Институт за национална историја - Скопје

Идентитети
Зборник на трудови од
Седмиот меѓународен симпозиум
„Денови на Јустиниjан I“, Скопје, 15-16.11.2019

Уредник
Митко Б. Панов

Скопје, 2020
Издавач:
Институт за национална историја - Скопје
Уредник:
Митко Б. Панов
Лекторка:
Јордана Шемко Георгиевска

Ликовна и техничка обработка:

Игор Панев

Печати: ДПТУ Контура ДОО Скопје

Финансиски поддржано од:

CIP - Каталогизација во публикација

Национална и универзитетска библиотека "Св. Климент Охридски", Скопје

323.1(091)(062)
316.722(091)(062)
323.1(495.02)(062)
316.722(495.02)(062)
305(495.02)(062)

МЕЃУНАРОДЕН симпозиум "Денови на Јустиниjан I" (7 ; 2019 ; Скопје)

Идентитети : зборник на трудови од Седмиот меѓународен симпозиум
"Денови на Јустинијан I", Скопје, 15-16.11.2019 / уредник Митко Б.
Панов. - Скопје : Институт за национална историја = Skopje : Institute
of national history, 2019. - 298 стр. ; 23 см
Текст на мак. и англ. јазик. - На наспор. насл. стр.: Identities :
proceedings оf the 7th International Symposium"Days of JustinianI",
Skopje, 15-16November, 2019 / edited by Mitko B. Panov. - Фусноти кон
текстот

ISBN 978-9989-159-96-1
 Institute of National History - Skopje

Identities
Proceedings оf the 7th International Symposium
“Days of Justinian I”, Skopje, 15-16 November, 2019

Edited by
Mitko B. Panov

Skopje, 2020
 Меѓународен научен комитет
Флорин Курта (Универзитет во Флорида)
Митко Б. Панов (Институт за национална историја, Скопје)
Елизабета Димитрова (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Драги Ѓорѓиев (Институт за национална историја, Скопје)
Хрвоје Грачанин (Универзитет во Загреб)
Донатела Бијаѓи Маино (Универзитет во Болоња)
Ендрју Роуч (Универзитет во Глазгов)
Ѓузепе Маино (Универзитет во Болоња)
Георги Николов (Универзитет во Софија)
Витомир Митевски (Македонска академија за науки и уметности, Скопје)
Гордана Силјановска (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Каролин С. Снајвли (Гетисбург колеџ)
Виктор Лилчиќ (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Александар Спасеновски (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Јасмина Чириќ (Универзитет во Белград)
Иванка Василевска (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Мишо Докмановиќ (Универзитет Св. Кирил и Методиј, Скопје)
Рубин Земон (Универзитет Евро-Балкан, Скопје)
Јане Коџабашија (Универзитет Евро-Балкан, Скопје)

Секретари на редакција
Драган Ѓалевски (Институт за национална историја, Скопје)
Игор Панев (Филозофски факултет, Скопје)

International Scientific Committee

Florin Curta (University of Florida)
Mitko B. Panov (Institute of National History, Skopje)
Elizabeta Dimitrova (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Dragi Gjorgiev (Institute of National History, Skopje)
Hrvoje Gračanin (University of Zagreb)
Donatella Biagi Maino (University of Bologna)
Andrew Roach (Glasgow University)
Giuseppe Maino (University of Bologna)
Georgi Nikolov (Sofia University)
Vitomir Mitevski (Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, Skopje)
Gordana Siljanovska (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Carolyn S. Snively (Gettysburg College)
Viktor Lilčić (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Aleksandar Spasenovski (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Jasmina Čirić (University of Belgrade)
Ivanka Vasilevska (University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Mišo Dokmanović ((University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje)
Rubin Zemon (Euro-Balkan University, Skopjе)
Jane Kodjabasija (Euro-Balkan University, Skopjе)

Editorial Secretaries
Dragan Gjalevski (Institute of National History, Skopje)
Igor Panev (Faculty of Philosophy, University, Skopjе)
 СОДРЖИНА / CONTENTS

Предговор / Foreword ix

1. Byzantine Identity Interrogated, Declared, Activated
Anthony Kaldellis 21

2. Ethnodenialism? Comparing Ethnic Apples to

Apples in Byzantine and Medieval Studies
Alex M. Feldman 37

3. The Power of a Kiss: Ritual Kissing as an Expression of

Social Identity in Byzantine Ceremony
Ilias Karalis 54

4. Bureaucratic Identity in John Lydus

David Rockwell 65

5. The attitude of Justinian I (527-565) towards the Eurasian

nomads. Manipulations and aims
Georgios Kardaras 82

6. Byzantine Feminisms in the Age of Justinian

Larisa Orlov Vilimonović 91

7. Unlafwful Marriages in Justinian’s Novels

Daniela Toševa 121

8. Justinian I in the light of inscriptions in Albania

Fabio Toska 133

9. Македонци и Бугари како повеќекратни идентитетски

ознаки во концептуалната претстава на Византијa
Митко Б. Панов 148

v
 10. Идентитетот како средство на византиската дипломатија во
времето на Македонската династија (кр. на IX кр. на X век)
Драган Ѓалевски 163

11. Political and ethnic identities of the Normans in Macedonia and

Byzantium
Salvatore Costanza 173

12. Digenes Akritas: Hero on the border who destroys the borders
Vitomir Mitevski 186

13. Nunc edendum est! Пирот на Гобриј и Артаксан

во 4-та книга од романот “Rhodanthe et Dosicles”
од Теодор Продром
Маќеј Хелбиг 191

14. Идентитетите во Хоматијановиот акт бр. 54

Виктор Недески 203

15. Count Palaiologos: Family Ties and Alleged Identities

in the Expedition of Amadeus VI of Savoy
Marco Fasolio 214

16. Средновековните ереси и родовите идентитети

помеѓу бенефитите и морално-етичката контроверза
Маја Ангеловска-Панова 229

17. The “language of heresy” in Bogomil and Cathar-related texts

Bojana Radovanović 242

18. Цингулум од Лихнид и аналогии во

византиското ѕидно сликарство
Бошко Ангеловски и Давча Спасова 256

19. Three in one. Identities through post-Byzantine

icons of Saint Demetrius in the Balkans
Miguel Gallés 269

vi

20. The Battle od Identity: Abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid
and the socio-political conditions in the Ottoman Empire
Gjoko Gjorgjevski 280

21. From Italy to Balkans: Scientific travels in the

Age of Enlightenment
Giuseppe Maino 295

22. Црковно-музичката дејност на Јанаки Стојменович

Мирјана Павловска-Шулајковска 323

23. Principles of Conservations treatments used in the

Icons of the Ohrid Collection
Angelina Popovska 328

24. Процена на загрозеноста од елементарни непогоди на

православните верски храмови во општина Штип
Драган Веселинов и Tрајче Нацев 346

vii
 ПРЕДГОВОР

Зборникот на трудови произлегува од Седмиот меѓународен сим-

позиум „Денови на Јустинијан Први“, одржан на 15-16 ноември 2019
година во Скопје, во организација на Институтот за национална ис-
торија, Св. Кирил и Методиј “- Скопје и Универзитетите во Болоња, во
партнерство со Православниот богословски факултет„ Св. Климент
Охридски “, финансиски поддржан од Министерството за култура на
Р.С. Македонија и градот Скопје. Зборникот опфаќа дваесет и четири
од презентираните шеесет трудови. Пленарното предавање на Енто-
ни Калделис во контекст на специјалната тематска целина „Иденти-
тети“ поттикна продуктивна научна дебата за различните поимања
за идентитетот во Источната Римска империја - Византија и во сред-
новековна Западна Европа. Покрај дискурзивните докази во совре-
мените извори, современите теоретски пристапи беа адресирани
во истражувањето на сложените концепти и поими за идентитетот,
опфаќајќи широк опсег на модалитети на идентификација. Различни
фундаментални прашања беа покренати при дефинирањето на на-
чините на формирање идентитетите во средниот век и како тие се
изразуваат, одржуваат, преговараат или трансформираат.
Интердисциплинарноста и различноста на трудовите што произ-
легуваат од самиот концепт на идентитетот e задржaна со нивно-
то уредување во хронолошка рамка, наместо нивно групирање во
специфични теми. Презентираните трудови покриваат сегмент од
многуте прашања што беа покренати и дискутирани во однос на ди-
вергентните концепти на идентитетите во Источно римскиот – ви-
зантискиот и во средновековниот западен свет.

ix
 Пленарното предавање на Ентони Калделис, кое е вклучено во
зборникот, ги анализира социјалните категории што ги поставува-
ле Византијците кога го интерпертирале и класифицирале нивниот
свет, што ги дефинирало нивните идентитети. Специфичните конте-
ксти се истражени во случаите кога идентитетите биле испрашувани
од државните или црковните институции, кога идентитетите биле
декларирани од самите Византијци или кога биле потребни акции
за истиот да се оправда. Анализирајќи ги регионалните, римските и
христијанските идентитети во ваквата концептуална рамка, Калде-
лис демонстрира дека декларирањето на идентитетите не биле само
социолошки категории, туку извори на гордост што ги кодирале
етичките барања и егзистенцијално нормативните тврдења. Оттука,
заклучокот дека себе-декларирањето за христијанин или Римјанин,
честопати било на само еден чекор од подготвеноста да се умре за
тоа.
Алекс М. Фелдман дебатира за различните тенденции кај истори-
чарите и археолозите за мапирање на етничките истории во нив-
ната анализа на средновековната историја, во теоретската рамка на
интерпретирањето на историската етничност. Посочувајќи дека ет-
ничноста останува комплексна тема за историско истражување, тој
смета дека најважното прашање за историчарите е да се осигураат
дека ги користат истите глобални и дијахронични критериуми со
кои ќе ја дефинираат историската етничка припадност, без оглед на
времето и местото. Илијас Каралис го адресира ритуалниот бакнеж
како гест во византиските церемонии и релевантниот историски ин-
терфејс, со кој се открива идентитетот на инволвираните поединци
и односите што се формираат меѓу нив. Тој тврди дека декодирањето
на формата на ритуалниот бакнеж придонесува за разбирањето на
раслојувањето на византиското општество како целина, вклучувајќи
ја и црквата, како и односите меѓу нејзините членови-граѓани. Дејвид
Роквел ја истражува употребата на цитатите од класичната грчка и
латинска литература oд Јован Лид како маркери на неговиот иденти-
тет од аспект на членството на бирократскиот кор. Тој тврди дека за
Лид функцијата во бирократијата на префектурата е „услуга“ и изра-
зување на гордост, што ја одредува неговата самоидентификација со
интересите и вредностите на кадрите, чиј дел бил, како и границите
на самоидентификацијата што предизвикувало тензии помеѓу инди-
видуалните мотиви и неговиот цврст корпоративен идентитет.

x
 Георгиос Кардарас ги поврзува концептите на „другиот“ во Визан-
тија со односот на Јустинијан I кон степските народи, поконкретно
Аварите, раните Турци, протобулгарските и хунските племиња. Тој
презентира дека императорот ги следел традициите на византиска-
та политика заснована на доктрината „раздели и владеј“, создавајќи
систем на сојузи со локалните племиња преку плаќање на годишен
данок и спроведувајќи културна дипломатија преку христијаниза-
цијата и трговските односи, со што ги избегнал долгорочните воени
операции на Балканот. Лариса Орлов Вилимоновиќ предлага феми-
нистичко и постколонијално читање на византиската историја во
епохата на Јустинијан, користејќи ги византиските феминизми како
аналитички алатки за деколонизација на знаењето за Византија.
Споредувајќи го Романот 154 кој ги регулирал незаконските бракови
меѓу жителите на Месопотамија и Озроенa со другите романи на Јус-
тинијан, Даниела Тошева забележува дека казненото дело зависи од
статусот на богатство на населението. Интерпретирајќи ја претстава-
та на Јустинијан Први во натписите откриени во Албанија како култу-
рен феномен, Фабио Тоска го дефинира политичкиот и религиозниот
контекст и јазичните компоненти од тоа време.
Конципирајќи ги исечоците од византиските текстови каде се
користат термините Македонци и Бугари, Митко Б. Панов ја де-
монстрира променливоста на нивното значење што зависело од мо-
менталната политичка цел и идеолошката пропаганда. Тој тврди дека
иако терминот Македонци имал сложено значење, тој останал кон-
венционална ознака со која жителите на Тесалоника и на Македо-
нија традиционално биле означувани дека припаѓаат на Византија,
додека терминот Бугари кој се применувал по 971 година го изгубил
првичното и вистинско значење и се користел за политички и идео-
лошки цели во функција на маркирање на географската сопственост
на Византија. Фокусирајќи се на византиската дипломатија, Драган
Ѓалевски забележува дека освен конвенционалните методи за ну-
дење пари и престиж, империјалните службеници од македонската
династија во комуникацијата и преговорите со странските земји ги
искористиле и идентитетските карактеристики, кои тој ги нарекува
„имагинарни идентитети”, но со ограничена ефективност. Салвато-
ре Костанца се осврнува на движењето на витезите од војводството
од Хаутевиле и пониското норманско општество кон Исток и нивни-
те воени ангажмани со Византијците ја поттикнале интеракцијата со

xi
 населението на Западен Балкан, посебно во Македонија. Притоа, тој
заклучува дека балканското копно нудело можности за воени потфа-
ти и асимилација на западните дојденци, отворајќи им го притоа па-
тот кон Истокот.
Витомир Митевски го анализира Дигенес Акритас како парадок-
сален херој на византиската епска литература како репрезент на
идејниот идентитет на византискиот човек. Тој демонстрира дека
Дигенес Акритас бил типичен претставник на комплексниот иденти-
тет на византиската култура што ги апсорбира класичните антички,
православни христијански, па дури и арапски (исламски) културни
елементи. Истражувајќи ја употребата на Теодор Продром за описот
на празникот во неговата романса De Rhodathes et Dosiclis amoribus,
Маќеj Хелбиг покажува како овој византиски автор се запишал во
долготрајната празнична традиција што започнала на самиот поче-
ток на европската литература. Виктор Недески го анализира Актот
бр. 54 на Димитрија Хоматијан, со која охридскиот архиепископ се
стремел да го реши сложеното прашање на манастир во Света Гора,
што вклучувало религиозни практики на Грците, Иберијците и Ита-
лијанците. Марко Фасолио се осврнува на комплексниот идентитет
на Амадеус VI од Савоја како полноправен член на кланот Палеолози
и истовремено претставник на западната феудална аристократија со
верски убедувања. Тоа го поттикнало Амадеус VI како Палеолог да му
помогне на неговиот братучед Јован V во справувањето со неговите
непријатели и воедно како католик да дејствува во обид да го надми-
не расколот со Западот.
Маја Ангеловска - Панова го истражува прашањето за индивидуали-
змот и родовата еднаквост како основен концепт на дуалистичките
движења што се појавуваат во Византија и на средновековниот за-
пад. Забележувајќи ги нијансите помеѓу богомилството и западните
еретички движења во однос на унапредувањето на алтернативно-
то разбирање на статусот на жените, таа заклучува дека еретиците
всушност успеале да го неутрализираат инертниот и традиционал-
ниот статус на жените заснован на библискиот мит за Адамовото ре-
бро. Бојана Радовановиќ се осврнува на тополошките и симболичките
претстави за дуалистичката ерес, компарирајќи ги со еретичките и
анти-еретичките текстуални алатки, кои се користеле во опишување-
то на еретиците Богомили и Катари, како и на нивните соодветни
противници. Анализата на литературните образци и стратегии на

xii
авторите, како и начините на кои тие прибегнувале кон библиска-
та интерпретација, овозможува откривање на различните и слични
дискурзивни средства и метафоричкиот јазик во пренесувањето на
пораката во борбата против противниците.
Бошко Ангеловски и Давча Спасова ја интепретираат појасната гар-
нитура cingulum militare, составена од леани бронзени елементи, која
неодамна беше пронајден на местото Дебој во Охрид кај доцноан-
тичката некропола Лихнид. Датирајќи го откритието во втората по-
ловина на 4 век - почетокот на 5 век, тие заклучуваат дека ременот
имал римски воен статус, кој подоцна во 14 век се појавил како тип на
појасни гарнитури со окови во форма на пропелери во ктиторските
претстави на sиднитe фрескоживописи во манастирските цркви на
територијата на Македонија. Мигел Галес ја анализира поствизан-
тиската икона на Свети Димитрија од 19 век во приватна колекција
во Барселона, споредувајќи ја со иконографијата на светителот во
Тесалоника, Света Гора и Бугарија. Тој ја наоѓа симболиката помеѓу
физичките црти на промената на карактерот, рефлектирана во пре-
зентирањето на тројца „непријатели на верата“ - Римјаните, Бугарите
и Османлиите – а преку нив трите пораки што се пренесувале локал-
но, регионално и глобално.
Ѓоко Ѓорѓевски ги истражува причините што довеле до укинување
на Охридската архиепископија во 1767 година, тврдејќи дека врз од-
луката на Високата порта влијаела добро развиената и осмислена
пропаганда на Фанариотите и Цариградската патријаршија. Во своја-
та детална анализа на делата на италијанските интелектуалци како
Франческо Гризелини и Луиџи Фердинандо Марсили, Џузепе Маино
ја демонстрира поврзаноста на двата идентитети 0 италијанскиот и
балканскиот - во нарацијата и во партиципацијата на двајцата науч-
ници од 18 век, различни во образованието и во социјалното потекло.
Мирјана Павловска- Шулајковска го реконструира животот на цр-
ковно – музичкиот деец од 19 век Јанаки Стојменович, родум од маке-
донското село Оризари, кај Кочани. „Воскресникот“ на Стојменович
таа го вбројува меѓу првите црковно – музички ракописи настанати
во Македонија на Хрисантовата невматска нотација и прв од рако-
писните зборници кој го прикажува процесот на јазична трансфор-
мација во литургиската богослужба од грчки на црковно – словенски
јазик. Ангелина Поповска презентира детален хронолошки преглед

xiii
 и принципи на конзерваторските интервенции на најважните ко-
лекции на византиските икони од Охрид. Драган Веселинов и Трајче
Нацев ги презентираат проценките за потенцијалните природни за-
кани за христијанските верски храмови на територијата на Општина
Штип, во функција на обезбедување на адекватен и ефективен сис-
тем за заштита на културното наследство.
Трудовите во овој том покренуваат разни фундаментални прашања
во однос на дефинирањето на начинот на формирање на иденти-
тетите во Византија и во средновековниот западен свет. Освен дис-
курзивните докази во современите извори, современите теоретски
пристапи се адресираат при истражувањето на сложените концепти
и поими за идентитетот, опфаќајќи го широкиот опсег на модали-
тетите на идентификација. Во Зборникот се истражуваат начини-
те на кои Византија и другите пред-модерни држави и империи го
обликувале и конфигурирале комплексниот спектар на политички,
етнички, провинциски, правни, религиски или културни иденти-
тети. Анализата на овие различни и комплексни прашања од низа
еминентни научници ги обезбедува клучните цели на „Деновите на
Јустинијан Први“, продлабочувајќи го разбирањето за концептот на
идентитет во средниот век и како идентитетите биле изразувани,
декларирани, одржувани, преговарани или трансформирани во раз-
лични контексти.

Митко Б. Панов

xiv
 FOREWORD

The Proceedings emanates from the Seventh International Symposium

“Days of Justinian I”, held on 15-16 November 2019 in Skopje, organized by
the Institute of National History, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University – Sko-
pje and University of Bologna, in partnership with Orthodox Theological
Faculty “St. Clement of Ohrid”, with the financial support from the Minis-
try of Culture of R.N. Macedonia and the City of Skopje. The Proceedings
encompasses twenty-four out of sixty papers presented. Тhe keynote lec-
ture of Anthony Kaldellis on the special thematic strand Identities incited
productive scholarly debate about the differing perceptions of identity in
Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium and in Medieval Western Europe. The
presentations embraced broader geographical areas, chronological scope,
and varieties of political, ideological, cultural, social or religious contexts
in exploring the multiple layers of identity in the Eastern Roman Empire
and in Medieval Western Europe.
The interdisciplinarity and diversity of the papers deriving from the
very concept of identity is retained by arranging them in chronological
framework, instead of their grouping into specific themes. The papers pre-
sented here cover part of many issues that were raised and discussed on
the divergent aspects and concepts of identities in Eastern Roman – Byz-
antine and the Medieval Western World.
The keynote lecture of Anthony Kaldellis which is included in this vol-
ume analyze the social categories that the Byzantines deployed when
they interpreted and classified their world, which defined their identities.
The specific contexts are examined when the identities were interrogat-
ed by the state or church institutions, when the identities were declared
by the Byzantines themselves, or when actions were required to justify

xv
 it. Analyzing the regional, Roman, and Christian identities within this
conceptual framework, Kaldellis demonstrates that the declaration of
identities were not mere sociological categories but sources of pride that
encoded ethical requirements and existentially normative claims. Hence
the conclusion that declaring oneself a Christian or a Roman was often
but one step away from being prepared to die for it.
Alex M. Feldman discuss different tendencies among the historians and
archeologist for charting ethnic histories in their analysis of medieval his-
tory, within the theoretical frame of the interpretation of historical ethnic-
ity. Observing that ethnicity remains a doggedly brittle topic for historical
inquiry, he argues that most important issue for historians is to ensure
that they are using the same global and diachronic criteria by which to
define historical ethnicity, regardless of time and place. Ilias Karalis exam-
ines the ritual kiss as a gesture in Byzantine ceremonies and the relevant
historical interface, that reveals the identity  of the individuals involved
and the relationships that are formed between them. He maintains that
decoding the form of the ritual kiss contributes to comprehending the
stratification of the Byzantine society as a whole, including the church,
as well as the relationships among its members-citizens. David Rockwell
examines John Lydus’ use of quotations from classical Greek and Latin lit-
erature as markers of his identity as a member of the bureaucratic corps.
He argues that Lydus’ viewed his post in the prefecture’s bureaucracy as
“service” and expressions of pride, that determined his self-identification
with the interests and values of the cadres of which he was a part, as well
as the limits to that self-identification that impelled tensions between the
individual motives and his professed corporate identity.
Georgios Kardaras links the concepts of the “other” in Byzantium with
the attitude of Justinian I towards the steppe peoples, namely the Av-
ars, the early Turks, Protobulgar and Hunnic tribes. He presents that the
emperor followed the traditions of the Byzantine policies based on the
‘‘divide and rule’’ doctrine, creating a system of alliances paying annual
tribute to the local tribes and exercising cultural diplomacy through Chris-
tianization and trade relations, by which he managed to avoid long-term
military operations on the Balkans. Larisa Orlov Vilimonović proposes a
feminist and postcolonial reading of the Byzantine history in the Age of
Justinian, using the byzantine feminisms as analytical tools in decoloniz-
ing out knowledge about Byzantium. Comparing the Novel 154 that regu-
lated the unlawful marriages among the inhabitants of Mesopotamia and

xvi
Osrhoene with other Justinian’s novels, Daniela Toševa notices that the act
of punishment depended on the wealth-status of the population. Inter-
preting the representation of Justinian I in the inscriptions discovered in
Albania as a cultural phenomenon, Fabio Toska defines the political and
religious context and the language components of the time.
Coceptualizing the snapshots from the Byzantine texts where the
terms Macedonians and Bulgarians are used, Mitko B. Panov demonstrates
the changeability of their meaning that depended on the momentary po-
litical goal and ideological propaganda. He argues that the although term
Macedonians had a complex meaning it remained a conventional label
by which the inhabitants of Thessalonica and Macedonia were tradition-
ally marked as belonging to the Empire, while the term Bulgarians applied
after 971 lost their original and real meaning and was used for political
and ideological purposes to mark the geographical ownership of Byzan-
tium. Focusing on the Byzantine diplomacy, Dragan Gjalevski observes
that apart from conventional methods of offering money and prestige,
the imperial officials from the Macedonian dynasty in the communica-
tion and negotiation with the foreign countries and peoples exploited
also the identity traits, which he calls “imaginary identities”, however with
limited effectiveness. Salvatore Costanza discusses how the movement of
the knights from Hauteville dukes and Norman lower society to the East
and their military engagements with the Byzantines incited the interac-
tion with peoples in the Western Balkans, especially in Macedonia. He
concludes that the Balkan mainland offered opportunities for military en-
deavors and, eventually, assimilation of Western newcomers, opening the
way to their prospects towards the East.
Vitomir Mitevski analyses Digenes Akritas as a paradoxical hero of the
Byzantine epic literature representing the conceptual identity of the Byz-
antine man. He demonstrates that Digenes Akritas was a typical repre-
sentative of the complex identity of the Byzantine culture which absorbs
classical ancient, Orthodox Christian and even Arabian (Islamic) cultural
elements. Exploring Theodorus Prodromus’ use of the description of the
feast in his romance De Rhodathes et Dosiclis amoribus, Makjej Helbig
shows how this Byzantine author enrolled himself to the long-lasting fes-
tive tradition that commenced at the very beginnings of European liter-
ature. Viktor Nedeski analyses the Act no. 54 of Demetrios Chomatenos’
Ponemata Diaphora by which the Ohrid Archbishop aspired to resolve the
complex issue in a monastery on Mount Athos, that involved the religious

xvii
 practices of Greeks, Iberians and Italians. Marco Fasolio discusses the
Amadeus VI of Savoy complex identity as the true medieval European
aristocrat, being a full-fledged member of the Palaiologos clan and at the
same time a representative of the Western feudal aristocracy with reli-
gious convictions. This prompted Amadeus VI of Savoy as a Palaiologos to
help his cousin John V Palaiologos against his enemies and, as a Catholic,
to act to try to heal the schism with the West.
Maja Angelovska – Panova examines the issue of the individualism and
gender equality as a fundamental concept of dualistic movements emerg-
ing in Byzantium and in Medieval West. Noticing the nuances between
the Bogomilism and the Western heretical movements as regards the pro-
motion of the alternative understanding of the status of the women, she
concludes that the heretics in fact managed to neutralize the inert and
traditional status of the women based on the biblical myth for Adam’s rib.
Bojana Radovanović addresses the topological and symbolical representa-
tions of dualist heresy, compared to heretical and anti-heretical textual
tools used in describing heretics Bogomils and the Cathars, as well as their
respective opponents. The analysis of the literary patterns and strategies
of the authors, as well as the ways in which they resorted to the scriptural
interpretation, enables to detect differing and similar discursive means
and metaphorical language in transmission of the message in combatting
the opponents.
Boško Angelovski and Davča Spasova interpret the military belt type
cingulum militare, composed of cast bronze elements, which was recently
found at the site of Deboj in Ohrid, in the area of ​​the late antique necropo-
lis of Lychnidus. Dating the find to the second half of the 4th century-
beginning of the 5th century, they conclude that the belt had a Roman
military status, which appeared later in the 14th century as a propeller-
shaped belt stiffiners type in the ktetor’s representations on wall fresco
paintings in the monastery churches in Macedonia. Miguel Gallés analy-
ses the 19th century post-Byzantine icon of Saint Demetrius in a private
collection in Barcelona, comparing it with saint’s iconography in Thes-
salonica, Mount Athos and Bulgaria. He finds the symbolism between the
physical traits of the character change reflected in the presentation of
three “enemies of faith” - the Romans, the Bulgarians and the Ottomans –
and through them three messages that were transmitted locally, regionally
and globally.
Gjoko Gjorgjevski discusses the reasons that prompted the abolition
of the Archbishopric of Ohrid in 1767, arguing that the decision of the
xviii
Sublime Porte was influenced by the well-developed and well-thought-
out propaganda of the Phanariotes and the Patriarchate of Constantino-
ple. In his detailed analysis of the works of the Italian intellectuals such as
Francesco Griselini and Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Giuseppe Maino dem-
onstrates how the two identities, Italian and Balkan, relate in the narra-
tion and in the participation of two eighteenth-century scholars, different
in education and social background.
Mirjana Pavlovska Šulajkovska reconstructs the life of 19th century
church-musician Janaki Stojmenovch, from the Macedonian city of
Kočani. She assesses Stojmenovich›s church-music manuscript “Resur-
rection” from 1849 among the first of this type of notations originated in
Macedonia and the first among the manuscript collections that shows the
process of linguistic transformation in the liturgical service from Greek
to Church-Slavic language. Angelina Popovska presents detailed overview
and principles of the conservation interventions of the most important
collections of the Byzantine Icons from Ohrid. Dragan Veselinov and
Trajče Nacev presents the assessments of the potential natural threats for
the Christian religious temples on the territory of the Municipality of Štip,
as a way of providing an adequate and effective system of protection of
the cultural heritage.
The papers in this volume raise various fundamental questions in
defining how identities were formed in Byzantium and in the Medieval
Western World. Aside from the discursive evidence in the contemporary
sources, modern theoretical approaches are addressed in exploring the
complex concepts and notions of identity, covering the broad range of
modes of identification. Тhe ways of which Byzantium and other pre-
modern states and empires have shaped and configured the composite
spectrum of political, ethnic, provincial, legal, religious or cultural identi-
ties are also examined. Analysis of these various and complex issues by a
range of eminent scholars provide the key aims of the “Days of Justinian
I”, deepening the understanding of the concept of identity in the Middle
Ages and how the identities were expressed, declared, maintained, negoti-
ated or transformed in different contexts.

Mitko B. Panov

xix
 1

Byzantine Identity Interrogated, Declared,

Activated
Anthony Kaldellis, Ohio State University
UDK 323.1(495.02)

Abstract: Historians and sociologists apply the concept of identity either to

broad groups defined by ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status, or to
an individual’s performance of a “self” that is designed to achieve a perhaps
momentary effect and advantage. This paper steers a middle course between
these two extensional extremes by analyzing the social categories that the
Byzantines deployed when they were actually interrogated as to their identities
in specific contexts (“Who are you?”); when they declared their identities even
when they had not been asked (“I am a …”), perhaps in order to stake a position
within a dispute; and also when they felt that their identies required action on
their part and therefore justified it. The analysis focuses on regional, Roman,
and Christian identities, which were not mere sociological categories for them
but sources of pride that encoded ethical requirements.

Like the Byzantine empire itself, the modern concept of “identity” has
outlived many efforts to abolish or replace it. Identity has been attacked
from many sides, usually with justice. It is, for one, too broad a concept.

21
 Anything that we can talk about has to be identifiable somehow, and pre-
sumably has an identity. From the standpoint of analytical philosophy,
the concept of identity used by historians has never been precisely de-
fined, indeed it seems to thrive on its very ambiguity. Thus, every single
artifact that survives from Byzantium – whether it is a text, a work of art,
a humble object, or an event that we know happened – is reflective of
someone’s identity and can be analyzed accordingly. Moreover, there is a
contradiction between our use of the concept in practice, namely to refer
to “fluid” and malleable social identities as changing historical constructs,
and identity’s inherent implication that it points to some kind of stable
essence. Identity refers to a sameness between the object and … another
object? a set of objects? an ideal type of itself? Finally, the concept itself
has also been historicized, as the product of twentieth-century scholar-
ship, and therefore as anachronistically inapplicable to people who lived
in the past, who had no concept like it, and who did not think of them-
selves in those terms.1
Yet despite all of these valid critiques, the empire of identity continues to
expand. The principal reason for this is that it is a useful meta-concept for
sociologically-oriented research by subsuming the entire spectrum of ana-
lytical categories that classify people in terms of social group, such as eth-
nic, national, gender, religious, professional, and the like. Thus, the term is
used primarily to refer to one’s membership in such groups, and rarely to the
identity of a lone individual independently of any social categories to which
he or she may belong, for example to the distinctive thought of a philoso-
pher. The concept is used far more by social historians and less by literary
critics or intellectual historian. Thus, to the degree that we study groups, or
individuals as members of groups, and for as long as we understand history
as propelled primarily by groups, we will continue to rely on identity.
It is no use arguing that the Byzantines did not have our concept of iden-
tity and that therefore we should not use it. They also did not have con-
cepts that exactly matched our “economy” and “gender,” but we will still
use them valid analytical categories. This is because we are in business
of constructing analytical categories and they were not. They certainly
had concepts for ethnicity, occupation, biological sex, and the like. Un-
like us, however, they did not feel the need to group them together un-
der a single meta-concept designed for comparative sociology. Let us also
not forget that educated Byzantines had read Aristotle’s Categories and

1
There are many critiques. I cite only R. Brubaker and F. Cooper, ‘Beyond “Identity”,’
Theory and Society 29 (2000) 1-47, to show how the concept has withstood even the most
rigorous ones.
22
the commentaries thereon, and so they had quite precise ways of talking
about the different genera to which individuals belonged, and also about
how unique individuals were produced by the combination of different
qualities that were otherwise generic. For example, the middle Byzantine
medical writer Meletios addressed this question when he sought to define
what an individual (atomon) is.
An individual is constituted by [different] qualities, whose particular combi-
nation is found in no one else… The qualities of Meletios, who is an individual,
cannot be conceived as existing in someone else, namely that he is a Constan-
tinopolitan; a doctor; short; grey-eyed; snub-nosed; gouty; with a scar on his
forehead that has such-and-such a shape; and the son of Gregorios. Adding all
these qualities together constitutes Meletios, namely me, and it is impossible
to conceive of anyone else who has them all. There are many variations among
individuals.2

In a manner of speaking, this was Meletios’ “identity,” and self-defined

at that. Only some of the listed qualities, however, would we group under
the meta-label of identity. These include chiefly his city origin and pro-
fession, and possibly his disability. But he was more interested in logical
than in sociological categories, otherwise he would have told us also that
he was a Roman, a Christian, a monk, an educated man, and the like. If
you want to see the full range of the conceptual sophistication that the
Byzantines could bring to the logical distinctions between generic and in-
dividual qualities, see Nikephoros Blemmydes’ epitome of Aristotle’s logic
(thirteenth century).3
We are looking for identity, not logic. Proper sociological research, how-
ever, requires interviews, during which we might ask our Byzantine sub-
jects, “Who are you?” (τὶς εἶ;), and hope that they answer by using one of
the categories that most fascinate us. Obviously we cannot do this. But
they occasionally did it to each other, and we are sometimes fortunate
enough to have references to such interrogations, or, better, to have ac-
counts of them. The answers that people gave in such circumstances were,
of course, conditioned by their context.
2
Meletios the Monk, On the Nature of Man, ed. J.A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codd.
manuscriptis bibliothecarum Oxoniensium, v. 3 (Oxford 1836) 5-157, here 155: ἄτομόν
ἐστι λέγοντες, τὸ ἐξ ἰδιοτήτων συγκείμενον, ὧν τὸ ἄθροισμα ἐπ’ οὐδένος ἄλλου εὑρεθήσεται·
καὶ καλῶς εἴρηται τὸ ἐπ’ οὐδένος ἄλλου· αἱ γὰρ ἰδιότητες Μελετίου ἀτόμου ὄντος ἐπί τινος
ἄλλου νοεῖσθαι οὐ δύνανται· οἷον τὸ εἶναι Βυζαντιαῖον· τὸ ἰατρόν· τὸ κονδόν· τὸ γλαυκόν· τὸ
σιμόν· τὸ ποδαλγόν· τὸ οὐλὴν ἔχειν ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ τοίανδε· τὸ εἶναι Γρηγορίου υἱόν· ταῦτα γὰρ
πάντα συναθροισθέντα ἀπετέλεσε Μελέτιον τὸν ἐμὸν, ἃ νοεῖσθαι ἐπί τινος ἄλλου ἀδύνατον·
παραλλαγαὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀτόμων πολλαί.
3
Nikephoros Blemmydes, Epitome logica, in PG 142: 675-1004.
23
 Consider the rosters of army units. We possess a papyrus from the
Egyptian city of Oxyrrhynchos that documents payments made to a unit
of bucellarii in late September or October of the year 612 to a total of
58 or 59 men. They are itemized by the paymaster, or trapezites, and
the men are named presumably in the way in which they answered the
question, “who are you?” The majority, namely 27 men, identified them-
selves by their name and patronymic, and we must remember that most
of them were likely native Egyptian recruits. Five gave only their name;
eight gave their name and places of origin, five of which were within
Egypt and the rest from “the Danube,” Askalon, and Cilicia; seven gave
their name and military function; five gave their name and the ethnic-
political label “Roman”; and six gave their name plus a foreign ethnic
label, these being Persian, Goth (two of them), Saracen, Armenian, and
Slav. This last is the first person known in history to call himself a Slav
(such is the magic of Egyptian papyri). It appears that these soldiers
were given great latitude to identify themselves (beyond their proper
names) in whatever way they wanted, though we find no nicknames
among them or truly weird labels. It is possible that the scribe reduced
everything down to a basic set of parameters (so if a soldier identified
himself, as they are wont to do, as “the greatest lover in Petra,” he was
listed as just being from Petra). Ethnic labels clearly mattered in this
society, but they were only one among other ways of identifying oneself.
We also see that the label Roman had penetrated rather far down the
social scale as a personal ethnic or quasi-ethnic identity.4
There were also contexts in which the law authorized imperial magis-
trates to interrogate people as to their identity. A fragment of the Quaes-
tiones of the jurist Papinian found its way into the Byzantine Basilika in
the following variant forms: “However many times someone is interrogat-
ed as to his genos” – meaning his family? or his ethnic group? – “then that
person must provide the proof.” Or, “When someone is interrogated as to
his genos or ethnos, he who makes the assertion must supply the proof.”
Unfortunately, we are not told in what context these questions might have
arisen or what proof was valid for one’s genos or ethnos, that is for family,
origin, or ethnicity.5 The most extreme case of such state interrogation is
4
N. Gonis, ‘Payments to bucellarii in Seventh-Century Oxyrhynchus,’ Travaux et mé-
moires 20 (2016) 175-192.
5
Papinian in Digest 22.3.1; Byzantine versions in the Basilika, ed. H. J. Scheltema and
N. van der Wal, Basilicorum libri LX, ser. A (8 vols.) and B (Scholia: 9 vols.) (Groningen
1955-1988), specifically in 22.1.1 (v. 3, p. 1044) and Scholion 2 by Kyrillos on this passage (v.
4, p. 1327); discussion by A. Laniado, Ethnos et droit dans le monde protobyzantine, Ve-VIe
siècle (Geneva 2015) 1-7.
24
attested for the age of Justinian, who had formed two corps, the Egyptian-
catchers and the Syrian-catchers, whose job it was, presumably, to catch
Egyptians and Syrians in Constantinople and send them back to their
provinces. In his laws that reformed the administration of the empire, Jus-
tinian repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to reduce the flow of pro-
vincials from Asia Minor who were coming to the capital for legal reasons.
Egyptians and Syrians were even less welcome than provincials from the
Balkans and Asia Minor. We know of these two officials from a scholion
on the Byzantine Basilika that comments on Papinian’s opinion regarding
proofs and then adds:
There were people who enlisted to fight as allies of the Romans; they were
called phoideratoi [foederati] and, because of their service, they were given
many privileges by the Romans. But if someone called himself a phoideratos,
he was required to prove it… [In a different context now:] If someone says
that he is a registered farmer from such-and-such a place, it is incumbent on
him to prove this. And if the Syrian-catchers or the Egyptian-catchers arrest
someone and say that he is a Syrian or an Egyptian, the burden of proof is on
the arrested man to prove that he is not a Syrian or an Egyptian.6

Avshalom Laniado, who has provided an excellent detailed commentary

on these texts, argues that this is a case of ethnic profiling. From our stand-
point, this is an interesting situation because the arrested person had to
engage in a negative-self-identification: the authorities made a positive
identification and the arrested man had to refute it.
People who looked different, perhaps because they had been travel-
ing in foreign lands, were often arrested at the border on the suspicion
of being spies, or at any other port of call in the empire, and they were
interrogated as to their identity. Cyril Mango made famous the case of
Gregorios Dekapolites, who was arrested at Ainos in Thrace in the early
ninth century. He was beaten and asked, “Who are you and what is your
religion?”, to which the saint responded, “I am a Christian; my parents
are such-and-such; and I am of the Orthodox faith.” Mango managed to
inscribe this episode within the doctrine of Roman denialism, the idea
that the Byzantines were not Romans despite what they usually said:
“It did not occur to him to describe himself as a Roman.” But Grego-
rios was asked about his religion, not his ethnos, and at this time in the
empire’s history it made almost no difference for purposes of national

6
Basilika 22.1.1, Scholion 1 (v. 4, p. 1327); discussion by Laniado, Ethnos, passim,
especially Part IV.

25
 identification: all Romans were (socially) Orthodox and almost all non-
Romans surrounding the empire were non-Orthodox, in fact they were
for the most part non-Christian.7
The encounter could easily have gone the other way and yielded a differ-
ent set of answers. When the father of the hero Digenes Akrites, a Saracen
emir, first met his future brothers-in-law, who were looking for their cap-
tured sister, he asked them, “Who are you and where do you come from?
What family do you belong to? Which theme do you live in?” And they an-
swered, “We are of the Anatolikon theme, of high-born Roman stock,” and
then they give their genealogy.8 It was entirely possible, therefore, for a
Byzantine to personally declare himself a Roman. This hardly meant that
the brothers did not also identify as Christians: their entire interaction
with the emir takes place in the context of an acute awareness of religious
difference, as he was a Muslim and about to convert to Orthodoxy in order
to move to Romanía and marry their sister.
But what if the Romans’ neighbors were also Christian but not Ortho-
dox. In that context, a person could identify, like Gregorios, as Christian
or Orthodox, but that would not suffice, because every Christian de-
nomination claimed to be both of those things. How could he designate
more precisely that he belonged to the Greek-speaking Chalcedonian
Church? Romanness here came to the rescue, because belonging to that
Church was one of the markers of Roman ethnic identity. In the late
eleventh century, the monastic founder Nikon of the Black Mountain
found himself in the empire’s eastern provinces, which, at that time,
contained many Armenian and Syrian anti-Chalcedonian communi-
ties as well as a few Nestorians, in addition to many Melkites, Arabic-
speaking Chalcedonians. To define his confessional position within that
complex mix, he referred to his ethnicity: he had received the faith, he
claimed, “entire from my ancestors: these were not people who had been
raised and lived in any of the places and lands where the heresies are all

7
Ignatios the Deacon, Life of Gregorios Dekapolites 21 (Τίς εἶ καὶ ποίας δόξης τυγχάνεις;» Ὁ
δὲ φησί «Χριστιανός, καὶ ἐκ τοιούτων γονέων γεγέννημαι, τῆς δὲ ὀρθῆς δόξης ἀντέχομαι), ed. G.
Makris, Ignatios Diakonos und die Vita des Hl. Gregorios Dekapolites (Stuttgart 1997). “Did not
occur”: C. Mango, Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome (New York 198o) 31. For the policing
of the Byzantine border, see A. Kaldellis, ‘Byzantine Borders Were State Artifacts, Not “Fluid
Zones of Interaction”,’ in D. Tor et al., eds., volume in preparation; for Roman denialism, see
idem., Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Cambridge, MA 2019) ch. 1.
8
Digenis Akrites G 1.263-266, ed. and tr. E. Jeffreys, Digenis Akritis: The Grottaferrata
and Escorial Versions (Cambridge 1998) 18-19: Τίνες ἐστὲ καὶ πόθεν; Γένους ποίου τυγχάνετε;
Ποῖον θέμα οἰκεῖτε;» «Ἡμεῖς ἐκ τὸ Ἀνατολικόν, ἐξ εὐγενῶν Ῥωμαίων.
26
mixed up together, but were a Roman root.”9 Romanness was here cited
as proof of Nikon’s (Chalcedonian) Orthodoxy.
In this sense, Romanness could even become an alternative identity-
label for Byzantine Orthodoxy, because the term Orthodoxy itself was
so compromised through being claimed by everyone. In the theologi-
cal discussions conducted in 1170-1172 between the Armenian katholikos
Nerses and Theorianos, the envoy of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos, in
the presence of the Syrian patriarch and historian Michael the Great, the
bishop Gregorios, who was also the nephew of the katholikos, stood up
and declared, “I am a Roman, and believe as the Romans do.” Presumably
he was not saying that he was an ethnic Roman, but called himself that
because he sided theologically with the Romans (Byzantines). What he
meant was, “I’m with the Romans on this matter.”10
I want to pause before I give the misleading impression that Roman
identity in Byzantium was fundamentally religious. It was not: religion was
only one of the ethnic markers of Romanness, and by itself it was insuffi-
cient. No matter what his beliefs, Gregorios, the nephew of the Armenian
katholikos, would likely not pass as a Roman if he went to Constantinople,
and neither could most Bulgarians and Georgians, who also belonged to
Chalcedonian Churches. The Byzantines usually declared their Roman
identity in non-religious contexts, as an expression of their national pride.
This often happened in military contexts, where generals, before leading
their soldiers into battle, would address them as “Roman men!” and then
remind them of the glorious history of Rome and the heroes of the old re-
public. The emperor Manuel Komnenos warned the German king Conrad,
who was passing through Romanía on the Second Crusade, not to attack
the Romans, whose ancestors had conquered the entire world.11 Likewise,
Roman identity was asserted by the Byzantines to mark an ethnic differ-
ence from the Bulgarians, who were also Chalcedonian Orthodox.

9
Nikon, Taktikon, ed. V. Beneshevich, Taktikon Nikona Chernogortsa (St. Petersburg
1917) 15: ῥίζα ‘Ρωμαίων.
10
Theorianos, Disputation with the Armenians, in PG 133: 119-298, here 148-149:
Ἐγὼ Ῥωμαῖός εἰμι, καὶ ὡς οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι φρονῶ. For the context, see Michael the Syrian,
Chronicle 19.5, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, v. 3 (Paris 1905)
334-336; K. Stopka, Armenia Christiana: Armenian Religious Identity and the Churches of
Constantinople and Rome (4th-15th Century) (Cracow 2017) 121.
11
Ioannes Kinnamos, History 2.16, ed. A. Meineke, Ioannis Cinnami epitome rerum ab
Ioanne et Alexio Comnenis gestarum (Bonn, 1836). For declarations of Romanness in a
military context, see A. Kaldellis, ‘The Social Scope of Roman Identity in Byzantium: An
Evidence-Based Approach,’ Byzantina Symmeikta 27 (2017) 173-210, here 187-190.
27
 Similar declarations of pride in Roman identity were made in diplomat-
ic contexts. When he met his Persian counterparts in 561 or 562, Petros
the patrician, Justinian’s magister officiorum, declared to them: “You are
making a treaty with Romans. It is enough to say ‘Romans,’ the name says
it all.” A later ambassador, Ioannes, in 567, felt compelled to give the Per-
sians a history lesson, “since I am a Roman, and cannot let my mind sit idly
by.”12 Similar declarations were also made about politics and law. In the
eleventh century, Michael Psellos confessed that he could not hide all the
ways in which the emperor Konstantinos IX Monomachos was (allegedly)
humiliating the republic, “because I am a Roman patriot and a lover of
my country, more than anyone else.” In the thirteenth century, Demetrios
Chomatenos, the bishop of Ohrid, declared in one of his legal decisions
that “it is disgraceful to ignore the laws; for, after all, we are Romans.”13
Christian and Roman declarations of identity were therefore existen-
tially different, in that they were generally activated in different spheres.
They could at times overlap, because in certain periods the two groups to
which they referred largely overlapped, at least within the Romans’ geo-
strategic horizons. But they did not mean the same thing. The two groups
– Christians and Romans – had different histories that had not always
overlapped. More importantly for our purposes, their two respective dec-
larations of identity had had different histories. More than any other re-
ligious group in antiquity and the Middle Ages, Christians were obsessed
with their collective name, and insisted on using it explicitly with an in-
tensity and frequency that matches that of modern nationalism. This was
not necessarily because it was more important to them in any and all con-
texts. Rather, there were two main reasons for this that stemmed from the
peculiar history of Christian identity.
First, there was never only one Christian group. There were always mul-
tiple such groups and they were often locked in fierce competition with
each other. From the very start of the Christian movement, each insisted
that it was the one true Christianity and that all the others were false distor-
tions of it, also known as heresies. As a result, each group called itself “the
Christians” and sought to claim a monopoly on the name, while branding
all the others by the name of their putative heresiarchs. Thus, the others
became Valentinians, Arians, Nestorians, the Headless ones (later known

12
Menandros, History fr. 6.1.30-31 (Petros), 9.1.54-55 (Ioannes), ed. R. C. Blockley, The
History of Menander the Guardsman (Liverpool 1985).
13
Psellos, Chronographia 6.154, 6.190, ed. D. R. Reinsch, Michelis Pselli Chronographia,
2 vols. (Berlin 2014); Demetrios Chomatenos, Ponemata 64, ed. G. Prinzing, Demetrii
Chomateni Ponemata diaphora (Berlin 2002) 225.
28
as Monophysites), and the like. It was always paramount to assert owner-
ship of the brand-name Christian and to relegate all the others to groups
named after founders other than Christ. This problem is observable al-
ready in the days of saint Paul and it drove many of the polemics of the
theological controversies that occurred during the early Byzantine period.
As Athanasios of Alexandria put it: “we are named Christians after Christ,
and they are named Arians after Areios.”14 In the twelfth-century additions
to the Synodikon of Orthodoxy, the Church leadership expressed its out-
rage that Bogomil heretics, “those Christ-haters, called themselves Chris-
tians and, disguised behind this fair name, inflitrated the orthodox.”15 This
insecurity ran deep and resulted in declarations of Christian identity that
were more emphatic than any others. In their laws against heretics, the
emperors even legislated about who could lawfully call himself a Chris-
tian. In his edict from Thessalonike, in 380, Theodosius I decreed that only
those who accepted his preferred theology could be called Catholic Chris-
tians, and he labeled the others as “demented and insane.”16
Every Christian group was outraged when a rivals claimed The Name
for itself and branded the true Orthodox – what everyone thought they
were – by another name. This was done to the Byzantines themselves in
the ninth century, for example. A Byzantine envoy to the separatist capital
of the Paulicians at Tephrike, Petros of Sicily, reported that the Paulicians
“declared themselves to be the Christians and call us the Romans.” Petros
was outraged because Roman was an “ethnic label,” not a religious identi-
ty. We are the ones who have the right to call ourselves the true Christians,
he blasted back, and those others are faithless and worthless ingrates and
enemies of the good.17
There was a second historical reason why declarations of Christian iden-
tity held a powerful moral valence. This was that affirmative declarations
of Christian identity were linked to the persecutions of the Church by
the Roman authorities before Constantine. Many Christians at that time
came to believe that they were being targeted not because of any specific
14
Paul, 1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:4; Athanasios, Orations against the Arians 1.3. Defend the
name: Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 4.10. For the importance of the name in various
contexts, see D. Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early
Christianity (Cambridge, MA 2006) 18, 24, 25, 27, 34, 35.
15
J. Gouillard, ‘Le Synodikon de l’Orthodoxie: Édition et commentaire,’ Travaux et
mémoires 2 (1967) 1-316, here 65.
16
Theodosian Code 16.1.1, followed by many other such stipulations about the use of
the name, e.g., 16.5.66.
17
Petros of Sicily, History of the Paulicians 37, in Ch. Astruc et al., ‘Les sources grecques
pour l’histoire des Paulicians d’Asia mineure,’ Travaux et mémoires 4 (1970) 1-227, here 21.
29
 crime that they had committed but solely because of “The Name,” i.e., for
the mere fact that they were Christians. To show their defiance, or the
firmness of their faith, some martyrs would refuse to say anything to their
interrogators other than that “I am a Christian.” Sometimes, this was thei-
ranswer to every question.18 As the martyrs were later valorized as the he-
roes of early Christian tradition, any time that a Christian said those words
he invoked their memory and associated him or herself with them. No one
really wanted to be a martyr, but this declaration made them sound like
one for a moment, without any of the grisly consequences.
For these reasons (and others, I’m sure), the Byzantines tended to insist
on their identity as Christians by name more often and emphatically than
they did on any other of their many, overlapping identities. This does not
necessarily mean that Christian identity was more important in all con-
texts. It resulted instead from the distinctive and atypically assertive his-
tory of its declaration.
The Byzantines had other identities to assert, of course, each in its ap-
propriate context. There was, for example, one’s place of origin. Com-
menting on the controversial Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon,
which bestowed upon the Church of New Rome the same prerogatives
as those enjoyed by Rome, the canonist Theodoros Balsamon (twelfth
century) noted with pride that “I myself am a pure Constantinopolitan…
and I want the patriarch of Constantinople to enjoy, without scandal [i.e.,
without opposition by Rome], all the rights with which the canons have
honored him.” There was also education. Michael Choniates, the bishop
of Athens (in exile after 1205), prefaced the volume of his works by declar-
ing that “the father of this book is a philologos and a lover of both kinds of
wisdom, I mean our own [i.e., Christian] and the outside one [i.e., pagan
learning].”19 Many Byzantines also produced declarations of identity in
the various other categories that our sociological approach tends to fa-
vor, such as gender, vocation (especially monastic, ecclesiastical, and mili-
tary), and socioeconomic status, in addition to the ones discussed above
(religion, ethnic-political identity).
However, like many people today, some Byzantines also expounded
identities in which modern sociology is less interested, for example the

18
D. K. Buell, Why This New Race: Ethnic Reasoning in Early Christianity (New York
2005) 53-55.
19
Theodoros Balsamon, Commentary on Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon, ed. G.
A. Rallis and M. Potlis, Σύνταγμα τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ θείων κανόνων etc., 7 vols. (Athens 1852-1859),
here v. 2, 285-286; Michael Choniates, Protheoria, ed. S. P. Lambros, Μιχαὴλ Ἀκομινάτου
τοῦ Χωνιάτου τὰ σωζόμενα, 2 vols. (Athens 1879-1880) v. 1, 3.
30
identity of a philosopher that Michael Psellos carefully cultivated. This
identity did not form the basis of a recognizable social group, and so we
tend to overlook it as largely irrelevant to historical analysis. It was an id-
iosyncracy. Even so, it lies at the core of our most important history of
the eleventh century, his Chronographia, at the literal physical center
of which Psellos placed a declaration of his intellectual self. As far as I
can tell, the Byzantines did not distinguish conceptually between social-
group-identity and any other kind of identity, because they were not pri-
marily interested in sociology.
There is another difference – this one of emphasis – between most Byz-
antine notions of identity and those that we use in historical analysis. Our
categories tend to be analytical, descriptive, and taxonomical, as we use
them to map the terrain of a society, while acknowledging that they es-
poused different “values.” But those who took on and lived within those
identities in Byzantium experienced them as intensely normative, as
merely as recommending and endorsing certain behaviors but positively
requiring them. We tend to think of them as a kind of social census, but
for the Byzantines a Christian identity had built into it the idea that one
ought to be a good Christian; likewise, the identity of being a Roman was
accompanied by the idea that one ought to be good at whatever quali-
ties were associated with being a Roman, such as fulfilling one’s civic and
fiscal responsibilities, fighting for the fatherland, and the like; and so on
for being a man, woman, ascetic, philologos, and philosopher. There were
reputational consequences for failing to be good at your identity, id the
latter was an acceptable social role. Identity contained within it a pre-
sumed impulse to actions of a kind that were distinctive to it.
There is no reason to map out here the ethical expectations of reli-
gious and gender identities in Byzantium, as they have been discussed
extensively.20Here is a striking case from the realm of Romanness, one
that goes beyond the expectation that soldiers, being “Roman men,”
should fight bravely in battle. The Miracles of Saint Demetrios, written by
a priest in seventh-century Thessalonike, tells the story of some provin-
cial Romans who were taken as captives by the Avars. The Avar khan re-
settled them in Pannonia, where they intermarried with Bulgars, Avars,
and other foreign types, with whom they produced offspring. “But each
child received from its father the ancestral traditions of the Romans and
the impulse of their kind (genos). Just as the genos of the Jews grew in
size in Egypt under the Pharaoh, so too did it happen with them: the tribe
of these Christians increased through the Orthodox faith and baptism.
20
For gender in particular, see L. Neville, Byzantine Gender (Kalamazoo, MI 2019).
31
 Speaking among themselves about their ancestral homeland, they lit in
each other’s hearts the secret hope that they might escape.” Sixty years
after their parents had been captured, the leader of this group “learned
that this large people longed to return to its ancestral cities, and he formed
plans of his own. He took this Roman people and the ethnic proselytes, as
is said in the book of the Jews about the Exodus under Moses, along with
their possessions and weapons, and moved against the khan.”21
We are interested here in the narrative logic of this story, not in wheth-
er it actually happened. What is fascinating is that these captives, or
rather their offspring, acquired, along with a Roman identity, an “im-
pulse” or “drive” (ὁρμή) to return to the homeland of their ancestors, the
Roman empire, or Romanía, as most of them would have called it. Iden-
tities come with longings, hopes, and drives, and they propel people into
action. They are not only analytical-taxonomic categories, but charged
history waiting to be activated. A similar modern case were the Tatars
of the Crimea after World War II. “The striking thing about these ‘re-
turnees’ is that the vast majority of them were not, strictly speaking,
‘returning’ at all: they had been born and raised in Central Asia.” It was
the myths and stories on which they had been raised that impelled them
to action.22
I turn finally to the issue of the fluidity of identity. Contemporary
theory prides itself on rejecting “essentialism” and treating identity as a
malleable social and historical construct. Whereas many people in the
past believed that various forms of identity, and especially ethnic, racial,
and national ones and sometimes also social identities, were fixed and
linked to immutable characteristics, today we are told that identities are
continually changing; that they are fluid and negotiable. This emphasis
on fluidity sometimes goes too far. People have a more limited capacity
to change their identity than our theory likes to imagine. It requires re-
sources, skills, effort, and flexibility in order to do so, and, to be accepted,
your new identity has to overcome the inertia of the rest of the society,
whose views about who you are will not change at the drop of a hat. The
theoretical pendulum is probably about to swing back a bit – not back to
where it was in the early twentieth century, God forbid, but our modern
theory is neither as clever nor as original as it thinks itself to be. Identities

21
Miracles of Saint Demetrios 2.284-287, alluding to Exodus 12.31-49, ed. P. Lemerle, Les
plus anciens recueils des miracles de saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les
Balkans, 2 vols. (Paris 1979); my discussion here follows Kaldellis, Romanland, 5-7.
22
K. Lowe, Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II (London 2013)
371-372.
32
are embedded in group narratives and institutions. While both can be
changed, it is not so easy as cultural critics sometimes think.23
Moreover, the Byzantines knew perfectly well that identities can change.
We do not need to discuss religious identity in this connection, as the com-
plementary phenomena of conversion and apostasy were perfectly well
known. In the secular sphere, the Byzantines were acutely aware of the
power of chance, that you could be rich one day and poor the next, that
everything in this world is impermanent and transient, and that God’s fa-
vor cannot ultimately be either known or secured. The socioeconomic hi-
erachy itself was fairly stable, but the Byzantines knew that its rungs were
always changing occupants, depending on fortune’s unpredictable favors.
Before the twelfth century, or later, there was no settled aristocracy either,
so that elite class and status were also in flux and not defined by any fixed
criteria. The emperor Basileios II (976-1025) opined that noble families at
the court managed to keep their power for seventy or at most a hundred
years – he was thinking of the Argyroi, Skleroi, Doukai, and the like.24
Gender is more complicated. The Byzantines were certainly aware – and
sternly disapproved – of the gender transitions that take place in ancient
mythology. But I do not know whether this led them to formulate any the-
ories of gender fluidity. They certainly treated gender attributes as fluid.
In other words, despite the social norms, some men exhibited feminine
personality traits (and were almost always attacked for it), while some
women exhibited masculine traits (for which they were typically praised).
An exception among the men was, as so often, Michael Psellos, who talked
openly about his “feminine side,” though usually in letters to close friends,
where it was safer to do so.25 The debate is only now just beginning on the
possible existence of transgender people in Byzantium, focusing on the
group that used to be called “transvestite nuns” (female at birth but pass-
ing as male in life). The sources that recount their lives seem open to the
possibility of changeable gender.26
23
For more on thiese problems, see A. Kaldellis, ‘The Open Secret of Byzantium’s
National Identity,’ in V. Manolopoulou et al., eds., Identities in Antiquity, volume in
progress.
24
E. McGeer, The Land Legislation of the Macedonian Emperors (Toronto 2000) 114-
115. For the lack of fixity in the Byzantine social hierarchy, see E. Ragia, ‘Social Group
Profiles in Byzantium: Some Considerations on Byzantine Perceptions about Social Class
Distinctions,’ Byzantina Symmeikta 26 (2016) 309-372.
25
For gender roles and their reversal in Byzantium, see Neville, Byzantine Gender; for
Psellos’ feminine side, see S. Papaioannou, Michael Psellos: Rhetoric and Authorship in
Byzantium (Cambridge 2013) ch. 6.
26
A fuller study of this topic is promised by Roland Betancourt: http://www.getty.edu/
33
 Ethnicity is also an interesting category in this respect. There was defi-
nitely an essentializing rhetoric in this domain, with Byzantine writers
often implying or stating that groups generally retained the same char-
acteristics over time. But when they looked at them through long-term
processes of gradual acculturation, they were perfectly aware that groups
could change their ethnic, linguistic, and cultural profiles, and, along with
them, their identities and names. Consider the sixth-century historian Ag-
athias. Looking to the western Mediterranean, he remarks that the city
of Massilia (mod. Marseille) was settled by Phokaians and was originally
a Greek city but that it had by now abandoned its former way of life and
embraced that of its conquerors, namely the Franks. Looking to the city
of Tralleis in western Asia Minor, he says that it was founded by Pelas-
gians but that its people are Greek-speaking Romans now, and should be
called Romans and not Pelasgians.27 These changes occurred without de-
mographic disruptions, but only through cultural change internal to the
indigenous population.
In such ways could Byzantine writers describe ethnic transformations
that took place in antiquity. But similar processes took place during Byz-
antine history and could therefore be observed and commented on in
real time. To be sure, Byzantine writers often express essentializing atti-
tudes, implying that foreign, barbaric groups could not shed their nega-
tive characteristics and were bound to behave in uncivilized ways. But
these kinds of comments – “you can’t whiten the Ethiopian” – occur usu-
ally in the context of invasion or war, or of barbarians who were recently
resettled within the empire but were not, or not yet, behaving as proper
Romans.28 Foreign groups that were settled within the empire and, over
time, became assimilated to Roman norms went, as one author put it
about an influx of Khurramites in the ninth century, “extinct” as separate
groups, usually within three or four generations. They did not biologi-
cally die off, but were dispersed and intermarried with Romans.29 The
point must be emphasized because many scholars still do not grasp the
basic distinction between xenophobia, that is negative views of current

art/exhibitions/outcasts/downloads/betancourt_transgender_lives.pdf
27
Agathias, Histories 1.2.2, 2.17.5, ed. R. Keydell, Agathiae Myrinaei historiarium libri
quinque (Berlin 1967).
28
E.g., regarding the Pechenegs, Michael Attaleiates, History 31, ed. and tr. A. Kaldellis
and D. Krallis, Michael Attaleiates: The Histories (Washington, DC 2012) 54-55.
29
Genesios, On the Reigns of the Emperors 3.7, ed. A. Lesmüller-Werner and I. Thurn,
Josephi Genesii regum libri quattuor (Berlin 1978). This process is discussed in detail in
Kaldellis, Romanland, ch. 4.
34
foreigners, which is pervasive in Byzantine literature, and racism, which
treats a group as foreign and inferior even after they have been absorbed
into a host society over the course of generations. Abdelaziz Ramadan
argues that the Byzantines always remained hostile to the Khurramites,
but the evidence that he cites refers to the initial group that entered the
empire, not to their descendants three generations later; he does not
seem to realize that the argument requires the passage of generations;
and he occludes the comment made by a Byzantine historian, writing a
century later, about their “extinction.” Byzantine society did not express
hostile attitudes toward groups that went extinct through intermarriage
and assimilation.30
The converse process also happened. Ethnic Romans who were cut off
from the empire and found themselves under foreign rule, for example
in Asia Minor in the twelfth century in the generations after the Seljuk
conquests, could sometimes side with their new rulers and even regard
the Romans as enemies. “Thus,” declaims the historian Niketas Choni-
ates, “custom, reinforced by the passage of time, can override race and
religion.”31 The fluidity of identity is not, then, a theoretical advance of
modern scholarship but was part of the anthropological view of identity
that the Byzantines inherited from a tradition as old as Herodotos.
In conclusion, the Byzantines absolutely interpreted and classified their
world according to categories that we define and analyze as identities.
Their institutions (of both state and Church) sometimes required them to
declare and document those identities, and the names of those identities
carried legal, social, and moral weight as well as traditional valences. The
Byzantines did not develop their concepts of identity into anything that
we would recognize as a sociology, nor were they buttressed by any kind of
demographic data. They were as often moral as analytical concepts. Even
so, a conceptual apparatus they were flexible and sophisticated. The Byz-
antines could, when necessary, distinguish precisely between existentially
adjacent categories of identity – for example the religious, ethnic, and le-
gal components of their Christian Roman identity – but in many contexts,
where it did not matter, they could just as well run them together. Finally,
they were also aware that identities could change over time. This is no in-
novation of modern theory, and so the allegation against them that they
always “essentialized” is wrong. Much work remains to be done on the way
30
A. Ramadan, ‘Arab Apostates in Byzantium: Evidence from Arabic Sources,’
Byzantina Symmeikta 29 (2019) 273-314, here 310-312.
31
Niketas Choniates, History 37, ed. L. van Dieten, Nicetae Choniatae Historia (Berlin
1975).
35
 in which Byzantine identities were performed in different contexts,32 but
through it all we must never lose sight of the fact that in Byzantium most
identities were not disposable fashion accessories that could be changed
on a whim but existentially normative claims. Declaring oneself a Chris-
tian or a Roman was often but one step away from being prepared to die
for it.

32
Along the lines of E. Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York
1959).
36
 2

Ethnodenialism? Comparing Ethnic Apples

to Apples in Byzantine and Medieval Studies
Alex M. Feldman, University of Birmingham
UDK 316.347-05(495.02)(091)

Abstract: It is well known that historians and archaeologists of Eastern and

Western Europe have different tendencies for charting ethnic histories in their
respective works. This is clear enough based on the vastly different sources,
methods, languages and periods they study. Yet comparing apples to apples
should always be the objective of historical inquiry. Although it has been
observed that ethnic descriptions are casually mentioned in many sources,
historical ethnicity only truly began to be studied in detail in the late 18-19th
century as part of the burgeoning of national histories. More recently, some
scholars have sought to minimize the significance of ethnic differences in their
analyses of medieval history, in an effort to diverge from earlier nationalistic
historical works, hence the label, “ethnodenialism.” Yet ethnicity remains a
doggedly brittle topic for historical inquiry, and for some, historical ethnicity
cannot be overstated, while for others, is overstated far too frequently. Both
make good points; neither has a monopoly on historical accuracy. I will
contend that whether we study burial assemblages and ceramics, “barbarian”
and imperial histories, coins and seals, or the comparative East and West, we
are unavoidably subjected to the expectations of our own era in our efforts to
analyse earlier ones.

37
 Ethnicity is a doggedly brittle topic which appears constantly in premod-
ern sources. Unlike simple straightforward religion, language or color, it
has very different meanings in each source itself, to say nothing of how
these sources are interpreted by modern historians. As it appears in the
sources, ethnicity carries different implications also depending on where
and when the source was written, resulting in different sets of criteria be-
ing used to define different ethnicities, rather like comparing apples to
oranges. For example, the Langovardoi in 12th-c. Byzantine sources are
hardly representative of the Langobardi in 8th-c. Latin sources. Or for
another example, the lands of Zachlumia in 10th-c. Byzantine sources
became Herceg’s lands, or the Sanjak of Hersek (later Herzegovina), in
15th-c. Ottoman sources. By the 19-20th centuries, historical ethnicity
became a scientific pursuit as sources were mined for references to vari-
ous ethnic groups. By the early 20th century, ethnicity was commonly
assumed to be tantamount to one’s DNA: eg., the Teutonic race, the Anglo-
Saxon race, the Semitic race, etc. Various traits came to define the typical
20th-c. conceptions of ethnicity, such as language, religion and color in
precise terms, and/or cultural affinities and natural habitats in less precise
terms. This culminated in the primordialist understanding of ethnicity,
adopted by American eugenicists in the 1920s and developed by German
ideologues of Nazi Aryanism in the 1930s. After WWII, primordialist eth-
nicity remained popular in the Soviet Bloc even as it gradually fell from
scholarly consensus as historians sought to distance themselves from
primordialist ethnicity - particularly in Western Europe and the English-
speaking world.1 In the past 50 years, some schools of history have come
to doubt historical ethnicity altogether, while others react by pointing out
the numerous references to ethnicity in various sources, labeling other
historians ‘ethnodenialists.’ Yet as the definitions and parameters of his-
torical ethnicity change in various strands of historiography,2 I believe it
is important to keep in mind that when it comes to ethnicity throughout
history, regardless of time and place, we as historians must try to use the
same criteria to define ethnicity, in an effort to compare ethnic apples to
apples. This paper will explore these implications through both Byzan-
tine and Western Medievalist historiographies.
The debates over ethnicity are perhaps most evident in Byzantine histo-
riography, in which Western and post-Soviet historiographical traditions
1
J. McInerney, “Ethnicity: an Introduction,” in A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient
Mediterranean, ed. J. McInerney, (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 3-4.
2
J. Siapkas, “Ancient Ethnicity and Modern Identity,” in A Companion to Ethnicity in
the Ancient Mediterranean, ed. J. McInerney, (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2014), 66-81.
38
freely mingle. Good examples of this are the debates over Balkan ethni-
cities in the past thirty years: nationalists point to the plentiful refe-
rences to their respective nations in Byzantine sources such as the De
Administrando Imperio, while some Western historians have responded
by downplaying the importance of ethnicity in the sources. To
exemplify ethnicity continuously is neither reasonable to ask of
historical sources, nor is any kind of essentialist identity (confessional,
linguistic, etc.) usually manifested steadily over centuries. For example,
considering Russian ethnicity, most would agree that Russianness has
historically been defined by Orthodoxy; similarly, few would assert that
Justinian I, born in Nish, was Serbian by ethnicity. Therefore,
Byzantine historiography has been subject to perhaps the fiercest
debates over ethnicity, and these debates over ethnicity frequently
feature comparisons of apples to oranges (eg., if modern Macedonians
(North Macedonia) can claim the ancient Macedonians as their ethnic
ancestors, then modern Albanians can claim the ancient Illyrians as
their ethnic ancestors). Despite common recognition of the misnomer
of the so-called ‘Byzantine’ empire (the term ‘Byzantium’ was coined in
the 16th century), many have described it as “multi-ethnic,” but what is
meant by multi-ethnicity? Before the Fourth Crusade, Byzantine-ness
was a “mixed-ethnic” identity in these formulations, but after 1204,
there was some sort of unnamed pre-dominant Byzantine ethnicity.3
Clearly something is missing.
Similar formulations of “multi-ethnicity” have become common in
Western Medievalist historiographies as well: from the multi-ethnic Holy
Roman Empire to the post-Roman kingdoms of the Franks, Goths, Anglo-
Saxons, etc. Before WWII, archaeology was animated by the idea that
pots (and swastikas) correlated to the migrations of ancient ethnic grou-
ps, for which textual sources are slim. Deemed “Culture-history,”4 this
model characterized the “German school of archaeology”5 in the 1930s,
when archaeological cultures were assumed as the primordial ancestors
of modern ethnicities.6 After the War, culture-history continues in the
3
A. Kaldellis, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard UP: Belknap Press, 2019), 49-52.
4
G. A. Niculescu, “Culture-Historical Archaeology and the Production of
Knowledge on Ethnic Phenomena,” Dacia 55 (2011): 5-24.
5
G. S. Reher and M. Fernández-Götz, “Archaeological Narratives in Ethnicity
Studies,” Archeologické Rozhledy 67 (2015): 400- 401.
6
W. Rąszkowski, “‘The German School of Archaeology’ in its Central European
Context: Sinful Thoughts,” in A History of Central European Archaeology: Theories,
Methods, and Politics, ed. A. Gramsch and U. Sommer (Budapest: Archaeolingua
Alapítvány, 2011), 197–214.

39
 archaeology of certain former Soviet states.7 For example, the so-called
Hungarian “Conquest of homeland,” and other post-WWII historiographi-
cal debates in Central and Eastern Europe traditionally follow the pattern:
this ethnic group was here before that one.
This “primordialist” model of ethnicity has waned in Western medieval
historiography. For example, Guy Halsall and Andrew Gillett criticize
scholars such as Herwig Wolfram8 for “flaws and curious methodological
sleights of hand,”9 leading to nuances in ethnic models (as either circum-
stantial/instrumental or primordial) in the so-called “Vienna School.”10
Walter Pohl has balanced these two ethnic paradigms, noting the decline
of the archaeology of primordial ethnicity in Western Europe in compari-
son with its continuation in Eastern Europe,11 an observation of the un-
fortunate tendency to compare ethnic apples and oranges in both areas
of historiography. In an effort to retain fair juxtapositions, Pohl has con-
ceived of ethnicity as emerging from both bottom-up cohesive sentiment
and a top-down imposition of power.12
7
A. Ghenghea, “Review of A History of Central European Archaeology: Theory, Methods,
and Politics, ed. A. Gramsch.” Dacia 57 (2013): 179.
8
H. Wolfram’s interpretations have evolved since his publication: “The Shaping of the
Early Medieval Kingdom,” Viator 1 (1971): 1–20.
9
G. Halsall, “Review of On Barbarian Identity. Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the
Early Middle Ages, ed. A. Gillett.” English Historical Review 118/479 (2003): 1349–1350.
10
H. Wolfram’s thoughtful reflections in some of his later works make somewhat less
anachronistic assumptions of primordial ethnicity and statehood: The Roman Empire
and Its Germanic Peoples, trans. T. Dunlap (Los Angeles: University of California Press,
1997); idem, “Gothic History as Historical Ethnography,” in From Roman Provinces to
Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006a), 43–69; idem,
“Origo et Religio: Ethnic Traditions and Literature in Early Medieval Texts,” in From
Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor & Francis,
2006b), 70–90.
11
W. Pohl, “Introduction - Strategies of Identification: A Methodological Profile,” in
Strategies of Identification: Ethnicity and Religion in Early Medieval Europe, eds. W. Pohl
and G. Heydemann (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013) 1-78.
12
W. Pohl, (personal communication, 14/3/16). V. A. Popov, “Концепт «племя»,
или этничность и потестарность,” Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 2 (2015),
16, writes: “In other words, the correlation of ethno-cultural and top-down processes
leads to the recognition by a population of a given political organism for their ethnic
specificity as an expression of the unity and homogeny of a top-down community and,
ultimately, quite logically forms top-down ethnic and/or ethno-political organisms. It
was precisely this mechanism of the appearance and the establishment of ethnicity/
ethnic culture, which was proposed to be called the modus of top-down potestarity (or
the potestarian-political modus).” Similar points are made regarding European ‘pariah’
groups such as traveling gypsies versus the majority “serf” group (F. Barth, Ethnic Groups
and Boundaries [Waveland: Little Brown & Co., 1969], 31-38); and collective knowledge
and memory are viewable as equivalent to collective, bottom-up identity (T. D. Hall,
40
 Yet some historians continue to insist that both conceptions of ethnic-
ity (top-down or bottom-up) constitute an either-or proposition: either it
is one or the other, or it is neither. Still others are keen to portray various
perspectives as either-or positions, effectually, either historical ethnicity
defines everything or it is to be denied altogether. Anthony Kaldellis has
characterized certain strands of scholarship as engaging in ethnodenial-
ism, based on “biases with references.”13
For instance, citing 3-8th-c. Roman legal documents referring to Ro-
manness and citizenship, Kaldellis draws the obvious judicial thread from
Roman to Byzantine citizenship - based on Christianity and Romanness
- even as he concedes that therein lies no simple resolution to so-called
Romano-Byzantine “ethnicity.”14 It is possible that sometimes the so-
called ‘denialists’ do compare their apples to other apples. For example,
although Averil Cameron avoids describing Byzantine ethnicity head-on,
she does concede that the Byzantine willingness to absorb and integrate
foreigners presupposes her tacit acceptance of a resolutely ‘Byzantine
identity,’ even if she does not overtly refer to it as a ‘Byzantine ethnicity.’15
In other words: she does not deny a Byzantine ethnicity so much as ac-
cept a Byzantine ‘identity.’ This is comparing a granny smith to a golden
delicious.
Kaldellis also refers to the mid-10th-century De Administrando Imperio
(DAI) of Constantine VII as an authority on Byzantine/Roman ethnicity.16
The most contentious passage falls in chapter 13, lines 175-186:

“For each nation (ethnos) has different customs and divergent laws and insti-
tutions, and should consolidate those things that are proper to it, and should
form and activate the associations that it needs for the fusion of its life from
within its own nation. For just as each animal species mates with its own race
(homogeneis), so it is right that each nation also should marry and cohabit not

“Ethnicity and World-Systems Analysis,” in A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient

Mediterranean, ed. J. McInerney [Chichester: Blackwell, 2014], 60; J. Assman, Cultural
Memory and Early Civilization [Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011]; M. Carutthers, “Moving
Back in Memory Studies,” Review of Cultural Memory and Early Civilization by J. Assman.
History Workshop Journal 77 [2014]: 275–282). Peter Rogers, (honorary research associate,
Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham),
personal communication, 10/10/19.
13
Kaldellis, Romanland, 13.
14
Ibid, 52-56.
15
A. Cameron, The Byzantines (Chichester: Wiley Blackwell, 2009), 12-19.
16
Kaldellis, Romanland, 58.

41
 with those of a different tribe (allophyloi) and tongue (alloglossoi) but of the
same tribe (homogeneis) and speech (homophonoi).”17

Based on this passage, Kaldellis claims that Constantine sought to “call

his Romans an ethnos.”18 According to Kaldellis regarding the DAI’s chap-
ter 13, Constantine VII’s “logic defines the Romans as one nation (ethnos)
among others. [...] This is a fundamentally secular concept. [...] Konstanti-
nos’ concept is equivalent to standard modern definitions of the nation.”19
Although Kaldellis builds his argument on Constantine’s use of the phrase
“Ἕκαστον ἔθνος,” or “each ethnos,” this is the closest he comes to describ-
ing the Romans as an ethnos, if only because Constantine VII in fact con-
sistently refers to the Romans as a genos throughout the DAI,20 which is
translated variably as “stock”21 “kin,”22 “clan,”23 “race,”24 “family,”25 and even
“party.”26 In fact, the phrase “Roman ethnos” never appears in the entire
DAI, save for the ambiguity of this passage. Thus, even in the closest place
to referring to a Roman ethnicity in the entire DAI, Constantine VII stops
short, specifically refraining from doing so. Constantine avoids explicitly

17
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, De Administrando Imperio, ed. and trans. Gy.
Moravcsik and R. J. H. Jenkins (Washington D. C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1967) §13:175-186:
“Ἕκαστον γὰρ ἔθνος διάφορα ἔχον ἔθη καὶ διαλλάττοντας νόμους τε καὶ θεσμοὺς ὀφείλει τὰ
οἰκεῖα κρατύνειν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔθνους τὰς πρὸς ἀνάκρασιν βίου κοινωνίας ποιεῖσθαι
καὶ ἐνεργεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἕκαστον ζῶον μετὰ τῶν ὁμογενῶν τὰς μίξεις ἐργάζεται, οὕτω καὶ
ἕκαστον ἔθνος οὐκ ἐξ ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀλλογλώσσων, ἀλλ´ ἐκ τῶν ὁμογενῶν τε καὶ ὁμοφώνων
τὰ συνοικέσια τῶν γάμων ποιεῖσθαι καθέστηκεν δίκαιον. Ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ καὶ ἡ πρὸς ἀλλήλους
ὁμοφροσύνη καὶ συνομιλία καὶ προσφιλὴς συνδιατριβὴ καὶ συμβίωσις περιγίνεσθαι πέφυκεν·
τὰ δὲ ἀλλότρια ἔθη καὶ διαλλάττοντα νόμιμα ἀπεχθείας μᾶλλον καὶ προσκρούσεις καὶ μίση καὶ
στάσεις εἴωθεν ἀπογεννᾶν, ἅπερ οὐ φιλίας καὶ κοινωνίας, ἀλλ´ ἔχθρας καὶ διαστάσεις φιλεῖ
ἀπεργάζεσθαι.”
18
Kaldellis, Romanland, 67.
19
Ibid, 8.
20
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, De Administrando Imperio, §13:15, 178, 180
(ὁμόγενος); §15:1; §21:77; §22:38.
21
Ibid, §13:152.
22
Ibid, §13:165; 21:105 (συγγενεία).
23
Ibid, §22:3; §37:34, 39; §38:10; §39:11, 12, 13; §40:1, 4, 44, 50.
24
Ibid, §προοίμιον:46; §13:122; §13:122; §23:6; §39:2; §50:72.
25
Ibid, §21:23, 50; §25:58, 61, 81, 85; §29:77, 78; §32:32; §33:16; §38:55; §40:48;
§45:113. Conversely, Jenkins more often translates φαμίλια as “family” (cf. § §27:37;
§29:4; §40:18; §53:16, 20, 24, 41, 59, 75, 85, 99, 101, 105, 281, 436 [this, Jenkins translates
as “household”]).
26
Ibid, §21:25. Elsewhere, Jenkins translates μέρος as “party” (cf. §21:22, 76, 78, 86).
42
referring to a Roman ethnos precisely because for Constantine, the word
ἔθνος essentially referred to the foreign - questionably Christian, never
Roman.27
Instead, the entire reason for this passage was not so much as a philo-
sophical treatise on ethnicity as an abstraction so much as Constantine
VII’s very direct polemic against his uncle Romanos Lakapenos’ decision
to wed his granddaughter Maria Lakapenos to Peter, the Christian prince
of Bulgaria. In this regard, when, in Jenkins’ translation, Constantine VII
laments his uncle’s ignorance of “Roman national customs,” he does not
write “τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς ἔθνεσι ἐθισμοῖς,” but simply “τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς ἐθισμοῖς,”
thereby avoiding the phrase “Roman ethnos” altogether.28 According to
the DAI Commentary, Constantine VII supported his polemic by specifi-
cally referencing the 72nd canon of the Council in Trullo in 692 CE - not
in regards to some kind of abstract ethno-national idea, but in regards
to the humdrum business of marriage law, since the commentators ob-
serve that Constantine VII searches far and wide for proof (“κανόνος τοῦτο
κωλύοντος καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἁπάσης ἀλλότριον,” §13:144) that the Orthodox
Christian Bulgars were ineligible for marriage to Romans - whether as
heretics, infidels, or otherwise, but he, Constantine VII, “finds no answer
to the defence suggested,”29 other than that he alone was the “chief and
lawful emperor.”30 Therefore this seemingly ethno-nationalist appeal ap-
pears more as a byproduct of his rhetoric, rather than the main thrust of
it. Furthermore, I agree with Kaldellis’ previous assertion that the DAI
was not specifically about ethnography for its own sake, and therefore I do
not think it was by accident that Constantine VII stops short of using the

27
A. M. Feldman, “Reconceptualizing Northern Peoples in the De Administrando
Imperio,” Proceedings of the 9th Athens National & Kapodistrian University Philology
Congress, 2017, Byzantine Philology (Athens: EKPA Press, 2018), 34–47.
28
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, De Administrando Imperio, §13:149-152:
“«Ὁ κύρις Ῥωμανός, ὁ βασιλεύς, ἰδιώτης καὶ ἀγράμματος ἄνθρωπος ἦν, καὶ οὔτε τῶν ἄνωθεν ἐν
βασιλείοις τεθραμμένων, οὔτε τῶν παρηκολουθηκότων ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοῖς Ῥωμαϊκοῖς ἐθισμοῖς, οὔτε
ἀπὸ γένους βασιλείου καὶ εὐγενοῦς».”),
This can perhaps be more accurately rendered in English as:
“‘The Lord Romanos, the emperor, was a common, unlettered man, and not from among
those who have been bred up in the palace, and have followed Roman customs from the
beginning; nor was he of the noble or imperial genus.”
29
F. Dvornik et al., eds., Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio,
Volume II, A Commentary (London: University of London: Athlone Press, 1962), 68.
30
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, De Administrando Imperio, §13:161: “αὐτοκράτορος
καὶ ἐνθέσμου βασιλέως.” According to the DAI Commentary (ibid, 68), Constantine VII
“here regards himself as both αὐτοκράτωρ and ἔνθεσμος βασιλεύς,” who presumably decided
what was appropriate.
43
 phrase, ἔθνος τῶν Ρωμαιῶν throughout the DAI.31 While this passage may
be useful for demonstrating “ethnodenialism,” the crucial detail left out
is that the phrase, ἔθνος τῶν Ρωμαιῶν appears exactly nowhere in the DAI.
Nevertheless, it is true that the term ethnos is connected to the Romans in
other sources, which some Byzantinists do not like to acknowledge, and
Kaldellis gives a useful list.32
Yet Roman identity after the Fourth Crusade is a very different issue alto-
gether. In another, post-1204 example, Gill Page, in her 2008 monograph,33
makes a clear distinction between the ethnic factors in one period and
then another period - pointing out that it does not mean there is necessar-
ily any connection. Two diachronic case studies in the same geographical
area but centuries apart, do not prove ethnic continuity.34 In this regard,
Kaldellis refers to Gregoras’ 14th-c. complaint that he could not tell a Ro-
man from a foreigner based on their dress,35 although we should consider
that Kaldellis himself points out that the 12th-c. author, Ioannes Zonaras,
referred back to the 6th-c. writings of Prokopios of Kaisareia, who talked
about the obvious ethnic differences between Romans and Westerners
based precisely on their dress. According to Kaldellis, “Zonaras wanted
to make extra clear that Franks and Romans were not ethnically related,”
despite his concession that this “would have been too obvious in the sixth
century,” since in Zonaras’ following explanation, the obviously foreign
Goths, which Belisarios campaigned against in Prokopios’ time, attached
themselves (προσεγένοντο) to the Gauls (Franks).36 It is also worth not-
ing that Kaldellis37 characterizes Page’s point,38 along with that of Ange-

31
Kaldellis, Ethnography after Antiquity: Foreign Lands and Peoples in Byzantine
Literature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 90-91: “The [DAI does
offer] much information about the geography, history, and rulers of many foreign
peoples, but it does not for all that contain much ethnography.” At the time this was a
novel viewpoint and to his credit, has since become more accepted.
32
Kaldellis, Romanland, 67 n103, 289.
33
G. Page, Being Byzantine: Greek Identity Before the Ottomans (Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 2008), 16-17.
34
Kaldellis, Romanland, 288.
35
Nikephoros Gregoras, Byzantina Historia, ed. L. Schopen and I. Bekker (Bonn:
Weber, 1855), 3.554; Peter Rogers, honorary research associate, CBOMGS, UoB, personal
communication, 10/10/19.
36
Ioannes Zonaras, Epitomae Historiarum, ed. T. Büttner–Wobst (Bonn: Weber, 1897),
3.261-262; Kaldellis, Romanland, 39-40.
37
Kaldellis, Romanland, 58.
38
Page, Being Byzantine, 43-47.
44
liki Laiou’s39 as “stripping Romanness of any specific cultural or ethnic
content, [in other words, being] another way of denying it.”40 However, it
seems that Page does not strip Romanness of cultural or ethnic content, so
much as she sheds extra context on those factors based on the various dia-
chronic developments of historical experiences in the 13-15th-c. eastern
Mediterranean.41 Clearly after 1204, this had a much subtler confessional
presumption, as opposed to earlier distinctions based less on monothe-
ism and more on superficial features such as dress, which is clearly the
source of Gregoras’ vexation. Ethnodenialism in Byzantine studies proves
a useful label to affix to those who may not seek to deny ethnicity but
note the inconsistent definitions and uses of the term ethnos throughout
eleven hundred years of Byzantine sources.
Nevertheless, I believe that in considering ethnicity in Byzantine and
medieval studies, it would be helpful to consider ethnicity in a nearby
realm, close enough to Byzantium and the West to share many traits, yet
far enough away to function as a control. The Khazars may function as
just such an example by which to consider the development of ethnicity.
Their selection of Judaism, rightly interpreted as a medieval exception
to either a Christian or a Muslim ruling dynasty, and “lacks a modern na-
tion to stick up for them.”42 However, in being the exception, the Khazars
prove the rule: whatever other identities passed on the middle Volga, the
lower Danube, the Peloponnese, or the Pannonian plain, each region
still remains confessionally true to its founding dynasty, respectively
Sunni-Islamic, Orthodox-Christian and Latin-Christian. This explains
many national historiographies’ preoccupation ethnic primordiality,
particularly before WWII and still in Byzantine Studies.43 Therefore,
Khazaria makes for an excellent case study of ethnogenesis compared
to other cases, because the Khazarian identity, with a few minor excep-
tions, is essentially dissolved: unclaimed in the modern day, unlike the
ancient Volga Bulgars, Magyars, Danube Bulgars, Byzantines and Rus’.44

39
A. E. Laiou, “The Foreigner and the Stranger in 12th century Byzantium: Means
of Propitiation and Acculturation,” in Fremde der Gesellschaft: historische und
sozialwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zur Differenzierung von Normalität und
Fremdheit, ed. M. T. Fögen (Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1991), 81.
40
Kaldellis, Romanland, 58.
41
Page, Being Byzantine, 277-281.
42
Kaldellis, Romanland, 44.
43
Ibid, 44-47.
44
N. Soteri, “Khazaria: a Forgotten Jewish Empire,” History Today 45/4 (1995): 12:
45
 Regardless of how Khazarian identity is defined, if it could be used to
answer questions of all pre-monotheistic tribes and ethnicities, it would
be quite contentious. Consider for example Boris Zhivkov’s contradic-
tory analysis of Khazarian ethnicity. The most basic problem with this
analysis is that, like the assessments of many historians of Khazaria,45
ethnicity is conflated with pre-monotheistic pagan tribalism. In other
words, there is no distinction made between the pre-monotheistic tribe
and the monotheized ethnicity, despite the fact that Zhivkov refers to
both, albeit without qualifying the difference between them. On the
first page of the first chapter, he writes:

“Usually, the Khazar elite’s conversion to Judaism is interpreted in light of the

practice [...] whose nobility imposed Christianity or Islam on its subjects. This
practice is viewed as a deliberate attempt to unify into an ethnic whole the
[...] multi-ethnic population [...]. The adoption of a common religion is thus

“There is a lesson to be learned from such an ironic twist of history. Whether one
considers themselves Russian, Bosnian; Serbian, Albanian, Croatian, or Macedonian
there is no valid criterion for establishing such nationalisms. Just as the Jews of Central
and Eastern Europe (using the Khazar example) are more or less of the same ‘racial
stock’ as the peoples they find themselves among, so too are the Muslims of the Balkans,
Croats, Bosnians and Serbs. When one speaks of Bosnian Croats/Serbs this becomes
a contradiction in terms (highlighting the futility of racial categorisations). Both are
Bosnians, yet due to their religious bent, i.e. Orthodox or Catholic Christianity, identify,
or are identified, with Serbian or Croat nationalisms. To add fuel to the fire, why do we
in the West refer to ‘Bosnian Muslims’? Using religion as an indication of ethnicity for
the latter group but not for their Christian counterparts. The problems of nationalism
in Eastern Europe are much more complex than a simple explanation of religious
difference. However, using the example of the Khazars and their descendants, it can be
exemplified that nationalist movements, with their tenacious convictions about race,
can affect the perceptions of both aggressor and victim alike which, when one probes
deeper into the espoused ideologies, seem to be based on false premises and, ultimately,
contradictory theories.”
45
V. Rossman, “Lev Gumilev, Eurasianism and Khazaria,” East European Jewish Affairs
32/1 (2002): 30–51; V. A. Shnirelman, “The Story of a Euphemism: the Khazars in Russian
Nationalist Literature,” In The World of the Khazars, New Perspectives: Selected Papers
from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium hosted by the Ben Zvi Institute,
ed. D. Sinor and N. di Cosmo (Leiden: Brill, 2007a), 353–372; idem, “Ancestral Wisdom
and Ethnic Nationalism: A View from Eastern Europe.” The Pomegranate 9/1 (2007b):
41–60; idem, The Myth of the Khazars and Intellectual Antisemitism in Russia, 1970s-1990s,
(Jerusalem: Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, 2002);
J. Klier, “Review of The Myth of the Khazars and Intellectual Antisemitism in Russia,
1970s–1990s by V. Shnirelman,” The Slavonic and East European Review 83/4 (2005): 779–
781; A. Ivakhiv, “Nature and Ethnicity in East European Paganism: an Environmental
Ethnic of the Religious Right?” The Pomegranate 7/2 (2005): 194–225; Malinova, O.
“Obsession with Status and Ressentiment: Historical Backgrounds of the Russian
Discursive Identity Construction,” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 47/3-4 (2014):
291–303; B. Werbart, “Khazars or ‘Saltovo-Majaki Culture’? Prejudices about Archaeology
and Ethnicity,” Current Swedish Archaeology 4 (1996): 199–221.

