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Constructing the ‘theatre of power’: the performance of speeches of Emperor Leo VI the Wise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2022

Cao Gu*
Affiliation:
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris charleskoo@outlook.fr

Abstract

Emperor Leo VI the Wise made speeches on various occasions, and the surviving texts have attracted numerous philological and historical studies. However, delivering a speech was never merely a monologue, especially in the court milieu where life was highly ritualized. It combined text-reading and multiple ceremonies and thus became a theatrical performance. In this ‘theatre’, the emperor's elegant appearance, the audience reaction to the orator's words following a set of conventions, and the venue decorated with torches, candles, and many other objects all played an indispensable role.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham

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Footnotes

*

This study has been funded by the Chinese government scholarships (CSC). I would like to express my gratitude to Prof. Paolo Odorico and Dr Charis Messis for their valuable remarks and suggestions, and also to Nedim Buyukyuksel who helped me improve my manuscript. I also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their thoughtful comments and remarks.

References

1 Liudprand of Cremona, The Complete Works, tr. P. Squatriti (Washington, D.C. 2007) 197–8.

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4 For the emperor's customary sermons on all feasts, see Arethas of Caesarea, Scripta Minora, ed. L. G. Westerink, II (Leipzig 1972) 15.2–4. Nikephoros Gregoras too reports that Leo VI had composed speeches and odes for many annual festivals, see ed. Ε. Κurtz, Zwei griechische Texte über die hl. Theophano, die Gemahlin Kaisers Leo VI (= Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg, VIIIe série, Cl. Hist.-philol. 3.2) (St Petersburg 1898) 40.32–3.

5 The editors of this speech have attached an introduction to the original text and the French translation, see A. Vogt and I. Hausherr, Oraison funèbre de Basile Ier par son fils Léon VI le Sage (= Orientalia Christiana 77) (Rome 1932) 5–35. This edition was immediately followed by a historical research, see Adontz, N., ‘La portée historique de l'oraison funèbre de Basile Ier par son fils Léon VI le Sage’, Byzantion 8.2 (1933) 501–13Google Scholar. See esp. Odorico, P., ‘La politica dell'immaginario di Leone VI il Saggio’, Byzantion 53.2 (1983) 597–631Google Scholar.

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14 Patriarch Photios of Constantinople, Epistulae et Amphilochia, ed. B. Laourdas and L. G. Westerink, I (Leipzig 1983) 23.674–87.

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16 For the importance of the notion of order in Byzantine ideology, see H. Ahrweiler, L'idéologie politique de l'Empire byzantin, (Paris 1975) 129–47.

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19 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 26.28–9.

20 Ed. Κurtz, Zwei griechische Texte, 5.5–9.

21 Ed. F. Ciccolella, Cinque poeti bizantini. Anacreontee dal Barberiniano greco 310 (Alexandria 2000) 80.35–6.

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24 Ed. P. L. M. Leone, ‘l’“Encomium in patriarcham Antonium II Cauleam” del filosofo e retore Niceforo’, Orpheus n.s. 10 (1989) 404–29 (421.304–16).

25 See N. P. Kondakov, ‘Les costumes orientaux à la cour byzantine’, Byzantion 1 (1924) 7–49; G. P. Galavaris, ‘The symbolism of imperial costume as displayed on Byzantine coins’, Museum Notes (American Numismatic Society) 8 (1958) 99–117; E. Piltz, ‘Middle Byzantine court costume’, in H. Maguire (ed.), Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204 (Washington, D.C. 1997) 39–51; J. L. Ball, Byzantine Dress: representations of secular dress in eighth- to twelfth-century painting (New York 2005) 11–35; P. Odorico, ‘Habiller le prince. Vêtements et couleurs à la cour de Byzance’, in Comunicare e significare nell'alto medioevo. 15-20 aprile 2004 (= Settimane di studio della fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo 52.1) (Spoleto 2005) 1013–58.

26 The political symbolism of this garment is unclear: according to Parani, the imperial chlamys shows the role of the emperor as chief of state, arbitrator, legislator, and protector of peace and order, while Galavaris considers it an emblem of sacred sovereignty. See M. G. Parani, Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine material culture and religious iconography (11th-15th Centuries) (Leiden 2003) 17; Galavaris, ‘The symbolism of imperial costume’, 109–10.

27 A. Walker, ‘The Emperor and the threshold: making and breaking taxis at Hagia Sophia’, in S. Tougher (ed.), The Emperor in the Byzantine World (London 2019) 281–321 (288).

28 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre II, 10, 65.8–9.

29 Leo VI, Homiliae, 261.54–5.

30 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome I, 30, 229.60–4.

