Ombre di Bisanzio e Impero

Abstract: The aim of the article is to revisit, using the approach and the tools of polit-ical anthropology, in. particular the terms ‘liminality’ and ‘trickster’, the re-lationship between modern globalisation and the question of the Empire. To what extent can the modern global world be considered a kind of em-pire by other means? Starting from the works of Eric Voegelin, in particular his Ecumenic Age, the article argues that a central, a much ignored, impe-tus to the rise of the modern global world was given by the collapse of the Byzantine Empire, an event that for centuries was considered as fundamen-tal, but that became ignored in Marx-Durkheim inspired modern social his-toriography. Using some of the central terms of political anthropology, an approach that integrates historical-comparative sociology, Nietzsche-Foucaldian genealogy, and classical political philosophy with social and cultural anthropology, the article shows the decision impact of the ‘byzan-tine spirit’ on the rise of the modern global world.