46
 considered one of the important conditions for the formation of a nation, and
for the blurring of tribal and ethnic differences.”46

This raises the question: is the population multi-ethnic, or is the ethnic-

ity the advent of a common religion imposed, top-down, by the ruler? Or
rather: is ethnicity the raw, pagan-tribal material or the finished, mono-
theized product?47 Three pages later, he writes:
“Khazaria’s population here is seen as all the ethnic groups that defined the
appearance of the material culture and which most likely had a direct par-
ticipation in the establishment and functioning of the state—the Khazars, the
Bulgars and the Alans. ... these three ethnic groups’ ... should be the leading is-
sue in the process of defining the nature of the Khazar Khaganate in the tenth
century.”48

If ethnicity is a pagan, primordial condition for Zhivkov (a ‘primordi-

al’ ethnic inventory of Alans, Bulgars and Khazars),49 on a comparative
scale, would that equally render Spaniards as truly Celtiberians, French
as Gauls,50 Italians as Lombards,51 Russians and other Slavic speakers as
46
B. Zhivkov, Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Century (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 17.
47
W. Pohl, “Telling the Difference: Signs of Ethnic Identity,” in From Roman Provinces
to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006), 120-167; B. Ter
Haar Romeny, ed. Religious Origins of Nations? The Christian Communities of the Middle
East, (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 341; A. M. Feldman, “Review of Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth
Centuries by B. Zhivkov.” Byzantinoslavica 74 (2016): 273–276.
48
Zhivkov, Khazaria, 20.
49
Ibid, 281-283; A. Paroń, “The Nomadic State of Early Medieval Europe on the
Background of the Eurasian Steppes’ Political Structures: an Essay,” in Potestas et
Communitas, eds. A. Paroń et al. (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo IAE PAN, 2010b), 163–182.
50
I. Wood, “Defining the Franks: Frankish Origins in Early Medieval Historiography,”
in From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor &
Francis, 2006b), 110–119; T. MacMaster, “The Origin of Origins, Trojans, Turks and the
Birth of the Myth of Trojan Origins in the Medieval World,” Atlantide 2 (2014): 1–12; E. A.
R. Brown, “The Trojan Origins of the French: the Commencement of a Myth’s Demise,
1450-1520,” in Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives
in Medieval Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 135–179; H.
Reimitz, “Omnes Franci: Identifications and Identities of the Early Medieval Franks,” in
Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation in Early Medieval Europe, ed.
I. H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008), 51–69; J. Escalona,
“The Endings of Early Medieval Kingdoms: Murder or Natural Causes?” Reti Medievali
Rivista 17/2 (2016): 1–11.
51
W. Pohl, “Deliberate Ambiguity: the Lombards and Christianity,” in Christianizing
Peoples and Converting Individuals, eds. G. Armstrong and I. Wood, (Turnhout: Brepols,
2000), 47–58; T. Hankey, “Civic Pride versus Feelings for Italy in the Age of Dante,” in
Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval
47
 Antes, etc.,52 or British as, Romano-Celtic,53 or Anglo-Saxon?54 I think not.
Seen through this prism, in which ethnic apples are compared to other
apples, monotheism created the foundations of modern ethnicity, not the
reverse.
Whether or not we are arguing about the ‘Romanness’ of the Byzantines,
the ‘Gaulishness’ of the Franks, the ‘German-ness’ of the Anglo-Saxons or

Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 196–216; D. Zancani, “The
Notion of ‘Lombard’ and ‘Lombardy’ in the Middle Ages,” in Medieval Europeans: Studies
in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth, (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 217–232.
52
P. M. Barford, The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe,
(Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2001), 268-285; S. Plokhy, The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern
Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006), 354-361; P.
Bushkovitch, “Review of The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia,
Ukraine, and Belarus by S. Plokhy,” The International History Review 29/4 (2007): 846–848;
C. J. Halperin, “National Identity in Premodern Rus’,” Review of The Origins of the Slavic
Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus by S. Plokhy, Russian History
37 (2010): 275–294; O. P. Toločko, “The Primary Chronicle’s ‘Ethnography’ Revisited: Slavs
and the Varangians in the Middle Dnieper Region and the Origin of the Rus’ State,” in
Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation in Early Medieval Europe, eds. I.
H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008), 169–188; S. Franklin,
“The Invention of Rus(sia)(s): Some Remarks on Medieval and Modern Perceptions of
Continuity and Discontinuity,” in Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and
National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
1998), 180-195; P. Geary, “Slovenian Gentile Identity: from Samo to the Fürstenstein,” in
Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation in Early Medieval Europe,
eds. I. H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008), 243-257; P.
Urbańczyk, “Slavic and Christian Identities during the Transition to Polish Statehood,”
in Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation in Early Medieval Europe,
eds. I. H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008), 243-222; C.
Lübke, 2008, “Christianity and Paganism as Elements of Gentile Identities to the East of
the Elbe and Saale Rivers,” in Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation
in Early Medieval Europe, eds. I. H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2008), 189-203; N. Budak, 2008, “Identities in Early Medieval Dalmatia (Seventh–
Eleventh Centuries),” in Franks, Northmen, and Slavs: Identities and State Formation in
Early Medieval Europe, eds. I. H. Garipzanov, P. Geary and P. Urbańczyk (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2008), 223-242; D. Dzino, “‘Becoming Slav’, ‘Becoming Croat’: New Approaches
in Research of Identities in Post-Roman Illyricum.” Hortus Artium Medievalium 14 (2008):
195–206; F. Curta, “Four Questions for Those Who Still Believe in Prehistoric Slavs and
Other Fairy Tales,” Starohrvatska prosvjeta 120 (2015): 286–303.
53
M. Richter, “National Identity in Medieval Wales,” in Medieval Europeans: Studies in
Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth, (New York:
Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 71-84; B. Webster, “...The Independent Identity of the Scots,”
in Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval
Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 85-102.
54
A. P. Smyth, “The Emergence of English Identity, 700-1000,” in Medieval Europeans:
Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, ed. A. P. Smyth,
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 24-52; P. Brown, “Higden’s Britain,” in Medieval
Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, ed. A.
P. Smyth, (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998), 103-118.
48
the ‘foreignness’ of the Bulgars, certainly we all remember that we are not
writing history for Age of Empires, but are rather constructing historical
comparisons with utmost care - lest our formulations take on lives of their
own, as for example, the infamous afterlife of the formula, the “Heiliges
Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation.”55 True, confessional allegiance did
and does play a major role in identity, but rarely was/is it the sole factor.
Yet few would dispute that the different brands of monotheism adopted
by various rulers shaped what later became recognizable ethnicities in the
modern period.
Therefore, at the risk of over-broadening the scale of these compara-
tive implications,56 modern nations (and by association, modern ethnici-
ties) ought not be conflated with pre-monotheistic “tribes” and tribalism,
lest ethnic cleansings continue.57 Yet this is not to altogether deny the
existence of historical ethnicity either, only to imply that confessional

55
U. Nonn, 1982, “Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation: Zum Nationen-Begriff
im 15. Jahrhundert,” Zeitschrift Für Historische Forschung 9/2 (1982): 129-142.
56
It ought to be noted that comparative analyses can be easily over-burdened
(Escalona, “The Endings of Early Medieval Kingdoms,” 8-10). C. Holmes and N. Standen,
“Defining the Global Middle Ages,” Medieval Worlds 1 (2015): 107:
“Those who study this period often draw on methods and perspectives offered by
other historical time frames or look for medieval examples or phases in subjects for
which the parameters have been established by others: for example empire-building,
state-formation, migration and long-distance trade in precious commodities. Yet the
unquestioning application of theories and models from other contexts runs the risk of
occluding and distorting medieval globalisms, particularly the creative tension between
the global and the local.”
57
I realize that at this scale, such a reference to ancient ethnicity, modern nationalism
and genocide would constitute a majorly contentious issue which I cannot satisfactorily
address in this brief study, but I would recommend the reader the following select
bibliography: B. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread
of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991); R. Brubaker, Ethnicity Without Groups (Cambridge
MA: Harvard UP, 2004); J. Coakley, “Mobilizing the Past: Nationalist Images of History,”
Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 10/4 (2004): 531–560; P. Geary, “The Crisis of European
Identity,” in From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York:
Taylor & Francis, 2006), 33–42; E. Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1983); A. Gillett, “Ethnogenesis: A Contested Model of Early Medieval Europe,” History
Compass 4/2 (2006): 241–260; idem, On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to
Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002); E. J. Hobsbawm, Nations
and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990);
J. Hutchinson and A. D. Smith, eds., Oxford Readers: Nationalism (Oxford: Oxford UP,
1994); P. James, Globalism, Nationalism, Tribalism: Bringing Theory Back in, (London:
Sage, 2006); A. Maxwell, “Multiple Nationalisms: National Concepts in Nineteenth-
Century Hungary and Benedict Anderson’s ‘Imagined Communities’,” Nationalism and
Ethnic Politics 11/3 (2005): 385–414; Niculescu, “Culture-Historical Archaeology,” 5-24; A.
Wimmer, Ethnic Boundary Making: Institutions, Power, Networks (New York: Oxford UP,
2013); S. Wooster, “From the Enlightenment to Genocide: the Evolution and Devolution
of Romanian Nationalism,” McNair Scholars Journal 16/1 (2012): 80–99.

49
 allegiance over time became the substructure beneath modern ethnicities.
We must remember that confessional allegiance was originally meant to
transcend tribalism. Although such confessional allegiances were meant
to suppress pagan tribalism via collective allegiances to common sets of
laws and subjection to a common authority, they nevertheless resulted in
rivalrous dynasties to say nothing of rivalrous confessions.58
If historians, with or without a consensus,59 cannot satisfactorily pro-
vide apples-to-apples parameters for the material culture of ancient
ethnicity,60 and primary sources have been denied (or mined for) imag-
ined ancient ethnicities for dubious reasons for far too long61 then why
58
C. Jaffrelot, “For a Theory of Nationalism,” Questions de Recherche 10 (2003): 1–51.
59
K. Kristiansen, 2008, “Should Archaeology be in the Service of ‘Popular Culture’? A
Theoretical and Political Critique of Cornelius Holtorf’s Vision of Archaeology,” Antiquity
82 (2008): 488-490; C. Holtorf, 2008, “Academic Critique and the Need for an Open Mind
(A Response to Kristiansen),” Antiquity 82 (2008): 490-492; F. Curta, 2001, “Pots, Slavs
and ‘Imagined Communities’: Slavic Archaeologies and the History of the Early Slavs,”
European Journal of Archaeology 4/3 (2001): 367–384; 367-384; Niculescu, 2011, “Culture-
Historical Archaeology,” 5-24; F. Curta, 2014, “‘An Hesitating Journey Through Foreign
Knowledge’: Niculescu, the Ostrich, and Culture History,” Arheologia Moldovei 37 (2014):
299-306.
60
I. A. Aržanceva, “Terenozhkin and Tolstov: Faustian Bargains in Soviet Archaeology,” in
Archaeological and Linguistic Research: Materials of the Humboldt Conference (Simferopol
- Yalta, 20-23 September, 2012), eds. V. Mordvintseva, H. Härke and T. Shevchenko (Kiev:
Stilos, 2014), 44–56; B. Effros, “Grave Goods and the Ritual Expression of Identity,” in From
Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor & Francis,
2006), 189-232; H. Härke, “Archaeology and Nazism: a Warning from Prehistory,” In
Archaeological and Linguistic Research: Materials of the Humboldt-Conference (Simferopol
- Yalta, 20-23 September, 2012), eds. V. Mordvintseva, H. Härke and T. Shevchenko (Kiev:
Stilos, 2014), 32–43; idem, “Archaeologists and Migrations: a Problem of Attitude?” in From
Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble (New York: Taylor & Francis,
2006), 262–276; Rąszkowski, “The German School of Archaeology,” 197-214; Reher and
Fernández-Götz, “Archaeological Narratives in Ethnicity Studies,” 400-416; B. Werbart,
“The Invisible Identities: Cultural Identity and Archaeology,” in People, Material Culture
and Environment in the North: Proceedings of the 22nd Nordic Archaeological Conference,
the University of Oulu, 18-23 August, 2004, ed. V. P. Herva (Oulu, Finland: Gummerus
Kirjapaino Oy, 2006) 83–99; M. Wołoszyn, “Byzantine Archaeology – Selected Problems,”
Analecta Archaeologica Ressoviensia 1 (2006): trans. M. Kozub, 259–292.
61
P. Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (London: NLB, 1974); B. S.
Bachrach, “Medieval Identity: People and Place.” Review of On Barbarian Identity:
Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, by Andrew Gillett; and Medieval
Frontiers: Concepts and Practices, by David Abulafia and Nora Berend, The International
History Review 25/4 (2003): 866–870; T. Derks and N. Roymans, (eds.), Ethnic Constructs
in Antiquity: the Role of Power and Tradition (Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2009);
Gillett, “Ethnogenesis,” 241-260; idem, On Barbarian Identity; Halsall, 2003, “Review of
On Barbarian Identity,” 1349-1350; G. Klaniczay, “The Birth of a New Europe about 1000
CE: Conversion, Transfer of Institutional Models, New Dynamics,” Medieval Encounters
10/1-3 (2004): 99–129; W. Pohl (ed.), Die Suche nach den Ursprüngen: von der Bedeutung
des frühen Mittelalters (Vienna: Verlag ÖAW, 2004); idem, “Telling the Difference: Signs
of Ethnic Identity,” in From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, ed. T. F. X. Noble
50
should 21st-century scholars continue to ask 19th-century questions of
9th-century sources?62 Furthermore, such a distinction ought to intuit a
Western-centrism, which prevents expanding comparative and broad his-
torical research, which I believe would be beneficial for the modern world.
Therefore, many scholars, for better and worse, seem to have begun to
transcend ethnic histories by questioning the parameters of ‘Western’ in
Western civilization itself.
The old notion of (at least Western) civilization is typically defined as
some sort of abstract entity, completely detached from confessional iden-
tification, stretching back to the remote antiquity of ancient Greece (or
debatably Sumer). Hence, modern, primarily western European ethno-
nation states, in almost every case, have defined themselves (arguably be-
ginning with Amédée Thierry and Adamantios Koraēs), by some imagined
primordial ethnicity, which is, simply put, a gross distortion of history. It
has gone unquestioned for over two centuries if not longer, and only re-
cently has it come under increasing doubt - perhaps due to the very work
of the so-called “ethno-denialists.” Western Civilization has been defined
in two ways: a narrow, perhaps confessional way and an abstract, alleg-
edly secular way, which has fueled and/or enabled such counter-processes
(namely, secularized, institutional developments) elsewhere as the Meiji
Reformation or the Tanzimat. And then “the West” is contemporarily

(New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006), 120–167; idem and G. Heydemann (eds.), Strategies of
Identification: Ethnicity and Religion in Early Medieval Europe (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013);
Wolfram, “Origo et Religio,” 70-90; I. Wood, “Barbarians, Historians, and the Construction
of National Identities,” Journal of Late Antiquity 1/1 (2008), 61–81.
62
P. S. Wells, Barbarians to Angels: the Dark Ages Reconsidered (New York: W. W. Norton
& Co., 2008), 200:
“The start of the Migration period, shortly after the appearance in texts of the Huns, in
A.D. 375 and the beginning of the Middle Ages, with the formation of the Merovingian
dynasty in the middle of the fifth century, are artificial chronological markers that
historians created as benchmarks, although they have taken on lives of their own. Too
often, modern researchers lose sight of the fact that these fixed points are intended only
to provide a framework for understanding peoples of the past, not real breaks in the
social or cultural development of early Europeans.”
See the suggestion of “big time” by C. Holmes and N. Standen, “Defining the Global Middle
Ages,” 110-111. Alternatively, the work of A. Bell-Fialkoff (ed.), The Role of Migration in the
History of the Eurasian Steppe: Sedentary Civilization vs. “Barbarian” and Nomad, (London:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2000); A. V. Golovnëv, Антропология движения (древности
северной евразии) (Jekaterinburg: NPMP «Волот», 2009); D. W. Anthony, “Migration
in Archaeology: the Baby and the Bathwater,” American Anthropologist 92 (1990): 895-
914; and Härke, “Archaeologists and Migrations,” 262-276, put to rest the continuation of
teleological markers such as the “end of the age of migrations,” arbitrarily assumed by
scholars such as C. R. Bowlus, 2006, The Battle of Lechfeld and its Aftermath, August 955:
the End of the Age of Migrations in the Latin West (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006).
51
 contrasted with another civilization, usually Russia63 or Islam.64 However,
one might ask, why do the glories of Plato and Ovid belong exclusively
to “the West,” as opposed to Russia or Islam? Why do we pay lip service
to valuing “Byzantine studies” while “the Classics” still lays claim to the
foundation of “the West”? Why does “antiquity,” however “late” it goes,
and in an effort to predefine ethnicity in some kind of arbitrary, mystified
periodization, still end wherever “medieviality” begins?65
Finally, if the historical borders of modern nations have been teleologi-
cally defined based on ethno-nationalist theorizing, whose proponents
often seek answers to their questions in the remotest past, then in such
vacuums without comparative scale, entire civilizations may be as well.
In other words, the further back historians reach for answers to questions
of modern ethnicity, the more teleological will be their conclusions. We
already knew this. Therefore, we must fundamentally alter the questions
about ethnicity we are asking of textual and archaeological materials.
This is why the issue of ethnicity in historiography, whether Western Me-
dieval, Byzantine or of elsewhere, is really an issue of periodization: the
‘primordialist’ model assumes a pre-monotheistic ethnogenesis, while the
‘circumstantial’ model is much less straightforward, and perhaps even af-
firms monotheism. Because we already know that both the circumstan-
tial and the primordial models of ethnicity have their uses in Byzantine
and Western history, I return to my original argument.
Many modern identifications of the beginnings of “ethnicity” (origo
gentis/ethnogenesis) may be attributable to top-down rulership as ex-
emplified in the Christian Roman empire: by the top-down alignment
63
T. Dragadze, “A Meeting of Minds: a Soviet and Western Dialogue,” Current
Anthropology 19/1 (1978): 119-128; R. R. Garagozov, 2003, “Collective Memory and the
Russian ‘Schematic Narrative Template’,” Journal of Russian and East European Psychology
40/5 (2003): 55-89.
64
A. Maalouf, Les Croisades vues par les Arabes (Paris: J.-C. Lattès, 1983), 279-283;
T. Ansary, Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes (New York:
PublicAffairs, 2009), 148-149.
65
P. Frankopan, The Silk Roads: a New History of the World (London: Bloomsbury:
2016), 213: “The task now was to reinvent the past. The demise of the old imperial capital
presented an unmistakable opportunity for the legacy of ancient Greece and Rome to be
claimed by new adoptive heirs – something that was done with gusto. In truth, France,
Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal and England had nothing to do with Athens and the
world of the ancient Greeks, and were largely peripheral in the history of Rome from
its earliest days to its demise. This was glossed over as artists, writers and architects
went to work, borrowing themes, ideas and texts from antiquity to provide a narrative
that chose selectively from the past to create a story which over time became not only
increasingly plausible but standard. So although scholars have long called this period the
Renaissance, this was no rebirth. Rather, it was a naissance-a birth. For the first time in
history, Europe lay at the heart of the world.”
52
of subjects to the rulers’ chosen faith66 - along with other factors which
sources observe at their leisure. Without presuming to reject all eth-
nic classifications categorically, I would rather suggest that this is what
makes modern ethnicity seem primordial even if it is not, despite pre-
monotheistic ethnē being referred to as such. In this way, ethnicity may be
described as both circumstantial and seemingly primordial, but not at the
same time. It is circumstantial until, in time and via top-down factors, it
finally seems primordial (and bottom-up), due to a group’s internalization
of confessional norms, laws, traditions and continuities over centuries,
even if it is not exactly primordial.
Therefore, many modern identifications of the beginnings of “ethnic-
ity” (origo gentis/ethnogenesis) may be attributable to the top-down
alignment of subjects to the rulers’ chosen identity; hence, cuius regio,
eius religio - long before 1648, and this is why it is important to compare
ethnic apples to apples. That is because the issue of historical ethnicity
(primordial or circumstantial) is not about identity per se, but rather of
periodization.
There is little use for overstating ethnicity, but nor should be denied it
either. Is there an “Overton Window” for acceptable discourse on ancient
ethnicity? No. Like all political issues, the parameters of acceptable dis-
course are constantly changing. In the court of historiography, the cur-
rent debate between those who argue that ingrained identity will remain
a contentious issue into the future and others who argue that ethnicity
has ceased being a decisive feature of history, the former clearly seem to
be winning. For historians, the most important issue when it comes to
historical ethnicity, despite the notorious difficulties,67 is to ensure that
we are using the same global and diachronic criteria by which to define
historical ethnicity. In other words, we must ensure that we are compar-
ing ethnic apples to apples regardless of time and place.

66
Paroń et al, (eds.), Potestas et Communitas: Interdisciplinary Studies of the Constitution
and Demonstration of Power Relations in the Middle Ages East of the Elbe (Warsaw:
Wydawnictwo IAE PAN, 2010a), 14; idem, “Power and Social Structures - Final Remarks,”
in Potestas et Communitas, eds. A. Paroń et al. (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo IAE PAN, 2010c),
357-362.
67
Siapkas, “Ancient Ethnicity and Modern Identity,” 73-75.
53
 3

The Power of a Kiss: Ritual Kissing

as an Expression of Social Identity in
Byzantine Ceremony
Ilias Karalis, Faculty of Theology, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki
UDK 316.7:323.1(495.02)
UDK 2-5(495.02)

Abstract: This paper addresses the ritual kiss as a gesture in Byzantine

ceremonies, both civil and religious, and the relevant historical interface
between these two spheres. Based on historical sources we locate the ritual
act of kissing initially in a liturgical context, which in turn finds its foundation
in specific Scriptural narratives and references. The general ceremonial
development of the imperial court during the middle byzantine period
corresponds to a development of political and religious importance, which
seems to have gradually influenced the ecclesiastical ceremonies by conveying
not only the element of the ritual but also the transmitted symbolism-
message. Following an examination of literature related to Byzantine imperial
protocol, viewed in comparison to parallel liturgical sources, we outline the
interaction between the imperial and ecclesiastical ceremonies concerning
the ritual kiss. This paper will argue that, notwithstanding the diversity of its
transmission,  the ritual act of kissing reveals the identity  of the individuals
involved and the relationships that are formed between them. Thus, decoding
the form of the kiss contributes to comprehending the stratification of the
54
 Byzantine society as a whole, including the church, as well as the relationships
among its members-citizens.

In recent times, more and more researchers of the Byzantine era have
turned their interest to the study of the involvement of human senses
in church architecture, iconography and liturgical practice1. One of the
acts associated with the senses is kissing, in which touch plays an active
role. Kissing is quite a significant element in Christian worship, and in
academic research it is principally viewed as an expression of honor to
relics, icons and liturgical objects and creations, and less frequently as an
act between people in ritual contexts2.
In The Great Entrance, however, a historical-liturgical treatise by litur-
gist Robert Taft, which remains classic to this day, a separate chapter is
dedicated to the kiss of peace3. Based on Taft’s approach, we extend our
scrutiny in order to present the historical perspective of the act of kissing
between people in the wider spectrum of worship and Byzantine society.
Kissing in all forms and at all stages of its evolution was in line with the
social rather than the theological conventions of the time. The descrip-
tion of kissing in the canon of Christian worship helps to deepen our un-
derstanding of the identities of the people who participate in this act and
to observe the development of relations between them.

Ecclesiastical ceremony

Kissing in the Byzantine rituals did not emerge ex nihilo but was evident-
ly transferred to Christian worship as a continuation of the ancient Greek

1
Experiencing Byzantium, Papers from 44th Spring Symposium, Newcastle/Durham April
2011, ed. Claire Nesbitt and Mark Jackson (London: Routledge, 2013). Jelena Bogdanović,
The Framing of Sacred Space. The Canopy and the Byzantine Church (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2017). Knowing Bodies, Passionate Souls: Sense Perceptions in Byzantium,
ed. Susan A. Harvey and Margaret Mullett, Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposia and
Colloquia 9 (Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks research Library and Collection, 2017).
Perceptions of the Body and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, ed. Jelena
Bogdanović (London-N. York: Routledge, 2018).
2
For the ceremonial kiss in western medieval society: Yannick Carré, Le baiser sur la
bouche au moyen Âge (Paris: Le Léopard d’Or, 1992), 221-338.
3
Robert F. Taft, The Great Entrance. A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Pre-
anaphoral Rites of the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 200
(Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1975), 374-425.
55
 and Roman ceremonial customs4. Church members are instructed by the
Apostles to kiss one another as a sign of equality of persons (brothers who
share the same Father)5. In early liturgical sources, the kiss is exchanged
before the Anaphora as a sign of reconciliation between brethren, in ac-
cordance with the interpretation of the fathers6 who associated this act
with the following passage of Matthew (5: 23-24): “So if you are offering
your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something
against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled
with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”7 Therefore, the kiss
did not exist as a merely ritual act but carried an ontological meaning,
since it constituted a manifestation of the living, loving community of all
church members.
The liturgical sources of the first five centuries inform us that the kiss
was given by all members, whilst a partial separation has been noted since
the early 3rd century8. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (c. 215), in
particular, states that the clergy exchanged the kiss of peace separately
from laypeople, while men exchanged it only with men, and women only
with women9. The 19th canon of the local Council of Laodicea (c. 363)
briefly describes the ceremony of the kiss of peace and makes reference
only to a separation between clergy and laypeople10. The later text of the
Apostolic Constitutions (380) informs us that the kiss which took place af-
ter the recitation of the prayers of the faithful, at the deacon’s admonition,
was to be given as follows: the clergy kiss the other members of the clergy,

4
Richard Hawley, “Give me a thousand Kisses: the kiss, identity, and power in Greek
and Roman antiquity”, Leeds International Classical Studies 6.5 (2007), 1-15.
5
Rm 16,16, I Cor 16,20, I Pet 5,14. Beatrice Caseau, “Experiencing the Sacred”, in
Experiencing Byzantium, Papers from 44th Spring Symposium, Newcastle/Durham April
2011, ed. Claire Nesbitt et al. (London: Routledge, 2013), 76.
6
Αnton Baumstark, Comparative Liturgy (Westminster Meryland: Newman Press
1958), 135.
7
Taft, Great Entrance, 377.
8
According to First Apology of Justin Martyr († 165), clericals and flock exchanged
a ceremonial kiss in Liturgy. BEPES 3, 197: Ἀλλήλους φιλήματι ἀσπαζόμεθα παυσάμενοι τῶν
ευχῶν.
9
Bernanrd Botte, Hippolyte de Rome. La Tradition Apostolique, Sources Chrétiennes 11
(Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1968), 77.
10
Discipline Générale Antique (IIe-IXe s.), ed. Périclès Pierre Joannou, Pontificia
Commissione per la redazione del codice di Diritto Canonico Orientale. Fonti 9
(Grottaferrata: Tipografia Italo-Orientale “S. Nilo”, 1962-3) v. Ι/2, 138.
56
the men kiss the other men, and the women the women11. John Chrys-
ostom (398-404) states that the kiss of peace was given on the mouth12.
The same information is provided a little later by Maximus the Confes-
sor in Mystagogy (628-630)13. This might be the reason why it was exclu-
sively exchanged between members of the same sex. It should be noted
that at this time the separation between women and men was reflected
in the places where they stood in the church14 and it was later extended
to worship, especially the rites of ordination, as we can observe in the first
manuscript euchologion Barberini Gr. 336 (8th century). Specifically, we
see that although the kiss was regarded as an essential ritual element and
was termed love, it was entirely absent from the rite of ordination of a
deaconess15.
The middle-Byzantine period was critical for the ceremony of the kiss
of peace. In his work Ecclesiastical History and Mystical Contemplation,
Germanus of Constantinople I (715-730) informs us that the kiss contin-
ued to be exchanged between laypeople16. Palace officials had the privi-
lege to exchange the kiss with the patriarch himself, the other clergy and
with each other, as Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (10th century) states
in the work De Cerimoniis17. However, in a letter of Theophylact of Ohrid
(11th century) to his brother Demetrius, where he replies to the question
why clerics kissed each other on the shoulders instead of the mouth dur-
ing Lent, it is implied that by that time the kiss of peace had already been
confined to the clergy18. This is also confirmed by John Zonaras (12th cen-
11
Marchel Metzger, Les Constitutions Apostolique III, Sources Chrétiennes 336 (Paris:
Éditions du Cerf, 1987), 174: Καὶ ὁ διάκονος εἰπάτω πᾶσιν. Ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους ἐν φηλήματι
ἁγίῳ. Καὶ ἀσπαζέσθωσαν οἱ τοῦ κλήρου τὸν ἐπίσκοπον, οἱ λαϊκοὶ ἄνδρες τοὺς λαϊκοὺς, αἱ
γυναῖκες τὰς γυναῖκας.
12
John Chrysostom, PGr 47, 398 (PG 61, 606-607).
13
Maximus Confessor, Mystagogy, PGr 91, 693D-695A: Ὁ δὲ πᾶσι προσφωνούμενος
πνευματικὸς ἀσπασμὸς τὴν ἐσομένην πάντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων
ἀρρήτων ἀγαθῶν ἀποκαλύψεως, κατὰ πίστιν τε καὶ ἀγάπην, ὁμόνοιάν τε καὶ ὁμογνωμοσύνην
καὶ ταυτότητα λογικήν, δι᾽ ἣν τὴν πρὸς τὸν Λόγον καὶ Θεὸν οἰκείωσιν οἱ ἄξιοι δέχονται, προτυποῖ
καὶ προδιαγράφει. Λόγου γὰρ σύμβολον τὸ στόμα, καθ᾽ ὃν μάλιστα πᾶσιν ἅπαντες οἱ λόγου
μετειληφότες, ὡς λογικοί, καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ καὶ μόνῳ Λόγῳ καὶ παντὸς αἰτίῳ λόγου συμφύονται.
14
Metzger, Les Constitutions Apostolique, 176.
15
Stefano Parenti and Elena Velkovska, L’ eucologio barberini gr. 336 (Roma: Centro
Liturgico Vincenziano, 1995), 185-188.
16
Germanus I of Constantinople, Historia Ecclesiastica, PGr 98, 425B
17
Io. Iac. Reiskii, (ed.), Constantini Porphyrogeniti Imperatoris, De Cerimoniis Aulae
Byzantinae libri duo, (CSHB), (Bonnae: Weberi, 1829) 17.
18
Taft, Great Entrance, 391.
57
 tury) in his interpretation of the aforementioned canon of the Council of
Laodicea19.
In the post-Byzantine period, the Diataxis of Philotheus, which compris-
es the last stage of the processing of the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine
period, is drawn up. In the Diataxis, the exchange of the kiss is permanent-
ly limited to the clergy20. In other words, the ritual act of kissing has now
been “clericalized” and its gradual shift to the clergy in combination with
the isolation of the laity had a serious ecclesiastical impact, since the lay
members of the Church lost the sense of reconciliation that was prevalent
in the ancient Church.
In addition, the manner in which the clergy kissed each other before
holy communion in concelebrations signifies the distinction between
the bishop and the presbyter. The liturgical diataxis of the 11th century in
the code Add. 34060 of the British Museum21 describes the communion
of the bishop and the presbyters, and, according to it, the bishop kisses
the altar, while the presbyter apart from the altar, also kisses the right
hand and cheek of the bishop22. Kissing the hand of the cleric who offered
the holy communion had existed at least since the second half of the 6th
century, given that it is encountered in the relevant iconography. Chrono-
logically, the first representation of the Communion of the Apostles, in
which an Apostle kisses Christ’s hand, is found in a miniature of the Ros-
sano Gospel (second half of the 6th century) originating from the area of
Syropalestine23.
Apart from the Divine Liturgy, kissing between people also took place
during confirmation ceremonies, such as ordinations to major and minor
orders and the service of the monastic schema, and denoted the accep-
tance of the member that had just been entrusted with a new liturgical
office. Initially, in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (c. 215), the kiss to
the new bishop was given by everyone (both clergy and people)24. In the
19
George Ralles and Michael Potles, Σύνταγμα των θείων και ιερών κανόνων (Athens,
1992), v. ΙΙΙ, 187-188.
20
Διατάξεις της Θείας Λειτουργίας κατά τα Βατοπαιδινά χειρόγραφα του ΙΔ’ αιώνα, (Athos
Mountain: Vatopedi Monastery, 2019), 120.
21
Robert F. Taft, Liturgy in Byzantium and Beyond (London: Routledge 199), 302.
22
Robert F. Taft, The Communion, Thanksgiving and Concluding Rites (Orientalia
Christiana Analecta 281), (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 2008),
99.
23
N. Passaris, “Η παράσταση της Κοινωνίας των Αποστόλων στη Βυζαντινή Τέχνη (6th- first
half of 15th c.)”, (PhD diss., University of Athens, 2015) 70-71.
24
Paul F. Brandshaw, Ordination Rites of the Ancient churches of East and West (N. York:
58
Apostolic Constitutions (c. 380), the kiss was given in the same way. The
only difference appears to be that it took place after the enthronement25.
In the Testamentum Domini (5th century) we find that everyone kissed the
bishop, but in presbyterial ordinations the kiss was given by both the peo-
ple and the fellow presbyters26.
In the Corpus Dionysiacum (6th century), which reflects the interme-
diate stage of development between the archaic liturgical texts and the
8th century manuscript tradition, we observe that the kiss during ordina-
tions was exchanged by the clerics and it was common for all three ranks
(deacon-presbyter-bishop)27.
In the middle-Byzantine euchologia, however, the kiss during the rites
of ordination is given in a way that highlights the distinction between
priesthood ranks. Specifically, in the episcopal ordination, the new bishop
is kissed by his fellow bishops, whereas the new presbyter and deacon
are kissed only by the ordaining bishop28. That is, kissing is restricted be-
tween the ordaining bishop and the ordainee, which indicates that this
shift originated from the bishop’s right to ordain and confirm the election.
In the post-Byzantine period29, kissing becomes more complex and mu-
tual, because the newly ordained seems to reciprocate the kiss. Symeon
of Thessalonica (†1429), a devotee of the typicon, presents quite vividly
the realistic elements of the rites of ordination, also summing up some
features found in the post-Byzantine euchologia. He states that the reader
and the cantor are kissed by the bishop. The subdeacon kisses the ordain-
ing bishop’s hand. The deacon, after being kissed by the ordaining bishop,
kisses the altar, the bishop’s right hand30 and cheek, and finally the dea-
cons (firstly on their orarions), who reciprocate the kiss. The presbyter fol-
lows the same order as the deacon, but he also exchanges the kiss with

Liturgical Press, 1990) 34, 108.

25
Brandshaw, Ordination Rites, 35, 114.
26
Brandshaw, Ordination Rites, 35, 119.
27
Günter Heil and Adolf M. Ritter, Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite, (Corpus Dionysiacum
II), (Berlin-N. York: Walter De Gruyter, 1991), 110: γίνεται καὶ τελειωτικὸς ἀσπασμὸς ἀσπαζομένου
παντὸς ἱερατικοῦ παρόντος ἀνδρὸς καὶ τοῦ τελέσαντος ἱεράρχου τὸν πρὸς τι τῶν εἰρημένων ἱερατικών
ταγμάτων ἀποτελεσθέντα. σ. 113: Πάντες γὰρ ὅσοι πάρεισι τῶν ἱερατικωῶν ὄντες τάξεων, ἀλλὰ καὶ
αὐτὸς ὁ τελέσας ἱεράρχης ἀσπάζονται τὸν τετελεσμένον.
28
Ilias Karalis, “Το Μυστήριο της Ιεροσύνης στη μέση και ύστερη περίοδο του Βυζαντίου.
Τελετουργική και Αισθητική θεώρηση” (PhD diss., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
2019) 45, 62, 83.
29
Karalis, “Το Μυστήριο της Ιεροσύνης”, 50, 96.
30
The right side expresses a sense of good (Μτ 25, 32-33, Μκ 16,19, Πραξ 7, 55-56).
59
 the presbyters. According to Symeon, though, the bishop gives the kiss
in three different and more complex ways. The first one takes place after
the Proclamation of his election, when he bows three times and kisses
the archbishop’s knee, hand and side. He then kisses the other bishops
on the mouth. The second kiss is given after the Confession of Faith31 and
the third one outside the Sanctuary, after his ordination, in the order de-
scribed above. At the bishop’s ordination, the sacristan sees him off with
incense, myrrh or rosemary (a combination of smell and touch stimuli).
In the ordination of the patriarch, however, the kiss was exchanged in a
different manner. After the ordination, the ordaining bishop came and
kissed the altar and the right hand and cheek or mouth of the newly or-
dained patriarch, followed by his fellow bishops.
The gradual evolution of the kiss, as we see, is associated with the increase
of the authority of the episcopal office32. As we read in manuscript eucho-
logia of the 17th century33, in the post-Byzantine period, the presbyter being
ordained made three turns around the altar and kissed the knee and the
omophorion of the bishop, who sat on a throne in front of the altar34.
In the monastic typicon, the kiss encountered in similar confirmation
ceremonies, such as the promotion of the abbot and the monastic schema,
retains its archaic character. Kissing during the rite of the monastic schema
is already encountered in the Corpus Dionysiacum, according to which the
new monk is kissed by all the brothers of the monastery in turn and with
no exception35. According to the manuscript tradition, in the service of the
monastic schema the kiss was given on the mouth, except for the case of a
new nun, who was kissed either on the head or on the chest36. If laypeople
were present in the service, they were supposed to kiss the new monk too37.
In the investiture (cherothesia) of the abbot, according to most eucholo-
gia of the Byzantine period, after the recitation of the relevant prayers, we
see that the bishop hands over the pallium or the crosier to the abbot, and
31
Karalis, “Το Μυστήριο της Ιεροσύνης”, 84-93.
32
Vassa Larrin, The Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in Arsenij Suxanov’s Proskinitarij,
(Orientalia Christiana Analecta 286), (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum
Orientalium, 2010), 251.
33
ΕΒΕ 813, ΕΒΕ 2438.
34
Panagiotes Trempelas, Μικρόν Ευχολόγιον, (Athens: Sotir, 1998), v. Ι, 230.
35
Heil and Ritter, Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite, 117.
36
Michael Wawryk, Initiatio Monastica in Liturgia Byzantina, (Orientalia Christiana
Analecta 180), (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1968), 38.
37
Wawryk, Initiatio Monastica, 101.
60
then kisses and dismisses him38. On the contrary, in self-governed monas-
teries, where the service of the promotion took place inside the monas-
tery, the abbot received the crosier either from the Sanctuary or from the
main icon of the monastery’s saint, and afterwards he was kissed by all the
brothers with no exception. This order is found in the Typicon of Everge-
tis (12th century) and sources dated from that time onwards39. It becomes
clear that in the monastic community, especially in the areas where mon-
asteries were self-governed, the typica ruled that the kissing took place in
a manner similar to that of the ancient Church. Conversely, the rites of
ordinations, which were performed by the bishop, evolved in a way that
resulted in the isolation of laypeople, discrimination between members
of the clergy and an increase in the authority of the episcopal rank.

Court Ceremony

The study of the imperial etiquette, which was known for its interrela-
tion with the church order, also helps us examine the evolution of the act
of kissing, which, as will be demonstrated through the sources, was influ-
enced by the imperial etiquette and the connection between the clergy
and the emperor.
In the work De Cerimoniis by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (10th
century) we may find several references to the kiss exchanged between
the emperor and the patriarch, for instance before the Little Entrance on
Pentecost Sunday40. This information is particularly important, since the
Byzantine emperor was a rather inaccessible person who was exclusively
approached by specific officials, always under a specific protocol. The kiss
given to the emperor was usually an indication of loyalty and submission,
and officials, even from the first moment after the emperor’s coronation,
had to kneel and kiss both his knees in the Mitatorion41.
In approximately the middle of the 14th century, according to De Officiis,
the well-known source of imperial etiquette composed by Pseudo-Kodi-
nos, the Proskynesis took place during the Matins of the Resurrection. In
38
Ilias Karalis, “Η χειροθεσία του Ηγουμένου. Τελετουργική και Εικονογραφική θεώρηση”,
Θεολογία 90/2 (2019): 37-55.
39
John Thomas and Angela Constantinides-Hero, Byzantine Monastic Foundation
Documents, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2000),
v. II, 484, 587, 675, 816, v.III, 967, 996, 1001, 1053, 1058.
40
Reiskii, De Cerimoniis, 64, 69, 142.
41
Reiskii, De Cerimoniis, 193.8-10.
61
 this ritual, the Sovereigns and officials kissed the emperor’s right foot and
hand, and finally his right side, without being kissed by him42.
At this point, we should underline a note that Pseudo-Kodinos incor-
porates into the text of the imperial ritual. He mentions that according
to a prevailing custom of the time, the Venetians did not have the honor
of kissing the emperor, due to the fact that Emperor Michael Paleologos
(1259-1282) had fought against them in the past, which signified a lack of
love between the two sides43. Although the historical facts do not appear
to confirm the sincerity of the justification44, this detail shows that even
though kissing was treated as a self-serving gesture, it constituted a ritual
expression of love towards the emperor.
The same Proskynesis, with the almost exclusive participation of the
clergy, took place on Renewal Thursday. In this ceremony, the only per-
son that could exchange a mouth-to-mouth kiss with the emperor was the
patriarch of Constantinople. This might be considered a sign of equality
of persons45, as was the case for all members in the synaxis of the ancient
Church. As we read in De Cerimoniis, the rest of the clergy, metropolitans
and bishops included, had to kiss the emperor’s knees, hands and cheek46.
According to the protocol presented in De Cerimoniis, they kissed the em-
peror’s hand and cheek, omitting his right knee, unlike the other officials
of that time who had to kiss it too47.
Through the information on the imperial ceremonies presented
above, we could conclude that the kiss on the mouth, an exclusive privi-
lege of the emperor and the patriarch, signified the equality of persons,
while kissing the emperor’s hand and knee comprised an expression of
submission on the part of the officials and the rest of the clergy. The
implications and symbolisms of hand kissing become clearer in the
commentary of Symeon of Thessalonica on a practice he considers

42
Ruth Macrides and J.A. Munitiz and Dimiter Angelov, Pseudo-Kodinos and the
Constantinopolitan Court: offices and ceremonies (London: Routledge, 2013), 182.
43
Macrides and Munitiz and Angelov, Pseudo-Kodinos, 184.
44
Nicholas Oikonomides, “The Byzantine overlord of Genoese possessions in Romania,
in Porphyrogenita. Essays on the history and literature of Byzantium and the Latin East in
honour of Julian Chrysostomides, ed. Charalambos Dendrinos et al. (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2003), 235-8.
45
Carré, Le baiser, 27-32.
46
Reiskii, De Cerimoniis, 92-93.
47
Macrides and Munitiz and Angelov, Pseudo-Kodinos,188.
62
inappropriate: the newly ordained bishop kissing the emperor’s hand48.
In particular, Symeon treats this gesture as an expression of servility and
draws a contrast between the bishop’s holy lips and the emperor’s secu-
lar and military hand49. Moreover, the kiss on the foot also had a servile
background, as we can notice in Symeon’s presentation of the kiss given
to the Archbishop by the bishop being ordained, after the recitation of
the Confession of Faith50.
Furthermore, the same essence is present in the ritual of the Washing of
the Feet by the emperor, which was transferred from the typicon of Hagia
Sophia. In this cathedral, the rite was performed by the patriarch after
the Asmatic vespers of Holy Thursday51. The rite performed by the Em-
peror is described in De Officiis and took place on Holy Thursday before
the Liturgy. According to the protocol, twelve poor people were initially
selected and offered clothing and footwear. In addition, at the end of the
ceremony they were given three gold coins each. These people apparently
represented the twelve Apostles, whilst the emperor, representing Christ,
washed their right foot, wiped it with his linteum, and finally kissed it52.
That washing and kissing took place during the reading of the following
gospel verse: Jesus began to wash his disciples’ feet53. Here, we observe the
unfolding of a dramatic ritual that expressed, on the one hand, the emper-
or’s love and charity to the poor54 and, on the other hand, associated Jesus’
humility with the emperor’s figure. In this case, the emperor’s humility
was demonstrated not only by washing the feet but also by kissing them.
From the historical sources presented and analyzed above, it becomes
evident that the evolution of social conventions is also reflected in ritual
elements, such as kissing, which we have investigated above. The exami-
nation of this very element within the wider spectrum of worship re-
veals the identity of persons and the network of relations between them.

48
Symeon of Thessalonika, De Sacris ordinationibus, PGr 155, 432A.
49
Symeon of Thessalonika, PG 155, 433A.
50
Symeon of Thessalonika, PG 155, 409C: ἀσπάζεται τοῦτο τὸ γόνυ, ὡς πρὸς Θεὸν κλίνων
καὶ διὰ τὴν δουλείαν.
51
Juan Mateos, Le Typicon de la Grande Église, ms Saint-Croix no 40, X Siècle, (Orientalia
Christiana Analecta 166), (Roma: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1963),
72-74.
52
Macrides and Munitiz and Angelov, Pseudo-Kodinos,177-5-10.
53
Jhn 13, 5.
54
According to De cerimoniis the Emperor went to old-age homes on Holy Thursday as
a form of charity. See Reiskii, De Cerimoniis, 177-178.
63
 Specifically, the biblically and patristically established kiss of reconcilia-
tion disappears among laypeople and is preserved only among the clergy.
This gradual abolishment occurred under unknown circumstances, which
were nevertheless approached through the study of confirmation ceremo-
nies. The shift of the kiss from laypeople to the confirmation ceremonies
of the clergy on the one hand, and from the clergy to the bishop on the
other, verifies the growing authority of the episcopal office that originated
from the right to ordain. The subsequent evolution of kissing in the rites
characterized by a more servile spirit seems to have been influenced by
the imperial etiquette, which formed the manner of kissing depending on
the identities of the persons involved and their relationship with the em-
peror. Of course, a consequence of this was the emergence of ecclesiasti-
cal distortions that continued to exist in the Church of the post-Byzantine
period.

64
 4

Bureaucratic Identity in John Lydus

David Rockwell, Central European University, Budapest

UDK 35.08:323.1(495.02)”5”
UDK 811.14’02:811.124’02(495.02)”5”

Abstract: This paper explores Lydus’ use of quotations from classical Greek
and, especially, Latin literature within De Magistratibus as markers of his iden-
tity as a member of the bureaucratic corps. Systematic analysis of Lydus’ use of
his classical paideia as a rhetorical instrument sheds light on the ways in which
he identifies his interests as aligning with those of his fellow civil servants. But
Lydos’ pre-occupation with revenues of which he felt himself deprived distorts
his perception of the extent to which his own interests coincided with those of
his cadre, as his own account of his early career shows. This tension between
Lydus’ individual motives and his professed corporate identity accounts for a
number of discontinuities of the work, with important implications for how
we must construe Lydus’ several accounts of the careers of the prefects under
whom he served.

“Few people can ever be trusted to tell the truth about themselves or their own
careers.”1

1
Christopher Kelly, Ruling the Later Roman Empire (Cambridge MA: Harvard, 2004),
16.
65
 Introduction

In 511 CE, an ambitious young man named John (Ἰωάννης) arrived in

Constantinople from Lydian Philadelphia in search of a career. 2Thanks to
On Powers, an antiquarian treatise John Lydos wrote late in life, we know
something of the course of that career as it rolled out in the civil service
of the Pretorian Prefecture of the East. Lydos got off to a fabulous start as
he attracted early and lucrative notice from powerful officials who hailed
from the same home town. Soon, however, a more mundane and less lu-
crative career progression ensued, never again matching the promise of
that first year. To be sure, there were successes along the way: John’s ex-
pertise in Latin attracted commissions from the emperor,3 as well as ap-
pointment as what I will anachronistically call professor of Latin.4 He held
this chair simultaneously with increasingly senior positions within the
bureaucracy as he rode its lock-step promotion system smoothly upward.
Some 40 years after he first entered the civil service, John retired with the
highest honors for which he was eligible but, to his ill-concealed chagrin,
no golden parachute.5
This paper traces the ways in which John Lydos articulates his identity
as a civil servant: First, at the most basic level, with his various expressions
of pride in that status within the treatise. Secondly, the indirect means
by which he signals his alignment with the values and ideals of the bu-
reaucratic cadre. And, thirdly, those aspects of On Powers that contain the
seeds of deconstruction of Lydos’ bureaucratic identity, namely the ways

2
Johannes Laurentius Lydus, On Powers, or, The Magistracies of the Roman State, ed.
Anastasius C. Bandy, Memoirs / American Philosophical Society, v. 149 (Philadelphia:
American Philosophical Society, 1983), sec. 3.26. Unless otherwise indicated, all
translations herein are from Bandy’s edition. Citations herein to section (§) numbers are
to the relevant passages of On Powers.
3
Lydos’ expertise in Latin was acknowledged at the highest levels, and he is
punctilious in providing the evidence: On Powers thus contains the text of both the
proclamation issued upon his retirement and of an earlier pragmatic sanction attesting
to his competence. See §3.30 and §3.29, respectively. His imperial commissions took the
form of a panegyric with which to greet visiting dignitaries from Italy and a history of the
war with Persia. §3.28. Neither survives.
4
§3.29. Each of “professor” and “university” is a misnomer. By “professor” is meant
a holder of one of the publicly funded chairs established at Constantinople to provide
public instruction in the areas of Latin grammar and rhetoric, Greek grammar and
rhetoric, philosophy and law. See A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A
Social Economic and Administrative Survey (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1964), 1:707-08, 2:998. By “university” is meant the college of such professors as a
body.
5
§3.30 (ἀντὶ πολλῶν χρηµάτων).
66
in which his greed blinded him to the tensions between his own successes
and the career prospects of his colleagues.

Pride
On Powers abounds with expressions of Lydos’ pride in his career as a
civil servant. This is especially that case for its third and final book, which
discusses the offices within the prefecture and provides the details, such
as we have them, of John Lydos’ own career.
As a preliminary matter, we can disregard Lydos’ university chair as
an important cornerstone of his professional identity: the biographical
passages of On Powers describe his civil service career in loving detail,
whereas his duties as a professor warrant barely a mention. Professors of
literature generally were held in somewhat low esteem throughout late
antiquity. Even if we may doubt that the disdain reported by Athenaeus
around the turn of the third century persisted with full force down to
Lydos’ time,6 Lydos gives us his own view, criticizing his fellow profes-
sors for disputatiousness and “detachment from reality”.7 In all, On Pow-
ers leaves no scope for doubt that Lydos attributed little importance to
his university chair, even if in later years he came to devote more time
to it than to his civil service post.8 By his lights, the civil service was his
“career”.
The extent to which Lydos’ sense of self-identity was tied to that ca-
reer is manifest throughout On Powers. Despite purporting to explain
the workings of the pretorian prefecture to outsiders, there are many in-
dications that On Powers was intended rather for insiders. An early pas-
sage states that the treatise is intended as a thank-offering to those who
helped him in his career.9 The work’s technical vocabulary of government
is formidable and, for the most part, unexplained. Lydos is 10
disdainful of
outsiders who did not understand the ways of the service. And he com-
plains about time-wasting questions from outsiders unfamiliar with the

6
Ath., 15.666a (εἰ µὴ ἰατροὶ ἦσαν, οὐδὲν ἂν ἦν τῶν γραµµατικῶν µῶρότερον).
7
§3.47 (πέφυκε γὰρ ἐξ ἀπραγµοσύνης τὸ λογικὸν πρὸς ἑαυτὸ διαφωνεῖν). These qualities
had thwarted the emperor’s Anastasius’ plans to improve the professors’ status. Ibid;
Kelly, Ruling, 37.
8
§§3.28-29.
9
§1.15 (εὐχαριστήριον).
10
See, e.g., §§1.23, 2.4, 2.6, 2.9, 3.2, 3.9, 3.20; Kelly, Ruling, 27–28.
67
 technical vocabulary of administration, while he sneers at those who mis-
pronounce the names of offices or documents.11
On Powers is replete with expressions of Lydos’ pride — too many to
mention in this context — that modern readers may find credulous. Per-
haps only a bureaucrat’s heart could be warmed by the efficiency of a fil-
ing system for court records, yet Lydos waxes eloquently on the ease with
which case files could be located and retrieved from the prefecture’s ar-
chive.12 He even boasts that, if those case files should happen to be lost,
the summary notes prepared by him and his colleagues would more than
suffice to reconstruct the file from scratch.13 More generally, Lydos is not
above exaggerating the importance of the office of prefect to aggrandize
the importance of the bureaucracy that served it. Thus, he purports to
trace the origins of the office of prefect to a very antique office of cav-
alry commander through a specious etymological derivation of ὑπάρχος
from ἱππάρχος.14 And he cites Homer, twice, to compare the prefecture
to Agamemenon’s leadership (in favor of a clear governance structure)15
and even to the sea (because the16prefecture provided that resources that
flowed to all other magistracies). These examples lead us to consider Ly-
dos’ modes of expression, in particular his use within On Powers of vari-
ous passages from works of classical literature that would have formed the
cornerstone of his education. It is to that discussion that this paper now
turns.

Paideia

While a properly classical education was formerly the hallmark of

elites by hereditary descent, as late antiquity proceeded that educa-
tion came to be seen as something that could be acquired.17 And since
11
§§3.9, 3.20; Christopher Kelly, “Later Roman Bureaucracy: Going Through the Files,”
in Literacy and Power in the Ancient World, ed. Alan K. Bowman and Greg Woolf, 1st
paperback edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 174.
12
§3.19; Kelly, 165.
13
§3.20; Kelly, 166.
14
§§1.15, 2.6 ff., 2.22.
15
Hom., Il. 2.204 (οὐκ ἀγαθόν πολυκοιρανίη, εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω).
16
§ 2.7.3-4 (citing Hom. Il. 21.196: ἐξ ἧσπερ πάντες ποταµοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα).
17
Alan Cameron, “Poetry and Literary Culture in Late Antiquity,” in Approaching Late
Antiquity: The Transformation from Early to Late Empire, ed. Simon Swain and Edwards,
Mark (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 344.
68
it could be acquired, it was expected that men of ambition would so
acquire it. Already by the fourth century, the hallmarks of classical pai-
deia “functioned as a class-marker.”18 This continued to be the case in
sixth- century Constantinople, where classical paideia formed a key el-
ement of a shared cultural heritage of the elites.19 Civil servants were
expected to be men of literary culture, even if the professional duties of
only a few could have required the fluency of composition that was the
ultimate object that classical paideia sought to convey.20 This was espe-
cially the case for ambitious young men from the provinces, for whom
the empire’s civil service offered opportunities for both payment and
patronage.21 John Lydos was one of these.
Lydos’ education would have given him a deep acquaintance with the
legacy of select Greek and Roman authors,22 an acquaintance he was at
pains to demonstrate in On Powers. As one would expect of a work pur-
porting to be history, On Powers contains numerous citations to ancient
historiography, as well as to various philosophical, scientific and legal
authorities.23 My focus here, however, is on Lydos’ use of texts that are
more expressly literary: epic, tragic, comic and other poetry, as well as
prose compositions of a literary nature. A review of his use of such liter-
ary texts gives little basis for belief that they were included to add sub-

18
Peter Heather, “Literacy and Power in the Migration Period,” in Literacy and Power
in the Ancient World, ed. Alan K. Bowman and Greg Woolf (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996), 183.
19
Claudia Rapp, “Literary Culture Under Justinian,” in The Cambridge Companion to
the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005),
380 (“shared erudition and culture played an important role in creating a common bond
and asserting their status”).
20
Cameron, “Poetry and Literary Culture in Late Antiquity,” 344 (“poetry became in
effect a profession”).
21
Rapp, “Literary Culture Under Justinian,” 381.
22
As a general matter, this heritage was bifurcated between the cultural, which looked
to Greek precedents, and the political, which looked to Rome. Sviatoslav Dmitriev, “John
Lydus and His Contemporaries on Identities and Cultures of Sixth-Century Byzantium,”
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 64 (2010): 27–42.
23
See, e.g., Historiography: §1.47.21-22 (citing Diod. Sic. 1.28,98 for the spurious
proposition that Solon adopted from Egypt the Athenian law dividing the citizenry
into three classes); Philosophy: § 3.26.7-10 (citing Christodoros, Περὶ τῶν Ἀκροατῶν τοῦ
Μεγάλου Πρόκλου, on Lydos’ teacher Agapios); Scientific: §1.42 (explaining the Latin
word nepotes in its sense of “spendthrifts” by reference to Pliny’s account (HN 7.17) of
how reptiles regenerate); and Law: § 1.26.10-19 (purporting to cite Gaius’ On the Law of
the Twelve Tables to explain the origins of the office of quaestor. It is disconcerting that
a senior civil servant like Lydos – one who had served in the judicial division, no less –
would get such a key source wrong: the text Lydos cites is not that of Gaius at all, but of
Pomponius, reproduced in Dig. I tit. II 22,23. See Bandy’s note ad loc., 274).
69
 stantive meaning to any significant extent. Rather, such passages signal
to Lydos’ similarly educated readers his alignment with their values and
the ease with which he speaks in their cultural codes.
By way of example, Lydos frequently invokes poetic passages in support
of factual assertions about the origin of some Roman practice or institu-
tion. Vergil features prominently. Lydos cites passages of the Aeneid to ex-
plain the origin of such diverse institutions as the insignia of the consuls,
traditional Roman battle dress, and the office of quaesitor.24 He mines the
satirists, too, for attestations of historical fact.25 Persius is thus cited to
undergird explanations of the origins 26
of the insignia carried by the con-
suls’ lictors and of the word titulus. Somewhat surprisingly, Lydos also
uses the classical Greek poets as historical authorities for Roman prac-
tices. Thus, Aristophanes is called into service to explain the Latin word
for “shield” (scutum) by reference to the Greek word στιβαρόν.27
One searches in vain through On Powers for evidence of esoteric mean-
ings of the sort identified by some modern scholars in Procopios.28 Even
if any full-blown esoteric reading of On Powers is implausible, a few such
quotations may, on a charitable reading, be thought to add some minor
incremental nuance.29 There are two types of passages that I wish to focus
24
§ 1.7.3-5 (citing Verg. Aen. 7.169, 188 for the origins of the consuls’ throne and robe); §
1.12.12-14 (citing Verg. Aen. 1.312 for a description of Aeneas’ dress upon his arrival in Italy);
and § 1.25.7-9 (citing Verg. Aen. 6.432-433 to explain the term quaesitor (“punisher”),
compared to quaestor (“investigator”)). Lydos does not refer to Vergil’s poetry other
than the Aeneid, which has led some scholars to conclude that his familiarity with the
great poet’s work was solely indirect, via Servius’ commentary. Bruno Rochette, “Jean le
Lydien, Caton, Varron et Servius,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 91, no. 2 (1998): 471. One might
query whether Lydos‘ presumed lack of direct acquaintance with Vergil’s poetry is an
assumption in need of revisiting.
25
Rochette, 471. Lydos‘ familiarity with the satirists may also have been indirect.
Ibid. He does, however, appear to have consulted his historiographical sources directly.
Warren T. Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
2010), 263. The argument made here is unaffected.
26
§ 1.32.11-15 (citing Pers. Sat. 1.73 for a description of the insignia as replicas of the
tools carried by Cincinnatus when summoned to assume office); and §1.19.4-7 (citing
Pers. Sat. 1.20 to explain how the title of nobility – titulus – was derived from the name of
the Sabine leader, Titus Tatius).
27
§ 1.10.3-5 (citing Ar. Ach. 180-181). This is another instance of Lydos’ many false
etymologies.
28
For instance, by Anthony Kaldellis, Procopius of Caesarea Tyranny, History, and
Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004),
17–45.
29
One might say that Photius’ evaluation of Lydos’ literary devices – “This author makes
excessive use of literary devices, often to very indifferent effect and in an uncontrolled
way, but in some instances appropriately and attractively” – applies with equal force to
70
on here. First, the treatise contains several passages, expressly marked as
digressions,30 in which Lydos dilates on some matter irrelevant to the his-
tory of the offices of the Roman state that are the ostensible subject of the
treatise. These passages, obviously the object of Lydos’ most tender care,
are thickly embellished with literary citations31 and, despite their pedant-
ry, give On Powers what little claim to charm it has.32
Two examples will suffice. In the first, Lydos interrupts a denunciation of
his nemesis John the Cappadocian to deliquesce on the virtues of the stur-
geon. Lost works of the poet Laberius and of Cornelius Nepos are cited for
an account of how the fish was first brought to Italian waters;33 Athenaeus
is called into service to describe the music by which it was accompanied
when served on the plate.34 The second example is Lydos’ description of
the sandyx, a garment worn by Lydian women. Like the digression on the
sturgeon, it interrupts the denunciation of John the Cappadocian. In it,
Lydos deploys passages of Euripides and Peisander, Apuleius and Suetoni-
us to tell us that the sandyx revealed more than it ought35 and to describe
its feminizing effects.36
Secondly, beyond his digressions, some of Lydos’ more pointed uses
of quotations from classical literature appear laughable due to the gap
between the seriousness of the text quoted and the superficiality of the
point for which it is used. In one example, a passage from Euripides’ lost
tragedy Peleus is cited to illustrate Lydos’ complaint about having served
in office at a time when he could no longer enrich himself through graft.37
his use of literary quotation. Photius, Bibl. 80 125a. The translation is from Kelly, Ruling,
13.
30
§ 3.65.1 (Τοιαῦτα µὲς ἄν τις ὡς ἐν παρεκβάσει λέγοι); § 1.41.1 (ἀναγκαῖον οἶµαι ἐµβραδῦναι
τῷ λόγῳ).
31
See Jacques Schamp, “La poète et les Claudii de la République (Jean Le Lydien, Mag.
I, 39-44),” Latomus 59, no. 1 (March 2000): 110 (“Le Lydien est un adepte convaincu de la
digression”).
32
Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 263–64.
33
§ 3.63.11-15 (end); Bandy note ad loc., 336.
34
§ 3.63.6-7 (ὅθεν µετ’ αὐλῶν καὶ κυµβάλων τοῖς Ῥωµαίοις παρετίθετο, ώς φησιν Ἀθήναιος);
Ath. 7.294E.
35
§ 3.64.4 (citing Eur., Hec. 570: προφανῶς ἐκκαλύπτουσαι ὅσα ‘καλύπτειν ὄµµατ’ ἀρσένων
ἐχρῆν’); and § 3.64.9- 10 (καὶ µάρτυς ὁ Πείσανδρος εἰπῶν· ‘Λυδοὶ χρυσοχίτωνες ‘).
36
§3.64.19-20 (ταύτῃ καὶ Σανδὼν Ἡρακλῆς ἀνηνέχθη, ὡς Ἀπουλήϊος ὁ Ῥωµαῖος φιλόσοπφος
ἐν τῳ ἐπιγραφοµένῳ Ἐρωτικῷ καὶ Τράγκυλλος δὲ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἐπισήµων Πορνῶν
ἀνενηνόχασιν).
37
§ 3.25.1-2 (“’τὰ δ’ ἔνθεν οὐκέτ’ ἂν φράσαι λόγῳ δακρύων δυναίµην χωρίς,’ κατὰ τὸν
Εὐριπίδου Πηλέα”).
71
 Hesiod is similarly called into service to lend an air of misty nostalgia to
the time when civil servants had to pay only five gold coins, not 20, for
their letters of commission.38 It is these passages, in which Lydos adduces
literary quotations for the sake of something close to self-pity, that point
us toward a more productive avenue for identifying the purpose for their
inclusion in On Powers. That is, Lydos adduces citations from the literary
corpus not because their content is particularly relevant, but because they
mark the discussions of matters about which he feels most strongly, his
own financial condition first and foremost.

Greed and the Limits to Solidarity

One of the most remarkable features of On Powers is the overwhelming

sense of disappointment that Lydos evinces with respect to the financial
rewards accruing from his career. To return to the narrative of that ca-
reer with which this paper started, it is worth dwelling on Lydos’ brilliant
start within the prefectural bureaucracy. In his own words, it was “as if
[he were] equipped with wings”.39 Not too long following his arrival in
Constantinople, he won a coveted position as shorthand writer within the
prefecture.40 However qualified Lydos may have been, his appointment
owed less to his own merits than to his hometown connections: the pre-
fect at the time was a certain Zoticus, himself a native of Philadelphia.41
This connection would continue to pay dividends throughout Lydos’ first
year. Initially taken up as an entry-level exceptor, he swiftly won a coveted
one- year appointment as chartularius.42 Not only did Zoticus promote

38
§ 3.67.3-4 (“καὶ τότε, ἡνίκα κατὰ τὸν µυθικὸν ὁ χρυσοῦς αιὼν ἐξέλαµπεν,” a clear reference
to the description of the Golden Age in Hes. Op.).
39
§3.27.
40
§3.26. At the beginning of his career, at least, shorthand services were in high
demand by the bureaucracy; John mentions that up to 1,000 would enter the service each
year. §3.66. We need not take that figure literally, but the need was surely significant. In
any event the figures would decline in subsequent years as other divisions would thrive
at the expense of the shorthand service.
41
§3.26.
42
An exceptor occupied the lowest grade of bureaucratic staff, whether of the central
offices or the provincial prefecture. Oliver Nicholson, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Late
Antiquity, First edition (Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2018), 573., s.v.
exceptores. A chartularius was a higher rank, to which an exceptor such as John could be
appointed for a fixed-term of one year before returning to the pool of exceptores. John

72
Lydos to this post at an unprecedentedly early stage of his career – the
other chartularii were “old men” – Zoticus even arranged for Lydos to draw
a salary of 24 gold coins per year.43 The “old men”, by contrast, had had to
pay for their positions.44
More importantly than the salary, however, Zoticus advised Lydos on
how to generate supplementary financial gain from his new position.45
This gain would take the typical late antique forms of fees for service, tips
(sportulae) or even bribes, though Lydos is too delicate to dwell on the de-
tails. The amounts accruing as a result – at least 1,000 gold coins in his first
year – dwarfed the mere salary. This was an enormous sum, in a period
where a soldier might have received 15 gold coins annually.46 Nor did this
exhaust Zoticus’ assistance. When Lydos, with a thankfulness befitting a
recipient of such generosity, composed a poem of thanks to Zoticus, the
prefect arranged for Lydos to be paid one gold coin per line.47 In addition
to his work for the prefecture, Lydos may also have performed paid work
for the a secretis division of the central bureaucracy.48 And his Philadel-
phian connections helped on a more personal front, too, finding for him
a wife, one who brought with her a dowry of 1,000 pounds of gold.49 In
short, Lydos’ first year set a precedent for profitability that could not be
maintained.
The impact of these first-year successes on Lydos’ expectations were in-
deed great. In his own words, “[S]ince I was expecting far greater things to

held the post several times. Ibid., 319 s.v. chartularii.

43
One gold coin consisted of 1/72 of a pound of gold. Jones, Later Roman Empire, 439–
48, 825.
44
§3.27.
45
Ibid.
46
Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 259.
47
§3.27. For a useful discussion of how patronage based on shared regional background
operated in the context of John’s career, see Rapp, “Literary Culture Under Justinian,”
384–85.
48
The a secretis was a division of notaries within the central imperial bureaucracy
(not the prefecture). Jones, Later Roman Empire, 574. The text (ἠπειγόµην) is ambiguous
as to whether John actually performed such work or merely sought it. The latter perhaps
better reflects the force of the Greek. Cf. Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 260
n.108., with Michael Maas, John Lydus and the Roman Past: Antiquarianism and Politics in
the Age of Justinian (London ; New York: Routledge, 1992), 32–33.
49
7,200 gold coins. §§3.26, 3.28. While John mentions the amount of his wife’s dowry,
he nowhere gives her name. De Mensibus 4.89 states that she died soon after their
marriage.
73
 come to me as time went on, I … devoted my whole life to the service.”50
Lydos was promoted gradually upward, likely reaching the final rank of
cornicularius, the head of the judicial side of the prefecture’s civil service,
and thus the highest rank a career bureaucrat like Lydos could achieve.51

Financial Reward, or Lack Thereof

With this record of accomplishment, one might have thought that Lydos
could look back upon his distinguished career with something approach-
ing satisfaction. Yet the opposite is nearer the truth. On Powers drips with
disappointment, sourness and even “rage”.52 Developments in the prefec-
ture meant that his income failed to meet the lofty expectations set by
his first, “Cinderella” year.53 Subsequent salaries paled in comparison to
what he had received then, to say nothing of the high hopes he had once
entertained.
When those hopes failed to materialize, Lydos “grew to hate the service”.54
This focus on his own finances limits the range of topics covered in
On Powers, resulting in a skewed and unreliable account of events of the
period. Momentous events during his tenure, such as the Nika riot, the
reconquest of Africa or Justinian’s project to renovate and codify Roman
law, are dealt with only as “side-shows”.55 What is more, John’s solipsism
circumscribes his understanding of the actions and motivations of both

50
§3.28.
51
§3.9. See Nicholson, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, 416. s.v. cornicularius.
For doubts about whether John attained the final rank of cornicularius or the slightly
lower rank of primiscrinius, cf. Bandy’s comments on his edition at pp. xxii-xxiii; Maas,
John Lydus and the Roman Past, 36; Kelly, Ruling, 90–94. The question turns on whether
Lydos was enrolled as one of the Augustales, a privileged cohort within the judicial
service that enjoyed a speedier career path. Based on the complementary wording of
§§3.10 and 3.50, I consider it more likely that not that Lydos was so enrolled and thus
retired with the rank of cornicularius, but Lydos nowhere expressly confirms or denies
this.
52
§ 3.57. For the text and translation of τὸ δαιµόνιον as “rage”, see Bandy’s note (220.9.10)
on p.330 of his edition. Cf. Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 258–59. n. 105
(proposing to emend the text and translate as “demonic power”).
53
John’s “lost” income may not, however, have impacted his standard of living to any
significant degree. His complaints are limited to general pleas of “poverty”. See, e.g.,
§3.49; cf. Kelly, Ruling, 58.
54
§3.28.
55
The phrase is Kelly, Ruling, 16 (“Unless they had affected him or his colleagues,
they deserved no more than passing mention”). See §§3.70 (Nika riots), 3.1 and 3.55
(reconquest of Africa), and 3.1 (laws brought into order).
74
himself and others. He thus provides flawed accounts of the prefects he
served, of the imperial policies they implemented, and of the extent to
which his own interests coincided with those of the bureaucratic cadre
with whom he purports to show solidarity.

… of Prefects

On Powers provides extensive accounts of the careers of the prefects un-

der whom Lydos served. These accounts show up the consequences of his
blinkered perspective and its distorting effect on his judgment. Through
his evaluations of the various prefects, Lydos reveals as much (or more)
about himself as he does of the prefect whose career he is ostensibly de-
scribing. This is because those evaluations are based on one single over-
riding criterion: whether or not their actions benefited John Lydos.56
The example of Zoticus’ immediate successor is instructive. When his
term as prefect expired, Zoticus was replaced by a certain Marinus. The
new prefect did not hail from Philadelphia as Zoticus did; Lydos’ pace of
promotions slowed, and his opportunities for extra-salarial profit dwin-
dled.57 Lydos’ verdict on Marinus’ term of office was predictably harsh.
Among other things, he disapproved of Marinus’ innovation of placing
financial officials locally within each prefectural province, which had the
effect of reducing the flow of significant cases to the prefectural court,
leaving only trivial ones.58 The revenue stream potentially available to the
prefecture’s officials therefore shrank, much to Lydos’ chagrin: “for what
was left over to [the civil service] when it was rendering service to only the
lawsuits of private individuals?”59
As one might expect based on the example of Marinus, Lydos’ list of
other “bad” prefects similarly comprises those who impaired his ability to
generate revenue. Lydos’ criticisms on this score even extend to prefects
who served prior to his own tenure. Thus, Cyrus of Panopolis is criticized
for issuing rulings in Greek instead of Latin, which had the effect of re-
ducing demand for Lydos’ own specialist language skills.60 Another ear-
lier prefect, Rufinus, is criticized for ceding bureaucratic “turf” from the

56
Kelly, 52.
57
Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 259.
58
§3.49.
59
Ibid.
60
§3.42.
75
 judicial side of the prefecture to other departments.61 From the time of
John’s own tenure, a certain Demosthenes gets criticized for reducing the
number of cases that came up for appeal in the prefectural court, thus
reducing the flow of filing fees, tips and other payments.62
Lydos reserved his most bitter bile, however, for John the Cappadocian,
whose lengthy career overlapped with his own: the Cappadocian served as
prefect, initially from 531 to the Nika riots of 532, when he was dismissed
due to popular protests against his corruption, and then again for the long
period from late 532 to his downfall in 541. The list of Lydos’ complaints
against the Cappadocian is impressive: beyond the usual tropes of ancient
invective – e.g., cruelty, greed, murder and the like – we also find lavishly
described allegations of sexual depravity and, perhaps still worse in Lydos’
eyes, poor command of Latin.63 The Cappadocian’s worst offence, how-
ever, appears to have been the implementation of administrative reforms
that were not merely short-sighted64 but also had the effect of diverting
activity, and thus opportunities for graft, from the prefecture’s judicial
side to its treasury side.65 Of particular concern to Lydos were the Cap-
padocian’s steps to reduce the importance of Latin in the day-to-day work
of the prefecture.66
By contrast, Lydos’ list of “good” prefects records those who rendered
him some benefit. Zoticus’ many favors toward Lydos were noted above.
A certain Sergius, too, comes in for praise: he was the prefect who in 517
appointed Lydos to his second (profitable) term as chartularius.67 Hepha-
estus, prefect at the time of Lydos’ retirement ceremony, also finds favor,
in large part on account of the floridly worded proclamation he recited on
the occasion.68 The highest praise, though, is reserved for Phocas, the pre-
61
§§ 2.10, 3.23, 3.40.
62
§3.42.
63
§§ 2.17, 20-21; 3.57-69; Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 260.
64
Procopius, too, criticises the Cappadocian’s cost-cutting reforms for short-
sightedness. Procopius, Historia Arcana, 30.8-11.
65
In fact, the drift of opportunities to profit from graft away from the judicial side
toward the treasury side had been ongoing since Zeno’s reign, several decades previously.
§3.36.
66
§3.68. John’s complaint is that the Cappadocian had turned the prefecture’s working
language into a “haggish and base idiom” (εἰς γραώδη τινὰ καὶ χαµαίζηλον ἀπαγγελίαν).
This expression may mean a vulgarised sort of Latin but more likely indicates a shift to
the vernacular, i.e., Greek. Dmitriev, “John Lydus and His Contemporaries,” 41.
67
§§2.21, 3.17, 3.20.
68
Kelly, Ruling, 25.
76
fect who succeeded the Cappadocian at the time of the Nika riots. John’s
praise of Phocas’ generosity, not least to Lydos’ fellow Latinist, Speciosus,
is lavish.69 Some scholars have seen this praise of the pagan Phocas as an
indication that John himself was not Christian.70 But John’s name indi-
cates that he was born of Christian parents at least and, as a civil servant,
he would have been required to swear an oath of orthodoxy.71 In addition,
avoidance of overtly Christian rhetoric arguably was more a mark of “lit-
erary affectation” during this period than a sign of (non-) belief.72 John’s
praise of Phocas is in any event cannily worded: the prefect’s virtues may
be construed equally as pagan or as Christian.
John’s favorable attitude toward Phocas thus may more properly be con-
strued as praise for the traditional Roman virtues he was seen to embody.

… of Imperial Policy
John’s blinkered perspective similarly limited his ability to understand
imperial policy except insofar as it affected his own financial prospects.
The numerous fees, charges, tips and other payments charged by official
at all stages of court proceedings would have had the effect of limiting
access to justice. The inefficiency they reflected would also have made it
less likely that cases could be resolved expeditiously at provincial level,
increasing the frequency of appeals, tying up limited official time and
attention (including at the highest level) and increasing costs. Together,
these factors represented a significant drag on the judicial system, and
the reforms introduced by the Marinus and the Cappadocian should be
seen as aimed at improving that system’s efficiency and reducing costs to
litigants.73 Those costs, of course, represented a potential stream of rev-
enue to Lydos and his colleagues. Even if they were detrimental to the

69
§§3.73 (Speciosus), 3.75 (Phocas’ ransoming of prisoners at own expense).
70
Anthony Kaldellis, “The Religion of John Lydos,” Phoenix 57, no. 3/4 (Winter 2003):
300–316.
71
§3.12 (oath); Treadgold, The Early Byzantine Historians, 258 (name).
72
See Barry Baldwin, “Review Article: ‘John Lydus and the Roman Past: Antiquarianism
and Politics in the Age of Justinian’ by Michael Maas,” Echos Du Monde Classique: Classical
Views XXXVIII, n.s. 13, no. 1 (1994): 64 and the sources cited therein.
73
John F. Haldon, “Economy and Administration: How Did the Empire Work?,” in The
Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005), 49. The efficiency-minded reform of provincial government
implemented by Justinian via Novel 8 (535 CE) suggests that the emperor likely supported
the Cappadocian’s measures to improve judicial efficiency.
77
 financial interests of the prefecture’s officials, the reforms of Marinus and
the Cappadocian were likely beneficial to many other interest groups of
the empire.74 Lydos does not tell us this, however; his eyes are firmly, and
exclusively, fixed on his own benefit.
Lydos similarly misinterprets the emperor Justinian’s relationship to
his eastern prefects Phocas and John the Cappadocian during the criti-
cal period following the Nika riots. Lydos’ extravagant praise of Phocas’
administrative and other virtues75 is of little help in understanding why
Justinian dismissed him after only ten months.76 As for his “bad” prefects,
Lydos dutifully but unconvincingly attempts to create distance between
them and their emperors in order to exculpate the latter. Thus, Anasta-
sius is excused from knowledge of Marinus’ cruelly effective tax collec-
tion practices, even though those same practices made Anastasius himself
very rich.77 And Lydos goes out of his way to avoid attributing responsibil-
ity for the Cappadocian’s excesses to Justinian.78 But in doing so Lydos
misses, or declines to adopt, the more plausible interpretation that Justin-
ian’s continued support of the Cappadocian signaled imperial support for
his reforms.79
More generally, we might see Lydos as an initially willing victim of the
propaganda and Justinian’s ideology of renovatio – restoring the integrity
of the Roman state by reviving ancient institutions.80 Such a program, real
or otherwise, would naturally be attractive to a man such as Lydos, with
his interests in antiquarian trivia and his loving attentiveness to questions
bureaucratic status and procedure, not to mention his pride in his com-
mand of Latin.81 On Powers is shot through with claims for the continuing
74
In considering the beneficiaries of the various reform measures, it is preferable
to think in terms of the advantages to provincial and other elites, who would enjoy
improved access to swifter justice at lower cost as a result of the reforms, rather than in
terms of any anachronistic conception of the “general public”.
75
§3.72 ff.
76
The description of Phocas’ investiture in §3.76 might be read to suggest that Justinian
feared the new prefect’s popularity, but that requires a somewhat more esoteric reading
of John Lydos than most scholars have been prepared to entertain.
77
§3.51.
78
§§3.39, 3.69.
79
Haldon, “Economy and Administration,” 51; Kelly, Ruling, 56.
80
For discussion of this Justinian’s program of renewal, see Charles Pazdernik,
“Justinianic Ideology and the Power of the Past,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Age
of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 185–212.
81
See, e.g., §§3.7-8, 3.11, 3.31, 3.63, 3.64.
78
relevance of the Roman past to Lydos’ own times.82 Indeed, the emperor
might likely have identified men such as Lydos as prime targets for bam-
boozlement by propaganda of this sort. The limitations on his perspective
and the resultant impairment of his judgement perhaps rendered Lydos
more susceptible to such propaganda. Eventually, however, the scales
would fall from Lydos’ eyes; his statements exculpating the emperor from
the sins of the Cappadocian ring hollow. This perhaps accounts for the nu-
merous tensions in the work that result from his apparent solicitousness
for the emperor’s program of renovatio and his awareness of the many in-
justices that resulted from it.83
Some scholars have seized upon these elements to read On Powers as a
story of distress at governmental measures that risked undermining the
culture of antiquity and the interest groups that preserved that culture.84
While there may be elements of this in the work, they are outweighed
by Lydos’ exclamations of distress over the effects upon his own personal
financial interests. By way of example, John’s account of the impoverished
prospects for the holder of the office of the cornicularius laments that, in
former times, the officeholder could expect to “carry off the revenues [from
proceedings]” for what John euphemistically calls “his own consolation”.85
The cornicularius would later be compelled to share this income stream
with officers from the treasury side, but even then he could count on “an
income not less than a thousand gold coins”.86 By John’s own time, how-
ever, the filing fees for petitions were much reduced, from 37 gold coins
for a “unilateral petition” to a single copper coin, which had the entirely
predictable effect of drying up the income stream for office-holders.87 Ly-
dos’ exclusive focus upon his interests prevents him from acknowledging
broader policy objectives.

82
Christopher Kelly, “John Lydus and the Eastern Pretorian Prefecture,” Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 98, no. 2 (2005): 433. The same holds true for John’s other two surviving works,
the De Mensibus and De Portentis. Dmitriev, “John Lydus and His Contemporaries,” 30.
83
See, e.g., §§3.61 (devastation of John’s home province of Lydia by tax collectors) and
3.72 ff. (downfall of Phocas). Cf. Pazdernik, “Justinianic Ideology and the Power of the
Past,” 192–94.
84
Michael Maas, “Roman Questions, Byzantine Answers: Contours of the Age of
Justinian,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. Michael Maas
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 18.
85
§3.23.
86
§3.24.
87
§3.25.
79
 … of his own Career and Motivations
Beyond these misunderstandings of imperial policy and motives, how-
ever, lie Lydos’ more profound misunderstanding of the nature of his own
service and his relationship with the colleagues who shared it with him.
At the most superficial level, one may note Lydos’ account of his own re-
tirement ceremony in 541 CE. Because office rotation was annual among
the senior civil servants of this period, that same ceremony must also have
marked the retirement of many other officials. Of these, Lydos makes no
mention. In his recounting of the event, there is room only for the em-
peror, the prefect, and himself. At a deeper level, however, Lydos fails to
account for the fundamental contradiction between the importance he
attributes to collegiality among the bureaucratic corps, on the one hand,
and the powers of patronage that got his own career off to its brilliant
start, on the other. On Powers is replete with passages that purport to iden-
tify the collective interests of the civil service and urge public officials to
act with those interests foremost in mind.88 How did Lydos reconcile his
plea to subordinate individual ambition to the collective interest of the
bureaucratic staff with his own early privilege?89 The reason that he gives
– namely that his own appointment in his first year to highly responsible
roles helped the other exceptores better cope with their heavy workload90
– fails to persuade. One can easily imagine that the other exceptores would
gladly have handed over to Lydos their own tasks, so as to free themselves
up to take on the higher-ranking and more profitable position that the
new boy won through patronage.

Conclusion

Ultimately then, the reader may question the extent to which John Ly-
dos viewed his post in the prefecture’s bureaucracy as “service” rather than
merely as an asset from which he could generate income. We thus see Ly-
dos’ self-identification with the interests and values of the cadres of which
he was a part, as well as the limits to that self- identification. On Powers
abounds in expressions of pride in the capabilities of the prefectural civil
service, and indeed the very fact of its composition stands as a testament

88
See the excellent discussion of the relevant passages and their context at Kelly,
Ruling, 44 ff.
89
Kelly, 51.
90
§3.27.
80
to that pride. Moreover, Lydos’ usage of passages from the corpus Greek
and Latin authors marks his participation in the shared system of values
inculcated by the classically oriented paideia of late antiquity. That usage,
however, aims less at providing additional layers of than at serving Lydos’
more immediate rhetorical needs, particularly when addressing matters
of closest concern to him: showing off his erudition, lamenting his own fi-
nancial situation and settling scores with rivals like John the Cappadocian.
Perhaps more importantly, On Powers also shows how Lydos’ pre-occu-
pation with his own financial situation limits the extent to which his in-
terests fully aligned with those of his colleagues. John’s expectations, so
cruelly raised in that first year of service, took on in his mind the status of
an entitlement even though they owed more to hometown connections
than to his own merits. When, inevitably, the expected sums failed to ap-
pear, John allowed his disappointment to color his assessment not just
of his colleagues and of imperial policy, but also of himself and his own
motivations. To be sure, John undoubtedly thought of himself as devoted
to the collective interests of the bureaucratic corps, but On Powers gives
little evidence that he reflected on how much his own success owed to
practices inconsistent with those collective interests.