31 Philotheos, Traité, in N. Oikonomidès (ed.), Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Paris 1972) 217.15.

32 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 35.12–18.

33 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome I, 35, 269.74.

34 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 36.9–18. All translations are mine, unless otherwise indicated.

35 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome I, 46, 345.52–3.

36 Op.cit., 347.72–3.

37 Op.cit., 347.84–6.

38 G. Cavallo, Lire à Byzance (Paris 2006) 50–1.

39 Photios, Epistulae et Amphilochia, I, 23.688–4.703.

40 Photios, Bibliothèque, ed. and tr. R. Henry, II (Paris 1960) 107.35–11.

41 Michael Psellos, Historia Syntomos, ed. W. J. Aerts (Berlin 1990) 90.16–17.

42 Ševčenko, ‘Poems on the Deaths’, 202.30–1.

43 Ed. Leone, ‘l’“Encomium in patriarcham Antonium II Cauleam” del filosofo e retore Niceforo’, 422.335–43.

44 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 35.12–18.

45 On the importance of public speaking skills for the emperor, see M. Grünbart, ‘Euglottia – Sprechen als Statusindikator in der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit’, Frühmittelalterliche Studien 45 (2011) 211–31 (219–30).

46 Skylitzes, Synopsis Historiarum, 257.28–31. Tr. J. Wortley, John Skylitzes. A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 8111057 (Cambridge 2010) 248.

47 For the figural devices used in Byzantium, see V. Valiavitcharska, Rhetoric and Rhythm in Byzantium: the sound of persuasion (Cambridge 2013) 65–76. An inspiring case study has been made by A. F. Stone, ‘Aurality in the Panegyrics of Eustathios of Thessaloniki’, in Grünbart (ed.), Theatron, 419–28.

48 Leo VI, Homiliae, 8.74–9.112.

49 Op.cit., 173.156–4.86.

50 Op.cit., 21.193–212.

51 Op.cit., 30.29–32.

52 Op.cit., 25.298–6.304; 38.222–30; 271.108–19.

53 Op.cit., 163.58–61.

54 Op.cit., 240.195–7.

55 Op.cit., 52.206–11.

56 Op.cit., 77.203–6; 565.66–8.

57 Op.cit., 440.33–40.

58 Op.cit., 113.280–3.

59 Antonopoulou, Βυζαντινή Ομιλητική, 51.

60 H. Amirav, Authority and Performance: sociological perspectives on the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) (Göttingen 2015) 73–4; J. Vanderspoel, ‘Imperial panegyric: hortatory or deliberative oratory?’, in Tougher (ed.), The Emperor, 199–215 (203).

61 Walker, ‘The emperor and the threshold’, 285–6.

62 Philotheos, Traité, 221.10–19.

63 Op.cit., 185.19–7.4.

64 Op. cit., 217.15–17.

65 Ed. and tr. A. Vogt, Deux discours inédits de Nicétas de Paphlagonie, disciple de Photius: Panégyrique de st. Pierre, Panégyrique de st. Paul (= Orientalia Christiana 23.1) (Roma 1931) 60.

66 A. Christophilopulu, ‘Silention’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 44.1 (1951) 79–85 ; J.-C. Cheynet, ‘L'empereur et le palais’, in J.-C. Cheynet et al (eds), Le monde byzantin. II. L'empire byzantin (641-1204) (Paris 2006) 67–87 (78).

67 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome I, 35, 265.18–21.

68 Op. cit., Livre II, 10, 67.34–6.

69 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 15.1–5.

70 Op.cit., II, 13.22–4.

71 M.-F. Auzépy, L'hagiographie et l'iconoclasme byzantin: le cas de la Vie d’Étienne le Jeune (Aldershot 1999) 5.

72 Leo VI, Homiliae, 259.9, 260.27, 432.44.

73 Op.cit., 448.22–4.

74 Op.cit., 300.28–31/47–9.

75 Op.cit., 302.104.

76 Op.cit., 212.501–10.

77 For tears in Byzantine society, see M. Hinterberger, ‘Tränen in der byzantinischen Literatur. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Emotionen’, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 56 (2006) 27–51; M. Grünbart, ‘Der Kaiser weint: Anmerkungen zur imperialen Inszenierung von Emotionen in Byzanz’, Frühmittelalterliche Studien 42 (2008) 89–108; P. Odorico, ‘Les larmes à Byzance: de la littérature au fait social’, in F. Mosetti Casaretto (ed.), Lachrymae. Mito e metafora del pianto nel Medioevo (Alessandria 2011) 43–61.

