Women’s Health and Healing Between Ritual Texts and Material Culture: Artefacts from Byzantine Epirus and Southern Italy in Context
Eirini's research focuses on Byzantine prayers transmitted in the liturgical book Euchologion (i.e. collection of prayers to be said by the clergy on behalf of the community), especially those related to birth and childbed. She examines, among others, liturgical discourses on health and healing, female purity, and motherhood. The aim of Eirini's research stay at Dumbarton Oaks is to contextualize the prayers transmitted in manuscripts by systematically examining the relevant archeological evidence, in particular findings related to women’s health concerns.
Professional Biography
Eirini Afentoulidou works at the Department of Byzantine Research, Institute for Medieval Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She has a bachelor's degree in Greek Philology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a master's and doctorate degree in Byzantine Studies from the University of Vienna. Her research interests include textual criticism, language analysis, manuscript studies, Byzantine theological literature, and gender studies. She currently works on childbirth-related prayers in Byzantine prayerbooks (Euchologia).