81
 5
The attitude of Justinian I (527-565)
towards the Eurasian nomads.
Manipulations and aims
Georgios Kardaras, National Hellenic
Research Foundation, Athens
UDK 355.48:32 JUSTINIJAN I
UDK 94(495.02)”0527/0565”

Abstract: The paper tackles with the attitude of Justinian I (527-565) towards
the steppe peoples, namely the Avars, the early Turks as well as Protobulgar and
Hunnic tribes, having in mind either the protection of the northern borders of
the empire along the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Danube or the economic
and trade dimension of the Eurasian space. In order to maintain the balance
of power along the northern border, but also to achieve political, military and
economic goals in the region, Justinian, created a system of alliances paying
annual tribute to the local tribes but also he exercised cultural diplomacy
through Christianization and developed trade relations. On the other hand, the
emperor, avoiding the direct involvement of the Byzantine army, was inciting
one people against another or, as in the case of the Turks, the trade agreement
for the silk was accompanied by a military alliance. Linked to the concepts
of the “other” in Byzantium, in that case the peoples living in barbaricum,
the attitude of Justinian, who followed the traditions of the Byzantine policy
towards the steppe nomads, is concentrated in the ‘‘divide and rule’’ doctrine
and, on the hand, a systematic effort to replace the military involvement with
82
 the power of annual subsidies and, when necessary, the concession of land for
settlement ( foedus).

In Byzantine sources, the steppe peoples are described with certain

stereotypes such as unfaithful, greedy, ugly, cruel, malicious, etc., namely a
negative portrait following a trope of the Greek and Roman ethnography.
The Eurasian nomads were viewed in light of the opposition between the
“civilized” world and the “barbarians” (called ἔθνη or gentes/nationes),
the latter living outside the geographical and cultural boundaries of
the Christian Roman world and being therefore different in language,
customs, or religious beliefs.1 However, these stereotypes did not prevent
the Byzantine emperors, and mostly Justinian, to develop strong ties with
them either for economic or for military reasons.
In order to maintain the balance of power along its northern border,
but also to achieve its political, military and economic goals in the region,
Byzantium had to seek allies on the Lower Volga and in the steppe lands
north of the Caucasus Mountains. Those allies were to play the role of a
‘‘buffer zone’’ against raids of nomads, either living there or newcomers
from Central Asia to Europe. For that purpose, the Byzantine diplomacy
did not hesitate to use methods, such as Christianization, trade relations,
as well as other means (e.g., inciting one people against another or pre-
venting the formation of alliances against the Empire).2 Regarding the
Eurasian nomads, Justinian’s policy concerns Hunnic and Bulgar tribes
such as the Crimean and the Sabirs Huns, the Kutrigurs and the Utigurs,
living close to Caucasus and the Black Sea3 (the Iranian-speaking nomads
Alans of Caucasus are not considered in the paper) and later the Avars
and the Western Turks.
1
Roger Batty, Rome and the Nomads. The pontic danubian Realm in Antiquity (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2007), 264-283, 480-494. Georgios Kardaras, Byzantium and the
Avars, 6th-9th c. A. D. Political, diplomatic and cultural relations, East Central and Eastern
Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450, 51 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018), 7-8.
2
Otto Mazal, Justinian I und seine Zeit. Geschichte und Kultur des Byzantinischen Reiches
im 6. Jahrhundert (Köln/Weimar/Wien: Bohlau, 2001), 244–51. Edward N. Luttwak, The
Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire (Cambridge Massachusetts/London: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University, 2009), 293, 352. Kardaras, Avars, 21-22.
3
See, Otto Maenchen-Helfen, Die Welt der Hunnen (Wien/Köln/Graz: H. Bohlau
Nachf. 1978), 272-273, 293-294, 299. Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of
the Turcic Peoples. Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern
Eurasia and the Middle East (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz. 1992), 97. Sergei A. Romašov,
‘‘Bolgarskie plemena severnogo pricernomor’ja v V-VII vv.,’’ AEMA 8 (1992-1994), 209-213,
216-218, 221. Mazal, Justinian I, 182. Daniel Ziemann, Vom Wandervolk zur Grosmacht. Die
Entstehung Bulgariens im frühen Mittelalter (7. bis 9. Jh.) (Cologne/Weimar/Wien: Bohlau,
2007), 54, 65, 68–69, 95-97, 148.
83
 In 528 Boa, queen of the Sabirs Huns, visited Constantinople and Jus-
tinian offered her rich gifts (gem stones and imperial vestments) as well
as money, but there is no mention of Christianization. Boa defeated two
philo-Persian Huns rulers, Glom and Tyranx slaughtering, the first in bat-
tle and sending the second prisoner to Justinian. In the same year, Grod,
the rex of the Crimean Huns, came to Constantinople and was baptized.
Grod tried to convert his people to Christianity and destroyed the pagan
statues, but the reaction of the Hun priests led to the murder of Grod and
the Byzantine guard of the city Bosporos.4 However, the great problem
with the nomads ���������������������������������������������������������
(Kutrigurs and Utigurs)����������������������������������
, as during the reign of Anastasi-
5
us I (491-518), continued to be the Balkan provinces. Both Procopius and
Jordanes mention raids of nomads, along with the Slavs for the reign of
Justinian.6 The recorded in the sources massive raids of the nomads cover
4
John Malalas, Chronicle, ed. Ioannes Thurn, Ioannis Malalae Chronographia, CFHB,
Series Berolinensis 35 (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 2000), 18. 13 and 14, 360-362. Maenchen-
Helfen, Hunnen, 265-266, 280. Mazal, Justinian I, 107, 251. Georgios Th. Kardaras,
‘‘Christian symbols among the nomads, 5th-8th Century A.D.’’, in Rome, Constantinople
and Newly-Converted Europe. Archaeological and Historical Evidence (U źródeł Europy
Środkowo-Wschodniej/Frühzeit Ostmitteleuropas), vol. Ι, ed. Maciej Salamon et al.
(Krakow/Leipzig: GWZO / Rzeszow: Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego /
Warszawa: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2012), 80.
5
See, Count Marcellinus, Chronicle, ed. Th. Mommsen, Marcellini Comitis Chronicon,
MGH, AA 11 (Berlin: Weidmann, 1894), 94-96. Brian Croke, Count Marcellinus and his
Chronicle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). 53, 68-70. Fiona K. Haarer, Anastasius
I. Politics and Empire in the Late Roman World, ARCA. Classical and Medieval Texts,
Papers and Monographs, 46 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2006), 104-105.
Ziemann, Entstehung, 47-48, 70.
6
Procopius of Caesarea, The Anecdota or Secret History, ed. and transl. Henry B.
Dewing (London: LBL, 1969), ΧVIIΙ. 20–21, 217–19: “… and Illyricum and Thrace in its
entirety, comprising the whole expanse of country from the Ionian Gulf to the outskirts
of Byzantium, including Greece and the Thracian Chersonese, was overrun practically
every year by Huns, Sclaveni and Antae, from the time when Justinian took over the
Roman Empire, and they wrought frightful havoc among the inhabitants of that region.
For in each invasion more than twenty myriads of Romans, I think, were destroyed or
enslaved there, so that a veritable Scythian wilderness came to exist everywhere in this
land”. See also Procopius, History of the Wars, Edited and translated by H. B. Dewing
(London: LCL 1961-1962), VII, 14. 2, 263. Jordanes, Romana, ed. Th. Mommsen, Iordanis De
summa temporum vel origine actibusque gentis Romanorum (Iordanis Romana et Getica)
MGH AA V/1, 1-52, 388, 52: “Hi sunt casus Romanae rei publicae preter instantia cottidiana
Bulgarum, Antium et Sclavinorum”. Florin Curta, The Making of the Slavs: History and
Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500-700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2001), 78-79. Paul M. Barford, The Early Slavs. Culture and Society in Early Medieval
Eastern Europe (New York: Cornell University Press, 2001), 50. Ziemann, Entstehung,
87, 95. Georgios Kardaras, ‘‘Byzantium and the Antes. Political and cultural relations,’’
in Od Bachórza do Światowida ze Zbrucza. Tworzenie się słowiańskiej Europy w ujęciu
archeologicznym, historycznym i językoznawczym, Studia źródłoznawcze dedykowane
Profesorowi Michałowi Parczewskiemu w 70. rocznicę urodzin, ed. Michał Wojenka and
Marcin Wołoszyn (Kraków/Uniwersytet Jagielloński – Rzeszów/Uniwersytet Rzeszowski:
2016), 41-55, 43-44.
84
the period between 528 and 551.7 On the other hand, in the same period
Eurasian nomads served as mercenaries in the Byzantine army.8
According to Agathias and Menander the Guardsman, Justinian, be-
cause of his old age, had lost his disposition to wage wars, and was now
trying to ward off enemies by some other means. 9 We may distinguish
these ‘‘means’’ to three levels. The first, concerning also the Slavs, was
the Justinianian fortifications on the Balkans. The second, the creation
of a ‘‘buffer zone’’ by the integration of the Western Antes in the service
of Constantinople with a treaty (foedus) in 545/46, clearly intended to
form a barrier at the Lower Danube against the nomadic — or any other
— raids into the Balkan provinces.10 The third, was the yearly payments
to the Kutrigurs and the Utigurs as well as the inciting of conflicts be-
tween them. Regarding the Kutrigurs, Procopius quotes that ‘‘although
they receive from the emperor many gifts every year, they still cross the
Ister River continually and overrun the emperor’s land, being both at
peace and at war with the Romans’’11 while the Utigurs ‘‘alone possessed
the land, making no trouble at all for the Romans, because they do not
even dwell near them, but, being separated by many nations which lie
between, they are forced, by no will of their own, not to meddle with
them’’.12 The yearly payments of Byzantium to the Kutrigurs and the
Utigurs are also known by the speeches of the Avar envoys to Constan-
tinople in 568 and 569, since the latter considered as “rightly their” the

7
See, Croke, Count Marcellinus, 70-71. Mazal, Justinian I, 167, 183, 185-188, 190-191.
Ziemann, Entstehung, 89-92, 94, 98. Daniel Syrbe, “Reiternomaden des Schwarzmeerraums
(Kutriguren und Utiguren) und byzantinische Diplomatie im 6. Jahrhundert”, Acta
Orientalia 65/3 (2012): 291–316, 295-296.
8
See, Maenchen-Helfen, Hunnen, 264-266, 271, 274, 276, 278-281, 283-285, 299.
9
Menander, History, fr. 5. 1, 48. Walter Pohl, Die Awaren. Ein Steppenvolk in Mitteleuropa,
567–822 n. Chr. (München: C.H. Beck, 1988), 19–20. Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 59–60.
Syrbe, ‘‘Reiternomaden’’, 292. Kardaras, Avars 20-21. See, Agathias, The Histories, tr. J. D.
Frendo, CFHB, II A (Berlin /New York: Walter De Gruyter 1975): Ε, 14, 1, 149. The History
of Menander the Guardsman, ed. and transl. Roger C. Blockley, ARCA: Classical and
Medieval Texts 17 (Liverpool: Francis Cairns, 1985): fr. 5.1, 48. Syrbe, ‘‘Reiternomaden’’,
292.
10
Procopius, History of the Wars, VII. 14. 32–33, 273–275: …and he further agreed to give
them all the assistance within his power while they were establishing themselves, and to
pay them great sums of money, on condition that they should remain at peace with him
thereafter and constantly block the way against the Huns, when these wished to overrun
the Roman domain’’. Curta, Slavs, 80–82, 331-332. Kardaras, Byzantium and the Antes,
44-45, with further literature.
11
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 5. 16, 93. See also, Procopius, Anecdota, 11. 5-8, 133.
12
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 5. 22, 95. Romašov, Bolgarskie plemena, 209.
85
 tribute that the empire used to pay to both tribes, being now under the
Avar rule.13
The ‘‘divide and rule’’ policy of Justinian towards the two tribes took
place in the 550’s. In 551 the emperor motivated an attack of the Utigurs on
the Kutrigurs 14 and also he paid the Kutrigurs in order to retreat from the
Byzantine territory after attack.15 In 552 Justinian settled in Thrace 2.000
Kutrigurs with their families, who survived the Utiguric attack,16 causing
the reaction of Sandilkh, leader of the Utigurs.17 In the winter 558/59 the
Kutrigurs, led by Zabergan, and followed by Slavs, raided the Balkans as
far as Constantinople and withdrew only upon promise that they be paid
an annual tribute.18 After that, Justinian asked from Sandilkh, under the
threat to interrupt the yearly payments and to conclude an alliance with
the Kutrigurs���������������������������������������������������������������
, �������������������������������������������������������������
to�����������������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������������
move������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������
against the latter. The circle of conflicts that fol-
lowed, exhausted and destroyed the two peoples: ‘‘the scattered remnant
of these Hunnic tribes has in fact been reduced to servitude in the lands of
other peoples whose names they have assumed; ... And so since they were
continually embroiled in internal troubles they no longer had any idea
of attacking the domain of the Romans, indeed they sank into an almost
total obscurity”.19
In the late 550’s, Justinian had to handle a new power in the steppes,
the Avars, who, defeated by the Turks between in 552 and 555, fled to Eu-
rope.20 Relations between Byzantium and the Avars officially started in
13
See, Menander, History, fr. 12. 6, 138 and 12. 7, 142. Ibidem, 268, n. 161–162. Pohl,
Awaren, 61–63. Ziemann, Enstehung, 101–102. Hrvoje Gračanin, “Avari, južna Panonija i
pad Sirmija”, Scrinia Slavonica 9 (2009): 7–56. 9, Kardaras, Avars, 31-36.
14
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 18. 18-24, 239-243. Mazal, Justinian I, 191. Ziemann,
Entstehung, 98. Syrbe, Reiternomaden, 296.
15
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 19. 3-5, 243, 245. Mazal, Justinian I, 191.
16
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 19. 6-7, 245. Mazal, Justinian I, 191. Ziemann,
Entstehung, 98.
17
Procopius, History of the Wars, VIII, 19. 8-22, 245-251. Mazal, Justinian I, 191. Ziemann,
Entstehung, 98-99.
18
See, Agathias, The Histories, E, 11.6-23.8, 146-160. John Malalas, Chronicle, 18. 129, 421.
John of Antiocheia, History, ed. Karol Müller, Joannis Antiocheni Fragmenta, Fragmenta
historicorum Graecorum 4 (Paris, 1868), fr. 218, 622. Victor Tonennensis Chronicle, ed.
Theodor Mommsen, Victoris Episcopi Tonennensis Chronica MGH, AA 11/1 (Berlin:
Weidmann, 1894), 205 (560). Mazal, Justinian I, 192-193. Ziemann, Entstehung, 99-100.
Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 93. Syrbe, ‘‘Reiternomaden’’, 297-298.
19
Agathias, The Histories, Ε, 24.1-25.6, 160-162. John of Antiocheia, History, fr. 217, 621-
622. Mazal, Justinian I, 193. Ziemann, Entstehung, 100-101. Syrbe, ‘‘Reiternomaden’’, 298.
20
Golden, Introduction 79. Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 97–98. Kardaras, Avars, 15-16.
86
January 558, when the Avars, at that time stationed in the steppe lands
north of the Caucasus Mountains, dispatched their first embassy to Jus-
tinian. The head envoy of the Avars, a man named Kandikh, presented
to Justinian the requests of “the greatest and most powerful of tribes, the
invincible Avars”: land for settlement, annual tribute, and presents. He
also promised that the Avars would fight the enemies of the empire. Jus-
tinian accepted the idea of a formal alliance and, as a confirmation, sent
imperial gifts to the Avar khagan in the form of cords “worked with gold,
couches, and silken garments.” However, he did not offer them land for
settlement and an annual tribute, namely the status of foederati and dis-
patched a spatharius named Valentinus to the Avars in order to turn them
against tribes who lived north of the Caucasus Mountains and the Black
Sea.21 According to the words of the Avars at a later stage, the various an-
nual presents from Constantinople (gold, silver and silken garments) were
welcomed by the khagan, who ‘‘would not abandon his attempt to obtain
gifts, under threats or through any other pressure at all’’22.
The main goal of the emperor, was likely not to “utterly destroy the Av-
ars”, as Menander notes, but to use them in the interest of the Byzantines.
After their alliance with Justinian, the Avars succeeded in a short time to
subdue several tribes/peoples, the Onogurs, the Zaloi (of Hunnic origin),
the Sabirs, and the Eastern Antes, and to create for a while a new balance
of power in the lands north of the Caucasus, actually replacing them as
a ‘‘buffer zone’’ in the sofuth Russian and Ukrainian steppes.23 However,
the Avar sojourn in these lands was short. Despite the fact that a huge
area was already under their rule, they moved in 562 to the Lower Danube
and they settled to the northeast of that river. Their move may have been

21
Menander, History, fr. 5. 1–2, 48–52. The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus,
transl. Michael Whitby (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000): Ε 1, 255. The
Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor. Byzantine and Near Eastern History AD 284–813,
transl. Cyril Mango and Roger Scott (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997): 239-240. Victor
Tonennensis Chronicle, 205 (erroneous date in 563). Walter Pohl, Die Awaren, 18-19, 46,
49, 180. Ziemann, Enstehung, 103–104. Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 59. Kardaras, Avars, 20,
34-37, where also further testimonies on the gifts of Justinian to the Avars as well as the
foederati topic in the Byzantine-Avar relations.
22
Menander, History, fr. 25.2, 226. Pohl, Awaren, 73, 212-213.
23
Menander, History, fr. 5. 2–3, 50. Ibidem, 253, 276, n. 23–24, 225. Pohl, Awaren, 18–19,
39–40. Ziemann, Enstehung, 104. Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 60. Georgi N. Nikolov, “Bulgars
in Central Europe and along the Lower Danube in the early Middle Ages (4th–9th
C.) according to written historical Sources,” in The Nagyszentmiklos Gold Treasure, ed.
Metodi Daskalov et al. (Sofia: National Archaeological Institute with Museum – Bulgarian
Academy of Sciences, 2017), 58–76, 66–67. Kardaras, Avars, 22.
87
 caused by the threat of the Western Turks.24 An Avar attack, mentioned by
Theophanes as a raid of the “Huns” into Thrace, took place in that same
year.25
After their raid, the Avars sent envoys demanding settlement within the
Empire, namely the status of federates ( foederati). The envoys initially ne-
gotiated with the general Justin, who offered a part of Pannonia II, the land
in which in 512 Emperor Anastasius I had settled the Heruls as federates. The
Avars refused Justin’s offer, as they wanted to settle in Scythia Minor. During
those fruitless negotiations, the Avar envoy Kunimon told Justin that Ba-
ian’s ultimate target was to cross the Danube and to fight against Byzantium.
Justin sent the embassy to Constantinople and ordered the general Bonus
to take measures for the defense of the Lower Danube, as the river was the
‘‘shield’’ against attacks on Balkan provinces and Constantinople. As clearly
indicated by the negotiations of 562, the Avars regarded the Lower Danube
as a possible area of settlement under the pretext of defending the Balkan
provinces from attacks by other peoples. However, they in fact sought to
bring under control the area of the Byzantine frontier and the Slavic tribes
living in that area, as well as to use the pressure on that frontier in order to
secure annual tribute from Byzantium.26
Understanding the long-term goals of the Avars were if allowed to settle
in Scythia Minor, Justinian rejected the Avar claims. Following the nego-
tiations, the Avar envoys extended their stay in Constantinople in order
to buy weapons and clothes. However, Justinian ordered Justin to confis-
cate the weapons that the envoys had bought, a decision that caused the
displeasure of the Avars.27 Justinian’s rejection of the Avar request for set-
tlement on imperial soil temporarily removed the Avar threat from the
24
Karoly Czeglédy, “From East to West: The Age of Nomadic Migrations in Eurasia”,
AEMA 3 (1983): 25–125. 39, 105, where a hypothesis about the possible Avar remnants in
the north Caucasus area. Pohl, Awaren, 40, 43. Kardaras, Avars, 23.
25
Theophanes Confessor, Chronicle, 347: In the same year Obaisipolis? was captured
by the Huns … In April Anastasioupolis in Thrace was also captured by the same Huns;
Pohl, Awaren, 62. Wolfgang Liebeschuetz, “The Lower Danube Region under Pressure:
From Valens to Heraclius”, in East and West in Late Antiquity: Invasion, Settlement,
Ethnogenesis and Conflicts of Religion, ed. Wolfgang Liebeschuetz (Leiden/Boston: Brill,
2015): 425–464, 437. Kardaras, Avars, 23.
26
Menander, History, fr. 5. 4, 50–52. Ibidem, 253–254, n. 26–29. Pohl, Awaren, 44–45.
Mazal, Justinian I, 193–194. Ecaterina Lung, “Barbarian Envoys at Byzantium in the
6th Century”, Hiperboreea Journal 2/1 (2015), 35–52, 43. Alexandros Sarantis, “Military
Encounters and Diplomatic Affairs in the North Balkans during the Reigns of Anastasius
and Justinian”, in War and Warfare in Late Antiquity, ed. A. Sarantis and Neil Christie
(Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013): 759–808, 770, 774. Kardaras, Avars, 23-24.
27
Menander, History, fr. 5. 4, 52. Pohl, Awaren, 45, 195. Lung, “Barbarian Envoys’’, 45.
Kardaras, Avars, 24.
88
Lower Danube. The Avars turned their interest to the West and in that
same year (562), during a raid into Thuringia, they clashed for the first
time with the Franks. The Avar attack on the West has been associated by
W. Fritze with Justinian’s foreign policy in Italy, as the king of Austrasia, Si-
gibert I had threatened the Byzantine possessions in the peninsula.28 After
their defeat in Thuringia, the Avars returned to the Lower Danube. Their
activity in the next three years is unknown, as sources do not provide any
information about them until the ascension of Justin II to the throne (No-
vember 14, 565).29
After the victorious march of the Avars between 558 and 562, Constan-
tinople had hopes about a powerful ally in order to protect its interests
in the East European steppes. But their move in 562 created a split to the
Justinianian system of alliances, which the emperor tried to cover by ap-
proaching the Western Turks. The rapprochement between the Byzan-
tines and Khagan Sizabul (or Silzibul) is dated to 562/63, when the first
envoys of the Turks showed up in Constantinople. The intention of the
Turks, who at that time lived to the east of the river Don, was not only
to strengthen their ties to the Empire, but also to prevent the rapproche-
ment between the Byzantines and the Avars. Furthermore, there was an
economic and trade dimension to that policy, since because of the fre-
quent conflicts with Persia, the Byzantines wanted to secure access to Chi-
nese silk via trade routes across the Turkic khaganate Justinian’s alliance
with Sizabul was, according to Theophanes of Byzantium, the reason for
which the Avar demands were rejected by Justin II after his accession to
the throne in 565. From the rapprochement of the Byzantines with the
Western Turks it is evident that the orientation of the empire to defend
its interests in the East European steppes had turned towards Sizabul. The
Avars, as enemies of the Western Turks, had no place in the geopolitical
plans of Byzantium in that area.30 Emperor Justin II developed even more
the relations of Byzantium with the Turkic khaganate and many embassies
28
See, Wolfgang Fritze, Untersuchungen zur fruhslawischen und fruhfrankischen
Geschichte bis ins 7. Jahrhundert (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1994): 73–74. Pohl, Awaren, 45–46.
Kardaras, Avars, 24.
29
Pohl, Awaren, 48. Kardaras, Avars, 24-25.
30
Theophanes Byzantius, Fragments, ed. Karol Müller, Theophanis Byzantii Fragmenta,
FHG 4 (Paris: A. Firmin-Didot, 1851): 2, 270. Theophanes Confessor, Chronicle, 351. Pohl,
Awaren, 40–41. Stephanos Kordoses, “Byzantine-Turkic Relations and the wider Eurasian
Alliances during the Perso-Byzantine Wars”, International Journal of Eurasian Studies
(2011), 296–312, 298, who assumes that the first contact of the two sides is dated in
553 when, according to an inscription in Kul Tegin, the Byzantines (Purum) had sent
a delegation on the occasion of the death of the Bou-min, the khagan of the Turks.
Kardaras, Avars, 25-27.
89
 between the two sides are recorded using the northern Silk Road.31
Justinian was another emperor who had to deal with the nomad ‘’greed
for gold’’, The Byzantine gold was crucial for the survival and the internal
coherence of the nomadic societies, as it was secured the loyalty to the
khagan through the distribution of the prestige goods and the booty to his
subjects (the so-called “prestige economy”). Apart from the tribute, vari-
ous luxury goods entered took they for them mostly as gifts. The greed for
gold or any profit from negotiations is often emphasized in the Byzantine
sources as part of the negative image of the nomads, who used threats
and tricks in order to impose their conditions. Agathias clearly describes
the policy of Justinian towards the Kutrigurs and the Utigurs: “The bar-
barians were destroying one another whilst he without resorting to arms
was, thanks to his brilliant diplomacy, the ultimate victor and was bound
to profit whatever the outcome of the fighting”32. Menander Protector,
describing the first Avar delegation, praises the policy of Justinian, who
turned the Avars against Onogurs, Sabirs Huns, Zaloi and Antes: “This, in
my view, was a very wise move, since whether the Avars prevailed or were
defeated, both eventualities would be to the Romans’ advantage”33.
We may conclude that Justinian followed a Realpolitik based on the ‘‘di-
vide and rule’’ doctrine34 which followed the traditions of the Byzantine
policies towards the steppe nomads, but was also able to combine it with
a more flexible establishment of alliances, as in the case of the Avars and
the Turks, exploiting either the situation in the Ukrainian and south Rus-
sian steppes or the conflict between the Avars and the Turks. Even with
heavy payments, Justinian managed to avoid long-term military opera-
tions on the Balkans and to turn with more safety his efforts both to the
East and West until the end of his reign.
31
See, Menander, History, fr. 10. 1–3, 110–122. Ibidem, 262-263, n. 110, 126). Theophanes
Byzantius, Fragments, 3, 270–271. Theophanes Confessor, Chronicle, 362. Czegledy,
‘‘Nomadic Migrations’’, 106. Pohl, Awaren, 42–43, 179. Sören Stark, Die Altturkenzeit in
Mittel – und Zentralasien. Archaologische und historische Studien (Wiesbaden: Dr. L.
Reichert, 2008): 296–297. Luttwak, Grand Strategy, 97–100, 104. Kordoses, ‘‘Byzantine-
Turkic Relations’’, 296–298. Ekaterina Nechaeva, Embassies – Negotiations – Gifts. Systems
of East Roman Diplomacy in Late Antiquity (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2014), 136–140, 144–
151. Kardaras, Avars, 26-27.
32
Agathias, Histories, Ε 25. 6, 162.
33
Menander, History, fr. 5.2, 50. Syrbe, ‘‘Reiternomaden’’, 292.
34
That policy (divide et impera), along with other methods, is also noted by many
scholars. See Ștefan-Ioan Cianga,. ‘‘A structural realist approach to the context of
Justinianic policy at the Danubian limes’’, in Identity and Dialogue in the Era of
Globalization. History, Political Sciences, International Relations, ed. Iulian Boldea and
Cornel Sigmirean, 357-63 (Bucharest: Arhipeleag XXI Press, 2019), 360–361.
90
 6

Byzantine Feminisms in the Age of Justinian

Larisa Orlov Vilimonović, University of Belgrade

UDK 27:341.231.14-055.2(495.02)“5“
UDK 316.662-055.2(495.02)“5“

Abstract: The paper proposes a feminist and postcolonial reading of the

Byzantine history in the Age of Justinian. It focuses on several important
Justinian’s New Constitutions, Novellae, and discusses the changes which were
introduced into the Roman society of the VI century. Particular emphasis is
put on the Christian values which were implemented in the laws such as equity
between the sexes. Furthermore, the paper analyses laws, which ameliorated
the social status of women, both within and beyond the institution of marriage.
In the final section the discussion of byzantine feminisms extends beyond the
laws. It opens a wide array of potential topics of research, such as feminisms
in Christian discourse, aesthetics, or in the constitution of subjectivity. In
conclusion, the paper focuses on the potential of the byzantine feminisms as
analytical tools in decolonizing out knowledge about Byzantium.

At the very beginning, it is necessary to do justice to the very title of this

paper. A phrase like „Byzantine feminisms“, a seemly anachronistic oxy-
moron, opens up an abyss of possible debates over terminology and the
applicability of the term feminism in so dreadfully an inadequate context,

91
 such as the history of Byzantium. Indeed, it seems that the term feminism,
whenever used, triggers a wide array of discontent from many sides, and
that it almost always needs some extraordinary raison d ‘être.1 What Rabi-
nowitz pointed out almost three decades ago regarding the field of clas-
sics, now holds for byzantology - with few exceptions, the field has been
antitheory in general and anti-feminist in particular.2 Many modern con-
cepts are already being used as analytical tools in a diachronic historical
analysis by researchers, such as identity, ethnicity, gender and economy,
which were, before 20th-century non-existent sociological concepts as
modes of analysis.3 With regard to that, feminism should also be includ-
ed into historian’s epistemologies.
Another issue is that the term „Byzantine feminism“ does not fit into
the accepted patterns of the historical, social and cultural development
of Western Europe, and its patronizing relation toward and perception
of the Byzantine empire and its heritage.4 The term „byzantine“ in Ox-
ford dictionary refers to something ’complicated, secret and difficult to
change’, or to a manner of action which is ’ characterized by a devious and
usually surreptitious manner of operation; according to Marriam-Webster
dictionary. 5 This colonial perception of complicated, immutable and
ossified Empire still permeates the popular imagination of the Western
Europe concerning its epistemological attitude toward Eastern or Medi-
eval Roman Empire. It echoes Hegel’s philosophy of history who rendered
in his analysis of Byzantine empire a typical Byzantine paradox. It is a
paradox of a ’highly civilized empire’, which nevertheless, ’exhibits to us a
millennial series of uninterrupted crimes, weaknesses, baseness and want
of principle; a most repulsive and consequently a most uninteresting

1
Cf. Feminist Theory and the Classics, ed. by Nancy Sorkin Rabinovitz and Amy Richlin,
(Routledge: New York – London, 1993), 2. Also, as Estelle Freedman points out “the term
was always controversial, in part because of its association with radicalism and in part
because proponents themselves disagreed about the label”. – Estelle Freedman, No
Turning Back. The History of Feminism and the Future of Women (New York: Ballantine
Book 2002), 3.
2
Rabinowitz, Richlin, Feminist Theory, 15.
3
Cf. Anthony Kaldellis, Byzantine Identity Interrogated, Declared, Activated. In this
volume.
4
Cf. Anthony Kaldellis, Romanland. Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press 2019), 3-38; Anthony Kaldellis, Byzantium Unbound
(Leeds: Arc Humanities Press 2019), 29-54.
5
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/byzantine?q=
byzantine, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Byzantine accessed April 4,
2020.
92
picture.’6 Hegel insists on the inherent contradiction in the Byzantine re-
ligion. One would expect that ’the Christian love was universal’ and the
state of humankind ’thoroughly righteous and moral’.7 This paradox of
civilization and barbarism, of elevated courtly culture and deviousness
of its courtiers, of the high-brow Christian theology of the elites and the
vulgar superstition of the mob, created an epistemological paradox called
Byzantium. In this epistemological jumble which in many cases casts its
shadow over scholar’s readings of the Byzantine sources, notions of lib-
ertarian political ideas seem utterly incomparable to anything Byzantine.
Nevertheless, Byzantium was and still is, the distinctive political entity of
the first millennium A.D., precisely for the position which women held in
that society.
The term byzantine feminisms should be introduced as part of postcolo-
nial criticism and thrid-wave feminism which introduced plurality of fem-
inisms such as black feminisms, Asian American feminisms, Thirld World
feminisms, lesbian feminisms, ecofeminsms, Christian, Jewish and Islam-
ic feminsms to “attest the malleability of the label and to the seemingly
contradictory politics it can embrace”.8 The movement was, thus, made
more racially, sexually and religiously inclusive. Why would not we, then,
extend these categories to make a movement more historically inclusive
in its diachronic perspective, and talk about various historical feminisms?
Christian feminisms, for instance, comply with Byzantine feminisms to a
significant extent, and they will be addressed in this study.
The fundamental problem with history of feminism is that its historical
reality and historical time start at the end of 18th century, with the appear-
ance of Mary Wollstonecraft’s essay A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
(1792).9 General histories of feminism almost exclusively spatially focus to
the Western Europe’s and North American’s trajectory of development.10
6
G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, With Prefaces by Charles Hegel and the
Translator, J. Sibree, (M.A., Batoche Books: Kitchener 2001), 355.
7
G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 356.
8
Freedman, The History of Feminism, 6
9
Another most renowned feminist manifesto from the time of the French Revolution
Is Olympe de Gouges’ “Declaration on the Rights of Woman” where she insisted that
“women deserved rights, especially in areas concerning them directly, such as divorce
and recognition of illegitimate children.” - De Gouges “Writings” 564–568.
10
Cf. Karen Offen, Globalizing Feminisms, 1789–1945 (London: Routledge, 2010); Karen
Offen, Les Féminismes en Europe, 1700–1950 (Rennes: PUR, 2012). Feminisms are fixed
with the events of the French Revolution, and on Europe which, of course, excludes
Byzantium in any sense; A Brief History of Feminisms by Patu and Antje Schrupp, although
includes the Mary Magdalene, does not dwell on premodernity in extent. As Helen Lewis
93
 Byzantium is completely excluded from all feminist epistemologies, even
from those which tend to recover women’s histories from the world be-
yond West. Byzantium as a premodern placeholder of the discourse of eq-
uity between the sexes is continuously being left aside.
As Victoria Browne pointed out, feminist history beget its singular mas-
ter narrative, a hegemonic model which privileges the trajectories of
Western European and North American Feminism.11 I also believe that
there could not possibly exist only one homogenizing history of feminism.
That we should talk about the plurality as well as temporality of femi-
nisms, that is of various feminisms across the ages and different cultures.12
In my approach toward feminism, I would rely on the definition proposed
by Browne. Feminism should account for “the plethora of groups and in-
dividuals engaged in challenging the subordination and oppression of
women within male-dominated societies”, as well as “marginalization
and distortion of women’s knowledge and experiences within androcen-
tric discources”.13 For sure, feminisms I talk about should not be consid-
ered a "coherent political identity” and “unified theoretical framework”.14
The trickiest part will be to pinpoint in the ‘Byzantine feminisms’ how
were they challenging patriarchal domination and androcentric norms.
But also, in the sense of the third-wave feminism, byzantine feminisms
should be considered as processes of the empowerment of women in one
particular historical context, rather than exclusively critique of the male
oppression.
In that sense, it is necessary to trace down social, cultural and discursive
shifts which were happening in the transformational period of the fourth
to sixth centuries. Without understanding the societal practices before
the changes of the sixth century it is impossible to talk about progress and
shift. Fundamental feminist practice is to recover female pasts and make
women visible in history.15
Judith Herrin has posed an important question at the Runciman’s lecture at
Kings College London in 2009 – ‘Why did Byzantium offer such exceptional
suggests in the latest History of Feminism in 11 Fights, “a more conventional history of
feminism would probably begin in 1792, with Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the
Rights of Women”.
11
Victoria Browne, Feminism, Time and Nonlinear History (New York, NY: Palgrave
Macmillan 2014), 1
12
Victoria Browne, Feminism, 1.
13
Victoria Browne, Feminism, 4
14
Victoria Browne, Feminism, 4.
15
Victoria Browne, Feminism, 4.
94
opportunities for women?’16 I think it is important to define what were those
opportunities and compared to what we consider them as exceptional.17
The question which emerges at the very beginning of this discussion
is what do we consider as ‘women’s rights’ in the age of Justinian, and
in which way was ‘equality of sexes’ understood in the 6th century Byz-
antium? Although the ‘advocacy of women’s rights’ did not permeate all
legal strata, it was a crucial tenet in the legislation which concerned mar-
riage, inheritance, divorce and economic independence. This is precisely
the peculiarity of Byzantine feminisms which enabled premodern women
of the Roman world to enjoy unprecedented equalities. Such ‘empowered
status’ which Byzantine women enjoyed was recognized by the other,
much more conservative communities at that time.
The topic of Byzantine feminisms in the Age of Justinian intends to re-
veal and discuss several ‘controversial positions’ of Justinian and Theodo-
ra, the most renowned and simultaneously most controversial couple of
the protracted Roman history. Many researchers take Justinian’s reign as
a turning point in the transformation of late antique to medieval Roman
Empire, called Byzantium. However, we chose to call this Empire, Later/
Medieval Roman or Byzantine, its dominant medieval trait was the perva-
siveness of Christianity.18 It spread through almost all institutions, entered
the laws, further changed court ceremonies, influenced social relations
and attitudes toward sex and fornication.19

‘A monstrous wrecker of everything that had been established’:

Tracing the feminisms in Justinian’s laws
The feminist movement, even nowadays and with an apparent reason,
considers all religions innately misogynistic. Christianity has not escaped
that assessment, and it certainly has its own merits for being numbered
16
Judith Herrin, Unrivalled Influence (Princeton: Princeton University Press 2013),
xviii.
17
The field is vast and still, compared to classical studies of Ancient Greece and Rome,
unexplored, although significant impact was made by Angeliki Laiou, Lynda Garland,
Judith Herrin, Leslie Brubaker, Averil Cameron, Alice Mary-Talbot and Leonora Neville.
18
For the Roman identity connected with orthodox Christianity see Kaldellis,
Byzantine Identity, in this volume
19
It is hard to trace that one clear point in history when significant social revolutions
occurred. Most of these processes, such is the spread of Christianity were slow and long.
Also, Christianity found a fertile ground in the already existent encratite tendenies
among stoics, platonists, pitagoreans. See Kathy L. Gaca, The Making of Fornication.
Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity (Berkeley:
California University Press 2003).
95
 among the members of this inglorious group. Nevertheless, to take the his-
tory of Christianity of two thousand years as a uniform, unchangeable and
nonconformist religion which was from its inception, oppressive toward
women is entirely wrong. Many of Christian ideas to some extent mitigat-
ed the social relations of antiquity, influenced the change of the status of
marriage, adultery, concubinage, legitimacy of children, relation toward
prostitution, and women in general.20
Christian morals entertained essential ideas about social equity to the
world of patria potestas, which were discussed, debated and even imple-
mented. In the Byzantine era, patria potestas was assimilated with the
institution of guardianship. And guardianship extended as far as an indi-
vidual – whether male or female – reached maturity.21 In order to under-
stand the impact of these changes, it is necessary to think back to Roman
antiquity, when all members of the household below the paterfamilias
had very vague chances to start a lawsuit against violence.22 Moreover, Ro-
man children and slaves did not have legal persona under Roman law to
take any legal action, be it for inuria or any other offence.23 Although from
the gender point, patria potestas was a vehicle for safeguarding paterfa-
milias’ honour, there were also benefits which a woman could extract for
being under potestas of her father. In Roman antiquity, the status of wife,
although liminal, and between two families, made woman peculiarly in-
dependent from husband.24

20
This was not a case with the divorce, which became particularly hard to obtain from
the time of Constantine onwards. According to Constantine’s law, women were not able
to divorce “her husband because of her own depraved desires, for some carefully contrived
cause, such as his being a drunkard or gambler or womanizer.” – Cod. Theod. 3.16.1, 331.
Judith Evans Grubbs stresses that under Constantine even a husband’s adultery was not
a sufficient cause to divorce her husband. – Judith Evans Grubbs, Women and the Law in
the Roman Empire: A Sourcebook on Marriage, Divorce and Widowhood (London and New
York: Routledge, 2002), 203. Nevertheless, these laws changed by the VI century.
21
Cf. The Law of the Greco-Roman Egypt in the Light of the Papyri (323 B.C. – 640. A. D.),
ed. By Raphael Taubenschlag (Warszawa, 1955), 132, 136-137; Grubbs, Women and the Law,
23.
22
Julia Hillner, “Family Violence: Punishment and Abuse in the Late Roman
Household,” in Approaches to the Byzantine Family, ed. By Leslie Brubaker (London, New
York: Routledge 2013), 21-44, 24.
23
Hillner, “Family Violence,” 21-44.
24
Cf. Kate Cooper, The Fall of the Roman Household (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press 2007), xi; This was coupled with the institution of the roman marriage “sine manu”,
which meant that women, upon marrying stayed within the potestas of her father, or her
brothers.

96
 In such world, the austere Christians morals of Justinian, apart from
closing the Athenian Academia, also entertained important lessons on
the gender equity in his laws. I would like to draw attention to some of
these laws.
On the first place, it is significant to note that these progressive ideas
were introduced in the Novellae. Those were Justinian’s new statues issued
after CJC over the ensuing years as answers to the demands and needs
of the Sixth-century Roman society not covered in the old legislation.25
Justinian was quite involved in his legislation, and his zealousness in the
legal matters raised rancour in Prokopios’ eyes who cast attack on him
for that reason.26 Justinian remained most widely known precisely for his
Codes, and his legacy brought the Civil Code to Europe in the XI century. 27
However, Western European law schools used predominantly Digests and
Institutions, while the Novellae had relatively little impact on the Western
law. The formative influence of Corpus Juris Civilis on continental Euro-
pean civil law is foundational. According to the words of Alan Watson, the
translator of the Digests, Corpus Juris Civilis ‘has been without doubt the
most important and influential collection of secular legal materials that
the world has ever known.’28 Thus, Justinian’s legacy outlived his Empire
and shaped Europe’s legal traditions.29

25
Cf. J. W. Head, “Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis in Comparative Perspective:
Illuminating Key Differences between the Civil, Common, and Chinese Legal Traditions,”
Mediterranean Studies 21/2 (2013). 91-121, 96.
26
Cf. Caroline Humfress, “Law and Legal Practice in the Age of Justinian,” in The
Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. by Michael Mass, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005), 161-185, 167.
27
The Germanic kings in the West used only summarized version of the Code of
Justinian, while Digests and Institutes remained somehow lost until their rediscovery
in the XI century. The rediscovery of the manuscript of Digests from the VI century,
examined at Amalfi, then Pisa and Florence, which became the basis for the study of
Roman law at Bologna, the new and international center for political and legal study.
– M. Stuart Madden, “Paths of Western Law After Justinian,” London Law Review 2
(2006), 12, available online https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=918516
(02.04.2020). The awakening jurisprudence in Southern France came through tract
on Roman Law called Exceptiones Petri by an unknown author. Novellae are referred
through the medium called Julian’ Epitome from the sixth century. Paul Vinogradoff,
Roman Law in Medieval Europe (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1929), 33-37, 43-50.
28
Alan Watson, The Digest of Justinian, Vol. 1, (Philadelphia: University of Pensilvania
Press 1998), Introduction.
29
The most renowned is Gibbon’s observation: The vain titles of the victories of
Justinian are crumbled into dust; but the name of the legislator is inscribed on a fair
and everlasting monument. Under his reign, and by his care, the civil jurisprudence was

97
 The Novellae emerged from citizen’s appeals, as resolutions of some ur-
gent social needs. The Novellae were issued in the Greek language, while
all other parts of Corpus Iuris Civilis were composed in the Latin language.
Also, being his immediate answers to social and economic issues within
the Empire, Novellae did not escape Theodora’s influence. The reference
concerning Theodora’s active participation comes in the Novella 8.1 from
the 535: “Having reflected upon all these matters, and discussed them with
Our Most August Consort whom God has given Us, as well as conferred
with Your Highness, and been advised by you, We enact the present law”.30
This magnificent forthright statement of the couple’s conjoint involve-
ment in the most crucial tenets of the imperial political system, dissolves
the established gender patterns in which the sphere of law and politics
pertained exclusively to men. Women’s participation in the politics, al-
ways presented as a behind the scene action, was rarely lauded and usu-
ally vilified. Theodora’s active political role was openly attested. She was
his partner and associate in the reforms of the Empire. Prokopios’ venom-
ous attack on Theodora was a direct answer to this social reality.

The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora31

A marriage between the Roman official and the circus dancer anticipat-
ed a new cultural climate of which Prokopios’ informs us inimically. Justin-
ian’s unusual bridal choice without any doubts influenced the change on

digested in the immortal works of the Code, the Pandects [or Digest], and the Institutes:
the public reason of the Romans has been silently or studiously transfused into the
domestic institutions of Europe, and the laws of Justinian still command the respect
or obedience of independent nations. – E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, chapter 44.
30
The English translations which I further quote I take are from Samuel P. Scott’s
translation of the Codex and Novellae in 17-volume The Civil Law, Cincinnati 1932, which
is available online https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/Novellae_Scott.
htm. I use them since they are convenient, but I do not think this is the best translation
since it seems that it is translated from Latin, and not from the Greek original, an issue to
which I point a bit later in the footnotes. However, it is the most convenient version for
use. Novella 8.1; For the greek text I use Mommsen’s edition: Ταῦτα ἅπαντα καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς
βουλεουσάμενοι κἀντῦθα κοινωνὸν τοῦ βουλεύματος παραλαβόντες τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ δεδομένην ἡμῖν
εὐσεβεστάτην σύνοικον, καὶ τῇ σῇ γε ὑπεροχῇ τὸ πρᾶγμα κοινωσάμενοι καί τι καὶ παρὰ τῆς
σῆς λαβόντες βουλῆς, ἐπὶ τόνδε τὸν θεῖον ἐληλύθαμεν νόμον. – Nov. VIII 1.2, 67 – Corpus Juris
Civilis, Vol. 3, ed. By T. Mommsen et alli, Berlin 1872-1895.
31
Cf. V. Vasiliev, Justin I. An Introduction to the epoch of Justinian, (Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press 1950), 392 et sq; David Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and
Theodora. Legal and Theological Reflections”, Catholic University Law Review 16 (1967),
380-399.
98
marriage prohibitions in Justin’s reign. One should just recall the British’
constitutional crisis because of the marriage of Edward VIII and Ameri-
can twice-divorced Wallis Simpson, to grasp the amount of indignation
among the senatorial elites of the VI century. Alternatively, one can refer
to the very recent marriage of the American actress Meghan Markle and
Prince Harry, which provoked the waves of discontent among the British
conservative circles. As Prokopios’ stressed many times, Theodora’s came
from extreme (and we conclude shameful) poverty, had been an actress
in the Hippodrome and finally ascended the throne. Theodora’s life path
was couched among the ‘countless shades of degradation’, which accord-
ing to the Roman law were attached to various occupations.32 Among the
lowliest were those of actor and below it, of a prostitute. Prokopios’ ver-
bal abuse of Thedora was a massive offence of a ruling empress.33 In the
abusive Roman language, below the actor was a mime, and below mime
was a female dancer. Theodora’s pertained to all categories according to
Prokopios. He was also boasting with his cultural romanitas, which in the
Ciceronian fashion considered Greek ways of displaying oneself in the
stage deeply disgraceful.34
He deliberately dwelled on the irretrievable infamy of her past. As D.
Daube pointed out ‘tainted past mercilessly remains a tainted present’.35
The scholarly debate whether Theodora was a courtesan or an actress
seems redundant since these two professions pertained to the same cat-
egories of infamy. Theodora’s unflattering progeny and unsuitable nurture
32
Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora”, 382-383. David Potter, Theodora.
Actress, Empress, Saint, (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015), 9-10.
33
There is an interesting case about Hortensius, a contemporary of Cicero, who was
attacked during Sulla’s trial by Lucius Torquatus being called an actor “with a geat deal
of noise and bluster, in the presence of the jurors,” and also “a pantomime and a Dionysia
(the name of a notorious dancing girl)” – Gellius. I.5.2-3, cf. Catharine Edwards, The
Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1993), 97.
34
Cic. De rep. 4.13: Aeschines of Athens, a most eloquent orator, took part in affairs
of State though he had been a tragic actor in his youth, and the Athenians frequently
sent Aristodemus, ** also a tragic actor, as ambassador to Philip in regard to the most
important questions of peace and war . – transl. by C.W. Keyes (1928), available online
http://www.attalus.org/translate/republic4.html (10.05.2020). Also, Cicero’s speech on
the actors can be withdrawed from Augustine’s De civitate dei where he quotes him: They
[the Romans] considered comedy and all theatrical performances as disgraceful, and
therefore not only debarred players from offices and honors open to ordinary citizens,
but also decreed that their names should be branded by the censor, and erased from the
roll of their tribe. – Augustine, De Civitate Dei 2.13. Augustin himself spoke about theatre
as a pagan practice which celebrated pagan deities – Cf. Augustine, De civitate Dei 2.11,
accessed May 10, 2020: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120102.htm
35
Ibid. In some of the American courts, the “wanton publication of the old scandal was
actionable irrespective of truth”.
99
 for a future empress gave Prokopios a comfortable stimulus to hyperbolize
and deviate her past.
Even though the constitutional crisis (unlike Edward VIII’s case) was
evaded due to Justin’s law, Prokopios’ invested all his rhetorical powers to
show that the Roman constitution was put out of force during the time of
Justinian and Theodora’s reign. And of course, the crippling of the state
begun with this highly inadequate marriage.
A Law which enabled this marriage to happen was passed by Justin I un-
der the influence of Justinian between 520. and 524. Justinian had a deci-
sive influence on the Emperor Justin I (518-527), and the law was probably
composed by Justinian’s quaestor Proklos.36 It was subsequently included
into the Codex (5.4.23). Justinian’s urgent needs influenced the promulga-
tion of this law to . The text itself is essential beyond the particular case of
Justinian’s marriage since it soothed the consequences of the deplorable
professions37:

We ordain that the errors of women on account of which, through the weak-
ness of their sex, they have chosen to be guilty of dishonourable conduct,
should be corrected by a display of proper moderation and that they should by
no means be deprived of the hope of an improvement of status, so that, taking
this into consideration, they may the more readily abandon the improvident
and disgraceful choice of life which they have made. We by the present most
merciful law, grant them this imperial benefit under the condition that where,
having deserted their evil and disgraceful condition, they embrace a more
proper life and conduct themselves honourably, they shall be permitted to pe-
tition us to grant them our divine permission to contract legal marriage when
they are unquestionably worthy of it. For women of this kind having been puri-
fied from all blemishes and, as it were, restored to the condition in which they
were born, We desire that no disgraceful epithet be applied to them and that
no difference shall exist between tham and those who have never committed a
similar breach of morality.38

36
Kaldellis, The Secret History and Related Texts, 133.
37
Cf. Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora,” 391-392.
38
Scott, The Civil Law, XIII, Code of Justinian 5.4.23, https://droitromain.univ-
grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/CJ5_Scott.html, assessed March 2, 2020. Vasiliev infers that
the law “was merely one step in the process of the emancipation of women which goes
back to the fourth and fifth centuries and was in accordance with Christian sentiment.” –
Vasiliev, Justin I, 395; According to Daube this is an exaggeration – Daube, “The Marriage
of Justinian and Theodora”, 394.
100
Purification of the former actresses, and the restoration to the status of
a citizen, bore overtones from the John (7.40-8.11) of the stoning of the
adulteress.39 The importance of this story was that the only sin was con-
demned and not the sinner.40 Christianity, through this vital episode,
gave an opportunity for social de-marginalization. It brought an end to
the lasting infamy (once gladiator always a gladiator) which was irretriev-
able before.41 Also, this law was a correction of previous legislation dating
from Augustus to Constantine, which considered that parent’s condition
is transferable to their children. In Constantine’s legislation, this condi-
tion became gendered and referred to daughters, and not to sons, of an
actress, tavernkeeper, or a pimp.42 Social permeability was, of course, gen-
dered and enabled men to evade the unpleasant circumstances of their
parent’s careers. This law had a chapter which in particular referred to the
‘daughters of women of this kind’, who were now able to ‘petition for the
Imperial indulgence and obtain it’.
It is easy to understand why the popularity of Christianity was spread
like wildfires. Imperial laws were promulgated publicly, read aloud in the
cities throughout the Empire. In that way, even the laws potentiated the
assimilation of the central Christian teachings. The marriage of Justinian
and Theodora also provided a clear-cut and living model of the new cultur-
al shifts in the Roman Empire.43 Further legal and cultural developments
39
David Daube has expressed doubts about the influence of John’s chapter to this
particular law. – Daube, ‘The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora’, 396. However, the
point Is not in literal comparative analysis but in the messages conveyed and the
characters involved - the sinful woman and the forgiving Christ.
40
Cf. Augustine, Tractate 33.6: And because she had heard this, He that is without sin.
let him first cast a stone at her, she expected to be punished by Him in whom sin could
not be found. But He, who had driven back her adversaries with the tongue of justice,
raising the eyes of clemency towards her, asked her, Hath no man condemned you? She
answered, No man, Lord. And He said, Neither do I condemn you; by whom, perhaps,
you feared to be condemned, because in me you have not found sin. Neither will I
condemn you. What is this, O Lord? Do You therefore favor sins? Not so, evidently. Mark
what follows: Go, henceforth sin no more. Therefore the Lord did also condemn, but
condemned sins, not man. - https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701033.htm, accessed
April 28, 2020.
41
Cf. Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora,” 382.
42
Cf. “Augustus kept even the children of an actor or actress from marriage into the
senatorial class. This harsh-if understandable-course was taken by lawgivers more
persistently in regard to daughters than in regard to sons.” Daube, “The Marriage of
Justinian and Theodora,” 384.
43
The influence of Theodora’s legacy in the Byzantine tradition observable in the
popularity of her name (which also might have not been her original name) among the
empresses of the later period – Theodora, the wife of Theophilos, and Theodora the
Macedonian, daughter of the emperor Constantine VIII and herself ruler in 1056.
101
 strengthened the couple’s liberal positions,44 influenced, paradoxically, by
their religious zealousness. Theodora’s low-born status and early life con-
ditions were used even among her monophysite supporters to present her
as a biblical paragon.45 That way, new social advances, the unpopular kain-
otomia, were couched in the traditions existing already several centuries.46

Paulian equity in the laws

From the imperial legislation predating Justinian’s, there is scarce evi-

dence of direct quotations from the Bible, although some passages come
to near quotations.47 Also, some of the standard imperial formulas usually
attached to Christian benevolence and imperial philantrophia, have their
non-Christian antecedents in Platonism and stoicism. Justinian’s legisla-
tion was, proclaimed in the name of ‘Our God Lord Jesus Christ’.48
In Justinian’s legislation we come across multiple quotations from the
New Testament. Most important for our topic is Apostle Paul’s from Gala-
tians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. Paulian
proverb entered several Justinian’s Novellae.
Novella 5, concerning the ordaining of the monks, starts with the follow-
ing words: “Divine grace considers all men equal, declaring openly that, so

44
In some aspects of his legislation we might consider him “liberal” in other, it it is highly
dubious. As Pazdernik stressed, “there were two Justinian’s at play: one the providential
and irrepressible restitutor orbis Romani, and the other a much more ambiguous and
disturbing figure, an innovator and destroyer of established institutions either through
malevolence or indifference”. – Charles Pazdernik, “Our most Pious Consort Given Us
by God: Dissident Reactions to the Partnership of Justinian and Theodora, A. D. 525-
548”, Classical Antiquity 13, Vol. 2, (1994), 255-281. However, I would argue that there were
much more faces of Justinian beyond this binary divison.
45
Yuhannan of Amida (507-589), known better as John of Ephesos presented her as
a protectress of the monophysite ascetics, such as Stephanos, referring to her as the
one who “came from the brothel”, but helped through her influence “as if by divine
instigation”, later to become “the believing queen”. – Yuhannan of Amida, Life of the
Saints – excerpt from the source available in Kaldellis, The Secret History and Related
Texts, 146-149. For the complete translation of the Life of the Eastern Saints see E. W.
Brooks, John of Ephesos: Lifes of the Eastern Saints, in Patrologia Orientalis 17 (1923), 1-307,
18 (1924), 511-698.
46
Apart from introducing christian ideas openly into the laws, his laws were made to
conform to the system of the Twelve Tables which was the pattern of introducing the
innovation thorugh resorting to the past. – cf. Humfress 2005, 171.
47
Cf. Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora,” 399, n. 86.
48
Humfress, Law and Legal Practice, 167-168.
102
far as the worship of God is concerned, no difference exists between male
and female, freeman or slave, for all of them receive the same reward in
Christ.”49
He further concludes that “All these rules which We have laid down re-
garding monks shall be applicable to women who enter monasteries.” Fur-
thermore, regarding the ordaining of abbots in the monasteries, he also
concludes in the following fashion: The rules formulated by Us in the pre-
ceding laws, as well as in the present one, with reference to priests, monks,
and monasteries, We hereby declare to be applicable to both males and
females, as well as to convents and hermitages; for We do not distinguish
between men and women for the reason that, as We have already stated,
they compose but one in Christ.
In the Novella 18, concerning the successions of natural children and
grandchildren we read the following: We make no distinction whether the
children are male or female, for, in accordance with nature, We do not pre-
scribe one rule for women, and another for men. Therefore this law shall
be observed for the future, and We shall repeal all others on the subject, as
it corrects and explains many things which formerly were not intelligible
or observed.50
Also, phrases of the Novella 89, render the same thought: Nor do We
discriminate between male and female children, because, since Nature
made no distinction between them, We do not enact one law for women
and another for men.
The Novella 21, on the Armenians gives us remarkable insight into the
Roman perception of the status of women, and the importance of the
Christian concept of gender equity.
In the Novella 2, which concerns the second marriage of women, Justin-
ian protects the children of the first marriage by introducing an equitable
division of the mother’s ante-nuptial donation between the heirs of both
sexes.

49
Novella 5.2. In the English translation there is necessary addition of the word “men”.
The original text gives the following formulation: διότι πάντας ὁμοίως ἡ Θεία δέχεται χάρις,
προκηρύττουσα σαφῶς, ὡς τόγε ἐπί τῆ τοῦ θεοῦ λατρεία, οὐκ ἐστιν ἄρσεν οὐδὲ θῆλυ, οὔτε
ἔλευθερος οὔτε δοῦλος·πάντας γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ ἕν εἰκοτως νομίζεσθαι. - Nov. V. 2, 29, Corpus
Iuris Civilis, Vol. 3, Novellae, ed. By R. Schoell, Berolini 1893
50
Novella 18.5

103
 Against Sex-trafficking

Justinian’s austere measures for protecting public morals, surely enacted

some oppressive laws, such as the one against same-sex relationships.51
His severe punishment of several homosexuals was retold by both Pro-
kopios, his unyielding enemy, and Malalas, his encomiast.52 Nevertheless,
same-sex desire was not extinguished during the age of Justinian. More-
over, homoeroticism was deeply embedded in the hellenistic concepts of
masculinity.53 This particular conflict between the law and the culture,
public morals and private desires, presents yet another of plenty Byzan-
tine paradoxes.
Nevertheless, the insistence on universal piety eusebeia of the Roman
people and their chastity sophrosyne, influenced some fairly progressive
laws, such as the one against Sex-trafficking. The Novella 14 (535) is en-
tirely concerned with the trade of brothel-keepers (πορνοβοσκία), and it
forbids sex-trafficking in all parts of the Roman Polity.54 This Novella un-
ravels the dreadful social realities of the young girls caught in the pangs
of brothel-keepers, lured into Constantinople and sold for prostitution.
A widespread custom of paying for sex with girls as young as ten years
old, was prohibited by this law. This highly important social law directed
toward curtailing deviousness among Roman citizens also kept women in
their chastity. Some researchers have raised doubts that this particular law
was not premised ‘on the belief that violence against girls and women is
inherently wrong’. Instead, it was based on the idea of protecting women’s
chastity.55 First part of the law, however, reveals indignation with this so-
cial practice:

51
Novella 77 is directed toward “acts against nature”, which comprises, among other
acts, sexual act between two men.
52
Cf. The chronicle of John Malalas, a translation by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Michael Jeffreys,
and Roger Scott (Melbourne Australian Association for Byzantine Studies 1986), 18.18,
253.
53
In the public, the it was the latently erotic scenario of the Hyppodrome and In the
poetic imagination and rhetorical celebrations of the imperial victories, the might of
the Roman emperor was almost always presented through his victorious masculinity
which dominates his subjects, both women and men. Especially with regard to the
forms of domination and submission which are both erotic and Imperial – Steven Smith,
Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture. Gender, Desire, and Denial in the Age of Justinian,
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2019), 672-84.
54
Nov. XIV, 105-109 (Mommsen).
55
Smith, Gender, Desire, and Denial, 6.
104
 We, Ourselves, have already promulgated a constitution increasing the penal-
ties against those who are guilty of such wicked deeds, and We have, in addi-
tion, supplied by other laws what Our predecessors omitted, and have by no
means lost sight of this matter, for We have very recently been informed of the
evil consequences which such traffic has caused in this great city. We are also
aware that certain persons are accustomed to employing cruel and odious means
for the purpose of obtaining wealth; making a practice of travelling through the
provinces and other places, in order to deceive young girls by promising them
clothes, and, after having obtained possession of them, they bring them to this
Most Fortunate City, place them in their houses, provide them with wretched
food and clothing, and deliver them up to others for the purpose of debauchery,
they themselves taking the entire profit of this wretched trade obtained from the
bodies of their victims; and that they also draw up contracts by means of which
the girls aforesaid are compelled to continue their wicked criminal life as long as
those who have possession of them may desire.56

The legislator’s intentions behind this law are clear. The Novella 14 pres-
ents the logical consequence of the already changing conceptions on the
women of theatres, which had begun, as evident from Justin’s law, slightly
before Justinians ascendance to the throne.57 Prokopios, in the Buildings
states that Justinian and Theodora conjointly “cleansed the state of the
pollution of the brothels, banishing the very name of brothel-keepers”.58
He adds also that for those women “who fought with extreme poverty”,
on the place which had formerly been palace they established a sort of
refugium, a convent called Metanoia. According to Prokopios they “have
endowed with an ample income, and have added many buildings most re-
markable for their beauty and costliness, to serve as a consolation for the
women, so that they should never be compelled to depart from the prac-
tice of virtue in any manner whatsoever”.59 In the Builidings Prokopios’

56
Novella 14 (Scott) – accessed January 01, 2020 https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-
alpes.fr/Anglica/N14_Scott.htm
57
I am pretty sure that these “new” conceptions were not just Justinian’s invention. I
believe that they just reflected the social paradoxes of a society dedicated passionately to
both Theotokos and Aphrodite. – For an excellent study on this social and epistemological
conflicts and tensions within Justinian’s society see Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial,
103-138, 192-239. However, legal changes were brought by Justinian.
58
Βασιλεὺς δὲ Ἰουστινιανὸς καὶ βασιλὶς Θεοδώρα (τὴν γὰρ εὐσέβειαν ἀλλήλοις
ἐπικοινούμενοι ἅπαντα ἔπρασσον) ἐπενόουν τάδε. 6 τὴν μὲν πολιτείαν τοῦ τῶν μαστροπείων
ἄγους ἐκάθηραν, ἐξελάσαντες τὸ τῶν πορνοβοσκῶν ὄνομα, τῶν δὲ: Procopius, On Buildings,
ed. By H. B. Dewing, Loeb Classical Library 343 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1940), I 3.9, 77.
59
Procopius, On Buildings, I 3.9, 77.
105
 account of the Metanoia matches the intention of this very law. However,
in the Secret History, Prokopios’ delivers an invective even on this endeav-
our, which I’ll get back to a bit later. Malalas’ explicitly states that this
move against the brothel-keepers was Theodora’s act.60
The attitude of Justinian and Theodora toward prostitution has raised
some questions. Daube had stressed that they never really made amends
for the prostitution in their laws which stayed forever on the social mar-
gins.61 Nevertheless, one more law was issued against the brothel-keepers.
In Novella 51 (537), Justinian releases prostitutes from the oaths given
to pimps. This was to enable women “to live in chastity without danger
of prosecution of perjury (if indeed the penalty applies to a case of this
kind)”.62 The penalty for exacting and receiving an oath of this kind was
10 pounds of gold and the sum was supposed to be given to “the unfortu-
nate woman to assist her in leading a virtuous life.”63 Nothwithstanding
the various possibilities of abuses of each law, it remains clear that sig-
nificant possibilities were offered to prostitutes to escape the life of vio-
lence, abuse, sex-trafficking and dehumanization. It is certainly important
to bear in mind that chances for conversion and transformation existed.
Such was not only case with these laws, but with the emerging Christian
discourses which in particular celebrated and admired the conversion of
two former harlots – Mary of Egypt and Pelagia of Antioch.64 The most re-
nowned Byzantine hymnographer, Romanos the Melodist, who composed
in this period, among many hymns dedicated toVrigin Mary, the hymn On
the Harlot, where the repentant women washes away her sins. A recurrent
topos of the inherently sexual being – woman – was transformed through
the poetics of the Christian authors of this period.65
However, a loophole in the law on the marriage previously discussed
refers also to the profession and life of “ill-considered choice” (improvi-
da electio), and could have been use for various interpretations. From
ancient Athens onwards, there never existed a clear line which divided
musicians, actresses and dancers from prostitutes.66 Moreover, precisely

60
Jeffreys and Scott, The Chronicle of John Malalas, 18.24, 255.
61
Daube, “The Marriage of Justinian and Theodora,” 396.
62
Novella 51. Preface.
63
Novella 51.1.
64
Cf. Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 105.
65
Cf. Smith Gender, Desire and Denial, 122.
66
As Kipparis stresses “in reality additional skills were for those who needed them”
106
because of the fluctuant borders, one’s ‘ill-considered life choice’ could
have fit into the soothing categories. The soothing categories were those
of actresses and mime dancers, recognized by the law. Such was the case
with Theodora.

On Marriage

Julian, a mid-sixth century professor of law at Constantinople has ad-

vised meticulous reading of the Novellae regarding marriage, since it
brought significant legal innovations, mostly in favour of women’s control
over their children or dowries.67
Justinian’s care for the concept of Christian love is evident in Novella 22
on the Marriage. Although it did not bring the abolition of slavery or total
equity between sexes, it did follow the ideas from the Galatians on social
justice and from the Corinthians on the marriage. Crudely economic in-
stitution of Roman marriage was soothed with the concept of “recipro-
cal affection” excluding the imperative of nuptial donations, save for the
marriages of the illustres.68 In the years 531-533, donation ante nuptias was
renamed to donation propter nuptias, which settled the gifts of the bride-
groom on the same level as the dowry of the bride. Behind that was the
idea of reciprocity (antipherna) between the donations of the bride and
the groom.69 In legal theory before Justinian, the dowry was the property
of the husband. With his legislation, it became the property of the wife.70
Furthermore, dissolution of marriage was possible by mutual consent

while “youth, beauty, charm and fame” were sufficiently good reasons to attract men. A
good Athenian party needed delicate food, pleasurable guests, wine, entertainers and
prostitutes (pornai). However, Kipariss emphasizes that “the last two were not mutually
exclusive”. Prokopios is peculiar because he precisely tends to draw the line between
entertainers and prostitutes by describing Theodora as deprived of any other skill. In
Xenophontos’ Symposium, among the people hired from the ruthless Syrakussan pimp
were “a female flute player, an acrobatic dancer and a boy”.- Konstantinos Kipparis,
Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World (Berlin–Boston: De Gruyter 2017), 277-279.
67
Humfress, Law and Legal Practice, 172.
68
In the cases of the most highest dignitaries, dotal agreements were necessary. Cf.
Novella 117.4. Vasiliev considers that Justinian was also behind one of the last laws issued
by Justin I of propter nuptias donatio. He adds that his “general objective was to supply
the institution of marriage with more flexibility and more independence on both sides,
that of wife and husband alike”. – Vasiliev, Justin I, 397-398.
69
Cf. According to the older study, this renaming occurred in the last years of Justin’s
reign –cf. Vasiliev, Justin I, 399-340.
70
Cf. Taubenschalg, The Law of Greco-Roman Egypt, 128.
107
 and by almost identical offences by men and women. The importance was
that domestic violence and adultery were strong cause for the dissolution
of a marriage on both sides. The changes with regard to adultery on both
sides are discernible in Prokopios’ invective on the perversion of mar-
riages where he openly accuses Theodora of protecting adulterous wives
byturning the burden of guilt on men.71 The tendencies of the imperial
legislation after Constantine were moving toward incapacitating a di-
vorce. Yet, as Kate Cooper stresses we should be cautious when measur-
ing the freedom to divorce as an advantage for Roman Women.72
The only non-reciprocal cause of divorce was dining and bathing with
other men (regarding women) and visits to the hippodrome, which did not
apply to men.73 However, later legal emendations (in 542) enabled women
to require divorce if the husband “had entertained another woman in the
house where he lives with her; or if, while dwelling in the same city, he is
convicted of having frequently been in the company of another woman,
residing in another house.”74 This particular clause amends Constantine’s
lenient attitude toward men’s adultery, and account for his responsibility
also.
This essential law which further polishes one of the most important
Roman social institutions enables contracting marriages without dowry:
Reciprocal affection constitutes marriage, without it being necessary to
enter into a dotal contract; for when the parties are once agreed and have
been influenced by pure affection, it is not requisite to stipulate for a dow-
ry, or a donation on account of marriage.75
These kind of marriages were contracted before the ecclesiastical of-
ficials, which enabled us to pin down the moment of the “Christianiza-
tion of the marriage”.76 The changing concept in the Roman marriage also
provided an opportunity for the people without economic assets to enter

71
Cf. Procopii Caesariensis Opera Omnia, Vol. III, 17.24, 108.
72
Cooper, The Fall of the Roman Household, xii.
73
This peculiarity of the law might be connected also with Justinian’s act of segregating
public baths into men-only and female-only sections. Nevertheless, as Smith points out,
this was implemented only by the introduction of small door, which did not essentially
change the meddling of people in public baths.- Smith 2019, 123-124. The gradual gender
segregation in the public baths is observable from the Life of Symeon the Holy Fool, from
the VII century, where, upon entering women’s baths, ha was beaten by women and
thrown out. – Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 124.
74
Novella 117.5.
75
Novella 22.3.
76
Cf. also Novella 74.3-4 and Novella 117.4.
108
the marriage.77 The importance of contracting legal marriage lied in the
legitimacy of the children born in that marriage. Also, women entering
this type of marriage were not concubines, were not adulteresses, and
they were protected by the Roman law. In the Novella 74, Justinian prohib-
its men to drive out of the house women who were living with them for
several years and gave birth to their children. Thus, women were protected
from false oaths and potential repudiation by men in the case of common-
law relationship78, which meant a relationship without an official mar-
riage contract.79
The law on marriage was not an absolute paragon of liberty in our mod-
ern sense of the term, but it did lax some previous laws considering the
issue of remarrying. An interesting chapter of this law is the correction of
Lex Julia Miscella, which bequeathed the husband’s legacy to the widow
only under the condition that she not marry for the second time. While
this law in ancient time referred to women, in Justinian it referred to both
sexes: We decree that when a husband forbids his wife, or a wife her hus-
band (for the same rule is applicable to both) to marry a second time, and
bequeats a legacy under this condition, the spouse who was entitled to
it shall have the choice of two things, namely: either to marry again and
renounce the legacy, or if she should be unwilling to do this, and wishes
to honor the memory of the deceased, always abstain from marrying a
second time.80
Economic independence of women from their husbands, the right to
call on a divorce, the choice not to remarry, the right to be called into suc-
cession of all family members, were all exquisite rights which made wom-
en of the Late Roman Empire and Byzantium unique in comparison to
women living in other ethnic communities and polities of that age. These
77
Save for the senatorial class. For them, dotal instruments were still mandatory. See
Novellae 74.3-4 and 117.4
78
What we today consider as common-law relationship. At that time it was a
concubinage.
79
Cf. Novella 74.5.
80
Novella 22.34, Novella 22.34, 178; In this Novella also we have an issue of gender
“lost in translation”. It is clear that especially the law on Marriage refers to both sexes.
In the Greek text, either neutrum is used, when it refers to both sexes, or the word
“child”, “children” and “siblings” while the Latin, as well as English translation (obviously
conducted from Latin text), favour the words son, sons and brothers. When the female
noun is used, it is in the part where the ancient law dealt with women exclusively. Those
parts were, as already mentioned, supplemented with the explanation that this law now
refers to both sexes. When there is a need to clarify the gender of the “child”, we find
the following formula: a male child ‘παιδὸς ἄρρενος’ and also brothers ‘μέτα τῶν ἀρρενὠν
ἀδελφῶν’ – Novella 22.47, 184.
109
 high legal standards which women of Byzanitum enjoyed were most
clearly visible when they were confronted to the non-Byzantine women.
The “romanization” of new provinces and peoples of Justinian and Theo-
dora’s Empire was directly connected with women’s rights issue.

On the Armenians

A possibility that Justinian believed that violence against women, is

wrong, is rendered in his Novella 21. It was issued for the Armenians and
supplies us with an impressive feminist agenda. The importance of this
law lies in its aim and circumstances of its emergence. After successful op-
erations in Armenia, there was an urgent need to implement the Roman
laws. It almost comes as a surprise that the first pillar of the Roman’s civi-
lizational progress, according to Justinian, lies in its treatment of women.
The law vilifies the “barbarous” customs of the Armenians, and introduces
Roman practices:

Desiring that the country of Armenia should be governed by good laws, and
in no respect differ from the rest of Our Empire, We have conferred upon it a
Roman administration; have delivered it from its ancient customs; and familia-
rised it with those of the Romans, ordering that it shall have no other laws than
theirs. We think, however, that it is necessary, by means of a special enactment,
to abolish a barbarous practice (barbarikon ethos) which the Armenians
have preserved; for among them women are excluded not only from suc-
cession to the estates of their ascendants, but also from those of their own
brothers and other blood-relatives; they are married without a dowry; and
are purchased by their future husbands. These barbarous customs they have
observed up to the present time, and they are not the only ones who act in this
cruel manner, for there are other races that dishonor nature in the same way,
and injure the female sex (to thelī periubrisantōn) just as if it were not cre-
ated by God, and took part in the propagation of the human race, and finally, as
if it was utterly vile, contemptible, and not entitled to any honor. Therefore We
decree by this Imperial enactment that the laws in force in Our Empire, which
have reference to the right of women to succeed to estates, shall be observed in
Armenia, and that no difference shall hereafter exist between the sexes in this
respect; that women, in accordance with the rule laid down in Our laws, shall
inherit from their parents, that is to say, in the ascending line, from their fa-
thers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, indefinitely; and in the de-
scending line, from their sons and daughters, no matter in what way either of
these transmit their property. Hence the Armenians shall no longer be subject

110
 to laws different from those of the Empire; and if they form part of Our sub-
jects, and are under Our government like many other peoples, and enjoy the
benefits conferred by Us, their women shall not be the only ones deprived of
Our justice (isotītos); and they shall all enjoy the benefit of Our laws, whether
the. latter have come down to Us from former ages and have been inserted into
Our Institutes and Digest, or whether they are called upon to obey the Imperial
Constitutions promulgated by Ourself, or by Our predecessors.81

This law renders clearly that the Armenians prioritized a system in which
women were treated unfairly. Although this law does not define this prac-
tice as “male point of view” or “patriarchal opression”, it defines it clearly
as “barbaric custom”, as something which does not pertain to civilization.
The Armenian treatment of their women is abject and dehumanizing. Al-
most entirely, this law focuses on the issue of the status of women in that
society. Roman law proudly fosters equity between sexes and prevents the
maltreatment of women.
Unfortunately, we don’t have at our disposition potential enactments of
this particular law in Armenia. However, a peculiar case of Jewish women
living in the Byzantine empire may shed light on this issue. Some Jew-
ish women in 11th century, unsatisfied by their own communities’ laws,
petitioned the imperial Roman law courts to resolve matters regarding
dowry and inheritance and set aside the rabbinical law. Jewish divorce
was the exclusive prerogative of a man.82 Women’s control over their mar-
riage investments, as was case in Byzantium, was ‘a condition unique in
the Jewish world’. Also, a divorce initiated by a woman was a non-existent
practice in the rabbinical tradition. The woman who resorted to gentile
(Byzantine) courts to obtain a divorce was legally categorized by the rab-
bis as the “rebellious wife”.83 Several cases in which women appealed to
roman courts led the Byzantine rabbinic authorities to accept the Chris-
tian jurisdiction and, thus, ceded a certain amount of self-governance to
Byzantine authorities.84 This situation with the local communities living
within the range of the Roman law demonstrates that women throughout
Empire were aware of the “relative empowerment” which Byzantine law

81
Novella 21 (Scott):accessed February 2, 2020: https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-
alpes.fr/Anglica/N21_Scott.htm; For the Greek text see Nov XXI: 144-146 (Mommsen).
82
Joshua Holo, Byzantine Jewry in the Mediterranean Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 2009), 108.
83
Holo, Byzantine Jewry, 109.
84
Holo, Byzantine Jewry, 107.
111
 provided to them.85 They looked to gentile courts to overcome the deprav-
ity of rights within their own communities.

Women before courts, women in prisons

Leslie Brubaker has emphasized that Roman legislation was, save for
spheres of private law, written for men only. She further adds that the ap-
pearance of women in law codes was “virtually always restricted to legisla-
tion dealing with marriage, family, or the protection of female virtue”.86 In
that sense, men were the normative legal gender. However, apart from the
sphere of private law, Justinian tried to sort out women’s position within
the church sphere, and women’s position before the law courts, which
presents the most important marker of social equity. The right to appeal
to the courts and the right to “protect rights in conformity to the law”
presents the most important indicator that society enables groups from
beyond “positions of power” to seek for justice. With the Christianization
of the Roman jurisprudence, the trend of protecting the “vulnerable” in-
creased. The social construction of female gender as the “weaker sex” led
to various changes to the protection of women.
Novella 134 of 556, declares that no woman should be deprived of her
liberty and confined to a prison for any reason and continues in the fol-
lowing manner:

We order that where a woman is sued for fiscal or private debts, she shall an-
swer, and attend to the matter either herself or through the agency of someone
whom she may select. When the woman in question is a widow, or she was not
married in the first place, she shall also, in her proper person, be permitted to
protect her rights in conformity to law, or to do so by means of an attorney. If
a magistrate of superior rank should presume to violate what We have pre-
scribed, he shall be compelled to pay a fine of twenty pounds of gold; if a supe-
rior judge should do this, he shall be liable to a fine of ten pounds of gold, and
the officers subject to his authority shall be deprived of their places, subjected
to punishment, and sent into exile. But where a woman, after having been le-
gally notified, is unwilling to appoint anyone to represent her, or where she is
brought into court to answer, We forbid her to be placed under restraint, or
85
Holo defines this state as the “relative empowerment of women in the Byzantine lay
tradition”. – Holo, Byzantine Jewry, 108.
86
Leslie Brubarker, “The Age of Justinian: Gender and Society,” in Cambridge
Companion to the Age of Justinian, ed. By Michael Mass (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press), 427-448, 437.
112
 confined in prison; and We desire that she shall be permitted to assert her legal
rights. When a woman is accused of a crime which renders it necessary for her
to be kept under guard, and she can furnish a surety who will be responsible for
her appearance, We order that this shall be done; but when a woman swears
that she cannot furnish a surety, she shall furnish juratory security for the sat-
isfaction of the judgment. Where, however, the crime of which the woman is
accused is of an exceedingly serious nature, she shall be placed in a convent or
a hermitage, the reverend inmates thereof shall guard her publicly and care-
fully until her case has been heard, and then the sentence pronounced shall
be executed in accordance with law. We do not permit a woman to be placed
in prison, or guarded by men on account of a fiscal obligation, in any private
proceeding, or for any criminal offence, lest her chastity may suffer violation.
Nor do We permit a nun or a female ascetic to be taken from her convent or
hermitage on account of any litigation in which she may be involved.

In this law, where women were protected from imprisonment due to the
weakness of their sex, another agenda emerges. Namely, women were saved
from state prisons in which they were exposed to various sorts of violence.
Women convicted for more serious crimes were sent to convents, which,
rather curiously, figure as female prisons, or temporary detention. One can
easily see the connection between this law and the institution which Em-
press Theodora established – a Convent for the Repentance of prostitutes,
the Metanoia. It was a typical Christian economia at play, where the resocial-
ization of female-offenders was conducted through the correction of their
morals and their piety. Prokopios speaks twice about this institution in dif-
ferent registers. His reference to Metanoia in the Secret History complies
more with the idea of the female monastery as a place of detention for sexual
offenders. Since Augustan legislation, the attitudes toward adulteresses had
changed. August compelled adulteresses into prostitution, an abominable
practice which was abolished by Theodosius I in 389.87 Justinian, on the oth-
er hand had, according to Thomas Mc Ginn’s conclusion “forced them into
chastity” by reconfiguring them as nuns.88 McGinn’s observation that one
should not “exaggerate the departure from the Augustan principle” deserves
attention. I would take issue with this conclusion since the social attitudes
toward prostitutes and nuns were irreconcilably different. While prostitutes
could never attain any social respect, the nuns, and especially those who re-
pelled their formal abject lifestyles, could attain high social reverence. Such
87
Roman social convention hardly discerned between adulteresses and prostitutes.
– Thomas A. J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome (Oxford:
Oxford University Press 1998), 170.
88
McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law, 171.
113
 was the case with the growing cults of the Pelagia of Antioch and Mary of
Egypt. That means that, no matter how we measure “forced chastity” today,
it was a path to resocialization and demarginalization. I would hardly say
that adulteresses in August’s epoch were given chance to restore to the sta-
tus of a respectful citizen.
Nevertheless, with laws as mentioned above and Prokopios contradicto-
ry statements at our disposal, we can conclude that the economic statuses
of the women involved in prostitution influenced the perception of these
measures. For some, most probably majority, it was a favourable resolu-
tion of their unfortunate lives. For the others, it was an end to the profit
and pleasure they extracted from the “elite prostitution”.
Also, unmarried or widowed women, could “protect their rights” in
their proper person, in conformity to law, or to do so by means of an at-
torney. This peculiarity shows that women could independently “protect
their rights”. Further penalties against magistrates and superior judges, as
well as officers under their command, were intended to prevent further
abuses of the positions of power.

Conclusion

The term Byzantine feminisms has a particular purpose. It figures as

an analytical tool which enables us to trace the long history of women’s
liberation,89 and to speak of that phenomenon beyond the white Anglo-
Saxon epistemologies. So far, the history of the Byzantine women was
focused on the history of those most highly represented in the sources –
empresses and aristocrats. Yet, those women were not the standard for the
majority of women. And, as we know, the lives, and thus responsibilities
and duties of women of different social strata varied.
We can trace Byzantine feminisms beyond documentary sources. This
research has focused on a number of laws, which are explicitly a political
enterprise of the age. The change of power structures in the later Roman
society influenced the family structure, economic relations, invisible and
yet influential power structures of the streets. However, every law presents
an issue for itself. As Julia Hillner correctly observes one cannot expect
from the Late Roman Governor to be acquainted with comprehensive le-
gal information. She makes a good point stating that when it comes to

89
The term should be understood beyond its classical meaning, that is, women’s right
to participate in the politics etc. Before that, women had to attain the equal rights within
the family structure, to be able to move foraward with more ambitious epistemologies.
114
real-life circumstances and judicial processes, the final decision lied either
in personal inclinations or in the public opinion when deciding on feasi-
bility of the legal action.90 We are not able to fully understand the scope
of its influence, the number of appeals, its implementation and possible
abuses. However, that was not just the case with Justinian laws. Such is
the case even with the laws in the 21st century which guarantee gender
equality. In many countries, they are still far from reality, just a clause on
paper. Yet, it is vital that even in theory, such clauses, as well as the certain
potential for their execution, exist.
Apart from laws, Byzantine feminisms in the age of Justinian can focus on
such comparatively abstract matters as discourse, aesthetics, or the con-
stitution of subjectivity.91 They can be traced in the changing discourses
– the new Christian exegetical traditions which were moving toward the
supremacy of the Virgin Mary in the everyday cult.92 One of the most rel-
evant hymnographers in Byzantine history, Romanos the Melodist, com-
posed highly significant and influential hymns which were focused on the
humane side of the Virgin Mary, on her motherly love, her pain over the
loss of her son, and her role as the mother-mediator of all people.93 A pe-
culiarity of the Byzantine culture toward the status of the mother in the
family differed from classical Roman Times. Cicero, Tacitus and Quintilian,
although mentioning mother’s formative influence, never place her above
the father. None of these authors mentions motherly affection.94 The in-
stitution of patria potestas ruled out the possibility of the corresponding
90
J. Hillner, “Family Violence: Punishment and Abuse in the Late Roman Household,”
in Approaches to the Byzantine Family, ed. By Leslie Brubaker (London/New York:
Routledge 2013), 21-44, 24.
91
Cf. Rabinowitz, Feminist Theory, 17.
92
The gender approach toward the cult of the Virgin Mary is complicated. In some
cases it certainly reflects the “female piety”, and in the imperial ideology it was in various
cases approapriated by the empresses to ascertain their political position. Such was
the case with the empress Pulcheria during her conflict with the patriarch Nestorios.
Also, some of the aspects of this cult point toward the rising importance of the women’s
ministry in the christian economy of salvation. Such was the case with the unique Vita
of the Virign Mary, which emerged in the VII century. See Stephen J. Shoemaker, “The
Virgin Mary in the Ministry of Jesus and the Early Church according to the Earliest
Life of the Virgin,” Harvard Theological Review 98/4 (2005), 441-467. However, the cult
of the Virgin Mary was supreme Constantinopolitan cult, and, therefore, not certainly
gender-exclusive. Therefore, this cult deserves detail research which will discern these
ambiguities and correctly respond to the gender analysis.
93
S. Gador-Whyte, “Changing Conceptions of Mary in Sixth-Century Byzantium:The
Kontakia of Romanos the Melodist,” in Questions of Gender in Byzantine Society, ed. By B.
Neil and L. Garland (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), 77-93.
94
Suzanne Dixon, The Roman Mother (London/New York: Routledge, 2013), 3.
115
 legal sanction for women.95 Yet, the canonization of the cult of the Virgin
Mary gave mothers the important and almost unprecedent sanction.96 As
Kaldellis points out, from the middle Byzantine period, we face a num-
ber of texts which are dedicated to son’s affection toward mothers, not
paralleled when it comes to fathers.97 It is hard to single out a particular
moment in history when these changes happened. It is important to note
that the institution of patria potestas lost its significance by the time of
Justinian codification. It is also significant that marriage was considered
a state of equity, and that women were in a number of laws equated to
men. Although the clergy of the Christian church was dominantly male,
some members of its hierarchy were women also. Women held positions
of deaconesses, abotesses and possibly presbyters.98
Most importantly, the devotional part, the part of the everyday cult re-
mained in the hands of women.99 The Fifth ecumenical council of 553,
established another crucial Feast day in the Christian calendar – the As-
sumption of the Virgin Mary. Anthropology enables us to understand the
importance of some changes which occurred in the Christian pantheon
in the period from the IV to the VI centuries. Justinian epoch saw a rising
interest in the cult of the Virgin Mary. Prokopios’s gives credit to Justin-
ian’s sumptuous renovation of numerous churches dedicated to the Virgin
Mary: The Emperor Justinian built many churches to the Mother of God
in all parts of the Roman Empire, churches so magnificent and so huge
and erected with such a lavish outlay of money, that if one should see one
of them by itself, he would suppose that the Emperor had built this work
only and had spent the whole time of his reign occupied with this alone.100

95
Dixon, The Roman Mother, 3.
96
Anthropological studies of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Greece enable us to
understand the scope and importance of the cult of Panagia, and the central role of the
mother in the Greek family. The central festival was not only dedicated to a Mother
Goddess, but also to the individual family’s mother, who was the central performer of the
ritual actions meant to secure the family’s life and health. –Evy Johanne Håland, Greek
Festivals, Modern and Ancient: A Comparison of Female and Male Values (Cambridge:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), 147
97
Kaldellis 2010, 67
98
Cf. Frederick W. Norris, “Women Ministers in Constantinian Christianity,” in Essays
on Women in Earliest Christianity, Vol. 2, ed. by Carroll D. Osburn (Wipf and Stock
Publishers 1993), 357-375.
99
In the celebration of the cults of the Virgins, since the classical Greek times, women
had the central role.
100
Prokopius, Buildings, Loeb Classical Library 1940, I 2.3, 38-40.
116
 Byzantine feminisms in the Age of Justinian should not be understood
only as top-down tendencies. The sources I chose to analyze belong to
that category, although they were corresponding to the already existing
social realities, so they might be taken as bottom-up influences. The newly
emerging Christian poetry, by the most renowned Romanos the Melodist,
released women from their primordial guilt – Eve’s guilt was exculpated
through the agency and image of the Virgin Mary. Romanos the Melodist,
a church canonist from Justinian epoch enlivened and humanized the
Virgin Mary and brought release to both women, and men (which is im-
portant) from original sin. The secular poet from this epoch, Macedonios,
subverted the established canon of Pandora’s guilt, and refused to ‘blame
the woman for the evils of this world’.101
Beyond the Agathias’ circle of the archaizing poets who cherished the
aesthetic values of the classical Greek and Hellenistic period, in the age of
Justinian yet another alternative was given to the ‘mortality of the female
beauty’. 102 The discourse of new Christian aesthetics glorified the time-
worn female body, which was in Greco-roman period a mortified body
without its purpose. In the Greco-roman discourse, youth and beauty
were hailed as the only social capital which women possessed if they did
not fulfil the role of mother. ‘Mother’s dignity’ as we read from Claudian’s
poem against court eunuch Eutropius, written a century before Justinian,
was the dignity which compensated the lack of beauty in women - When
a woman grows old her children cement the marriage tie and a mother’s
dignity compensates for the lost charms of a wife. Me Lucina, goddess of
childbirth, will not come near; I have no children on whom to rely. Love
perishes with my beauty; the roses of my cheeks are faded. What wits can
save my wretched back from blows?.103
101
Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 165-166. As Smith points out, the story of Pandora
was “a narrative that for centuries authorized a mysoginistic conception of women”. –
Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 167. Some earlier scholars have also connected this
with the Justinian’s legislation, which promoted equality of sexes. T. Honoré, Tribonian,
London, 1978, 11-12; .J. A. Madden, Macedonius Consul: The Epigrams, with trans. and
comm. (Hildesheim and New York, 1995), 229.
102
For the motive of female’s beauty in the Greek epigrams from Justinian’s period see
Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 165 et sq.
103
A telling example of the social, political and cultural capital embedded in the
concept of beauty comes from Claudian, the court poet of the Western Roman Empire in
the late fourth century. In his invective on court eunuch Eutropius we find out that “the
powerful grand chamberlain of Arcadius (395-408)”, was ditched by his former male lover
when his youthful beauty started to fade away. In this particular text, eunuch compares
his unfortunate destiny with a woman’s destiny, who has the unique opportunity to
compensate the loss of the beauty through mother’s dignity. - Claudian, In Eutropium ,
transl. by M. Platnauer, Loeb Classical Library 135, Vol. 1, 1922 1.72-7, 143-145
117
 In the rising christian discourse of female ascetics, a mortified old fe-
male body was given another meaning, a praiseworthy meaning of a re-
pentant and, therefore, blessed corporeality. New women saints were
given the dignity of spiritual mothers. “Mother’s dignity” in the growing
cult of the Virgin-mother, was compensation for the lost beauty coupled
with the social mockery and devaluation personified in the iambic con-
cept of Aristophanes’ graus, an old, lustful and despised woman.
Prokopios, a guardian of the old Roman customs overwhelmingly used
precisely “gender tropes” to present a complete perversion of the impe-
rial affairs in the Age of Justinian, calling Justinian “a monstrous wrecker
of everything that had been established”. Prokopios presented the devi-
ousness of the new regime through empowered women. He did not even
refrain to comment upon the new laws which, according to him, only in-
creased beyond all measures women’s sexual liberty and, therefore, the
illtreatment of Roman men, their husbands. It is easy to see contemporary
parallels in the traditional patriarchal societies (for instance, Balkans),
where precisely the laws on gender equality are perceived as destructors
of valuable traditions and even the whole state. The earlier unanimous
acceptance of Prokopios’ gender-bias among the modern scholars who
considered Justinian as ‘a whimpy or feeble man’ next to his powerful wife
presents a vivid insight into the misogynist culture of modern Europe.104
A peculiar remark by Steven Smith regarding the epigram dedicated to
Theodora’s statue which “sings of her power” is worth noting. Namely, in
the modern edition of Anthologia Palatina by Dübner and Dindorf, the
word “Empress” (basileia) was corrected to the masculine form “Emperor”
(basileie).105 “For eighteenth-century men”, he remarks, “it was unthink-
able that such verses could have been about a woman”.106 I have also point-
ed out several translational alterations in Justinian code, which suggest
that modern translations favour almost always the male gender. In such
cases, women again are lost in modern translations although they feature
among the lines of Justinian’s code. These subtleties distort the overall
picture.