78 I. Ševčenko, ‘Poems on the deaths of Leo VI and Constantine VII in the Madrid manuscript of Scylitzes’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23/24 (1969/1970) 185, 187–228 (194, 202 and 210).

79 M. D. Lauxtermann, Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres: texts and contexts, vol. 2 (Vienna 2019) 96.

80 Skylitzes, Synopsis Historiarum, 192.18–21.

81 Leo VI, Homiliae, 450.70–7.

82 For studies on acclamations in Late antiquity, see C. Roueché, ‘Acclamations in the Later Roman Empire: new evidence from Aphrodisias’, The Journal of Roman Studies 74 (1984) 181–99; ‘Acclamations at the Council of Chalcedon’, in R. Price and M. Whitby (eds), Chalcedon in Context: Church Councils 400700 (Liverpool 2009) 169–77. H.-U. Wiemer principally deals with the acclamations of provincial assemblies in Late antiquity, see ‘Akklamationen im spätrömischen Reich. Zur Typologie und Funktion eines Kommunikationsrituals’, Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 86 (2004) 27–73; ‘Voces populi. Akklamationen als Surrogat politischer Partizipation’, in E. Flaig and E. Müller-Luckner (eds), Genesis und Dynamiken der Mehrheitsentscheidung (Munich 2013) 173–202.

83 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre II, 10, 67.32–9.

84 Leo VI, Homiliae, 8.74–6/96.

85 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome II, 86, 335.

86 Constantin VII Porphyrogennetos, Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions, ed. and tr. J. F. Haldon (Vienna 1990) 102.136–8.223. See also M. Jeffreys, ‘Manuel Komnenos’ Macedonian military camps: a glamorous alternative court’, in J. Burke and R. Scott (eds), Byzantine Macedonia: identity image and history (Leiden 2000) 184–91; M. Mullett, ‘Tented ceremony: ephemeral performances under the Komnenoi’, in A. Beihammer, S. Constantinou and M. Parani (eds), Court Ceremonies and Rituals of Power in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean (Leiden 2013) 487–513; L. Jones, ‘Taking it on the road: the palace on the move’, in Tougher (ed.), The Emperor, 322–40.

87 Arethas, Scripta Minora, II, 14.18–26.

88 See M. G. Parani, ‘“Rise like the sun, the God-inspired kingship”: light-symbolism and the uses of light in middle and late Byzantine imperial ceremonial’, in A. Lidov (ed.), Hierotopy of Light and Fire in the Culture of the Byzantine World (Moscow 2013) 159–84; I. Potamianos, ‘Byzantine church space: a holy mountain of light and shadow’, in A. Lidov (ed.), The Hierotopy of Holy Mountains in Christian Culture (Moscow 2019) 100–21. According to N. Schibille, the aesthetic experience of Hagia Sophia primarily depends on lights, see N. Schibille, ‘Light as an aesthetic constituent in the architecture of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople’, in D. Mondini and V. Ivanovici (eds), Manipolare la luce in epoca premoderna: aspetti architettonici, artistici e filosofici (Mendrisio 2014) 31–43; Hagia Sophia and the Byzantine Aesthetic Experience (Farnham 2014).

89 Leo VI, Homiliae, 423.11–16.

90 Adontz, ‘La portée historique’, 501–13.

91 Philotheos, Traité, 221.10–19.

92 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre II, 43, 277.25–6.

93 Leo VI, Homiliae, 423.11–16.

94 For a study on these two discourses, see Frolow, ‘Deux églises byzantines’, 43–91.

95 Leo VI, Homiliae, 472.42–3.

96 Liudprand, The Complete Works, 197–8. See also J. Ebersolt, Le Grand Palais de Constantinople et le Livre des cérémonies (Paris 1910) 68–70.

97 J. M. Featherstone, ‘The Chrysotriklinos seen through De Cerimoniis’, in L. M. Hoffmann (ed.), Zwischen Polis, Provinz und Peripherie: Beiträge zur byzantinischen Kulturgeschichte (Wiesbaden 2005) 845–52; ‘The Great Palace as reflected in the De Cerimoniis’, in F. A. Bauer (ed.), Visualisierungen von Herrschaft. Frühmittelalterliche Residenzen – Gestalt und Zeremoniell (Byzas 5) (Istanbul 2006) 47–61 (50–3).

98 Liudprand, The Complete Works, 199.

99 For several assumptions about the structure of this hall, see I. Baldini and S. Cosentino, ‘Rituali di corte. Il Triclinio dei XIX Letti del Grande Palazzo di Costantinopoli’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 114.1 (2021) 65–110.

