The 15th International Congress of Byzantinists was held in Athens from September 5 to 11, 1976. More than 800 people from 36 countries took part in its work. The most representative in terms of the number of participants were the delegations of Greece, Italy, the USA, France, Germany, Great Britain, Romania, Yugoslavia, the USSR and Bulgaria. The Soviet delegation consisted of 24 Byzantinists from Moscow, Leningrad, Tbilisi and Yerevan. The head of the delegation was the chairman of the National Committee of Byzantinists SSOR corresponding member. Academy of Sciences of THE USSR Z. V. Udaltsova. The Congress was held under the patronage of the President of the Hellenic Republic, K. Tsatsos, who welcomed the delegates to the opening ceremony. The Chairman of the Organizing Committee was a prominent scientist, member of the Athens Academy of Sciences P. Zepos.

The general theme of the congress was the Byzantine peace in the period between the defeat of Byzantium in the Battle of Manzikert (1071) and the fall of the Latin Empire created by the Crusaders on the territory of Byzantium (1261).: 1. History; II. Language, literature, and Philology; III. Art and Archeology; IV. Public thought, philosophy, history of ideas; V. Cyprus in the Byzantine world. A total of 155 reports and 315 presentations were heard. In the intervals between morning and evening sessions at the University of Athens, lectures were given by S. Runciman (Great Britain)- "Empress Irene of Athens", G. G. Beck (Germany) - "Byzantine Studies today", K. Weizmann (USA)- "Collection of icons of Sinai VI-XIII centuries" and others. During the congress, international exhibitions of the latest works on Byzantine studies, Byzantine frescoes, icons of Cyprus and manuscripts from the collection of the National Library of Greece were organized.

One of the main topics of the congress - "Centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Byzantine world between 1071-1261" - was discussed at the first plenary session of the History section. The report "Centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Byzantine world (1071-1261). Socio-economic aspects of the problem" was read by Z. V. Udaltsova. After analyzing the typological features of the socio-economic development of Byzantium, oka came to the conclusion that the strengthening of the feudal patrimony, the weakening of centralized and strengthening of seignorial forms of exploitation in the countryside, the growth of provincial cities and the involvement of the countryside in commodity-money relations created economic prerequisites for the emergence of local associations in the provinces. There was regional centralization and decentralization throughout the empire. The topic of A. P. Kazhdan's report was the social structure of Byzantine society. He emphasized the ambivalence and ambivalence of Byzantine institutions and the very socio - political structure of the empire. Feudal institutions in Byzantium in the XI-XIII centuries were not manifestations of destructive forces, but, on the contrary, forms of progressive historical development. The centralized Byzantine autocracy proved to be an insufficiently flexible state organization. In the conditions of the late XI - early XIII centuries. In fact, it itself strengthened separatist movements in outlying cities and provinces. V. Grokhova (Czechoslovakia) considered in detail the role of imperial cities as factors in the development of centrifugal and centripetal forces, identified the types of cities. E. Arweiler (France) touched mainly on the ideological and socio-psychological aspects of the problem in the report " Social erosion and eccentric actions in Byzantium in the XI-XIII centuries". She traced the crisis of traditional Byzantine ideas about life, relations in society and its manifestations in different spheres of life. N. Ikopomi-

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dis (Canada) raised the question of the dismemberment of the empire on the eve of 1204, based on the text of the treaty on the division of Byzantium between the Crusaders (Partitio Romaniae). D. Nicol (Great Britain) analyzed the changes in the composition of the population of Epirus and Western Macedonia, after the IV Crusade. I. Karayannopoulos (Greece) showed the process of decentralization in Asia Minor on the basis of against the background of the increased onslaught of the Seljuk Turks at the end of the XI century.

