the XI century. The Spanish scholars have analysed the parias as an 
institution that only was developed in Spain but we have found proof that the parias, although they 
were not called with this name, could have begun in the VII century in the Byzantium-Islam frontier.
We have found payments similar of those done in Spain dated back to 659, date in which 
Constans II received tributes from Mu’awiya, the first Umayyad caliph. Those kinds of payments, 
sometimes being paid by the Muslims, most other times paid by Byzantium, will be traced and 
analysed in this paper. To finish, we will try to discover how could the Spanish kingdoms came to 
the idea of implementing those tributes in Spain and compare the realities of the VII-X century 
interaction between Byzantium and the Caliphates and the interaction between the Spanish 
Christian kingdoms and the Muslim taifa kingdoms during the XI century.

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Magdalena Laptas
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw, Poland; 
[e-mail]
Byzantine or Non-Byzantine Rituals of the Nubian Rulers
Following the Christianisation of the Nubian Kingdoms in the 6
th
century, the Maedieval 
art of the Sudan was included within a sphere of Byzantine influences. The Nubian iconography 
undoubtedly took a lot after Byzantium, however, one cannot forget about pre-Christian local 
tradition, which shaped the Nubian art. The Nubian society owed its prosperity and well-being 
to flooding of the Nile. Life processes were subject to this force of nature. Therefore it seems that 
some rituals practiced for centuries did not disappear with the introduction of Christianity. The 
aim of my presentation is to show how we can trace this pre-Christian tradition on the example of 
some Nubian paintings presenting Nubian rulers. These kings are presented in the apses holding 
a crown and sceptrum topped with a figure of blessing Christ. This Nubian sceptrum has much in 
common with an Egyptian medu – a sacred staff. Reading Nubian art not only from Byzantine but 
also Egyptian perspective seems to be necessary for better understanding of its phenomena.