Byzantine Imperial Ideology

The Byzantine Southern Italy (876-1071) consisted of the themes of Longobardia (modern Apulia), Lucania (modern Basilicata) and Calabria, is the least studied region of the Byzantine Empire. After the Byzantine reconquest of this region from the Lombards and the Arabs, Constantinople organized the political, military and ecclesiastical infrastructure of the region in order to establish on the one hand the Byzantine power, and on the other to intergrade the Lombards and the Latin Church within the Empire. The Byzantine politics and the attitude of the population itself formed a frontier society based on co-existence and tolerance without disputes as every demographic group acknowledged its own different identity and the identity of the other. The Byzantine culture in southern Italy was formed, developed and finally established within this context, but always under the control of the central authorities. Until today the Byzantine art of southern Italy has not been the subject of a special study, but it is always studied briefly as a part of the Medieval art of the region. As a result the Byzantine monuments have not been placed so far within the political, religious, social and ideological context in which they were created. This PhD thesis examines for the first time only the art of the Byzantine period in association with the information of the rich Byzantine archive this region possesses. This methodological approach allowed to study the way the artistic creation, the cults and the state ideology were transferred from Constantinople to the western frontier, the way Byzantine art was developed within the context of the demographic differences of this border area, how Byzantine art was acculturated by a frontier society, the means by which the art, the cults and the state ideology were established and how the interaction between the Byzantines and the Lombards is manifested. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the monuments and the other kind of evidence that are directly or indirectly connected with Constantinople itself such as the praitorion of the Catepans of Italy, the liturgical roll Exultet 1 of Bari, and the various commissions of the Byzantine officials. The detailed analysis of the epigram of Basil Mesardonites for his building activity in the praitorion alongside with the archeological data and the evidence from the written sources led to the reestablishment of the praitorion as the political, military and religious centre of the Byzantines, while an attempt is made for its archeological reconstruction. Regarding the Exultet 1 this thesis challenges for the first time the established view that the roll was commissioned by the Lombard archbishop of Bari alone, explores the role the Byzantines played in its decoration and reveals the mechanisms by which the art and the imperial ideology were transferred directly from Constantinople to the western frontier. The detailed analysis of the commissions of the Byzantine officials challenges the traditional view that the churches and the works of art were sponsored only by the local officials. The second part of this thesis studies monumental art in six built and cave churches, i.e. S. Pietro at Otranto, S. Maria della Croce at Casaranello, S. Cristina at Carpignano, Ss. Stefani near Vaste, the anonymous cave church in Grottaglie and the fragments of frescoes that were excavated in the Church BB in Masseria Quattro Macine. The detailed iconographic and artistic analysis not only led to the identification of unknown saints until today and the redating of some of the paintings, but it also revealed the degree of convergence with the monuments of the rest of the empire regarding the art and the cults, and the degree of deviation from the Byzantine tradition as an expression of local eclecticism. The third part of the thesis is dedicated to local issues of art and cult. Here the question of the liturgical use of the cave churches is analysed and the traditional view that the cave churches were private funerary chapels where the liturgy did not took place is challenged. Another local element that is studied in detail is the Christοcentric decoration of the apse and finally the establishment and the diffusion of the popular cults of southern Italy, those of the Virgin Mary, of the archangel Michael, and of St Nicholas as they are attested in monumental art and the written sources.