104
Cf. L. Neville, Byzantine Gender (Leeds: Arc Humanities Press 2019), 5-21. Leonora
Neville makes a rather good point in emphasizing that the “Western denigration of
Byzantium is a discourse about gender”, and that “at the root of Byzantium’s non straight
status is that gender is inverted: men are weak and women strong.” Neville, Byzantine
Gender, 7
105
Smith, Gender, Desire and Denial, 115-116.
106
Smith, Gender, 116.
118
 In the writings of the modern feminists, such as Dora D’Istria (1828-
1888), the status of women in society was the prime indicator of its “civi-
lizational level”.107 “Barbaric customs” toward women were markers of
cultural backwardness. Also, the attitude toward women’s excersion of
liberty in society was for modern feminists the essential marker of the
idea of progress. The idea of gender equality lied in the core of John
Stuart Mill’s feminist manifesto On the Subjection of Women written in
th 1869. The text was considered as a harbour of “controversial posi-
tions for that time”. What John Stuart Mill in the 19th century defined
as an inhumane subordination of women to slavery and complete ser-
vitude without any economic and social right, Justinian in his law on
Armenians described as a barbarous practice of the non-Roman people
and their cruel manners which dishonour nature and injure female sex.
Developmentalism, a contemporary post WWII economic theory, im-
poses the idea that under-developed countries should be “continuously
moving toward some more or less common end (Western stage of de-
velopment)”, which, according to Marina Matešić can be traced back to
classical and medieval philosophy.108 However, they can be also traced
back to Byzantine laws, Byzantine social realities, and cultural percep-
tion of the Roman polity. Justinian’s precisely divided the world of his
time into the developed world – Romanland – and under-developed,
which should be de-barbarized and romanized through their change of
the status of women. The most startiling Byzantine paradox is that we
are not sure if Byzantium should be “admitted into the medieval club” or
“modern European”, or whether it should remain to waver in the imagi-
nary chronological and cultural inbetweenes.109
The rediscovery of Justinian laws in the late eleventh century in Bolo-
gna, means that the western part of the former Roman world, lagged be-
hind its Eastern counterpart at least five centuries. As Kaldellis concludes,
“when Byzantium was colonized by the rising western powers in the early
modern period, Byzantium was a far more advanced civilization than the

107
She renders these ideas in her two texts – Les femmes en Orient and Des femmes
par un femme. – cf. Marina Matešić, Svetlana Slapšak, Rod i Balkan. Porodnjavanje
balkanizma. Putovanje do druge, s preprekama (Durieux 2017), 96-98.
108
Marina Matešić, “Gendering Balkanisms. Gender, Culture, and Class in Nineteenth-
Century Women’s Travelogues in the Balkans,“ Aspasia 9 (2015), 19-43.
109
Admission into the medieval club presupposes surrender of its Roman claims
and the adoption of a “Greek” face - Anthony Kaldellis, Byzantium Unbound (Leeds: Arc
Humanities Press 2019), 86.
119
 petty baronies of the lords of the Fourth Crusade’”.110 When Byzantium
was orientalized by Edward Gibbon, it was still a precocious civilization
compared to the Proud Albion. According to Mill’s testimony a century
after Gibbon, in England, the “wife’s position under the common law is
worse than that of slaves in the laws of many countries”, where the chil-
dren remain exclusively the father’s, and even after his death, the mother
doesn’t remain the legal guardian, unless stated in the will. And where
women remains what Mill calls’ the “personal body-servant of a despot”.111
Further exploration of Byzantine feminisms remains a useful tool in the
process of decolonizing our knowledge about Byzantium.

110
Kaldellis, Byzantium Unbound, 91.
111
John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women, 18 – accessed 10.04.2020 - https://www.
earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1869.pdf
120
 7

Unlafwful Marriages in Justinian’s Novels

Daniela Toševa, International Slavic University
“Gavrilo Romanovich Derzhavin”, Sveti Nikole - Bitola
UDK 34(37):347.627.42(358)

Abstract: The Emperor Justinian in Novel 154 addresses the inhabitants of

Mesopotamia and Osrhoene in order to prevent and punish the unlawful
marriages that were conducted there. This is not the first time in Roman legal
history this problem to be addressed. As a matter of fact, Diocletian in 295
AD enacted an edict treating the incestuous marriages and their offspring. The
emperor Justin II who succeeded Justinian, enacted a Novel (3) on unlawful
marriages as well. The questions that arise are: Why the need for repetition of
already existing law? Why is he addressing the inhabitants of this particular
province? Comparison with other Novels demonstrates that the punishment
varied regarding the wealth-status of the population, although it is not
explicitly said. The rural population in Osrhoene and Mesopotamia were to
be punished with capital punishment, but the Jews in Syndis and Tyre were
pardoned for the same matter and forced to pay their crimes with gold.

In Novel 154 Justinian addresses the people of the province of Mesopo-

tamia and Osrhoene, due to the strange report he has heard that these
people were conducting unlawful marriages (ἀθέμιτοι γάμοι), trespassing
thus the Roman rules: “An unusual rumor has come to us that the people
in the province of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene dare to enter into unlawful
121
 marriages, violating the Roman laws and the old and the new punish-
ments prescribed therein, following the customs of the neighboring peo-
ple by contracting these unlawful and prohibited marriages.”1 The title of
this Novel is: Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ὀσροηνῂ ἀθεμίτως συναλλαττόντων (On the unlawful
marital unions in Osrhoene).
The Novels are in essence constitutiones principis (constitutions of the
emperor), i.e. various measures released by the emperor, that have the
force of law.2 However, common for all Novels is the emperor’s direct
address to a particular addressee, proclaiming his demands, issuing a
prohibition or a recommendation for certain matters.3 The problem of the
unlawful marriages was not a novelty in Justinian’s legislation, not even in
the Roman law that preceded Justinian’s legislation. The novelty in Novel
154 is the particular ethnic group he addresses, via Florus, the Count of the
Crown Domain (κόμης τῶν θείων πριβάτων). The problem is the trespassing
the existing Roman laws; therefore he prescribes new punishments,
demonstrating the harshness of his ruling. It is obvious that the population
or at least the administrators in this province were acquainted with the
previous edicts issued on this subject, as well as with the terminology
used, because Novel 154 is quite unclear about the strict meaning of the
term unlawful marriage.4 The emperor declares that he is ready to forgive
1
"Παράδοξός τις ἦλθεν εἰς ἡμᾶς λόγος, ὡς οἱ κατὰ τὴν μέσην τῶν ποταμῶν καὶ τὴν Ὀσροηνὴν
ἐπαρχίαν τολμῶσι γάμοις ἀθεμίτοις ὁμιλεῖν, καὶ τοὺς ῥωμαϊκοὺς παραβαίνουσι νόμους καὶ τὰς
ἐν αὐτοῖς ἠπειλημένας ποινὰς τάς τε παλαιὰς καὶ νέας, τοῖς μὲν ἐκ γειτόνων προσέχοντες, εἰς
ἀθεμίτους δὲ καὶ κεκωλυμένους ἐμπίπτοντες γάμους."
*All translations are the author’s unless otherwise indicated.
2
They assumed diverse forms: edicta, mandata, decreta, and rescripta. The edicts
and the mandates have general contents; the edicts were addressed to all inhabitants
of the empire, while the mandates were internal administrative directions given by the
emperor to officials in his service. The decrees and the rescripts addressed particular
cases; the decrees were decisions issued by the emperor in exercise of his judicial powers
on appeal and, on occasions, as judge of first instance; the rescripts were written answers
/ recommendations given by the emperor to petitions raised by state officials and private
citizens.
3
The Novels that have general contents were addressed to the praetorian prefect of
the East, who was the most important judicial magistrate of the emperor. The prefect
was expected to publish the edict on public places, and made it mandatory (This is a kind
of formula in the Epilogue of the Novels (cf. Nov. 1, 10): Οἱ δέ γε τῶν μητροπόλεων ἄρχοντες
ταῦτα λαμβάνοντες, καθὰ καὶ ἤδη νενομοθέτηται παρ’ ἡμῶν, ἑκάστῃ παραπέμψουσι πόλει·
μενεῖ τε οὐδεὶς ἀνήκοος τοῦ νόμου . . .”As soon as the archons of the metropoleis receive
this law, they shall, as has already been decreed by us, send it to every city; this way
no one will remain ignorant of the law…”, Corpus iuris civilis, volumen tertium. Novellae
Iustiniani, ed. Rudolfus Schoel (Berlin, 1959).
4
In 566 AD, when Justin II succeded Justinian, he enacted new edict which enabled
him to extend the penalties for ungodly marriages to the entire population of the empire.
122
those who have already lived in such unlawful unions, mostly because
they were representatives of the rural population (ἀγροικικὸν πλῆθος), that
was subjected to attacks from the hostile outsiders.5
There are two other Novels issued by Justinian6 that contain the
term unlawful marriage/union in the title; they precede Novel 154 in
chronological and numerical order: Περὶ ἀθεμιτογαμίων / On the unlawful
marriages (Nov. 12); and Συγχώρησις ποινῆς περὶ τῶν ἀθεμίτων γάμων /
Remission of the penalty for unlawful marriages (Nov. 139). Although it is
not explicitly declared in the Novels, it is reasonable to think that these
unlawful marriages were in fact incestuous marriages according to Roman
law; they were not, however, incestuous according to the provincial laws,
at least not until Constitutio Antoninana was enacted in 212 AD. Lee7 was
the first who argued that the unlawful unions were close-kin unions; he
has linked the incestuous marriages in the province of Mesopotamia
to Zoroastrianism, which has been shown to promote intermarriage8.
After all, these are territories bordering Persia, which was notorious for
straight-line incest marriages among the Graeco-Roman world. Patricia
Crone9, on the other hand, argues that it is odd that the emperors do not
say so directly, and that these unlawful unions were in fact polygamous
marriages of specific type10:
This edict is catalogued as Novel 3 in C. E. Zachariae von Lingenthal, ed., Ius Graeco-
Romanum III (Leipzig, 1857) 8f; reprinted in P. and I. Zepos, edd., Ius Graeco-Romanum
I (Athens 1931), under the name: Περὶ τῶν ἐν Ὀσροηνῇ καὶ Μεσοποταμίᾳ γάμους ἀθεμίτους
συναλλαξάντων.
5
"συγχωροῦμεν τοῖς τὴν Ὀσροηνὴν καὶ τὴν μέσην τῶν ποταμῶν τὰς ἐπαρχίας κατοικοῦσι,
προφάσει τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς γενομένων διαφόρως ἐφόδων, καὶ μάλιστα ἀγροικικοῦ πλήθους ὡς
ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ὄντος τοῦ ταῦτα ἐξαμαρτεῖν λεγομένου. “We forgive those who inhabit
the provinces of Osrhoene and Mesopotamia, on the basis of the various attacks that
happened there, and because it is said that they are mostly rural population, especially
those who commit fault."
6
Out of 168 Novels, four (140, 144, 148, and 149) belong to the emperor Justin II, who
succeeded Justinian, three to the emperor Tiberius (161, 163, 164), and three are edicts of
the praetorian prefects.
7
Allen D. Lee, “Close-kin marriage in late antique Mesopotamia,” GRBS 29 (1988),
403-413.
8
Lee, 406-407.
9
Patricia Crone, The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local
Zoroastrianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
10
Joan M. Bigwood, “’Incestuous’ Marriage in Achaemenid Iran: Myths and Realities,”
Klio 91/2 (2009), 311–334, re-examines the ancient sources for such marriages in Persia
in the Achaemenid era and argues that there is very little evidence for supporting the
theory that there were close-to-kin marriages in this particular area.
123
 «If Justinian was targeting something the Arabs and the Persians had in
common, the reference cannot be to close-kin marriages. Both the Persians
and the Arabs were polygynous, a hotly disputed issue between Christians
and Zoroastrians; both practised fraternal polyandry (if we take Persians to
mean Iranians), and the Arabs also shared with the Iranians the feature of
recognising comarriage and other temporary unions. The emperors would
hardly have found it difficult to name polygyny or polyandry, but there was no
one word for temporary co-marriage and other unions bringing in outsiders
to inseminate or substitute for a wife; there still is not today. It would be
reasonable to infer that the emperors had such nameless practices in mind.»11

Arguing whether or not these unions were close-kin or some other type of
arrangement, unusual for the Roman society, is beyond the scope of this
paper. My main question is: Why the emperor in Novel 154 addresses this
particular province, and imposes capital punishment? Namely, my aim is
to demonstrate why the rural population was punished in one way, and
others were pardoned for the same thing. In order to come up with correct
answer, it is necessary to make clear the meaning and the relation of the
terms ἀθέμιτος γάμος and incestum in Roman law, because Justinian in Nov.
154 gives reference to the Roman rules that were being trespassed with this
type of marriages. Secondly, it is important to analyze the Novels that are
concerned with this problem, since they address up-to-date problems in
the empire, and have more of a casuistic nature, than general abstraction.

Roman Law on Incest

There were some requirements and restrictions in Roman law concern-

ing marriage, but most of all it was necessary the couple to be of age, and
to have affectio maritalis (marital affection and intent to be married).12 If
they were alieni iuris, the consent of the pater familias of both parties was
a requirement as well.13 Another condition for legal marriage was absence
of legal impediments; the most important impediments were kinship and
11
Crone, 423.
12
According to Ulpian (Dig. 24.1.32.13) not the coitus, but the marital affection makes
the marriage: Non enim coitus matrimonium facit, sed maritalis affectio.
13
Justiniani Digesta, 23.2. Paul Edict, book 35: «Marriage cannot take place unless
everyone involved consents, that is, those who are being united and those in whose
power they are,” English translation The Digest of Justinian, vol. 2, ed. Alan Watson
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985), 199.
124
social status. But these were impediments that couldn’t have been con-
trolled regularly, because there was no process for registering marriage be-
fore Justinian.14 In fact, there was no formal requirement for making the
marriage binding. No prescribed ceremony, no official representative that
would register the newly wedded couple.15 Therefore, they relied most of
all on oral contracts concluded in front of witnesses.16
The above mentioned Novels are concerned not with illegal marriage
unions that derive from social status, but above all with consanguine-
ous and close-kin marriage unions17, which are denoted as incestuous
and nefarious in the Roman legal terminology. Marriage that is forbid-
den because of the incompatible social status is not termed ἀθέμιτος or
incestum, because this term bears religious connotation.18 The word incest
is not restricted to marital union between relatives, but has more wide
semantical frame. First of all it means impurity; if someone is accused for
being incestuous, it means that they are morally and religiously unclean.
This impurity can be a result of unnatural relations. Therefore, this kind of
marriages among the Romans was first of all religious offence. The Novels
use the term ἀθέμιτος γάμος which is equivalent of the Latin nefaria et
incesta nuptia. This signifies that the divine justice – Θέμις is broken, and
consequently the marriages are ungodly. Later, the terms Θέμις, ἀθέμιτος
find application in the law.
According to the Roman jurist Gaius, who probably lived in the second
century AD, the incestuous marriages are defined accordingly:

14
The marriages were recorded when the census returns were made.
15
In Roman Egypt marriages were recorded at the local notary office (γραφεῖον),
by choice. These were called written marriages (γάμοι γραφοί). However, this was not
a binding practice, since most of the marriages were unwritten (γάμοι ἄγραφοι), or
recorded many years later due to some other obligations.
16
In Nov. 74, Justinian decrees that written instruments detailing the dowry and
prenuptial gifts are obligatory for the senatorial rank. The respectable members of the
society, excluding the senators, were obligated to register their marriages at a church.
This way, the authorities can have greater control over the marriage system.
17
In Nov. 12 is given partial explanation: Θεσπίζομεν τοίνυν, τοῦ λοιποῦ, εἴ τις ἀθέμιτον
καὶ ἐναντίον τῇ φύσει (ὃν ὁ νόμος incestόν τε καὶ nefariον καὶ damnatον καλεῖ) συναλλάξειε
γάμον. Further in the same Novel it beccomes more evident: ἀνθ’ ὅτου γὰρ ἐξὸν γαμεῖν
νενομισμένα παρανόμων ἐρᾷ, καὶ συγχεῖ μὲν γονάς, ἀδικεῖ δὲ τὰ γένη. So it is obvious that by
unlawful marriages he considers close-kin marriages.
18
Lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus prohibits marriage unions by partners with
different rank who have the same legal status, as well as by partners who have different
legal status. However, these unions were not by any means considered incestuous or
nefarious.
125
 Inter eas enim personas, quae
parentum liberorumve locum inter
se optinent, nuptiae contrahi non
possunt, nec inter eas conubium
est, velut inter patrem et filiam
vel inter matrem et filium vel inter
avum et neptem vel inter aviam et
nepotem; et si tales personae inter
se coierint, nefarias et incestas
nuptias contraxisse dicuntur.1
“Indeed, marriage cannot be
contracted between those persons
who have the position of parents
and children, nor is there a right
of marriage (conubium) between
them: as for instance, between a
father and a daughter or between
a mother and a son or between a
grandfather and a granddaughter
or between a grandmother and a
grandson. And if such persons have
joined themselves to each other,
they are said to have contracted an
unholy and incestuous marriage.”2

Gaius says that marriage between child and parent, or between grand-
father and granddaughter, or grandmother and grandson, i.e. marriages
between relatives in linea recta, ascendants and descendants “nefarias
et incestas nuptias contraxisse dicuntur”. He confirms furthermore that
brother-sister marriages,19 regardless if they are genuine, half-siblings or
step siblings, are incestuous. Marriage between legitimate and adopted
child can be realized only if one of them becomes emancipated. In such
case there will be no more legal impediments (nihil impedimento erit
nuptiis); otherwise, this type of marriage is considered incestuous. Never-
theless, in Digest Gaius says that marriage between adopted child (descen-
dant) and adoptive parent (ascendant), or brother/sister of the ascendant,
is considered incestuous and prohibited, even after the emancipation of
the child.
Very little is said about the consequences of these marriages, although
in Lex Iulia de adulteriis coercendis and the Senatus Consultum Turpil-
lianum, it is announced that “Someone who marries a female relative in
the collateral line where this is forbidden or a woman connected by af-
finity where there is some impediment will incur a lighter penalty where
he does this openly, but a heavier one if he does it secretly.”20 Gaius in
19
Gai.,1.61.
20
Just. Dig. 23.2.68 (Transl. Watson, vol. II Digest, 210).

126
Institutes (1, 64) says little about the consequences; namely, if someone
contracts such marriage (nefarias et incestuas nuptias) he doesn’t have
children and a wife, and the child is sine patre. The children are the ones
that suffer the consequences and that is the punishment of this deed.
The emperor Diocletian continues in this line of thinking, by reiterating
this subject on May 1, 295 AD, when he promulgates the edict against
all kinds of close-kin relations. According to Frandsen21 this edict repre-
sents “the severity of this attempt to bolster up the Zoroastrian way of
life [...]. The edict, his second on that subject, was issued in Damascus
with the avowed aim to restore the chaste provisions of Roman law. It
acknowledges the deplorable fact that illicit or incestuous unions exist
and have produced illegitimate offspring.” However, Diocletian is ready
to forgive those who have done such pollution in the past, but their chil-
dren will remain illegitimate.22 Scholars assume that choosing Damas-
cus for issuing this edict on incest is not coincident, because incestuous
marriages are known to exist in this area, before and after Constitu-
tio Antoniniana. At the end of this edict Diocletian explicitly clarifies
which relations are considered illicit23, and that children born from such

21
Paul John Frandsen, Incestuous and Close-Kin Marriage in Ancient Egypt and Persia
An Examination of the Evidence (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press and CNI
Publications, 2009), 99.
22
Sed quaecumque antehac uel inperitia delinquentium uel pro ignorantia iuris
barbaricae inmanitatis ritu ex inlicitis matrimoniis uidentur admissa, quamquara assent
seuerissime uindicanda, tamen contemplatione clementiae nostrae ad indulgentiam
uolumus pertinere.
«But as regards all such unions as have hitherto been contracted after the monstrous
fashion of barbarians, whether through inexperience or in ignorance of the law, our will
is that, despite the severe punishment they merit, they should, of our clemency, have
pardon extended to them.» (Collatio VI 4, 3)
23
cum quibus’autem personis tam cognatorum quam ex adfinium numero contrahi
non liceat matrimenium, hoc edicto nostro cenplexi sumus : cum filia nepte pronepte
itemque matre aula proauia et ex latere amita ac matertera [sorore] sororis filia et ex ea
nepte. itemque ex adfinibus priuigna nouerca socru nuru ceterisque quae antique iure
prohibentur, a quibus cunctos uelumus abstinere.
“In this our Edict, we have enumerated the relatives, whether of the blood or by
affinity, with whom marriage is prohibited, namely, a daughter, granddaughter, great-
granddaughter, likewise a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother ; and laterally, a
father’s sister, mother’s sister [one’s own sister], sister’s daughter, or granddaughter.
Among relatives by marriage, a mother-in-law, stepmother, stepdaughter, daughter-in-
law, and relatives of other degrees with whom marriage is prohibited by ancient law;
marriages within such degrees we forbid to all.» Mosaicarum et Romanarum Legum
Collatio. With introduction, facsimile and transcription of the Berlin codex, translation,
notes ad appendices by Rev. H. Hyamsom. Oxford University Press, 1913, VI.4.4.

127
 unions are fatherless. In this way they are deprived of inheritance24 and
that is their material punishment.

Incest in Justinian’s Novels

The Christian emperors continue this tradition of severity towards close-

kin marriages. However, it is obvious that these marriages had never stopped,
because in 535 AD Justinian promulgates Novel 12, the first of the aforemen-
tioned Novels, in which this problem in the empire was addressed. Justinian
wanted to meliorate this situation in Novel 12, because in his words, the ones
that suffer the consequences are the ones that are not to be blamed, namely
the children born from incestuous marriages; the parents are excused.25 In
the previous edicts the children were deprived of ius honorum and heredi-
tary rights over their father’s property. Justinian exercises clemency over
those who had contracted such marriage in the past but had it dissolved
heretofore. But if the parents don’t divorce this union two years after the en-
actment of the law, Justinian decrees that the children shall then have none
of the paternal property or anything from their mother’s dowry. There is an-
other condition: the children will be permitted to inherit ¾ of their father’s
property if only he doesn’t have legitimate children from another marriage.
In such a scenario, the father pays to the fiscus ¼ of his property as pun-
ishment, and ¾ are left to his legitimate children or his children from the
incestuous union. In future, though, he declares that this type of marriages
24
"Ita enim fiet, ut de future quoque nemo audeat infrenatis cupiditatibus oboedire,
cum et sciant ita praecedentes admissores istius modi criminum uenia liberates,
ut liberorum quos inlicite genuerunt successione arceantur, quae iuxta uetustatem
Romanis legibus negabatur."
“The result will then be that in the future no one will dare to yield to his unbridled lusts,
since they will be aware that those who before them had committed crimes of this
character, though saved by the royal pardon from punishment, were nevertheless denied
the right of being succeeded by their children whom they had begotten in illicit union,
a right which, according to the ancient system, was denied them by the Roman laws.”
(Collatio VI 4, 3)
25
"Τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀθεμίτων ἔμπροσθεν γεγραμμένους ὑπὸ τῶν βεβασιλευκότων νόμους οὐκ
ἐντελῶς ἔχειν ἡγούμεθα, οἵπερ τοὺς μὲν ἀθεμίτοις συμβαλόντας γάμοις ἀτιμωρήτους ἐῶσι, τὴν
δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν προελθοῦσαν γονήν, καίτοιγε ἀνεύθυνον οὖσαν, ἀφαιροῦνται τῶν τοῦ πατρός· ὡς
ἀναγκαῖον ὂν τοὺς μὲν ἁμαρτάνοντας ἀνευθύνους εἶναι, τοὺς δὲ ἀνευθύνους ὡς ἁμαρτάνοντας
κολάζεσθαι." (Just. Nov. 12).
"We consider that the laws previously issued by emperors on incestuous marriages to be
incomplete, because they left the parties who contracted such marriages unpunished,
but deprived their offspring, though innocent, of their father’s property; as though the
guilty should be free and the innocent suffer punishment as sinners."

128
would suffer either total confiscation or bodily punishment if the spouses
were poor. The children wouldn’t get anything.
This clemency vanishes in Novel 89, which addresses the rights of the le-
gitimate and natural born children in relation to inheritance and practic-
ing civil or public office. In this Novel Justinian sets some cruel sanctions
for children born in incestuous marriage:

πρότερον μὲν γὰρ πᾶς ὁ ἐκ “First, everyone who is born of

συνελεύσεων (οὐ γὰρ καλέσομεν
γάμων) ἢ nefariων ἢ incestων ἢ
damnatων προελθὼν οὗτος οὐδὲ
φυσικὸς ὀνομασθήσεται, οὐδὲ
ἀποτραφήσεται παρὰ τῶν γονέων,
οὐδὲ ἕξει τινὰ πρὸς τὸν παρόντα
νόμον μετουσίαν.
sexual intercourse (we won’t call
this marriage) which is considered
godless, incestuous or forbidden,
they will not be called natural
child, neither can be nourished
by their parents, nor they will gain
any profit by the actual law.”

The children born in incestuous or other type of forbidden and godless

relationship didn’t belong into any category after this edict was issued;
they weren’t either legitimate either natural, because they simply didn’t
exist by the law.
In Novel 139 Justinian readdresses this problem with the unlawful mar-
riages. This time the addressee is the economically well situated Jewish
population in Syndis and Tyre. The inhabitants of these places asked to be
allowed to stay with their wives and for their children to be regarded as le-
gitimate; they also asked to be pardoned from the sanctions for incestuous
marriages issued in Novel 12. But the problem occurred when the popula-
tion that practiced unlawful marriages didn’t give up the fourth of their
property to the fiscus, the fourth that is mentioned in Novel 12. Therefore,
the fine was increased and it was to be paid only with gold. This was a
privilege, because only the Jews were exempted from Justinian’s legisla-
tion on endogamy, or to be more precise, on unlawful marriages:

129
 Θεσπίζομεν τοίνυν ὑπὲρ τῆς
τοιαύτης συγχωρήσεως αὐτοὺς
δοῦναι ἀνὰ δέκα λίτρας χρυσίου διὰ
τὰς ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένας αἰτίας,
αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ μόνον συγχωρηθῆναι
καὶ τὴν μείζονα ποινήν, καὶ ἔχειν
αὐτοὺς καὶ τὰς συνοικούσας καὶ
τοὺς ἐκεῖθεν τεχθέντας τε καὶ
τεχθησομένους ὡς εἰκὸς αὐτοῖς suους
καὶ διαδόχους· οὐκ εἰς παράδειγμα
ἑτέρων τοῦτο παρ’ ἡμῶν θεσπισθέν,
ἀλλ’ εἰδότος ἑτέρου αἰτήσειε, πρὸς τῷ
μηδενὸς τυγχάνειν τῶν αἰτουμένων
τήν τε οὐσίαν ἀποβαλεῖ καὶ πρός
γε τὰς εἰς τὸ σῶμα ποινὰς ὑποστὰς
ἐξορίαν οἰκήσει διηνεκῆ. οὐδεὶς
δὲ παρενοχλήσει τοὺς παρ’ ἡμῶν
ἀξιωθέντας ἰδικῆς φιλοτιμίας οὐδὲ
γυναῖκας αὐτῶν ἢ παῖδας ὄντας ἢ
ἐσομένους ἢ περιουσίας, οὔτε ἐκ
ψήφου τοῦ σοῦ δικαστηρίου οὔτε
καθ’ ἕτερον οἱονδήποτε τρόπον.
“Therefore, We decree by way
of clemency, that they shall pay
ten pounds of gold for the before
mentioned accusations, but this
favor is granted only to them,
and they shall have as their legal
successors their wives, their
children both born and unborn,
without, however, what We
now decree being considered a
precedent for others, as everyone
else who may ask similar clemency
from Us is hereby notified that he
will not obtain it; he will lose his
property; and, though no bodily
punishment will be inflicted upon
him, he shall be exiled for life. But
none of those persons to whom
We grant this privilege, their wives,
or their children who are now
living or who may be born from
now on, shall have their property
interfered with either by virtue of
a judicial decree, or for any other
reason.”

Further on, it is important to explain why the lawgiver in Novel 154 says:
Παράδοξός τις ἦλθεν εἰς ἡμᾶς λόγος, which implies a rumor, and not a docu-
mented fact. Marriages, even in Justinian times, were not registered by
an official magistrate, as is previously stated. Consequently, the authori-
ties couldn’t have insight into the realities of marriages, especially in the
provinces, amongst the domicile population. The only way they were reg-
istered was through the census, which was reformed by Diocletian in 296
AD.26

26
He introduced a five year census of the empire’s population and wealth, and reformed
the tax system. The tax unit was determined according to the quantity of arable land
(iugum - yoke), which can be cultivated by one man (caput) in order to provide means
for living. See more N.A. Mashkin, Istorija na stariot Rim, Skopje: Zumpres, 1995, 559-561.
130
 Repeating the laws that prohibit unlawful marriages is not at all result
of the Christian ideology, as it has been explicitly forbidden in the Ro-
man state throughout its history. The Roman family (familia Romana) is
the nucleus of the society, a family that creates soldiers and preserves an-
cient cults and wealth. Only children born in iustum matrimonium can be
subjected to patria potestas, which means they will inherit directly from
their father even ab intestato. If there was a will, then one quarter of the
inheritance was legally owned. The children were allowed to take their
father’s nomen gentilicium and guard the paternal cult. Illegal children,
on other hand, were children without a father, who were neither under
the paternal authority of their biological father, nor under the paternal
authority of their mother’s father. Therefore, polluted marriages became
pollution for the whole society. The Greeks are known to have been al-
lowed a marriage between a brother and a sister of the same father and
this custom has long been held in antiquity. Adoption of a male child in a
family with a daughter who later becomes a husband to his step-sister was
also common among the Greeks and also among the Eastern peoples (cf.
Menander’s Perikeiromene).27 Under the Roman law this was considered
as incest unless one of the siblings was emancipated. According to Roman
law, these marriages are incestuous, and so many legal provisions are re-
peated with the same theme. After all, those who committed such crimes
were obligated to pay state penalties after Justinian intervened with his
new legal provisions. Failure to pay penalty caused the state to intervene.

Conclusion

The most important tool for punishing the unlawful marriages in Jus-
tinian’s legislation was the property confiscation, or paying one fourth of
their property to the fiscus for those that are pardoned. In the previous
legislation that addresses this problem, including Diocletian’s edict, the
punishment is laid upon the offspring: the children are considered father-
less and are deprived from inheritance and ius honorum. The children are
the ones that suffer the consequences. The biological parents were not
punished if they divorced the union. If they remain in the union their

27
On this matter see, Sabine Huebner, “Brother-sister marriage in Roman Egypt: a
curiosity of humankind or a wide spread family strategy?”. Journal of Roman Studies 97,
(2007), 21-49.
131
 property was confiscated.28 Justinian makes radical change in Novel 12 by
readdressing the punishment toward those that are guilty, namely the par-
ents. The punishment is material: the parents must give part of their prop-
erty, and divorce the union. The children will inherit their father, unless
there are other legitimate children who have priority over the property.
If they didn’t divorce the union, their whole property is confiscated, and
the children are left with nothing. In the Novels that are issued later, the
clemency is gone, and he punishes both: the parents with total confisca-
tion and the children are sine patre. In the places where Jews lived, like
Syndis and Tyre, he pardoned the parents and the children, but increased
the material punishment for incestuous marriages, which was to be paid
in gold. But they had privileged position, and this exemption was only for
them. In Novel 154 he exercises clemency toward those who already com-
mitted such unions in Mesopotamia and Osrhoene, but he declares capi-
tal punishment (ἐσχάτη τιμωρία, crimen capitale) for the future offenders
and punishment for the wife and the kids as well. This type of punish-
ment suggests that material punishment was not very effective. Indeed,
these inhabitants were peasants, without large estates (or some were
maybe coloni), so the fiscus wouldn’t benefit much from the confiscation
of their property. The rich people were punished with money and estate,
as the example with the Jewish people demonstrates. But this is the first
time in Roman law this type of crime to be punished with capital pun-
ishment. Were these punishments really effectuated? Justin II also issued
law against incestuous marriages (Justin. Nov. 3), showing no mercy for
the involved, but he issued law which was valid for all inhabitants of the
Ῥωμαϊκὴ Αὐτοκρατορία. The need for repeating the laws is obvious proof
that these practices continued.

28
This punishment is confirmed in the Gnomon of the Idios Logos, Reg. 23, which
addresses the Roman citizens in the province of Egypt: «Romans are not permitted to
marry their sisters or their aunts, but marriage with their brother’s daughters has been
conceded. Pardalas [*the idiologus] indeed, when a brother married a sister, confiscated
the property.» (Select Papyri, vol. II: Non Literary, Public Documents. With an English
translation A.S. Hunt, C.C. Edgar. Harward University Press, 1963).
132
 8
Justinian I in the light of inscriptions
in Albania
Fabio Toska, University of Tirana
UDK 902.2[27-523.5:7.033.2(496.5)”652/653”
UDK 003.071(495.02):726.54(496.5)”4”

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to add to the already existing body of
research by closely interpreting the inscriptions which center around the
emperor Justinian I. The focus is on how the Emperor Justinian I is presented.
It should be noted that all five inscriptions discovered in Albania dealt with in
this paper are treated not merely as historical sources, but they are interpreted
in a much broader sense as very much being part of a cultural phenomenon.
With these considerations in mind this paper will be contributing significantly
to the examination of the political, religious aspects as well as the language
components involved.

It was more than a century ago that the Austrian archaeological mission
headed by Camillo Praschniker and Arnold Schober during World War I
in Albania observed and noticed a limestone block with inscriptions on
it, which was situated in the vicinity of the small town of Ballshi.1 In the

1
Camillo Praschniker&Arnold Schober, Muzakhia und Malakastra (Wien: Alfred
Hölder, 1920), 98-104.
133
 late 1970s there was a series of systematic archaeological excavations con-
ducted in the ruins of the basilica of Ballshi. These excavations which con-
tinued for a number of years were led by the Albanian scholar Skënder
Anamali.2 Apart from the concerted efforts in identifying and tracing the
basilica of Ballshi, the excavations brought to light three limestone blocks
with inscriptions on them which, given the dimensions and the textual
contents were found to be very similar to the one discovered by Prasch-
niker and Schober. A few years later the Albanian archaeologist Skënder
Muçaj discovered a fragmented limestone block with inscriptions on it
as part of an architrave to be found in the fortified walls of the late anti-
que city of Bylis as well, which is situated only a fewkilometers away from
Ballshi.3

Fig.1 The administrative map of the provinces in the Late Roman Empire (in particular
the Appenine peninsula and the Balkans). This administrative division was in place du-
ring the reign of Justinian I. (Map extracted from the work of William Bowden “Town and
Country in Late-antique Epirus Vetus”).4

The legitimate question that arises is: What do the five inscriptions sha-
re in common between them? It should be pointed out that 2 out of the
4 inscriptions discovered in Ballshi and the one discovered in Bylis make
specific mention of the emperor Justinian I (527-565). The 4 inscriptions

2
Skënder Anamali, “Bazilika e Ballshit”, Iliria (1977-1978), 7-8, 301-30; Skënder Anamali,
“Gërmime arkeologjike tw vitit 1983”, Iliria 2 (1983), 257-258.
3
Pierre Cabanes, Corpus des d’inscriptions grecques d’Illyrie méridionale et d’Epire
(Paris: L’École française d’Athènes, 2016), 232.
4
William Bowden, Town and Country in Late-antique Epirus Vetus (Norwich:
University of East Anglia, 2000), 16.
134
in Ballshi, due to the similarities they share in their textual contents, in
their architectural character as well as in the mutual archaeological con-
text are considered and treated in their entirety. As we will be able to see
below, the epigraphic evidence by far points to the exceptional involve-
ment of Justinian I in the building activities in Albania. The 5 inscriptions
discovered were placed as spolia at the moment they were recorded. They
could be easily traced to the late antique city of Bylis. The only inscription,
as stated above, discovered in the city of Bylis is the one which appears to
be rather fragmented. Despite several studies by different scholars of the
inscriptions which are under consideration here as well5, this paper inten-
ds to bring some new research questions to the fore. The questions vary
in form and include: How is the emperor Justinian I represented in the
inscriptions? Which image of the emperor is transmitted to the audience
in the late antique city of Bylis? Which is the significance of the religious
component? Of particular interest is the issue of how best to analyse the
ways in which the emperor was politically featured in the inscriptions,
when comparison is drawn to the account of Prokopios. The paper pays
close attention to the materiality of the inscriptions, as well as to the role
played by the language component.
Below is given a catalogue of the 5 inscriptions:

Inscription no.1:

This is an inscription carved in a reused limestone block discovered in the

basilica of Ballshi as brough to light by the excavations of S. Anamali. The
text is inscribed in a shallow surface area set inside a 4 cm wide rectangular
frame. The dimensions of the block are by 0,49x0,92x0,45m. The height of
the letters varies from 6,2 to 7 cm. Over the text are inscribed 3 crosses. It
is conserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Tirana. (Fig.2).
+ + +
Ὠ ξένε μή παρίδῃς τῆς Βυλλίδ(ος) τήν χάριν
ῆς ποτε τίχαι πεπτωκότα ἀνέγειρεν
ὀ θρασὐς Βικτωρῖνος.
5
Skënder Anamali, “Katër mbishkrime ndërtimi nga Bylisi”, Monumentet 1 (1987), 63-
72; Cabanes, Corpus, 228-232; Skënder Muçaj, Kisha e Shën Mërisë së Ballshit(Glavinicës).
Probleme të identifikimit dhe datimit të saj”, Iliria 1-2 (2001-2002), 262-265; Skënder
Muçaj, “ Sistemi fortifikues i qytetit të Bylisit në antikitetin e vonë”, Iliria (1990), 185-188;
Denis Feissel, “L’architecte Viktôrinos et les fortifications de Justinien dans les provinces
balkaniques”, Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France (1988), 136-146;
William Bowden, “Procopius’ Buildings and the late antique fortifications of Albania”,
New Directions in Albanian Archaeology, edited by Lorenc Bejko and Richard Hodges
(Tirane: Mali Pleshti, 2006), 277-286.
135
 “O foreigner, do not avoid the look from the beauty of the Bylis, whose walls,
once ruined, were rebuilt by the brave Viktorinos” .

Fig.2. Photo: Fabio Toska, National Archaeological Museum in Tirana.

Inscription no.2:

This inscription which is carved in a reused limestone block was discovered

in the basilica of Ballshi thanks to the excavations of S. Anamali. The text is
inscribed on a shallow carved surface, set vertically in a 4cm wide rectangu-
lar frame and horizontally in 6cm wide frame. The dimensions of the block
are by 0,58x1,23x0,29m. The height of the letters is 5cm. The text in the first
row is preceded by a cross and in the last row is also followed by a cross. This
is conserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Tirana. (Fig.3).

+ Θεοῦ προνοίᾳ καί Θεοτόκου Παρθένου

όρθῶς ύπουργῶν τῷ σκοπῷ καί τοῖς τρόποις
Ὶουστινιανοῦ τοῦ κρατίστου δεσπότου,
Μυσῶν ἐγείρας καί Σκυθῶν τὰ φρούρια
5 καὶ τῆς Ἱλλυρικῆς σὺν Θράκῃ πάσῃ χώρας
κτιζει τὸ τεῖχος εὐσεβῶ τῇ Βυλλίδι
ὀ Βικτωρῖνος, ή στρατηγικὴ φύσις. +

“With the Providence of God and Virgin Mother of God (Theotokos), as truly
helpers of the goal and practices of Justinian’s, the most powerful ruler, after
having built the fortresses in Moesia and in Scythia, those in the territory
of Illyricum, as well as in Thrace, Viktorinos, a man with strategical skills,
piously built the walls of Bylis”.

136


Fig.3. Photo: Fabio Toska, National Archaeological Museum in Tirana.

Inscription no.3:

This inscription which is carved in a reused limestone block was discove-

red in the basilica of Ballshi thanks to the excavations of S. Anamali. The
text is inscribed in a shallow surface, set in a 4cm wide rectangular frame.
The dimensions of the block are 0,41x1,13x0,46m. The height of the letters
varies from 6,5 to 10 cm. The text is preceded by a cross which appears in
the upper-left corner. It is conserved at the National Archaeological Mu-
seum in Tirana. (Fig.4).

+Οὐκέτι βαρβάρους ὀλοφύρομε οὐδὲ δειμένω

αὐτόχειρος ἐργάτου λαχοῦσα
Βικτωρίνου τοῦ μεγάλου.

“Do not complain about the barbarians, do not have fear anymore, because
I found in Viktorinos the Great the one who has built me with his own han-
ds”.

137
 Fig.4. Photo: Fabio Toska, National Archaeological Museum in Tirana.

Inscription no.4:

This inscription which is carved in a reused limestone block was disco-

vered in the basilica of Ballshi by the Austrian archaeologists Camillo
Praschniker and Arnold Schober during the World War I. The text is in-
scribed in a shallow surface set in a rectangular frame. The dimensions of
the block are 0,47x1,15x0,33m. The frame is slightly fragmented down at
the bottom and close to the upper-left corner. The height of the letters is
5,5cm. It is considered to be a lost inscription today. (Fig.5).

O] ὑk ἄν ποτε Λἡθης τοῖς ρἱθροις δοθἡσεται

Ἰ] ουστινιανοῠ τὸ κράτιστον οὒνομα
ἀλλ’ οὐδ ὄ μακρὸς και ἅναρίθμητος χρὄνος
γερῶν καλύφει τοὺς πόνους Βικτωρἵνου
εἴς ὕψος άυτοῦ τῶν ἐπηρμένων.

138


Fig.5. Photo taken from: C. Praschniker&A. Schober, Muzakhia und Malakastra, 98-104,
fig.112.

Inscription no.5:

This inscription which is carved in a limestone block in the architra-

ve is located in the the fortified walls of Bylis. The text which is pre-
ceded in the first row from a cross is rather fragmented, because the
block where the inscription is carved, is half-broken. It was inscribed
on a shallow surface set within a tabula ansata. It is considered lost to-
day. The documentation, done by archaeologist Skënder Muçaj, is to be
found in the archive at the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana. (Fig.6)

+Ἰουστινιανοῦ τοῦ κρ[ἁτιστου δεσπότου- - - - ]

λουτρὸν μὲν εὶμὶ χρησ[- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ]
ὀνόματι δ’ ἀυτοῦ τοῦ [- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -]
τοῦ πάσης μιζ[ον (?)]ος εθ[- - - - - - - - - - - - -].

“Justinian, the most powerful ruler... I am the bath... Useful.. But…The same
name of the… Superior to any..”.

139
 Fig.6 Photo taken from Pierre Cabanes, Corpus des d’inscriptions grecques d’Illyrie méri-
dionale et d’Epire, (Paris: L’École française d’Athènes, 2016), table 34.

What is easily noticeable here is the use of the name of the emperor Ju-
stinian I, which is featured in the inscriptions with definitions of the type:
“most powerful ruler” (second inscription), “most powerful name” (fourth
inscription) and “most powerful ruler” (fifth inscription). It should come
as no surprise that the praises attributable to the emperor as a builder
were quite common during that period, since such attributes were closely
related to the political ideology. As can be seen see in the work by Proko-
pios’ De Aedificiis, the main theme is to highlight the advantages which Ju-
stinian I brought to the empire through his building policies.6 Even though
the information in the De Aedificiis is subject to dispute for lack of precise-
ness Prokopios dedicated his work to not only commemorate but to also
glorify the figure of the emperor along with his numerous achievements
as a builder, yet this is done in a rather exaggerated .7 The idea of demon-
strating the building activity as a process of the empire’s restoration ef-
forts directed from the emperor was not innovative. The same strategy has
also been sought by previous Roman emperors.8 Furthermore, the buil-
ding activity of Justinian I which is tied to the imperial ideology, cannot be
completely figured out without putting it in the Christian context. The re-
ligious component, often neglected in the previous research, was a major
aspect of the imperial ideology. The inscriptions above are accompanied
by crosses, thus being labeled as early Christian inscriptions. The religious
6
Procopius of Caesarea, Buildings, volume VII, transl. Henry Bronson Dewing
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1971), I.1.12., 7.
7
Averil Cameron, Procopius and the sixth century (London: Routledge, 1996), 89.
8
Bowden, “Procopius”, 279. Bowden argues that the demonstrative building policy
dates back to the emperor Augustus.
140
component which is emphasized in the second inscription, reads: “Θεοῦ
προνοίᾳ καί Θεοτόκου Παρθένου”(With the providence of God and Theo-
tokos”. As indicated here, the initiative of Justinian I is divinely inspired.9
The closeness to God, brilliantly reflected in the inscriptions as well as in
the De Aedificiis, is a consistent theme under his reign. In this instance, the
form Θεοτόκου is related to the canons of the Ecumenical Synod of Ephe-
sus in 431, where Mary the mother of Jesus, would be introduced with the
title of Θεοτόκου (the one who gave birth to God). As Prokopios points out,
the cult of Virgin Mary was very important to the emperor10, and this is
apparent also in the parallel inscriptions discovered in Corinth. The idea
of a Christian emperor as a representive of God on earth based on the
political ideology developed from Eusebius of Caesarea is apparent both
in the account of Prokopios and in the epigraphic evidence that we have
been closely considering in this paper. The inscriptions in question de-
monstrate the presence of the imperial authority. Other early Christian in-
scriptions in Albania are done within the local communities.11 It is worth
mentioning that out of a total of 50 early Christian inscriptions recorded
in Albania almost half of them are to be located in the area of Bylis-Ballsh.
The existence of 5 basilicas in Bylis, with one of them boasting cathedral
dimensions, accompanied by an episcopal complex indicate quite a well-
developed Christian city during the late antique period.12
Inscriptions themselves are not merely texts. They should be treated in a
much broader sense from a cultural phenomenon perspective. In order to
contextualize the epigrahic evidence and gain a more complete picture of
the age of Justinian I in Albania, we should take a look at the outcomes of
the historical and archaeological research of this time period.
9
Cameron, Procopius, 86.
10
Procopius, Buildings, I.III.3, 39: We must begin with the churches of the Virgin Mary.
For we know that this is what the emperor wishes, and the reason is clearly given by the
true saying that one should proceed from God to His Mother.
11
Skënder Muçaj & Marie-Patricie Raynaud, “Les mosaïque des églises protobyzantines
de Bylis(Albanie) in La mosaïque gréco-romaine. Actes du IXe Colloque international pour
l’étude de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, ed. Hélène Morlier (Roma: École Française
de Rome, 2005), 383-398; Pascale Chevalier, Nicolas Beaudry, “Une ville du VIe siècle
retournant à la ruralité : désurbanisation etabandon du siège épiscopal de Bylis”, in
L’Illyrie Méridionale et L’Epire dans L’Antiquité-VI: Actes du Vie colloque international de
Tirana 20-23 mai 2015 ed. Jean-Luc Lamboley, Luan Përzhita and Altin Skënderaj (Tirana:
Institut archéologique de Tirana, 2015), 435-448.
12
William Bowden, “The Early Christian Archaeology of the Balkans”, in The Oxford
Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, edited by David R. Caraher, David K.
Pettergrew and Thomas W. Davis (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2019), 11-12/21. See also the case
of early Christian inscriptions and their private nature in Antigonea: Dhimosten Budina,
“Mozaiku i Trikonkës paleokristiane të Antigonesë”, Iliria 7-8 (1977-1978), 227.
141
 Firstly, as already known, the main documentary source in relation to
the age of Justinian I are the works of Prokopios of Caesarea. In this ar-
ticle, given the scope of intents we undertake, we will take the panegyri-
cal work De Aedificiis into account. Despite the huge and rather disputed
number of the 44 fortresses built ex novo, as well as 50 other fortresses
reconstructed in the province of Epirus Vetus and Epirus Nova, listed in
the Book IV13, archaeological research in Albania has identified a num-
ber of fortifications that appear to be Justinianic14. Secondly, the opera-
tions focusing mainly on the religious building, as described in the work
of Prokopios, was one of the major directions of the emperor’s building
activity, which served as a ready instrument of advancing the process
of conversion to Christianity.15 Although Prokopios doesn’t mention any
churches ever built in the territory of present-day Albania, the archaeo-
logy as such does confirm building activity being at its peak mainly in the
religious aspect. Traces of the early Christian churches have been disco-
vered in Albania.16 As scholars suggest, they date mostly to the first half of
the 6th century AD. Thirdly, the circulation of coins is another indicator of
the rather well-developed economic situation. The coins discovered bea-
ring the name of Justinian I are quite more frequent than the ones issued
by subsequent Byzantine emperors, since the latter are represented by a
minimum amount of coins discovered.17 During the early years of Justi-
nian’s reign, the economic prosperity was quite apparent.18 Consequently,
as explained above, a favorable setting was created in which architectural
insriptions could be erected.
Next to the name of the emperor Justinian I in the inscriptions stands
that of Viktorinos. Several definitions are ascribed to him: “brave man”,
“a man with strategic skills”, “great”, “rebuilder”, “builder”, “built the walls
13
Procopius, Buildings, IV.IV.
14
Skënder Anamali, “Epoka e Justinianit në Shqipëri (Në dritën e të dhënave
arkeologjike)”, Iliria (1997), 6-7.
15
Cameron, Procopius, 85.
16
Aleksandër Meksi, “Arkitektura e kishave në Shqipëri: Shekujt VII-XV”, (Tiranë:
Uegen, 2004), 19; Aleksandër Meksi, “Aspektet e arkitekturës paleokristiane në Shqipëri”,
Iliria 1 (1986), 293-294.
17
Hëna Spahiu, “Monedha bizantine të shekujve V-XIII të zbuluara në territorin
e Shqipërisë”, Iliria 9-10 (1979-1980), 353-422. Actual scientific articles or corpuses for
Byzantine numismatics are unfortunately absent in Albania. However, the frequency
of Justinian’s coins is obviously prevalent compared to the coins of other Byzantine
emperors, before and after Justinian’s reign.
18
Angeliki E. Laiou and Cécile Morrisson, The Byzantine Economy (Cambridge
University Press, 2010), 23-42.
142
with his own hands”, distinguished for his “virtues”. On the other hand,
Viktorinos appears in two similar inscriptions discovered in the Isthmus
of Corinth, where he is praised as “very loyal” and “devoted” to the empe-
ror Justinian I: thus confirming his involvement in the province of Achae-
a.19 Who was Viktorinos? His identity has been an object of debate over
the years, because his name isn’t literally mentioned in any documentary
source. On the other hand he appears in two epigraphic evidences in Bylis
and in Corinth where he is lauded. The article of Zanini arrived at a com-
prehensive conclusion about him.20 Apart from the architects and engine-
ers of the imperial court, there was a group of imperial mechanikoi which
guided the work over the centrally-devised plans in building or restoring
strategic fortresses and cities throughout the provinces. According to
Prokopios, there were a number of mechanikoi involved in such projects.
The mechanikoi were part of a high social class as their names are mentio-
ned next to that of the emperor, as is the case of Viktorinos.21
The inscriptions also do reflect an important geographic dimension. In
the second inscription can be read that Viktorinos, under the guidance of
the emperor Justinian, built the fortresses in the prefecture of Illyricum
and in the imperial provinces of Thrace, Moesia and Scythia. Here, the epi-
graphic evidence matches with the descriptions of Prokopios.22
Regarding the dating of the walls as a contribution to the chronology of
Bylis, there have been many opinions often quite contradictory to each-
other. The 4 inscriptions of Viktorinos aren’t discovered in situ; yet they
could be very helpful in provides clues as to the dating of the walls. The
fortified wall in Bylis which is complete with towers, where the area of the
city is reduced from 30ha to 11ha is dated in the late antique period. (Fig.7;
Fig.8) But, across several parts of the wall, there appears to have been done
some late reconstructing.23 Since Prokopios didn’t enlist Bylis among other
reconstructed fortresses, we are not able to come to any conclusion whe-
ther the inscriptions were related to a specific building phase of the walls or
19
Denis Feissel&Anna Philippidis-Braat “Inscriptions du Péloponnése(a l’exception
de Mistra)”, Travaux et Mémoires 9 (1985), 279-281.
20
Enrico Zanini, “Technology and Ideas: Architects and Master-Builders in the Early
Byzantine World”, in Technology in transition: A.D. 300–650, ed. Luke Lavan, Enrico
Zanini and Alexander Sarantis (Leiden/Mass: Brill, 2008), 381-406.
21
Zanini, 394.
22
Procopius, Buildings, IV.V.1, 265; IV.VI.3, 279 IV.XI.18-19, 307-309.
23
Mucaj, “Sistemi”, 176-183. As described from the author, the major late antique wall
is named Bylis III, while the partial work in reconstructing the wall, where the fifth
inscription is found, is named Bylis IIIb.
143
 not. Consequently, since this issue needs further research and it is not under
the focus of this paper, we do agree that epigraphic evidence in question
reflects that some amount of work was carried out in Bylis under the reign
of Justinian. Yet the extent of the work done is not fully known.24 Bowden
concludes that even minor repair works could be recorded as being new
constructions and the same could easily apply to inscriptions.25After the
abandonment which occured in the late century, the city of Bylis would turn
into a “quarry”, where many architectonic elements such as inscription-be-
aring blocks were displaced as spolia in order to reconstruct the medieval
basilica of Ballshi, also known in history as the basilica of Glavinitsa.26
Apart from the traditional approach towards the epigraphic evidence in
general, where inscriptions have been treated merely as isolated texts and
useful only as historical source, we will manage to see the materiality of the
inscriptions.With the above in mind a series of questions pop up: How did
the inhabitants of Bylis perceive the inscriptions? How did they experience
them? Firstly, since the inscriptions of Viktorinos were not found in situ, we
cannot make any references as to their monumentality, their spatial arran-
gement and how they communicated within the urban setting. Given the
mention of the name of the emperor and the imperial authority which it
likewise reflected, the inscriptions might have been placed in a frequented
quarter of the city and perhaps next to the defensive wall, thus everyone
would be able to experience them. On the either hand, the fragmented in-
scriptions placed upside-down as a spolia somewhere along the fortified
wall, don’t help us establish its spatial arrangement. There have been some
assumptions expressed regarding the initial position of the inscription. Ho-
wever, the involvement of the Justinian I in bath-building through western
Balkans, as Bowden remarks, would be a unique case.27
To better understand the materiality of the inscriptions one should take
into account the way in which the texts were physically inscribed (script,
letters, lines, space), aesthatic features in order to impress the viewer’s eye,
and possible intellectual competencies to understand messages or specific
meanings. Except for the inscription discovered from Praschniker once,
which is damaged in the upper-left corner, the 4 remaining inscriptions are
accompanied by crosses; in one case the cross is situated in the upper-left
corner above the first line, in another case 3 crosses are above the first line,
24
Bowden, “Procopius”, 285.
25
Bowden, “Procopius”, 285.
26
Muçaj, “Kisha”, 263.
27
Bowden, “Procopius”, 282.
144
to continue with an inscription accompanied by a cross in the beginning
of the first line and another with 2 crosses, one in the beginning of the first
line and the other in the end of the last line. In light of the above-mentioned
aspects of the Christian symbols as a means of legitimizing the substantial
religious component, it could be said that they also improve the aesthetic
visual appearance of the inscriptions. But, under careful examination it is
visible that the inscriptions in question vary from one to the other from
their technical execution. The first and the third inscription display another
arrangement of the script; the letters are carved in a shallow and thin man-
ner and the author has been rather negligent as to the height and the width
of the letters, which seem to be showing different dimensions to each-other.
The author hasn’t employed the entire space that the side of the block pro-
vides. Whereas the second inscription appears in a different manner The
letters are more sharp and their carving much thicker. The author seems to
have paid more attention to the inscriptions as such so as to fill the entire
side of the block, since the text appears to be much longer than the others,
thus conveying a more cohesive entity of the text and a more impressive ap-
pearance for the sake of the audience. Similar features are also indicative of
the fifth inscription, although this is attributable to another archaeological
context. Ultimately, the fourth inscriptionbased on the documentation of
Praschniker, seems to share similiarities with the latter. Regarding the ma-
teriality of the inscriptions, the frames play a significant role in what they
reveal to the audience in terms of it all being viewed as an image or object.28
The four inscriptions carved in the quadratic blocks possess simple and
very common rectangular shapes without any decoration whatsoever. This
is typical of frames produced during the late antique period. The isolation
of the inscriptions within the frames helps the audience view the text as a
separate visual entity.29 While the fifth inscription, even though fragmented,
is carved in a tabula ansata, which in turn is a very popular frame during
the Roman period. This continued to be popular in the Christian epigraphy,
both in Latin and Greek language.30 At the same time such a popular frame
is intended to draw the attention of the audience.
Of particular interest is the use of the metrical feet through the inscrip-
tions. According to Alan Cameron, the second and the fourth inscription
28
Sean V. Leatherbury, “Framing Late Antique Texts as Monuments: The Tabula
Ansata between Sculpture and Mosaic”, in The Materiality of Text – Placement, Perception,
and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity, ed. Andrej Petrovic, Ivana Petrovic
and Edmund Thomas (Leiden/Boston, 2018), 381.
29
Leatherbury, 381.
30
Leatherbury, 382.
145
 are considered as iambic epigrams.31 In the third line of the fourth inscrip-
tion, we can read “the incalculable length of times”. This passage is taken
from the famous tragedy of Sophocles, Ajax.32 Whereas the fragment “in
aging”, is taken from well-known works of Aeschylus and Euripides.33 On
the other hand, the third inscription begins somehow with a dactylic hexa-
meter, while the first inscription can be considered as dactylic hemistich.
Regarding Feissel, the 4 inscriptions do not demonstrate a strict schematic
use of prosody; they are more likely proses adorned with poetic reminiscen-
ces.34 It is apparent that the textual contents is artistically elaborated and
for anyone claiming to experience the reading of the poetry, should possess
the intellectual competencies to comprehend the meter and have intimate
knowledge of Classical tragedy.
Lastly, the language of the inscriptions, as we can see, is Greek. Out of
around 50 early Christian inscriptions in Albania, only 7 are in Latin lan-
guage.35 None of the Latin inscriptions is recorded in Bylis or in the area
nearby. Some of the inscriptions in Latin display incorporated elements of
Greek language, for example, Greek letters between Latin words.36 As for
the early Christian inscriptions, it can be noticed that Greek was a prevai-
ling language when compared to Latin during the Late Antiquity. Other-
wise, the areas in question were during the previous centuries of Roman
Principate rather Latin-speaking than Greek-speaking.37 Since the reign of
Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire officially started to use Greek along with
the Latin language.38
31
Alan Cameron, “Greek tragedy in the sixth-century Epirus”, Classical Review 17/2
(1967), 134.
32
Cameron, “Greek tragedy”, 134.
33
Cameron, “Greek tragedy”, 134.
34
Feissel, “Viktorinos.”, 141.
35
Fabian Miraj, “Mbishkrime latine të Durrësit (Gjetje rasti)”, Iliria 1-2 (1991), 272-274;
Damian Komata, “Një mbishkrim nga fshati Prush”, Iliria 6 (1976), 363-365; Dilaver Kurti,
“Një mbishkrim latin në Mat”, Studime Historike 3 (1970), 171-173; Aleksandër Meksi &
Neritan Ceka, “Bazilika paleokristiane në Tepe(Elbasan)”, Buletini Arkeologjik 3 (1971),
104-110.
36
Miraj, “Mbishkrime latine”, 363-365. The use of Greek letters like Alpha, Upsilon,
Delta, lunate Epsilon, among the lines of inscriptions in Latin, are considered as Greek
language influences.
37
Skënder Anamali, “Procese shndërrimi në trevën jugore ilire në shekujt I-IV”, Iliria
1 (1986), 20-21.
38
Nicolas Oikonomides, ““L’Unilinguisme’’ officiel de Constantinople byzantine
(VlIe-XIIe S.)”, in Society, Culture and Politics in Byzantium, ed. Elizabeth Zachariadou,
(Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 2005), 9-12; Regarding to the importance and use of the
146
 In conclusion, this paper provided us with the opportunity to closely ob-
serve and examine the inscriptions from different angles, not only as sepa-
rate historical texts as seen in previous research, but also to examine their
political, religious and language significance which enable us to shed more
light on the emperor Justinian I as well as on the impetuous 6th century AD.

Fig.7 Plan of the city and the monuments

of Bylis. The defensive wall of Viktorinos,
complete with towers, with the area of
the city being reduced from 30ha to 11ha,
thus leaving important monuments out-
side. The plan is extracted from the arti-
cle: S. Muçaj, P. Chevalier, S. Xhyheri, S.
Bushi, “Bylis 2012”, Iliria, 2013, 360.

Fig.8 The remains of

the late antique wall in
Bylis. Captured from the
inner late antique part
of the city. Photo: Fabio
Toska.

Greek language in the Byzantine empire, see: Novellae, VII dhe LXVI; Corpus Iuris Civilis
is consisted of four major parts, Codex Justinianeus, Digesta, Institutiones and Novellae.
The first three parts are written in Latin language. Novellae comprehends new laws
enacted after 534 and most of the new laws are written in Greek, hence turning into
a forerunner upon the appliance of the Greek language as an adequate and suitable
language among the communities throughout the empire; See also: George Ostrogorsky,
Historia e Perandorisë Bizantine (Tiranë: Dituria, 2007), 58-60.
147
 9

Македонци и Бугари како повеќекратни

идентитетски ознаки во концептуалната
претстава на Византијa
Митко Б. Панов, Институт за национална историја,
Универзитет „Св. Кирил и Методиј“, Скопје
UDK 323.1(=163.3):[930(495.02)”6/14”
UDK 323.1(=163.2):[930(495.02)”6/14”

Abstract: The paper explores the snapshots from the Byzantine texts on the
use of the terms Macedonians and Bulgarians. The contextual analysis shows
that the term Macedonians was a conventional label by which the inhabitants
of Thessalonica and Macedonia were traditionally marked as belonging to
Byzantium and thus conceptually differentiated from the enemies. From the
end of the 9th century the term Macedonians acquired additional meaning
becoming an identity label for the imperial dynasty and for the population
living within the new theme in Eastern Thrace named Macedonia. The term
Macedonians was used as conceptual label by which the Romaioi were
differentiated from the Bulgarian State and following its annihilation in 971,
from the new enemies embodied in the Samuel’s State. Since 1018 the newly
constructed administrative and eccclesistaical term Bulgaria/Bulgarians was
imposed, by which Byzantium marked its geographical ownership onto the
territory of the former Samuel’s State. When ethnicity was to be called, the

148
 term Slavs was applied for the inhabitants of the theme Bulgaria. However,
from the beginning of 12th century the equivalence between Sclavinia/Slavs
and Bulgaria/Bulgarians was constructed and projected even for the traditions
of Ss. Cyril and Methodius. Towards the end of the 12th century, the label
Bulgaria/Bulgarians became inapplicable for Byzantium since it acquired
ethnic meaning within the Second Bulgarian empire, serving also as a pretext
for its pretensions for Macedonia. The appellation Bulgaria as a designation for
the Ohrid Archbishopric became an anachronism for Byzantium only echoing
the memory of Basil II when its meaning was constructed, imposed and
projected. The labels Macedonia/Macedonians retained their conventional
meaning in the 14th century, that led Nikephoros Gregoras to state that
Ohrid was a “Macedonian city”, Thessaloniki was “the first in the land of the
Macedonians”, and that “Romaioi live in Macedonia”.

Контекстуалната анализа на делата на византиските автори ја

илустрира комплексноста на поимањето и употребата на термините
Македонци и Бугари во Византија. Исечоците од византиските тексто-
ви во кои се содржани конкретните термини со фокус на Македонија,
покажуваат дека нивната употреба во голема мера била подредена
на политичкиот момент и моделирана во согласност со целите на
идеолошката пропаганда. Оттаму, произлегувала и променливоста
на терминолошкото значење. За разјаснување на терминологијата
аплицирана од византиските автори, потребно е да се прави разли-
ка помеѓу современиците и оние кои пишувале од хронолошка дис-
танца, со оглед дека рефлектирале различна политичка и идеолошка
перспектива. Ваквиот пристап кон терминологијата открива поинак-
во поимање од стереотипното од аспект на концептуалното значење.
Терминот Македонци претставувал конвенционална идентитетска
ознака со која традиционално биле маркирани жителите на Тесало-
ника и на Македонија.1 Архиепископот Јован во воведот на првата
збирка на „Чудата на св. Димитрија” составенa во првата деценија од
VII век, предочил дека го пренесува тоа што е познато „во цела Ма-
кедонија, императорскиот град и во целата Империја”.2 Во наративот
1
Во дескрипцијата на Теодорит Кирски од V век, Тесалоника е претставена
како град на Македонците (Theodoretus Cyrrensis, Historia Religiosa, ed. Jacques-Paul
Migne, PGr 84 (Parisiis: Migne, 1864), 5.17, col. 1232: „Qessalonikh pÒlij ™sti meg…sth
kaˆ ®polu£nqrwpoj, eij m h tÕ MakedÒnwn ™qnoj tellousa”).
2
Miracula Sancti Demetrii, I, Prologue, 9:15 “...di¦ tÕ per…fanton ™n ÓlÊ tÊ Makedon…a
kaˆ tÍ basileoÚosh pÒlei gegonšnai kaˆ mšcri nàn ³desqai par¦ to‹j ¡p£ntwn
stÒmasi”. Paul Lemerle, Les plus ancient recuels des Miracles de Saint Démétrius et la
pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans, I: Le texte (Paris: Éditions du Centre national de la
recherche scientifique, 1979), 53.
149
 е содржан и редок пример на само-идентификација на граѓаните на
Тесалоника, манифестирана преку Јовановото оддавање признание
на Македонците (to‹j MakedÒsin) за пројавената храброст во од-
браната на градот.3 Соодветната претстава е присутна и кога Јован
повикува на замисленото собирање во Тесалоника „не само на сите
Македонци (toÝj MakedÒnaj), туку и на Тесалијците и Ахајците“, за
да упати на неспоредливоста со бројната супериорност на неприја-
телската војска.4 Со терминот Македонци во почетокот на VII век сос-
ема јасно биле означувани жителите на Тесалоника и на Македонија,
со што била правена диференцирација од непријателите.
Губењето на византиската контрола над поголемиот дел од маке-
донската територија по втората деценија од VII век се одразило врз
пореткото споменување на терминот Македонија/Македонци. Во
фокусот на византиските автори генерално биле Аварите и новите
групи Словени/Склавинии кои директно ја загрозувале Тесалоника.
Описот на Теофан за подводниот земјотрес кој во почетокот на VIII век
ги погодил Лезбос, Абидос и областите до „самата крајбрежна Маке-
донија“ (tÁj prÕj q£lassan Makedon…aj), меѓутоа упатува на јасната
терминолошка претстава за Македонија во тоа време.5 Уште повеќе,
регистрирањето на походот на императорот Константин V во 758 г.
кој резултирал со потчинување на „Склавиниите во Македонија“ (t¦j
kat¦ t¾n Makedon…an Sklan…niaj) имплицира дека за Теофан име-
то Македонија претставувало и идентитетска ознака за конкретни-
те групи Склавинии, со што истите биле диференцирани од другите
непријатели на Византија, вклучително и од Бугарите.6 Тоа било кон-
статирано во моментот кога Склавиниите влегувале во византиската
концептуална сфера, што не го исклучува и нивното само-поистовету-
вање со името Македонија. Ѓаконот Игнатиј во 30-те години од IX век,
пак, пишува за предели на Словените во непосредната околина на
Тесалоника, каде тој ја лоцира и Склавинијата кадешто Византија од

3
Miracula, 1:14.148.
4
Miracula, 1:13.116: “e„ g¦r m¾ mÒnon toÝj MakedÒnaj ¤pantaj”.
5
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. Carl de Boor, vol. 1 (Leipzig: B.G.
Teubner, 1883), 6218, p. 404.
6
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, АМ 6250, p. 430. Johannes Koder,
“Macedonians and Macedonia in Byzantine Spatial Thinking”, Byzantine Macedonia.
Identity Image and History, ed. John Burke and Roger Scott (Leiden/New York: Brill, 2017),
21 интерпретирајќи го овој податок кај Теофан, забележува дека „неможно е да се
негира дека географското име исто така имплицира етничка дистинкција“.
150
неодамна воспоставила контрола.7 До средината на IX век Византија
конечно ја санкционирала својата власт во пошироката околина на
Тесалоника и во Македонија. Меѓутоа, византиските автори не споме-
нуваат ништо за мисиите на светите Кирил и Методиј кои биле фоку-
сирани кон зајакнувањето на византиската концептуална граница кај
Стримон, ниту за подоцнежната дејност на светите Климент и Наум
Охридски, што имала поинаква димензија од аспект на Византија. От-
таму, терминолошкото дефинирање на креаторите и продолжувачите
на кирилометодиевските традиции во Македонија се сведува на из-
ворната словенска терминологија од втората половина на IX век.8
Тоа што може да се констатира е дека од крајот на 9 век терминот
Македонци се проширил и на географскиот простор на источна Тра-
кија, како ознака за жителите опфатени во рамките на новата визан-
тиска тема именувана како Македонија.9 Ваквото именување било
последица од тенденцијата на новата византиска династија основана
од Василиј I (867-886) да го истакне сопственото потекло и се поврзе
со името Македонија. Преку именувањето на темата како Македо-
нија било демонстрирано дека оваа територија отсега и припаѓа на
Византија, односно на императорите Македонци. Тоа било потребно
со оглед дека во тоа време бугарската држава ги преминала концеп-
туалните граници на Византија со освојувањето на поголем простор
од географска Македонија. Терминот Македонци на тој начин станал
и идентитетска ознака за династијата, која станала позната како ма-
кедонска. За оправдување на идентитетската поврзаност со името
Македонци, Константин Порфирогенит фабрикувал генолошка вр-
ска на династијата со ерменските Арсакиди, со Константин I, како и
со Александар Македонски, со што императорското семејство се на-
китило со „Александровиот сјај“.10 На тој начин, покрај конвенционал-
ното значење за граѓаните на Тесалоника и жителите на географска
7
Ignatios  Diakonos und die Vita des Hl. Gregorios Dekapolites, ed. Georgios Makris
(Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter,2011), 21, p. 86; 49, p. 110.
8
Life of Constantine, ed. P.A. Lavrov, in Magnae Moraviae Fontes Historici, vol. 2 (Brno:
Universita J.E. Purkyně, 1967); Life of Methodius, edited by Otto Kronsteiner. Salzburg:
Institut fur Slawistik der Universitat
Salzburg, 1989.
9
За темата Македонија, види Alkmene Stavridou-Zafraka, “The development of the
theme organisation in Macedonia”, Byzantine Macedonia. Identity Image and History, ed.
John Burke and Roger Scott (Leiden/New York: Brill, 2017), 128-138.
10
Life of Basileios I, ed. and trans. I. Ševčenko, Chronographiae quae Theophanis
Continuati nomine fertur liber quo Vita Basilii imperatoris amplectitur (Berlin/Boston:
De Gruyter, 2011), 3.27, p. 18.
151
 Македонија, терминот Македонци станал ознака за императорската
династија, како и за територијалната припадност кон Империјата.
Конвенционалното поимање на терминот Македонци го споделу-
вал Јован Каменијат кој го опишал својот роден град Тесалоника како
„прв на Македонците“ (prètej tîn MakedÒnwn).11 Каменијатовото
сведоштво покажува дека ознаката Македонци во почетокот на X век
се употребувала во традиционална смисла како само-идентифика-
циска дескрипција на Тесалоника, како и концептуално за жителите
на просторот на географска Македонија кои останале под непосред-
на византиска власт. Од перспектива на византиските автори, со тер-
минот Македонци всушност била демонстрирана припадноста кон
империјата и императорската династија, со што се правела и дифе-
ренцијација од непријателите.
Наспроти ваквата константа, променливоста во терминологијата
се забележува во однос на означувањето на непријателите. Неприја-
телите на Византија во географска Македонија од VII век главно
биле означувани како Словени/Склавини, додека името Македонија
било употребувано и како идентитетска ознака за групите Склави-
нии, со што тие биле конкретизирани и диференцирани од другите
непријатели. Концептуална терминолошка промена настапила по
освојувачките продори на бугарската држава во Македонија по 60-
те години на IX век. Дотогашното диференцирање на Словените и
групите Склавинии во Македонија, како и на Македонците кои пот-
паднале под власта на бугарската држава, византиските автори го
замениле со терминот Скити или Бугари, од едноставна причина
што тие повеќе не влегувале во границите на Византија. Пишувајќи
за подемот на бугарската држава, Лав Ѓакон чувствувал за потреб-
но да ја појасни етимологијата на името Бугарија произлезена од
лидерот Булгар, која се пренела на земјата добиена од Јустинијан
II „со која Истар граничи внатре со Македонците“ (Ð ”Istroj ™ntÕj
MakedÒnwn).12 Компарацијата со сведоштвото на Константин Пор-
фирогенит за населувањето на Скити, наместо Македонци (SkÚqai
aÙtÕ ¢nt… MakedÒnwn dianšmontai) со намера да го утврди просто-
рот на Стримонската клисура од страна на Јустинијан II,13 потврдува
11
John Kaminiates, The Capture of Thessaloniki, ed. and transl. David Frendo and
Athanasios Fotiou (Perth: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 2000), 3, p. 4.
12
Leonis diaconi Historiae libri X, ed. Charles B. Hase (Bonn: E. Weber, 1828), 6.8–9,
pp. 102-104.
13
Costantino Porfigorenito: De thematibus, ed. Agostino Pertusi. Vatican: Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana, 1952), 50.
152
каде треба да се лоцира концептуалната граница на Византија со
бугарската држава.
Византиските автори во X век ја рефлектирале просторната мисла
од аспект на концептуалните империјални граници, без претензии за
прецизна и конкретна етнонимска идентификација. Термините биле
користени за диференцирање на Ромеите во Македонија од „другите“
кои не влегувале во идеолошката и концептуалната сфера на Визан-
тија и како такви не припаѓале на империјата. Наративот на Јован
Каменијат покажува дека покрај генеричките ознаки Словени во по-
четокот на X век, биле користени и конкретни имиња како Драгови-
ти, Сагудати, Стримонци.14 Нивното конкрeтно именување станувало
релевантно бидејќи тие плаќале данок на империјата, припаѓале на
империјата и биле третирани како „сојузници“. Населението, пак, кое
како последица од бугарските освојувања се нашло вон границите на
Византија, за Каменијат едноставно станале „Скити“ кои живееле во
близина и на кои дел од соседните села им плаќале данок, а Тесало-
ника во услови на мир водела трговија. Каменијатовата идентифика-
ција на Тесалоника како прв кај Македонците, покажува дека градот
и натаму бил перцеприран како главен во Македонија и меѓу Маке-
донците, независно од променетата констелација.15 Тоа подразби-
рало дека на македонската територија каде Византија практикувала
директна власт, населението продолжило да се перцепира како Ма-
кедонци во концептуална смисла. Ваквата претстава ја споделувал и
Константин Порфирогенит, кој во историско-географскиот опис на
темата Македонија (qšma MakedÕn…as), претендирал да појасни како
„Македонија од царство се претворила во провинција, а сега стигнала
до положбата на тема“. Порфирогеновата просторна мисла воопшто
не ја рефлектирала темата во источна Тракија, туку географска Маке-
донија со римските провинции Македонија Прима, Македонија Се-
кунда, како и Тесалија, вклучувајќи ги и темата Тесалоника и темата/
клисура Стримон.16 Оттаму и акцентирањето на Порфирогенит дека
Тесалоника е составен дел на Македонија и e нејзин главен град, доде-
ка клисурата Стримон е „соединета со Македонија“.17 Поврзувајќи го
14
John Kaminiates, The Capture of Thessaloniki, 6, p. 8; 20-21, p. 34-38; 25, p. 25; 41, p. 72.
15
John Kaminiates, The Capture of Thessaloniki, 3, p. 4.
16
Costantino Porfigorenito: De thematibus, 48-50, p. 86-89.
Порфирогенитовото инкорпорирање на Тесалија во Македонија, се должело на
промената во терминолошката ознака за црковната организација, каде Тесалоника
била и главен град на епархијата Тесалија.
17
Costantino Porfigorenito: De thematibus, 50, p. 88-89.
153
 името Македонија со географско-историскoто значење, Порфироге-
нит ја проектирал својата концептуална претстава за припадноста на
територијата кон Ромеите. Паралелно, терминот Македонци во прва-
та половина на X век се користел и како ознака за војниците мобили-
зирани од темата Македонија кои војувале против Бугарите, со што
византиските автори дополнително ја маркирале територијалната
припадност кон Империјата. Повеќекратната употреба и значење
на терминот Македонија/Македонци овозможувало акцентирање
на империјалната и географската сопственост. Термините Бугарија/
Бугари, се употребувал за територијата опфатена со бугарската држа-
ва, која не влегувала во концептуалните граници на Византија. Редок
е случајот кога во локален контекст може да се сретне и терминот
„Словени Бугари“ (Σκλάβων Βουλγάρων) како ознака за населениците
во околината на Ерисос кај Халкидики во средината на X век. Тоа би
имплицирало дистинкција на Словените под власт на Византија од
оние кои се нашле вон директната контрола како своевидна енклава
на просторот кај Ерисос.18
Ликвидирањето на бугарската држава во 971 г. и формирањето на
Самуиловата држава резултирало со нова промена во терминоло-
гијата која ја рефлектирала византиската концептуална претста-
ва. Византија притоа правела јасна концептуална разлика помеѓу
бугарската држава ликвидирана во 971 г. и новите непријатели во
Македонија олицетворени во Самуиловата држава. Византиските со-
временици на цар Самуил ги третирале непријателите асоцирани со
Самуиловата држава како „странски народ“ со скитски карактерис-
тики означувајќи ги со класичните термини „Скити“, „Мизи“, „вар-
вари“, „непријатели“.19 Диференцијацијата со Самуиловата држава
18
Actes de Lavra, première partie des origins à 1204, ed. Paul Lemerle, Andre Guillou,
Nicolas Svoronos and Denise Papachryssanthou, Archives de I'Athos V (Paris: P.
Lethielleux, 1970), 7, p. 112-114. Phaidon Malingoudis, “Hoi Boulgaroi Slaboi tis Ierissou,”
во Европейският югоизток през втората половина на X--началото на XI век:
история и култура, международна конференция, София, 6-8 октомври, 2014 г. ed.
Васил Гюзелев, Георги Н Николов (София: БАН, 2015), 676-684, смета дека „Σκλάβων
Βουλγάρων” споменат во овој документ, биле всушност доселеници од државата
на бугарскиот цар Петар, чиешто присуство било „легализирано“ од Византија.
За феноменот на грчко-словенскиот билингвизам, кој ја опфатил Тесалоника и
пошироката околина, види Curta, The Edinburgh history of Greeks, 174-175, 276-295. За
значењето на ваквата композитна ознака, од аспект на дистинкцијата која била
правена помеѓу словените и словенските доселеници од бугарското царство,
види Anthony Kaldellis, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019), 143.
19
За концептуалната претстава за Самуиловата држава кај современите
византиски извори, види Mitko B. Panov, The Blinded State. Historiographic Debates
about Samuel Cometopoulos and His State (Brill: Leiden/Boston, 2019), 28-75.
154
нашла директна рефлексија и во епитетот на Василиј II „Скитикос“
(Σκυθικòς), кој му бил придодаден кон крајот на X век поради победи-
те над Самуиловата војска терминолошки именувана како „Скити“.20
Притоа, концептуалното разграничување со Самуиловата држава
била сосема јасно правено со маркирањето на „земјата на Македон-
ците“ (tîn MakedÒnwn ¢feidîj) и „македонската земја“ (m£ketis gÁ)
како ромејска територија која била директно загрозена од новите
непријатели.21 Во рамките на ваквите концептуални граници, доско-
решните групи Словени, кои претходно биле идентификувани и со
конкретни имиња, едноставно станале Македонци бидејќи живееле
на „земјата на Македонците“ и на тој начин биле разликувани од оние
кои се нашле во рамките на границите на Самуиловата држава.
Радикална терминолошка промена настапила по ликвидирањето
на Самуиловото царство во 1018 г. Дотогашната практика на корис-
тење на терминот Македонци за маркирање на ромејската концепту-
ална припадност на населението и на територијата, не можела да се
прошири на целата територија на географска Македонија од повеќе
причини. Меѓу нив секако била и империјалната идеологија и само-
идентификацијата на династијата како Македонци, што, во случај на
веќе постоечка тема Македонија би создало терминолошка конфу-
зија. Дотолку повеќе што конкретниот момент ја налагал потребата
од диференцијација од дотогашните непријатели кои со воените по-
беди на Василиј II биле инкорпорирани во византискиот империја-
лен систем, но сеуште не биле сметани за вистински Ромеи. Како
резултат на ваквата тенденција, името Македонија било едноставно
заменето со Бугарија како ознака за новата византиска тема форми-
рана на местото на ликвидираната Самуилова држава. Истоветната
терминологија автоматски се пресликала и во именувањето на Ох-
ридската архиепископија и територијата под нејзина јурисдикција.
На тој начин жителите на новоформираната тема именувана како
„Бугарија“, која го опфаќала јадрото на Самуиловата држава и пого-
лемиот простор на географска Македонија, едноставно започнале
да се означуваат како Бугари со значење жители на темата Бугарија,
кои биле опфатени и со јурисдикцијата на Охридската архиепија.