The second major topic of the History section was "Population Composition and Movement in the Byzantine World". In various aspects, it was considered in relation to Asia Minor (p. Vrionis, Greece), Armenia (R. M. Bartikyan), Bulgarian regions (D. Angelov, Bulgaria), Vlahs (E. Stanescu, Romania). P. Haranis (USA) identified three stages of population movement in Byzantium: 1) the end of the XI century - the displacement of the Greek population from Asia Minor; 2) 1204-the middle of the XIII century, some population movements associated with the IV Crusade and restoration measures of the Nicene emperors; 3) the second half of the XIII century - the advance of the Turks to the Aegean Sea And the displacement of the Greek population from Asia Minor.

The third topic discussed at the plenary session of the History section was "Symbiosis in the Latin states formed on the territory of Byzantium". The superficiality and fragility of the so-called symbiosis was noted by G. G. Litavrin, F. Tirier (France), P. Topping (USA) and other speakers. According to G. G. Litavrin, it would be "more appropriate to designate the problem under consideration as "the problem of synthesis of public institutions", rather than "the problem of symbiosis of the creators of these institutions themselves". J. Richard (France), P. Zepos (Greece) and N. Zvoronos (France), who studied the Frankish institutions in Cyprus, actually joined this conclusion.

In general, the reports of Soviet scientists were distinguished by a broad problematic formulation of questions. The Marxist concept of the development of feudalism in Byzantium was also substantiated in the speeches of G. L. Kurbatov, I. P. Medvedev, M. D. Lordkipanidze, V. A. Arutyunova, S. P. Karpov.

The congress covered the problems of the history of Cyprus in great detail. In addition to the above-mentioned reports on this topic, it was also devoted to the speeches of K. Mango (Great Britain)" Cyprus as a crossroads of the Byzantine world "and I. Papadopoulos (Cyprus)"Cyprus-the ethnic and socio-cultural border of the Byzantine world".

With reports and reports on economic issues. Speakers included I. P. Medvedev, who reviewed an unexplored type of Byzantine long-term lease-anakampsis, K. A. Osipova, who highlighted the peculiarities of the formation of feudal dependence of the Byzantine peasantry in the X-XII centuries, and R. A. Nasledova, who touched upon the problems associated with the internal development of the Byzantine city in the XI-XIII centuries.

At the congress, researchers ' interest in the Black Sea regions of Byzantium has undoubtedly increased. Thus, A. Brier (Great Britain) made a report on "Latins on the Euxine Pont", in addition, a number of reports were made by I. V. Sokolova "Kherson in the second half of the XI century. according to numismatics and sphragistics", J. S. Midley (Great Britain) - " Trade in Kherson of the VI-X centuries.", S. P. Karpov - " Peculiarities of the formation of the Trebizond Empire, (1204 1206)", O. Lampsidis (Greece)- "Rivalry between the states of Nicaea and the Great Comnenae for the inheritance of the "Byzantine idea". The issues of Byzantine-Russian relations were touched upon by N. M. Murguliya in the message - " Byzantium and centripetal trends in Russia in the XII century. (based on Russian-Georgian material)". Ya. N. Shchapov "Reception of monuments of Byzantine law in Russia after 1204" A series of reports was made on the problems of Byzantine-Georgian and Byzantine-Armenian relations. S. T. Eremyan spoke about the administrative division of Byzantine Armenia according to "Ashkharatsuytsu" and Nile Doxopatra, V. A. Harutyunov She showed the expansion of Byzantium in the East based on the works of Armenian historians of the XI-XII centuries. M. D.'s report Lordkipanidze touched upon the topic: "From the history of Byzantine-Georgian relations in the 70s of the XI century".

In the section" Language, literature, philology " reports on three main topics were heard and discussed: "Archaizing and popular trends in language and literature-

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ture", "Formation of dialects" and " Material, social and economic conditions for the existence of culture in Byzantium (paleography, codicology, diplomacy)".

The problems of co - existence in the literature and language of Byzantium in the second half of the XI-first half of the XIII centuries of archaizing and folk trends, the mutual influence of Greek and Latin medieval culture were considered in the reports of P. Wirth (Germany), W. Harandner (Austria), J. Grosdidier de Maton (France), M. Gigante (Italy). P. Wirth tried to give a general overview of the language situation, the system of higher education, the development of literature in Byzantium during this period, and also presented a number of specific interpretations of the monuments of Byzantine literature. S. S. Averintsev's reports "On the Question of the Progymnasms of Nikifor Vasilaki" and A. D. Alexidze's "Questions of the Structure of the Byzantine Chivalric Romance"are also included in the framework of the same problem.