Η Ἔκθεσις Κεφαλαίων Παραινετικῶν είναι το μοναδικό κείμενο που μας κληροδότησε η γραφίδα του Αγαπητού Διακόνου. Το έργο αυτό, αποδέκτης του οποίου ήταν ο αυτοκράτωρ Ιουστινιανός Α΄ (527-565), γνώρισε πολύ μεγάλη διάδοση ήδη κατά τους βυζαντινούς χρόνους, αξιοποιήθηκε από την εποχή της Αναγέννησης ως εγχειρίδιο για τη διδασκαλία της ελληνικής γλώσσας στη Δύση και στις παραδουνάβιες ηγεμονίες, μεταφράστηκε σε πλήθος γλωσσών (βουλγαρική, λατινική, εκκλησιαστική σλαβονική, αγγλική, γαλλική, γερμανική κ.ά.) και επηρέασε περισσότερο από κάθε άλλο βυζαντινό κείμενο τον πολιτικό στοχασμό των λαών, οι οποίοι ήρθαν σε επαφή με τη Βυζαντινή Αυτοκρατορία. Το ευσύνοπτο αυτό πόνημα αποκαλύπτει με ενάργεια τις θεμελιώδεις αρχές της πολιτικής σκέψης των Βυζαντινών κατά τον 6ο αιώνα αναφορικά με τις αρετές του ιδανικού ηγεμόνος και με τον ιδεατό τρόπο άσκησης της βασιλικής εξουσίας.
Ο παρών τόμος περιλαμβάνει το πρωτότυπο κείμενο της Ἐκθέσεως Κεφαλαίων Παραινετικῶν και την πρώτη απόδοση του έργου στη Νεοελληνική γλώσσα. Με την εισαγωγή και τα εκτενή ερμηνευτικά σχόλια που συνοδεύουν το κείμενο, το πόνημα του Αγαπητού Διακόνου εντάσσεται πλήρως στο ιστορικό και πολιτικό πλαίσιο της εποχής του, το ζήτημα της χρονολόγησης του έργου εξετάζεται υπό νέο πρίσμα και η διαχρονική αξία του κειμένου καθίσταται προφανής.
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The current paper examines the issue of medieval war ethics from the perspective of the Byzantine case-study. The starting-point is a critical approach to the theoretical understanding and the methodological employment of modern analytical concepts, such as ‘war ideology’ and ‘holy war’, in the study of war ethics in the late antique, early and high medieval period. The main goal is to circumscribe the modern theoretical distinction between ‘just war’ and ‘holy war’ and to demonstrate the applicability and the limits of its heuristic employment in the analysis of medieval source material. The first part contains a discussion of theoretical approaches to the terms ‘war ideology’, ‘just war’ and ‘holy war’. The second part is subdivided in two chapters: The first chapter attempts a historical re-evaluation of the religious discourse of the Byzantine sources through the prism of the proposed theoretical model. The second chapter contains an analysis of the socio-political role of peace discourse in the justification of imperial war policies.

The Bulgarians’ settlement in the Lower Danube area constituted one of the most significant events in the history of the Balkan Peninsula in the Middle A ges. The Danube Bulgaria’s rise and its territorial expansion changed the political situation in this area. The Bulgarians became Byzantium’s chief opponents in the struggle for establishing ascendancy over the Balkan Peninsula. The analysis of Theophanes’ Chronography, which remains, in addition to the account by Patriarch Nikephoros, the main source of information about these events supports the conclusion that this Byzantine author took a very negative view of the effects of the arrival of these nomads in the former Byzantine territories. Although this account has been analysed in detail by a number of scholars, these authors have paid no attention to the key role of the tale of Khan Kubrat and the disobedience of his five sons who failed to remain faithful to his last wish. The significance of the personal experiences of Theophanes, who witnessed the Bulgarian expansion during the era of Khan Krum, is also omitted from today’s discussion of these issues. These experiences contributed to the way in which he viewed the migration of the ancestors of the distinguished Bulgarian ruler. The chronicler may thus be considered to have offered a very clear view of what the readers should think of the Bulgarians’ arrival in the Balkan territories.

Collective identity in the so-called Byzantine Empire is a much-debated issue that has drawn a lot of attention over the years. The current paper attempts a critical assessment of the hitherto main lines of thinking about Byzantine identity, focussing on the period between the seventh and the thirteenth centuries. By proposing an alternative view on source material based on a comprehensive theoretical framework, I argue that a conceptualization of the collective identity of this medieval imperial social order with its constantly fluctuating geopolitical and cultural boundaries needs to be disconnected from essentialist and reifying views on perennial ethnicity as well as from the modern phenomenon of the nation-state.