20
The Correspondence of Leo, Metropolitan of Synada and Syncellus, ed. and transl.
Martha P. Vinson, CFHB 23, Dumbarton Oaks Texts 8 (Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks,
1985), Epistle 54.8-13 и 54.45-49, p. 87-91.
21
Leonis diaconi Historiae, 10.8, p. 171; John Geometres, Poems, ed. John A. Cramer,
Anecdota Graeca e Codd. Manuscriptis Bibliothecae regiae Parisiensis, IV (Oxford:
Typographeo academico, 1841), 282.
155
 Жителите на останатиот дел од Македонија, што ја вклучувало Теса-
лоника и пошироката околина, во концептуална смисла продолжиле
да се третираат како Македонци, односно како Ромеи, иако истовре-
мено биле означувани и со имињата на различните византиски теми.
Во зависност од новите зацртани административни и црковни гра-
ници, населението во Македонија станало или Бугари или Македон-
ци, иако сите биле дел од империјата. Административно-црковниот
термин Бугарија, станал нов синоним за византиската сопственост
на поголемиот дел од географска Македонија, со што се означувала
припадноста кон империјата.
Пол Стефенсон и Ентони Калделис со право укажуваат дека византи-
ските автори во XI и XII век ја „проектирале идеологијата на географ-
ска сопственост” преку проектираната употреба на терминолошките
ознаки од поранешните римски провинции.22 Манипулирајќи со тер-
минологијата, Ромеите всушност го негирале современиот идентитет
на дотогашните политички ентитети, кои со триумфите на Василиj II
биле инкорпирани во Византија.23 Нешто што како пракса веќе било
применето во однос на Самуиловата држава, која воопшто не била
именувана од современите византиски автори и била целосно замас-
кирана со класичните термини, што се однесувало и на именување-
то на самите владетели. Класичната терминологија како исклучива
ознака за Самуиловата држава за време на нејзиното егзистирање,
се должела на фактот што новиот политички ентитет била третиран
како илегален, произлезен од апостасијата против Константино-
пол. На тој начин, Самуиловата држава била концептуално разлику-
вана од некогашната бугарска држава ликвидирана во 971 г.24
Всушност обата термини „Македонци“ и „Бугари“ од времето на
22
Paul Stephenson, “Byzantine conceptions of otherness after the annexation of Bulgaria
in 1018,” во Strangers to Themselves: The Byzantine Outsider, Papers from the Thirty-second
Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, March 1998, ed.
Dion C. Smythe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), 255-257; Anthony Kaldellis, Ethnography af-
ter Antiquity: Foreign Lands and People in Byzantine Literature (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 155-157. Флорин Курта смета дека за сите визаниските автори,
од Прокопиј до Никита Хонијат, степенот за некој да биде сметан за варварин било
пропорционално на природата на другиот, односно да биде надвор од империјата,
што ги навело да ги користат античките имиња во автентичните сведоштва при
идентификувањето на современото население (Florin Curta, Southeastern Europe in
the Middle Ages, ca. 500-1250, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks 39 (Cambridge/New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2006), 17-18).
23
Paul Stephenson, “Byzantine conceptions of otherness,” 255-257.
24
Митко Б. Панов, “Политичко-идеолошките традиции на Самуиловата држава:
Реконцептуализација на историската интерпретација и контекстуализација,”
Македонска академија на науките и уметностите (во печат).
156
Василиј II станале ознаки за географската сопственост на Византија,
кои биле концептуално и идеолошки разграничени, без претензии
за конкретна етнонимска дескрипција на населението. Исто како
што ознаката Бугарија/Бугари била претворена во концептуалната
граница со што се разграничувала територијата од традиционалните
бугарски земји со престолнините Плиска и Преслав. Илустративен
пример за конструираниот карактер на терминологијата за пот-
ребите на идолошката пропаганда, се сигилиите на Василиј II пуб-
ликувани ок. 1019/20 г. Самиот Василиј II јасно потенцирал дека со
инкорпорирањето на териториите на државите владеени од бугар-
скиот цар Петар и Самуил, тој „ги меша во едно поделените делови и
ги става под еден јарем границите, без на кој било начин да се кршат
правилата добро утврдени од оние што владееја пред нас“.25
Епитафот на Василиј II кој ја содржи вечната порака на императо-
рот е најдобар индикатор дека Василиј II сакал да остане запаметен
како победник против „Скитите“,26 апелатив кој го носел уште од
крајот на X век поради победите над Самуиловата држава. Ваквата
терминолошка константа е рефлектирана и во легалистичката перс-
пектива на Михаил Псел, кој при нарацијата на настаните за Самуи-
ловата држава, ги користел ознаките „Скити“ или „варвари“, правејќи
прецизна концептуална разлика од „Бугарите“ како современи жите-
ли на темата Бугарија во негово време.��Конструираниот карактер на
25
Heinrich Gelzer, "Ungedruckte and wenig bekannte Bistumerverzeichnisse der ori-
entalischen Kirche," BZ 2 (1893), 44; Юрдан Иванов, Български старини из Македония
(София, Държавна печатница, 1931 (reprint София: БАН, 1970), 555-556.
26
Silvio G. Mercati, “L’epitafio di Basilio Bulgaroctonos secondo it codice Modense
Greco 144 ed Ottoboniano Greco 344,” in Collectanea Byzantina, II (Bari: Dedalo
libri, 1970), 232–234; Mercati, “Sull’epitafio di Basilio II Bulgaroctonos,” in Collectanea
Byzantina, II (Bari: Dedalo libri, 1970), 226–231.
27
Michaelis Pselli Chronographia, ed. Diether Roderich Reinsch, vol. 1 (Berlin/Boston:
Walter de Gruyter, 2014), 1.30-31, p. 18-20. Интересно е што во критичките изданија на
Konstantinos Sathhas, Michael Psellou, Hekatontaeteris Vyzantines historias (976‒1077),
Mesaionike Bibliotheke, IV (Paris: Maisonneuve, 1874) и Constantine Sathas, The History
of Psellus, edited with critical notes and indices (London: Methuen & co., 1899), се содржа-
ни интерполациите на имињата “Бугари” и “Мизи”: "τὸ γὰρ δὴ γένος <τῶν Βουλγάρων,
πολλοῖς πρότερον κινδύνοις καὶ μάχαις μέρος τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπικρατείας γενόμενον, Βασιλείου
ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐν αὐτοκράτορσι λάμψαντος <Μυσῶν> λείαν ὃ δὴ λέγεται τὰ ἐκείνων ποιησαμένου·
καὶ τὸ μὲν κράτος ἀφελομένου· ὥσπερ δὲ παντάπασιν ἠσθενηκὸς τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἰσχύϊ
προσερείσαντος, βραχύν τινα χρόνον τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπομεμενηκὸς ἧτταν, ἐπὶ τὴν προτέραν
ἀλαζονείαν παλινδρομεῖν ἐπεχείρησαν”. Овие интерполации различно се аплицирани и
исклучени од различните едиции и преводи на Хронографијата на Псел. Само Јаков
Лјубарски го превел тексот без овие интерполации, Михаил Пселл. Хронография,
перевод, статья и примечания Я. Н. Любарского (Москва: Наука, 1978), 46. Другите
или ги користеле обете интерполации или селективно ги аплицирале со намера
да го појаснат значењето на Пселовата нарација, со што го искривувале. За дослед-
157
 терминот Бугарија/Бугари сосема јасно е рефлектиран и во Енкомио-
нот за Јован Мавроп, Митрополитот Евхаитски, каде Псел прецизира
дека епископот Лав бил испратен кај „оние поранешни номади Ски-
ти, подоцна наречени Бугари… и го свртил тој цел етнос кон Бога.”��
Од контекстот на Псел произлегува дека единствено откако Василиј
II ги потчинил „Скитите“ во Самуиловата држава, тие биле идеолош-
ки конвертирани и станале „Бугари“. Оттаму, не изненадува фактот
што Псел чувствувал да го појасни значењето на ознаката „Бугари“
како име кое им било дадено на современите жители кои живееле во
темата именувана како „Бугарија“. Сличен е контекстот и на Миха-
ил Аталијат, кој oпишувајќи го востанието на Петар Делјан во 40-те
години од 11 век од кој била засегната територијата на Македонија
опфатена со темата Бугарија, констатирал дека тие биле „Мизи“, на
кои „им било дадено името Бугари како нивно сопствено“.29
Дека ознаката „Бугари“ за територијата на Македонија немала ет-
ничко значење, туку конвенционално се користела за означување на
црковната и административната територија на Византија, се потвр-
дува и од наративот на Никифор Вриениј. Опишувајќи го востанието
на Георги Војтех во 1072/73 г. Вриениј констатирал дека „словенскиот
народ“ (Σθλαβίνων ἔθνους) го отфрлил јаремот на Ромеите и ја опус-
тошил „територијата на Бугарите“.30 Тој воедно го пофалил и својот
истоимен дедо кој како „дукс на сите земји на Бугарите“, успеал да го
„омекне словенскиот народ... и тие прифатиле дека тој командува со
Бугарија“.31 Сосема евидентно е дека Вриениј го користел терминот
Словени со значење на етноним, правејќи разлика од терминот Буга-
ната употреба на скитската терминологија при идентификацијата на Самуиловата
држава, исто и Michaelis Pselli Scripta Minora, ed. Eduard Kurtz and Franciscus Drexl,
vol. I: Orationes et dissertationes (Milan: Società editrice “Vita e pensiero,” 1936), 60;
Michaelis Pselli scripta Minora, ed. Eduard Kurtz and Franciscus. Vol. I: Orationes et
dissertations (Milan: Società editrice "Vita e pensiero”), 1936, 22; Michaelis Pselli Historia
Syntomos, ed. Willem J. Aerts, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, Series Berolensis
30 (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1990), 106.53–59, pp. 108–109.
28
Enkomion for Ioannes [Mauropous] the Metropolitan of Euchaita, ed. G. T. Dennis,
Michaelis Pselli orationes panegyricae (Stuttgart and Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1994), 69-73,
p. 146.
29
The History of Michael Attaleiates, ed. and tr. Anthony Kaldellis, Dimitris Krallis,
Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Libary 16 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
2012),230, p. 421. Превод на бугарски јазик, кај Василка Тъпкова – Заимова, “Българи
родом...": Комитопулите в летописната и историографската традиция (София:
Марин Дринов, 2014), 65.
30
Nicephore Bryennios histoire, ed. and tr. Paul Gautier, CFHB 9 (Bruxelles: Byzantion,
1979), 3.1, pp. 210–211.
31
Nicephore Bryennios, Histoire, 3.3, p. 213.
158
ри што било ознака за византиската тема Бугарија и за географската
припадност кон Византија.
Наспроти Вриениевата јасна дистинкција на Словените во ет-
нонимска смисла наспроти административно-црковниот термин,
конвенционалниот апелатив „Бугари“ за жителите на темата „Буга-
рија“ и на Охридската архиепископија кон крајот на 11 век станал и
проектирана терминолошка ознака за Самуиловата држава, но и за
словенските традиции од времето на светите Кирил и Методиј, Кли-
мент и Наум Охридски. Проектирајќи ја конвенционалната термино-
логија од негово време за настаните кои се случиле стотина години
претходно, Јован Скилица започнал да ја означува Самуиловата др-
жава како Бугарија и Бугари, термини кои воопшто не биле употре-
бувани од византиските современици на Самуил. Од хронолошка
дистанца и идеолошка перпектива на Скилица тие едноставно ста-
нале Бугари.32 Тоа се должело на фактот што во време на Скилица
конкретната територија се означувала како Бугарија и како таква тој
едноставно ја проектирал во минатото. Ваквата практика сосема јас-
но се согледува во „Лексиконот“ на Јован Зонара од почетокот на 12
век, каде е содржана еквиваленцијата на терминот „Склавинија“ со
„Бугарија“ (Sklabin…a ¹ Boulgar…a).33 Изедначувањето на значењето
на Склавинија со терминот Бугарија, го рефлектирало идеолошки-
от контекст на почетокот на XII век и конвенционалното значење на
конструираниот термин кој бил проектиран во минатото со совре-
мено значење. Охридскиот архиепископ Теофилакт Охридски одел
дотаму што ваквата конструирана еквиваленција ја проектирал и за
словенските традиции од времето на Кирил и Методиј, св. Климент
и Наум Охридски, со цел да ја демонстрира византиската идеолошка
супремација преку Охридската архиепископија.34 Теофилакт воедно
правел концептуална разлика со името Македонија за да упати на
реалниот фокус на своето архиепископување, употребувајќи го тер-
минот „наша Македонија” (¹m©j Makedon…aj).35 За „наша Македонија“
32
John Skylitzes, A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057, edited by Hans Thurn
(Berlin: Walter the Gruyter, 1973), 256, p. 246; 329-412, p. 312-387;
33
Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, ed. Iohannes Augustus Henrichus Tittmann, vol. 2
(Leipzig: 1808), 1653.
34
Theophylact. Vita St. Clementi Achridensis, ed. Илия Илиев, Fontes Graeci Historiae
Bulgaricae 9/2 (София: Българска Академия на Науките, 1994); Theophylact Historia
martyrii XV martyrum Tiberiupolitanorum, ed. Jaques-Paul Migne, PG 126 (Paris: Migne,
1864).
35
Théophylacte d’Achrida: Lettres, ed. Paul Gautier, Corpus Fontium Historiae
159
 (t¾n kaq’ ¹m©j Makedonik¾n) пишува и архиепископот на Тесалони-
ка, Евстатиј, при дескрипцијата на освојувачкиот поход на Нормани-
те и заземањето на Тесалоника во 1185 г.36
Создавањето на бугарско-влашката држава во 80-те години од XII
век се одразило врз употребата на ознаките Бугарија/Бугари од стра-
на на византиските автори, oд причина што непријателските лидери
започнале да ги користат овие термини како само-идентификациска
ознака на државата. Како контра-реакција, византискиот естаб-
лишмент го креирал новиот епитет „Бугароубиец“ кој му бил придо-
даден на Василиј II. Епитетот несомнено имал проектирано значење
во контекст на современите предизвици кои доаѓале од непријатели-
те олицетворени во Второто бугарско царство, со оглед дека вакви-
от апелатив претходно не му бил придаван на Василиј II.37 Меѓтуоа,
ознаката Бугарија/Бугари со која дотогаш се маркирала администра-
тивно-црковна територија на Византија, мошне брзо станала целос-
но неприменлива од аспект што истата добила етнонимско значење
во рамките на Второто бугарско царство и воедно станала претекст
за претензиите кон византиската територија во Македонија.
Бугарските освојувања, како и привременото преземање на Констан-
тинопол од Латините во периодот 1204-1261 г., што резултирало со рас-
паѓање на тематскиот систем, неизбежно се рефлектирало во новата
комплексност во употребата на термините Македонија/Македонци и
Бугарија/Бугари. Византиските автори од XIII век започнале да прават
дистинкција означувајќи ги новите непријатели како „Мизи“ и „Вла-
си“. Никита Хонијат требало да појаснува дека Василиј II „Бугароубие-
цот“ всушност војувал против „Власите“, кои порано биле нарекувани
„Мизи“. Воедно, тој направил јасна концептуална разлика помеѓу Ми-
зија и Бугарија.38 Императорот Михаил VIII во воведот на т.н. „Охрид-
ски хрисовул“, навел дека „Василиј роден во пурпур, го добил прекарот
Бугароубиец поради големиот масакар врз народот на Мизите“.39 Визан-
Byzantinae 16/2 (Thessalonike: Association de Recherches Byzantines, 1986),127.94, p.
577.
36
Eustathios of Thessaloniki, The Capture of Thessaloniki, ed. and transl. John R.
Melville Jones (Canberra: Australian Association of Byzantine Studies, 1988), 54, p. 66.
37
Paul Stephenson, The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2003), 81-96; Panov, The Blinded State, 117-146.
38
Nicetae Choniatae historiae, ed. Jan Louis van Dieten, Corpus Fontium Historiae
Byzantinae 11.1 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1975), 368, 373–4, 442.
39
Codex diplomaticus arpadianus continuantus. ed. Gusztav Wenzel, Monumenta
Hungariae Historica VIII. Diplomataria XIII (Pest: Eggenberger Ferdinand Akademiai,
1870), 431–34.
160
тискиот поет и хроничар Ефрем во почетокот на 14 век, го глорифици-
рал Василиј II „Бугароубиецот“ поради ослепувањето на 15.000 „Мизи“, со
што „Мизите“ ги направил поданици на „Ромеите“.40 Византиските авто-
ри го употребувале и етнонимот Бугари, но исклучиво за означување на
Второто бугарско царство или за луѓето кои доаѓале од зад Хемус за што
бил употребуван терминот Мизија, но не и Бугарија.
При означувањето на територијата на географска Македонија која
до крајот на XII век влегувала во рамките на темата Бугарија, визан-
тиските автори од XIII век повеќе не го користеле терминот Бугари.
Терминот Бугарија продолжил да се користи исклучиво како конвен-
ционален апелатив за Охридската архиепископија, но не и за озна-
чување на територијата на Македонија. Кон средината на XIV век и
самото идеолошко значење на апелативот Бугарија за означување на
Охридската архиепископија станало анахронизам за Византија. Тоа
го констатирал Никифор Грегора, кој чувствувал потребно да потен-
цира дека името Бугарија било ознака за Охридската архиепископија.
Притоа, Грегора потенцирал дека оригиналното име на Архиеписко-
пијата всушност било Јустинијана Прима, но било променето откако
оваа земја била наречена Бугарија, по името на народот кој се насе-
лил тука. „Многу подоцна, императорот Василиј II Бугароубиецот,
по многу борби целосно ги скршил и потчинил. Оние кои останале
како заробеници, ги префрлил во долна Мизија се до реката Дунав.
Нивното име, меѓутоа, останало за Архиепископијата, како еден вид
специјална меморија за нив“.41 Според сопственото разбирање на
византиската идеологија и конструирана терминологија во однос на
Охридската архиепископија, Грегора всушност потврдил дека името
„Бугарија“ било идеолошки конструкт од 1018 г. Термините Бугарија
и Бугари во реалноста не го означувале народот кој живеел на тери-
торијата на Охридската архиепископија, бидејќи од перспективата
на Грегора, непријателите или биле ликвидирани или протерани од
Василиј II по ликвидирањето на Самуиловата држава. Според тоа,
немало Бугари на територијата која била нарекувана Бугарија, туку
само Ромеи. Вистинските Бугари, Грегора ги лоцирал во Долна Ми-
зија како област каде тие продолжиле да егзистираат и го формирале
Второто бугарско царство. Од перспективата на византиските автори
од средината на 14 век, името Бугарија во титуларот на Охридската
40
Ephraem Aenii historia chronica, ed. Odysseus Lampsides, Corpus Fontium Historiae
Byzantinae 27 (Athens: Academy of Athens, 1990), 109.2908–2925.
41
Nicephori Gregorae Byzantine historia, ed. Ludwig Schopen and Immanuel Bekker, 3
vols., CSHB 6–8 (Bonn, 1829–55), I, 26.16–24, 27.1–15.
161
 архиепископија било само меморија за Василиј II, кога оваа ознака
била конструирана како средство за византиската империјална и
идеолошка пропаганда.
Наративот на Грегора покажува дека во XIV век терминот Бугари
како ознака за територијата на Македонија бил анахронизам и по-
веќе не се употребувал. Истото се однесувало и на терминот Бугарија
кој се користел исклучиво за Охриската архиепископија, но која во
титуларот била означувана и како Јустинијана Прима. Наспроти тер-
мините Бугарија/Бугари кои како конструирани од времето на Ва-
силиј II станале анахронизам, ознаките Македонија/Македонци го
задржале изворното конвенционално значење. Самиот Грегора го
идентификувал Охрид како „македонски град“, Teсалоника како „пр-
виот во земјата на Македонците“, констатирајќи дека „во Македонија
живеат Ромеи“!42

42
Gregoras, History, I, 26.4–5; 73.1–2; 247.8–14; 375.9–22; 394.17–24, 35.1–2.
162
 10

Идентитетот како средство на византиската

дипломатија во време на Македонската
династија (кр. на IX - кр. на X век)

Драган Ѓалевски, Институт за национална Историја,

Универзитет „св. Кирил и Методиј“, Скопје
UDK 323.1:327(495.02)”8/9”

Abstract: In the period from the 9th to the end of 10th century Byzantine
imperial officials in written correspondence and during the course of political
talks exploited various identity characteristics and character traits, i.e.
imaginary identities. Unlike other means, such as money and titles, which
represented the main pillars of Byzantine diplomacy, these imaginary identities
fell within the scope of smaller, secondary, abstract means due to their strictly
limited application. They were mostly used in cases when it was necessary
to strengthen the position of the Byzantine Empire in diplomatic talks or
negotiations, to justify some of the political decisions or a military activity.
However, unlike other means of Byzantine diplomacy, the use of imaginary
identity had limited practical application and did not have any significant
impact during diplomatic negotiations, as evidenced by the subsequent
political events. Nevertheless, it was an integral part of Byzantine diplomacy
and was one of the factors of its overall success.
163
 Една од причините зошто Византиската Империја опстоила повеќе
од еден милениум, покрај нејзините ефикасни финансиски и воени
институции, била нејзината дипломатија. Способностa да употреби
покрај воена сила и широк спектар на невоени средства му овозмо-
жило на василевсот не само да ги оствари сопствените политички
цели, туку и да ги спречи агресивните намери на многубројните не-
пријатели што живееле зад границите. Тоа била значајна предност во
однос на останатите средновековни држави и народи, за што сведо-
чат и изворите.1 Ова особено се однесува за периодот на владеењето
на византискиот император Константин VII Порфирогенит (913-959)
за чија дипломатска активност неговите современици отсекогаш
говореле со восхит и гордост.2 Византијците во својата надворешна
политика употребувале значителен број на дипломатски средства.
Покрај титулите и парите, кои биле главен стожер на византиската
моќ,3 византиската власт ги користела како дипломатски средства и
разните луксузни предмети и книги, воената опрема, понатаму рели-
гијата со нејзините икони и реликвии, како и политичката идеоло-
гија, историјата и империскиот престиж.
Дипломатијата е вештина која доколку е потребно може да иско-
ристи било што како средство за да ја оствари зацртаната цел. Доказ
за тоа е употребата од Византијците во текот на дипломатските пре-
говори на дури и најбаналните работи, се разбира погледнато од де-
нешна гледна точка. Тука спаѓаат на пример определени аспекти од
лексиката, како што се ораторските вештини на самите преговарачи
и интерпункцијата во речениците, посебно ако била искористена и
пишана кореспонденција, или пак користењето на определени наста-
ни што се случиле за време на истите овие преговори.4 Од тој аспект,
произлегува прашањето дали и разните идентитети посведочени и
често употребувани во византиските извори преку термините етнос
1
The Complete works of Liutprand of Cremona, tr. Paolo Squatriti, (Washington D.C.:
The Catholic University of America Press, 2007), 50, известува дека Византијците „...
надалеку ги надминуваат...[соседните] народи во богатство и мудрост.“
2
За овој поглед на византиските современици спрема Константин VII види кај
Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus, ed.
I. Bekker, (Bonnae, 1838), 448.15-449.3.
3
Михаил Псел, Хроника, уред. В. Д. Никчевић, (Подгорица: ЦИД, 2000), VI.29.,
забележува дека само „...две работи ја одржуваат хегемонијата на Ромеите. Имено,
нашиот систем на почесни титули и парите.“
4
Еден таков пример е дипломатската преписка помеѓу византискиот пратеник
Лав Хиросфакт и бугарскиот владетел Симеон. Подетално во Гръцки извори за
Българската История Том IV, ред. Иван Дуйчев, Михаил Войнов и др., (София:
БАН, 1961), 176-177. (Понатаму ГИБИ)
164
(ἔθνος), генос (γένος) и лаос (λαός),5 без разлика дали се работело за
индивидуални или колективни, или пак за религиозни, политички,
економски и други слични идентитети, што денес ги разликуваме и
ги проучуваме во науката, можеле да бидат употребени, се разбира
доколку било потребно, во византиската дипломатија.
Во насока на утврдување на претпоставката дали идентитетите што
ги посведочиле Византијците биле во служба на византиската дипло-
матија во периодот што е предмет на анализа, т.е. од крајот на IX до
крајот на X век, ќе бидат анализирани два вида извори. Првите, кои
влегуваат во рамките на примарните извори, се дипломатските ко-
респонденции во вид на сочувани писма, како тие на Лав Хиросфакт,
патријархот Никола Мистик и Теодор Дафнопат, но и дела кои во себе
содржат сведоштва за извршени дипломатски преговори, како на при-
мер Лјутпранд од Кремона, кој известува за неговите дипломатски по-
сети на Константинопол. Вторите, т.е. секундарните, се извори што во
себе имаат определена дипломатско-етнографска содржина и би мо-
желе да претставуваат еден вид теоретско знаење во однос на иденти-
тетите, но и начинот на нивната практична употреба во византиската
дипломатија. Еден таков извор е делото создадено во времето на Кон-
стантин VII Порфирогенит, За управување со Империјата.
Од сочуваната византиска дипломатска кореспонденција за пери-
одот што е предмет на анализа може да се увиди дека идентитетот, во
форма на карактеристики или карактерни црти, од било кој вид, ис-
клучително ретко се употребува во дипломатските преписки и пре-
говори од овој период, и тоа не кон сите политички ентитети со кои
Византиската Империја стапувала или била во контакт. Писмата на
Лав Хиросфакт што биле од дипломатска природа не содржат во себе
доказ дека бил употребен било каков идентитет во преговорите што
ги водел, додека во однос на Теодор Дафнопат се забележува само
една примена, и тоа во преписката со бугарскиот владетел Симеон.
За разлика од нив, во кореспонденцијата на Константинополскиот
патријарх Никола Мистик се забележува почесто користење на иден-
титетски карактеристики и карактерни црти од различни видови.
Сепак, потребно е да се напомене дека нивната примена не е директ-
на и очигледна, туку е вешто затскриена зад пишаниот збор и рето-
риката на авторот во писмата. Најчесто користената идентитетска
5
За употребата на овие термини во времето на Константин VII Порфирогенит
види Paul Magdalino, “Constantine VII and the Historical Geography of Empire,”
Imperial Geographies in Byzantine and Ottoman Space, eds. Sahar Bazzaz, Yota Batsaki
and Dimiter Angelov, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Center for Helenistic Studies, 2013),
23-41.
165
 карактеристика била религиската, потоа карактерните црти на ли-
цето кон кого било испратено писмото, а во определен случај бил
искористен и конкретен личен идентитет, како на пример на опре-
делен Сасанидски владетел од минатото. За разлика од писмената
кореспонденција, делото Амбасада од Лјутпранд од Кремона, пак,
ни презентира определена слика (се разбира доколку се прифатат
информациите во овој извор како веродостојни) како византиските
претставници ги вметнувале идентитетските карактеристики и ка-
рактерни црти во дипломатските протоколарни средби или за време
на преговорите. Преку анализата на ова дело може да се заклучи дека
византиската власт знаела да ги искористи нив за време на дипло-
матските разговори и преговори, и да бидат применети идентично
како во писмената кореспонденција, не на еден директен и очигле-
ден начин, туку затскриено преку суптилната реторика на говорни-
кот. Оттука, во делото Амбасада на Лјутпранд од Кремона можат да се
одделат неколку видови на идентитетски карактеристики што биле
употребени од византиските претставници, и тоа: етнички, лични
(персонални), како и т.н. воени.
Во дипломатската кореспонденција на патријархот Никола Мистик,
поточно во онаа што се однесува на преговорите со Бугарија и неј-
зиниот владетел Симеон, покрај честото повикување на Христијан-
ството за остварување на крајната политичка цел6 посведочена е и
употребата на карактеристики преку кои може да се означи нечиј ре-
лигиски идентитет. Од неговите писма може да се забележи дека овие
карактеристики биле искористени по неколку основи. Првиот начин
на нивната примена било преку укажувањето и потенцирањето на
општите христијански морални вредности кон кои, според патријар-
хот Никола Мистик, Симеон, како владетел кој поседувал оформен
христијански идентитет, доколку не се придржувал, требало да се
придржува.7 Вториот бил наменски создадениот идентитет за иде-
ален христијански владетел кој требал да го следи Симеон,8 додека
последниот начин бил општиот заеднички христијански идентитет
што го делеле Ромеите и Бугарите.9 Потребно е да се напомене дека
6
Една од целите што Nicholas I Patriarch of Constantinople, Letters, ed. and tr. by
Leendert G. Westerink and Romilly J. H. Jenkins, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks
Papers, 1973), 71, сакал да ја оствари било склучување на примирје со бугарскиот
владетел Симеон.
7
Ibid, 27, 29-31, 35, 37.
8
Ibid, 31-33, 51-53.
9
Ibid, 33, 65, 107, 129, 147-149.
166
примената на религиските идентитетски карактеристики, како што
било во случајот со Бугарија, не се забележува во кореспонденцијата
на Константинополскиот патријарх со Арабјаните или со христијан-
ските држави во Европа и на Кавказот.
Што се однесува до идентитетските карактеристики и карактер-
ни црти од лична природа, дипломатската преписка на патријархот
Никола Мистик известува дека, иако ретко, тие биле понекогаш ис-
користени во текот на преговорите со бугарскиот владетел Симеон.
Првиот пример за нивна употреба е преку укажување на неговите ка-
рактерни црти како владетел, но и како човек, се разбира гледано од
аспект на авторот на писмата.10 Додека вториот пример било преку
идентитетската слика за Симеон која била оформена од патријархот.
Целта била да се поткрепи како вистинито определено тврдење што
било изнесено од Византијците во писмената кореспонденција.11 На
сличен начин и за истата цел бил искористен и Сасанидскиот владе-
тел Хозрое од VI век.12 Примената на карактеристики и карактерни
црти што можат да оформат нечиј личен идентитет се забележува и
во едно писмо на Теодор Дафнопат до Симеон. Лјутпранд од Кремо-
на, исто така, за време на неговата втора дипломатска посета на Кон-
стантинопол посведочува употреба од византиските службеници на
карактеристики или карактерни црти од овој вид. Суптилната при-
мена се однесувала за западниот император Отон, чиј претставник
бил Лјутпранд, се со цел тој да биде политички дискредитиран како
човек и владетел, но и да се оправдаат моменталните позиции и ин-
тереси на византиската власт.13 Во контестот на оправдување на про-
мената на византиската дипломатија што се случило кон средината
на X век, според сведоштвото на Лјутпранд од Кремона, биле иско-
ристени разликите во карактерните црти на владетелите Констан-
тин VII Порфирогенит и Никифор II Фока (963-969).14
Во однос на етничките идентитетски карактеристики што ги
применувале Византијците во дипломатските разговори, посве-
дочено во делото Амбасада на Лјутпранд од Кремона, се забележу-
ва дека тој е често употребуван заедно со историските факти или
преку потенцирање на културолошката разлика што егзистирала
10
Ibid, 17, 27, 35, 51, 61.
11
Ibid, 19, 29-31, 53, 195.
12
Ibid, 35.
13
Liutprand of Cremona, 241-242.
14
Ibid, 273.
167
 помеѓу Византиската Империја и Западна Европа, или, пак, со две-
те истовремено. Всушност, преку еден ваков идентитетско-културо-
лошко-историски контекст етничкиот идентитет на Лангобардите,
Италијанците, Саксонците, Франките, Швабите и Баварците, наро-
ди што во тој момент се наоѓале под власта на Отон, бил напаѓан и
исмеван од византиската власт.15 Понатаму, за време на еден разго-
вор во висок тон помеѓу претставниците на василевсот и Лјутпранд
од Кремона бил искористен не само идентитетот на граѓаните на до-
цноантичкиот и средновековен Рим, туку византиските дипломати
го употребиле и сопствениот, ромејски, идентитет.16 Воените иден-
титетски карактеристики што ги примениле Византијците, а кои се
однесувале на воената вештина на Саксонците, Швабите, Баварците
и Италијанците, биле искористени за исмевање на војската на запад-
ниот император Отон, поточно, на нејзината борбена спремност, но
и за потенцирање на моменталната византиска воена супериорност
и моќ.17
Меѓутоа, се поставува прашањето, дали оваа употреба на иденти-
тетски карактеристики и карактерни црти во дипломатијата била
ad-hoc одлука на самите византиски претставници кои во дадениот
момент ги измислувале и обмислувале разните приказни за потекло-
то и карактерот на определени народи, но и за карактерните црти на
политичките противници, или, пак, тоа претставувало некаква вос-
поставена византиска политика на дејствување?
Определена насока што би дало некаков одговор на ова прашање
го дава делото За управување со империјата составено во времето
на Константин VII Порфирогенит кое во својата основа претставува
еден вид на дипломатско-етнографски теориски прирачник наменет
за неговиот наследник и син Роман II (959-963).18 Ова дело е богато со
митови за потеклото на голем број народи (origo gentis) што ја опкру-
жувале Византиската Империја, како на пример за Иберијците, т.е.

15
Ibid, 246, 260, 271-272.
16
Ibid, 270.
17
Ibid, 246.
18
Anthony Kaldellis, Ethnography after Antiquity. Foreign Lands and Peoples in
Byzantine Literature, (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2013), 88-93.
168
Шпанците,19 за Унгарците20 и Печенезите,21 понатаму за Хрватите и
Србите,22 како и за Романите кои живееле во Далмација пред миг-
рацијата на Словените.23 Исто така, во За управување со империјата
може да се најдат и изјави за лични идентитети на неколку византи-
ски владетели формирани со единствена цел, оправдување на визан-
тиската надворешна политика. Еден од нив е императорот Роман I
Лакапин (920-944).24 Сепак, останува отворено прашањето дали и кои
од овие етнографски митови (а кои претставуваат интегрален дел на
нечиј етнички идентитет) што се посведочени во делoто на Констан-
тин VII Порфирогенит се вистинити и осознаени од самите народи
или пак истите се имагинарни и креирани, и колку од оние што се
вистинити, всушност, се модификувани за да ги задоволат потребите
на надворешната политика на Византиската Империја. Но, без разли-
ка на нивната веродостојност, она што може да се забележи е дека тие
мошне добро би се вклопиле во византиската дипломатија за употре-
ба во ситуации што би биле слични или идентични на тие што се пос-
ведочени во примарните извори, се разбира ако имало потреба од
тоа, поради фактот што овие етнографски митови не се разликуваат
премногу од оние идентитетски карактеристики што се посведочени
во делото Амбасада на Лјутпранд од Кремона и во сочуваната корес-
понденција на византиските дипломатски претставници.
Доколку се направи анализа на претходно посведочените примери
може да се увиди дека она што може да укаже на употреба на иден-
титет во византиската дипломатија е дадено во вид на неколку из-
несени карактеристики и карактерни црти, и тоа не директно, туку
вешто затскриени во реториката на авторот на писмената кореспо-
денција или, пак, на говорникот во дипломатските преговори. Целта
била да не се прекрши воспоставениот средновековен дипломат-
ски кодекс на однесување,25 иако понекогаш и ова правило знаело

19
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, ed. Gyula Moravcsik and
tr. Romilly J. H. Jenkins, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1967), 23.2-17, 24.2-8.
20
Ibid, 38.3-26.
21
Ibid, 37.2-32.
22
Ibid, 30.67-78, 31.3-25, 32.2-29.
23
Ibid, 29.1-5, 31.10-17.
24
Ibid, 13.149-153.
25
“Anonymous Byzantine treatise on strategy”, Three Byzantine Military Treaties, tr.
George T. Dennis, (Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1985), 43.26-29.
169
 да не биде испочитувано.26 Од начинот на којшто се изнесени, но и
самата суштина и тек на нарацијата, лесно може да се согледа дека
значителен дел од овие карактеристики и карактерни црти, ако не
и сите, всушност, не го отсликувале идентитетот на политичкиот
противник(без разлика дали се однесувало за водач или народ), туку
тие биле имагинарни, создадени, веројатно, од византиските претста-
вници за нивните моментални дипломатски потреби. Всушност,
овие изнесени „идентитети“ од Византијците влегуваат во областа на
имагологијата (припишување на идентитетски карактеристики, па
дури и на цели карактери, на други народи, општества и поединци),
т.е. во рамките на она што може да се каже дека означува еден вид ди-
ференцирање на „другоста“ кај останатите во однос на сопствениот
идентитет,27 како на пример воената вештина на народите во Запад-
на Европа наспроти таа на Византијците или населението на сред-
новековниот Рим со тоа во Константинопол. Често овие имагинарни
слики за „другите“ се поткрепени со употреба на историјата и опре-
делени историски факти,28 нешто што јасно се забележува кај Визан-
тијците, како на пример спомнувањето на Сасанидскиот владетел
Хозрое во определен историски контекст или, пак, при опишувањето
на граѓаните на средновековниот Рим. Во таа насока, како еден вид
имагинарен идентитет, треба, според моето мислење, да се гледаат и
разните етнографски митови посведочени во делото За управување
со империјата, иако постои веројатност дел од карактеристиките
и карактерните црти изнесени во нив навистина да го отсликувале
идентитетот на народите што биле предмет на пишување на авторот.
Причините за употребата на имагинарни идентитети од византис-
ката власт во нивната дипломатија биле повеќебројни. Како прво, тие
имале задача да го заплашат, иритираат или изнервираат странскиот
преговарач, и да ја искористат оваа емотивна состојба во своја ко-
рист, како во случајот на Лјутпранд од Кремона.29 Второ, да го при-
добијат политичкиот противник преку определена молба или изјава.
Како трето и најважно, требале политички да го поткрепат и оправда-
ат начинот на кој што дејствувале Византијците пред или во текот на

26
Liutprand of Cremona, 260.
27
Подетално кај Joep Leerssen, “Imagology: History and method”, Imagology. The
cultural construction and literary representation of national characters. A critical survey,
ed. Manfred Beller and Joep Leerssen, (Brill, 2007), 17-32.
28
Leerssen, “Imagology”, 28.
29
Liutprand of Cremona, 246-247.
170
преговорите, но исто така да поткрепат и да оправдаат некое тврдење
или, пак, некоја политичка или воена активност што сакале да ја пре-
земат или веќе ја презеле. Оваа цел се забележува во дипломатската
коресподенција на патријархот Никола Мистик со бугарскиот владе-
тел Симеон. Сите овие фактори, всушност, имале за задача во дадени-
от момент да извршат определено влијание на спротивната страна во
разговорите или преговорите, со што би се овозможило што подобро
позиционирање на византиските претставници во остварување на
крајниот политички интерес, без разлика дали се работело за вооби-
чаено политичко одолговлекување на преговорите или за некое идно
склучување на примирје, или, пак, за нешто сосема друго.
Се поставува прашањето колку овие претходно изнесени идентите-
ти имале влијание врз крајниот исход во дипломатските преговори
на Византијците со другите политички ентитети. Од изворите што
сведочат за византиските дипломатски активности, но и настани-
те што отпосле се случиле, може да се заклучи дека, веројатно, овие
имагинарни идентитети немале некое позначајно влијание врз текот
на преговорите или на склучениот договор. Доказ за една ваква кон-
статација е политичкиот резултат што произлегол потоа, кој во најго-
лем дел претставувал еден вид продолжување на постоечкото status
quo или знаел да биде неповолен за Византиската Империја, како на
пример случувањата во однос на Бугарија за време на владеењето на
Симеон или, пак, втората дипломатска мисија на Лјутпранд од Кре-
мона во Константинопол.
Заклучокот што произлегува од анализата на изворите е дека иден-
титетот, како што денес тој се восприема и проучува во науката, не
бил практично применет во византиската дипломатија. Она што
може да се потврди со сигурност е дека во периодот од средината на
IX до крајот на X век за странските држави и народи, како и за нив-
ните владетели, со кои Византиската Империја имала дипломатски
преговори, во писмената кореспонденција, но и во самиот тек на
разговорите, од империските службеници биле употребувани разни
идентитетски карактеристики и карактерни црти, т.е. имагинарни
идентитети. За разлика од другите средства, како парите и титули-
те, кои претставувале главен стожер на византиската дипломатија и
можеле самостојно да се употребуваат, овие имагинарни идентитети
влегувале во рамката на помалите, помошни, апстрактни средства
поради нивната стриктно ограничена примена, но и ограничените
резултати што тие можеле да ги дадат во содејство со другите ди-
пломатски средства. Најчесто биле користени од дипломатските

171
 претставници во оној момент кога требало да се зацврсти пози-
цијата на Византиската Империја во дипломатските разговори или
преговори, да се оправда некоја нејзина политичка одлука или, пак,
некоја воена активност. Меѓутоа, за разлика од другите средства на
византиската дипломатија кои, иако биле променливи во својата
ефективност, сепак, имале некакво влијание при остварувањето на
определена политичка цел, за имагинарниот идентитет може да се
заклучи дека не само што имал ограничената практична примена,
туку и немал некое позначајно влијание на дипломатските прегово-
ри, за што говорат последователните политички настани. Но и покрај
се, тој претставувал интегрален дел на византиската дипломатија и
бил еден од чинителите на нејзината сеопфатна успешност.

172
 11

Political and ethnic identities of the Normans

in Macedonia and Byzantium
Salvatore Costanza, National and Kapodistrian
University of Athens
UDK 355.11(450.7):323.1(495.02)”10/11”
UDK 355.11(450.7):323.1(497.7)”10/11”

Abstract In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, southern Italian and
Sicilian Normans were held in high esteem as valiant warriors. In re-
turn, they admired Byzantine administrative skills. Disaffected Haute-
ville dukes and lower Norman knights entered Byzantine service in
large numbers. They sought for a better fortune for themselves and
sometimes they transferred definitively to the East. They also started
a process of mutual knowledge and exchange of warfare techniques
through military adventures in the Western Balkans, and particularly in
Macedonia. In this respect, we may quote the career of Peter Aliphas
who previously occupied the river Vardar valley under the command
of Bohemond (1082). He then served under Alexios I. Komnenos after
Guiskard’s death. He founded the Petraliphai lineage, an example of a
perfectly assimilated Graeco-Latin family within the Byzantine orbit.
As a result of this military, political and economic juncture, the Balkan
mainland finally came within the reach of Western newcomers.
173
 In the 11th and 12th centuries Normans and Byzantines interacted in the
Western Balkans, specifically in the Vardar valley in the heart of Mace-
donia. Byzantine rulers, greatly admiring the military prowess of Nor-
man warriors, pursued a policy of welcoming the services of knights from
Southern Italy and Sicily. In turn, the Normans looked up to the Byzantine
rulers’ indisputable administrative skills.
In fact, the Norman Hautevilles had established their power by founding
a feudal state based upon family ties. They were confronted by a central-
ized Byzantine State that could boast of a long-held tradition and a claim
to universal rule. The cross-cultural meeting between Western newcomers
and the Byzantine World had huge implications. Normans who entered
Byzantine service were generally satisfied. They showed loyalty towards
the Emperor in exchange for gifts, regular salaries, estates and favours be-
stowed on them as court-title holders at Byzantium.1 It is noteworthy to
consider how political and military models were reciprocally intertwined.

Normans and Byzantines before Robert Guiscard’s campaign

We may consider some antecedents with regard to Normans and Byzan-

tines interacting in the 1070s. These facts are revealing from subsequent
military expeditions led from Southern Italy to the Balkan peninsula. At
first, although the fall of Bari (1071) marked the end of Byzantine domina-
tion in Southern Italy, the political collapse of a long-term rule did not
actually correspond to the end of Byzantium in this area, as pointed out
by Vera von Falkenhausen.2 Even during the siege of the capital of the
Catepanate, we find Normans fighting on both sides, notably, Jocelyn (or
Joscelin) of Molfetta who was at the service of the Byzantines after having
rebelled against Duke Robert of Guiscard and deserted in 1067, if not ear-
lier between 1064 and 1065. He assumed the command of the Byzantine
fleet and sailed to relieve the Norman siege of Bari. He was intercepted,
however, and failed in his endeavour to drive out the Norman forces.3 On
1
See Jonathan Shepard, “The Uses of the Franks in Eleventh-Century Byzantium,”
Anglo-Norman Studies 15 (1993): 275-305: esp. 295: «The emperor was the Normans’
paymaster».
2
See Vera von Falkenhausen, La dominazione bizantina nell’Italia meridionale dal IX
all’XI secolo (Bari: Ecumenica, 1978), 99-100, 130.
3
The count of Molfetta was captured by Norman besiegers with the consequence that
Bari itself fell, see William B. McQueen, “Relations between the Normans and Byzantium,”
Byzantion 56 (1986): 427-476, esp. 436; Paul Brown, Mercenaries to Conquerors: Norman
Warfare in the Eleventh and Twelfth-Century Mediterranean (Barnsley: Pen & Sword
174
the spot, Robert Guiscard (1015-’85) used a battering ram on the model of
the machine built by Hegetor of Byzantium: Normans had studied Byzan-
tine poliorcetics and developed a reputed siege technique that was held in
high esteem by their contemporaries.4
The same year in which Bari fell, Roussel of Bailleul (died 1077), also
known as Phrangopoulos (literally the “son of a Frank”), was a senior
commander of Byzantine troops at the battle of Manzikert, in which the
Seljuk Turks under the command of Alp Arslan (“Heroic Lion” - 1023-´72)
triumphed over the Byzantines. Actually, he refused to fight when he saw
the Seljuk army and played no part in the fighting. Previously, Roussel
had served under Count Roger of Sicily who appreciated his bravery at
the battle of Cerami (1153) against last Muslim opponents on the Island.
In Asia Minor, he could not avoid the disaster followed by dynastic crises
and military paralysis. On the contrary, he was captured by Turks and ran-
somed at great price. Indeed, Roussel was employed again as a western
mercenary by the Byzantines. Finally, he also planned to found a Norman
state in Eastern Anatolia, after rebelling under Michael VII Doucas (1050-
1090, reigned 1071-1078).5 Incidentally, Amatus of Montecassino (1010 ca.
- 1090/1100) says that Roussel would have conquered the land of Slavonia,
in order to designate the Balkans, given the prevalence of Slavic ethnic
elements in the peninsula since the 7th century.6

Military, 2016), 119-121.

4
At sieges of Bari (1068) and Drać/Durrës (1081), Guiscard used Hegetor’s ram de-
scribed by Heron of Byzantium in his writing about poliorcetics (ms. Vat. Gr. 1605, fol.
18v-19v), see Enrico Cuozzo, “Trasporti terrestri militari,” Giosuè Musca and Vito Silvio,
eds., Strumenti. Tempi e luoghi di comunicazione nel Mezzogiorno normanno-svevo. Atti
delle undecime giornate normanno-sveve (Bari, 26-29 ottobre 1993), (Bari: Dedalo, 1995),
31-66, esp. 53-54, 61-63, whith further sources on Guiscard’s siege technology.
5
Finally, he played a dangerous match between his employers, supporting the
Caesar John Ducas as claimant to the throne. Alexios Comnenos brought him back to
Constantinople, where he was blinded, see Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, I,
The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (Cambridge: University,
1951), 66; McQueen, “Relations,” 436-437; R. Fletcher, The Quest for el Cid (Oxford:
University, 1989), 76-77; Shepard, “The Uses of the Franks,” 276-277, 303.
6
In his Historia Normannorum transmitted in a translation dating to Angevine times
(Ystoire de li Normant), I 9, see Prescott N. Dunbar (transl.), The History of the Normans
by Amatus of Montecassino, with intr. Graham A. Loud, (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2002), 47,
passage discussed by McQueen, “Relations,” 436.

175
 Normans and Byzantines in the age of Guiscard and Bohemond

Undeniably, the process of interaction between Norman society and

the Byzantine empire did not stand still in Komnenian times. The Por-
phyrogenita Anna Komnene (1083-1153/54) witnesses in her Alexias the
historiographic work written in honour of her father Alexios I (1081-1118),
that the Byzantines greatly admired Normans as proud warriors.7 West-
ern newcomers to Balkans, in turn, held Greek speaking people in great
esteem for their administrative capabilities.
Normans were involved in Byzantine politics even before Guiscard’s
Eastern campaign in the Balkans. We may recall the role played by the
Norman Constantin Humbertopoulos who, as a senior commander, pro-
vided decisive support to Alexios’ ascent to the Imperial throne against
Nicephoros III Votaniatis (1010-’81, reigned since 1078). Subsequently, the
Norman received a number of promotions from the new ruler, as his seals
show. Regarding his identity, he was a nephew of Robert Guiscard, prob-
ably a son of his younger brother Humbert.8 Humbertopoulos is a rel-
evant example of a Norman noble serving in the East under a Byzantine
lord. Even Hauteville family members were attracted to search for their
fortune in Byzantium, with a prospect of a higher status. Guy, one of Guis-
card’s sons, very likely deserted the Norman field shortly after his father’s
death, possibly because he did not inherit any of the land-grants of the
deceased Duke.9 The younger son of the Norman lord, as well as many
other knights from Southern Italy and Sicily, often seek advancement in
the East. They placed great expectations on acquiring an Byzantine pa-
tron. In turn, Byzantines actively enticed Normans into the Eastern orbit.
All things considered Guiscard was the paradigm of a warlord with
weakened political status. He was incessantly obliged to give land-grants
to his vassals to keep them constant to his personal power. Family ties
were an insufficient warrant of their loyalty. Among the chief leaders
in recurrent revolts against the Duke in the years 1064, 1071, 1078, were
his own nephews, including Abelard (1044-1081), the son of his brother
7
On Anna’s fondness for military qualities, as well as armies and horses from the
West, see McQueen, “Relations,” 428-429; Ralph-Johannes Lilie, “Anna Komnene und
die Lateiner,” Byzantino-slavica 54 (1993): 169-182, esp. 175-176; Zoltán Szegvári, “Anna
Comnena and the West,” Erika Juhász, ed., Byzanz und das Abendland: Begegnungen
zwischen Ost und West (Budapest: Eötvös-József-Collegium, 2013), 371-375, esp. 373.
8
See McQueen, “Relations,” 437, 468; Shepard, “The Uses of the Franks,” 303 with nt.
127.
9
See McQueen, “Relations,” 439; Graham A. Loud, Conquerors and Churchmen in
Norman Italy (Farnham: Ashgate, 1999), 117.
176
Humphrey, Geoffrey of Conversano (died 1100) and Robert of Montesca-
glioso (died 1080), son of one of Guiscard’s sisters.10 If an eminently feu-
dal link between the overlord and his vassals deeply lessened the Duke’s
power, succession was also a key factor of instability for Norman states.
Another booster of Norman politics in the East was Guiscard’s elder son
Bohemond (1050/58-1109 or 1111). He was the only child of his first repu-
diated wife Alberada of Buonalbergo (1035 ca. - after 1111). Consequently,
he was disinherited in favour of his younger half-brother Roger Borsa
(1060/61-1111), born from Duke’s second marriage with Sikelgaita of Salerno
(1040-1190).11 Though, Bohemond lacked any legal basis to acquire a prin-
cipality in either Southern Italy or Sicily, he would instead look for such in
the East.12 Given that he constantly lacked official recognition during his
life, he had little room to further his ambitions by legal means within the
Norman states. Though an extremely valiant warrior, Bohemond was dis-
appointed and received no reward. The Treaty of Devol (1108) sanctioned
the lost of his political ambitions after his second defeat at the second bat-
tle of Durrës.13 Hence, he sought to create his own principality in the East
by carving out a territory in the Western Balkans, as his campaigns in 1081
and in 1107 testify.14 He attempted to establish his own state at first around

10
See Ferdinand Chalandon, Histoire de la domination Normande en Italie et en Sicile
(New York: Burt Franklin, 19693), I, 273-274; McQueen, “Relations,” 434, 440, 444.
11
In Guiscard’s life, no other women are attested except Alberada and Sikelgaita, see
Richard Bünemann, Robert Guiskard 1015-1085: Ein Normanne eröbert Süditalien (Köln:
Böhlau GmbH, 1997), 16, 250.
12
See Emily Albu, Bohemond and the Rooster: Byzantines, Normans, and the Artful Ruse,
Thalia Gouma-Peterson, ed., Anna Komnene and her Times (New York-London: Garland,
2000), 157-168, esp. 158; Alan V. Murray, “The Enemy Within: Bohemond, Byzantium and
the Subversion of the First Crusade,” Kathryn Hurlock and Paul Oldfield, eds., Crusading
and Pilgrimage in the Norman World (Wooldbridge: Boydell, 2015), 31-50, esp. 37.
13
See Ralph Bailey Yewdale, Bohemund I, Prince of Antioch (Princeton: University
Press, 1924), 90; Anitra R. Gadolin, “Prince Bohemund’s Death and Apotheosis in the
Church of San Sabino, Canosa di Puglia,” Byzantion 52 (1982): 124-153; Gerhard Rösch,
“Der Kreuzzug Bohemunds gegen Dyrrachion 1107/1108 in der lateinischen Tradition des
12. Jahrhunderts,” Römische Historische Mitteilungen 26 (1984): 181-190.
14
See McQueen, “Relations,” 439-440, 450; James D. Howard-Johnston, “Anna Komnene
and the Alexiad,” Margaret Mullett and Dion Smythe, eds., Alexios I Komnenos, Papers of
the second Belfast Byzantine International Colloquium, 14-16 April 1989 (Belfast Byzantine
Texts and Translations 4,1), (Belfast: Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, 1996), 260-302, esp.
274; Irineos Filippou, Η πρώτη Νορμανδική εκστρατεία στις Δυτικές Βαλκανικές Επαρχίες της
Βυζαντινής Αυτοκρατορίας (1081-1085 μ.X.), (Thessaloniki: Thesis, 2010); Salvatore Costanza,
“Sicilians, Byzantines, and Macedonians in the 11th and 12th centuries,” Mitko B. Panov, ed.,
Византија и словените: средновековни и модерни перпепции и рецепции. Зворник
на тридови од Петтиот меѓународен симпозиум “Денови на Јустинјан I” Скопје, 17-
18.11.2017 (Skopje: Университет Евро-Балкан, 2018), 87-95, esp. 88.
177
 the Vardar valley (1081-1085) and subsequently in Dalmatia after his inva-
sion in Autumn 1107. Bohemond almost certainly considered crossing over
to the Adriatic coast opposite his homeland to reach the wealthy Balkan
mainland and strengthen his position there in addition to that of his prin-
cipality based in Antioch in Asia Minor. It was, however, a far-reaching
project for the disinherited Norman prince, to say nothing of his ambition
to occupy Constantinople and seize the Imperial throne. We may doubt
whether he ever conceived to overthrow the Komnenian dynasty. In deed,
the conquest of the Byzantine capital exceeded the political capabilities of
the Normans, as both Guiscard’s and Bohemond’s Macedonian campaigns
show.15 Alexios was able to overcome Bohemond’s supremacy through a
single event. This largely attests the weakness of the Norman dominions
in Macedonia and Epirus. Bohemond had extensive experience in siege
warfare, as did his father. However, he failed to occupy Larissa (1083) in
Thessaly and was not able to complete his Balkan campaign.16 Alexios dis-
missed the Norman peril quite easily, although his daughter Anna per-
ceived the threat of an imminent end to the Eastern Empire.17
It is valuable to further examine this conflict on the grounds of differ-
ent political views opposing Normans to Byzantines. Generally, Guiscard’s
son, Bohemond, embodied a serious danger to Byzantium in the course
of his first Balkan campaign.18 The basileus was compelled to counteract,
in order to relieve the Norman siege of Larissa. Faced with such serious
troubles, Anna Komnena relates miraculous signs assuring Alexios that
he was enjoying heavenly favours. On the eve of the decisive fight near to
Larissa (Spring 1083), the basileus dreamt he was in the temple of Saint
15
See Richard Upsher Smith Jr., “Nobilissimus and Warleader: The Opportunity and the
Necessity behind Robert Guiscard’s Balkan Expedition,” Byzantion 70 (2000): 507-526.
16
See McQueen, “Relations,” 439, 447.
17
See Lilie, “Anna Komnene,” 177-178: According to the Porphyrogenita, the fight
between Alexios and Bohemond was «die entscheidende Auseinandersetzung um
das Schicksal des byzantinischen Reiches»; Peter Frankopan, “Challenges to Imperial
Authority in the Reign of Alexios I Komnenos: the Conspiracy of Nikephoros Diogenes,”
Byzantinoslavica 64 (2006): 257-274, esp. 257. Ferdinand Chalandon, Essai sur le règne
d’Alexis Ier Comnène (1081-1118), (Paris: A. Picard, 1900), 81-82, agrees with Anna’s evaluation
of Bohemond’s advance into the Byzantine area as a finis Imperii.
18
On judgments against Guiscard and Bohemond given by Anna Komnena, see
Lilie, “Anna Komnene,” 173-174, 179. Norman thread underlies depiction of both leaders
as feared warriors. This does not exclude her admiration of their intellectual skills and
even nobility to a certain degree. In this respect, see also Nicholas Drocourt, “Au nez et
à la barbe de l’ambassadeur. Cheveux, poils et pilosité dans les contacts diplomatiques
entre Byzance et l’Occident (VIe-XIIe s.),” Erika Juhász (ed.), Byzanz und das Abendland
IV. Studia Byzantino-Occidentalia (Budapest: Eötvös-József-Collegium, 2016), 107-134,
esp. 109-111.
178
Demetrios at Thessalonica.19 The speaking icon of the Megalomartyr fore-
told of a clear victory to Alexios during his dream-vision.20 Given the bril-
liant exploits granted by Saint Demetrios to Byzantine armies throughout
the centuries, the Komnenos was very hopeful.21 The intercession of the
most worshiped Warrior-Saint in Byzantium was also accompanied by a
prodigy, the neighing of the troops’ horses at the very moment Alexios
ordered the move to battle, as Anna chronicles.22 This incident was con-
ceived as a propitious oracle (ἀγαθὸς ... οἰωνóς) of the impending success
of the Byzantine troops.23 God-sent signs abolish discrepancies between

19
As cult image, we find here a relief of the Saint on a skimpodion, a silver lectulus,
at the ciborium, given that no sarcophagus with relics was in place. The martyrion
was left in Sirmium (Serbian: Sremska Mitrovica), the Byzantines hastily abandoned
positions in Western Balkans after the defeat with the Avars (580). On St. Demetrios’
cultic spread promoted by military class and introduced to Solun in Aegean Macedonia,
see Paul Speck, “De miraculis sancti Demetrii, qui Thessalonicam profugus venit, oder
Ketzerisches zu den Wundergeschichten des Heiligen Demetrios und zu seiner Basilika
in Thessalonike,” Sophia Kotzabassi and Id., eds., Varia IV = ΠΟΙΚΙΛΑ ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΝΑ 12
(Bonn: Habelt 1993): 255-532, esp. 291, 305, 329-348, 386-395, 416-419, 459, 473-490, 507,
514; Eftychia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou and Anastasia G. Tourta, Περίπατοι στὴ βυζαντινὴ
Θεσσαλονίκη (Athina: KAPON, 1997); Engl. ed., Wandering in Byzantine Thessaloniki (ibid.),
151-174.
20
Alex. V, 5-6 ed. Diether Roderich Reinsch, in Id. and Athanasios Kambylis, Corpus
Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 40 (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2001), 156: Διυπνισθεὶς δὲ
καὶ περιχαρὴς γεγωνὸς ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ὀνείρου ταύτης ὀμφῆς ἐθεοκλύτει τὲ τῷ μάρτυρι καὶ
προσυπισχνεῖτο εἰ γένοιτο οἱ νίκην κατὰ τῶν εἰσθρῶν ἄρασθαι, αὐτόθι τὲ παραγενέσθαι καὶ
πρὸ σταδίων ἱκανῶν τῆς πόλεως Θεσσαλονίκης οὐκ ἔφιππον, ἀλλὰ πεζῇ καὶ βάδην εἰρχόμενον
εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ εἰλεύσεσθαι προσκύνησιν. After he woke up, the Emperor promised to visit
the shrine of the Megalomartyr, if he would overthrow Normans enemies. Justinian 2nd
the Rhinotmetos (668-711, reigned 685-695, 705-711) promised the same worship to Saint
Demetrios, see Speck, “De miraculis,” 381, 514.
21
On Saint Demetrios’ military intercession, especially in case of siege, see Speck, “De
miraculis,” 422-423, 427, 433-437, 453-466, 469-472, 476-485. See also Franz Dölger, “Byzanz
und das Abendland vor den Kreuzzügen,” in Relazioni del X Congresso internazionale
di Scienze storiche (Roma 4-11 settembre 1955), III, Storia del Medioevo (Rome 1956),
67-112, esp. 94 = Id.., ΠΑΡΑΣΠΟΡΑ, 30 Aufsätze zur Geschichte, Kultur und Sprache des
byzantinischen Reiches (Ettal: Buch Kunstverlag, 1961), 73-106, 93; Paul Lemerle, Les
plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les
Balkans, I, Le texte, Paris 1979, II Commentaire (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique, 1981).
22
V, 7 Reinsch, CFHB 157: χρεμετισμὸς ἁπάντων τῶν ἵππων τοῦ στρατοπέδου ... ἐξηκούστη,
a neigh of all horses still suddenly (αἴφνης), that is, at once and abruptly, resounded
in the camp. Everyone was astonished, as the term θάμβος here employed stresses, see
Salvatore Costanza, “Nitriti come segni profetici: cavalli fatidici a Bisanzio,” Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 102.1 (2009): 1-21, esp. 9-11; Id., “Wiehernde Pferde und westlicher Einfluss auf
die Divination der Komnenen- und Palaiologenzeit,” Erika Juhász, ed., Byzanz und das
Abendland V. Studia Byzantino-Occidentalia (Budapest: Eötvös-József-Collegium, 2018),
99-113, esp. 105-106.
23
It is matter of chremetismomancy, that is, interpretation of the neigh (< χρεμετισμός)
179
 the sacred and the profane by establishing a superior Providence. From
the Byzantine political perspective, it was still a proof of legitimacy for
the founder of the new dynasty, whose ascent to the throne gave rise to
bitter controversy after the last heir of the Laskarids was overthrown.24 On
the other hand, Anna relates the emotional stress of a ruler coping with a
formidable enemy and founding his victory upon a useful tactical strata-
gem. Alexios disguised himself as his commander in the army and took
the latter’s position in the tactical deployment, while the latter dressed
in the Imperial Regalia. Bohemond personally led his troops against the
military flank occupied by the alleged emperor, while Alexios unexpect-
edly counterattacked by falling back and turning on his Western oppo-
nent.25 Subsequently, Bohemond was treacherously deceived. Hence, his
dismay at having lost the chance of openly defying the basileus. From the
viewpoint of Frankish rivals, the Komnenos had conceived a ruse typical
of the perfidia Graecorum, that is, the exemplary wickedness of unfaith-
ful “Greeks”.26 Differing political readings behind such defiance are highly
revealing. In his interactions with the Byzantine world, Bohemond had, in
any case, the advantage of speaking Greek fluently. Despite a lack of schol-
arly learning, he mastered the language when he grew up in Southern Ita-
ly, where Greek-speaking communities were still flourishing. Moreover, he
had a wide experience of the Balkans and Greece, as we have seen. During
his campaigns, he always enjoyed contacts with Eastern peoples as well as
with western settlers in the East. He was thus disposed in understanding
overspread in Comnenian and Palaiologan times, on further examples given by
historians like Niketas Choniates and Nikephoros Gregoras, see Costanza, “Nitriti,” 11-21;
Id., “Wiehernde Pferde,” 106-112.
24
John IV was also blinded, see Donald MacGillivray Nicol, The Last Centuries of
Byzantium 1261-1453 (Cambridge: University, 19932), 32; John V. A. Fine jr., The Late
Medieval Balkans. A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1994), 161; Theressa Shawcross, “In the Name of the
True Emperor: Politics of Resistance after the Palaiologan Usurpation,” Byzantinoslavica
66 (2008): 203-227; Milan Nicolić and Bojana Pavlović, “Slika Michajla VIII u delima
Istorićara epoche Paleologa” [The image of Michael VIII in the historical works of the
Palaiologan period], Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta 54 (2017): 143-149, esp. 154-156.
25
On the exact description of this siege and the subsequent victory according to Anna
Komnena and Western sources, such as Gesta Roberti Wiscardi of William of Apulia, see
Yewdale, Bohemond I, 22; A. Ath. Glavinas, “Οἱ Νορμανδοί στή Θεσσαλία καί ἡ πολιορκία
τῆς Λάρισας,” Βυζαντιακά 4 (1984): 35-45, esp. 37-40; McQueen, “Relations,” 443; Graham
Loud, The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest (Singapore:
Longman, 2000), 209-219: the Eastern Emperor went from Constantinople in February
1083, in order to defend Thessaly’s main centre Larissa.
26
See Dölger, “Byzanz und das Abendland,” 80 = Id., ΠΑΡΑΣΠΟΡΑ, 74 for this
misunderstanding that emerges in 12th century and was always bitter under Francocracy
and Palaiologan times.
180
the Byzantine mind and Eastern political views.27 Moreover, immigrants
from South Italy, especially from Apulia, were known to be living in the
Byzantine world after the fall of Bari. Many of them found employment as
official interpreters at Eastern Courts. This is the case of a certain Adral-
istos, who was appointed during the negotiations following Bohemond’s
defeat (1108), to translate from “Celtic” language into Greek.28
If we consider the tactical situation before the battle of Larissa, it was
not merely a matter of hegemony over Thessaly. After their campaigns in
Albania and Macedonia, Normans carried off important victories in the
Western Balkans and in Macedonia (Skopje, Vardar Spring), as well as in
Epirus and Thessaly (Trikala).29 The Norman advance surely frightened
the Imperial Crown. Thanks to his political creativeness, Alexios found an
exit strategy to cope with the various threats to his rule, that enabled him
to stabilise his Imperial lineage. He also rejected heterodox reformatory
ideas enacted by Paulicians and Bogomils and prevented their spread in
Macedonia and Thrace by counterbalancing opposing tendencies.30 From
a political perspective, he equally reacted to Western hostility, often by
granting honorific titles to Norman leaders, the better to integrate them
into Imperial world. He nevertheless denied Bohemond an alluring title,
such as megas domestikos, as the Western leader had personally asked him
in the course of his visit to the Court in Constantinople (1096).31 It was
27
Murray, “The Enemy Within: Bohemond,” 37, 170.
��
Vera von Falkenhausen, I ceti dirigenti normanni al tempo della costituzione degli
stati normanni nell’Italia meridionale e in Sicilia, Gabriella Rossetti, ed., Forme di potere
e struttura sociale in Italia nel Medioevo, Istituzioni e società nella storia d’Italia, I
(Bologna: Il Mulino, 1977), 321-377, esp. 328; Vito Sivo, “Lingue e interpreti,” Musca-Silvio,
eds., Strumenti. Tempi, 89-111, esp. 104-105.
29
On antecedent campaigns of Bohemond in Albania and Macedonia in the region
between Kostyr and Adriatic sea, where Normans gained total freedom of movement,
see McQueen, “Relations,” 442, and 464 with respect to his second expedition to Albanian
coast in 1106, that faithfully followed previous events in the ’80s; Klaus Belke, “Roads
and Travel in Macedonia and Thrace in the Middle and Late Byzantine Period,” Ruth
Macrides, ed., Travel in the Byzantine World (Aldershot: Variorum Ashgate, 2002), 73-90,
esp. 74-78; E. Koytcheva, “Travelling of the First Crusaders across the Byzantine Balkans,”
Ηπειρωτικά Χρονικά 36 (2002): 17-24.
30
For Alexios’ religious politics towards Bogomilism and heresy, see Dion C. Smythe,
“Alexios and the Heretics: The Account of Anna Komnene’s Alexiad,”, Mullett and Smythe,
eds., Alexios I, 232-259; Maja Angelovska Panova, “Eres, Ideologija, Imperija: Slyčaiot so
Bogomilite,” Mitko B. Panov, ed., Држава и империја. State and Empire. Зборник на
трудови од Шестот меѓународен симпосиум Денови на Јустинијан I. (Oхрид-Ресен
23-24.11.2018), (Skopje: Институт за национална историја, 2019), 52-65, esp. 57-59 about
this religious movement reconsidered as a cross-cultural phenomenon within a complex
ideological meeting between East and West.
31
See McQueen, “Relations,” 451-452; Jonathan Shepard, “When Greek Met Greek:
181
 typical of Byzantine rulers’ Imperial policy to affiliate Westerners into the
Byzantine orbit by granting them flattering titles. However, Alexios was at
that time too apprehensive towards his former antagonist in the Balkans.32
Between the end of the 11th and the beginnings of the 12th century, it
is noticeable that not only Hauteville family members and noblemen, as
already stated, but also lower knights were highly attracted by Byzantium,
which confirmed its receptivity to disaffected Norman mercenaries as a
major employment source. During this period, many Norman warriors
tried their luck in the East. In 1085, after having repulsed Bohemond’s fi-
nal attack, Alexios recruited most of the Norman’s soldiers into his own
service and admitted many of them into the inner circle of his counselors.
He still continued to recruit Western knights during and after the Crusade,
even though he mistrusted the crusading movement and was finally dis-
appointed with its leaders.33

Normans in Macedonia and new Eastern identities

With respect to Balkan land and Norman military endeavours, it is in-

teresting to observe the career of Peter Aliphas, probably from Alife near
Caserta, and of of one Pountese, not Count Raoul de la Pontoise, but a
southern Italian knight who derived his name from some little town such
as Ponte Landolfo or Ponte Maggiore. Both of them formerly served un-
der the command of Bohemond during his first Balkan campaign. At that
time, they respectively occupied Votryk, the spring of the Vardar river near
today’s Gostivar (τοὺς μὲν δύο Πολόβους), and Skopje (τὰ δὲ Σκόπια), while
Bohemond himself decided to go hastily to Ohrid at the precise request
of its inhabitants: αὐτὸς δὲ μηνυθεὶς παρὰ τῶν Ἀχριδιωτῶν ταχὺ τὰς Ἀχρίδας
καταλαμβάνει.34
Alexius Comnenus and Bohemond in 1097-98,” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 12
(1988): 185-277, esp. 251-261.
32
As Shepard, “The Uses of the Franks,” 303 states: «Alexios had learnt the lessons of
the mode d’emploi of western mercenaries from personal experience.». In the 70’s, as we
have seen, he was confronted with Bohemond’s cousin Humbertopoulos, Roussel and
many other Frankish mercenaries.
33
See Donald MacGillivray Nicol, “Symbiosis and Integration. Some Greco-Latin
Families in Byzantium in the 11th to the 13th centuries,” Byzantinische Forschungen 7 (1979),
113-135, esp. 123 = Id., Studies in Late Byzantine History and Prosopography (London:
Variorum, 1986), art. III; McQueen, “Relations,” 442; Shepard, “The Uses of the Franks,”
303, 305.
34
As Anna Comnena V 5, 1 accounts, see McQueen, “Relations,” 444-445, 465, 467;
Costanza, “Sicilians, Byzantines, and Macedonians,” 89.
182
 These strategies testify to the Normans’ main interest in the Vardar Val-
ley, a crucial point in Western Balkans, whose control was necessary to
further advance eastwards.35 It is noteworthy that both Peter Aliphas and
Pountese entered Byzantine service for life shortly after their Macedo-
nian adventure. Their career shows how former military experience was
preparatory to their consequent assimilation in the East. Once they had
experienced a new life in Macedonia and the Balkan peninsula, they did
not return home to Southern Italy. On the contrary, they preferred to find
a better employment within the Byzantine orbit. As a result of this agree-
ment, they developed a new identity in the Eastern world after entering
Byzantine service. In this respect, the heirs of Greco-Latin families seem
to have been perfectly assimilated into the Byzantine way of life, as many
reports chronicle.36 It is a clue that, for these newcomers, the Western Bal-
kans were the gates to a world of wealth and greater gains. It was possibly
a dream country at the crossroads of strategical directions.
We may consider in detail Peter Aliphas’ career as a case in point, since
he formerly occupied Vardar Spring near Gostivar and entered Komnenos’
service after Guiscard’s death. In subsequent years, he rendered many use-
ful services to the Byzantines. Among other things, he claimed towns for
Byzantium, when the Crusade passed through Asia Minor. As a Western
immigrant to Byzantium, he must obviously have been charged with deal-
ing with the Crusaders. He played a crucial liaison role between his for-
mer Frankish comrades and his fellow-subjects of the Byzantine Crown.
In 1097, Peter also received the surrender of the fortress of Plastencia near
Caesarea (today Kayseri) in Cappadocia, a place probably to be identified
with today’s Elbistan on the road to Melitene.37 Finally, the emperor was
very grateful to Peter. In 1108, he granted him, in return for his loyal ser-
vice, an estate in Thrace, where he finally retired with his family. Peter thus
founded the Byzantine lineage of Petraliphai that settled easily in Byzan-
tium and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. Many family members served

35
Via Egnatia was the strategical axis from Adriatic to Byzantine capital, see in
particular Belke, “Roads and Travel in Macedonia,” 73-75: Thrace as well as Macedonia
were the bottle-neck through which all traffic passed from Constantinople to Greece,
Danube bassin, and Italy.
36
See Nicol, Symbiosis and Integration, 123-124; McQueen, “Relations,” 469; Elizabeth
Lapina, Warfare and the Miraculous in the Chronicles of the First Crusade (University
Park/PA: Penn State University, 2015), 77.
37
See John France, Victory in the East. A Military History of the First Crusade
(Cambridge: University, 1994), 191; Peter Frankopan, The First Crusade. The Call from the
East (Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University, 2012), 149.
183
 as generals in the days of Manuel I.38 We know four Petraliphai brothers,
perfectly integrated into the Byzantine world, who were enlisted under the
command of Michael I (1170-1215), the founder of the Despotate of Epirus.
In particular, they fought against the Normans in their attempt to retrieve
Kerkyra (Corfu).39. In this lineage, we can even count a female Saint of the
Greek Orthodox Church, Theodora of Arta, that is, Theodora Petraliphai-
na (Srvica, near to Kožani, today Sérvia 1225 - Arta 1270), the wife of Epi-
rus’ Duke Michael II. (1205-66/’67). According to the Life of Theodora, her
father, John Petraliphas, was granted the title of sebastokrator and is es-
pecially remembered as the governor of Macedonia and Thessaly.40 If we
credit this hagiographical document, Theodora’s father John would have
followed the steps of his ancestor Peter Aliphas, who fought about 100
years earlier in the same Macedonian area, as previously noted. Another
of John’s daughters, Saint Theodora’s sister Maria, a former Sphrantzaina,
was involved in anti-Norman politics pursued by her brother-in-law, Mi-
chael II. In particular, Maria Petraliphaina was responsible of laying the
murderous plot against her second husband Philip Chinardo (1205-’66),
the powerful admiral of king Manfred (1232-’66) and also regent of Corfu.41
Anyway, a Hellenized family like the Petraliphai offers a clear paradigm
of self-assimilation in the Byzantine East from the perspective of politi-
cal, religious and ethnic identity. In particular, it is undeniable that such a
38
See Alexander Kazhdan, “Latin and Franks in Byzantium: Perception and Reality
from the Eleventh to the Twelfth Century,” Angeliki E. Laiou and Roy P. Mottahedeh, eds.,
The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim world (Washington/D.C.:
Dumberton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2001): 83-100, esp. 94, 97: Alexios
Petraliphas was general and sebastos in 1166, while Nikephoros also served as general at
that time.
39
See Donald MacGillivray Nicol, “The Date of the Battle of Pelagonia,” Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 49 (1956): 68-71; McQueen, “Relations,” 470; Deno John Geanakoplos, “Graeco-
Latin relations on the eve of the Byzantine restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia - 1259,”
Dumberton Oaks Papers 7 (1953): 99-141, esp. 121; Salvatore Costanza, “Ad provinciam
Macedoniae. Sicilian Admiral Philip Chinardo on the Route to Macedonia (1258),” Mitko
B. Panov, ed., Држава и империја, 106-120.
40
See PG 127, 904AB, passage quoted by Kazhdan, “Latin and Franks in Byzantium,”
95 with nt. 129. See Donald MacGillivray Nicol, The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479.
A Contribution to the History of Greece in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: University
Press, 1984), 5-6 with nt. 8: as Leandros I. Vranoussis, Χρονικὰ τῆς Mεσαιωνικῆς καὶ
Tουρκοκρατουμένης Ἠπείρου (Ioannina: Eteria Ipirotikon Meleton, 1962), 49-54 certifies,
the Life of St Theodora of Arta was written by Job Meles (or Melias) Iasites at the end of
the 13th century, and is a more reliable authority than was previously supposed.
41
After Manfred’s death in the battle of Benevento, the reconquest of Chinardo’s Latin
principality was top priority to Duke Michael II. Therefore, Maria Petraliphaina took
part of her husband’s murder in Corfu, as Georges Pachymeres VII 4 accounts, see Albert
Failler, ed., Relations historiques III. Livres VII-IX (= CFHB 24/3), (Paris: Institut d’Études
Byzantines, 1999), 55, 15-24; Costanza, “Ad provinciam Macedoniae,” 109, 114.
184
relevant family story started in the Vardar Valley. For the Petraliphas fam-
ily and so many other Western people, Macedonia was the point of depar-
ture for their transfer to Byzantium and subsequently to full assimilation
into their new Eastern homeland.

Conclusion

To sum up, since the end of the 11th century, Hauteville dukes and Nor-
man lower society provide various knights from Southern Italy and Sicily,
formerly Byzantine dominions, to the Balkans, where they sought a better
lot of fortune. All things considered, they gained from being employed
by Eastern Imperial rulers. Subsequently, Italian peoples were instructed
how to interact with Western Balkan peoples, especially in Northern and
Aegean Macedonia. As a result of these military endeavours, brilliant suc-
cesses were useful for Normans in the following decades. It opened the
way for them to go eastwards. Based on their previous Balkan experiences,
Normans became familiar with these regions. Thus, the Sicilian King Wil-
liam II the Good (1153-’89) invaded Aegean Macedonia in 1185, besieging
Solun by land and sea. The town was captured by knights under the com-
mand of Baldwin of Hauteville and Tancred (1138-’94), the Count of Lecce,
the latter King of Sicily (1189-’94).42 The appeal of the+ Balkans was also an
issue in foreign Norman and Staufen policy as a result of the initial expe-
riences gained in the last part of the 11th century. The Sicilian Kingdom
acquired this legacy and cherished plans of conquest in the East.43
Definitively, the Balkan mainland offered opportunities for military en-
deavours and, eventually, assimilation of Western newcomers, opening
the way to a prospect full of consequences.

42
Horrified contemporaries such as Archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonika account
shocking plunders and massacres of Norman mercenaries. It was a prelude to the Fall
of Constantinople (1204). On this Norman adventure, see Geanakoplos, “Graeco-Latin
relations,” 101; Helene Wieruszowski, “The Norman Kingdom of Sicily and the Crusades,”
Kenneth M. Setton, Robert Lee Wolff, and Harry W. Hazard, eds., A History of the Crusades
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1962), II, 3-44, esp. 42 = Ead., Politics and
Culture in Medieval Spain and Italy (Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1971), 49-50,
esp. 48; Costanza, “Sicilians, Byzantines, and Macedonians,” 94.
43
For Staufen aims of conquering the whole Balkan peninsula and Eastern policy
of Charles of Anjou, also oriented to ambitious plans of conquest in the same area
as a political heir of his antecessors as Sicilian King, see Geanakoplos, “Graeco-Latin
relations,” 105; Nicol, The Despotate, 14, 24; M. Palairet, Macedonia. A Voyage through
History (Vol. 1, From Ancient times to the Ottoman Invasions), (Cambridge: Cambridge
Scholars Publishing), 2015, 304.
185
 12

Digenes Akritas: Hero on the border who

destroys the borders
Vitomir Mitevski, Macedonian Academy of
Science and Arts, Skopje
UDK 930.85(495.02)
UDK 82-13(495.02)

Abstract: Digenes Akritas is a paradoxical hero of the Byzantine epic litera-

ture who represents the complex identity of the Byzantine man. According to
the poem, Digenes is a son of Arabian Emir and Byzantine princess and that
duality is represented in his family tree. From his father’s side, he is a descen-
dant of Armenian Paulicians who were in military alliance with the Arabian
tribes fighting against Byzantine Empire. According to the Grottaferrata ver-
sion, Digenes was appointed by the Byzantine Emperor as a defender of the
eastern border of the kingdom, mainly against the attacks of Arabian tribes,
but he never confronted them and was mostly in conflict with the Apelates,
local robbers in Byzantium. Thus, the impression of who and what the hero
defends is blurred, while the hero himself gets several different faces. The com-
plex character of Digenes is also present on cultural level through the frescoes
that decorate his palace. The walls were decorated by frescoes depicting scenes
both from the Bible and from the Ancient Hellenic mythology. So, Digenes
Akritas can be interpreted as a typical representative of the complex identity
of the Byzantine culture which absorbs classical ancient, Orthodox Christian
and even Arabian (Islamic) cultural elements.

186
In order to correctly understand the importance of Digenes Akritas as a
leading hero of the famous Byzantine epic poem, we need to have into
consideration the context of traditional epic poetry in which the hero
occurs.
The starting point of Indo-European traditional epic poetry usually
are historical facts, but just like in the artistic creation, with the time it
distances itself from that real world and gradually turns into an abstract
notion which highlights the understandings and ideals of folk singer as
well as the environment he lives in. Byzantine traditional epic poetry, par-
ticularly the epic of Digenes Akritas, is not an exception. It represents the
typical Byzantine man defining his own identity.
In Digenes, we recognise many features which are common for typical
epic heroes in the Middle Ages, such are Roland, Cid or our King Marko,1
but, apart from that, in Digenis Akritas we discover unique features which
extend beyond those frameworks, and in this case, they are the subject of
our interest.
At first glance, some scholars recognise such uniqueness of this char-
acter as inconsistency, but that is only if we observe the surface. Actu-
ally, the real character of Digenes is a complex one with many layers and
represents a synthesis of many typical features of Byzantine identity. In
that sense, our perception of Digenes is that he is a paradigmatic char-
acter who encompasses a zeitgeist of the time and culture from which it
originates.
First of all, his personal name, Digenes, is a complex one. It is an epithet
turned into a personal name and denotes the duality of his character. In
the original Greek language, “Digenes” can mean double-born or, in this
case, with dual kinship, with dual origin. Namely, his mother is a daugh-
ter of Byzantine strategist, which means that he comes from a high noble
background, but his father is an emir from Syria, which means that he has
Arabic origin. Moreover, his grandfather from his father’s side, has Arme-
nian background, and we can say that our hero becomes Trigenes.
Complex, usually dual origin of the big heroes is not an isolated occur-
rence in the Middle East because there are several similar cases; for instance,
Rustam of the Persian epic song Shahnameh or St. George whose mother is a
Byzantine and his father is a Persian. Nevertheless, the complex origin or Di-
genes carries a special symbolic of the power of Byzantine empire to absorb
the heterogenous elements and to create a new synthesis unknown before.
1
Roderick Beaton, David Ricks, Digenes Akrites. New Approaches to Byzantine Heroic
Poetry (Aldershot: Variorum, 1993), 135.
187
 As regards to religious affiliation, that complexity of the character of Di-
genes is evident. He is Christian by his mother, but by his father he is Mus-
lim Arab, at least until his marriage when he is converted to Christianity
which stresses the synthesis in which the Christian context is a dominant
one. But, in the epic song we read that the above mentioned grandfather
from his father’s side, known under the name of Hrisoverg, was the leader
of Armenian Paulicians, which makes his religious background even more
complex.
Considering this complexity of affiliation of this epic hero, we grasp a
clear vision of what is typical for the identity of the Byzantine man.
Second part of the name of Digenes is Akritas, which means the fron-
tiersman, i.e. the warrior who protects the borders. The famous Byzantol-
ogist, Henri Grégoire even stresses that Digenes “was born and will remain
par excellence hero of the borders.”2
But, if we read the epic song carefully, we will notice that despite the
formal determination of Digenes as a protector of the borders of the Em-
pire, and in the Grottaferrata version he has been seconded for that role
by the Byzantine emperor Vasyli, 3 this epic hero never occurs as such in
practice. It is true that he lives on the Eastern borders of Byzantium, near
the Euphrates river, but he never occurs as a protector of the Empire from
the neighbouring people, especially from the Arabian tribes. If we anal-
yse the military clashes of Digenes, usually they are clashes with various
robbers, so-called Apelatai, but they are actually the subjects of the Byz-
antine emperor and Christians. Digenes is constantly involved in private
wars with Christians while on the border he never clashes with the Arabs,
representatives of the new religion. Even in some cases he is in a kind of
alliance with them.
In general, in the epic of Digenes there is no sign of religious fanatism
and antagonism against the representatives of the new religion which is
interpreted as an expression of the time when the Islam in Byzantine was
regarded as a kind of Christian sect, something similar to Paulicians.4
2
Henri Grégoire, “Autour de l’épopée byzantine,” (London: Variorum reprints, 1975,
464.
3
Digenis Akritis. The Grottaferrata and Escorial versions, ed. and transl. Elizabeth
Jeffreys (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), IV, 1047-1051.
4
Compare: Digenis Akrites, ed. and transl. John Mavrogordato (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1956), LXV; Digenis Akritis. The Grottaferrata and Escorial versions. ed. Elizabeth
Jeffreys (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, LXV; Digenis Akrit, ed. Aleksandar
Ia. Sirkin (Moskva: Izd. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 1960), 152; Витомир Митевски, Византиска
епска поезија, препев, превод, белешки и предговор (Скопје: МАНУ, 2018);
188
 It turns out that Digenes Akritas actually is not an akritas, he is not a
man who protects or guards the borders but he destroys and deletes the
borders which is evident from the fact that he constantly crosses the river
of Euphrates.
We can conclude that Digenes is a typical hero who illustrates the ten-
dency in Byzantium to include and to absorb in its culture the heterog-
enous elements and to become a melting pot which generates a synthesis
of all the inherited values on its territory. The character of Digenes sym-
bolises that tendency.
The description of the home that Digenes builds for himself and his
wife additionally supports this thesis. Even the location chosen for the
home is symbolical. The location is near the spring of the river of Eu-
phrates where, according to the biblical depictions, is the heaven on
Earth, the Eden.
Heavenly environment is complemented by an exotic garden with a lav-
ish palace in the centre of it, while the inner premises are ornamented
with “golden” mosaics depicting biblical motives. The scene of Samson
fighting the foreigners, the duel between David and Goliath, as well as the
wonders of Moses.
Naturally, these scenes are suitable to the Christianinty which is domi-
nant in Byzantium. Yet, the parallel occurrence of mosaics depicting
scenes of ancient Hellenic mythology surprises on the first sight. In paral-
lel with biblical character, there are depictions of Achilles who partici-
pates in Trojan war, the tragic death of Agamemnon, faithful Penelope
and her Odysseus who outsmarts the cyclops Polypheme etc.
Scenes depicted on the mosaics become even more unusual with the
depictions of Alexander the Great fighting with Darius, his meeting with
Brahmans and Amazonian girls etc.
And now we pose the question – is this some kind of arbitrary occur-
rence and noncritical attitude of the poet or is this something else?
Considering the Byzantine tradition which develops and shapes
throughout the centuries on the territory of ancient cultural heritage and,
at the same time, under the strong influence of the ideas of Christianity,
it is clear that this mixture is not an expression of contradiction, but a
depiction of symbiosis which will leave an everlasting mark on Byzantine
culture.

Митевски, Сенката на Марко Крале. Античката, византиската и македонската

епска поезија (Скопје: МАНУ, 2017).
189
 The home of the hero Digenes with the mosaics personifies that cultural
symbiosis, and the hero himself with his unusual taste is authentic reflec-
tion of that culture.
So, the character of Digenes appears as a manifestation and a sym-
bol of specific and complex identity of the byzantine civilization.

190
 13

Nunc edendum est! Пирот на Гобриј

и Артаксан во 4-та книга од романот
“Rhodanthe et Dosicles” од Теодор Продром
Маќеј Хелбиг, Независен истражувач, Катовице
UDK 39:641 (495.02)
UDK 39:821.14’04

Abstract: The main aim of this paper is to present the way, how Theodorus
Prodromus uses the description of the feast in the 4th book of his romance De
Rhodathes et Dosiclis amoribus libri IX. It is not a secret that in the Ancient and
Byzantine times feasts were used not only for social gatherings of the upper
class, but also to astound the guests with all the attractions attached to the
main event and mostly with all the sophisticated kinds of food. The depictions
of the feasts have long tradition in the literature and, since we do not have
many sources to examine the Ancient and Byzantine culinary tradition, as the
cookery books were not preserved to our time (besides the one attributed to
Apicius), they do bring us to the light at least some of the details on culinary
habits and everyday life of the Ancient and Byzantine times. Theodorus
Prodromus with the depiction of the feast, that was put in the 4th book of his
romance, enrolled himself to the long-lasting festive tradition that begun at
the very beginnings of European literature.