100 Leo VI, Homiliae, 453.1–4.

101 For the position of the holy altar, see R. J. Mainstone, Hagia Sophia: architecture, structure, and liturgy of Justinian's Great Church (New York 1988) 233.

102 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre II, 10, 65.19–7.29.

103 Le taktikon du cod. Scorialensis gr. RII11, in Oikonomidès (ed.), Les listes de préséance, 275.1–7.1.

104 Philotheos, Traité, 209.7/19–20.

105 Op.cit., 185.19–21.

106 N. Maliaras, Die Orgel im byzantinischen Hofzeremoniell des 9. und des 10. Jahrhunderts. Eine Quellenuntersuchung, Munich 1991, pp. 35–189; A. Berger, ‘Die akustische Dimension des Kaiserzeremoniells: Gesang, Orgelspiel und Automaten’, in F. A. Bauer (ed.), Visualisierungen von Herrschaft, 63–77.

107 Leo VI, Homiliae, 299.5–7.

108 Philotheos, Traité, 187.4–15.

109 Op.cit., 189.1–7.

110 Op. cit., 267.11–13, 268.26–33.

111 Op. cit., 230.237–8.

112 Protev. Iacobi., VII, 2, ed. and tr. É. de Strycker, S.J., La forme la plus ancienne du Protévangile de Jacques (Brussel 1961) 98.

113 Flavius Cresconius Corippus, In laudem Justini minoris, III, ed. and tr. A. Cameron (London 1976) 62.43.

114 Accounts of Medieval Constantinople: The Patria, IV, ed. and tr. A. Berger (Washington, D.C. 2013) 262–3.

115 Michael Psellus, Epistulae, ed. S. Papaioannou (Berlin 2019) 330.38.

116 Anna Komnene, Alexias, XV, ed. D. R. Reinsch and A. Kambylis (Berlin 2001) 484.90–4.

117 Pseudo-Luciano, Timarione, ed. and tr. R. Romano (Naples 1974) 59.276–9.

118 A. Papalexandrou, ‘Echoes of orality in the monumental inscriptions of Byzantium’, in L. James (ed.), Art and Text in Byzantine Culture (Cambridge 2007) 161–87; ‘Perceptions of sound and sonic environments across the Byzantine acoustic horizon’, in S. A. Harvey and M. Mullett (eds), Knowing Bodies, Passionate Souls Sense: perceptions in Byzantium (Washington, D.C. 2017) 67–85; ‘Sacred sound and the reflective cornice’, in V. Marinis, A. Papalexandrou and J. Pickett (eds), Architecture and Visual Culture in the Late Antique and Medieval Mediterranean (Turnhout 2021) 37–48. B. V. Pentcheva, ‘Hagia Sophia and multisensory Aaesthetics’, Gesta 50/2 (2011) 93–111 (101–6); ‘Performing the sacred in Byzantium: image, breath, and sound’, Performance Research 19/3 (2014) 120–8 (124–7). B. V. Pentcheva and J. S. Abel, ‘Icons of sound: auralizing the lost voice of Hagia Sophia’, Speculum 92/1 (2017) 336–60; W. Woszczyk, ‘Acoustics of Hagia Sophia: a scientific approach to the humanities and sacred space’, in B. V. Pentcheva (ed.), Aural Architecture in Byzantium: music, acoustics, and ritual (London 2018) 176–97. S. E. J. Gerstel et al., ‘Soundscapes of Byzantium: the Acheiropoietos Basilica and the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki’, Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 87/1 (2018) 177–213. S. Antonopoulos et al., ‘Soundscapes of Byzantium’, Speculum 92/1 (2017) 321–35.

119 Various scholars have noted fragrances inside churches, see James, L., ‘Senses et Sensibility in Byzantium’, Art History 27.4 (2004) 522–37 (525–6)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; B. Caseau, ‘Incense and fragrances: from house to church. A study of the introduction of incense in the Early Byzantine Christian churches’, in M. Grünbart et al (eds), Material Culture and Well-Being in Byzantium (400-1453) (Vienna 2007) 75–92. For a complete study on the relationship between odours and Christianity, see S. A. Harvey, Scenting Salvation: ancient Christianity and the olfactory imagination (Berkeley 2006).

120 Constantine VII, Le livre des cérémonies, Livre I – Tome I, 1, 7.20–2.

121 Leo VI the Wise, Das Eparchenbuch, ed. and tr. J. Koder (Vienna 1991) 110.465–8.

122 Constantin VII, Three Treatises, 108.219–22.

123 See B. Caseau and E. Neri (eds), Rituels religieux et sensorialité (Antiquité et Moyen Âge). Parcours de recherche (Milano 2021).