The year 927 brought a peace treaty between Byzantium and Bulgaria, which ended many years of military struggle between both the states. On this occasion, Theodore Daphnopates, a prominent representative of the intellectual elite of Constantinople of the first half of X century, delivered a speech praising the newly concluded agreement. By means of a variety of hints not only to ancient history and literature but also to the Bible, the speaker explained reasons which led the conflict between both the states, lamented sad consequences of numerous military operations conducted over the years of the past war, as well as elaborating on the importance of the newly established peace. Daphnopates wanted to convince those who heard his declamation that these were only the Byzantines who made up the new nation chosen by God and the new spiritual “House of Israel”. On the other hand, the Bulgarians were compared to a mere scion, which only recently had been grafted onto the stock of the vine tree of Jesse. The Byzantines were pictured as fathers and teachers in faith of the Bulgarians and the speaker wanted to imply that the latter would remain blessed by the Lord and their state would flourish only on condition that they remained faithful by the side of the empire and in unity with it. It is essential, however, that by means of the statement, the speaker included the Bulgarians into the hierarchic order established on Earth by God himself. On the other hand, he also pointed clearly that it was their fidelity to Byzantium that enabled them to enjoy the wise lead and firm protection of the empire. In orator’s opinion the peace concluded in 927 was a genuine miracle sent from God, which by no means should be disregarded, and any attempt to diminish its importance has to be condemned as a heavy sin. The speaker maintained that the survival of this peaceful coexistence was an important task to which both the involved parts were obliged to apply themselves seriously in the future. Since peace was always an eternal attribute of God himself, the establishment of this hopefully ever-lasting treaty, which was supposed to entirely eliminate war from the relations between the Byzantines and Bulgarians, was an actual act of imitation of the Lord’s activities, and by virtue of that achievement both the states moved closer to become similar to God.

MA thesis, Budapest 2019
I offer in this paper a new perspective of Leo's ideal general in the Taktika. I argue for a social management dimension of the Taktika and contextualise the development of the archetype of the virtuous and pious general as it eventually appears in the Taktika in relation to the manual's literary tradition. By doing so, I demonstrate both the foundations and innovations of the ideal general of the Taktika as a tool of imperial control and challenge previous analyses of the Taktika’s contents.

Following a historical review of Leo’s reign and literary production, in Chapter 1 I focus on literary influences and the lineage of the ideal general, with discussion on the genre of military writing in Antiquity and Byzantium and the particular tradition in which the Taktika is situated. In Chapter 2, I examine the Taktika as a paraenetic text and provide close readings of its representations of moral virtues.

Die vorliegende Untersuchung über die politische und ideologische Wahrnehmung von Krieg und Frieden in Byzanz in der Zeit vor den Kreuzzügen analysiert das stets aktuelle Problem Krieg aus der Sicht der Gesellschaft einer mittelalterlichen Großmacht. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es, das System von Ideen und Vorstellungen zu zeigen, welches die Wahmehmung von Krieg und Frieden in der byzantinischen Elite und, soweit dies die Quellenlage erlaubt, in allen Gesellschaftsschichten gestaltete.

Im ersten Teil wird das byzantinische Militärwesen aus einem reichsideologischen Blickwinkel betrachtet und analysiert. Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf die ideologisch-politische Bedeutung der Entstehung und Entwicklung der so genannten Themenordnung sowie des schrittweisen Überganges vom Themenheer in ein professionelles Heer bis in das 10. Jahrhundert. Im zweiten Teil werden die Überlegungen bzw. die theoretischen Äußerungen der Byzantiner zum Thema Krieg und Frieden, ausgehend von ihren politischen und religiösen Ideen und in Zusammenhang mit ihrer friedlichen (Diplomatie) und militärischen Außenpolitik interpretiert und analysiert.
Die traditionelle Ansicht, dass der Krieg aus der ideologisch-politischen Sicht der Byzantiner als ultima ratio betrachtet wurde, wird in dieser Untersuchung in Frage gestellt. Das byzantinische Konzept der Rechtfertigung des Krieges wird im Rahmen der Frage nach einer differenzierten Wahrnehmung des Friedens neu betrachtet und interpretiert. In diesem Zusammenhang werden die Wechselbeziehung zwischen Krieg und Religion und die Frage nach einem etablierten Konzept des sog. heiligen Krieges in Byzanz zu dieser Zeit im Hinblick auf die ideologische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Islam kritisch untersucht.