191
 Во моментот кога човекот сфатил дека храната не претставува само
предуслов за биолошки опстанок, туку може да предизвика радост и
задоволство, тој ја започнал и и авантурата во потрага за откривање
различни мириси и вкусови. Сепак, кога ќе се додаде и аспектот дека
човекот е општествено суштество, реално следува впечатокот дека
меѓу другото храната претставувала средство за создавање релации
и интреакции со останатите единици во општеството. Во таа смисла
пирот, како значаен социјален фактор со тек на времето станал еден
од суштинските елементи, кои влијаат врз меѓучовечките односи. Вак-
вата улога на пирот во културата се содржи и во текстови од античката
и во византиската книжевност, со чиешто посредство до ден денес се
сочувани многу описи на пировите.
Готварската уметност се појавила прво во Грција, а во Рим започна-
ла да се развива околу III век п.н.е., кога Римијаните сѐ повеќе имале
контакт со Истокот, меѓу другото и како последица на трговијата, што
обусловило Империјата да запознае нови, дотогаш непознати произво-
ди. Во таа смисла, се променил и ставот околу исхраната, т.е. можноста
човекот преку јадењето да почувствува задоволство, што особено до-
аѓа до израз во царскиот период на Римската Империја. Новиот однос
кон исхраната имал свое влијание и врз останатите култури, па така
човекот веќе не се задоволувал само трите скромни и основни оброци,
т.е. ientaculum – појадок, prandium – втор појадок и cena – вечера. Уште
повеќе што јадењето морало да предизвика воздишки на сите покане-
ти гости не само во однос на формата, туку и со изборот на она што
можело да се изеде. Можноста да се експериментира со новите видо-
ви храна и истовремено збогатувањето на општеството во времето на
Римската Империја резултирало со губење на вкусот и добрите обичаи.
Не сите имале позитивен однос кон каприциозноста на Римијаните,
којашто перманентно и во долг временски период се распространу-
вала низ целата територија на бившата империја. Како што напишал
римскиот државник и филозоф Сенека Помладиот во 17-то писмо до
Лукилиј:
facile est pascere paucos ventres et bene institutos et nihil aliud desiderantes
quam impleri: parvo fames constat, magno fastidium1
лесно е да се исхранат небројни стомаци и добро воспитувани, кои не
очекуваат ништо друго отколку да са наполнат; малку чини да се подмири
гладот, но само каприциозноста/палавоста бара многу трошоци.2
1
Seneca Lucius Annaeus, Ad Lucilium epistulae morales, trans. Richard M. Gummere
(London: The Loeb Classical, 1925), 110.
2
Сите преводи на античките и визатиските дела се направени од страна на
192
Неколку векови подоцна, византискиот писател Теодор Продром се
осврнал на богатиот и необичен пир во својот роман посветен на љу-
бовните перипетии на Роданте и Досиклес.
За жал, не се знаат точниот датум на раѓањето и смртта на Теодор
Продром (ок. 1100- 1170),3 но неговото творештво сигурно припаѓа на
периодот XII век.4 Станува збор за типичен поет-просјак, зависен од
своите заштитници/мецени. Продром главно бил познат по своите
поеми, говори, романи и дијалози направени на класичен начин во
кои честопати им се додворувал на богатите (пред сѐ на кралската фа-
милија на Комнените5), но исто така тој е познат и по дела со рели-
гиозен карактер како: коментари, псалми, теолошки трактати, дури
и поеми на вернакуларен јазик. Вкупно од Продром постојат околу
220 дела. Големината и разновидноста на репертоарот ја предизви-
кува желбата на авторот да пишува за секого кој би можел да биде
потенцијален финансиер и затоа во неговото творештво се чувствува
борбата за опстанок.
Со името на Продром е поврзана појавата на нов вид литература
во Византија, т.е. љубовниот роман. Истражувачите на византиската
книжевност презентираат различни мисле ња околу периодизација-
та на романот од XII век, во којашто Продром се наоѓа на прво или
на второ место. Елизабет Џефрис смета дека текстот на Роданте и
Досиклес бил создаден пред 11386 година.
Се разбира дека романот е новост само за византиската кни-
жевност, бидејќи тој вид проза започнал дури во III век п.н.е., а
најдобрите примери на романите доаѓаат од хеленистичкиот и им-
перијалниот (римскиот) период7. Според различни истражувачи на
старогрчката книжевност грчкиот роман во своите извори потекнува

авторот на статијава.
3
Ingela Nilson, Raconter Byzance : La Littérature au XIIe siècle (Paris : Les Belles Lettres,
2014), 36.
4
Според Алксандер Каждан Продром можел да се роди неколку години пред
1077, а умрел околу 1170. Најверојатно тој ја започнал својата кариера на писател
околу 1118. Aleksander Kazhdan, “Theodore Prodromus: a reappraisal” in idem, Studies
in Byzantine Literature of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1984), 99, 101.
5
Nilson, Raconter Byzance, 36, 199.
6
Elisabeth Jeffreys, “A Date for Rhodanthe and Dosikles?,” in Der Roman im Byzanz der
Komnenenzeit, ed. P.A. Agapitos, D. R. Reinsch (Frankfurt am Mein, 2000), 127-136.
7
Sylwester Dworacki, “Romans grecki,” in Literatura starożytnej Grecji. Proza
historyczna – krasomówstwo, filozofia i nauka, literatura chrześcijańska, ed. Henryk
Podbielski (Lublin: Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL, 2005), 295.
193
 од историографијата и реторичките вежби на втората софистика, но
помеѓу видови кои силно влијаеле на генезата на романот се дода-
ваат и трагедијата, комедијата, мимите и пасторалната поезија8, но
другите велат дека романот е нова креативна намера, која што ѝ одго-
вара на новата политичка и општествена состојба9. Како што реков-
ме, Теодор Продром бил еден од првите византиски писатели коишто
решиле да се занимаваат со ваков вид творештво, насочен пред сѐ
кон добро образованите читатели. Сепак, како што вели Марија Пон-
кќињска, романот како вид книжевност треба да се гледа од перспек-
тива на различни книжевни факти, а посебните делови мораат да се
интерпретираат преку поширока перцепција на книжевноста и кул-
турата на определена средина10. Според неа, романот бил во можност
да собере во себе разновидни елементи од класичните (и секогаш
јасно определените) видови книжевност заради својата флексибил-
ност, но оваа универзалност не му донела на романот успех, ниту во
класичното доба. За генезата на споменатиот вид литература важно
е да се напомене дека својот развој романот го врзува со зголемување
на интересот на луѓето со туѓи култури, заради проширените контак-
ти во хеленистичкиот период11.
Романот за кој станува збор во статијава, под наслов Роданте и До-
сиклес (Τὰ κατὰ Ῥοδάνθην καὶ Δοσικλέα), содржи 4614 стихови во јам-
бичен триметар поделени во 9 книги. Тука треба да се додаде дека
од четири познати романи од времето на Комнените, т.е. Хисмине и
Хисминијас од Макремболитес, веќе споменаиот Роданте и Досиклес
од Продорм, Дросила и Хариклес од Евгенаиој и Аристандар и Кали-
реа само Макремболитес својот роман го напишал во проза, според
античките правила на видот. Останатите автори ги употребуваат по-
етските мери на јамбичниот стих.
Употребата на јамбичните мери во античката грчка поезија има
многу широк опсег, а самите јамби се вклучуваат во најстарите кван-
тититативни мери на поезијата. Основата на мерава е јамбично ста-
пало составено од две силаби, т.е. прва кратка, втора долга ∪ —12, а

8
Dworacki, “Romans grecki”, 297.
9
Maria Pąkcińska, Antyczny romans grecki wczesnego okresu (Warszawa: Wydawnictwa
Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 1981), 6, 25. Dworacki, „Romans grecki”, 298.
10
Pąkcińska, Antyczny, 6.
11
Pąkcińska, Antyczny, 9.
12
Симболот ∪ во метриката ја означува кратката силаба (elementum breve), а
симбол — долгата силаба (elementum longum).
194
двете стапала ја творат базата на правата јамбична мера ∪ — ∪ —.
Јамбичниот триметар се состои од три мери (шест стапала) коишто
го даваат следниот модел ∪ — |∪ — |∪ — |∪ — |∪ — |∪ —||13. Тука
треба да се напомене дека секој долг елемент, т.е. секоја долга сила-
ба, може да се изврши, што значи дека може да се промени во две
кратки силаби. Мерата за која станува збор има две места за пауза
т.н. цезури, во третото стапало пред долгата силаба (пентемимерес)
и во четвртото стапало, исто така пред долг елемент (хефтемимерес)
X — ∪ — X⋮ — ∪ ∶— X — ∪ —||14. Акцентот паѓа на долгиот елемент,
или првиот краток од извршената долга силаба. Како што веќе беше
посочено, мерата имала долга традиција во античката поезија и била
најчесто користена од сите јамбични мери. Јамбичен триметар15 се
среќава во дијалозизите на трагедијата, сатирската драма и коме-
дијата, но не можеме да не ги споменеме и јамбографите, т.е. поетите
кои во различни комбинации на јамбите пишувале лирични стихови
на различни теми од љубов до омраза и агресија кон другите16. Не се
знае зошто Теодор Продром решил да ја искористил мерата во својот
роман, но треба да се потенцира дека грчките романи од својот поче-
ток во однос на жанрот биле вид проза и не се пишувале со стихови,
туку авторот многу често ја користел таа мера и во другите видови на
своето творештво17.
Генералната схема на повеста е следна: Досиклес од Абидос со по-
мош на пријатели украл една убава девојка по име Роданте. На Родос
младите биле заробени од страна на пирати, а Роданте била преда-
дена во ропство на Кипар. Главниот на пиратите по име Гобриј, бил
воодушевен од убавината на девојката. Татковците на вљубените
отишле на Делфи, каде што добиле совет да одат на Кипар. Таму ги
ослободиле своите деца и на крајот се вратиле во Абидос и направи-
ле свадба. Интегралниот мотив на романот Продром го превзел од

13
Симболот || во метриката го зоначува карјот на период, што означува дека таму
мора да се најде крајот на збор, па исто времено на сиот стих.
14
Helena Sądejowa, „Zarys metryki greckiej. Jamby”, in Metryka grecka i łacińska, ed.
Maria Dłuska, Władysław Strzelecki (Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich,
1956), 22.
15
Развојот на јамбичните мери во грчката метрика преку векови подетално
претставува Мартин Вест. Martin L. West, Greek Metre (Oxford: Calderon Press, 1982),
81-90, 159-160, 165-167.
16
Sądejowa, “Zarys metryki”, 22.
17
Oktawiusz Jurewicz, Historia literatury bizantyńskiej. Zarys, (Warszawa: Zakład
Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1984), 250.
195
 хеленистичкиот писател Хелиодор, автор на Етиопските разкази, но
целото дејствување, според Октавјуш Јуревич, го пренел во ориентал-
ни мотиви18. Исто така, треба да се напомене дека Продром, за разли-
ка од Хелиодор, романот го започнал in medias res.
Најважен дел од текстов, за статијава, е IV книга од 121 до 225 стих,
( особено стиховите 121-143), каде што се споменува описот на пирот,
во којшто учествуваат Артаксан и Горбиј. Авторот го составил во фор-
ма на дијалог помеѓу двајцата херои, коишто строфично си одговара-
ат (можеби тука авторот го дава примерот на responsio strophica како
инспирација од грчката трагедија, но ваквото тврдење бара посебна
анализа). На самиот почеток се добива впечаток дека самиот пир бил
полн со задовоство и замислен да предизвика воздишки и да ги зачу-
ди поканетите гости. На средина на масата се наоѓало печено јагне
и тоа не би било ништо невообичаено, доколку Артаксан не посакал
да земе едно парче. Стиховите, што следуваат ја откриваат тајната,
зошто авторот го нарекол пиров чудесен – τὸ δεῖπνον θαυμάσιον. Во
моментот кога Артаксан го отсекол парчето месо со цел да го изеде,
од вантрешниот дел на јагнето излетале врапчиња:

Προὔκειτο μὲν γὰρ ὀπτὸς ἀρνὸς ἐν μέσῳ

ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτον συλλαβὼν Ἀρταξάνης
ὥρμα διαιρεῖν καὶ διασπᾶν, ὡς φάγοι,
προὔκυπτον ἐκτὸς ἐκ μέσης τῆς γαστέρος
στρουθοὶ νεογνοί, καὶ πτέρυξιν ἠρμένοι
ὑπερπετῶντο τὴν κάραν τοῦ σατράπου.19
Пред нив во средина печено ставиле јагне,
но кога Артаксан посакал да го земе тоа
и почнал да сече и одзема парче да изеде,
наеднаш пукнаа од јагнешкиов стомак
врапчиња само што изведени, мавтајќи со своите крилја
и излетнаа над сатрапската глава.

Артаксан се испалшил од тоа, но Горбиј гледајќи ја неговата реакција,

почнал да се смее и му објаснил дека тоа не е ништо страшно, ниту
чудно, бидејќи неговиот деспот Мистилос, благодарение на својата

18
Jurewicz, Historia literatury, 253.

19
Theodorus Prodromus, De Rhodanthes et Dosiclis amoribus libri IX, ed. Miroslav
Marcovich (Stutgardiae et Lipsiae: BG Teubner, 1992), 60.

196
власт, ја имaл моќта да ги менува и законите на природата, при што
во нормални услови јагне никогаш не би „родило“ птици. Сепак, ос-
танува прашањето, зошто птиците за време на печењето на јагнето
не биле оштетени од високата температура во фурната. Слично Го-
бриј објаснува дека печењето не можело да ги усмрти врапчињата,
особено поради фактот што огнот нема да дејствува против желбата
на деспотот и секогаш ќе работи по неговата наредба (а се чини дека
наредбата била птиците да останат живи):

καὶ γὰρ τοσοῦτον καὶ τὸ πῦρ οἶδε φλέγειν

ὅσον μόνον βούλοιτο Μιστύλος φλέγειν‧
πλέον δὲ πιμπρᾶν τῆς φλογὸς δωρουμένης,
ὅμος ἐκεῖθεν εὐλαβῶς ὑποσρέφει,
οἷον δεδοικὸς μὴ κατὰ γνώμην φλέγοι,
ἃ τῷ βασιλεῖ μὴ κατὰ γνώμην φλέγειν.20

за пламенот што може да запали

само она што Мистилос сака да е запалено,
но, иако би можел и повеќе да изгори,
сепак, се повлекува дискретно
како што би се плашел да испали во спротивност до наредбата,
тоа што би било изгорено не по царската желба.

Описот којшто го дава Продом во споменатиот дел не е ништо ново

во книжевноста. Нема сомнение дека византискиот писател ин-
спирацијата ја црпел од антиката, но во случајот на анализираниот
фрагмент најверојатно изворот на мотивот бил римскиот писател
Петрониј.
Гај Петрониј Арбитер (27-66 г.) бил римски писател, филозоф и
политичар, кој во 62 или во 63 г. станал конзул, но пред сѐ бил по-
знат по својата функција на arbiter elegantiae21 во дворот на Нерон. И
покрај тоа што имал значајно влијание врз него, сепак се самоубил,
бидејќи бил обвинет од страна на Офониј Тигелин за контаките со
Гај Пизон, одговорен за заговорот против Императорот22.

20
Prodromus, De Rhodanthes, 60.
21
Michael von Albrecht, “Literature of early Empire,” in A History of Roman Literature,
ed. Michael von Albrecht, Gareth Schmeling, vol. 2 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1997), 1212.
22
Adam Ziółkowski, “Imperium Romanum i cywilizacja grecko-rzymska,” in Historia
powszechna. Starożytność, ed. idem (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2014),
804.

197
 На Петрониј му се припишува авторството на познатиот аванту-
ристичко-комедиски роман Сатирикон (лат. Satyricon liber) од којшто
до наше време е сочувана само една десетина од оригиналната содр-
жина. Авторот на многу забавен, но истовремено и многу реалисти-
чен начин го претставил животот на различни слоеви од тогашното
римско општество. Во согласност со сочуваниот текст целиот роман
бил замислен како разказ за авантурата на тројца млади момчиња и
тоа: Енколпиј, Гитон и Аксилот од Марсеј, кои патувале по комно и на
море, преку Рим дури до Кротона.23. Интегрално романот е создаден
како репортажа на Енколпиј, богат, елегантен и добро образован чо-
век што му овозможило да донесе подетални опсервации. Евидентно
во романот доминира интересот на авторот за реализам, но тоа е
пред сѐ поради фактот што Петрониј сакал да ги опишува луѓето и
нивните постапки24. И покрај тоа што jазикот и стилот на сочуваната
содржина укажува дека Петрониј бил одличен поет и писател, а са-
мата Сатирска книга имала мошне значајна улога меѓу останатите
римски романи25, сепак се чини дека Петрониј бил прв од римските
писатели кој промовирал хумористичен и реалистичен роман, фоку-
сиран на општеството и на манирите26.
Точниот датум на издавање на книгата не е познат. Сепак, според
Михаел вон Албрехт, сочуваните делови од текстот, покажуваат мо-
тиви карактеристични за I век од нашата ера, т.е. падот на реторика-
та, декламацијата и проблемот на високиот стил во реториката. Исто
така кај Петрониј можат да се најдат и различнитe историски и био-
графиски надоврзувања до времето на владеење на Клавдиј и Нерон27.
Како што веќе беше споменато, текстот е сочуван фраг­ментарично и
за жал не е познат ниеден ракопис кој го содржи комплетниот ро-
ман. Според некои истражувачи Сатирикон содржел 141 поглавје, но
само делот под наслов Пирот на Трималхион (Caena Trimalchionis) е
сочуван интегрално28.
23
Според истражувачиte на римската книжевност целта на сета авантура бил
градот Лампсакос, како центар на култоt на боштвото Пријап. Енколпиј направел
нешто спротивно во култот и сега Пријап го гони преку светот, како Посејдон го го-
нил Одисеј. Mieczysław Brożek, Historia literatury łacińskiej w starożytności (Wrocław:
Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1976).
24
Albrecht, “Literature”, 1225.
25
Brożek, Historia literatury, 361.
26
Albrecht, “Literature”, 1221.
27
Albrecht, “Literature”, 1213-1214.
28
Albrecht, “Literature”, 1231-32
198
 Најпознатиот фрагмент од текстот е веќе споменатиот Пирот. Хе-
роите на приказната биле поканети од страна на некој ретор да учес-
твуваат во луксузниот пир кај новостекнатиот богаташ Трималхион.
Како што е прикажано во текстот нивната главна задача била да го
набљудуваат тоа што се случувало за време на пирот. Се чини дека
Продром својот опис на јагнето го црпел од 40-от дел на Ситирска-
та книга, каде што се наоѓа описот за испеченото животно. Според
приказната, на чинија била донесена голема дива свиња од чиишто
заби виселе две кошнички исплетени од палмови лисја една со свежи
дактили, друга со суви. Свињата од обете страни била декорирана
со прасиња од тесто, кои всушност претставувале подароци за гости-
те. Наеднаш влегол специјален роб „сецкач” со намера да го подели
јадењето:

Ceterum ad scindendum aprum non ille Carpus accessit, qui altilia laceraverat,
sed barbatus ingens, fasciis cruralibus alligatus et alicula subornatus polymita,
strictoque venatorio cultro latus apri vehementer percussit, ex cuius plaga
turdi evolaverunt. Parati aucupes cum harundinibus fuerunt, et eos circa
triclinium volitantes momento exceperunt. Inde cum suum cuique iussisset
referri, Trimalchio adiecit: “Etiam videte, quam porcus ille silvaticus lotam
comederit glandem.”29

За да ја исече свињата не дојде истиот Сецкач, којшто ја сечеше живината,

но огромен брадест со обвивки на нозете и со ловечки капут; тој го при-
влече ловечкиот нож, со моќен удар го погоди колкот, од чијашто рана из-
летаа косови. Подготвените птичари стоеја со лепливи шипки и веднаш
ги фатија птиците што летаа околу трпезаријата. Тогаш Трималхион на-
реди да му се додели на секој гостин по една птица и рече: “Еве, гледајте,
каков елегантен желад јадела таа шумска свиња.”

Очигледно е дека тој дел од римското творештво Продром решил да

го искористи во градењето на реалноста на својот роман. Пирот на
Артаксан и Гобриј ја имал истата функција да предизвика воодуше-
вување кај поканетите гости. Сепак, треба да се напомене дека целта
на Продром е целосно поинаква отколку на Петрониј. Римјанинот
во својата изјава имал намера да ги прикаже глупоста и недостигот
на добар вкус пред сѐ кај новостекнатите богаташи, при што ги ко-
ристел формите, карактеристични за менипејската сатира. Тука тре-
ба да се додаде, дека Сатирската книга, иако нејзината содржина
29
Pétrone, Le Satiricon, ed. and trans. Alfred Ernout (Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1958),
36-37.
199
 е во големата мера креација од страна на авторот, сепак може да се
претстави како добар извор за античката култура30.
Спротиво на Римјанинот, целта на Продром не била карикирање и
претстава на карактерите на луѓето, туку напротив авторот на визан-
тискиот роман, инспириран од Петрониј, сакал да докаже дека моќта
на Императорот е неограничена и правилата на природата не можат
да ја намалат.
Илустративен е и примерот на рецептот за подготовка на филувано
јагне со живи врапчиња, кој е прилично автентичен, имајќи ги пред-
вид сознанијата за античката кујна заснована главно на остриги, пол-
жави, пауни, јазици на фламинзи итн.. До наше време сочуван е корпус
на рецепти, за жал само во однос на римската кујна, под наслов De re
coquinaria libri decem (За готвењето) во авторство на Апикиј, римски
гастроном и гурман од времето на Римската Империја. Готвачот е по-
делен на десет поглавја подредени на ист начин како и современите
публикации од овој вид. Апикиј посветил две книги на јадења со месо,
од кои втората се однесува на јадења од мелено или сецкано месо, а
осмата за јадења, подготвени од четириножни животни. Во книгата
се содржани рецепти за јадења од дива свиња, јагне, ама исто така и од
зајак, прасе или елен31. Апикиј за жал не посочува ниеден рецепт за
подготовка на фил од живи пилиња, но се чини дека најдобрите готва-
чи од царскиот период добро ја знаеле тајната, иако од денешен аспект
тоа секако звучи нехумано и варварски. Пред сѐ треба да се размисли
за самиот процес на филувањето, во смисла дали пилињата се ставале
после печењето на месото (и потоа готвачот ги зашивал врапчињата)
или, пак, требале да се стават во зачинатото јагне, свиња или паун со
цел да се изпечат заедно. Главниот проблем со вториот метод е мож-
носта пилињата да издржат неколку часа на висока темепература и да
не се задушат од недостаток на воздух. Сигурно е дека во внатрешноста
на јагнето или дивата свиња температурата не е баш така висока како
што е во самата фурна, но сепак, тешко е да се замисли дека без соод-
ветната изолација и пристап на воздух би било возможно да се под-
готват вакви рецепти, чијашто цел е само каприциозноста на богатиот
домакин во амбицијата да ги воодушеви и да ги изненади гостите.

30
Во Сатирската книга видлив е исто така и односот на авторот кон робови,
особено во 71 дел кога Трималхион споменува дека и робови се луѓе, бидејќи и тие
го пијат истото млеко. Пошироко општествените проблеми на римската империја
приближува германско-унгарски истражувач Геза Алфелди: Géza Alföldy, Römische
Sozialgeschichte (Weisbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, 1984).
31
За месото во римската диета види: Jaques André, “La viande” in L’alimentation et
la cuisine à Rome (Paris: Les Belles lettres, 2009), 134-148.
200
 Сите видови храна и инвентарот на масите на богатите одамна ги
надминале границите на добриот вкус. Нема сомнение дека во пери-
одот на Римската Империја луѓето под влијанието на модата и хедо-
низмот ја изгубиле реалната мерка за кулинарско задоволство, па во
таа смисла овој краток опис за античката кујна не претставува ништо
необично. Француската истражувачка Мартин Кино Мурачоле во кни-
гата Rome côté cuisines ја анализира римската кујна од аспект на култу-
рата, но исто така и од аспект на праксата. Последиот дел од книгата
авторката ја посветува на реконструкциите на дванаесетте менија32,
благодарение на што може да се добие претстава каков труд го очеку-
вал готвачот и неговите помошници со цел да се подготви незаборавна
вечера која ќе ги остави гостите не само без зборови, туку ќе им прире-
ди раскош и исполнување на каприците.
Античката книжевност сочувала различни примери, каде што хра-
ната, предвидена за вечера требала да биде што поневообичаеана. За
овој манир на живот пишувале повеќе автори како Макробиј, Хоратиј,
Светониј, Јувеналис, но најзначајниот пример доаѓа од трималхионов
пирот кај Петрониј и се чини дека неговото дело понатаму станало ос-
нова за Продром.
Споменатиот Хоратиј во осмата сатира од втората книга ја опишу-
ва вечерата, во којашто почесен гост бил и самиот Меценас. Делото е
насочено главно кон критика на манифестирање на богатсвото и вул-
гарноста на богаташите, но тука поетот го вметнува и деталниот опис
на она што било ставено на масите, a првото јадење кое се споменува
е дивата свиња:
‘in primis Lucanus aper: leni fuit Austro
captus, ut aiebat cenae pater: acria circum
rapula, lactucae, radices, qualia lassum
pervellunt stomachum, siser, allec, faecula Coa.33
За првото свиња беше дива,
што ја фатиле кога јужниот дувал ветар,
како што велеше отецот на вечера.
На околу ставени беа и репа лута,
Салата,’рдокви – работи такви
Да го заострат апетитот –
Сисер34, гарум и којски талог
32
Martine Quinot Muracciole, “Côté cuisines. Place à la praqtique,” in Rome côté
cuisines (Paris: Belles Lettres, 2019), 153-275.
33
Horatius, Carmina, ed. Fridericus Vollmer (Lipsiae: BG Teubneri, 1909), 180.
34
Sium sisarum L.
201
 Општ е впечатокот дека за богатите Римјани консумирањето храна
не претставувало само задоволување на основните биолошки потре-
би, туку во контекст на спомената тема и огромна дегенерација на
општеството и девалвирање на древните вредности, со коишто Рим
некогаш се гордеел. Уште повеќе, што во првите векови од Римската
Империја Римјаните воделе скромен живот, но таквата состојба на-
бргу се сменила, што ја наметнала и потребата од воведување закони
против големите трошоци. Ваквиот вид закони се појавиле во III век
п.н.е., како на пр. Lex Metilia од 217 година п.н.е., Lex Oppia од 215 го-
дина п.н.е. кој ги ограничувал трошоците на жените (било забране-
то носење шарени здолништа, златниот накит бил ограничен) итн..
Првиот закон којшто го огрничувал бројот на гостите бил Lex Orchia,
а слична функција имале и законите Lex Aemilia од 115 п.н.е. кои ги
определувале бројот и видовите на јадењата за време на вечерите,
како и Lex Iulia, закон кој ја ограничувал висината на трошоците35.
Сепак, идејата на Теодор Продром била доследно реализирана,
автентичен приказ на фактот дека деспотот, односно Императорот
можел да прави буквално сѐ што ќе посака и покрај тоа, што него-
вата моќ во конкретните примери била спротивна на законите на
природата.

35
Ingo Sauerwein, Die leges sumptuarie als römische Maßnahme gegen den
Sittenverfall (Hamburg: 1970), 177-179.
202
 14

Идентитетите во Хоматијановиот акт бр. 54

Виктор Недески, Православен богословски факултет
„Св. Климент Охридски“, Скопје
UDK 323.1:348(495.02)”12”

Abstract: The Archbishop of Ohrid Demetrios Chomatenos is one of the most

prominent scholars of canonical and secular law of his time. Hе played a
decisive role in elevating the position of the Ohrid Archbishopric in the newly
emerging geo-political circumstances on the territory of fragmented Byzantine
empire in the first few decades of the 13th century. During this period many
church and secular dignitaries, as well as citizens of different social strata,
were resorting to his authority and to the Ohrid Synod, seeking legal resolution
of current disputes of a different nature. The result of this activity of Demetrios
Chomatenos is the collection “Ponemata Diaphora” which contains a number
of official acts and judgments of the Ohrid throne. On this occasion, the topic
of our interest is Act no. 54, which resolves a problem that arose between three
identities in a monastery on Mount Athos.

203
 Архиепископот Охридски Димитриј Хоматијан1 (Хоматен)2 е еден од
најистакнатите познавачи на канонското и световното право во свое
време. Неговата личност ќе одигра пресудна улога во издигнувањето на
позицијата на Охридскиот архиепископски трон во новонастанатите
гео-политички околности на територијата на распарчената Византија
во првите неколку децении на XIII век3. Во овој период кон негови-
от авторитет и кон охридскиот синод ќе прибегнуваат многумина цр-
ковни и световни великодостојници, но и верници, барајќи правна
разврска на тековните спорови од најразлична природа. Плод на оваа
дејност на архиепископот Димитриј Хоматијан е и збирката „Ponemata
Diaphra“ во која се поместени голем број официјални акти и пресуди
на Охридскиот трон4. Станува збор за збирка од 152 акти за различни
правни теми5. Овде зборот акт се користи со едно пошироко значење
на официјален документ, бидејќи во овие акти спаѓаат и посланијата
кои Хоматијан ги испраќа од свое име, како и судските акти составени
како од самиот Хомаријан, така и од хартофилаксот во име на постоја-
ниот синод на Охридската архиепископија ("ἐνδημοῦσα σύνοδος").

1
Најисцрпна библиографија за Хоматијан, види во: Günter Prinzing, Ed.,
Demetrii Chomateni Ponemata Diaphora (=PD), (Berolini et Novi Eboraci, 2002), 3*-
365* Günter Prinzing, „Bishop or Abbot? The Conflict about the Spiritual Obedience of
the Vlach Peasants in the Region of Bothrotos ca. 1220: Case nr. 80 of the Legal Works
of Demetrios Chomatenos Reconsidered“, in Church and Society in Late Byzantium,
ed. Dimiter Angelov, (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2009), 28-31; Günter
Prinzing, „Epiros 1204–1261: Historical Outline – Sources – Prosopography“, in Identities
and Allegiances, eds. Judith Herrin and Guillaume Saint-Guillain (Farnham-Barlington:
Ashgate Publishing, 2011), 82-99 Günter Prinzing, „Δημήτριος Χωματηνός: εξέχων
κανονολόγος και αρχιεπίσκοπος της αυτοκέφαλης βυζαντινής εκκλησιαστικής επαρχίας της
Βουλγαρίας / Αχρίδας (1216–1236)“, in Βυζάντιο. Ιστορία και πολιτισμός, Τ. Α’, ed. Τηλέμαχος
Κ. Λουγγής (Αθήνα: Ηρόδοτος 2014), 341-360
2
Во постарата литература се користи формата „Хоматијан“ (Χωματιανός), но
Darrouzès, врз основа на ракописната традиција, покажува дека автентична е
формата „Хоматен“ (Χωματηνός). Cf. Jean Darrouzès, „Les réponses canoniques de Jean
de Kitros“, Revue des études byzantines 31 (1973): 319, n. 3 PD, 41*–45*.
3
За поделбите на распарчената имшерија по Четвртата крстоносна војна, види:
Antonio Carile, „Partitio terrarum Imperii Romanie“, Studi Veneziani 7 (1965): 125-305;
August Heisenberg and Peter Wirth, Eds., Georgii Acropolitae Opera I, II, (Stuttgart:
Teubner, 1978), 13.6-11; Божидар Ферјанчић, „Почеци Солунске краљевине (1204–
1209)“, ZVI 8/2 (1964) 101-116; Alexandra Krantonelli, Ἡ κατὰ τῶν Λατίνων ἑλληνο-
βουλγαρικὴ σύμπραξις ἐν Θρᾴκῃ 1204–1206, (Athena, 1964), 71–75;
4
Günter Prinzing, „Zu den persönlich adressierten Screiben im Aktencorpus des
Ochrider Erzbishofs Chomatenos“, in Byzantina Europaea. Księga jubileuszowa ofiarowana
profesorowi Waldemarowi Ceranowi, eds. Kokoszko Macej and Leszka Mirosław, (Lódż:
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2007), 223-245.
5
Види детели за актите: Prinzing, PD, 269* etc.
204
 Хоматијан е автор и испраќач на речиси сите акти. Тој не само што
ги испратил повеќето од нив – 114 акти (40 посланија и 74 други акти),
но како што се покажува од стилот на авторот самиот ги напишал
или диктирал. Овие акти во најголем дел се плод на службените ак-
тивности на Хоматијан како акти од дејноста на црковниот суд во Ох-
рид. Останатите 35 од 109 акти се напишани или диктирани од страна
на други клирици од неговата канцеларија, главно од хартофилак-
сот, што е евидентно од објективниот стил на нивните текстови. Но,
архиепископот формално се смета за издавач и на овие документи.
Секако, во составувањето и во двете групи на акти можно е да учес-
твувал и митрополитскиот синод на Охрид (составен од епископите,
со учество и на други високи клирици од административниот апарат
на архиепископијата) Тоа е наведено поединечно во секој од актите.
Ниту еден од актите не е сочуван во оригинал, туку во подоцнежен
препис. Не е познато кој е составувачот на „Ponemata diaphora“ ниту
кога и зошто е составена оваа збирка, но постојат индикации дека
околу 1280 г. хартофилаксот на Охридската архиепископија Јован
Педијасим составил една збирка, првенствено за негови потреби, а
веројатно и како школски прирачник. Поточно. се потврдува дека
главен извор на творбата на Педијасим „За бракот“ (Περὶ γάμων) бил
Охридскиот кодекс, кој во тоа време сè уште постоел6. Кодексот подо-
цна бил изгубен, а збирката „Ponemata diaphora“ од непознат автор,
се сочувала во подоцнежни преписи, од кои најзначајни се два пре-
писа од XVI век, кои претставуваат основа за критичкото издание на
Prinzing7.
Верзиите на актите сочувани во „Ponemata diaphora“ не се целосни,
бидејќи не содржат протокол и есхатокол, односно недостига вовед-
ниот и завршниот дел од актите. За тоа дека постоеле и овие делови
во првичните акти на Охридскиот кодекс дознаваме од еден препис
на актот бр. 50 сочуван во еден ракопис во Санкт Петербург од XIII
век (Petropolitanus graecus 250), кој содржи протокол и есхатокол. Врз
основа на овој препис може да се утврди дека протоколот ги содржел:
6
Prinzing, Convergence and divergence, 11–13· Prinzing, PD, 40*–41*. За Јован
Педијасим види: Alexander Kazhdan, Ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol.
3, (New York, London, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1991), 1615; Erich Trapp,
Ed., Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, (Wien: Veröffentlichungen der
Kommissionfür Byzantinistik, 2001), 9, 22235. Доказ за постоењето на кодекс со акти
на Охридската архиепископија наоѓаме во тексто на PD 428, акт бр. 146.178-181: ταῦτα
οὕτω πραχθέντα συνοδικῶς καὶ ἀναγνωσθέντα τοῖς κωδικίοις τοῦ ἱεροῦ χαρτοφύλακος τῆς καθ’
ἡμᾶς ἁγιωτάτης ἀρχιεπισκοπῆς ἐγκατεστρώθησαν, ἱν’ ἐντεῦθεν εἰς εἴδησιν τοῖς βουλομένοις
μεταλαμβάνωνται. Види и: Prinzing, PD, 279*–280*.
7
Во врска со ракописната традиција види: Prinzing, PD, 308*–352*.
205
 1) датумот на судското собрание, 2) името на врховниот судија (се-
когаш Хоматијан) 3) местото на заседавање на судот, и 4) имињата
на другите судии (епископи на Охридската архиепископија), кои не
учествувале во одлуката, туку само го следеле судењето. Есхатоколот
открива дека 1) оригиналниот акт (од Кодексот) е составен врз осно-
ва на белешките од соборот, кои во конкретниот случај се правеле
под раководство на анотаторот (ипомниматографот) на Охридската
архиепископија, Михаил Гликас, 2) Архиепископот ја потврдувал
исправноста на актот со својот печат8. Од наведеното, може да се зак-
лучи дека поради отсуството на оригиналната верзија на актите со
протокол и есхатокол, изгубени се значајни информации за составот
и функционирањето на судот, како и за точните датуми на издавање
на актите.
Во оваа прилика ќе посветиме внимание на актот бр. 54 и на иден-
титетите кои се среќаваат во него. Овој акт е насловен како „За тоа
дали треба да се општи со оние кои се отклониле во време на теш-
котиите и доаѓањето на Латините, и кои ним им дозволиле да се
причестуваат“9 и претставува одговор до еден светогорски монах за
посебен проблем кој се јавил во манастир на Света Гора. Актот е по-
врзан со една верска аномалија на Света Гора, и најверојатно е изда-
ден малку по 1224 г., кога Теодор Дука го освоил Солун од власта на
Латините. Во овој период обновувањето на источните христијански
практики во манастирите на Света Гора претставувало важен прио-
ритет, па затоа, логично е што во една ваква прилика се цел да се раз-
реши спорот, светогорскиот монах се обратил до еден извонреден
клирик, тесно поврзан со Епирскиот деспотат.
Актот известува дека монахот по име Григориј Икодомопулос се ја-
вил пред синодот на Охридската архиепископија, со кој претседавал
Хоматијан и ги поставил следниов проблем: Во еден од манастирите
на Света Гора Атонска во заедништво живееле монаси Грци и Иверци
сè до освојувањето на областа од страна на Италијанците, кои се оби-
дувале да ги принудат да ја признаат папската власт и да ги прифатат
западните богослужбени практики. Иако, повеќето од монасите од-
биле послушност на папската власт и покрај прогонот и тешкотиите
кои ги претрпеле, монасите Иверци се потчиниле на власта на Папа-
та. Како што наведува монахот Григориј, „се потресоа нивните срца,
8
Текстот на протоколот и есхатоколот се дадени во критичкото издание на
актот: PD 183-186, бр. 50. Cf. Prinzing, Convergence and divergence, 4–11.
9
„Περὶ τοῦ, εἰ χρὴ συγκοινωνεῖν τοῖς περιτραπεῖσιν ἐν καιρῷ δυσχερείας καὶ προσελθοῦσιν
Λατίνοις καὶ τοῖς τούτων ἔθεσι κοινωνήσασιν“ PD 198.
206
за да пристапат и да ги причестат Италијанците, карактеризирајќи го
оној што нема да пристапи како залудно пострадан“10. Поради вакво-
то однесување на Иверците, Григориј побарал да дознае дали Грци-
те монаси треба да продолжат богослужбено да општат со монасите
Иверци или не.
Според информациите кои ги дава монахот Григориј, треба да се
претпостави дека станува збор за манастирот кој до денес го носи
името Иверон – манастир на Иверците, односно на Грузијците. Како
што информира Григориј, во манастирот живееле во хармонија два
идентитети Грци и Иверци, односно Грузијци. Овие два идентите-
ти традиционално припаѓаат на источната христијанска традиција
и споделуваат идентични богослужбени и верски традиции, а како
што известува монахот: „сè до походот на Италијанците против Ро-
меите, сите тие – Грци и Иверци заедничареа помеѓу себе, сорабо-
тувајќи во аскетското напредување, последувајќи го редот на отецот
на манастирот, а имајќи ги само јазиците како разлика“11. Меѓутоа, со
доаѓањето на Италијанците, односно на Латините, како што почесто
се именувани на исток, односите помеѓу овие два идентитета во ма-
настирот значајно се влошил. Иако причината била верска, односно
станало збор за богослужбеното општење со Италијанците, сепак,
настанала една идентитетска поделба. Така, Иверците ги прифатиле
Италијанците, а со тоа и претставниците на папата и папската јуриз-
дикција, додека Грците тоа го одбиле.
Значајно е тука да се нагласи дека поделбата по идентитетска ос-
нова не настанала случајно. Имено, не треба да се занемари фак-
тот дека расколот помеѓу православниот исток и латинскиот запад
во почетокот по 1054 г. бил првенствено локален судир помеѓу две
црковни катедри – Рим и Константинопол, со особена улога на Ох-
ридскиот трон во овие бранувања. Многу подоцна со крстоносните
војни судирот предизвикал поширок расцеп помеѓу елинофоната и
латинската црковна традиција. Меѓутоа, Иверците кои не биле за-
сегнати од овие бранувања, природно и во оваа прилика покажале
еден далеку поумерен став кон Латините во споредба со Грците. Не-
прикосновен е и фактот дека Италијанците извршиле силна торту-
ра врз светогорските монаси кои не ја прифатиле нивната власт и

10
„θράττειν γὰρ ἔλεγε τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν, εἰ τὸ προσελθεῖν καὶ κοινωνῆσαι τοῖς Ἰταλοῖς
ταυτίζεται τῷ μὴ προσελθεῖν, ὡς καὶ εἰς μάταιον ἀποτελευτῆσαι“ PD 199, бр. 54.
11
„Μέχρι μὲν οὖν τῆς τῶν Ἰταλῶν κατὰ {τῆς} τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐπιδρομῆς τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πάντων
ἐκοινώνουν ἀλλήλοις μετιόντες τὴν ἀσκητικὴν διαγωγὴν οἱ Γραικοί τε καὶ Ἴβηρες, τοῦ τῆς μονῆς
πατρὸς τοῖς τύποις ἑπόμενοι, μόναις δὲ ταῖς γλώσσαις μεμερισμένοι ἐτύγχανον“ PD 198, бр. 54.
207
 папската јуриздикција, така што провокативната изјава на Иверците
дека ваквите маченици се залудно пострадани, природно наишла на
остра критика и негодувања од страна на монасите Грци.
Подвлекувајќи ги информациите за идентитетите содржани во овој
акт, значајно е да се нагласи и дека актот мошне добро ја отслику-
ва новонастанатата состојба по падот на Константинопол под вла-
ста на Латините. Имено, ако во почетокот актот зборува за поход на
Латините против Ромеите, во продолжение, по падот и поделбата на
империјата се јавуваат нови идентитетски именувања, како што се
Италијанци и Грци – термини кои на исток влегуваат во употреба под
силно западно влијание.
Во својот одговор, Хоматијан најпрво го пофалува монахот Григо-
риј за неговата постапка – да прибегне кон Синодот на Охридската
архиепископија и преку него да добие вистински одговор за реша-
вање на конкретниот проблем со кој се соочувал неговиот манастир.
Така, Хоматијан нагласува: „Достоен е за пофалба монахот Григориј
со презиме Икодомопулос, кој за благочестието и заради одржување
на црковниот поредок помина долг пат и претрпе понижување, за да
дојде до нашиот свештен и божествен синод“12. Откако ја презентира
состојбата во која се нашло манастирското братство и го објаснува
проблемот, како што известил монахот Григориј, Хоматијан го пре-
зентира одговорот кој го дал светиот Синод. Најпрво ги изложува за-
едничките точки на вера на Западната и Источната Црква, како што се
„крштението и исповедањето на Света Троица“13. Но, сепак, тој посо-
чува дека има многу разлики во однос на другите практики и учења.
Тука посебно го нагласува латинското учење „Filioque“ за исходењето
на Светиот Дух и од Синот, кое го нарекува „утопија“14, како и употре-
бата на бесквасници од страна на Западната црква15. Ова се причини-
те поради кои источните патријаршии го прекинале општењето со
првоначалниот Рим. „Па, според тоа, оној кој заедничари со нив во
догмата и во учењето, е одлачен од наша страна, не заедничарејќи со

12
„Ἄξιος ἐπαίνων ὁ μοναχὸς Γρηγόριος ὁ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν Οἰκοδομόπυλος, ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ
τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας θεσμοῦ συντηρήσαως ἕνεκεν μακρᾶς τε ὁδοῦ καὶ γήρως καταπεφρονηκὼς
τὴν καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἱερὰν καὶ θείαν κατέλαβε σύνοδον“ PD 198, бр. 54.
13
„τό βάπτισμα καὶ ἡ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ὁμολογία“ PD 199, бр. 54.
14
„ἀτοπία“ PD 199, бр. 54.
15
За оваа богослужбена пракса и дискусиите околу неа во овој период види: M.
Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571), т. I, (Philadelphia: American Philosophical
Society, 1976).
208
нас во ништо, ниту е еден од нас и се смета за туѓинец“16 – заклучува
Хоматијан.
Земајќи ја предвид изјавата на иверските монаси дека оние кои не
се покориле на Латините се пострадани залудно, Хоматијан смета
дека тие индиректно „го објавија како блажено и достојно за многу
пофалби разузданото насилство на Латинската власт“17. Спротив-
ставувајќи се на оваа изјава на Иверците за постраданите од раката
на Латините, Хоматијан нагласува дека овие маченици: „верата ис-
полнувајќи ја, си исплетоа венци на правдата“18. Спротивно на нив,
предавниците на отечката традиција се осудени и одлачени, бидејќи,
како што иронично нагласува Хоматијан – „му позавидоа на Јуда“19.
На крај, пресудата на Хоматијан е дека монасите Грци не треба да за-
едничарат со Иверците, ниту со било кој друг што ја направил истата
грешка. Тие може да бидат примени насад во заедница со вистинска-
та вера само доколку се покаат и се очистат со пост и молитви. Во
оваа одлука, Хоматијан и Охридскиот синод се на став дека Латините
се туѓи на источните христијани, поради расколот помеѓу Западна-
та и Источната Црква. Од таа причина, тој забранува секаков вид на
религиозна врска со нив и со сите оние кои ја прифатиле западната
догма, па макар и привремено.
За да го разбереме ваквиот радикален став на Хоматијан во ова
прилика, што не е случај во некои други негови творби, треба да на-
влеземе малку подлабоко во историско-политичките околности во
кои е издаден овој акт. Имено, актот бр. 54 најверојатно е настанат
помеѓу 1224 и 1230 г., кога Теодор Дука бил заколнат непријател на
Латините. Од неговото искачување на тронот во 1215 г., негова главна
цел била да ја прошири својата власт на цела копнена Елада за смет-
ка на латинските владетели и така да го отвори патот за освојување
на Константинопол со цел да го врати своето императорско право,
како што самиот сметал20. Освојувањето на Солун било првиот и клу-
16
„ὁ κοινωνῶν ἐκρίνοις ἐν τε δόγμασι καὶ διδάγμασιν ἅπερ ἡ ἡμετέρα μερὶς ἀπεβάλετο, ἐν
οὐδενὶ πράγματι κοινωνήσει ἡμῖν οὐδὲ ἔσται εἷς ἐξ ἡμῶν, ὡς ἀλλότριος λογιζόμενος“ PD 199,
бр. 54.
17
„ὡς μακαριστοὶ καὶ πολλῶν ἄξιοι ἐγκωμίων, οἳ τῇ ἀθέσμῳ βία τῆς Λατινικῆς ἐξουσίας“ PD
200, бр. 54.
18
„τὴν πίστιν τετηρηκόσιν ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης πλακήσεται στέφανος“ PD 200, бр. 54.
19
„τὸν Ἰούδαν ζηλώσαντες“ PD 200, бр. 54.
20
Donald M. Nicol, The Despotate of Epiros, (Oxford: Blackwell 1957), 47 etc;
Francois Bredenkamp, The Byzantine Empire of Thessaloniki (1224-1242), (Thessaloniki:
Thessaloniki History Center, 1996), 65 etc.
209
 чен чекор за неговиот поход во Македонија и Тракија, а следен чекор
било мирното предавање на градот Едрене21. За време на оваа војна,
неговите односи со Папата, кој ја зазел страната на Латинското цар-
ство, биле многу напнати и непријателски22. Причините секако биле
политички, а не верски. Во таа насока, највпечатливи се два настани
во периодот од 1224 г. до 1230 г. Папата Хонориј III во 1225 г. поддржал
еден неуспешен воен поход против Теодор Дука, со цел да ги заштити
латинските интереси на Исток. Укотвувајќи се во заливот кај Волос,
латинската војска никогаш не стигнала до Солун, поради болест која
усмртила многумина војници, меѓу кои и водачот на походот Вилијам
V од Монферата23. Неколку години подоцна, во 1229 г., Теодор Дука му
укажал воена помош на Фредерик II од Сицилија, кој војувал во Ита-
лија. Фредерик бил папски непријател, со кого Теодор воспоставил
пријателски врски. Во една ваква антипапска клима, било невозмож-
но Хоматијан да изрази поумерени ставови кон Латинската црква,
како и кон Иверците кои ја прифатиле папската јуриздикција.

Appendix
Превод24 на актот број 54:

За тоа дали треба да се општи со оние кои се отклониле во време на

тешкотиите и доаѓањето на Латините, и кои ним им дозволиле да се
причестуваат
Достоен е за пофалба монахот Григориј со презиме Икодомопулос,
кој за благочестието и заради одржување на црковниот поредок по-
мина долг пат и претрпе понижување, за да дојде до нашиот свештен
и божествен синод; неговата благочестива душа поведена од божест-
вена ревност, посака да се поучи за сè, односно и доброто - да го подо-
бри, но и да се открие нејзината добродетел. Поради тоа, овој монах
21
Не е целосно разјаснето кога точно Теодор Дука го освоил Едрене (Адријанопол).
Според мислењето на Никол тоа се случило во 1225 г., додека Бреденкамп тврди
дека градот се предал во 1227/28 г. по крунисувањето на Дука: Nicol, The Despotate of
Epiros, 104; Bredenkamp, The Byzantine Empire, 109 и 133.
22
Eleonora Naxidu, „The Latin West in the Eyes of the Orthodox East: the paradigm of
the Archbishop of Ohrid Demetrios Chomatenos“, Church studies 15 (2018): 336-337.
23
Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 53.
24
Преводот на актот бр. 54 на современ македонски јазик е направен од авторот
на овој научен прилог врз основа на грчкиот текстот од критичкото издание
Demetrii Chomateni Ponemata Diaphora на Günter Prinzing.
210
застана пред Нашето Смирение, а ние – претстојателите, соборно и
со благочестие го утврдивме ова: на гората викана Атос, покрај ос-
танатите се основа и манастир поделен на дијалекти, имајќи во себе
собор на монаси служители – Грци и Иверци, така поставено, секако,
од почетокот на основањето на овој манастир; така, сè до походот на
Италијанците против Ромеите, сите тие – Грци и Иверци заеднича-
реа помеѓу себе, соработувајќи во аскетското напредување, после-
дувајќи го редот на отецот на манастирот, имајќи ги само јазиците
како разлика. Откако Латините воспоставија власт врз нив, се раз-
ниша нивната заедница, а претстојателите на италијанското свеш-
тенство применија многу насилство за да го потчинат целото наше
свештенство и монаштво под власта на Римскиот Папа, налoжувајќи
да го споменуваат него во времето кога според обичајот во олтарот
се споменуваат архиереите и да го следат етосот на Римската црква.
Освен малкумината, најдоа и големо друштво верни на нивните ве-
тувања, кога оние што не ги убедија, ги подложија на мачење и на
секакво злоставување и безмилосно им нанесоа штети на имотите;
но, иверските монаси, кои не претрпеа ниту насилство, ниту пони-
жување, ниту најмало испитување, непристојно ги примија условите
на Италијанците и кардиналот на Папата, и пријдоа итајќи во Солун,
прифаќајќи сè што е по волја на Папата и следејќи го латинкиот етос.
Веднаш го покажаа и знакот на заедничарењето, свесно подавајќи ги
своите раце кон нивните, нарушувајќи и пореметувајќи ја со тоа за-
едницата со монасите Грци.
Така, откако пропатува, монахот Григориј го раскажа ова и побара
да научи дали е непожелно да се заедничари со нив (Латините – В.Н.)
и со оние кои се со нив и со иверските монаси кои се кај нив, кои
пристапија кон кардиналот и преку него кон Папата, како што беше
кажано. Како што наведе, нивните срца се осмелија да пристапат и
да ги причестат Италијанците, карактеризирајќи го оној што нема да
пристапи кон нив како залудно пострадан, спротивставувајќи им се и
на оние кои претрпеа штета затоа што не се потчинија.
Од Нашето Смирение и од соборот на Нашето свештено опкружу-
вање слушна дека заедничко за нас и за Италијаните е крштението
и исповедањето на Света Троица, а во останатите нивни учења и ве-
рувања постојат многу разлики, и навистина се големи и достојни за
разобличување, како што е утопијата на нивното верување за проис-
ходењето на Светиот Дух и прифаќањето на бесквасниците, за што во
минатото останатите патријаршиски столици се одвоија од првона-
чалниот Римски Папа и како разлика ги имаат лебовите. Па, според

211
 тоа, оној кој заедничари со нив во догмата и во учењето, е одлачен од
наша страна, не заедничарејќи со нас во ништо, ниту е еден од нас и
се смета за туѓинец, а вие кои се застапувате за нив сте нивни слуги;
послушни сте на гревот за смрт; а во однос на послушност за оправду-
вање, да слушнеме што извикува божествениот Павле за силата на ова
обединување и за подавањето на рацете на едните кон другите, што е
разјаснето во посланието до Галатјаните на овој голем проповедник:
Тогаш како потврда ни ја подадоа мене и на Варнава раката со што
Петар нè направи заедничари со него во проповедта; така, оние што
ја подадоа десницата јасно се претставија како љубители на нивната
проповед, немајќи никаква разлика со нив, туку примајќи ги како но-
сители на соборен идентитет. Штом тие со подавањето на десниците
кон апостолите означуваат заедничарење и единство во проповедта,
значи на ист начин, како што овој пример е показател за прифаќање-
то на непроменливиот начин и догми и учење, аналогно се случува
и кога овие го објавија како блажено и достојно за многу пофалби
разузданото насилство на Латинската власт, наспроти оние кои не
ги променија за ништо нашите свештени обичаи, но предавајќи се
себеси на измачување на телата и изложувајќи се себеси на презир,
за да не станат предавници на татковските обичаи и како маченици
најсветли, светло повикаа: „за благата што ги видовме, за нив Богоу-
годно се боревме“ – и верата исполнувајќи ја, си исплетоа венци на
правдата. Така како што кажавме, овие се блажени; осудени, пак, и
како што кажавме одлачени се оние кои во ова време станаа слабаци
и му позавидоа на Јуда, кој Христовата наука и Неговата близина и чу-
десните дела извршени преку Духот, и Самиот Учител ги продаде за
ништожна и пропадлива материја. И така, го изобразуваат и евангел-
ското семе кое падна на каменита подлога, и штом изгреа сонцето,
свена, па немајќи корен, се исуши и остана бесплодно; ова слово ги
означува оние кои во време на искушенија и гонења, се откажуваат
од силата на верата и во тешкотиите немаат ни најмало трпение и со
текот на времето се отклонуваат од верата.
И поради тоа, сметаме дека без исклучок ниту еден Грк не треба
да ги причестува иверските монаси и нивните истомисленици, како
прифаќачи на италијанските обичаи и верувања, кои за нашата све-
тиња станаа отфрлени; ниту, пак, кој било некогаш да застане на мо-
литва заедно со нив, ниту да им се даваат божествените тајни, ниту
игуменска чест, ниту што било слично; така што, ако претходно овие
нешта беа заеднички, со ова да остане во долго сеќавање мерката из-
речена против нив. Доколку некогаш се случи и тоа - да се вратат на

212
човекољубивиот етос на Црквата, во покајание за направениот прес-
тап, тогаш, добро очистени од дамките преку пост и солзи и божест-
вени молитви, од срце одречени од нечистотијата, повторно да бидат
упатени кон етосот и учењето на нашата света Црква.

213
 15

Count Palaiologos: Family Ties and Alleged

Identities in the Expedition of Amadeus VI of
Savoy
Marco Fasolio, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Vercelli /
Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici, Napoli
UDK 392.3(495.02)“13“

Abstract: The expedition led in the years 1366-1367 by Amadeus VI of Savoy in

Thrace, during which he conquered some Ottoman and Bulgarian fortresses
on behalf of emperor John V Palaiologos and freed the latter from his captivity
in Vidin, was one of the weirdest outcomes of late-Byzantine matrimonial
relationships and Papal diplomacy. The apprehension for Turkish progress in
the Balkans, contemporary pro-Crusade propaganda and the papal request to
exert pressure on the emperor to obtain the Church union, played a significant
role in pushing the ‘Green Count’ to undertake the campaign, however, his
almost solitary adventure was also heavily influenced by his family ties with
the Palaiologoi. The count was twice related to the imperial dynasty, since he
was a cousin of John V, through his paternal aunt, empress Anna of Savoy, and
a great-grandson of Andronikos II, thanks to his mother, Yolanda Palaiologina,
daughter of Theodore I Palaiologos of Montferrat and granddaughter of
the late basileus. Although his lineage made him a full-fledged member of
the Palaiologos clan, he was clearly also a representative of the Western
feudal aristocracy and hence, if we consider his culture and his religious

214
 denomination, a ‘Latin’ in every way. Amadeus VI’s identity was that of a true
medieval European aristocrat and his actions were mostly the result of his
family allegiances and religious convictions, as it happened in the West and in
Byzantium likewise. As a Palaiologos, he helped his cousin against his enemies
and, as a Catholic, he tried to persuade him to heal the schism.

The expedition which count Amadeus VI of Savoy (1343-1383)1 led in

Thrace against the Turks and the Bulgarians during the years 1366-1367
is probably one of the most famous military campaigns undertaken by a
Western ruler in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Middle Ages.
Its geographical context, the aims of its leader and the features it acquired
in its progress made it quite a remarkable event in the history of the
later Crusades, as it was somehow the small-scale and partly successful
forerunner of the major, but disastrous anti-Ottoman leagues of Nicopolis
(1396) and Varna (1444)2. However, its impact within the framework of
the relationships between the West and Byzantium was rather negligible,
since most of the results Amadeus VI had achieved during its course were
ephemeral. With just a few exceptions, all the conquests the count made
on behalf of the Empire would have soon been lost by the Byzantines and
even John V Palaiologos’ (1341-1390)3 personal submission to the pope
1
About whom in general see Eugene L. Cox, The Green Count of Savoy: Amadeus VI
and Transalpine Savoy in the Fourteenth Century (Princeton N. J.: Princeton University
Press, 1967); Francesco Cognasso, Il conte verde (1334-1383) (Torino: Paravia, 1926). The
most recent scholarly work about his military expedition is Sandra Origone, “Una
spedizione militare del tardo medioevo: Amedeo VI di Savoia in Oriente”, in Relazioni
di viaggio e conoscenza del mondo fra medioevo e umanesimo: Atti del V convegno
internazionale di studi dell'Associazione per il Medioevo e l'umanesimo Latini (AMUL),
Genova, 12-15 dicembre 1991, ed. Stefano Pittaluga (Genova: Università di Genova, Facoltà
di lettere, Dipartimento di archeologia, filologia classica e loro tradizioni, 1993), 451-464.
The expedition draw the attention of several 19th century historians, who basically
celebrated Amadeus VI’s as a forerunner of his contemporary descendants, e.g. Pietro
Datta, Spedizione in Oriente di Amedeo VI conte di Savoia (Torino: Alliana e Paravia, 1826),
and Michele G. Canale, Della spedizione in Oriente di Amedeo VI di Savoia detto il Conte
Verde (Genova: Tipografia Angelo Ciminago, 1887).
2
Concerning those 15th century Crusades see Aziz A. Atiya, The Crusade of Nicopolis
(London: Methuen & Co., 1934); Jacques Paviot and Martine Chaunez-Bouikkot, eds.,
“Nicopolis, 1396-1996. Actes du Colloque international organisé par l'Académie des
Sciences, Arts et Belles Lettres de Dijon et le Centre national de la Recherche scienti-
fique réuni à Dijon, au Conseil régional de Bourgogne, le 18 octobre 1996”, Annales de
Bourgogne 68/3 (1996): 11-99; Colin Imber, The Crusade of Varna, 1443-1445 (Aldershot:
Ashgate, 2006); Emanuel C. Antoche, “Les expéditions de Nicopolis (1396) et de Varna
(1444): une comparaison”, Analele Universitatii Dunarea de Jos din Galati. Istorie 3
(2004): 47-78, 4 (2005): 91-113.
3
John V was then the Byzantine emperor in charge. About him see Donald M. Nicol,
The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1993), 253 ff.
215
 (1369), which had been highly recommended by Amadeus VI himself,
proved to be useless4. Therefore, what strikes us the most and provides
some interesting points of reflection, are the motivations which prompted
the count to embark on such a task, despite it was going to take place
hundreds of miles away from his native land and to divert his attention
from his most urgent governmental duties. Anyway, before we start with
our survey about the reasons that lied behind Amadeus VI’s decision to
leave the County of Savoy for such a long time and to pour a significant
amount of resources in order to take up arms against the enemies of the
Byzantine Empire, while risking his own life, it is useful to briefly remind
at least the main steps of his Levantine adventure and their chronology.
After making contact with the maritime cities of Venice, Genoa,
Marseille and Aigues-Mortes to ensure the participation of their fleets
to the upcoming campaign, Amadeus VI appointed his wife Bona de
Bourbon as the County’s administrator during his absence5 and began
his journey towards the Byzantine East approximately in the second
half of May 1366, when he left Chambery and moved across the Po Valley
together with his army – which included also a few other French and
Italian noblemen with their own retinues – and a small itinerant court.
At the end of May, the whole group reached Pavia and stopped there for
a while, since the count wanted to recruit some extra mercenary units as
means to reinforce his troops6. On the 11th of June the crusaders arrived
in Venice, where Amadeus VI collected a significant amount of supplies
for the remainder of the expedition and negotiated with local authorities,
which he had already inquired before his departure, with the purpose of
obtaining an adequate number of vessels to carry the army from Italy to
Byzantium7. The journey across the Adriatic and the Aegean seas probably
started between the 20th and the 22nd of June8 and took the customary
4
Nicol, The Last Centuries, 266 ff.; Joseph Gill, Byzantium and the Papacy, 1198-1400
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1979), 212-222.
5
Domenico Promis, ed., “Anciennes Chroniques de Savoye”, in Monumenta Historiae
Patriae, III, Scriptorum, I, (Augustae Taurinorum: Regium Typographeum), 301; Pietro
Datta, Spedizione in Oriente, docc. III-IV, 243-255.
6
Datta, Spedizione in Oriente, doc. VIII, 263-265.
7
Federico E. Bollati di Saint-Pierre, ed., Illustrazioni della spedizione in Oriente di
Amedeo VI (il Conte Verde) (Biblioteca Storica Italiana, V) (Torino: Fratelli Bocca, 1900),
27-37; Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 302-303; Giovanni Giacomo Caroldo, Istorii
Venețiene, IV, Dogatele lui Lorenzo Celsi, Marco Cornaro și prima parte a dogatului lui
Andrea Contarini (1361-1373), ed. Șerban V. Marin (Bucuresti: Arhivele Naționale ale
României, 2011), 64-68; Origone, “Una spedizione”, 454-455.
8
The count made his last expenses in Venice on the 20th of June and on the 23rd of the
216
route of the Venetian convoys that travelled towards Romania. The fleet
made stops in Pola, Ragusa, Corfu, Modone and Corone – where it was
joined by the ships coming from Genoa, Marseille and Aigues-Mortes
and the count was summoned by a representative of the archbishop of
Patras to settle a local boundary dispute – then left for the tiny island
of Saint George, sailed around Cape Sounion and, on the 2nd of August,
got to Negroponte in Euboea, which was its final station before crossing
the Aegean9. Following his ‘naval’ encounter with patriarch Philoteos
Kokkinos (1353-1354, 1354, 1364-1379)10, who had apparently decided to
anticipate Amadeus VI’s arrival with his own galley and to meet him at
the Dardanelles, in the second half of August the crusaders landed near
Turkish occupied Gallipoli, which they managed to capture by storm
after a short siege11. Once the count had garrisoned the citadel, he entered
Constantinople at the beginning of September, where he was received
by empress Helena Kantakouzene, who urged him to face the Bulgarians
as soon as possible in order to rescue her husband12, who was then held
captive by the lord of Vidin Ivan Stratsimir (1356-1396)13.
Bad weather conditions forced Amadeus VI to delay his departure until
the 4th of October, when the army was finally able to sail northwards14 with
the aim to occupy the main Bulgarian coastal towns of the Pontic shore.
Stagnara, Agathopolis and Sozopolis, fell without too much bloodshed,
while Anchialos, Mesembria and Emona were heavily sacked by the

same month his convoy had already reached Pola, on the Istrian littoral, Bollati di Saint-
Pierre, Illustrazioni, 37.
9
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 303-305, the episode occurred in Coron is mentioned
on columns 303-304; Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 37-46.
10
The most recent and comprehensive scholarly work about patriarch Philoteos I is
Mihail Mitrea, “A Late-Byzantine Hagiographer: Philotheos Kokkinos and His Vitae of
Contemporary Saints” (PhD diss., University of Edinburgh, 2017).
11
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 305-309; Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 50-52.
12
I.e. emperor John V. Regarding his above-mentioned wife, namely the empress
Helena Kantakouzene, see Donald M. Nicol, The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos
(Cantacuzenus), ca. 1100-1460 (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, XI) (Washington D. C.:
Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, 1968), n. 30, 135-138.
13
Son of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander (1331-1371), about whom see John V. A.
Fine jr., The Late Medieval Balkans. A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the
Ottoman Conquest (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1987), 366-368, 422-
424. Concerning the facts mentioned above, Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 3-4 (the
meeting with the empress and her instructions), 51-52 (his arrival in Consantinople);
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 309-310; Origone, “Una spedizione”, 458.
14
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 74-81.
217
 crusaders, who later also laid siege to Varna15. As it had allegedly been the
case with the previous conquests, this last action was clearly just a means
of exerting pressure on the Bulgarian government, given that the lengthy
negotiations between the two counterparts for the release of the Byzantine
emperor – which took place in Trnovo from the 10th of November to the
22nd of December and involved also the Latin patriarch of Constantinople
Paul, who had accompanied the army as papal legate16 – began almost as
soon as Amadeus VI’s troops encamped around the city walls. With the
purpose to organise the defence of the newly occupied territories, the
count spent the whole winter and the entire month of March shifting
from one Bulgarian town to another and had then several meetings with
John V Palaiologos, which, according to Sandra Origone’s reconstruction,
occurred in Sozopolis and Mesembria17. Apart from the obvious logistic
and financial issues related to the campaign – scilicet the restitution of the
reconquered fortresses to the Empire and the contribution of the imperial
treasury to the vast expenses of the expedition18 – the focal point of the
discussions between Amadeus VI and John V was the former’s attempt
to convince the latter to go to Rome and meet the pope personally. With
the assistance of the Latin patriarch Paul, the conversation between the
count – who leveraged the gratitude of the basileus and the promise that
similar aid would have come from the West, if he had accepted papal
supremacy over the Byzantine Church – and the emperor continued in
Constantinople, which both rulers reached at the beginning of April. At
last John V was persuaded19, while Amadeus VI settled in the Genoese
15
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 310-312; Origone, “Una spedizione”, 458-459.
16
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 99-100. About his figure and his role during
the Crusade, John Meyendorff, “Projects de concile oecumenique en 1367: un dialogue
inedit entre Jean Cantacuzene et le legat Ρaul”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 14 (1960): 149–
177; Oskar Halecki, Un empereur de Byzance à Rome (London: Variorum, 1972, or. ed.
Warszawa: nakładem Towarzystwa naukowego warszawskiego, 1930), 142-154; Nicol, The
Last Centuries, 266-267.
17
Origone, “Una spedizione”, 459-460.
18
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 10-11, 105-107.
19
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 313-318; for the date of the count’s arrival in the
Byzantine capital, namely the 8th of April, Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 120.
Patriarch Paul not only discussed the matter of the union of the Churches with Amadeus
VI and the emperor on ‘political terms’, but had also a more theological conversation with
the former basileus John VI Kantakouzenos, then monk Joasaph, and a few Orthodox
bishops on behalf of John V and the Church, with a view to organise an oecumenical
council. As far as these events and their context are concerned, more details can be
found in the bibliography mentioned on n. 16, as well as in Donald M. Nicol, “Byzantine
Requests for an Oecumenical Council in the Fourteenth Century”, Annuarium Historiae
Conciliorum I (1969): 69-95. The emperor would have partly fulfilled his promise two years
218
colony of Galata until mid-May, where he was mostly busy overseeing
the fulfilment of the payments to his several creditors with the assistance
of local financial advisors20. Two other conquests, namely the Turkish
strongholds of Enneakossia and Kaloneyro in the vicinities of the capital21,
were made by the crusaders before their departure, which occurred amid
massive celebrations and after the formal restitution of Gallipoli to the
Byzantines in the second half of June 136722. By the end of July, the bulk
of the army was again in Venice23, but Amadeus VI’s journey was still not
over, as he continued towards Rome, where he reported the results of his
campaign – notably his successful efforts to persuade the emperor to come
to Italy and pay obeisance to the Holy See – to pope Urban V (1362-1370)24.
At the end of 1367, when more than one year and a half had elapsed from
his departure, the count returned to Chambery25.
Amadeus VI’s Crusade was decidedly sui generis, since, although it was
devised to counter Turkish expansion like others in the recent past26, it
soon turned into a ‘rescue operation’ to the benefit of a schismatic ruler,
John V, who was kept in captivity by another one, Ivan Stratsimir, with
the ill-concealed – but by no means unprepared27 – intention to show
the former how much he could benefit from Western help if only he had
submitted Constantinople’s Church to the pope. Nonetheless it should
be considered a full-fledged one. Already in 1363, Urban V had called for
a Crusade against the Ottomans, which was then joined by the kings of
France and Cyprus, John II Valois (1350-1364)28 and Peter I Lusignan (1358-

later approximately, becoming a Catholic, although without actually being able to heal
the schism on the terms of the pope, Nicol, The Last Centuries, 270-271; Gill, Byzantium
and the Papacy, 218-221; Halecki, Un empereur, 188-212.
20
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 126 ff., Origone, “Una spedizione”, 460-461.
21
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 130-131.
22
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 318; Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 140-141
(departure from Consantinople and celebrations), 146-147 (restitution of Gallipoli).
23
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 163.
24
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 318-319; Origone, “Una spedizione”, 463. An
extensive biography of the pope can be read in P. Amargier, Urbain V. Un homme. Une vie
(1310-1370) (Marseille: Société des médiévistes provençaux 1987).
25
Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 251.
26
E.g. the Crusades of Smyrna, which we will address below.
27
See the discussion below.
28
About whom, Jean Deviosse, Jean le Bon (Paris: Fayard, 1985).
219
 1369)29 respectively, and, according to the relevant documents edited by
Pietro Datta, by Amadeus VI, who were all apparently present at the papal
court in Avignon30. John II would have died in London one year later31
without having accomplished nothing, while Peter I diverted his efforts
against Egypt and Alexandria, which his troops eventually seized and
sacked in 136532. Amadeus VI – to whom Urban V had granted the right
to collect the tithes and the donations made to the churches inside his
territories in order to fund the expedition, as it was customary in such
circumstances33 – was soon left alone with the task to face the Turkish
threat. Papal schemes about the Levant, however, were not limited to the
revival of the crusading movement or to the containment of Ottoman
expansion, as Urban V had more grandiose plans in mind, which implied
an overall renewal of Western commitment in the area and the extension
of his influence over the Balkans by healing the schism between the
Latin and the Greek Churches34. From Amadeus VI’s and patriarch Paul’s
conversations with John V we can easily guess that the pope had conceived
the incoming expedition also, if not above all, as a tool persuade the
Byzantine emperor to accept his terms for the reconciliation: if by chance
the count’s attempt had been successful, Urban V’s Eastern project would
have been greatly benefited. In fact, the pope overtly stated his bargain –
i.e. military help in exchange for the Church union on his terms – in the
diplomatic correspondence with John V before and after the beginning
29
A history of his reign can be read in Harry Luke, “The Kingdom of Cyprus, 1291-
1369”, in A History of the Crusades, 6 voll., ed. Kenneth M. Setton, (Madison, Milwaukee,
London: The University of Winsconsin Press, 1969-1989), III, The Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries, ed. Harry W. Hazard, 340-360, esp. 352-360.
30
Datta, Spedizione in Oriente, 10-12, doc. II, 242, and also in Bollati di Saint-Pierre,
Illustrazioni, doc. VI, 344-348. Aziz S. Atiya, “The Crusade in the Fourteenth Century”, in
A History, III, 3-26, esp. 13-15.
31
Jean Froissart, Chroniques, VI, ed. Siméon Luce (Paris: Jules Renouard, 1886), 99.
32
Aziz S. Atiya, “The Crusade in the Fourteenth Century”, in A History, III, 3-26, esp.
13-18; Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571, 3 voll. (Philadelphia: The
American Philosophical Society, 1976-1984) I, 244-273.
33
As well as other financial and juridical privileges inside his country for the duration
of six years, in Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, doc. VI, 344-348 (right to collect the
donations given to the Church), doc. VII, 349-350 (right to collect stolen money and
usuries whose legitimate owners could not be found), doc. VIII, 351-353 (right to collect
other donations, ex voto’s and testaments in favour of the Church), doc IX, 354-356 (right
given to local bishops to absolve usurers who donated their profits for the sake of the
expedition), doc. X, 357-358 (right to collect the alms given to the Church), docc. XI-XII,
359-367 (right to collect the tithes owed to the Church). Some of these documents are
also edited by Datta, Spedizione in Oriente, doc. I, 225-241 (tithes).
34
Setton, The Papacy, I, 242 ff.
220
of the Crusade35 and had most probably instructed Amadeus VI and his
legate to repeat it to the emperor once they were in his presence. It would
be otherwise difficult to explain Paul’s presence and the count’s diversion
to Rome on his return to Italy, unless we consider that the latter was also
an ambassador, albeit a special one, who was giving an account of his
diplomatic mission to his master.
Amadeus VI, in his turn, was fully aware of his role as the leader of a
Crusade, not merely because he had taken the cross in front of the pope
already in 1363, but also since the opportunity to fight against the infidels
for the sake of the entire Christendom possibly represented the pinnacle
of his ‘knightly career’. Like many Western feudal lords of the Late Middle
Ages, Amadeus VI had been raised in a context which was particularly
sensitive to chivalric ethos, values and symbols. The count himself was
‘imbued to the core’ with them, as contemporary sources extensively
testify both the relevance of romance literature in the Savoyard court36
and his personal near-obsession with military orders, jousts, tournaments
and any material aspect related to them, especially colours, flags, banners
and clothing37. It was precisely to the colour he and his teammates chose
for their garments during a joust in 1348 – which, by the way, would
have become the trademark of his way of life thereafter – that Amadeus
VI owed his well-known epithet ‘Green Count’38. Since a Crusade was
perhaps the most elevated form of chivalry such an individual could
conceive, his lifelong ambition to embody its ideals, together with the
favourable ‘courtly environment’ which surrounded him, proved to be
significant influencing factors when the possibility to participate arose.
Moreover, in those days, along with his knighthood, Amadeus VI was
already admired and respected by his contemporaries for his qualities as
a military leader and for his statesmanship. We might thus suppose that
he considered the answer to Urban V’s call, as well as his role of ‘schism
healer’, also as a good opportunity to enhance his international prestige
35
Ut per litteras apostolicas... Les lettres des Papes des 13e et 14e siècles, DVD ed. Centre
Interuniversitaire d’Histoire et d’Archéologie Médiévales de Lyon et al. (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2011), nn. 1305 (16th of October 1364), 1703 (18th of April 1365), 2336b (23rd of July
1366).
36
Alessandro Barbero, “Corti e storiografia di corte nel Piemonte tardomedievale”, in
Piemonte medievale: forme del potere e della società. Studi per Giovanni Tabacco (Torino:
Einaudi, 1985), 249-277.
37
Cox, The Green Count, 50 ff. An obsession which never abandoned him, as we can
also see from the substantial expenses he made for such items during his adventure in
the East. E.g. Bollati di Saint-Pierre, Illustrazioni, 36, 75-80, 125-126.
38
Origone, “Una spedizione”, 457.
221
 even more, placing himself and his dynasty on the highest echelon of
the European aristocracy39. We should also bear in mind that Urban V’s
crusading projects were not as isolated as one might infer from the lack
of participation by Catholic rulers and from their meagre results, for they
were part of a cultural atmosphere which permeated certain sections of
the political and learned elites of Latin Christendom from the beginning
of the 14th century at least. Indeed, after the final collapse of the Kingdom
of Jerusalem with the fall of Acre in 1291, which had been preceded by
the reconquest of Constantinople by the Byzantines thirty years before,
the papacy, some members of the higher clergy and a few principalities
which had been directly affected or were endangered by the shrinking
of the Outremer, actively tried to revive the declining crusading spirit as
means to counter the new threats to what was left of the Latin East40. Their
efforts not only produced several attempts, most of which ineffective, to
organise actual military expeditions, but also stimulated the development
of a remarkable pro-Crusade propaganda, like the renowned diplomatic
activities of Philippe de Mézières41 and the works of Marin Sanudo
Torsello42. The Savoyard court of Chambery was of course not impervious
to their cultural and political stimuli, which, beside inclinations and
personal convictions, certainly contributed to make Amadeus VI’s mind up
in 1363 and 1366, as his education and temper made him pretty receptive
towards them.

39
E.g. the peace conference of Turin between Venice and Genoa, which was held
under his auspices in 1381 and put an end to the Chioggia war, was a consequence of
his international authority, prestige, and knowledge of the affairs of the Levant, which
clearly he had also derived from his participation to the Crusade, Cox, The Green Count,
321-323.
40
Atiya, “The Crusade”, 3-26.
41
About whom, Nicolae Jorga, Philippe De Mézières (1327-1405) et la Croisade au XIVe
siècle (Paris: Librairie Emile Bouillon, 1896) can still be usefully read, while some of
the most recent scholarly works about his political activity are collected in Philippe de
Mézières and His Age: piety and Politics in the Fourteenth Century, eds. Renate Blumenfeld-
Kosinski, Kiril Petkov (Boston, Leiden: Brill, 2012).
42
Concerning his figure and his works see Cristopher J. Tyerman, “Marino Sanudo
Torsello and the Lost Crusade: Lobbying in the Fourteenth Century”, Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society5 32 (1982): 57-73; Franco Cardini, “Marino Sanudo “Torsello”. Un
profilo”, in Da Venezia alla Terrasanta: il restauro del Liber secretorum fidelium Crucis
di Marin Sanudo (Ricc. 27) della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze, ed. Giovanna Lazzi
(Padova: Nova Charta, 2013), 25-42; Peter Lock, “Sanudo, Turks, Greeks and Latins in the
Early Fourteenth Century”, in Contact and conflict in Frankish Greece and the Aegean,
1204 - 1453: crusade, religion and trade between Latins, Greeks and Turks, ed. Nikolaos G.
Chrissis and Mike Carr (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), 135-152.
222
 If we now examine the expedition of the Green Count from the
perspective of his attitude towards ‘chivalric issues’ and we consider
the ‘climate’ in which it took place, we could easily compare it to the so-
called ‘Crusades of Smyrna’, namely two mostly naval campaigns fostered
by pope Clement VI (1342-1352) in the Forties of the 14th century, which
were meant to counter the piratic raids of the emir of Aydin in the Aegean
sea and resulted in the conquest of the latter’s capital43, but did stop his
attacks to the Christian convoys in the area44. Both the military operations
against Umur beg45, and those made by Amadeus VI in Thrace were, at
least initially, intended to tackle Turkish expansion in Romania with set
and specific goals: to stop piracy in the Aegean in the first case and to
relieve Byzantium from enemy pressure in the other. Although neither of
them had a decisive impact on the course of local history, both scored
some minor victories against the Turks, nourishing that ‘Crusade revival’
atmosphere – of which they were somewhat a product – by giving additional
tools to its advocates. In particular, the second Crusade of Smyrna (1345-
1346) seems rather akin to Amadeus VI’s Byzantine adventure, inasmuch
the former – which had been planned by the pope in order to consolidate
the conquests made during the first one – was the almost solitary exploit
of a ruler, i.e. Humbert II de la Tour du Pin, dauphin of the Viennois (1333-
1349), who had strong personal motivations to participate46, just like his
later Savoyard colleague. Nevertheless, despite these similarities with
previous 14th century Crusades, it is still difficult to think that Amadeus
VI had been swayed only by the ongoing cultural trends, by his chivalric
fancies and by his desire for international prestige. The participants to
the first Crusade of Smyrna, namely the Genoese, the Venetians, Hugh
IV of Cyprus (1324-1358)47 and the Hospitallers of Rhodes, were somehow
all targets of Umur beg’s raids and had thereby obvious economic and
43
Namely Smyrna.
44
About Clement VI’s Eastern projection and the Crusades of Smyrna see Alain
Demurger, “Le pape Clement VI et l’Orient: ligue ou croisade?”, in Guerre, pouvoir et
noblesse au Moyen Âge. Mélanges en l’honneur de Philippe Contamine, ed. Jacques Paviot
and Jacques Verger (Paris: Presses de l’Université de Paris Sorbonne, 2000) 207-214;
Setton, The Papacy, I, 187 ff.; Jules Gay, Le Pape Clément VI et les affaires d’Orient (1342-1352)
(Paris: Societé nouvelle de librairie et d’édition 1904).
45
Scilicet the emir of Aydin, about whom see Paul Lemerle, L’émirat d’Aydin. Recherches
sur la «Geste d’Umur Pacha» (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1957).
46
Mike Carr, “Humbert of Viennois and the Crusade of Smyrna: a Reconsideration”,
Crusades 13 (2014): 237-251.
47
A short profile of whom can be read in Luke, “The Kingdom of Cyprus, 1291-1369”,
349-351.
223
 political interests to join. Humbert II, for his part, was a special case, since
he had lost his infant child and only heir André already in 1336 and had
thenceforth repeatedly tried to cede his inheritance, as he wished to leave
his worldly duties48 and to serve the Church49. In 1349, when he was at last
able to sell his possessions to someone – scilicet king Philipp VI of France
(1328-1350)50 – who could afford them, he became a Dominican friar and
later (1351) the titular patriarch of Alexandria51, but before he could find
a suitable ‘buyer’ for the Dauphiné, the Crusade was probably the closest
thing to his desiderata. Furthermore, although John II of France and Peter
I of Cyprus, just to mention those who attended the papal court in 1363,
did not share with the Green Count the same enthusiasm for chivalric
matters, they were both men of their time and grew up in a context which
should not have been too much different from Savoy, but neither of them
was ever seen fighting against the Turks.
His origins, his education, the awareness of his role in the expedition
and his zeal in trying to ‘convert’ John V made Amadeus VI a Westerner
– a ‘Latin’, to say it in the manner of the Byzantines – in every way, but
even so, he was likewise a full-fledged member of the Palaiologos family,
inasmuch he was twice related to the imperial dynasty. The count of
Savoy was the emperor’s first cousin, since John V’s mother, empress
Anna Palaiologina52, who had married the late emperor Andronikos III
Palaiologos (1328-1341)53 through the agency of Theodore I Palaiologos
of Montferrat (1306-1338)54, was actually the former princess Giovanna
48
And his massive debts as well.
49
Cox, The Green Count, 27-30.
50
Among the many scholarly works about the events which occurred during his reign,
we recommend his concise biography in Bernhard Töpfer, “Philipp VI. (1328-1350)”, in Die
französischen Könige des Mittelalters. Von Odo bis Karl VIII., 888-1498, ed. Joachim Ehlers,
Heribert Müller and Bernd Schneidmüller (München: C. H. Beck, 1996), 228-240.
51
Cox, The Green Count, 73-75.
52
As far as Anna is concerned, we highly recommend Sandra Origone, Giovanna di
Savoia alias Anna Paleologina, latina a Bisanzio (c. 1306-c. 1365) (Milano: Jaca book, 1999).
53
About his reign see Nicol, The Last Centuries, 167-184, and Ursula V. Bosch, Kaiser
Andronikos III. Palaiologos. Versuch einer Darstellung der byzantinischen Geschichte in den
Jahren 1321–1341 (Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965).
54
Origone, Giovanna di Savoia, 21 ff. With regards to Theodore see, among the abundant
scholarly literature, “Quando venit marchio grecus in terra Montisferrati”. L’avvento di
Teodoro I Paleologo nel VII centenario (1306-2006) (Atti del convegno di studi storici, Casale
Monferrato 14 ottobre 2006, Moncalvo, Serralunga di Crea 15 ottobre 2006), ed. Aldo
A. Settia (Casale Monferrato, 2008); Roberto Maestri, “Teodoro Paleologo, un dinasta
bizantino in Monferrato”, in L’arrivo in Monferrato dei Paleologi di Bisanzio, 1306-2006,
ed. Roberto Maestri (Alessandria: Circolo culturale “I Marchesi del Monferrato”, 2007),
224
of Savoy, daughter of count Amadeus V of Savoy (1285-1323) and his
second wife Mary of Brabant55, and hence Amadeus VI’s paternal aunt,
as he was himself the son of count Aymon of Savoy (1329-1343), half-
brother56 of basilissa Anna. In addition, the Green Count was a relative of
John V also on his mother’s side, because his father Aymon had married
Yolanda Palaiologina57, daughter of the marquis of Montferrat Theodore
I Palaiologos and of the Genoese noblewoman Argentina Spinola. His
maternal lineage made him a great-grandson of emperor Andronikos II
Palaiologos (1282-1328)58 just like John V, who was thereby also his third
cousin, given that Theodore I of Montferrat was the second-born son of
Andronikos II and his second wife Yolanda/Irene of Montferrat59. Now,
if we turn back to the 1366-1367 campaign, Amadeus VI’s membership
to the extended Palaiologos clan and his close kinship with the reigning
basileus seem to be the elements which had possibly the greatest impact
upon his conduct. The author of the Croniques de Savoye, which is almost
our only narrative source for Amadeus VI’s Crusade60, is well aware of
7-37; Angeliki E. Laiou, “A Byzantine prince latinized: Theodore Palaeologus, Marquis
of Monferrat”, Byzantion XXXVIII (1968): 386-410; Marco Fasolio, “Il marchese Teodoro I
Paleologo di Monferrato (1306-1338) nelle coeve fonti greche e arabe”, Bollettino storico
bibliografico subalpino CXII (2014): 19-50.
55
About them, Francesco Cognasso, “Amedeo V, conte di Savoia”, in Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani, II (Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana, 1960), 741-743.
56
Aymon, who became count of Savoy after his brother Edward (1323-1329), was the
son of Amadeus V and his first wife Sybille de Baugé, Francesco Cognasso, “Aimone,
conte di Savoia”, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, I (Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia
Italiana, 1960), 528-529.
57
Rosanna Raineri, “Jolanda di Monferrato contessa di Savoia”, Bollettino Storico
Bibliografico Subalpino VIII (1903): 1-43.
58
The most comprehensive monograph about emperor Andronikos II is certainly
Angeliki E. Laiou, Constantinople and the Latins. The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282-
1328 (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972).
59
The Aleramici empress is portrayed in Hélène Constantinidi-Bibikou, “Yolande de
Montferrat impératice de Byzance”, L’Hellenisme Contemporaine IV (1950): 425-442, and
in Donald M. Nicol, The Byzantine lady: ten portraits, 1250-1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994), 48-58. Concerning these Byzantine-Western matrimonial
relationship the best synthesis is certainly Sandra Origone, “Marriage Connections
between Byzantium and the West in the Age of the Palaiologoi”, Mediterranean Historical
Review 10 (1995):226-241. About similar topics see also John W. Barker, “Crusading and
Matrimony in the Dynastic Policies of Montferrat and Savoy”, Byzantion Nea Hellas 36
(2017):157-183, and Galo Garcés Ávalos, “Presencia Saboyana en la corte de los Paleólogos”,
Byzantion Nea Hellas 34 (2015): 71-93.
60
Except for an indirect, albeit undisputable, reference in Demetrios Kydones, Demetrii
Cydonii, “Oratio pro subsidio Latinorum”, in Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca,
CLIV, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne (Lutetiae Parisiorum: J.-P. Migne, 1866), 961-1008, discussed
in Sandra Origone, “Genoa and Byzantium. Aspects of a Long Relationship”, in Byzantium
225
 this fact, and, even though his chronology and his understanding of the
events is rather sketchy and second-hand, to put it mildly, he claims it
as it were broadly acknowledged. Since the chronicler – a certain Jean
d’Orville, better known as ‘Cabaret’61 – ignores the papal call of 1363 and its
consequences, he presents the incoming expedition as a purely personal
initiative of the count, which the latter took after he was acquainted with
the dire situation of the Byzantine Empire from an Hungarian embassy.
The envoy of «roy Andrien d’Ungrye», alias king Louis I of Anjou (1342-
1382)62, informed Amadeus VI that his master was going to undertake a
military campaign in support of the unfortunate John V63 and urged
him to join as soon as possible, stressing twice that the basileus was his
«cosin et parant» and he should consequently take immediate action in
order save him64. Like most of the Eastern vicissitudes reported by the
chronicle, the account of the embassy is highly questionable, since it
probably recalls in a distorted manner John V’s actual request for aid to
the king of Hungary, which the latter refused due to an alleged quarrel he
had with the former during his visit65. Albeit Cabaret does not seem to be
familiar with these last details, he is not totally unaware of the emperor’s
journey to Hungary, which is reported by the ambassador, and that Louis

and the West: perception and reality (11th-15th c.), ed. Nikolaos G. Chrissis, Athina Kolia-
Dermitzaki and Angeliki Papageorgiou (London: Routledge, 2019), 38-55, esp. 49-50,
and in Raymond-Joseph Loenertz, “Démétrius Cydonès. De la naissance à l’année 1373”,
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 36 (1970): 47-72, esp. 64, there are no Byzantine sources
about the Crusade, neither documentary, nor narrative. Concerning the ‘Western
side’, apart from the Chroniques, we have also a few words in the Venetian chronicle of
Giovanni Giacomo Caroldo, but the most detailed and reliable information can be drawn
from the book of accounts of the expedition compiled by Antonio Barbero/Barberio and
edited by Federico Bollati di Saint-Pierre, see the full references on nn. 5 (chronicles of
Savoy), 7 (book of accounts and Caroldo).
61
Françoise Vieillard, “Orville, Jean d’ (Cabaret, Jean) französischer Chronist (1. Hälfte
15. Jh.)”, in Lexikon des Mittelalters, VI (München, Zürich: Artemis & Winkler, 1993),
1490; see also the essay about the authorship and the composition date of the medieval
chronicles of Savoy, in Federico E. Bollati di Saint-Pierre, preface to Jehan Servion, Gestez
et chroniques de la mayson de Savoye, 2 voll., ed. Federico E. Bollati di Saint-Pierre (Turin:
F. Casanova, 1879), I, xxiii-liv.
62
About whom see the important contributions in the miscellaneous volume Louis
the Great, king of Hungary and Poland, Steven B. Vardy, Géza Grosschmid and Leslie S.
Domonkos (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), and also, concerning our topic,
Norman J. Housley, “King Louis the Great of Hungary and the crusades, 1342-1382”, The
Slavonic and East European Review 62 (1984): 192-208.
63
Emperor John V is called «Alexius de Constantinopoly» by the chronicler.
64
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 300-301.
65
Nicol, The Last Centuries, 264-265; Joseph Gill, “John V Palaeologus at the Court of
Louis I of Hungary”, Byzantinoslavica 38 (1977): 31-38.
226
I did not eventually take the field on behalf of Byzantium, as the Green
Count lamented the king’s absence once he arrived in Gallipoli66. What
interests us most, however, is that the chronicler justifies Amadeus VI’s
behaviour almost only through his kinship with the Palaiologoi and this is
even more significant, considering that the Chroniques were written in the
second quarter of the 15th century, namely more than six decades after the
episode, and thus reported an already consolidated version of the events.
No other contemporary Western ruler was closer to the emperor or
boasted a comparable Byzantine genealogy, not even the count’s maternal
uncle and political rival John II Palaiologos of Montferrat (1338-1372)67 –
whose military intervention had also been evoked by Urban V in his parley
with John V about the union68 – who was related to the imperial house
only through his father Theodore I. A fortiori, neither the king of France,
nor the king of Cyprus could harbour the same feelings of Amadeus VI
towards the fate of the basileus and this is probably the ultimate reason
that underlies their non-participation to the Crusade. We might hence
describe the campaign of the Green Count as a sort of ‘rescue operation’,
both military and religious, organised by a Palaiologos who resided
abroad on behalf of a beleaguered relative who lived in his motherland.
From this perspective it is easier to compare it to Amadeus VI’s maternal
grandfather’s returns to Byzantium – or at least to what he tells us about
them in his autobiography69, followed by Benvenuto Sangiorgio in the
Cronica del Monferrato70 – than to any earlier or a later Crusade. Indeed,
Theodore I Palaiologos wrote that «sciens et intelligens, quod ad partes
imperii Romaniae […] guerra imminebat»71, he decided to go back to the
Empire «ad denfendendum […] dominos meos imperatores et eorum
66
Promis, “Anciennes Chroniques”, 300-301, 305.
67
His biography can be read in Aldo A. Settia, “Giovanni II Paleologo, marchese di
Monferrato”, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, LVI (Roma: Istituto dell’Enciclopedia
Italiana, 2001), 123-129, as well as in Roberto Maestri, “Il governo di Giovanni II Paleologo:
ambizioni e progetti incompiuti”, in I Paleologi di Monferrato: una grande dinastia
europea nel Piemonte tardo-medievale (Atti del convegno, Trisobbio, 20 settembre 2006),
ed. Enrico Basso and Roberto Maestri (Alessandria: Circolo culturale “I Marchesi del
Monferrato”, 2008), 11-26.
68
Ut per litteras apostolicas, n. 1703.
69
Which is edited in Latin by Benvenuto Sangiorgio, Cronica del Monferrato (Historiae
urbium et regionum Italiae rariores, CXIV, Nuova serie, XXX), ed. Giuseppe Vernazza
(Bologna: Arnaldo Forni, 1975, or. ed. Torino: Onorato Derossi, 1780), 117-122.
70
Benvenuto Sangiorgio, Cronica, 102.
71
"since I knew and understood that in the lands of the Empire of Romania […] war as
impending". Our translation from Benvenuto Sangiorgio, Cronica, 121.
227
 terram, contra quamplures inimicos et rebelles ipsorum tam Christianos
inopinatae conditionis, quam Tartaros, Turcos et alios barbaros»72 but,
although the Greek sources73 and a document of the marquis’ chancery
mostly contradict his side of the story74, his words would have been quite
suitable to describe his grandson’s feat. Amadeus VI was a close relative of
the reigning basileus and, after he knew he was in trouble, he decided to
help him, leaving aside his governmental duties, actually accomplishing
what Theodore I had only written on paper.
In the end, it is to the identity of the Green Count that we have to look if
we want to understand the motivations of his peculiar late medieval ‘family
Crusade’; not so much to the fact that he was a Latin by race and culture, but
rather because he was a Catholic and, above all, a member of the Palaiologos
house. As a pious and chivalrous Catholic he joined the Crusade in 1363 and,
since he was a loyal devotee of the pope, he also accepted to carry on his
mission for the union of the Churches. As a Palaiologos, however, he was
the only Westerner, or better to say, the only Christian who decided to come
to the aid of the Byzantine emperor in the 14th century. An aid which was
either armed, as it is apparent, or spiritual, given that, when Amadeus VI
conveyed the message of Urban V, it was perhaps not merely a matter of
politics and ecclesiastical relationships between Rome and Constantinople,
as the count was presumably sincere in believing that only by coming ‘back
to the fold’ of the Holy See, Byzantium and, most importantly, his cousin
John V could have saved their body and their souls. We can thus fully include
this episode in the framework of the European Middle Ages, even more so
by taking into account the fundamental remarks of Évelyne Patlagean in her
Un Moyen Âge grec, which broadened to the Byzantine Empire the medieval
concept of power75. Religion and family networks had a pivotal role in the
decision-making mechanisms of medieval Europe at any level, and even
‘bizarre’ East-West relationships like ours could not escape their logic.

