This article examines the visual representation of pagan idols in Byzantine book illumination and investigates how such images were employed to convey a sense of geographical or ethnic distance. The main focus of this study is a group of illuminated manuscripts containing two of the most popular texts in the Byzantine world: Barlaam and Ioasaph and the Alexander Romance. These manuscripts include numerous representations of statuary that Byzantine readers would have easily recognized as being associated with the religious practices and superstitions of distant and foreign populations, thereby reinforcing their own self-identification with “civilized” characters. Through a comparative analysis of manuscripts such as Athon. Iviron 463 (Barlaam and Ioasaph) and Venice, Istituto Ellenico cod. 5 (Alexander Romance), this article explores the variety of iconographic solutions adopted by Byzantine artists to enhance the “ethnographic” function of idol images. A close examination of these solutions sheds new light on how visual narratives contributed to the construction of notions of identity, otherness, and ethnicity in Byzantium.

中文翻译：

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火焰之泉：拜占庭书籍插图中的偶像崇拜、异质性和种族性

本文研究了拜占庭书籍插图中异教偶像的视觉表现，并研究了这些图像是如何被用来传达地理或种族距离感的。这项研究的主要焦点是一组带插图的手稿，其中包含拜占庭世界中两个最受欢迎的文本：Barlaam 和 Ioasaph 以及亚历山大罗曼史。这些手稿包括许多雕像，拜占庭读者很容易将其识别为与遥远和外国人口的宗教习俗和迷信有关，从而加强了他们对“文明”人物的自我认同。通过对 Athon 等手稿的比较分析。Iviron 463（Barlaam 和 Ioasaph）和威尼斯，Istituto Ellenico 鳕鱼。5（亚历山大浪漫史），本文探讨了拜占庭艺术家为增强偶像图像的“民族志”功能而采用的各种图像志解决方案。对这些解决方案的仔细研究揭示了视觉叙事如何有助于拜占庭身份、差异性和种族概念的建构。