The silver hoard comprising six pieces, which the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe acquired in 1993, belonged to the inventory of a church dedicated to St Constantine. The hoard relates stylistically as well as typologically to Greater Syria and is particularly significant due to its inscriptions. Two of the objects feature Greek votive inscriptions that bear dedications to the memory of a certain Framarich and a certain Karilos. Both names suggest that their bearers originated from a Latin-speaking region, perhaps the Frankish kingdom. These men probably came to Greater Syria as soldiers during Caesar Tiberius II Constantin’s great recruiting campaign in the context of the Sasanian war in 574/575.
According to one votive inscription, St Constantine was the patron of the church and he is even depicted as a soldier in armour. This is an extraordinarily early example for his cult and for the depiction of this first
Christian emperor to become a saint. The cult of St Constantine clearly reflects the values and the self-perception of the congregation: the idea of a Christian-Roman empire, the concept of the victorious emperor and loyalty to him. The intention behind choosing this holy patron could have been a conscious binding of the foreign soldiers to the emperor and the empire. In general, the emergence and spread of the cult of St Constantine during the 6th and especially the 7th centuries was obviously related to the massive military threat posed and the eventual occupation of core territories of the empire by the Sasanians and later by the Muslim Arabs.

The Barletta colossus is the sole large-scale statue in bronze preserved of a late antique emperor; the only comparable image is the even larger, but fragmentary, Constantinian emperor in Rome. According to local tradition, the Barletta colossus depicts the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641). Modern researchers tend to regard this attribution as mere folklore and fiction. But while there is general agreement that the statue does not portray Heraclius, there is no agreement as to whom it may have been intended to portray. About a dozen different emperors have been proposed, suggested dates ranging from the fourth to the eighth century. The present article reviews the evidence and discusses the methodological problems we face when dealing with this enigmatic work.

Щавелев А. С. Новый «русский перевод» трактата «Об управлении империей» на фоне современных исследований // Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 4, История.
Регионоведение. Международные отношения. – 2020. – Т. 25, № 6. – С. 292–304.
The article is a critical essay about an attempt to translate the Constantine Porphyrogenitus’ treatise ‘De Administrando Imperio’ into an artificially archaic «Pseudo-Slavic» language, made by R.A. Gimadeev. It is shown that his commentaries accompanying this translation are extremely primitive, the author doesn’t follow scientific methods and he isn’t familiar with modern scientific literature. This is especially clearly seen, since this publication takes place against the backdrop of a fundamental rethinking in modern Byzantine studies of political history and the system of power organization in the ‘Eastern Roman Empire’ of the 10th century. This rethinking of basic Byzantine issues is vastly based on the re-interpretations and new commenting of the classic text of ‘De Administrando Imperio’. Discussion. In recent years has been published several special articles and monographs, in which the questions about authorship, text structure, stylistics and ideology of the text “De administrando imperio” and relates subjects were re-posed. Analysis. For a number of parameters, the text of the introduction and commentaries on the text of the treatise in this new edition, made by R.A. Gimadeev, is far from the standards of academic writing. His attempts to reason about the paleography of the manuscript and the text’s structure are devoid of formal arguments and are arbitrary rhetorical in their nature. The translation of the text into some artificial archaic “Slavic Russian Language” doesn’t convey the pragmatics and stylistics of the original, but leads to a distortion of its perception. The uniformity of the principles of translation of special vocabulary is not maintained: in some cases, the translator refuses the usual transliterations, in others – he introduces new ones. The publication practically doesn’t take into account modern historiography, partly, apparently, intentionally, but often, out of unfamiliarity with the necessary studies. Perhaps, some ideas of R.A. Gimadeev will be confirmed and find application in the future, but all his observations require the most careful verification. Conclusions. The considered attempt of a new reconstruction of the Greek text of the treatise and its translation by R.A. Gimadeev are not fully scientific and qualified. As a result, the new edition turned out to be a kind of historiographical deviation, especially evident against the background of modern studies of this masterpiece of Byzantine literature

