Prof. Dr. Zachary Chitwood
Professor
Byzantine Studies
Profile
- Education and professional career
- Professor Chitwood's particular research interests include (Eastern) Roman law, Byzantine monasticism, relations between Byzantium and the Near East, endowment studies, and the digital humanities. In the years immediately following his dissertation, Professor Chitwood published a monograph on law and legal culture in Byzantium during the Macedonian dynasty (867–1056), as well as contributions on various aspects of Byzantine law. He demonstrates his interdisciplinary expertise as co-author of the Encyclopedia of Endowment Studies in Medieval Societies (3 vols., Berlin 2014–2017) and as editor of the journal Endowment Studies (since 2017).
Until 2025, Professor Chitwood carried out another large-scale project: the ERC Starting Grant MAMEMS“Mount Athos in Medieval Eastern Mediterranean Society: Contextualizing the History of a Monastic Republic (ca. 850–1550).” This project also incorporated a strong digital humanities aspect by creating a prosopographical database using the OpenAtlas software.
Professor Chitwood is the Principal Investigator of the new legal history project NOMOS(“The Challenge of Islam and the Transformation of Eastern Christian Normative Regimes, ca. 630–1100”), which is funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) (2025–2030). This project examines the legal status of Muslims in four Eastern Christian legal traditions (Coptic Egypt, Armenia, Byzantium, and the Syriac world) before the First Crusade. In addition, modules for AI-assisted manuscript reading in four languages (Armenian, Greek, Coptic, and Syriac) are being developed.
In his teaching, Professor Chitwood strives to combine the strong tradition of Munich Byzantine Studies in auxiliary sciences with cutting-edge technology, such as prosopography with OpenAtlas or paleography with Transkribus. Thematically, the research focuses not only on the traditional history and culture of Byzantium, but also continuously explores its connections with other medieval cultures. The chair also places great emphasis on close collaboration with Late Antique and Byzantine art history, as well as Modern Greek Studies. Joint excursions to Egypt (autumn 2025) and Venice (summer 2026) are planned.