72
"in order to defend […] my lords the emperors and their country against their several
enemies and rebels, either Christians of misguided condition, or Tartars, Turks and other
barbarians". Our translation from Benvenuto Sangiorgio, Cronica, 121.
73
Nicephori Gregorae Byzantina Historia, 3 voll. (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae
Byzantinae, XXV-XXVIII), ed. Ludwig Schopen and Immanuel Bekker, (Bonnae: Eduard
Weber, 1829-1835), I, 396; Ioannis Cantacuzeni Historiarum libri IV, 3 voll. (Corpus
Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, V-VII), ed. Ludwig Schopen (Bonnae: Eduard Weber,
1828-1832), I, 256.
74
Walter Haberstumpf, “Due documenti inediti di Teodoro I Paleologo marchese di
Monferrato”, Bollettino Storico Bibliografico Subalpino LXXXIII (1985): 213-220, esp. 215-
217. This issue is discussed in detail by Fasolio, “Il marchese”, 28-39.
75
Évelyne Patlagean, Un Moyen Âge grec (Paris: Albin Michel, 2007), 59 ff.
228
 16

Средновековните ереси и родовите

идентитети помеѓу бенефитите и морално-
етичката контроверза
Маја Ангеловска-Панова, Институт за национална
историја, Универзитет „Св. Кирил и Методиј“, Скопје
UDK 27-87[323.1:305-055.2(4-15)”653”

Abstract: Supporting the individualism and gender equality represent a

fundamental concept of dualistic movements emerging in Byzantium and
in Medieval West. Bogomilism as well as the Western heretical movements
(Cathars, Waldensians, Lollards …) promoted an alternative understanding
of the status of the women, which was based in principle on three general
postulates: participation in the religious ritual, possibility for education in the
spirit of their religious ideology and seeking for the changes of the attitude of
the official Church towards the gender equality. The Bogomils were strict in
promoting equal rights of the women, shared duties and opportunities. The
heretical communities in the Medieval West were somewhat different, since in
accordance with the western apostasy women acted in a more logistical sense
focusing mainly on the roles that had social character. Importantly the heretics
menage to neutralize the inert and traditional status of the women based on
the biblical myth for Adam’s rib.

229
 И покрај фактот, што дефинирањето на терминот ерес претставу-
ва прилично комплексно прашање, кое имплементира религиски,
општествено-политички и хетеродоксни аспекти, сепак општ е
впечатокот дека се работи за флагрантна опозиција на монополот
на официјалното христијанство во институционална смисла, но
и на феудализмот како општествен поредок со прилично изразен
социјален антагонизам. Всушност, суштината на ересите во препо-
знатливите услови на средновековието се состоела во афирмација
на алтернативни религиски, социјални и морално-етички компо-
ненти кои секако биле во дисиденстка поставеност со постојни-
те стандарди и како такви нуделе можност за избор на животниот
стил на консумерот во секој поглед на неговиот егзистенционали-
зам. Во контекст на конфронтациската поставеност на различни
религиско-идеолошки манифестации се разгледува и прашањето
за статусот на жената со приоритетен осврт на нејзината положба
во богомилските средини, но и во рамките на западната апостаза,
проследена преку катаризмот, движењето на Валдензите, лолард-
ството итн..1
Нема сомнение дека библиските мотиви претставувале појдовна
основа и идеолошки супстрат во креирањето на морално-етичкиот
кодекс на христијанството, меѓу другото и во однос на прашањето
за статусот на жената. Имено, во Првата книга Мојсеева од Све-
тото писмо (Битие, 1.27) се вели: „…го создаде Бог човекот според
образот Свој, според образот Божји го создаде; машко и женско ги
создаде“.2 Во друга верзија од истата книга (Битие, 2.23) „Господ Бог
создаде жена од реброто, што го зеде од човекот, и ја доведе кај чо-
векот. А човекот рече: Еве сега коска од моите коски, и плот од моја-
та плот. Нека и биде името жена, зашто е земена од мажот и обата
ќе бидат едно тело“3. И покрај фактот што вака конципирани овие
содржини не имплицираат на подреденост на женската индивидуа,
сепак нивната интерпретација од аспект на патријархатот и офи-
цијалните црковни и световни авторитети ја наметнала состојбата
1
Повеќе за односната проблематика види: Маја Ангеловска-Панова „Статусот
на жената во еретичките средини во средновековниот период“, Балканославика,
31, (Институт за старословенска култура – Прилеп 2003), 157-164; Маја Ангеловска-
Панова, „Улогата на жената во еретичките средини во Византија и во западна
Европа“. Истражувања од областа на родовите студии, т.2, (Евро-Балкан прес:
Скопје 2003),121-140.
2
Свето писмо на Стариот и на Новиот завет, рев. Издание (Скопје: Библиско
здружение на Република Македонија, 2006), Битие, 1.27, с. 10.
3
Свето писмо, Битие, 2.23, с. 11.
230
на инфериорност, особено фаталниот примордијален грев реког-
носциран во сентенцата „и ќе биде под власта на мажот свој, и тој
ќе ти биде господар“ (Битие, 3.16).4 што како принцип за статус ќе се
задржи долго време во традицијата.
Наспроти идеалниот христијански модел за жената конкретизи-
ран преку ликот и девственоста на Богородица се јавува антитезата
Ева, претставена како обична жена со доминантно влијание на де-
кадентни морално-етички вредности кои понатаму ќе ја обусловат
подреденоста на жената и нејзината прилично рестриктивна улога
во општестевниот, а делумно и во религискиот живот5. Оттука, тен-
денцијата на ерсите во однос на женското прашање е пред сѐ да се
неутрализира status quo состојбата утврдена и детерминирана од
постојните теолошки и световни стандарди и да се афирмира еден
поинаков светоглед во однос на статусот на жената, кој остава прос-
тор за повеќе избор во однос на нејзиното партиципирање во јавни-
от и во религискиот дискурс.6
Современите идеи дека ересите биле посебно привлечни за жени-
те има бројни корени, меѓу кои иницијацискиот бил марксистички,
поткрепен со аргументите на Фридрих Енгелс, дека станува збор за
амбиент на религиска хегемонија во кој ересите претставувале един-
ствен механизам за општествено-политичко алтернатива. Другиот
корен е идентификуван во поврзаноста на национализмот и рели-
гискиот идентитет од доцниот XIX век, кои на реформаторските
движења од XV век гледале како на аватари, или поконкретно како
на своевиден национален модернитет, ослободен од влијанието на
папството, кој меѓу другото го засега и прашањето за правата на же-
ната.7 Нешто поинаква е состојбата со историографијата во периодот
помеѓу 1970/1980 години на минатиот век каде што недвосмислено
4
Свето писмо, Битие, 3.16, с. 12.
5
Ранохристијанскиот период и формирањето на монашките заедници
претставуваат значајна пресвртница во смисла на редефеинирање на
конвенционалната улога на жената. Види: Steve A. Harvey, “Women and words: text
by and about women,” The Cambridge history of early Christian literature, ed., by Frances
Young, Lewis Aures & Andrew Louth. (Cambidge University Press: Cambridge 2008), 387;
Маја Ангеловска-Панова, Религиските формации и родовите идентитети. (Сак-
стил: Скопје 2010), 47.
6
Maja Angelovska-Panova, “The Role of the woman in the Bogomil circles in compa­
rison with the traditional status of the Christian religion,” Balcanistic Forum 1-3,
(Universitet Neofit Rilski: Blagoevgrad 2002), 34-40.
7
John H. Arnold, “Heresy and Gender in the Middle Ages,” The Oxford Handbook of
Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, ed. by Judith Bennett and Ruth Karras, (Oxford
University Press: Oxford 2013), 594.
231
 се чувствува тенденцијата за коригирање на колективниот проект
за женската индивидуа од сферата на маргинализираната историја.
Во таа смисла во овој период на атрактивноста на ересите се гледало
како можност за враќање или посоодветно реафирмирање на пра-
шањето за „зaгубените“ гласови и искуства на жените.8
Евидентно е дека идејата за подеднаков статус како куриозитетна
појава за првпат била промовирана со ранохристијанските ереси
какви што биле манихејството, масилијанството, а нешто подоцна и
павликијанството, кои посредно извршиле извесно влијание врз бо-
гомилството на Исток, но и врз западните средновековни дуалистич-
ки учења.
Осврнувајќи се на богомилскиот космогониски мит за создавање на
првите луѓе Евтимиј Зигавен, инаку висок црковен достоинственик
во дворот на императорот Алексиј I Комнин (1081-1118 год.) во делото
„Паноплиа догматика“ констатирал: „...телото на Адам било создаде-
но од Сатанаил, којшто во немоќ да му вдахне душа се обратил кај
Бога. Тој му вдахнал душа на човекот, а потоа на истиот начин ја соз-
дал и Ева, којашто блеснала со подеднаков блесок.“9 Овој митолошки
фрагмент ќе ја конкретизира својата практична вредност преку де-
цидно формулираниот став на богомилите за еднаквост на родовите
субјекти, што се потврдува и во релевантниот изворен материјал.
Презвитер Козма и Евтимиј Зигавен иако живееле и твореле во
различни временски периоди, тие сепак се единствени во ставот
дека обредната практика на богомилите била проследена со подед-
наква застапеност на мажи и жени, што од аспект на нивното ви-
дување повеќе имплицира на обвинување за промискуитет, отколку
за вистинска реконструкција на обредите во кои на еднаква основа
учествувале и мажите и жените.
Партиципирањето на женските индивидуи во богомилската об-
редна практика го елаборира и византиската писателка Ана Комни-
на во „Алексијадата“, која на ова прашање евидентно му приоѓа со
анимузутет. „Некаков монах Василиј, човек многу искусен во рас-
простанување на богомилското безбожије имал 12 ученици, кои ги
нарекол апостоли, а привлекол и неколку ученички лошокарактер-
ни и развратни жени.“10 Голема е веројатноста дека станува збор за
8
Arnold, “Heresy and Gender in the Middle Ages”, 594.
9
Euthymius Zigabenus, De haeresi Bogomilorum narratio, ed. Jacques Paul  Migne, PG
130 (Parisiis: Migne, 1865), col. 1296.
10
Annae Comnenae Alexias, XV. 8, ed. Diether R. Reinsch, Athanasios Kambylis, Corpus
Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 40/1 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001), p. 485-488.
232
жени од категоријата на совршените богомили, кои дејствувале во
правец на дисперзија на богомилството, уште повеќе што крајот на
XI и почетокот на XII век е период кога тоа го надминува локалниот
карактер и се распространува на пошироко географско рамниште,
продирајќи во самата престолнина во Константинопол. Важно е да
се спомене дека во овој период битно се менува и социјалниот со-
став на приврзаниците, па така од движење во кое партиципираат
припадниците на пониските социјални слоеви се трансформира во
религиско-идеолошка манифестација која ќе го заинтригира благо-
родништвото, интелектуалната елита, а истовремено и претставни-
ците од црковната хиерархија.
Голем дел од групата на Василиј, вклучително и жените кои оста-
нале доследни на ереста без желба да се конвертираат кон право-
славие биле спалени на клада, така што Алексиј I Комнин всушност
бил првиот византиски император чии мерки за сузбивање на ерес-
та кореспондирале со оние на западната инквизиција. Иако не може
да се игнорира фактот дека тој сепак им дал можност за избор.11
Партиципирањето во богомилските средини не значело само
можност за религиски избор, туку тоа претставувало и своевид-
но самореализирање на женските индивидуи во професионална
смисла како мисионери на движењето, уште повеќе што офи-
цијалното христијанството не предвидувало улоги за жената во
црковната хиерархија. Во прилог на тоа говорат податоците од
„Номоканонот“ на св. Сава“, според кој, „жените ги поставуваат за
жители на догмите на својата ерес, едноставно наредувајќи им да
не бидат старешини само на обичните луѓе, туку да управуваат и со
свештениците.“12 Леонтиј и Климент, монаси од Кападокија во 1143
година биле обвинети за ерес токму поради фактот, што „поставу-
вале жени за ѓакони, дозволувајќи им да проповедаат молитви, да

11
„Со оглед на тоа што императорот не бил склон да им верува, тој измислил нов
начин да се познаат вистинските христијани, за да не остане некој христијанин меѓу
богомилите како богомил, или пак,некој богомил да се извлече како христијанин.
Следниот ден тој седнал на царскиот двор. Во моментот присуствувале најугледните
од Синклитот, од светиот Синод и истакнати назареи кои биле запознаени со
учењето. Денес ќе бидат запалени два огна, од кои во едниот треба да се забие крст
во земјата. Потоа секому да му се даде право на избор за да можат оние што денес
сакаат да умрат во христијанската вера да се одделат од другите и да пристапат кон
огнот со крстот, а другите,пак, што ја претпочитаат богомилската ерес да бидат
фрлени во другиот”. Annae Comnenae Alexias, XV.8, p. 485-488. Ангеловска-Панова,
Религиските формации и родовите идентитети, 82-83.
12
Миодраг М. Петровић, Помен богомила-бабуна у Законоправилу светог Сава и
„црква Босанска“, (Нови дани: Београд 1995), 19.
233
 ги читаат светите евангелија и да му служат на Климента“.13 Нема
сомнение дека во услови на средниот век, кога образованието било
прилично рестриктивна појава, особено за популацијата со понизок
општествен статус богомилите во рамките на своите црковно-ере-
тички општини им овозможувале на жените едукација во духот на
богомилскиот теологизам, којa според податоците од релевантните
извори траелa од две до три па и повеќе години. По апсолвирањето
на догмите жените имале можност да го проповедаат богомилското
учење, а во функција на идејата за мобилизирање на што е можно
повеќе приврзаници, но и за нивно едуцирање во духот на бого-
милската теолошка мисла. Во таа смисла сѐ повеќе се афирмирала
тезата за метафизичката идентификација на жените со Богородица,
што во својата преносна форма би требало да значи можност да го
родат во себе Божјото слово (Логосот) што од рационални позиции
би се поистоветило со книжевно-творечка активност.14
Илустративен е примерот и со монахињата Ирина, која „престоју-
вајќи во Солун се преправала дека води беспрекорен живот, но тајно
ги создала сите видови на беззаконие и загадување. Откако дозна-
ле за неа многу локални монаси се собирале во нејзиниот дом. А таа
со оглед на тоа што детално ја научила целата богохулна ерес на ма-
силијаните тајно им ја проповедала на сите оние кои доаѓале да из-
вршат гнасни дела.“15 Многу монаси поткленале пред учењето и во
континуитет од три години, а можеби и повеќе го дисперзирале на
Света Гора, хулејќи против светите икони и чесниот крст.
Слична состојба во однос на прашањето за еквивалентност на по-
ловите е забележана и во еретичките средини во западна Европа.
Ексцерпираните податоци од средновековните ракописи, особено
од записите на Инквизицијата како прилично веродостојни упа-
туваат на фасцинантна статистичка состојба. Имено од вкупно 719
имиња, инаку припадници на категоријата на совршените катари 318
се однесувале токму на жените, што изразено во проценти е нешто

13
Jean Gouillard, “Qatre proces demystiques a Byzance. IV Les eveques “bogomiles” de
Cappadoce”, Revues des etudes byzantines, т.36, (Institut Français D’Etudies Byzantines:
Paris 1978), 74; Георги Василев, „Богомили, Катари, Лоларди – проводници на
високата позиция на жената в средновековието.“ Родина 4 (1996), 72-73.
14
Георги Василев, Български богомилски и апокрифни представи в английската
средновековна култура, (София: Съребрен лъв, 2001), 171.
15
Kiril Petkov, The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, Seventh – Fifteenth Century (Leiden-
Boston: Brill 2008), 297.
234
помалку од 45.16 Кога станува збор за катаризмот општ е впечатокот
дека жените дејствувале повеќе во логистичка смисла на што упату-
ваат и податоците од Рајнериј Сакониј, инаку поранешен приврза-
ник на ереста, кој по конвертирањето во редот на домениканците
бил мобилизиран од Инквизицијата. Осврнувајќи се на исповедта
на катарите Сакониј констатирал дека „таа се изведувала јавно и
пред сите, при што многупати се собирале по сто или повеќе мажи и
жени катари и нивни приврзаници“ (ista confessio eoram omnibus et
publice qui sunt ibi congregati, ubi multitiens sunt centum vel plures viri
et mulieres Cathari etcredentes eorum).17 Поддржувањето на културно-
образовните тенденции во духот на катарскиот религиски курику-
лум претставувало моќно оружје за трансмисија на учењето. Во тој
контекст секако треба да се укаже на фактот дека повеќето од домо-
вите на катарите (domus haereticorum) функционирале како еден вид
училишта во кои биле воспитувани и образувани децата на осирома-
шената аристократија, но и на благородниците со перманентно ста-
билна финансиска состојба. Исто така, тука се организирале и јавни
дебати за определени прашања од Светото писмо во согласност со
егзегезата, својствена за катарскиот теологизам. Во таа смисла сѐ по-
веќе се инсистирало на тенденцијата за афирмирање на народниот
јазик, кој бил достапен за поголем број консумери, наспроти латин-
скиот, користен од интелектуалната и благородничка елита.
Независно од „условно“ интелектуалниот сегмент на движењето со-
вршените (perfectae) биле вклучени во повеќе секуларни активности,
наметнати пред сѐ од потребата на секојдневието, што во принцип
и не било многу компатибилно со нивното учење, особено поради
тенденцијата за дистанцирање од материјалниот свет. Податоците од
Инквизицијата говорат во прилог на фактот дека жените од катего-
ријата на совршените со цел да го обезбедат економскиот опстанок
на заедницата продавале различни производи на нивните следбени-
ци, вклучително леб, вино, риба, облека, постелнини итн..18

16
Malcolm D. Lambert, The Cathars (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998), 151.
17
Summa fratris Raynerii de Catharis et Pauperibus de Lugduno, Antoine Dondaine, Un
traité néo-manichéen du XIIIe siècle. Le Liber de duobus principiis suivi d’un fragment de
rituel cathare (Rome: Instituto storico domenicano, 1939), 7, p. 67.
18
Malcolm Barber, “Women and Catharism,” Reading Medieval Studies 3 (1977), 49.
235
 Речиси идентична состојба во однос на родовата поставеност пос-
тои и кај Валдензите.19 Имено, во писмото на Валдензите од Ломбар-
дија упатено до оние во Лион се споменуваат „нашите драги браќа
и сестри во Христа, нашите машки и женски пријатели преку Алпи-
те20, додека во делото “De vita et actibus”, составено од крајот на XIII
и почетокот на XIV век се говори за „мажи и жени, кои се нарекува-
ле браќа и сестри“, имајќи ги предвид приврзаниците на Валдес во
Лион21. Она што ја прави дистинкцијата помеѓу западната апоста-
за и богомилството е фактот, што со обредот на јавно исповедање
раководел ѓакон или во некои посебни околности епископ, кој бил
исклучиво од машкиот пол. Сепак, постојат индиции дека во опреде-
лени случаи на отсуство на машки претставник жените имале мож-
ност да интервенираат во функција на замена. Опишувајќи го чинот
на consolamentum извесен Рајмонд Валсиер потенцира дека „кога
не присуствувале добрите луѓе (се мисли на мажите од категоријата
на совршените) приврзаниците можеле да бидат подложени на ду-
ховно посветување од добрите жени“ (quod non sint praesentes boni
homines, et ita salvantur per bonas mulieres)22. Веројатно станува збор
за повозрасните жени од редот на perfectae, кои воведувајќи ги во ка-
техезата на нивното учење всушност ги подготвувале за самиот чин
на духовно посветување. И покрај порестриктивната улога на сестри-
те од редот на Валдензите, сепак постојат индиции дека тие имале
можност да поучуваат, а во определени временски периоди и да про-
поведаат. Постојат сведоштва од жени, подложени на испитувањето
на Инквизицијата во Лангедок во 1240 година дека биле подучувани
од сестрите, а во друг случај исто така произлезен од записите на
Инквизицијата се говори за жена, која на болен верник, припадник
на движењето на Валдес му читала делови од Евангелието според
19
Движењето на Валдензите го опфаќа периодот околу 1170 година, кога богатиот
трговец Валдо/Валдес од Лион со цел да ги добие придобивките од vita apostolica,
го поделил неговото богатство на сиромашните и започнал оригинално да го про-
поведа Светото писмо. Тој сметал дека е неопходно Светото писмо да се проповеда
на народена јазик и за таа цел го превел на провенсалски јазик. Нивното пропове-
дање на јавни места било една од причините што католичката црква ги обвинила
за ерес и презела соодветни мерки за супресија.Види: Maja Angelovska - Panova,
“Medieval Heresies and Protestantism”, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe
XXXVIII (March 2018), 68, n.9.
20
Shulamith Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect (Woodbridge: Boydell Press
2001),51.
21
De vita et actibus in Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters, ed. by Johan Joseph
Ign Von Dollinger, (Munich, 1890), VII, 93-95.
22
Василев, Български богомилски и апокрифни представи, 257.
236
Јован, кое во принцип било високо респектирано во сите еретички
средини.23
Интересен е примерот и со Лолардството, формирано од теологот
од оксфордскиот универзитет Џон Виклиф кое како пред-протестант-
ско религиско движење егзистирало во периодот помеѓу XIV – XVI
век. Во согласност со податоците од судските спорови се дознава дека
извесна Алис Колинс жена со добро паметење и опитна во рецити-
рање на Светото писмо била испратена во Бурфорд, мал средновеко-
вен град, каде што се сретнала со мажи на кои им говорела за Десетте
божји заповеди.24 Имено, во XV век во Англија образованието било
во подем, така што многу мажи и жени самоиницијативно учеле да
читаат и пишуваат, меѓу другото и поради фактот што со посредство
на образованието имале можност да се наметнат во општеството на
повисоко ниво. Лолардите сосредочени на „распространување на
Зборот“ инсистирале на што повеќе едуцирани членови во рамките
на нивните комуни, што во принцип резултирало со самодоверба и
асертивност како можна алатка за заземање став и градење вешти-
ни на секое поле. 25 Спротивно на богомилите и катарите, кои зем-
ниот свет го поистоветувале со зло, а во тие рамки бракот и чинот
на ex-coitu го доживувале како механизам за биолошки опстанок на
семејството, лолардите на овие категории гледале како на нешто со-
сем легитимно и морало-етички оправдано. Со афирмација на ин-
ституциите семејство и брак лолардите се залагале меѓу другото и
за задржување на традиционалните улоги на мажите и жените како
сопружници и родители без притоа да ги запостават должностите во
рамките на движењето.
Во контекст на централната улога на женската индивидуа сека-
ко треба да се спомене и движењето на Џуљиелма26. Станува збор
за жена од благородничко потекло за која нејзините приврзаници
сметале дека била инкарнација од Светиот Дух, испратена да вос-
23
Shahar, Women in a Medieval Heretical Sect, 57.
24
Arnold, “Heresy and Gender in the Middle Ages”, 602.
25
Kathryn Green, “The Joys of Heresy: Benefits for Women in Medieval Heretical
Sects,” Reading Heresy: Religion and Dissent in Literature and Art, ed. by Gregory Erickson
and Bernard Schweizer (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2017), 93; Margaret Aston, “Lollard
Women Priest”? Journal of Ecclesistical History 31/4 (October 1980), 441-461.
26
Џуљиелма потекнувала од Милано, каде што околу 1271 година како млада
и амбициозна жена формирала религиско движење во кое меѓу другите
партиципирала и Мајфреда од Пировано, која требала да биде именувана за папа
во новоформираната црква, види Arnold, “Heresy and Gender in the Middle Ages”,
599-600.
237
 постави нова црква, водена од женски папа и дека по нејзината смрт
ќе следи нејзиното второ пришествие, коешто ќе резултира со кон-
вертирање на многумина верници. 27 Квантитативно се работи за
прилично лимитирана секта, која дејствувала во тајност, но која ис-
товремено успеала да одржи извесен континуитет, особено поради
антипапската стратегија на партципиентите, главно припадници на
благородништвото.28
Тенденцијата за едукација во духот на апостазичниот религиско-
идеолошки комплекс, работењето во добротворни цели, форсирање-
то на народниот јазик за дисперзија на книжевноста со автентичен
статус, но и за онаа со интерполација, какви што биле апокрифите
се само дел од придобивките со кои се соочувале подеднакво и ма-
жите и жените во рамките на нивните заедници. Но, секако треба
да се укаже на фактот дека партиципирањето во овие средини не
се засновало само на придобивки, туку многу често и на контровер-
зи, произлезени пред сѐ од морално-етичкиот кодекс, кој бил деци-
ден против институцијата брак и паидопоијата. Перцепцијата за
бракот најилустративно е претставена во „Полемичното дело против
босанските богомили“ од средината на XIII век, каде што еретикот
во дијалог со извесен Римјанин, инаку приврзаник на католициз-
мот истакнува дека „има само еден вистински и спасителен брак –
меѓу Христос – маж и верата – жена (inter christianem virum et fidem
mulierem), што бездруго значи дека бракот бил сфатен како автен-
тична симбиоза меѓу нив и нивната приврзаност кон учењето29.
Врз основа на личните искажувања на Кирил со прекар Босота,
инаку еретик кој дејствувал на Света Гора во периодот на XIV век Ка-
лист, авторот на „Житието на Теодосиј Трновски“ констатирал дека
„мажите и жените требале да се одречат од законскиот брак“ и дека
„жени требале да ја прекинат бременоста“ .30
Речиси идентична е состојбата и меѓу катарите. „Телесниот брак,
- истакнува Сакониј, бил како смртен грев и дека во иднина никој
не ќе биде така казнет поради прељуба и разврат како за законско
соединување“ (matrimonium carnale fuit semper mortale peccatum, et
27
Janine Larmon Peterson, “Social Roles, Gender Inversion, and the Heretical Sect: The
Case of the Guglielmites,” Viator, 35 (2004), 203-220.
28
Barbara Newman, “The Heretic Saint: Guglielma of Bohemia, Milan and Brunate,”
Church History 74 (2005), 1–38.
29
Димитар Ангелов, Борис Примов, Георги Батаклиев, Богомилството в
България. Византияи Западна Европа в извори (София: Наука и изкуство, 1967), 200.
30
Petkov, The Voices of Medieval Bulgaria, 298-299.
238
quod non punietur quis gravis in futuro propter adulterium velincestum,
quam propter legitimum coniugium).31 Всушност катарското поимање
на бракот најавтентично е претставено во регистрите на Инквизи-
цијате, според кои „добар брак е кога нашата душа се соединува со
Бога доброволно, тоа е светоста на бракот. Но сетилниот брак т.е. со-
единувањето помеѓу мажот и жената не е брак, туку форма на здру-
жување, сетилното единство меѓу нив е секогаш грешно“ (...bonum
matrimonium erat quando anima nostra per bonam voluntatem Deo
coniungitur, et illud erat sacramentum matrimonii, sed quedam societas,
et quod coniunctio carnalis inter eos simper erat peccatum)32. Соврше-
ните катарки се залагале за суспендирање на семејните конвенции,
отфрлувајќи го бракот и паидопоијата со цел продолжување на авто-
номните религиски кариери и сакрални улоги. „Тие (жените) не жи-
вееле тивко во куќите како во католичките манастири. Наместо тоа,
парови жени престојувале по неколку месеци во определена куќа,
можеби да едуцираат нова совршена и потоа да продолжат поната-
му... “33 Нивните потфати претставувале предизвик за патријархални-
те авторитети во домаќинствата, а и пошироко на општествено ниво.
Без сомнение хетеродоксијата им овозможувала подеднаков избор и
на жените и на мажите.34 Во таа смисла Ен Бренон е децидна дека
жените во рамките на катарските заедници можеби не биле до таа
мера експонирани како мажите, но нивното учество секако генери-
рало просперитет и дисперзија на движењето. За катарите сите зем-
ни нешта, вклучително и човечките битија носат иста стигма, оттука
сосем разбирлова била улогата на жените што бездруго резултирало
со чувство на исполнетост и значење во комуната. 35
На контрадикторна инстанца почива и прашањето за паидопоија-
та. Оспорувајќи ѝ ја инстиктивната потреба да се реализира како
мајка богомилите на некој начин пројавувале нихилистички однос
кон животот во неговата биолошка константа. Малите деца, според
Презвитер Козма биле нарекувани „мамончиња“, пежоративна иден-
31
Raynerii Sakkoni, 2, p. 64.
32
Jean Douvernoy, Le Registre d’Inquisition de Jacques Fournier, évéque de Pamiers (1318-
1325). (Tolouse: É. Privat, 1965), 411.
33
Green, “The Joys of Heresy”, 89.
34
Green, “The Joys of Heresy”, 89.
35
Anne Brenon, “The Voice of the Good Women: An Essay on the Pastoral and
Sacerdotal Role of Women in the Cathar Church”, Women Preachers and Prophets through
Two Millennia of Christianity, еd. Beverly Mayne Kienzle and Pamela J. Walker (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1998), 121.
239
 тификација, која се должи на сфаќањето дека настанокот на децата
не претставува ништо друго, туку отелотворен плод од дејствувањето
на злото. Во однос на ова прашање катарите оделе и подалеку во ради-
калноста, која веќе добивала димензии на верски фундаментализам.
Па така според Рајнериј Сакониј „сите деца, дури и крстените ќе би-
дат казнети на оној свет, не помалку од разбојниците и од убијците“
(...omnes parvuli etiam baptizati non levius aeternaliter punientur quam
latrones et homicidiae).36 Во друг пример,пак, стаува збор за совршена
катарка, која била во посета кај бремената сопруга на трговец од Ту-
луз и без двоумење ја посоветувала да го замоли Бога да ја ослободи
од демонот, што го носи во својата утроба.37 Овие ставови, колку и да
имале религиско оправдување никогаш не заживеале помеѓу обич-
ните приврзаници и верниците, но дефинитивно биле задолжител-
ни за категоријата на совршените. Доколку условно постои некакво
оправдување за таквата состојба, тоа би се аргументирало со фактот
што да се биде еден од совршените било право на личен избор, што
воедно значело и сообразување со конкретни обврски, кои од една
страна се однесувале на аскетизмот и развивањето на интелектуал-
ниот потенцијал, но од друга страна предвидувале забрани од типот
склопување на брачна заедница и раѓање деца. Ваквата поставеност
на некој начин била детерминирана и од безбедносни причини, осо-
бено во време на прогонствата, кога припадниците на категоријата
на совршените, подеднакво мажи и жени морале да бидат мобилни и
многу често да го менуваат местото на престојување. 38
Еретичките учења, како впрочем и секоја религиска платформа
се одликувале со извесни контроверзности проследени преку хете-
рогениот фонд од рационални и прогресивно-регресивни варијан-
ти. Во таа смисла не може да се зборува за целосно позитивистички
однос на еретичките концепти кон родовите идентитети, особено
кон субјективитетот на жената, туку повеќе за обид да се неутра-
лизира конзервативниот и традиционален статус што таа го имала
како последица од официјално-црковната интерпретација на еван-
гелските принципи од Светото писмо. И сосем на крајот треба да се
спомене дека многу ереси се појавиле и еволуирале паралелно со
36
Raynerii Sakkoni, 2, p. 64.
37
Lambert, The Cathars, 151
38
Maja Angelovska-Panova, “Turning Towards Heresy: Bogomils and Self-Defence”.
Nottingham Medieval Studies 63, Special issue Heretical Self-Defence in Late Antiquity
and the Middle Ages, ed. Peter Darby, Rob Lutton and Claite Taylor (Turnhout: Brepols,
2019), 81-94.
240
христијанските движења за реформа и дека многу мажи и жени го
напуштиле традиционалното христијанство поради алтернативни-
те верски заедници. Оттука, полемичниот карактер на темата под-
разбира постојан ангажман околу понатамошното истражување на
единствениот женски глас, кој посредно или непосредно ја открива
желбата за инклузивност, одговорност и поголем авторитет. Отста-
пувањето од религиската конвенционалност и прифаќањето на ере-
сите за нив значело легитимна и малку поинаква перспектива.

241
 17

The “language of heresy” in Bogomil- and

Cathar-related texts1

Bojana Radovanović, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Wien

UDK 821’04(4)”9/13”
UDK 141.112[27-87.645:27-87.64”9/13”

Abstract: Ever since Late Antiquity, the attempt of structuring the narrative
of religious dissent has included specific terminology, semantic fields, topoi,
rhetoric and stylistic devices, symbolic representations and metaphors. Diver-
sified forms of allegorical procedures were used to knit together the threads in
the texts written in support, or as a refutation of religious dissenting practices,
and were not seldom drawn on scriptural interpretation and the homiletic her-
meneutic. At times, these filaments were made of analogous textual material:
for example, the Bogomils were often portrayed as “wolves in sheep’s clothing”
(cf. Matthew 7:15), but at the same time, the Cathar ritual of Dublin referred to
the Cathars as to “sheep among wolves” (cf. Matthew 10:16). Words, carriers of
meaning and message, are often endowed with nuances, which can sometimes
make all the difference; and the heretics were frequently accused of recurring
to erroneous interpretations and for twisting the meaning of the Scriptures.

1
Maja Angelovska-Panova, “Turning Towards Heresy: Bogomils and Self-Defence”.
Nottingham Medieval Studies 63, Special issue Heretical Self-Defence in Late Antiquity
and the Middle Ages, ed. Peter Darby, Rob Lutton and Claite Taylor (Turnhout: Brepols,
2019), 81-94.
242
 Hence, the correct interpretation becomes the pillar-stone and the bearer of
meaning, and metaphorical language takes up a pivotal role in the process of
the transmission of the message.

Ever since Late Antiquity, the attempt of structuring the narrative of re-
ligious dissent has included specific terminology, semantic fields, topoi,
rhetoric and stylistic devices, symbolical representations and metaphors.
Diversified forms of allegorical procedures were used to knit together the
threads of the texts written in support, or as a refutation of religious dis-
senting practices, and were not seldom drawn on scriptural interpreta-
tion and the homiletic hermeneutic. At times, these filaments were made
of analogous textual material: for example, the Bogomils were often por-
trayed as “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (cf. Matthew 7:15), but at the same
time, the Cathar ritual of Dublin referred to the Cathars as to “sheep
among wolves” (cf. Matthew 10:16).
The concept of heresy is reflected by language and literary means, as
language plays a significant role in the process of understanding, percep-
tion, and perspective of the reality and phenomena2.
This article represents a segment of a more comprehensive study on the
role of textual procedures in medieval polemical literature, and represents
a quest for the very “language of heresy”. Hence, the aim is to delve more
deeply into the ways of employing the figurative language in the writings
attributed to Bogomils, Cathars and the orthodox theologians who refut-
ed them, including some common literary patterns present in polemical
texts. Namely, it would be important to see how the Bogomils and the Ca-
thars could have been perceived on the basis of the literary analysis and
symbolical language. Herewith, literary analysis may serve as an indicator
unveiling the conceptual reservoir containing the elements of the “lan-
guage of heresy”. This article delves into the question of medieval dualist
heresies in the period of their acme and the trajectories of their spread,
by opening way towards the tracing of the specific “language of heresy”; it
encompasses the period between the 11th and the 13th centuries, although
it could also be understood as a segment within a more ample research
framework stretching from the 10th to the 14th centuries. This study repo-
sitions the Cathars and Bogomils in comparative perspective, and delves
into the perception of the interconnections between strategies for their
self-portrayal, as well as the methods employed by their opponents.

2
This paper is designed as to announce some opening deliberations of the postdoctoral
Erwin Schrödinger project number J 4431-G, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).
243
 More precisely, by submitting the textual threads, allegorical interpreta-
tion and exegetical approaches to the analysis, important peculiarities and
specificities could be traced, which in turn reveal the conceptual back-
ground, semantic fields in which heretics and mainstream theologians were
imbued, thus unvealing their different textual methodologies. In addition,
some elements-indicators in respect to the origin of the different motifs
they appropriated could thus be shaped, including the textual reception
and transmission history, as well as the prominent formative elements and
features of the heretical doctrine in question.
Although much has been written on the Bogomils and the Cathars, the
vivid scholarly debates do not yet seem to have reached a consensus3.
Revisiting the sources within a historical-critical analysis, a detailed scru-
tiny of literary material on a wider scale (including, lato sensu, parascriptural
material and the sketching of the intertextual layers)4, encompassing the
investigation of the textual provenance of the doctrinal and discursive ele-
ments in a comparative perspective yields instructive results regarding the
construction of the Cathar and Bogomil narratives, and result in the detec-
tion of broader underlying conceptual threads, knitting the tapestry of ideas5
in the quest for the “language of heresy”6. Additionally, undertaking such an
approach would result in the study of the local specificities of the “language
of heresy” as employed in the given texts and within their respective contexts.
Only after such a detailed source analysis it could become clear if and which
analogies in self-portrayal existed between the Cathars and the Bogomils.
Namely, the crucial research questions for this short survey encompasses
3
Cf. Daniela Müller, “Neue Herausforderungen an die Kirchengeschichte: Abschied
von den Katharern oder Neubesinnung auf die Quellen?” Internationale Kirchliche
Zeitschrift 108 (2018): 205–227, here 205–207.
4
For the brief overview of these debates, see Robert I. Moore, The War on Heresy
(London: Profile Books, 2012), 332–336; contributions of Peter Biller, Claire Taylor, Mark
G. Pegg, Robert I. Moore, Bernard Hamilton, and John H. Arnold in Cathars in Question,
ed. Antonio Sennis (Suffolk: Ashgate, 2016).
5
Anissava Miltenova, “Paratextual Literature in Action: Historical Apocalypses
with the Names of Daniel and Isaiah in Byzantine and Old Bulgarian Tradition (11th-
13th Centuries),” in In the Second Degree: Paratextual Literature in Ancient Near Eastern
and Ancient Mediterranean Culture, eds. Philip Alexander et al., 267–284 (Leiden: Brill,
2010); Id. “Intertextuality in the Orthodox Slavic Tradition: The Case of Mixed-Content
Miscellanies,” in Between Text and Text, eds. Michaela Bauks et al., 314–328 (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 2013).
6
cf. Yuri Stoyanov, “Pseudepigraphic and Parabiblical Narratives in Medieval Eastern
Christian Dualism, and their Implications for the Study of Catharism,” in Cathars in
Question, ed. Antonio Sennis, 151–176 (Suffolk: Ashgate, 2016), 151–176; Id., “Diabolizing
the Garden of Eden: Re-Interpretations of Jewish Pseudepigraphy in medieval Christian
Dualism,” In The Cosmography of Paradise, ed. Alessandro Scafi, 109–125 (London: The
Warburg Institute, 2016).
244
the following: how is religious dissent shaped by analyzing the “language of
heresy” and semantic field of religious dissent on a selected source material,
and in which manner and by which literary means do the heretics and pole-
mists construct their respective cases within the given situational contexts.
Metaphorical language, and the employment of metaphorical vocabulary
and terminology has played a significant role in polemical literature, and
the textual treatment of heresy and paganism by the Early Christian authors
(Irenaeus of Lyon [c.120/140–c.200/203], Hippolytus of Rome [c.170–c.235],
Augustine of Hippo [354–430], Isidore of Seville [c.560–636], Epiphanius of
Salamis [c.315–403], Justin Martyr [fl. mid-2nd c.], to mention only some)7.
In textual procedures, heresy has thus been defined by means of metaphori-
cal linguistic tools as well. The heretics and pagans have been frequently
related to the semantic fields of insanity/madness, contagious illness, poi-
son, serpentine symbolism, and venom. Apart from this relation between
the semantic fields of heresy and insanity, another related point indicates
the correlation between heresies and contagious illnesses, as it has been ob-
served on numerous occasions in the history of heresiologies8. Metaphori-
cal language has played a significant role in the polemical literature, but
also in the texts written by or attributed to the heretics themselves in their
self-portrayal.
Hence, the aspects of the literary analysis can be approached by focusing
upon figurative language, stylistics, and literary devices.

Defining, naming and framing: diversa sunt nomina,

sed una perfidia9 - in the quest for topoi10

This segment of the literary analysis would also include the epithets
and appellations given in to the respective heretics, as well as descriptive
devices used in the particular contexts. It encompasses appellations and

7
Antonio Rigo, Monaci esicasti e monaci bogomili (Firenze: Olschki, 1989).
8
Cf. Aline Pourkier, L’Hérésiologie chez Épiphane de Salamine (Paris: Beauchesne,
1992), 64–75.
9
As developed in Bojana Radovanović, “The Language of Religious Dissent:
Comparative Perspective (9th-century Frankish and Byzantine Authors)” (PhD Diss.,
University of Vienna, 2018); cf. Robert I. Moore, “Heresy as Disease”, in The Concept of
Heresy in the Middle Ages (11th – 13th c.). Proceedings of the International Conference,
Louvain May 13–16, 1973, eds. Willem Lourdeaux and Daniël Verhelst, 1–11 (Louvain:
Louvain University Press, 1976).
10
Theodor Mommsen and Paul Meyer, eds., Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus
Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes (Berlin: Weidmann, 1905;
Reprint 1954, 1970), 876.
245
 nominal descriptions of heretics, including polemical anti-heretical liter-
ary devices used by the apologists, clichés, rhetorical strategies, formulaic
phraseology, recurrence to earlier ecclesiastic authorities in textual de-
scriptions (in threading the polemical textual procedures and anti-heret-
ical discourse)11.
The topoi and the recurrence to figurative language represent power-
ful tools in polemical literature – in portraying and combatting heretical
opponents. The practice of assimilation of a chronologically prior heresy
into a more recent one – or inversely, including the naming of the more
recently emerged heresy after the preceding one – as long as these have
been presented as having points in common, was the habitual modus ope-
randi in heresiological literature12.
In the first half of the 10th century, Constantinopolitan Patriarch Teoph-
ylact Lecapenus (917–956) alluded to Bogomilism which was gaining mo-
mentum as to the “ancient and newly heresy…Manichaeism mixed with
Paulicianism” and urged the Bulgarian Tsar Peter (d. 970) to anathematize
it13. Similarly, even though at a later date, the Cathars were also associated
with Manichaeans14. An important axis to examine is what has remained
in the “language of heresy” from the earlier centuries15. For example, the
term “Manichaeans” designated heretics in general16. Antonio Rigo has
accentuated the importance of philological analysis in the comprehen-
sion of the topoi/clichés employed in the accusations of the hesychiasts
for Bogomilism and Messalianism17. The Bogomils were associated with

11
Cf., among other, Arno Borst, Die Katharer (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1953), An.
II:240–253.
12
Uwe Brunn, Des contestataires aux “cathares” (Paris: Brepols, 2006), 287–288; Jean-
Louis Biget, Hérésie et inquisition dans le midi de la France (Paris: Picard, 2007), 18–20.
13
Cf. Pourkier, Hérésiologie chez Épiphane, 159.
14
Yuri Stoyanov The Hidden Tradition in Europe (London: Penguin Books, 1994), 126,
128.
15
Michel Roquebert, La religion cathare (Paris: Perrin, 2001), 46.
16
Cf. Steven Runciman, The Medieval Manichee. A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 49; Јордан Иванов, ed., Богомилски
книги и легенди (София: БАН, 1925, 1970²), 20.
17
Topoi, cf. Ивана Коматина, Црква и држава у српским земљама од XI до XIII века
(Београд: Историjски институт, 2016), 166, 168; cf. Radovanović, “Language of Religious
Dissent”; clishés: Maja Angelovska-Panova and Andrew P. Roach, “The Bogomils’ Folk
Heritage: False Friend or Neglected Source?” in Heresy and the Making of European
Culture. Medieval and Modern Perspectives, eds. Andrew P. Roach and James Simpson,
129–149 (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), here 146–147.
246
the Massalians as well18. Other similarities/comparisons with previous
heresies were conveyed by the account of Cosmas the Priest (fl. 2nd half of
the 10th c.), who compared the Bogomils with the Arians, Sabellians and
Macedonians, due to the Bogomils’ rejection of the Holy Trinity19.
The quest for the “language of heresy” and its role in descriptions, defini-
tions and portrayal of the deviant religious currents would also include the
examples of the epithets employed for dissenting religious groups: for in-
stance, the (most likely Bogomil) heresy attacked at the Synod of Žiča (1221)
was described as a “thrice-damned” (trikleta) – due to the fact that the her-
etics in question rejected the Holy Trinity20; “evil faith” and “damned faith”.
The identical terms in framing the Bogomil heresy have been used at the
Synods held in Bulgaria and Serbia21. Furthermore, dualist heresies in the
Balkan area have been referred to by means of different appellations, which
reach back to earlier sources. For example, according to a legend written
down during the reign of Emperor Samuilo (d.1014), the three categories of
people existed: the true believers, the semi-believers and the non-believers.
The Orthodox Christians were assigned to the first group, the Muslims to the
non-believers, whereas other non-Orthodox Christians fell into the semi-be-
liever category22. Consequently, the Roman Catholic Christians, but also the
Franks, Hungarians, Armenians and other non-Orthodox Christians were
considered semi-believers23. Additionally, the term “pseudo-Christians” was
attributed to the heretics from Dalmatia24; Euthymius Zigabenus (c.1050–
1120) referred to the Bogomils as “pseudo-monks” and “godless priests”. The
Cathars, who alluded to themselves as to “good Christians” and “good men”,
18
Rigo, Monaci esicasti e monaci bogomili; Angelovska-Panova–Roach, “The Bogomils’
Folk Heritage”, 147.
19
As in the epistle of Euthymius of Peribleptos: Stoyanov, Hidden Tradition, 140.
20
Козма Пресвитеръ Болгарскiй писатель X вѣка, ed. Михаил Попруженко
(София: Придворна печатница, 1936), 1.15–2.9.
21
Cf. Euthymius Zigabenus, Orthodoxae fidei dogmatica panoplia, Patrologiae Cursus
Completus, Series Graeca 130 (PG), ed. Jacques-Paul Migne (Paris: Imprimerie Catholique,
1857–1866), 1291D–1294D; cf. Id., The Panoplia Dogmatike by Euthymios Zigabenos, ed.
Nadia Miladinova (Leiden: Brill, 2014).
22
Cf. Борилов синодик. Издание и превод, ed. Иван Божилов et al. (София: ПАМ
Пъблишинг Къмпани, 2010).
23
Иванов, Богомилски книги, 268.
24
Radoslav Grujić, “Legenda iz vremena cara Samuila o poreklu naroda,” Glasnik
skopskog naučnog društva 13 (1933): 1–3, here 1; poluverci: cf. Dušanov zakonik, ch. 9, in:
Dušanov zakonik, ed. Nikola Radojčić (Beograd: SANU, 1953), 33; Grujić, “Legenda”, 2; cf.
Иванов, Богомилски книги, 268; Jovanka Kalić, “Srpski državni sabori u Rasu,” in Evropa
i Srbi. Srednji vek, ed. Tibor Živković, 185–195 (Beograd: Istorijski institut, 2006), 190–193.
247
 were at times referred by the ecclesiastics as “hidden men”25, or filii Diaboli
the writings of Eckbert of Schönau (1120–1184), Benedictine monk and theo-
logian, who recurred to various metaphors in portraying the Cathars in his
incessant endeavors in refuting the 12th-century heresies26.
The employment of particular language patterns can equally point to the
political use and misuse of heresy: as it was attested upon the Council of
Žiča, the term “heretics” was employed to designate political opponents27.
The above-mentioned examples are indicative of the various and at times
analogous rhetorical strategies and metaphorical language recurred to
in refuting deviant and unorthodox theological doctrines. Nevertheless,
the particular contextual situations should be taken into consideration,
as it would be important to examine, if and how the figurative language
changed in the changing circumstances. Moreover, it would also be im-
portant to scrutinize which in which manner the intertwining of currents
and constitutive, as well as inherited elements were reflected in the very
“language of heresy”28.

Exegetical approaches and allegorical scriptural interpretation:

from Biblical passagesto topoi - “Sheep among wolves” and “wolves in
sheep’s clothing”
The allegorical (Scriptural) interpretation29 may serve as a basis for
conceptual and doctrinal divergence, and act in the role of the indicator
25
Codex Diplomaticus Regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae II–VI, ed. Tadija Smičiklas
(Zagrabiae: Ex officina Societatis typographicae, 1904–1908), II, 296.
26
Yuri Stoyanov, The Other God. Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), 194–195, 191.
27
cf. Eckbert of Schönau, Sermones tredicim contra Catharos, Patrologiae Cursus
Completus, Series Latina (PL) 195:13–106, ed. Jacques-Paul Migne (Paris: Imprimerie
Catholique, 1844–1855), here I:17D; XI:90C; XIII:98C.
28
Aleksandar Solovjev, “Svedočanstva pravoslavnih izvora o bogomilstvu na Balkanu,”
Godišnjak 5 (1953): 1–103, here 15–16; Коматина, Црква и држава, 166.
29
Yuri Stoyanov, “The Interchange Between Religious Heterodoxies in the Balkans and
Caucasus: The Case of the Paulicians,” in The Balkans and Caucasus, ed. Ivan Biliarsky
et al., 106–115 (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), here
109–110; Id., “Parabiblical Narratives”; Bernard Hamilton, “Wisdom from the East: the
reception by the Cathars of Eastern dualist texts,” in Heresy and literacy 1000–1530, eds.
Peter Biller–Ann Hudson, 38–60 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994); Maja Angelovska-
Panova and Ružica Cacanoska. “Historical and Cultural Implications of Bogomilism”.
Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 36/4 (2016): 37–52, here 49; Edgar
Hösch, “Kritische Anmerkungen zum gegenwärtigen Stand der Bogomilenforschung,”
in Kulturelle Traditionen in Bulgarien, eds. Reinhard Lauer–Peter Schreiner (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, 1989), 111, 114.
248
pointing to the “language of heresy”, as it represents a reservoir, affluent
with vast array of metaphorical devices30. This segment of the analysis
should take into consideration the allegorical exegesis of the Scriptures
represents a pillar in the process of literary analysis, together with homi-
letic hermeneutic and spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures, including
topology/themes/imagery (Biblical/heathen), recurrence to the wisdom
literature and scriptural passages, parascriptural narratives, appropriation
of pseudepigraphical material, adaptations and modifications of Biblical
narratives, patterns of intertextual relations31, symbolical representations
and metaphors, employment of parables and allegories32.
One of the most illustrative examples attesting the employment of bib-
lical quotations in service of presenting or refuting the given doctrine
stems from the Gospel of Matthew33. These were employed both by the
Bogomils and Cathars, as well as the orthodox theologians who wished to
refute their doctrines.
The New Testament metaphor of Lord’s sheep was amply recurred to,
used, reused and paraphrased ever since the first polemical treatises have
seen the light of the day; not seldom has it come into interplay in apolo-
getical contexts. For example Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea (c.260–339),
while addressing his fierce critique of the heretics, stated that the shep-
herds of the Church have to chase the heretics – compared to wild beasts
– away from Christ’s sheep: …οἱ πανταχὸσε τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν ποιμένες ὥσπερ
τινὰς θῆρας ἀγρίους τῶν Χριστοῦ προβάτων ἀποσοβοῦντες34.
30
The allegorical scriptural interpretation was developed in the Alexandrian
school, and saw its apex in the writings of Origen (c.184–c.253), Clement or Alexandria
(c.150–c.215), and Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenized Jewish exegete and philosopher
(c.20 B.C.E.–c.50): cf. Darren M. Slade, “Patristic Exegesis: The Myth of the Alexandrian-
Antiochene Schools of Interpretation”, in Socio-Historical Examination of Religion
and Ministry, 1/2 (2019): 155–176; Davide Del Bello, Forgotten Paths: Etymology and the
Allegorical Mindset (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2007), ch.2
“Nomen est omen: Etymology and Allegory”; Gillian R. Evans, The Language and Logic of
the Bible. The Earlier Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 101–124.
31
On the allegorical interpretation in the Bogomil circles, see: Euthymius Zigabenus,
Panoplia Dogmatica, ed. Migne, PG 130: 1200A 1–14, 1289D–1331D, 1321–1322.
32
Stoyanov, “Parabiblical Narratives”; Id., “Garden of Eden”.
33
Cf. Daniela Müller, „The Making of a Cathar counter-church, the ‘ecclesia Dei’, through
the ‘consolamentum’ ritual (baptism of the Holy Spirit),” in The Making of Christianities
in History. A Processing Approach, eds. Staf Hellemans and Gerard Rouwhorst (Turnhout:
Brepols, 2020, forthcoming).
34
“sheep among wolves”: cf. Mt. 7:15: Adtendite a falsis prophetis qui veniunt ad vos in
vestimentis ovium intrinsecus autem sunt lupi rapaces – “Beware of false prophets, which
come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”; Mt. 10:16: Ecce
ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum estote ergo prudentes sicut serpentes et simplices
249
 Although at an earlier date, in the treatise against the Manichaeans
composed by Peter of Sicily at the very end of the 860’s, the aims of the
heretics are depicted by the image of a wolf in a sheepskin, and directed
towards the accusation of the truth and leading the unlearned and simple
people into error: …κατηγορεῖν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἐξαπατᾶν τοὺς ἀμαθεῖς καὶ
ἰδιώτας…ὡς ἐν κωδίῳ προβάτου λύκον περικαλύψαι35.
Similarly, in the treatise against the heretics by Cosmas the Priest, com-
posed in the second half of the 10th century, the Bogomils were portrayed
as “wolves”, or “wolves in sheep’s clothing”36.
Panoplia Dogmatica by Euthymius Zigabenos, as well as the Alexiad
by Anna Comnena (1083–1153) serve as the most comprehensive sources
on the danger of the Bogomils’ sweeping over the Byzantine territory at
the close of the 11th century. In both texts, the Bogomils were described
by means of the similar metaphors - τὸν λύπον ὑποκρύπτοντες37in Panoplia
Dogmatica, and λύκος ἐστὶν ἀκάθεκτος38 in Alexiad, in which the princess,
daughter of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenos (ca.1058–1118), con-
secrated significant space to the description of Bogomils, and the danger
they induced. The metaphor of wolves in sheepskin is widely present in
the medieval tractates, in the writings of the alleged heretics, as well as
those of the polemicists.39
The Cathars were also referred to as “sheep among wolves” in the Cathar
Ritual of Dublin40. But not only: in 1208, at the dawn of the Albigensian

sicut columbae – “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore
wise as serpents, and harmless as doves”, KJV. Cf. Acts 20:29.
35
Eusèbe de Césarée, Histoire ecclésiastique, 4 vols., trad. Gustave Bardy, Sources
Chrétiennes 31 (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1952), IV, 24.
36
Peter of Sicily, “Les sources grecques pour l’histoire des Pauliciens d’Asie Mineure”,
ed. Ch. Astruc et al., Travaux & Mémoires 4 (1970): 3–67, here 37, 80–81.
37
Mt. 7:15, cf. Bernard Hamilton and Janet Hamilton, Christian Dualist Heresies in
the Byzantine World, c. 650–c.1405 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), 116;
Маја Ангеловска-Панова, “Дуалистичката иницијација во дискурсот на религиско-
духовната алтернатива,” ИСТОРИЈА XLVIII/1 (2013): 77–92, at 78.
38
Euthymius Zigabenus, Panoplia dogmatica, ed. Migne, PG 130:1320C.
39
Anna Comnena, Alexiad XV, ed. Migne, PG 131:1168/9; Fontes Graeci historiae
Bulgaricae (ГИБИ) VIII, 141–149 (София: БАН, 1972), at 141; as for Euthymius Periblepton,
cf. Hamilton and Hamilton, Christian Dualist Heresies, 143.
40
Cf. the mutual accusations phrased by recurring to the analogous metaphors of
wolves in sheepskin between Hincmar of Reims and Gottschalk of Orbais, 9th-century
monk accused of heresy: Hincmar of Reims, Epistolae, ed. Ernst Perels, 1–228, Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, Epistolae in Quart VIII (Berlin: Weidmann, 1939), here Ep. 169, 162,
l. 13–14; Hincmar of Reims, De una et non trina Deitate, ed. Migne, PL 125: 473–0618,
here 485D–486A, 613–614; Cf. Gottschalk of Orbais, De Praedestinatione, in Œuvres
250
Crusade, as a consequence of the spread of the “pravitas haeretica” which
threateningly swayed the territories of nowadays South of France, Pope
Innocent III wrote to count Raymond VI and, as frequently attested in his
letters, resorted to the arsenal of literary devices aimed at encouraging
the Frankish nobles at suppressing the heresy. The Pope compared the
heretics to “wolves in sheep’ clothing” – lupi rapaces in ovium vestimen-
tis, but also to the “little foxes” – vulpesculae – which demolish the Lord’s
vineyard41. In the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), abbot of the
Cistercian abbey, ecclesiastical reformer, and one of the most influential
opponents of heresies, the Cathars were described as “wolves and foxes”42,
whereas in the polemical invective against the Cathars framed by Eckbert
of Schönau, the Cathars were depicted as “little foxes that demolish the
vine of Lord”43 - …ad munimendum catholicae fidei, ut arceantur a vinea
Domini vulpesculae pessime, quae demoliuntur eam.44
Some highly-laden metaphors do not necessarily stem from the Scrip-
tures. For example, In the middle of the 10th century, Patriarch Theophy-
lact Lecapenus composed a letter to Peter, Tsar of the Bulgars, in which he
gave the instructions to the ruler regarding the suppression of the heresy
of the Bogomils, which was spreading throughout Tsar’s lands. The Patri-
arch described Bogomilism by referring to the topos used in the aim of
symbolically representing the heresies, as contained in the writings of
the early Christian writers (e.g. Epiphanius of Salamis): he refers to it as
a “serpent-like and many-headed hydra of impiety”45, and Pope Innocent

théologiques et grammaticales de Godescalc d’Orbais, ed. Cyril Lambot, Spicilegium

Sacrum Lovaniense 20 (1945): 180–258, here 244.
41
Cf. Mt. 10:16, cf. Daniela Müller, “Neue Herausforderungen,” 205-227; Anne Brenon,
ed., “Rituel cathare, Manuscrit de Dublin”, in Écritures cathares, ed. René Nelli, 274–322
(Paris: Planète, 1968).
42
Pope Innocent III, Regestorum sive epistularum liber sextus, ed. Migne, PL 214: 971; 215:
358, 362; 215: 1354; 216: 836; Eckbert of Schönau, Sermo XIII, ed. Migne, PL 195:98C; Rebecca
Rist, “Lupi rapaces in ovium vestimentis: Heretics and Heresy in Papal Correspondence,”
in Cathars in Question, ed. Sennis, 229–241, here 232–233; John H. Arnold and Peter Biller,
eds., Heresy and Inquisition in France, c.1200–c.1300 (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 2016), 117; Mark Gregory Pegg, A Most Holy War. The Albigensian Crusade and the
Battle for Christendom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 22 sq.; Pierre des Vaux-de
Cernay, Historia Albigensis, ed. Pascal Guébin and Ernest Lyon, I, 51–65 (Paris: Champion,
1926).
43
Cf. Bruno Scott James, ed., The Letters of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, letter 318 (Stroud:
Sutton, 1998²), 389–391.
44
Arnold and Biller, Heresy and Inquisition, 117.
45
Eckbert of Schönau, Sermo XIII, ed. Migne, PL 195:98C; cf. Song of Songs 2:15: “Take
us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes”, KJV.
251
 III (1160/1–1216) described the Cathar heresy at the dawn the Albigensian
Crusade by recurring to the analogous metaphor46. In this example, the
imagery has evidently been derived from the heritage of the pagan an-
tiquity. At times, Pope also equated the heretics with draco, serpens, Le-
viathan, ut cancer Provinciam pene totam infecit47 - aligning to the topoi
attested in the writings of the Early Christian authors48. The similar met-
aphor employs Eckbert of Schönau, comparing the heretics’ words with
cancer and leprosy, which threatens to infest the limbs of Christ49.

Semantic field analysis - Leitmotiv: Body and bodily symbolism - image

of self and the way others perceive it

The importance of the semantic field of the body symbolism has often
been insisted upon ever since the composition of the first Early Chris-
tian polemical treatises50. The semantic field analysis thus represents a
broader and a more encompassing structure stemming from the above-
demonstrated literary analysis.
Furthermore, one of the most prominent questions which stems from
the afore-mentioned passages is how the allegorical (scriptural) interpre-
tation serves to construct the body of believers. Construction of the body
of believers is important in both - mainstream and heretical texts and
identification, achieved by an analogous method: insiders versus outsid-
ers. Here, we witness the construction of the body by means of allegorical,
spiritual scriptural interpretation.

46
Cf. Ivan Dujčev, “L’epistola sui Bogomili del patriarca constantinopolitano Teofilatto”,
Mélanges Eugène Tisserant, 63–91, vol. 2, Studi e testi 232 (Rome: Città del Vaticano: 1964),
here 88–91; Stoyanov, Hidden Tradition, 128.
47
Pope Innocent III, Epistolae, ed. Migne, PL 216: 836; Cf. Pegg, Holy War, 184 sq.
48
Pope Innocent III, Epistolae, ed. Migne, PL 215: 1545, 1546, 1469; cf. Eckbert of
Schönau, sermo eorum serpit ut cancer: Sermo I, ed. Migne, PL 195:13 C.
49
The theme of the serpent, inherent to the textual treatment of heresies, is present
in Christian heresiology in Justin, Irenaeus, Eusebius of Caesarea, to mention only some:
cf. Irenaeus of Lyon, Contra Haereses Libri Quinque, ed. Migne, PG 7A: 1115–1117; Pourkier,
Hérésiologie chez Épiphane, 80, and especially note 25; 73–78, 120, 211, 334; Epiphanius of
Salamis, II. Panarion 57, I, 2 (haer. 34–64), ed. Karl Holl, Die griechischen christlichen
Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte 31, 344, I (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1922); Jean-Paul
Rassinier, “L’hérésie comme maladie dans l’œuvre de Saint Augustin”, Mots, n°26 (mars
1991): 65–83.
50
Cf. Irenaeus, Contra Haereses, ed. Migne IV, 33, 1076–1079; Augustine, De doctrina
Christiana, eds. Klaus D. Daur and Joseph Martin, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 32
(Turnhout: Brepols, 1962), 114.
252
 Bodily symbolism and bodily unity symbolism represent the Leitmo-
tiv of heretical and anti-heretical discourse, pointing to the importance
of belonging to the given group and aligning to the semantic field of the
“other”: the church of God has a power to bind and dissolve – solve et co-
agula – whereas one of the differences between the “official” and Cathar
church, as demonstrated in ritual, is reflected in the notions of spiritual
versus factual unity, and spiritual versus factual excommunication. The
Cathar Ritual of Dublin is affluent with metaphors, conveying a power-
ful message and symbolism aligning to the allegorical and spiritual inter-
pretation of the scriptures: “heavenly bread” instead of “daily bread”51, the
stance according to which the true Christians constitute the temple of
God and the word’s commandments represent the flesh of Christ (cf. John
6), reflecting the deeper spiritual interpretation of the New Testament;
the gap between the “church of sheep” and “church of wolves”52 – and can
be understood as the superimposition onto the verse in Matthew 10:16,
discussing sheep and wolves.
Moreover, the Eucharist was one of the burning contestation points be-
tween the dualist dissenters and the Christian church, and it represented
a powerful metaphor of the bodily unity symbolism, from which the dis-
senters were cut off53; and, the attempt to construct the “social body” is
aimed at by means of the extirpation of the heresy. Namely, transposed to
another level, the above-said conveys the image of the body of believers
being constructed, implying the “social body” likewise.54
Additionally, ritual can undoubtedly be observed as a bridge, binding
the community together55. Thus, the analysis of the ritual attested among
the Bogomils and the Cathars may contribute to the information regard-
ing conceptual analogies or differences between these groups56. Thus, it is
51
Cf. Interrogatio Iohannis, 8:“For I am the bread of life that came down from the
seventh heaven, wherefore who so eats my flesh and drinks my blood, these shall
be called the children of God” –accessed March 1, 2020, http://gnosis.org/library/
Interrogatio_Johannis.html, based on: Walter L. Wakefield and Austin P. Evans, Heresies of
the High Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), p. 458ff.
52
Brenon, “Rituel cathare”.
53
Cf. Eckbert of Schönau, Sermo I, ed. Migne, PL 195:13BC.
54
Cf. Pierre Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, trans. Richard Nice (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1977), 72.
55
On the rituals of Florence, Lyon and Dublin, and their significance, see Müller,
“Cathar counter-church”; “Neue Herausforderungen”, 215; Brenon, “Rituel cathare”; David
Zbíral and Anne Brenon. “Nové poznatky o původu okcitánského katarského kodexu z
Lyonu a tzv. “Lyonského řádu”. Religio XXIV, 2016 (2): 189–217.
56
cf. Andrew Roach, The Devil’s World. Heresy and Society 1000–1300 (Harlow: Pearson
253
 in the ritual that the construction of the opposites occurs, the separation
and delimitation between those belonging to the given group, and the
“outsiders”, or “others”57, and the importance of the study of ritual among
the Bogomils and the Cathars has been stressed in several contributions58.
The similarities between the “Ritual provençal” and the form of confes-
sion later introduced in Bulgaria have been noted59, as have the important
trajectories of research60.
In conclusion, the above structured scheme of linguistic analysis will
yield a fresh perspective on the (inter)woven textual threads in the fab-
ric of the very “language of heresy”, by prioritizing the theme-based ap-
proach, with connected sub-topics, integrated within a theme.
The scrutiny of the topological and symbolical representations of dual-
ist heresy would yield interesting results, especially when compared to he-
retical and anti-heretical textual tools used in describing heretics. Namely,
the comparative perspective and the analysis of the texts related to Bo-
gomils and the Cathars, as well as their respective opponents, allows the
detection of literary patterns and strategies the authors of the given texts
recurred to, as well as of the ways in which they resorted to the scriptural
interpretation.
Hence, both the polemicists, as well as the Bogomils and the Cathars
have at times employed similar discursive means in combatting their op-
ponents (which was the well-attested practice from the times of the Early
Christian authors). The way of refuting and dealing with “the others” is
often analogous61. Nevertheless, the employment of certain figures of
style, and Biblical sequences can also be quite distinct, and would rather
corroborate the thesis of different allegorical and exegetical approach the
authors relied upon. The scriptural interpretation differs in some respect
Education, 2005), 70.
57
Müller, “Neue Herausforderungen”, 216–223.
58
Müller, “Cathar counter-church”, “Neue Herausforderungen”, 215; Zbíral–Brenon,
“Nové poznatky”; overview of the literature in Roquebert, Religion cathare, 426–427.
59
Bojan Džonov, “Le modèle de confession chez les Bogomiles et les Cathares”.
Palaeobulgarica 4 (1980): 87–92; Hamilton and Hamilton, Christian Dualist Heresies, 289;
Christine Thouzellier, ed., Rituel Cathare (Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1976), 182–184.
60
Bernard Hamilton, “The Legacy of Charles Schmidt to the Study of Christian
Dualism,” Journal of Medieval History 24/2 (1998): 191–214, here 26, 53; Milan Loos, Dualist
heresies in the Middle Ages (Praha: Academia, 1974), 261; Roach, Devil’s World, 70.
61
Cf. Daniela Müller, “Our Image of ‘Others’ and our Own Identity”, in Iconoclasm
and Iconoclash. Struggle for Religious Identity, eds. Willem van Asselt, Paul van Geerst,
Daniela Müller, and Theo Salemink, 107–123. Jewish and Christian Perspective Series 14
(Leiden: Brill, 2007).
254
in writings of heretical and mainstream theologians: the symbolism of the
Body implies the spiritual body by the Cathars, opposed to the body of
the believers gathered together in the Eucharist in the texts of the main-
stream Christian theologians.

255
 18

Цингулум од Лихнид и аналогии во

византиското ѕидно сликарство
Бошко Ангеловски, Институт
за старословенска култура, Прилеп
Давча Спасова, Министерство за култура на Р.С.
Македонија
UDK 903.24:726.82(497.771)”3/4”
UDK 75.033.2(497.7)”13”

Abstract: With the archaeological excavations in 2002, at the site of Deboj in

Ohrid, in the area of ​​the late antique necropolis of Lychnidus, in the military
grave 37, military belt cingulum militare, composed of cast bronze elements
was found. The find is dated to the second half of the 4th century and to the
beginning of the 5th century at the latest and it is a Roman military status
symbol. Nearly a millennium later, propeller-shaped belt stiffiners of this type
appeared in the common ktetor’s representations on wall fresco paintings
in the monastery churches from the XIV century. The paper addresses the
assumptions of the findings in the Balkan context.

Со археолошките истражувања во 2002 година, на локацијата Дебој

во Охрид, на просторот на доцноантичаката некропола на Лихнид,

256
во војничкиот гроб 37 (Сл.1) беше откриена појасна гарнитура -
cingulum militare, составена од лиени бронзени елементи (Сл.2). Овој
наод е датиран во втората половина на IV а најдоцна до почетокот на
V век и претставува римски војнички статусен симбол.1 Скоро еден
миленум подоцна, елементите во форма на пропилер од ваков тип
на појаси се појавуваат на една серија ктиторски претстави на ѕид-
ното сликарство, од четириесетите до седумдесетите години на XIV
век. Сликаните портретни особености на локалните велможи Јован
Оливер, Паскач и Градислав и нивните ликови живописани во цркви-
те од манстирските комплекси Св. Архангел Михаил во Лесново, Св.
Никола во Псача и Успение Богородичино во Трескавец, меѓу друго-
то ја отсликуваат рефлексијата на една типична римска воена инсиг-
нија во предзорјето на турско-османскиот доминат на Балканските
простори.

Сл. 1, Гроб 37, локалитет Дебој, Охрид

(цртеж Д. Спасова)

1
Vera Bitrakova Grozdanova, Jedan Cingulum Militare iz Lihnida VAMZ 3. s., XLV
(2012), 142.
257
 Римскиот војничкиот појас - cingulum militare, имал двојна улога.
Како симбол на војската, воената служба и војничката дисциплина,
тој претставувал задолжителен елемент на војничката опрема, а во
практична примена имал функција да ја намали тежината на окло-
пот врз раменскиот појас, особено низ републиканскиот период кога
во употреба бил панцирниот оклоп - lorica hamata, зајакнат со ме-
талните плочи овозможувал заштита во долниот дел на абдоменот, а
истовремено служел и за прикачување на мечот (gladius) и бодежот
(pugio).2 Според записите на Полибиј и Јосиф Флавиј, римската пеша-
дија во периодот на раното царство мечот го носела на десната страна
на цингулумот, додека офицерите мечот го носеле на левата страна3
Истата практика се задржала и подоцна во Римската Империја.4
Појасната гарнитура од Лихнид не содржи делови кои служеле за
прикачување на оружјето, односно на мечот или бодежот. Некои ав-
тори овие појаси ги сметаат за парадни,5 иако токму на парадите би
требало да се очекува војската, особено оние со највисок ранг, да го
носи и своето оружје, имајќи предвид дека преку личното оружје се
манифестира силата и моќта на војската. Консеквентно на тоа може
да се претпостави дека овие појаси се носеле исклучиво да се потен-
цира високиот воен статус на носителот,6 со оглед дека тие биле носе-
ни целиот живот и војничките стандарди забранувале отстранување
на цингулумот заради било какви причини. Нивното симнување зна-
чело напуштање на воената служба7 и заради тоа, римските воени
професионалци најчесто биле погребувани со оваа неприкосновена
војничка инсигнија.

2
Mike C. Bishop & Jonathan C. N. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment from the Punic
Wars to the Fall of the Rome (Oxford, 2006), 67.
3
Polyb. VI, 23, 6; Драгослав Пилетиħ, “О римским мечевима”, ВВМ, ЈНА 1 (1954),13-
14; Raffaele D’Amato, Arms and Armour of the Imperia l Roman Soldier (London, 2009),
24.
4
Претстави римски војници во различни ликовни медиуми ја потврдуваат оваа
востановена практика. Најкаракреристични примери се Триумфалниот лак на
Константин, претставта на Стилихон со семејството.
5
Адам Црнобрња, “Појасне Копче из Музеја Града Београда”, Гласник САД (1997),
307.
6
Ivan Radman-Livaja, Militaria Sisciensia, Nalazi rimske vojne opreme is Siska u fundusu
Arheološkoga muzeja u Zagrebu (Zagreb, 2004), 96.
7
Цинги значи да стапиш во војска, види Viktor Hoffiller, “Oprema rimskog vojnika u
prvo doba carstva,” VAMZ (1910), 113; D’Amato, Arms, 20.
258
 Оваа тенденција е запазена и во погребниот ритус на инхумира-
ниот покојник во гробот 37 на локалитетот Дебој во Охрид.8 Од друга
страна, обликот и декорацијата на металните елементи во состав на
откриениот цингулум го дефинира статусот на висок воен офицер на
неговиот носител.9 Во основа, оваа појасна гарнитура се состои од
две масивни правоаголни токи, седум окови во форма на пропилер,
пет цевчести и еден јазичест елемент, како и еден фрагмент од жица-
та од шарнирот. Сите делови се сочувани во мошне добра состојба.10
Двете токи се речиси идентични, алката е правоаголна и завршува
на двата краја со волути меѓу кои е поставен двоен трн за затегну-
вање на кожниот ремен (Сл. 2). Алката на четирите краеви има де-
корација во вид на правоаголници. Оковот на токата бил изведен со
техника на ажурирање и украсен со пунцирање, а на истиот начин
е изведена и декорацијата на трнот којшто со оковот на токата бил
врзан со шарнир.

Сл. 2, Појасна гарнитура - цингулум од гроб 37 (фото сп. В. Битракова Грозданова)

Амфороидниот јазичест елемент (Сл.3) имал функција на украс на

крајот на кожниот ремен од појасната гарнитура и бил прицврстен
за него со две нитни, додека петте цевчечсти елементи (Сл. 4) биле,
најверојатно во функција на зајакнување на кожниот ремен.
8
Bitrakova, “Jedan Cingulum,” 143.
9
Bitrakova, “Jedan Cingulum,” 142.
10
Bitrakova, “Jedan Cingulum,” 140-142, sl. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7.
259
 Сл. 3, Појасни токи и
јазичест елемент од
појасната гарнитура
(цртеж Д. Спасова)

Сл. 4, Цевчести елементи од

појасната гарнитура (цртеж
Д. Спасова)

Со иста намена биле и оковите во форма на пропелери (Сл. 5) чиј

облик и декорација носат силна изразна симболика. Оваа форма е
постигната со изведба на централна кружна површина на чија гор-
на и долна страна има испусти во форма на обратно свртени триа-
голници, односно трапези. Висината на седумте откриени окови се
движи од 5.2 – 5.9 см. Тие се декорирани со по едно релјефно вер-
тикално ребро по целата должина, а централната кружна површина
е нагласена со пунцирани двојни волути изведени по нејзините на-
дворешни рабови. Секој оков бил прицврстени за кожниот ремен со
четири нитни распоредени на аглите, аплицирани по две во горниот
и долниот дел од реверсна страна.11 Според формата и начинот на де-
корација, особено врз основа на наодите од просторот на Републи-
ка Србија издвоени се четири варијанти на пропелерастите окови.12

11
Bitrakova, Jedan Cingulum, 140.
12
Saša T. Redžić, Rimske pojasne garniture na tlu Srbije od I do IV veka (doktorska
260
Со оглед на тоа што оковите од Лихнид немаат директни аналогии,
според декорацијата изведена како вертикалното ребро по целата
должина на пропелерот и двојните волути по работ на кружната по-
вршина, може да се посочи дека тие претставуваат комбинација на
втората и третата варијанта од оваа типологија. Од друга страна, со
анализа на димензиите и декоративните елементи е усвоена рела-
тивно прецизна хронолошка рамка. Во оваа смисла, оковите со дол-
жина до 7 см се датирани во IV век, додека примерите со димензии
од 7.5 – 9 см, коишто имаат декорација изведена со пунцирање (тип
Kоln – Weinheim) и оние со димензии од 9 – 12 см со пластично ребро
по должината на пропелерот (тип Trier – Muri) се датирани во првата
половина на V век.13 Околностите на наод на појасната гарнитура од
Лихнид ја надополнуваат оваа хронологија со прецизирање на нејзи-
ната датацијата во втората половина на IV век односно почетокот на
V век.14

Сл. 5, Окови во
форма на пропилери
од појасната
гарнитура (цртеж Д.
Спасова)

Најраните сведоштва за овој тип на оков потекнуваат од II век на

еден надгробен споменик од Интерциса во Унгарија, каде се претста-
вени на женски појас, а во контекст на војнички појас - цингулум се
среќаваат на триумфалниот лак на Константин15 и на мозаикот на

teza), (Univerzitet u Beogradu, 2013), 265, 267.

13
Перица Шпехар, “Налази металних делова војног појаса са територије
Виминацијума”, Ниш и Византија V (Ниш, 2007), 277.
14
Bitrakova, “Jedan Cingulum,” 143.
15
Hermann Bullinger, Spätantike Gürtelbeschläge. Typen, Herstellung, Trageweise und
Datierung (Brugge, 1969), 68, Taf. LXVII, 1-2.
261
 Piazza Armerina со претстави на сцени на лов, односно собирање на
животни.16 Во овој контекст е и претставата на римски офицер со ко-
пје и меч со цингулум украсен со окови во вид на пропелер на сар-
кофагот од Бељњача во Шид.17 Во стручната литература, појавата на
појасните окови во вид на пропелер се врзува за просторот на Пано-
нија во периодот на III век, а во текот на IV век, преку војската биле
пренесени на рајнско – дунавскиот лимес.18
Појасните гарнитури со окови во форма на пропелери, во немате-
ријален ликовен израз како сликани детаљи, се појавуваат скоро еден
милениум подоцна на една серија семејни ктиторски композиции со
портретни особености од четириесетите до седумдесетите години на
XIV век во црквите на наша територија. Во оваа прилика, фокусот е
насочен кон ликовните претстави на појаси со аплицирани пропеле-
рести окови во форма на ктиторските портрети во црквите на мана-
стирите во Лесново, Трескавец и Псача.
Хронолишки гледано, како најран индикативни пример се издвоју-
ваат двете претстави на локалниот велможа Јован Оливер изведени
на ктиторските композиции од 1341/42 година во наосот (Сл. 6) и 1349
година во нартексот (Сл. 7) на манастирската црква Св. Архангел
Михаил во Лесново.19 Тој е претставен со гиздава одежда и прециз-
но изведени детаљи на појасната гарнитура20 (Сл. 8, 9). Елементите
во форма на пропелери се следат во непрекинати низи по хоризон-
тала, околу појасот и по вертикала, по линија на левиот бок (Сл. 10,
11). Според натписот во црквата и историските извори, комплексни-
от титулар на Јован Оливер ги содржи звањата велики слуга, велики
челник, велики војвода, велики севастократор и велик деспот.21 Не-
говата службена интитулација, почнувајќи од основниот степен „ве-
лик слуга“ па до највисоката титула „деспот“, е во непосредна врска со
неговата моќ и позиција која ја стекнувал во тогашното општествено
16
Bishop & Coulston, Roman military, 220
17
Redžić, Rimske, 256.
18
Bullinger, Spätantike, 69-70.
19
Елизабета Димитрова, Сашо Коруновски и Софија Грандаковска, ����������
“���������
Среднове-
ковна Македонија: култура и уметност,” Македонија. Милениумски културно-исто-
риски факти (Скопје, 2013), 209.
20
Татјана Вулета, “Лесновски кавади Јована Оливера,” Патримониум 13 (2015),
171-198.
21
Срħан Пириватрић, “Византијске титуле Јована Оливера прилог истраживању
проблема њиховог порекла и хронологије,” ЗРВИ 50 (2013), 714, 715 (со цитирана
литература).
262
уредување раководено од владетелскиот двор на Стефан Душан. Во
оваа смисла, претставениот појас, како статусно обележје се доведува
во врска со титуларните звања на носителот и го симболизира него-
вото властелинско достоинство,22 меѓутоа не треба да се занемари во-
ената димензија на појасната инсигнија преточена преку античката
симболика на цингулумите со окови во форма на пропелери. Во при-
лог на ова оди и фактот што локалните велможи имале практично
неприкосновена власт на територијата доделена од страна на владе-
телот, биле ослободени од сите давачки, а единствена должност кон
врховната власт била нивната воената служба што е регулирано со
член 42 од Душановиот законик. Исто така треба да се нагласи дека
Јован Оливер како највлијателен меѓу велможите на Душан посеб-
но се истакнувал како воен дипломат и стратег, а во воените походи,
како командант на копнената војска и заповедник на пограничните
области, ја заслужил и титулата велик војвода.23

Сл. 6, Јован Оливер и Св.