Ninth century is conceived a period of important cultural changes in Byz- antium. At that time, written culture of the empire emerges from the “Dark Age” in which literary production was in decline. The most important participants of these changes are few larger-than-life and easy to pick out figures. Interestingly, all of the most important Byzantine 9th-century men of letters were sent as emissaries to the Abbasid capital: John the Grammarian, Photius, Constantine/st. Cyril, Leon Choirosphaktes. The only one who was not – Leon the mathematician, was actually said to have been invited avidly to Baghdad by the caliph. It cannot be just a coinci- dence. In my opinion it is connected with the growing consciousness in Byzantium of the cultural prowess of the Arabs. In 9th century the Byzantines were starting to consider the caliphate as not only a temporary phenomenon at its eastern bor- der, but as a permanent rival. This recognition was not only political. The Byzan- tines seemingly became aware of the cultural excellence of the caliphate, in which the impressive, large-scale Graeco-Arabic translation movement was taking place at that time. At the same point, the Byzantines constituted the main axis of ideo- logical rhetoric of the Abbasids of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement. They were presented in the sources of the period as not worthy the ancient Greek culture which they accidentally fell heirs to, and the Arabs as the true, worthy inheritors. The big embassies provided an opportunity to this kind of interaction. That being the case, they gained particular cultural character. They appear to have been re- garded by both parties as a way to get political affairs resolved, but furthermore as an occasion to display the supremacy over the rival empire. Consequently, the lead- ers of the embassies between Byzantium and the Abbasids seem to be on a centre stage of the supposedly conscious cultural rivalry

This article is a continuation of my study regarding the term Βυζάντιος in the 678 Sacra of Constantine IV to Pope Donus which was published in the journal Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. In the article mentioned, I have argued that the term had been used as a synonym to ‘Eastern Roman’ in a context of distinction between Eastern and Western Romans. The present work focuses on the ideological and political framework which allowed the term to acquire this broad meaning. The choice of the emperor to designate the Eastern Romans as ‘Byzantines’ is co-examined along with the practice of Westerners, and critics of the emperor to use the term ‘Greek’ for the same purpose. I suggest that the term ‘Greek’ could be used as a vehicle for reproach against the emperor, while the term ‘Byzantine’ emphasized the universal nature of imperial authority.

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This paper discusses a small hoard of early Byzantine church silver from Greater Syria at the  Baden State Museum at Karlsruhe (Germany). The Greek commemorative inscriptions on the objects hint to people from Western Europe (most probably Franks) as well as to a veneration of emperor Constantine the Great as a saint. The questions adressed are why foreigners from the West are commemorated in the East and how the exeptional veneration of Constantine fits into the historical setting.

The mythical birth of heroes or descending of nations from mythical predecessors, seeking legendary explanations for events or just referring to mythical characters remained an integral part of Byzantine understanding of both the past and the surrounding world. Studying the works of classical authors, through which Greek mythology was taught was an integral part of education of Byzantine elites. The author of the speech in consideration, which was devoted to the peace treaty between the Byzantines and Bulgarians in 927, makes use of mythological figures as keywords to express his views or opinions on the events he is discussing. At the same time his utterances remain profound indeed, as single names cover a much wider context regarding the history of people, countries, and other didactic contents. They are meant to evoke numerous associations and thoughts in the listeners, recall passages from classical works, and that is the objective of Byzantine orator. The author refers therefore to common memories, views, language and way of thinking in the reading of the surrounding world. Mythological passages serve also as a kind of intellectual game between the orator and his audience. Erudition, made up of well composed comparisons, puns, or well-built associations constitute an important part of the oration. Knowledge of classical and mythological tradition is an evidence that there still exist links with the antiquity, which build up the sense of continuation and belonging to a group with pretences to the broadly understood heritage of Greek culture. Greek myths constitute therefore an important factor what we understand as common identity, through building up a sense of belonging to a particular community – a community that refers back to common intellectual heritage and creating a particular cultural code, a language of expression and communication, not to say, its own Byzantine “slang”.

This article showcases a cloak-and-dagger visual sequence of imperial murder.  The unique imagery is found in the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript, the most ambitious illustrated history produced in the Mediterranean between late antiquity and the thirteenth century.  Its illustrations were executed in Sicily at the court of Roger II in Palermo around the middle of the twelfth century. 
Employing approaches developed in narrative theory and insights derived from studies of translation and adaptation, this article analyzes how the visual narrative selectively 'foregrounds' the bloody drama of the demise of emperor Leo V at the hands of his challenger Michael the Amorian.  In this dialogic adaptation, an episode of Byzantine history was creatively restaged for visual display to a Sicilian audience.  Produced in a place that was conversant in Byzantine culture, yet not bound by its political, ideological or representational constraints, the visual narrative navigates a novel third way between the Byzantine text and the manuscript's Sicilian context.

