Bryer reading. Photo: © Jenny Banks Bryer.
Anthony Applemore Mornington Bryer (1937-2016) was a distinguished historian of the late Ottoman and early Byzantine periods with a particular interest in the region of Pontus (north-eastern Turkey). He was one of nine publishing consultants for the 8 volume Encyclopaedia of Pontian Hellenism released in 1988 by Malliaris Paedia.
Professor Anthony Bryer whose D.Phil. thesis was on the Trapezuntine Empire, has held fellowships at Athens University, Dumbarton Oaks and Merton College, Oxford. In 1975, Bryer founded the Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies journal, while in 1976, he created the Center for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham and became its long-serving first director.
Born in Southsea, Bryer spent part of his childhood in Jerusalem. He attended Canford school, Dorset, did his national service and studied history at Balliol College, Oxford (1958-61).
His greatest work on the Pontus, written with David Winfield, is titled The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, published in two volumes in 1985. This work brought together his field work on the Byzantine remnants of the Pontus region.
In 2009, Anthony Bryer was appointed an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his services to scholarship.
As a tribute to the life of Anthony Bryer, his colleagues have put together the following 32 page booklet which gives a fresh insight into the man who contributed so much to Byzantine studies. Titled Bryeriana, it was compiled by Margaret Mullett, Ruth Macrides and Liz James and turned into a booklet by Simon Lane.
Publications and contributions on Pontus by Anthony Bryer:
The Post Byzantine Monuments of the Pontos
The Byzantine Monuments of the Pontos
Peoples and Settlement in Anatolia and the Caucasus, 800-1900
Empire of Trebizond and the Pontos
The Latins in the Euxine
Cadaster of the Great Estates of the Empire of Trebizond
The Society and Institutions of the Empire of Trebizond, Volume 1
Trebizond: the Last Byzantine Empire
Rural Society in the Empire of Trebizond
The Last Laz Risings and the Downfall of the Pontic Derebeys, 1812-1840
The Estates of the Empire of Trebizond: Evidence for Their Resources, Products, Agriculture, Ownership and Location: [text of a Contribution to a Symposium on The] "Black Sea", Birmingham, 18-20 Martiou 1978
Some Notes on the Laz and Tzan: (II).
Ludovico Da Bologna and the Georgian and Anatolian Embassy of 1460-1461
Maurē Thalassa: 12on Symposion Byzantinōn Spoudōn, Birmingham, M. Bretannia, 18-20 Martiou 1978
The Byzantine Black Sea: the Twelfth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies in Birmingham (18-20 March, 1978).
Other publications and contributions:
Iconoclasm: Papers Given at the Ninth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Birmingham, March 1975
Manzikert to Lepanto: The Byzantine World and the Turks, 1071-1571 Papers Given at the Nineteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies
Continuity And Change In Late Byzantine And Early Ottoman Society: Papers Given At A Symposium At Dumbarton Oaks In May 1982
Byzantium
Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism: Papers from the Twenty-Eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 1994
The Sweet Land of Cyprus' : papers given at the Twenty-Fifth Jubilee Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 1991
The Hamlyn history of the world in colour. Vol.4, Byzantium and the Ancient East
Byzantium and the ancient East (The new illustrated history of the world)
Byzantium and the East, 2300 B.C.-A.D. 1413 (New illustrated history of the world)
Histoire de l'Antiquité
Early Civilization
The Tomb of Solomon II Bagration, King of Imereti (Georgia).
Caxton's History of the World: Byzantium and the ancient east
Anthology of Texts in Translation