Some results of the study of the material, social and economic conditions of the cultural life of Byzantium in the XI-XIII centuries were presented in the reports of the third topic of this section. P. Canard (Vatican) and A. Guillou (France) revealed the peculiarities of the development of books and literature in Byzantium between 1071 - 1261 compared to the previous era. In the report of P. Canara, for the first time in science, a summary of the results of codicological research of Greek manuscripts of Southern Italy of the XI-XIII centuries was given, a significant part of which is currently stored in the Vatican Library.. Zh. Reports Irigouin (France) and B. L. Fonkich discussed the use of parchment and paper in Greek, book writing of the specified period, as well as the development of book writing and the organization of Byzantine libraries. manuscripts of the IX-X centuries and their significance for the study of Byzantine hymnography".

The section "Public Thought, Philosophy, History of ideas" discussed the following topics:: "Ideological crises" and "Areas of Byzantine Culture spread after 1204". The main report on the first topic, made by I. Meyendorff (USA), dealt with the crisis of imperial ideology in connection with the growing decentralization of the Byzantine Empire and the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, as well as the crisis of relations between the Orthodox East and the Latin West caused by this last event. The problems of the second topic were developed in a number of reports (I. Irmscher - GDR, I. Duychev-Bulgaria, D. Obolensky-Great Britain, A. Pertuzi-Italy, etc.) on the fate of Byzantine culture after the Fourth Crusade, its influence on the culture of the peoples of Western Europe and Slavic countries.

One of the largest sections - both in terms of the number of reports and reports, and the number of scientists who participated in the meetings - was the section "Art and Archeology". A.V. Bank, O. I. Podobedova, R. M. Dzhanpoladyan and V. D. Likhacheva read reports based mainly on the study of materials stored in the USSR. In addition, the film "The Art of Byzantium in the Collections of the Soviet Union"was shown at the congress.

A special plenary session was dedicated to Instrumenta studiorum. The reports and reports presented at it contained extensive information about reference books, dictionaries, and catalogues that have either already begun to be published or are being prepared for publication (P. Lemerle (France)- "Dictionary of Byzantine Antiquities", A. Bandy - R. Browning (Great Britain) - "New Dkzhange", A. Pertuzi (Italy) - G. Hunger (Austria; "Corpus of Sources of Byzantine History", G. Hunger - "Prosopographical lexicon of the Paleologian era", "Tabula Jmperii Byzantini" and " Corpus of Greek Scribes (800-1600)", S. Demus (Austria) - "Corpus of Byzantine manuscripts with miniatures", L. Politis (Greece) -"Paleographic studies of the National Bank of Greece", etc.).

In his final report at the closing of the congress, P. Lemerle, one of the largest foreign Byzantinists, emphasized the significant contribution of the Soviet delegation to the work of the congress, the content and high scientific level of the reports of Soviet scientists.

During contre:Meetings of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Byzantinists were held, where scientific and organizational issues of the association's activities were discussed and its re-elections were held.

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guidelines. G. Hungher, President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Byzantine Studies Institute in Vienna, was elected President of the Association. The Bureau of the association was updated and new vice-presidents were elected: E. Arweiler (France), Z. Udaltsova, I. Shevchenko (USA), A. Pertuzi (Italy). Greek scientist M. Hadzidakis was elected General Secretary. It was decided to hold the XVI Congress of Byzantinists in Vienna in 1981.

The Congress was an event in the public life of Greece. It attracted great attention not only from scientists, but also from broad sections of the intelligentsia and students. The work of the congress, in particular the speeches of Soviet scientists, was positively covered in the progressive press. Soviet delegates met and talked with prominent scientists of Greece, made speeches at a meeting with figures of Greek culture in the Society of the USSR-Greece.

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