The present paper deals with a certain change that occurred in some cities in Late Antique Thrace, viz. Philippopolis, Diocletianopolis and probably Augusta Traiana. In these cities a new Gate appeared at the end of 4th –beginning of 5th c. which bears almost identical features – triumphal arch or an imitation which turned into the most impressive Gate of the city, a huge street which starts from the gate and a martyrium or martyral basilica located nearby. In Philippopolis a new martyrium and street were built for this purpose, in Diocletianopolis – a new Gate and street, while it is not clear yet with the Eastern Gate of Augusta Traiana wince it has not been excavated yet, but where a new martyrium was built either. Due to the specifics and time span, it is suggested that as a prototype of Porta Triumphalis in Late Antique Thrace we should look at the Theodosian Golden Gate (Porta Aurea) which initially was a triumphal arch of Theodosius I, turned into а Gate at the time of Arcadius.

The ‘History’ by Niketas Choniates (circa 1155 – 1215/1216), a Byzantine official, historian and rhetorician of the 12th and early 13th century, is the most important source of knowledge about the events related to the restitution of the Bulgarian Tsardom at the end of the 12th century, i.e. the "uprising" headed by the Assenid brothers. Choniates, faithful to the Byzantine political ideology, depicts the Bulgarian liberation movement from the power of the Eastern Roman Empire in the darkest colors. He compares the leaders of the rebellion and their accomplices to demonic power tormenting Byzantine territories (Moesia). Indeed, during his first military expedition against the Bulgarians in 1186, Emperor Isaac II Angelos (1185-1195, 1203-1204) managed to expel the rebels from imperial territory, much like Jesus Christ had cast out demons from the possessed one (cf. Mt. 8: 28-33; Mk. 5: 1-20; Lk. 8: 26-39). But the Byzantine ruler did not strengthen his control over the conquered territory of Moesia, and left it emptied of Byzantine troops. In accordance with the New Testament spiritual law, which says that if a place abandoned by the demons is left empty, the previously banished evil spirits will return to the same place, even more numerous and stronger (cf. Mt. 12: 43-45), so did the Bulgarians (now with the Cumans) returned to the territories vacated by the Byzantines. Thus, the situation of Moesia, and in the bigger picture, of the empire, deteriorated more than before, because the Emperor's incompetence had emboldened the rebels even more. They became bolder and began doing the work characteristic of Satan – stealing, plundering, destroying and killing the Romans (cf. Jn. 10: 10).

Constantine Paidas

"Issues of political thought in the historical work of Joseph Genesios On the Reigns of the Emperors"

Joseph Genesios was ordered by the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus to compose a historical work based on specific political
principles. The ultimate goal of Constantine VII in doing this was to promote the ideology of the Macedonian Dynasty. The foundation of the
pro-Macedonian propaganda was the view that Basil I was an ideal
prince while his predecessor Michael III was a conventional pattern of a
degenerate ruler.
The present study attempts to designate the political ideology of the
implied author of The Reigns and of the intentio operis. In this way the
view that The Reigns precedes Theophanes Continuatus is reinforced.
At the same time, the study attempts to explore and present the political
and ideological reasons that demanded the composition of a work subsequent
to Reigns, which would be considered “politically correct”, so as to
promote the pro-Macedonian propaganda. By the analysis of the political
thought introduced in the text of The Reigns, it emerges that Constantine
VII could not be satisfied with the written performance of
Genesios. For certain reasons which are fully explored, the attempt of
composing an “objective” historical narration had to be repeated, in order
to give a higher profile on a “sound” basis, to the role of the last emperor
of the Amorian dynasty and the contribution of Basil I to rescuing
and elevating the Byzantine Empire.

The paper explains how the Church of Constantinople in the XIIIth century not only survived as a unity after the division of the Empire in several competing states, but also achieved to create a stronger bond with Churches which were at greater distance and very different political contexts. It develops the thesis that the Church already began to replace the Empire in the consciousness of Eastern Christianity.