Архангел Михаил, наос
на црквата Св. Архангел
Михаил, Лесново

22
Шпехар, “Налази металних делова војног појаса,” 264, сл. 8; Драгана Павловић,
“Аксесоар на портретима српске властеле у средњем веку”, Зборник Музеј примењене
уметности 15 (2019 ), 9-10. На ктиторските портрети, како благородничко статусно
обележје се прикажува подврзана марама околу ремените односно појасите на
десната страна на носителот (Павловић, “Аксесоар на портретима српске властеле,”
стр. 11 со цитирана литература). Овој статусен елемент на појасите е редовна појава
на ликовните прикази на машки ктиторски портрети низ целиот XIV век.
23
Визaнтијски извори за историју народа Југославије, VI, ed. Фрањо Баришић и
Божидар Ферјанчић (Београд, 1986), 380-398.
263
 Сл. 7, Јован Оливер и
Ана Марија, нартекс
на црквата Св.
Архангел Михаил,
Лесново

Сл. 8, Јован Оливер

(детаљ од наос на
црквата Св. Архангел
Михаил, Лесново)

Сл. 9, Јован Оливер, нартекс на црквата Св. Архангел Михаил, Лесново

264
Сл. 10, Јован Оливер (детаљ), наос Сл. 11, Јован Оливер, нартекс
на црквата Св. Архангел Михаил, на црквата Св. Архангел
Лесново Михаил, Лесново

Вториот издвоен пример на ликовен приказ со ваков тип појасната

гарнитура е ктиорскиот портрет на Градислав Бориловиќ, кој заедно
со својата сопруга е претставен во 1350 година во капелата на црквата
Св. Успение Богородичино во Трескавец.24 Во овој случај се прикажани
три различни облици на окови: кружни, правоаголни и во форма на
пропелер (Сл.12). Исто така треба да се посочи индикативната претста-
вата на моделот од црквата во рацете на ктиторот, на чија јужна фасада
се изведени две афронтирани апликации во форма на пропелер. Во
пописот на титулите на Градислав, овој своевиден средновековен фи-
нансиски магнат стојат називите тепчија, казнец, војвода, а како зна-
чајна војничка фигура носи уште едена воона ознака - знаменосец, во
форма на латинска транскрипција која гласи vaxillifer.25
Третиот пример на наша територија се однесува на портретната
композиција на семејството Паскач (Сл. 13, 14) во црквата Св. Никола
во Псача од 1365-1371 година,26 каде што, покрај останатите ликови, се
претставени кнезот Паскач и неговиот син, севастократорот Влат-
ко, со појасни гарнитури од непрекинати низи на препознатливите
елементи во форма на пропелери (Сл. 15) кои, со две ленти се спуш-
тени покрај левите бокови на носителите. Впечатливата инсигнија
на појасите на ликовите од Псача и нивната релација со откриените
доцноантички појасни гарнитури со окови во форма на пропелер на
24
Александар Василески, Манастирот трескавец (Скопје, 2016), 23.
25
Визaнтијски извори за историју народа Југославије, VI, 553 и ф. 610.
26
Димитрова, Коруновски, Грандаковска, “Средновековна Македонија,” 230.
265
 територијата на поширокиот Централно Балкански простор се посо-
чени во претходно објавената литература.27

Сл. 12, Градислав со

сопругата во црквата

Сл.13, Ктиторски портрет

на семејството Паскач во
наосот на црквата Св. Никола
Псача (сп. Е.Димитрова, С.
Коруновски)

Сл.14, Ктиторски портрет на

семејството Паскач во наосот на
црквата Св. Никола Псача, цртеж

27
Црнобрња, “Појасне копче,” 312; Шпехар, “Налази металних делова војног
појаса,” 264, сл. 8.
266
Сл.15, Ктиторски портрет на семејството Паскач во наосот на црквата Св. Никола
Псача-детаљ на појасната грнитура - цртеж

Во оваа прилика треба да се спомнат уште три семејни ктиторски

целини надвор од нашата територија каде се прикажани појасни
аранжмани со окови во форма на пропелери. Тоа се претставите на
жупанот Прибил, неговите синови Стефан и Петар и неговиот очув
протосевастот Стан во манастирската црква Успение на Пресвета
Богородица во Добрун, во близината на Вишеград; ликовите на маш-
ките членови на фамилијата Дејановиќ – Драгаш во нартексот на ма-
настирската црква Св. Богородица во Велуќе,28 како и ктиторскиот
портрет во црквата Св. Ахилиј во Ариље.29
Како сублимат на претходно изнесеното може да се каже дека упо-
требната вредност на оковите во вид на пропелер се следи најдоцна
до V век во контекст на воените појаси - cingulum militare. Формата и
димензиите ја потврдуваат нивната статусна, декоративна и практич-
на функција, меѓутоа, остануваат без дефинирана симболика30. Како
статусна инсигнија во средниот век на наша територија се појавува-
ат на серијата погорепосочени ктиторски портрети при што, како

28
Живојин Андејић, “Страшни суд Богродичине цркве у Велући,” Саборност 6
(2012), 95-128.
29
Црнобрња, “Појасне копче,” 312.
30
Во оваа прилика потребно е да биде наговестена нивната релација со лабрисите
и симболиката што ја носат низ вековите Симболот на лабрис се појавува уште
во периодот на бронзеното време. Во Минојската митологија двојната секира
претставувала свет симбол којшто се поврзувал со женските божества, симбол на
прапочетокот и создавањето. На просторот на Мала Азија двојната секира – лабрис
се поврзувала со машките божества и се појавува како симбол на громот. Во Кариа
лабрисот бил придружен елемент на богот на молњата Зевс Лабрандос. Во Делфи,
познатото светилиште посветено на богот Аполон, двојната секира била симбол
на свештеничкиот ред Labyades, чие изворно име било Labryades – служители на
двојната секира. Во римскиот период двојната секира се поврзува со Амазонките.
На еден мозаик од римскиот период од IV век во Дафне претставена е амазонка на
коњ со двојна секира. За да прв пат во рамките на машките воени појаси го има на
триумфалниот лак на Константин, можеби како симбол на молњата.
267
 феномен се изразени во времето на кралот и цар Стефан Душан,31
а својата завршница ја бележат во времето на владењето на кралот
Волкашин.32
Оваа појава, ја одразува генералната определба на Душан за ре-
аставрација и практична примена на општествените и културните
вредности на моќната Римска Империја, чиј континутет се пресли-
кува во текот на средновековјето во Ромејскиот односно Византиски
поредок.33 На крајот треба да се потенцира дека појасот со окови во
форма на пропелери ги содржи двете димензии на војнички и со-
цијален статусен симбол. Нивната примарна намена како типична
римска војничка инсигнија не треба да биде занемарена и по хијатус
од скоро илјада години како појава на ктиторските претстави на ѕид-
ното сликарство од XIV век. Во прилог на ваквата определба оди фак-
тот што, единствената, примарна и задолжтелна обврска на нивните
носители била воената служба.34 Врз оваа основа бил формиран во-
ениот елитен слој35 во тогашното општествено уредување чии прет-
стваници се Јован Оливер, Градислав и Паскач, кои, меѓу другото, во
спектарот титули, се издвојувале и типично воените звања „велики
челник“, „велики војвода“, „војвода“ и „vaxillifer“.
Исто така треба да се нагласи дека целокупниот воен титулар,
функции и инсигии биле во согласност со тогашната состојба на сил-
ни геополитички превирања и незпирлив продор на османлите на
Балканските простори. Во таква констелација на настани, локалните
велможи го одразувале обидот на централната власт за оживување на
споменот за моќната Римска Империја и во таа насока, најверојатно е
и симболиката содржана во појасните гарнитури на овоие портрети.

31
Историските извори и претставата на цар Душан во нартексот на Лесновската
црква ја потврдуваат неговиот доминат во однос на Јован Оливер. Исто така во
времето на Душан се случуваат подемот и падот на Градислав од Трескавец.
32
Ктиторскиот портрет на семејството Паскач е сместен под портретот на
каралот Волкашин.
33
Срђан Шаркић, “Идеја Рима у мисли и делима цара Душана,” Зборник радова
Правног факултета у Новом Саду 1 (2006), 53-71; Спред римскиот односно
ромејскиот модел е промовиран и Душановиот закони каде што, членот 48 се
однесува на властелинскиот појас. Сп. Никола М. Селаковић, Душанов законик и
правни транспланти (Београд, 2007).
34
Милош Ивановић, “Развитак војне службе као основ формирања властеоског
слоја,” Војноисторијски гласник 1 (2014), 43, 47; Оваа обврска е регулирана со член
42 од Душановиот законик.
35
Александар Узелац, “Српске војске у ратовима у Европи и Малој Азији (XII–XIV
ВЕК),” Војноисторијски гласник 1/2014, 21.
268
 19

Three in one. Identities through post-

Byzantine icons of Saint Demetrius
in the Balkans
Miguel Gallés, Department of Art and Musicology,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
UDK 323.1:27-526.62(497)”18”

Abstract: Studying a 19th century Bulgarian post-Byzantine icon of Saint

Demetrius in a private collection in Barcelona, what most caught our attention
and the subject we were dedicating our time was related to the identity of the
fallen warrior, recumbent, pierced by the spear, at the feet of the Holy Knight
Demetrius riding winner on his red horse. We will propose that the physical
traits of that character change under two criteria: the chronological (in the
sense of the moment when the work was executed), and the “communication”
intended (meaning the desired catechetical - pedagogical message). Both
intersecting in the concept of the “ENEMY/DEVIL” of the moment. And,
precisely, these changes in the traits of the loser are those that lead us to perceive
and propose the three identities that constitute the relevant contribution of
this paper. Three great “enemies of faith” in three different times/places. And,
through them, three messages with their specific accents: local, regional, and
global.

269
 The Bulgarian post-Byzantine icon of Saint Demetrius in a private collec-
tion in Barcelona depicts the fallen warrior, recumbent, pierced by the
spear, at the feet of the Holy Knight Demetrius riding winner on his red
horse.
The question imoses itself: Who is the fallen warrior? (Fig.1)
To answer, we will turn to a brief history - based on icons of Thessa-
loniki, Mount Athos and Bulgaria1 - of the saint’s iconography. From this
perspective, evolution is evident.
At first, the character is shown standing, wearing religious attire, which
we can see in the beautiful mosaics at the Church of Saint Demetrius in
Thessaloniki.2 In them the Saint is related to various people ranging from
children to patrons and high dignitaries of the church (Fig.2). These mosa-
ics have been dated in the 5th and 7th centuries. The young Demetrius is
shown in a friendly attitude through extraverbal language that leaves no
room for doubt: with his hands he embraces his interlocutors as if it were
current souvenir pictures. Absolutely peaceful. This is how we continue
to find him in 12th century icons at Xeropotamou Monastery3 and Xeno-
phontos Monastery (Fig.3), on Mount Athos.
Later on, we move on to another type of representation. The saint is
still standing, full body, frontally, but his military outfit, holding a lance
and shield in a preventive attitude, tell us of a young self-confident mili-
tary man, ready to defend the ideals he embodies. This is how we see him
in the illumination of the manuscript of the Dionysiou Monastery of the
year 1059 (Fig.4), and in the icon of Sassoferrato4 from approximately be-
tween the 13th and 14th centuries. We witness the so-called militarization
of the saint.5
1
Basically, for the icons of Thessaloniki and Mount Athos, the two 2005 monographs
have been used. Mention apart for the Sassoferrato micromosaic which has recently been
exhibited at Vlatadon Monastery. As well as a great diversity of publications on icons
of Bulgaria, among which we highlight that of Atanas Bozhkov. See, Atanas Bozhkov,
Bulgarian icons (Sofia, 1984); Melina Paissidou, “Warrior Saints as Protectors of the
Byzantine Army in the Palaiologan Period: the Case of the Rock-cut Hermitage in Kolchida
(Kilkis Prefecture)”, in Heroes cults saints, ed. Ivanka Gergova, Emmanuel Moutafov
(Sofia, 2015); Exhibition of the holy icons & heirlooms of the church of Saint Dimitrios,
Catalogue (Thessaloniki, 2005); Our sacred beauty. Byzantine icons from Thessaloniki.
Patriarchal foundation for patristic studies, ed. Flora Karagianni (Thessaloniki, 2018); Ο
Άγιος Δημήτριος στην τέχνη του Αγίου Όρους. Άγιον Όρος (Θεσσαλονίκη, 2005).
2
Catalogue pp 47-49
3
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 62.
4
Our sacred beauty pp. 212-220.
5
For more information on this topic, it is very interesting to resort to the paper by
Melina Paissidou, especially with regard to Saint Demetrius. pp 184-189.
270
 The next type in the image sequence takes us to the same young military
man, in this case represented from the waist up, with the aforementioned
attributes, spear, sword and shield. The 14th century icon at Vatopedi Mon-
astery6 could well be a precious example of its kind. Followed by a seated
character, with military attire, resting his feet on the enemy of people and
faith. As the Pantokratoros Monastery XVIIth century icon clearly shows
(Fig.5).
Finally, the figure of the elegant young rider appears, in his military
clothing, piercing the earthly tyrant with his spear.
At this point it is worth noting that we should have in mind at every
moment of the previous stages that type transitions are not abrupt, so dif-
ferent types can coexist at any time with other forms of representations
already mentioned, regardless of the appearance of a new one.
For this type, the young elegant knight riding the spirited red (most of
the times) horse, we take as references the 17th century icon of the Doche-
iariou Monastery7 the 17th century icon of the Filotheou Monastery,8 the
1852 icon of the Simonos Petras Monastery (Fig.6), and the bizarre 1789
icon-fresco of the Stavronikita Monastery9.
It is at this moment, when another character appears on the scene, that
the question of his identity arises. Having made the trip in a chronological
reverse sense, we found multiple unconnected interpretations and there-
fore the present approach emerged and seemed appropriate to us. If not
more, as a working tool.
When analyzing the iconography of the evil character, we observe that
he experiences changes consistent with the iconographic dynamism of
the saint that keeps him at bay (!).
We will propose that the physical traits of that character change under
two criteria: the chronological (in the sense of the moment when the
work was executed), and the “communication” intended (meaning the
desired catechetical - pedagogical message). Both intersecting in the con-
cept of the “ENEMY/DEVIL” of the moment.
And, precisely, these changes in the traits of the loser are those that
lead us to perceive and propose the three basic identities (there might
be some more that we would like to put forward in the future …) that
constitute the relevant contribution of this paper. Three great “enemies of

6
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 90.
7
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 102.
8
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 105.
9
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 200 relacionado con Zographou Monastery p. 139.
271
 faith” in three different times/places. The Romans, the Bulgarians, and the
Ottomans. And, through them, three messages with their specific accents:
local, regional, and global.

Roman identity (Maximian - Galerius) to emphasize the person respon-

sible for the death of Demetrius and the great persecutor of Christianity.
To exemplify this identity, we turn to the fresco from the Patriarchate of
Peć depicting Saint Demetrius before Maximian.10 The Byzantine attire of
the characters leaves no room for doubt. The same is true for the uniform
of the saint at the fresco of Saint Demetrius by Manuel Panselinos11 in the
Church of the Protaton at Mount Athos (circa 1290).
It also works for the 1852 icon of Saint Demetrius at the Simonos Petras
Monastery. In this case, the walled “Thessaloniki” in the background and
the lying warrior’s facial features would seem to show our next character.
Not so his clothing.
In this sense, the icon of unknown origin (Pinterest) (Fig.7) that shows
the Roman upside down in such a way that his identity can only be under-
stood by his clothes is paradigmatic.

Bulgarian identity (Tsar Kaloyannis) to emphasize the persecutor of the

Christian people at Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki siege, 1207).
If we take a look at the 17th century icon of the Cell of Saint Demetrius,
Philotheou Monastery (Fig.8), we can appreciate two elements that lead us
to propose this identity. On the one hand, the idealized walled city of Thes-
saloniki, which became a distinctive element in the iconographic identifi-
cation of our saint. And on the other, the evil Tsar Kaloyannis responsible
for the besiege of the city. In this sense, it may be worth considering three
icons of Saint Demetrius from the same Greek bibliographic source (!), that
of Lambos Margaritis of Koulakia (1820)12, that of Nikolaos Konstantinou of
Koulakia (1887),13 and that of Ioannis Papathalasiou (1857) 14. All of them fol-
low the pattern mentioned above, dejected enemy and Thessaloniki in the
background, with the exception that the first two clearly show the enemy
with Ottoman facial features while the third segregates from this pattern.
10
https://www.blagofund.org/Archives/Pec/Demetrios/Pictures/Nave/Underthe
Dome/NorthWall/282N1801.html accessed, 21.04.2020.
11
Ο Άγιος Δημήτριος p. 157.
12
Catalogue p. 30.
13
Catalogue p. 32.
14
Catalogue p. 31.
272
However, the most interesting feature is that the captions attribute the three
cases to Kaloyannis (!).
This may be of use to bring us closer to the third type.

Ottoman identity (Mehmed II) to emphasize the great persecutor of

Christianity (Balkans) since the conquest of Constantinople (1453).
We can easily perceive this type – third, in a chronological sense - when
we return to the 1789 icon-fresco of the Stavronikita Monastery (Figs.9
and 10). The man pierced by the spear at his neck does not even wear
military clothing. And no weapons. The facial features point directly to
his distinctly Ottoman character. In this sense the message is of a special
forcefulness. The white steed deserves a separate mention as well as the
cape of the saint in an unusual light grey colour.
We can also go back to the representation found in the icon of Niko-
laos Konstantinou of Koulakia (1887) to reinforce what has just been said.
It is evident, from a chronological perspective, that the Ottoman yoke
matched the spread of the iconography of the Holy Knight Demetrius.
Therefore, it should not be surprising that the most represented type as
the man defeated by the saint is precisely this one.
For Bulgarian people (“special” case) the roman identity becomes byz-
antine identity (Tarnovo, 1186) and then Ottoman.
Perhaps one of the most interesting topics at this point is to emphasize
that in this case it is convenient to avoid the siege of Thessaloniki, which
is why the city is not represented in those icons, and focus on the Ottoman
invader.
For illustrative purposes, and preparing the description of the icon that
led us to these approaches, we show two prototypic icons: that of Saint
Nicholas Church in Chelopech (1835) (Fig11) and that of the Tryavna Mu-
seum by Ioaniki Vitanov (1824) (Fig.12).
In both, the absence of Thessaloniki and the Ottoman character of the
defeated warrior are evident, and the background landscape is especially
remarkable, consisting of undulating hills of a clear greenish hue in which
an elementary vegetation can be perceived.
Finally, we proceed with the brief graphic description (= iconographic
messages) of the Bulgarian post-Byzantine nineteenth century icon that
inspired this paper. Saint Demetrius, 98x67, first half of the 19th century,
western Bulgaria (Fig.13).
The saint moves through a “synthetic” green landscape, with gentle as-
cending undulations to the left, on his brisk red steed, under an intense
blue sky. Clouds are drawn as “synthetic” as the mentioned landscape. The

273
 sun shines brightly delimiting a celestial hemisphere, prelude to paradise.
The huge purple cape floats in the air giving the saint an imperial aura.
The stylized hands hold the cross-spear, standard of Christianity and
scourge of the wicked. The cape is knotted in the chest, over the golden ar-
mor. The nimbus is large and contains the head of the young saint (Fig.14).
It is worth highlighting the perfect hairstyle, some curls, and a simple
white double diadem/headband that emphasizes the supernatural sim-
plicity of the young gentleman. Long, bilobed ears. And, epimanikia skill-
fully worked.
The golden and beautifully punch-worked saddle shows all kinds of pre-
cious stones of different colors. It ends in magnificent edging with profu-
sion of pearls. The socks with the characteristic design in three-point sets.
The straps, in black tanned leather sewn with white thread.
The horse’s head also guarded with golden harness parts, mouthpiece
included, to which the reins pulled by the young rider fit.
At the bottom, defeated but calm, lies the Ottoman pierced by the sword.
The legs of the horse ready to trample to finish the job.
Unfortunately, moisture and parasites conspired to end the scene.

Illustrations:

Fig.1 Fallen warrior

274
Fig.2 7th century mosaic at the Church of Saint Demetrius in Thessaloniki

Fig.3 12th century icon at Xenophontos Monastery, on Mount Athos

Fig.4 Illumination of the manuscript of the year 1059 of the Dionysiou Monastery

275
 Fig.5 Pantokratoros Monastery 17th century icon

Fig.6 Icon of the year 1852 of the Simonos Petras Monastery

Fig.7 18th century icon of unknown origin (Pinterest), Ionian Islands (?)

276
Fig.8 17th century icon of the Cell of Saint Demetrius, Philotheou Monastery

Fig.9 Icon-fresco of the year 1789 of the Stavronikita Monastery

Fig.10 Detail of the icon-fresco of the year 1789 of the Stavronikita Monastery

277
 Fig.11 Icon of the year 1835 at Saint Nicholas Church in Chelopech

Fig.12 Icon of the year 1824 at the Tryavna Museum by Ioaniki Vitanov

Fig13. Saint Demetrius icon, 98x67, first half of the 19th century, western
Bulgaria
278
Fig.14 Detail of Saint Demetrius icon, 98x67, first half of the 19th century, western
Bulgaria

279
 20

The Battle od Identity: Abolition of the

Archbishopric of Ohrid and the socio-political
conditions in the Ottoman Empire
Gjoko Gjorgjevski, Faculty of Orthodox Theology,
“St. Clement of Ohrid”, Skopje
UDK 271.22(497.7)(496.02)”1767”
UDK 32:316(495.02)”13/18”

Abstract: The abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid on May 17, 1767 is an act
that had a deep impact on the ecclesiastical history of the Balkans. This hap-
pened during the Ottoman rule in Macedonia, supported by the Sublime Porte.
Since the 14th century the Archbishopric was territorially and administratively
under the Sublime Porte, which was not interfering with the ecclesiastical in-
dependence, and also provided a range of benefits to the development of lo-
cal medieval written tradition (especially by literary centres), the continued
improvement of church services in Slavic language and the development in
other spheres of the cultural and spiritual life. The relationship between the
Archbishopric and the Porte got worse in the late 17th or early 18th century, when
the Ottoman Empire got weak, and when phanariotes and the Patriarchate of
Constantinople strengthened their status in the Empire. The phanariotes im-
proved their financial power and became leaders in trade on the Balkans, in
Russia and Europe, and so they acquired a range of different privileges, which
made them extremely influential. A serious propaganda was conducted by
280
 them against the Archbishopric of Ohrid, one that produced numerous re-
placements of archbishops, and finally, they succeeded to achieve their goal
– the abolition of the Ohrid Archbishopric.

“The history of the Church of Ohrid is a history of eight centuries spiritual indepen-
dence, I would say, of the spiritual sovereignty of Macedonia. Autonomous spirit of
Macedonia is not new, but was a product of its historical life. It was developed by the
autocephalous church of Ohrid“ (Ivan Snegarov)1.

The Archbishopric of Ohrid for centuries was positioned between the

most important institutions which left a strong imprint on the history
and the destiny of the population on the Balkans. Therefore, the abolition
which happened on May 17, 1767, is an act that made deep impact not only
on the ecclesiastical, but also on the national history of that area. That
happened during the rule of the Ottomans in Macedonia and it was per-
formed by the Sublime Porte. Therefore, it is of great importance to under-
line the social and political situation of the Orthodox Church, especially
in the Archdiocese of Ohrid, that somehow preceded and caused the end
of one significant and for centuries independent local Church.

Socio-political situation of Macedonia in the time of Ottoman Empire

The Turkish rule on the territory of Macedonia begins at 1392 and it lasted
almost five centuries, until the First Balkan War (1912-1913). The Ottoman
Empire created administrative units, an official governmental institution,
the so-called millet system2, a separate legal court pertaining to “personal
law” under which a  confessional community  was allowed to rule itself
under its own system. That means that, according to the millet concept,
the people were bound to their millets by their religious affiliations (or
their confessional communities), rather than their ethnic origins. The Or-
thodox Church was first to be recognized as millet in 1454, as it was the
official religion of the conquered Byzantine3. The self-autonomous nature
1
Иван Снегаров, История на Охридската архиепископия-патриаршия, т. 2
(София 1995), VI.
2
  Стивен К. Баталден, Преиспитување на традицијата: есеи за историјата на
православието (Скопје, 1997), 170-172.
3
European part of the Ottoman Empire was under Rumelian Milet, which was
divided in smaller territorial unites – Sandzaks. On the Macedonian territory there
was a Sandzak of Kjustendil (Kratovo, Shtip, Kochani, Nagorichani, Strumitza, Tikvesh,
Melnik, Dojran, Slavishte and Gorna Kresna), Sandzak of Ohrid (with the biggest part of
281
 of the millet was facilitated by a delegate from each group; so, Patriarchs
represented the Orthodox Church and chief rabbis a Jewish community.
The millets had a great deal of power – they set their own laws and col-
lected and distributed their own taxes. The courts were in charge of legal
disputes in which both sides were Christian, for example, regarding the
marriage, the divorce, the guardianship, the wills and the inheritance of
property, and sometimes also trade disputes4. All that was required was
one’s loyalty to the Empire.
The new situation in Balkans and Macedonia resulted not only in ad-
ministrative and political changes, but also in ethno-religious alternation
of the population. Much of the Macedonian population was transferred
by force to Asia Minor, while a huge number of Turkish immigrants were
transferred to Macedonia, which resulted in ethnic and religious modifi-
cation of the population (having in consideration that before the arrival
of the Ottomans Macedonia was a country with a majority Orthodox
Christian population5.
The Sublime Porte later also started to apply an intensive conversion
to Islam, which was implemented in two stages and in two ways: the first
phase was “voluntary” and the second - forced. Namely, the Christians
were considered second-class citizens, they were paying higher taxes,
they had no right to perform state and military services, they had no right
to carry arms, even to wear certain clothes and for various other socio-
economic conditions, they were “voluntarily” passing to Islam. But, there
were also frequent forced conversions to Islam(e.g. the famous “blood
tax”) as a result of permanent oppression, like demolition of churches
and building mosques instead, prohibition of the use of church bells, kid-
napping women and girls, and, finally, collective islamisation of entire
Christian villages, especially in western and south-eastern Macedonia6.
Western Macedonia), later in XVI century were founded the Sandzak of Skopje, Sandzak
of Tessaloniki and Pasha Sandzak (Tetovo, Kichevo, Veles, Prilep, Bitola, Enidze-Vardar,
Voden, Ber, Serfidze, Hrupnishte, Kostur, Biglishte, Drama, Seres, Zihna, Nevrokop, Demir
Hisar).
4
Crimes, such as treason, murder, theft or rebellion, were under the jurisdiction of the
Turkish courts, unless the defendant was a priest (then competence was on the religious
courts). In Ottoman court Quran was used as a norm at the trial.
5
The settlement began in the 15th century to the middle of the 16th century, when
people from Asia Minor and nomadic population from Anatolia (Juruks and Konjari)
were resettled. Large Yoruk Sanjaks were formed in Ovchepolie and around Thessaloniki.
In the cities were placed the representatives of the Ottoman state and religious
administration, and the city fortifications were turned into military garrisons.
6
 Александар Трајановски, Црковната организација во Македонија и движењето
за возобновување на Охридската Архиепископија од крајот на XVIII и во текот на
282
 Christians strongly opposed to this Ottoman agenda, because the
change of faith was considered betrayal to God and to the community
and, globally speaking, the majority of the Christians in Macedonia
changed neither their faith, nor language, or identity7.
This strong resistance was always supported by the Church and the
Archbishopric of Ohrid, in which the people saw the sublime authority. It
is necessary to point out that in the absence of statehood, the role of the
Church on different levels was extremely significant because it was giving
them the strength to preserve their faith and their identity. Therefore, the
impact on the Church that happened later was considered also an attack
to the identity of the people in Macedonia.
The change of the physiognomy of the population is particularly no-
ticeable in the beginning and middle of Ottoman rule until the end of
the 17th and 18th century, when the indigenous class of so called esnafs
was formed (tradesmen, artisans, handicraftsmen). So, the cities got ful-
ly oriental spirit, manifested most clearly through the construction of a
number of specific oriental Muslim buildings such as tekkes, mosques,
through the clothing, and so on. Unfortunately, the construction of Mus-
lim places of worship was usually to the detriment of existing Ortho-
dox churches. The churches were directly turned into mosques or other
Muslim religious buildings, or were simply destroyed. From other hand,
permission for a new Christian sacred object or restoration of damaged
or ruined Christian building was almost impossible to get. There was an
improvement in this regard in the late 18th and early 19th century; it was
possible to get permission but under specific architectural standards that
had to be complied with concerning its construction, otherwise the struc-
ture had to be destroyed8.
By the middle of the 16th century began a new structuring and realign-
ment of European countries. There were economic, ideological and so-
ciological changes that have caused numerous political and military
interventions. During that period, any rivalry between the great European
XIX век - до основањето на Внатрешната Македонска Револуционерна Организација
(Скопје, 2001), 40.
7
In those places where the religion was changed, the people preserved their language.
Some of those who converted to Islam long after were practicing the Christian holidays
and customs: they were Christians at home and Muslims outside. Mark Mazower was
informing about these and similar examples. Cfr. Mарк Мазовер, Балканот: кратка
историја (Скопје, 2003), 88.
8
Jован Белчовски, Историските основи за автокефалноста на Македонската
православна црква (Скопје, 1990), 139–140; Валентина Миронска-Христовска,
“Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската архиепископија во 18 век (причини
за приближување и одделување),” Slavia Meridionalis XI (2015), 329.
283
 powers was in Ottoman interest9. Conditions became even more favour-
able for the Ottoman Empire after Catholic France became one of its first
European allies. While the Greek Orthodox disposition at the beginning
was still hostile towards West due to the consequences of the Crusaders,
with time it began to change because of the promised assistance in the
fight against the Ottomans.
A propos the economic situation and development in that period, de-
spite the decline of the economic and social development in general, in
the second half of the 15th century the situation in Macedonia was nor-
malized and a prominent advancement in this area was noted 10. But the
economical decline in the Ottoman Empire in the next period began also
to reflect on the relation between the Porte and the Archdiocese of Ohrid.
The Porte started economic strike against the Archbishopric (e.g. with
confiscation of church properties and secession of some dioceses)11. The
causes for splitting up between the Sublime Porte and the Archbishop-
ric of Ohrid started from that time. . Their relationships worsened, which
reached their culmination in the 18th century12.
In the meantime, the Slavic people on the Balkans were raising their
confidence towards Russia because of the assistance it was promis-
ing13, partially due to the decline of the economical power of the Slavic
9
It happened after the French king Francis I (1515-1547) asked the sultan Suleiman to
attack his rival from Habsburg, Charles V (1519-1556). Барбара Јелавич, Историја на
Балканот осумнаесетти и деветнаесетти век (Скопје, 1999), 37.
10
As progressive trends are noted: the development in trade, economic and business
development in the countryside, the development of urban economy. Cf. Aлександар
Стојановски, Македонија во турското средновековие (Скопје, 1989), 69.
11
In the early 16th century, the Wallachian Diocese passed under the jurisdiction of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate. In 1530, Pavle, Bishop of Smederevo rejected the authority of
the Archdiocese. In 1557 the Patriarchate of Pec was restored and the dioceses of Tetovo,
Skopje, Shtip and Upper Dzumaja went away. In 1575 the Orthodox from Dalmatia
and Venice went under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and in the
early 17th century, the Archbishopric lost all bishoprics in southern Italy. Cf. Историја
на македонскиот народ, ed. Александар Стојановски et al. (Скопје, 1988), 83.
Валентина Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија,” 328.
12
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија,“ 326-327.
13
During the Ottoman influence, the relations between Macedonia and Russia have
been intensified. If before 13th century the influence was moving from Macedonia to
Russia, later the impact was in the opposite direction. Like in all South Slavic peoples,
the Russian influence in literature, ornaments, liturgy and architecture was also kept
in Macedonia. J. Белчовски, “Интересот на Римската црква за источниот Илирк
(со посебен осврт кон Македонија),” Годишен зборник на ПБФ „Свети Климент
Охридски“ 9 (2003), 98.
284
independent Churches. Russia became an Empire and the idea of “Third
Rome” on the Russian See was already born14. Certainly, that incentive to
realize this idea, through which were implemented political interests of
Russia, was given by the endangered Orthodox churches. In that period
many bishops and clerics went to Russia to ask for financial assistance.
Testimonials are the numerous letters and documents which noted what
Russia has gained from Balkan’s cultural heritage and what was in return
given as expected aid.
Since the second half of the 16th century in Macedonia is also present
the Roman Catholic influence due to frequent trading links with Venice,
Genoa and Dubrovnik, as well because of the poor economic situation
of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The reason was partly in the augmented
fanaticism of the Ottoman rulers, who maybe respected the bishops that
have been approved by the Sultan, but nevertheless, the pastors were not
in a position to protect their people. Therefore, their demands to the West
were not only for economic assistance, but also for liberation from the
Ottoman power.15
There were a series of letters and diplomatic visits to ecclesiastical dig-
nitaries who were seeking help from western countries. An example is
that of the Archbishop Athanasius during the Turkish-Austrian war (1593-
1606) who visited Italy asking also for military aid and assistance for politi-
cal liberation from the Ottomans. In the period between 1596-1615 he also
visited the Habsburg courts and Dubrovnik seeking military assistance
and promising active participation of the population in Macedonia in the
possible rebellion.16
On the other hand, relations between Russia and the Ottoman Empire
were increasingly worsened. In 1684 the Holy League was created in which
entered Austria, Poland, Venice and Russia against the Ottoman Empire.
Austro-Turkish War and the Karposh uprising (1689) were the further rea-
son for aggravation of the situation in Macedonia. In that period feudal
14
On January 23, 1589, after a lot of diplomatic negotiations, contracts, intrigues
and deceptions, the Russian Metropolitan Job was consecrated for a Russian Patriarch
and the Patriarchate of Moscow officially became autocephalous church, which was
confirmed in Constantinople first in May 1590, and then on February 12, 1593. Aлександар
Трајановски, “Врските на Охридската архиепископија со Русија и со Руската
православна црква низ грамотите од XVI до XVIII век,” Зборник од Меѓународната
конференција „Историја, историографија и настава по историја” (Скопје, 2007),
167.
15
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија “, 329.
16
Документи за борбата на македонскиот народ за самостојност и за
национална држава, т. 1, pед. Х. Андонов-Полјански et al. (Скопје, 1981), 145.
285
 anarchy and banditry dominated, the people began to leave the villages to
move to the cities, which in the 18th century led to the change of the ethnic
structure of the cities.17
In the early 18th century (1711) Peter the Great needed the Christians
from the Balkans, when he started to wage a war against the Ottomans.
The complexity has increased because of the interest of Russia in Greek
regions, especially the economic ones. The relationship between Russia
and the Ecumenical Patriarchate was on quite satisfactory. In addition to
the Russian policy for achieving its goal - the division of Ottoman territory
–were the acquired rights and privileges provided by the previous peace
agreements. . Probably, one of the most important was the stipulation for
the appointment of consuls, who were usually Greeks, having offices in
major cities across the Greek provinces.18
In the second half of the 18th century, the Greek colonies in Europe be-
came one of the richest and they actually ran the trade with the Ottoman
Empire. They have taken three quarters of French trade with the Orient,
and a similar situation was in Russia, Austria, Germany and Italy19.
In the Ottoman period, the churches and the monasteries were the larg-
est carriers of the culture and the tradition. The monasteries were the
main moving forces in which were noticed intensive literary and educa-
tional activities. From the 18th century the monks also began to open ur-
ban schools.
Of particular importance in this period is the emergence and develop-
ment of so called damaskin tradition, which enabled the use and spread
of the speaking language of the people in Macedonia. The work in the
scriptorium centres and the maintenance of the liturgy in Slavic language
were not prohibited and thus, the people were able to preserve the written
and spiritual cultural and historical heritage.20
Also, the popular and folk literature was created and handed over from
generation to generation, without prohibition regarding themes and mo-
tifs. In fact, “the Church and the oral poetry were intermediaries between

17
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија,” 331.
18
Јелавич, Историја на Балканот, 93; Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу
Високата Порта и Охридската архиепископија во 18 век“, 332.
19
Блаже Ристовски, Столетија на македонската свест (Скопје, 2001), 92.
20
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија“, 325.
286
medieval history and rural culture”21. However, it is worth mentioning that
the book had also an important place in the cultural life of the Islamic
world. Back in the early period of the Turkish rule in Macedonia were also
created oriental libraries in mosques, medresas and tekkes (the literary
fund of these libraries consisted mainly of books with religious content).22
Notable was also the development of the painting; the impact of the
oriental elements was enhanced in carving ; visible traces were left in the
architecture; the folk song and the church Byzantine chanting remained
dominant in the development of musical culture.

The Archbishopric of Ohrid in the Ottoman Empire

until the abolition in 1767

At the beginning of Ottoman rule on the Balkans, there were five Or-
thodox Autocephalous Churches: Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarch-
ate of Pec, the Patriarchate of Trnovo, the Archbishopric of Ohrid and the
Metropolitanate of Montenegro. Shortly after the conquest of the Balkan
Peninsula, the Patriarchates of Pec and Trnovo were abolished and the
Ohrid Archbishopric and the Patriarchate of Constantinople were extend-
ed at their cost. Although they conquered all territory of Macedonia, the
Turks did not assault the independence of the Archbishopric of Ohrid.
That means that even thought Macedonia was territorially and adminis-
tratively under the Ottomans, spiritually the territory was (in some way)
independent, because the Sublime Porte was not interfering with the ec-
clesiastical sovereignty, thus providing a range of benefits to the develop-
ment of local medieval written tradition (especially by literary centres, as
mentioned), the continued improvement of church services in Slavic and
the development in other spheres of the cultural and spiritual life.23
So, despite the impact of the foreign factor on the overall life, and de-
spite the articulated religious, social, linguistic and cultural otherness, the
ordinary people succeeded to preserve their identity.
The Archbishopric of Ohrid was one of the leading independent Church-
es in Eastern ecumene. “It was characterized by its high inter-Balkan’s

21
Cтеван К. Павловић, Историја Балкана 1804–1945 (Београд, 2004), 32–36.
22
Историја на македонскиот народ, ed. Александар Стојановски, Иван
Катарџиев, Данчп Зографски, Михаило Апостолски (Скопје, 1988), 103.
23
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија“, 329.
287
 unifying power and tolerance between peoples”24, being respected and
having high authority.
Ohrid was esteemed spiritual centre and this attitude of the Sublime
Porte towards the Archdiocese was also due to the confidence to the arch-
bishops of Ohrid the Porte had, who were good diplomats and officially
loyal to the Empire. Much earlier, the Sultan Murad I (1362-1389) gave an
advice to his son Bayazid I to maintain good and friendly relationship
with non-Muslim clergy, especially with the Christians: “Keep them and
respect their religious rites; appreciate their religious leaders: patriarchs,
metropolitans and bishops”25.
Therefore, the Government had its own representative - khadi, who was
the mediator between the Archdiocese and the Porte. “During the election
of a new Archbishop or ordination of a bishop or a metropolitan, with
mediation by the khadi, a special berat for every bishop was issued, after
a tax (peshkesh) was paid. And this peshkesh – a gift for the Sultan, was
constantly increasing.26
During the 15th century, the Archbishopric of Ohrid succeeded to ex-
pand its borders by inclusion of the diocese of Sofia and Vidin, and later
has united Wallachia and Moldavia and some orthodox communities
from Italy and Dalmatia. In the 16th century, however, the Archbishopric
of Ohrid lost their dioceses as a result of the renewal of the Patriarch-
ate of Pec (1557) by Macarius, brother of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha
Sokolovic. In the lost dioceses were also some cities of the Macedonian
territory (Tetovo, Skopje, Shtip, Upper Dzumaja, Morozdov and Razlog).
Previously the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric was limited by the Ecu-
menical Patriarchate by subtracting the south-eastern dioceses (including
the cities of Ber, Thessaloniki, Dojran, Serres and Drama).
Despite the frequent changes in the boundaries of the Archbishopric
during entire time of the Ottoman rule, the jurisdiction of Ohrid included
nine metropolises: Kostur (Kastoria), Pelagonia-Bitola, Strumica, Kocani-
Albasan, Belgrade (Albanian), Voden, Drach, Greben and Sasania, and
five dioceses: Debar-Kicevo, Veles, Prespa, Meglens and Upper Mokren in
Drimkol.

24
Иван Снегаров, История на Охридската архиепископия-патриаршия, т. 2
(София, 1995), V.
25
Снегаров, История на Охридската архиепископия-патриаршия, 3.
26
 Aлександар Трајановски, Црковната организација во Македонија и движењето
за возобновување на Охридската архиепископија од крајот на XVIII и во текот
на XIX век – до основањето на ВМРО (Скопје 2001), 24. Миронска-Христовска,
“Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската архиепископија“, 322.
288
 Still, in 1572 in Constantinople, local Council was held at which it was
decided to seek from the Sultan Mehmed II to abolish the Patriarchate
of Ohrid, Trnovo and Pec. Later, in 1585, the Archbishop Gabriel, together
with the Patriarch of Alexandria Sylvester and the Patriarch of Antioch
Joachim, with a decision of the Council detronized the Patriarch of Con-
stantinople, Pachomius II, and elected Teolipt II to be a new Patriarch.
All of that was permitted by the Ottoman Empire, because through the
Archdiocese of Ohrid, the Sublime Porte partly realised a certain goal:
weakening the influence of the spiritual authority of the Ecumenical Pa-
triarchate. Such behaviour of the Porte toward the Archdiocese was also
due to their rivalry against the Roman Catholic Church and both the in-
crease and the reinforcement of the Archbishopric actually formed the
hoop (band) against the penetration of Catholicism.
To this good relationship and cooperation between the Porte and the
Archbishopric of Ohrid certainly contributed the non-participation of
the Archbishopric in the negotiations for a union (1437-1439) between the
Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaeologus and Patriarch Joseph Roman
with the Roman Catholic Church27. Another reason for rapprochement
between the Porte and the Archdiocese can be possibly found in the time
of reigning of Sultan Mehmed, the Conqueror, in the 15th century, who
showed great respect for the cultural tradition of enslaved peoples and
sought to create a satisfied Christian population, so decided to permit to
the Orthodox Church to elected the Head by the Holy Synod, and only
after that to approve him, not interfering with the election at all (at the
beginning)28. The full independence of the Archbishopric of Ohrid under
Ottoman rule and the independent election of the archbishop is recorded
also by Nathaniel form Ohrid; he wrote: “almost from the 11th to the end
of the 16th century, all spiritual and ordinary writers are mentioning the
archbishops of Ohrid as independent“29.
In the 18th century, the ethnic and religious discrimination became
strongly articulated when the Ottoman Empire was particularly consider-
ing the concept of the “holy war”. The aim was the expansion and defence
of Islam, but despite the emphasis on the faith, the purpose was not the de-
struction of the nations with other religious belief, but their conquest and
powerful domination in favour of Islam, a policy that was also led by other
27
Cлавко Димевски, Историја на Македонската православна црква (Скопје,
1989), 199.
28
Јелавич, Историја на Балканот, 57–59.
29
Кирил, Патриарх Български, Натанаил митрополит охридски и пловдивски
(1802–1906) (София, 1952), 154–156
289
 European nations, when the religion was placed in a political context. The
situation worsened with the economic decline of the empire from the 17th
century which was strongly reflected in the 18th century30. There was a lot
of crime, followed by corruption and intrigues in the provinces. To these
misdeeds, the Church was, unfortunately, also not immune. For example,
in the early 18th century, the price of the peshkesh (the cost of the election
of the Patriarch), was amounted to 5,600 pounds of gold31.
The latter half of the 16th century was characterized by the emergence
of a class of rich Greek merchants (of mostly noble Byzantine descent)
– Phanariots, who continued to exercise great influence in the adminis-
tration in the Ottoman Empire’s Balkan domains in the 18th century. They
succeeded to be appointed to high functions in the Patriarchate and, as
representatives of the Orthodox citizens of the Empire, they were also in-
volved in its political and administrative life. So they were not only influ-
encing the policy of the Sultan toward the Orthodox population, but they
re-oriented policy of the Patriarchate “from universal to national”.32
Due to the overall situation in the Empire, the discontent among the
Christian population permanently grew. The Phanariots convinced the
Porte that they could suppress the riots. At the same time, they managed
to expulse the Italian merchants from Constantinople and to strengthen
their position, becoming “bankers of the Gate and advisers of the Patri-
archate”, forming in that way the Phanariot Orthodox aristocracy33.
Guiding also the administration and the finance of the Patriarchate,
they succeeded to take control over the ecclesiastical institutions, as well
as to pull out some Hellenized Italian and Albanian families34. In return,
“the Porte guaranteed them their identity and their feeling for historical
length through the unique connection with Byzantium”35.
30
During the 18th century there was an improvement of the financial condition of the
Archbishopric of Ohrid, because the Turkish government started to introduce reforms,
fearing of failure and collapse, because of the reducing of the Christian population, i.e.
the taxpayers. Before that, the royal vizier Mustafa Kjuprili (1687-1689) has diminished
Sultan’s spending, modified the tax system and allowed Christians to construct
new churches. The next vizier, Hussein Kjuprili in 1691 issued the first law - Nizami
dzhedid, which regulated the legal status of the Christians. Димовски, Историја на
Македонската православна црква, 283.
31
Јелавич, Историја на Балканот, 60.
32
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија,“ 333.
33
Павловић, Историја Балкана, 26-27.
34
Јелавич, Историја на Балканот, 63.
35
Павловић, Историја Балкана 1804–1945, 37.
290
 Due to the weakened military and economic power, the Porte was forced
to accept to meet the European powers on their terms, and for the ne-
gotiations was needed high diplomacy. The Greeks has their own repre-
sentations everywhere and they had excellent knowledge of European
languages. Therefore, they had been appointed to perform the function of
Dragoman - simultaneous interpreter, a duty of Great Dragoman became
something like permanent secretary for Foreign Affairs; the Dragoman of
the Navy was the mediator between the great Admiral of the fleet and
the Greek islands. They also had governor positions in the two Romanian
provinces: Wallachia and Moldova.36
The dialogue with the Ecumenical Patriarchate was absent, which was
tended to become a leading church in the Balkans and through its domi-
nance to impose the Greek language and culture to non-Greek Christians
in the Balkans and thereby to assimilate them, wiping all historical and
cultural traces of their existence.37

The abolition of the Archbishopric of Ohrid

The Archbishopric of Ohrid was weakened the frequent changes of the

archbishops, due to the created tradition of buying the berat, the appoint-
ing document of the Sultan. Therefore, between 1650 and 1700 at least 19
archbishops were changed on the archbishop’s throne and the number of
changed metropolitans and bishops was even greater38.
The patriarchs of Constantinople had often accused to Sublime Porte
the archbishops of Ohrid who were not obedient and who did not work in
their interest. Phanariots not only attempted to present the Archbishop-
ric of Ohrid as a tool of Rome, Vienna and Moscow before the Sultan, but
also were assuring that the payment of the debts of the Archdiocese was
possible only if its dioceses were attached to the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
because only Ecumenical Patriarchate, supported by the Phanariots, was

36
Јелавич, Историја на Балканот, 63-64; Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу
Високата Порта и Охридската архиепископија“, 334.
37
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската
архиепископија“, 329.
38
It is interesting to point out that, as a result of getting the position of the Ecumenical
Patriarch by payment, between 1595-1695 the throne of the church was changed 61 times
with 31 patriarchs.

291
 able to repay that debt39. In addition to those Phanariots’ activities, there
was a division among the bishops of the Archbishopric. This division was
due to the success of the Ecumenical Patriarchate during the 18th century
to change the national structure of the high clergy. Thanks to the good
relations with the Ottoman Empire, the Patriarchate managed to appoint
its own people for bishops in several dioceses of the Archbishopric.
The commenced vicissitudes of the 16th and 17th centuries resulted
in a plot. In 1676 the Archbishop Theophane was deposed after he was
blamed by seven pro-Greek bishops, which deepened the gap between
Phanariots and their opposition - the Autochthonists. The Autohthonists,
despite such circumstances, did efforts to preserve the autocephalous sta-
tus of the Archbishopric of Ohrid40. The Archbishop Ioasaph managed 26
years, from 1719 to 1745, to set a heavy blow to Phanariots41, even to defend

39
The accusation that the Archdiocese was deeply in debt and that therefore could
not pay itself, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate could, is not convincing, since the
Patriarchate was also in debts. Though economically weak, the Archbishopric of Ohrid
was still not delaying much in paying the taxes to the Empire and also there were a large
number of reach businessmen and artisans who were prepared, if necessary, to help the
Archdiocese.
40
The internal fight between Phanariots and Autochthons was intense. Thus, in the
first years of the 18th century the Autochthons succeeded to change the Phanariot Raphael
from the throne of Ohrid and on his place to bring German, the bishop of Voden, later
followed by the Bishop Ignatius from Berat. But Ignatius was forced to fight not only against
Phanariot influence, but also against the attempts of Patriarchate of Constantinople to
reduce his diocese. He protested in front of the patriarch of Constantinople against such
aspirations, but without success. The Patriarch Gabriel, through Phanariots managed to
change Ignatius and to bring Dionysios of Hyos on the Ohrid’s throne. The Autochthon’s
party changed Dionysius and on his place chose the Bishop Zosima for Archbishop again.
Soon after, in 1708, Phanariot’s party displaced Zosima and appointed Methodius. The
Autochthons drove (removed) Methodius and appointed Zosima again. In 1709, with
the help of the Turkish government, to which he has promised an increase of the taxes
for election of the Archbishop, Dionysius of Hiso banished Zosima and again became
Archbishop of Ohrid. Димевски, Историја на Македонската православна црква, 285.
41
Ioasaph, not only found way for due payment of the state taxes, but he also built
a new archbishop’s court in Ohrid (1730 or 1735). In fact, he managed only to reduce
the incurred debt. Later, the Archbishop Methodius was forced to address himself to
the Turkish Sultan Mustafa III in order to be released for the debts made by previous
archbishops. In 1757 the Sultan, with special screed, forbade creditors to request from
Methodius and each new archbishop was released from the responsibility for the debts
of the former archbishops, except when it concerned state taxes. With a new decree
of November 14, 1759, the Sultan ordered: 1) each new head for its rising on the throne
(peshkesh for the berat and eventually for bribery) should personally regulate the costs,
without asking money to the church and their bishops; 2) the Porte will not receive
statements of the heads against their bishops if they are not approved by the of members
of the synod and 3) the policies of the head, which are not confirmed by the Synod,
should be considered invalid. Димевски, Историја на Македонската православна
црква, 284.
292
himself from attacks of Ivan Ypsilanti42. After his death, the hardest mo-
ments for survival startedbecause of the sequence of previous political
circumstances, especially through the defamations and calumnies of the
Phanariots. The Gate began to lose confidence in the Archdiocese. Some
dioceses began to choose only Greek bishops and to fight for the lead-
ing place of the Archbishopric. So, in May 1763, the Ecumenical Patriarch
uncanonically brought the ieromonch Ananias to the throne of the Arch-
bishopric of Ohrid. The elected, however, was not accepted in Ohrid, and
he was rejected by the Autochthonists, who appointed Aresny, the previ-
ous Metropolitan of Pelagonia as a head.
In fact, the rejection of Ananias was the last act of resistance of the Au-
tochthon’s party. The new Patriarch of Constantinople, Handzheri Samuel
(1763-1768), posted the Phanariote Evtimiy on the Castorian Catedra, who
won over the autochthons in Kastoria. Then, the patriarch Samuel man-
aged to drag to himself several bishops: German from Voden, Anania from
Strumica Ananias and Gregory from Greben, as well as several respected
citizens of Ohrid. In autumn 1766 the five mentioned bishops together
with the archbishop Aresny went to Constantinople and they forced the
Archbishop to submit a voluntary written resignation as of January 16,
1787:

“With this my voluntary and enforced resignation, I declare that – being not
able to fix and repair the needs of the Archbishopric, that one by one appeared
before us and in our time, and with that I gave no small opportunity to the
criminals to attack the name of the Archdiocese and to insult and damage the
subordinate bishops of the Archbishopric of Ohrid and its re’aya, and since it
is not possible otherwise to save from their hands the land and the Christians,
except with the abolition of the Archdiocese of Ohrid - that just because of
that I give up on the Archbishopric of Ohrid, except from my former diocese,
which I will hold as long as I live, to nurture and satisfy my needs. In mutual
agreement with my brothers, saint bishops, is made this my voluntary and en-
forced resignation, to be recorded in the sacred code of the Great Church of
Christ (January 16, 1767, Arseniy is promising)”

The Ecumenical Patriarchate, shortly after the resignation of Arseny, ob-

tained a sultan decree that confirmed the abolition of the Archbishopric
of Ohrid and also prohibited any complaint or appeal thereof.
42
In 1737, the high official of the Sublime Porte - Ivan Ypsilanti, accused the
Archbishopric of Ohrid and the Patriarchate of Pec that they were weapons of Austria-
Hungary. Белчовски, Историските основи за автокефалноста на Македонската
православна црква, 76-77.
293
 The Patriarchate went so far as to destroy the memory of the Archbish-
opric, withdrawing the diocese’s see from the city of Ohrid and the Ohrid’s
diocese (composed of Ohrid, Demir Hisar, Elbasan and Durres) was sub-
mitted to Durres (in fact, the diocese was preserved, but only the see was
changed). On October 29, 1776 Ohrid was incorporated within the diocese
of Prespa, which bishop sometimes carried the title - the bishop of Prespa
and Ohrid.
Later, on May 15, 1767 the Synod of the Patriarchate composed an act
to demonstrate and justify the procedure with historical and canonical
motifs. With this act, the Synod was trying to give following explanation:
1) the Archbishopric of Ohrid was created by its uncanonical separation
from the Patriarchate, 2) the Imperial hatti-sherif only established their
old canonical condition, and 3) the hatti-sherifwas a legal act.43
After the abolition of the Archdiocese, the entire high local clergy was
replaced by Phanariotes, who did not know the language of their flock.
The liturgy in Slavonic was expelled in the cities, firstly in the cathedral
churches, then in all other. But the low clergy remained autochthonic,
since it was not very profitable. The ordinary clergy usually came from
priestly families, when the son has inherited his father, from whom he was
probably prepared for the mission, often without further education.44
So, after eight centuries, Ohrid was cancelled by the Patriarchate of Con-
stantinople not only as a centre of an independent church, but also as a
bishop’s see. In order to erase completely the memory of Archbishopric,
the name of the city was also changed from Ohrid to its old name Lihni-
dos. The Archbishopric of Ohrid ceased to exist. There was not any longer
even simple diocese of Ohrid… because there was not Ohrid anymore.

43
Димевски, Историја на Македонската православна црква, 290-293.
44
Миронска-Христовска, “Релациите меѓу Високата Порта и Охридската архие-
пископија“, 334.
294
 21

From Italy to Balkans: Scientific travels in the

Age of Enlightenment
Giuseppe Maino, University of Bologna
UDK 323.1 (450:497)”17”
UDK 908(450:497)”17”

Abstract: In the epoch of the Enlightenment, interest in different peoples and

cultures grew and travel relationships were multiplied by scholars and scien-
tists, aimed at investigating all the natural, environmental, historical, cultural,
social and identity aspects of the visited countries. In particular, also for re-
asons of geographical proximity and traditional political and economic rela-
tions, there are numerous reports of Italian travelers in the Balkan region. In
this contribution, I analyze two of these, of considerable interest above all to
better understand how the two identities, Italian and Balkan, relate in the nar-
ration and in the participation of two eighteenth-century scholars, different in
education and social class.

Introduction
In the epoch of the Enlightenment, interest in different peoples and cul-
tures grew and travel relationships were multiplied by scholars and sci-
entists, aimed at investigating all the natural, environmental, historical,
295
 cultural, social and identity aspects of the visited countries. In particular,
also for reasons of geographical proximity and traditional political and
economic relations, there are numerous reports of Italian travellers in the
Balkan region. In this contribution, I analyse two of these, of considerable
interest above all to better understand how the two identities, Italian and
Balkan, relate in the narration and in the participation of two eighteenth-
century scholars, different in education and social class.
Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (Bologna 1658 - 1730) was the founder of the
Institute of Sciences of Bologna, one of the leading scientific academies
of the Enlightenment, as well as being a distinguished scholar in various
fields, from hydrodynamics to geography, and author of works’ issues such
as the Histoire Physique de la Mer, published in Amsterdam in 1725. For his
scientific achievements, Marsili was named a member of the Royal Soci-
ety on the proposal of Newton himself.
Marsili was engaged in the war against Turks in the Balkan area as a gen-
eral of the Autrich army and he profited of this situation to carry out im-
portant surveys and geographical studies and maps of the Balkan region,
the Danube and the Bosphorus sea. He entered the service of the Emperor
Leopold, he fell wounded and was taken prisoner by Tartars. He suffered
as a slave until he was ransomed two years later. He wrote an account of
the journey to Constantinople, a book on Osservazioni interne al Bosforo
Tracio (Rome, 1681); his major work Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus (Am-
sterdam and The Hague, 1726) is a richly illustrated work in six volumes
containing much valuable historic and scientific information on the river.
Traveller and polygraph, Francesco Griselini (Venice 1717 - Milan 1783),
founded the Giornale d’Italia in Venice, writing about everything. In Au-
gust 1774, Griselini, disappointed by the immobility of Venetian politics
and fascinated by a more dynamic world, abandoned his homeland and
embarked on a journey alongside Count Giuseppe di Brigido, who had
been elected president of the dicastery that administered some provinces
Eastern Empire, including the Banat of Temeswar. His long journey (1774-
77) was later described in the Lettere odeporiche (1780), in which the his-
tory of the Banat of Temeswár is reported, translated then into German. In
a careful analysis of the work the anthropological interests of the author
cannot be omitted. Visiting new places, Griselini has in fact the possibil-
ity to know new peoples and to examine their uses and customs, nature
and civilization. The judgment he gives changes according to the circum-
stances and peoples.

296
 Luigi Ferdinando Marsili
Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, nobleman from Bologna, was soldier,
diplomat, scientist and deeply interested in arts and literature. He was
born in Bologna on 20 July 1658, and studied in Venice, Padua, Rome and
Naples.1

Fig. 1 – Portrait of Luigi Ferdinando Marsili

In July 1679 Marsili was named “camerata” of the bailo (ambassador) of

the “Serenissima” Republic, Pietro Civran, who left Venice for Constan-
tinople, and thus he reached the Ottoman capital, where he remained
for almost a year. Here, not engaged in official duties, he was able to de-
vote himself to cultivating his scientific interests, specifying them in a

1
There is a very rich bibliography about the life and achievements of General
Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsili. It is worth mentioning a few of them in addition to his
autobiography: L. F. Marsigli, Autobiografia di Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli messa in luce nel
secondo centenario della morte di lui dal Comitato Marsiliano, a cura di E. Lovarini, Nicola
Zanichelli Editore (Bologna, 1930); R. Gherardi, Potere e costituzione a Vienna fra Sei e
Settecento: il «buon ordine» di Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, Il Mulino (Bologna, 1980); J. Stoye,
Marsigli’s Europe,1680–1730: The Life and Times of Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli, Soldier and
Virtuoso (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994); L’immagine del Settecento. Da Luigi
Ferdinando Marsili a Benedetto XIV, a cura di D. Biagi Maino, Allemandi Editore (Torino/
New York, 2005); G. Gullino e C. Preti, ad vocem MARSILI, Luigi Ferdinando, in Dizionario
Biografico degli Italiani, 70 (2008); La politica, la scienza, le armi. Luigi Ferdinando Marsili
e la costruzione della frontiera dell’Impero e dell’Europa, a cura di R. Gherardi, CLUEB
(Bologna, 2010). The interested reader may refer to these books for further references to
studies on Marsili’s works and publications.
297
 geographical-naturalistic direction. From Constantinople he had an in-
tense and fruitful epistolary correspondence with Montanari and Mal-
pighi, to whom he sent regularly news of his most relevant observations,
but he also had the opportunity to collect all that set of data that then, a
couple of years later, converged in the notable work Osservazioni intorno
al Bosforo Tracio overo Canale di Constantinopoli rappresentate in lettera
alla sacra real maestà di Cristina regina di Svezia (Roma 1681). Marsili
left Constantinople on August 22, 1680 to Split, continuing the journey
through Bulgaria and Serbia to reach Venice in October.
In 1682, in Vienna, Marsili enlisted in the Imperial Army of Leopold I
of Habsburg; on July 3, 1683, – meanwhile promoted to captain – he was
wounded and captured in the swamps of Asvány by Tatar soldiers who
then sold him to Temeswár’s pasha. This latter wanted to take advantage
of Marsili’s knowledge of the fortifications of Vienna and, so saved his
life, he dedicated him as a slave to distribute coffee to his department.
Resumed after an escape attempt, Marsili followed the Ottoman army to
the siege of the Austrian capital and the subsequent route. After many
adventures he arrived in Sarajevo and managed to obtain freedom under
ransom, through the good offices of the former bailo Civran. At Easter
1684 he was able to reach the Venetian city of Macarsca, in Dalmatia, and
then come back to Bologna.
Returning to militate in the Imperial Army, in the campaign of 1687 he
served in the service of Duke Charles of Lorraine in Transylvania, where,
in December, he led the negotiations that produced the capitulation of the
Turkish fortress of Erlau (Eger, Hungary); on that occasion Marsili man-
aged to obtain precious codes that had once been part of the dispersed
humanities library of Mattia Corvino.
In 1689 with the rank of colonel, under the orders of the Margravious
of Baden, Ludwig Wilhelm, he participated in the Battle of Niš, then took
the winter of 1689-1690 to observe the Roman vestiges on the Danube, the
roads, mountains, flora, especially fish fauna, laying out, as usual, notes,
impressions, in sketches of relations.
The following year, military operations marked the pace and Vienna was
prompted to start the first peace polls. Marsili’s knowledge of the Turkish
language and the Ottoman court made him eligible for that mission, so,
recalled from the camp, he was sent at the end of April 1691 to Constan-
tinople under the cover of Secretary of the Ambassador of England, Wil-
liam Hussey.
The protection of Count Franz Ulrich Kinsky earned him the appoint-
ment of “assistant adviser” in the negotiations that opened in Carlowitz

298
in the spring of 1698 and which ultimately succeeded, to the point that in
his Autobiography (p. 208) Marsili credited himself with all the merit. He
was then promoted to a general of battle and appointed full-power com-
missioner for the definition of new borders, a delicate and defatigating
task, which lasted for more than two years (March 1699 - May 1701), during
which the Marsili made a great deal of observations on the places visited.
The outbreak of the war of the Spanish Succession saw the regiment
of Marsili engaged in the Palatinate in the wake of the future Emperor
Joseph I of Habsburg. Between April and September 1702 he took part in
the siege of Landau, then was engaged on the Rhine against the French
soldiers of Nicolas Catinat. In November he was ordered to retire to the
fortress of Breisach, between Freiburg in Brisgovia and Colmar; here, in
the long winter months, he laid out the project of a library for the use of
the politician and military2, but when in the late spring of 1703 military
operations were resumed, he failed to defend the fortress and was forced
to capitulate on September 6. As it was a strategic position, Marsili was
impeached and tried; on February 15, 1704 in Bregenz, on the Lake Con-
stance, he was degraded and had to suffer the confiscation of his property.
During the periods he spent abroad as a military, he collected rare and
precious material — telescopes, timepieces, astronomical instruments —
and sent it to his house in Bologna where students were free to use and
study them. In 1712 Marsili donated his museum to the city of Bologna,
and it was moved to the Palazzo Poggi. There he founded his “Institute of
Sciences and Arts”, which was formally opened in 1715.
In 1705 Marsili went to Paris, honorably received by Louis XIV, and there
to Montpellier and then to the shores of Provence, where he stayed for
more than two years in the village of Cassis; here he imprinted a further
decisive turning point in his life, dedicating himself to studies of natural
history. At Cassis he was able to make observations on the physical and
biological components of the sea, for which he often used measuring in-
struments he himself thought of and built. Here he conducted, among
others, those studies on corals, which, first communicated to the secretary
of the Académie Royale des Sciences in Paris3, led him to the belief that
2
Idea dell’instituzione della Biblioteca di S.E. il sig. generale co. Marsigli, esclusi li libri
legali e poetici de’ quali non se ne vuole nella medesima, in R. Gherardi, Il «politico» e «altre
scienze più rare» in due inediti marsiliani del primo Settecento, Annali dell’Istituto storico
italo-germanico in Trento, I (1975), pp. 131-136.
3
They are quoted in the notice by B. Fontanelle, Observations sur l’analyse des plantes
marines et principalement du corail rouge, together with news about other studies of
Marsili, summarized in the Observations sur les plantes de la mer and Extrait de l’essay
physique sur l’histoire de la mer, published in the Histoire de l’Académie Royale des
299
 he had proved the plant nature of coral, incurring a mistake that, however,
as based on observations also of a morphological-structural type, consti-
tuted an important step forward in the study of the species.
Towards the end of the summer of 1722, Marsili left Bologna to France
and then to London, where he arrived in November and acquired, thanks
to a rich donation obtained by the pope Benedict XIV, materials for the
scientific collections and instruments for the observatory and other labo-
ratories of the Bolognese Institute. In London he met also Isaac Newton,
who welcomed him as a member of the Royal Society. In early 1723, after
leaving England, he went to the Netherlands, to Leiden, where he visited
Herman Boerhaave, and then to Amsterdam, where he contracted the sale
for the printing of manuscripts on the Danube and the physical history of
the sea in exchange for a rich collection of books and scientific materials
and a large sum of money. The two works were published with the titles
of Histoire physique de la mer (Amsterdam 1725) and Danubius Pannon-
ico-Mysicus observationibus geographicis astronomicisgraphicis historicis
physicis per scostratus et in sex tomos digestus (L’Aia - Amsterdam 1726).4
The latter is a natural history encyclopedia of the lower Danube, pub-
lished in 6 volumes in both The Hague and Amsterdam. The extensive
work covers cartography (vol. 1), classical studies (vol. 2), mineralogy (vol.
3), fish fauna (vol. 4), birds (vol. 5) and other subjects (vol. 6).5

Sciences. Année MDCCX (Paris, 1732), pp. 23-29, 48-53, 69-78. Marsili’s results were then
published in the Lettre écrite de Cassis, près de Marseille le 18 Decembre 1706 à M. l’Abbé
Bignon, touchant quelques branches de corail qui ont fleuri, in Journal des sçavans XXXVI,
May 1706, p. 302.
4
Danubius Pannonico Mysicus Observationibus geographicis, astronomicis, hydro-
graphicis, historicis, physicis perlustratus, The Hague: Comitum, apud P. Gosse, R.C. Al-
berts, P. de Hondt; Amsterdam: Uytwerf & Changuion, 1726, The Hague and Amsterdam.
5
Volume 1: In tres partes digestus geographicam, astronomicam, hydrographicam
contains geographical, astronomical and hydrographical data related to the Danube;
Volume 2: De antiquitatibus Romanorum ad ripas Danubii covers Ancient Roman remains
by the Danube; Volume 3: De mineralibus circa Danubium effossis reviews minerals in the
Danube area; Volume 4: De piscibus in aquis Danubii viventibus discusses the fishes of the
Danube; Volume 5: De avibus circa aquas Danubii vagantibus, et ipsarum nidis catalogs
the birds that Marsili encountered along the Danube. Includes 74 plates after drawings
by the Italian artist Raimondo Manzini (1658 - 1730), including 59 birds and 15 nests with
clutches, some of the earliest illustrations of its kind in the history of ornithology; Volume
6: De fontibus Danubii. Observationes anatomicae. De Aquis Danubii et Tibisci. Catalogus
plantarum. Observationes habitae cum barometris et thermometris. De Insectis covers the
springs of the Danube, anatomy, plants, insections and observations on pressure and
temperature.
300
 Fig. 2 - Title pages of “Histoire Physique de la mer. Ouvrage enrichi de figures
dessinées d’après le naturel”, published in Amsterdam in 1725. Prior to the His-
toire Physique de la Mer, no book existed that dealt solely with the sea from the
scientific standpoint.

Fig. 3 - Table showing depth fluctuations of the Bosporus waters according to

the seasons, as measured from an observation point at Galata
301
 Fig. 4 – Title page of Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus observationibus geographicis
astronomicisgraphicis historicis physicis per scostratus et in sex tomos digestus
(L’Aia - Amsterdam 1726).

Fig. 5 - [Luigi Ferdinando Marsili] Pesci che nascono nel Danubio e volatili che
vivono lungo d’esso. Diligentemente delineati ed incisi in tavole CVII. In Bologna,
nella stamperia di Lelio dalla Volpe, s.a. [after1756].

302
Fig. 6 - Drawing of a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) near lower Danube, done after
a drawing by the Italian artist Raimondo Manzini.

303
 Fig. 7 – Two maps from Marsili’s papers, showing the Ottoman Empire (top)
and the Roman antiquities in the Balkan and Hungary regions.

Marsili died in Bologna on November 1, 1730. His extraordinary life

passed through important moments and places in Europe between the
seventeenth and the eighteenth century, crucial moment for the balance
and the destiny of the world. Among his many works, there are some con-
cerning the Balkan region, the Danube and other studies of nature.6
6
Description du Danube, depuis la montagne de Kalenberg en Autriche, jusqu’au
confluent de la rivière Jantra dans la Bulgarie, contenant des observations géographiques,
astronomiques, hydrographiques, historiques et physiques, par Mr le comte Louis Ferd.
de Marsigli, Membre de la Société Royale de Londres, & des Académies de Paris & de
Montpellier, Traduite du latin, 6 voll., La Haye: Jean Swart, 1744; La Hongrie et le Danube
en XXXI Cartes très fidelément gravées d’après les Desseins originaux & les Plans levez
sur les lieux par l’Auteur même. Ouvrage où l’on voit la Hongrie, par rapport à ses Riviers,
à ses Antiquez Romaines, & à ses Mines; & les Sources & le Cours du Danube, &c. Avec
une Préface sur l’excellence & et l’usage de ces Cartes / Par Mr. Le Comte De Marsigli, La
Haye: aux dépens de la Compagnie, 1741. Preface de Antoine Augustin Bruzen de La
Martinière (1662 - 1746); Aloysî Ferdinandi comit. Marsigli, Danubialis operis prodromus,
Norimbergae: apud J. A. Endteri filios, 1700; Prodromus operis danubialis, ab Aloisio
Ferdinando comite Marsilii, Amstelodami: apud F. Changuyon, s.d.; Dissertazione
epistolare del fosforo minerale o sia della pietra illuminabile bolognese, a’ sapienti ed
eruditi signori collettori degli Acta Eruditorum di Lipsia scritta da Luigi Ferdinando conte
Marsigli, Edition: Lipsia, 1698; Inscriptiones, monumenta, ornamenta etc. ad ripas Danubii
in Hungaria inventa, tab. 3l expressae, in fol.,Bononiae, s. d.; Bevanda asiatica, brindata
all’em. Bonvisi, nunzio apostolico appresso la maestà dell’imperatore… che narra l’historia
medica del cavè o sia caffè, Vienna d’Austria, 1685; Bevanda asiatica: trattatello sul caffè,
edited by Clemente Mazzotta, Rome: Salerno editore, 1998; Relazioni dei confini della
Croazia e della Transilvania a Sua Maestà Cesarea: 1699-1701, Modena: Mucchi editore,
1986; La Schiavitù del generale Marsigli sotto i Tartari e i Turchi da lui stesso narrata, edited
304
Fig. 8 - Giusto Emilio Alberghetti, Corografia della Dalmatia, 1698 – 1699, Biblio-
teca Storica di Studi Adriatici, ISMAR Venezia.

A map of Dalmatia dated August 22, 1699 has been recently rediscovered
within the historical librarian heritage of the Institute of Marine Sciences
of Venice (ISMAR - CNR).7 Giusto Emilio Alberghetti (Venice, 1666 - 1755),
a military engineer like other members of his family and superintendent
to the Morea land register, signed in 1698 or 1699 (the cartouche dates
back to MDCXCVIII and August 22, 1699 Poppine at the same time) a great
Dalmatian map drawn in ink and watercolor and enriched with gold de-
tails on the “Part of the Gulf of Venice” and the two roses of the winds
drawn along the eastern edge of the Adriatic Sea. The cartouche reports
that the map is a copy of that submitted by the General Count Luigi Ferdi-
nando Marsili to the ambassadors during the peace negotiations between
the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire:
“Le linee espresse nel presente disegno sono tratte da un dissegno conforme,
mostrato all’Ill.mo et Ecc.mo Sig.r Commissario Gio. Grimani dall’Ill.mo Sig.r
Co: Luigi Ferd.o Marsilij Com.o di S.M.C. che disse essere copia del Dissegno
fatto vedere nel Congresso di Carlovitz dallEcc.mo Plenip.rio Veneto à Media-
tori, quali linee professa detto Sig.r Co: Marsilij essere state tirate cò le conside-
rat.ni e riflessi & agli effetti seguenti...”

by Emilio Lovarini, Bologna: Nicola Zanichelli editore, 1931; Stato militare dell’Imperio
Ottomanno, incremento e decremento del medesimo,del signore Conte di Marsigli
dell’academia Reale delle scienze di Parigi, e di Monpelieri, e della Società Reale di Londra,
e fondatore dell’istituto di Bologna, Parti prima e seconda, La Haye & Amsterdam: Gosse
& Uytwerf, 1732; Atti legali per la fondazione dell’instituto delle scienze, ed arti liberali per
memoria degli ordini ecclesiastici, e secolari che compongono la città di Bologna, Bologna:
Stamperia di San Tommaso d’Aquino, 1728.
7
Alessandro Ceregato, Luigi Ferdinando Marsili: militare, diplomatico e scienziato
al servizio dell’imperatore e di sé stesso e il suo contributo all’approfondimento delle
conoscenze dell’assetto fisico del territorio tra l’Adriatico e il basso Danubio. Le collezioni
cartografiche dell’Istituto di Scienze Marine del CNR, in “The cartography of the Danube
and the surronding areas in and after the times of Vincenzo Maria Coronelli and Luigi
Ferdinando Marsili”, CNR, Venice, 2015, pp. 55-63.
305
 The main collections of Marsili’s manuscripts are preserved in Bologna
since his death in 1730. A detailed list of the 146 codes in the fund of the
University Library of Bologna was compiled by Lodovico Frati, Catalogo
dei manoscritti di Luigi Ferdinando Marsili conservati nella Biblioteca uni-
versitaria di Bologna, Firenze 1928.8
The “Historiography of Early Modern Ottoman Europe” (HOE) Database
results from a DFG-funded project based on the scientific collaboration
between the Chair for the History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern
Turkey of Ruhr-Universität in Bochum and the University Library of Bo-
chum9 and provides useful information about the Marsili’s manuscripts
relevant to Balkan region and Ottoman Empire:

“For more than one hundred years, scholars from all over the world have ex-
plored this fund. Nevertheless, in spite of their efforts, it has not yet discarded
his secrets – count Marsili has amassed hundreds of Arabic, Greek, Hebrew,
Persian, and Turkish manuscripts (whose 1720 catalogue by Giuseppe Simo-
nio Assemani, as well as the 1803-1808 catalogue by Giuseppe Gaspare Mez-
zofanti, are still unpublished – BUB ms. 2 951 & BUB ms. 4 111); he drew and
collected hundreds of maps depicting generally and in detail the Balkans (of
which only partial catalogues exist, like those by Kisari Balla György and Antal
András Deák); and he also gathered a huge amount of data on the Ottoman
Empire and its South-Eastern Europe (only partially published). For Marsili,
see John Stoye, Marsigli’s Europe... (1994). For his own 146 manuscripts, see
Lodovico Frati, Catalogo dei manoscritti di Luigi Ferdinando Marsili... (1928).
For his collection of Arabic manuscripts, see Victor Rosen, “Remarques sur
les manuscrits orientaux de la Collection Marsigli à Bologne...” (1885). For the
Greek manuscripts, see Angelo Bernasconi, I fondi manoscritti greci Lamberti-
ni e Marsili... (2004); Idem, “Un gruppo di codici greci bolognesi...” (2006). For
the Persian manuscripts, see Angelo M. Piemontese, Catalogo dei manoscritti
persiani..., pp. 3-35. For the Turkish manuscripts, which comprise 205 items,
see Orazgozel Machaeva, “A little-known collection of Turkish manuscripts...”
(1994); Eadem, “Il Tarvīḥ al-arvāḥ di Tāj-ad- Dīn Aḥmedī...” (1995); Eadem, “Due
album ottomani del ’600” (2003); Maurizio Pistoso, “I manoscritti islamici della
Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna (2004).”
8
Among them there is also an important collection of oriental codes, whose list is
presented in M. Talman, Elenchus librorum Orientalium manuscriptorum… a domino
comite Aloysio Ferdinando Marsigli… partim in ultimo bello Turcico et partim in itinere
Constantinopolim suscepto collectorum coemptorumque, Viennae Austria 1702. As for
other lists of Marsili’s manuscripts preserved in Bologna, see M. Longhena, Le carte e
i manoscritti di Luigi Ferdinando Marsili conservati a Bologna, in L’Archiginnasio, XXIX
(1934), pp. 126-131.
9
https://hoe.ub.rub.de/retrieve/CollectionFund/fa149a9b-dcc0-4cb1-8607-154
626a0cd2b
306
 As a matter of fact, the study of the manuscripts of General Count Luigi
Ferdinando Marsili, preserved in the University Library of Bologna (in
particular, see code 1044, mss. 1-146) allows a deepening of a series of his-
torical issues, in particular related to the late Medieval, the Byzantine and
the Ottoman periods in the Balkan Peninsula and Constantinople. From
an antiquarian point of view, the unpublished Marsili papers transmit
testimonies relevant to Balkan and Constantinople cartography, docu-
ments for the study of architectural monuments and inscriptions trace-
able to the late Medieval, Byzantine and Ottoman years, mostly in the area
of Constantinople/Istanbul but also in the Balkan and Danubian areas.
From a historiographic and anthropological point of view, it is possible to
recover direct and widely developed testimonies of some literary impor-
tance, about the vision of Marsili both of the Byzantine Empire and of the
Ottoman sultanate.
Analysis of the Marsili’s manuscripts, with the critical support of spe-
cialized bibliography and the printed works of Marsili himself, provide
a picture, previously unknown to historical criticism, of the experiences
gained by the Count in his youth, aged between 21 and 26 years, therefore
attributable to the period between his departure from Venice for Constan-
tinople, on July 22, 1679 with the embalming of Pietro Civran, bailo Vene-
to at the Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte
(Bāb-i ‛ālī), and the shipping of the Buda plant to the Duke of Lorraine on
April 22, 1684, not even a month after his liberation from slavery (July 2,
1683 - March 25, 1684). Past and present of the Balkan Peninsula leap into
a vivid picture stretched out by a scientist and a military man who com-
bines practical ability with the analytical penetration of the scholar and
historian.

Travel Diaries to Constantinople (July 22, 1679 - August 1680)

1. Diario del Viaggio da Venezia a Costantinopoli, iluglio-agosto 1679 (Di-

ary of the Journey from Venice to Constantinople, July-August 1679) 10
BUB (Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria), cod. 1044 (FM, ms. 51, cc. 13-77)
TITLE: Itinerario da Venezia a Costantinopoli, andatovi in qualità di Came-
rata del Bailo, Pietro Civrani; con molte osservazioni naturali, politiche, mi-
litari etc. fatte per viaggio
10
There is a partial, patchy and often erroneous edition of Lodovico Frati, Il viaggio
da Venezia a Costantinopoli del conte Luigi Ferd. Marsili, 1679, Venezia: F. Visentini, 1904.
307
 DESCRIPTION: Ms. cart., in-4, cc. 13-77 [tre fascicoli di cm 14x20 circa;
cc. 1-2 bianche (13,5x20,5), 3-12 (13x19), 13-14 bianche (14,5x20,5), 15-72
(14x20; dove 16v17r, 38v-39v, 41v53v, 54v-69r, 70r, 71r-72v sono bianche), 73
(12,5x13,5), 74 (15x22), 75 (46x32 piegato), 76-77 bianche (14x20)].

2. Diario del Viaggio da Costantinopoli a Venezia, luglio-agosto 1680 (Di-

ary of the Journey from Constantinople to Venice, July-August 1680)
BUB (Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria), cod. 1044 (FM, ms. 52)
TITLE: Diario del mio viaggio da Costantinopoli a Venezia 1680
DESCRIPTION: Ms. cart., in-16, cc. 300-358 [cm. 11,5x16,5, con 300v, 301,
302v, 318v-346, 347v, 351r, 352v,353v, 354v-356r, 357-358 bianche].

3. Appunti presi in Costantinopoli, agosto 1679 – luglio 1680 (Notes taken

in Constantinople, August 1679 - July 1680)
BUB (Bologna, Biblioteca Universitaria), cod. 1044 (FM, ms. 52, cc. 360-437)
TITLE: Libretto di varie osservazioni che facevo a Costantinopoli
DESCRIPTION: Ms. cart., in-16, cc. 360-437 [sette fascicoletti di cm. 14x7,5.
Le cc. 360v-368r, 369v-370r, 371r, 372v-374v, 378v, 379v, 383r-388r, 389r-390r,
391v, 392v, 393v-398r, 399r-v, 401v-407r, 409r, 410r, 411v, 412v-413r, 414r, 415v-
417r, 418r, 419v-420v, 421v-423r, 425v-426r, 427v428r, 429r-v, 432r, 435r-436r
e 437r-v sono bianche. Le carte 388v, 398v, 400r-401r, 413v, 417v, 418v, 419r,
421r, 423v-424r, 426v-427r, 428v, 431v, 432v-434v, 436v sono scritte per lo
più a lapis ed a taccuino capovolto e vanno lette a ritroso da 436v a 388v].
Finally, the Marsili’s fund contains many important documents such as
maps, reproductions of Greek and Roman inscriptions and monuments,
etc.
For instance, the Armenian Map is a large vertical map, three meters
and one half long and 120 centimeters wide, where the holy sites of Ar-
menia are represented through a dense texture of color and written il-
lustrations. It was realized by the Constantinople scholar Eremia Celebi
K’eomiwrchean who in 1691 responded to the desire of Marsili to learn
about Armenian holy sites during a diplomatic mission. After the recent
restoration, carried out by restorer Melania Zanetti in 2018, a topography
is clearly shown with over 800 sites, from Nishapur, today in Iran, the
monasteries of Crimea, the major ecclesiastical centers: the Etchmiadzin
308
Gandzasar, Aght’amar and Cilicia and the patriarchates of Jerusalem and
Constantinople. Map’s tracks had been lost until 1991, when it was found
by Prof. Gabriella Uluhogian in Roll 24 of the Marsili’s fund.
As for inscriptions, from a codex study of the volumes of the Marsili’s
fund, conceived as part of a research project supported and directed by
Prof. Antonio Carile of Bologna University, have emerged some interest-
ing transcriptions of epigraphic finds that the distinguished scholar would
observe and then report in his manuscripts during his stays in Constan-
tinople (Istanbul), first in the wake of the bailo Pietro Civran in 1679 and
then in 1691.
The cultured interest in inscriptions as a side of the history of culture
and antiquarian knowledge projects us into the tradition of the auctores –
scholars, copyists or gatherers – who have turned, more or less completely
and correctly, their attention to such finds, sometimes limiting themselves
to copying only the text. Marsili is in this sense part of the tradition of
cultured antiquities scholars that in the travel diaries between the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries used to stuff the accounts of drawings of
classic buildings, transcriptions of epigraphs in Greek and Latin and folk
news, which now make these tales of the widest interest in many respects.
Although the transcriptions of epigraphs in Greek and Latin are pol-
luted by numerous errors that make the paleographic survey difficult, it
is possible to recognize the edited and unpublished inscriptions and it is
possible to improve the text of the unpublished, while the topographic
annotations of Marsili would allow in some cases to identify the location
of the finds and to verify their current availability.
As an example of the results that can be obtained through this census
and the consequent edition, it highlights the victorious acclaim IHC NIKA
on the so-called “Column of Goths”, reproduced by Marsili and preserved
in Istanbul in the park of Topkapi Sarayi, since it has raised some issues
related to the historical framing remained to date unsolved.11

Francesco Griselini

An eclectic scholar, traveller and indefatigable polygraph, Griselini

founded the Giornale d’Italia, writing on it about the most disparate
topics and propagating the ideals and aspirations of the century of
11
Cfr. R. H. W. Stichel, Fortuna Redux, Pompeius und die Goten. Bemerkungen zu einem
wenig beachteten Säulenmonument Konstantinopels, in “Istanbuler Mitteilungen”, XLIX
(1999), pp. 467-492, and references quoted therein. The column and the inscription could
be connected to Pompeo, grandson of Emperor Anastasio (491-512).
309
 Enlightenment. He made a long journey (1774-77), which he later de-
scribed in the Lettere Odeporiche12 (1780), in which he writes the Story of
the Bonate of Temeswár, later translated into German13. Friend of Goldo-
ni, he disserted on Italian comedy, and he himself wrote five plays, as well
as three writings in defense of Paolo Sarpi.
In addition to his leading mathematical and physical theoretical studies,
the experimental investigation carried out by Newton on scientific instru-
ments, alchemy, coin mint, etc. is also to be related to the technological
development of the Enlightenment century, just before and preparing the
beginning of the great nineteenth-century industrial revolution. From
this point of view, the pioneering work of Francesco Griselini who creates
the first Italian technical encyclopedia in the decade 1768-1778, is worth
mentioning.
The Dizionario delle Arti e de’ Mestieri14 is a significant document on
technological progress and economic activity in Italy in the eighteenth
century and is one of the best fruits of the significant cultural renewal
brought about by the Italian Enlightenment. The rich iconographic ap-
paratus, inspired by the French Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert,
represents not only machinery, tools, and instruments relating to the vari-
ous technical, commercial and agricultural activities, but also workers, ar-
tisans and peasants portrayed in their environments, such as workshops,
laboratories, cultivated fields, etc. It is therefore the technique and not the

12
Lettere odeporiche di Francesco Griselini di più Accademie Scientifiche, e Società
Economiche d’Europa, e Segretario di quella di Milano. Ove i suoi viaggi e le di lui osservazioni
spettanti all’istoria naturale ai costumi di vari popoli e sopra più altri interessanti oggetti
si descrivono. Giuntevi parecchie Memorie dello Stesso Autore che riguardano le Scienze e
le Arti utili, in Milano: presso Gaetano Motta, 1780; parzialmente riprodotto in Francesco
Griselini, Lettere odeporiche…, edizione e introduzione a cura di Angela Lasorsa, Edizioni
digitali del CISVA, 2008.
13
Franz Griselini, ... Versuch einer politischen und natürlichen Geschichte des temeswarer
Banats, in “Briefen an Standespersonen und Gelehrten”, Wien: J. P. Krauss, 1780, 2 vol.
in-4°.
14
F. Griselini, M. Fassadoni, Dizionario delle Arti e de’ Mestieri compilato da Francesco
Griselini [tomi 1-5]; Dizionario delle Arti e de’ Mestieri compilato innanzi da Francesco
Griselini ed ora continuato dall’abate Marco Fassadoni [tomi 6-18], Venezia, Modesto
Fenzo, 1768-1778. Descrizione fisica: diciotto volumi in 8vo. Vol. I: antiporta allegorica e
titolo incisi, pp. (8), XXXII, 328 e 14 tavole; II: pp. VIII, 288 e 27 tavv.; III: pp. (16), 276 e 29
tavv.; IV: pp. (4), 283, 1 bianca e 21 tavv.; V: pp. XVI, 328 e 23 tavv. (in realtà 24 in quanto la
tavola II è ripetuta); VI: pp. VIII, 318, 2 bianche e 12 tavv.; VII: pp. XII, 292 e 15 tavv.; VIII:
pp. VIII, 344 e 16 tavv.; IX: pp. VIII, 310, 2 bianche e 16 tavole; X: pp. XII, 316 e 16 tavv.; XI:
pp. VIII, 280 e 30 tavv.; XII: pp. XII, 324 e 15 tavv.; XIII: pp. VIII, 288 e 22 tavv.; XIV: pp. VIII,
328 e 10 tavv.; XV: pp. XII, 292 e 17 tavv.; XVI: pp. VIII, 280 e 17 tavv.; XVII: pp. XVI, 288 e 11
tavv.; XVIII: pp. XII, 362 e 12 tavv. In totale 323 tavole incise in rame fuori testo più volte
ripiegate.
310
science that is at the base of Griselini’s work, to which we owe also the re-
alization of most of the reproduced images, which, despite their simplic-
ity, are noted for precision and richness of details.
The Dizionario testifies the Griselini’s multifaceted interests in all the
practical arts, technologies and what we call applied sciences today. If
Griselini has great respect and admiration for Marsili, also documented
in his works and in particular in the Lettere odeporiche, he does not fail
to detect errors and deficiencies of the General Count, for example in his
hypotheses about the nature of corals. But, like Marsili, Griselini is always
attentive to the practical aspects of scientific methodology, to new inven-
tions and the benefits that can be achieved from them for society and the
economic development of all its classes.
In August 1774, Griselini, disappointed by the immobility of Venetian
politics and fascinated by a more dynamic world, abandoned his home-
land and embarked on a journey alongside Count Giuseppe di Brigido,
who had been elected president of the dicastery that administered some
provinces of the Eastern Empire, including the Banat of Temeswár, the
place, we remember, where Marsili was enslaved, prisoner of the Turks.
Griselini, after obtaining the post of secretary of the Patriotic Society of
Milan, went to Vienna, where he stayed in the winter of 1776-1777. On that
occasion, he showed Empress Maria Teresa the manuscript on the jour-
ney to the Temeswár, obtaining permission to dedicate it to the queen15.
In 1780 he then published in Milan the Lettere odeporiche, conceived as
a reprint of all his travel writings. The publication, which according to
the author’s plans should have included two volumes, stopped at the first
volume16. In the same year, however, Griselini published the German edi-
tion in Vienna with the title Versuch einer politischen und naturlichen Ge-
schichte des Temeswarer Banats in Briefen, giving also the second volume
of the manuscript to the press.
After a detailed index of the letters, with a summary of each of them
and indication of the pages, the Preface can be read, where the author
presents the volume in its parts and, tracing a travel itinerary, gives an-
ticipations on the topics covered in the course of the work and reveals his
erudite interests by quoting the names of numerous scholars, scientists
and writers. Written with a smaller font than the letters, with almost no
line spacing, the Preface presents a numeration in Roman characters from
15
ALLA SAGRA IMPERIALE E REALE MAESTA’ APOSTOLICA DI MARIA TERESA
AUGUSTA, PIA, FELICE, E MADRE DE’ SUOI POPOLI.
16
TOMO I. Orbem terrae peragrare, omnia loca rimari, singula obiecta contemplari,
notas quibus dignoscuntur observare.
311
 I to VIII and concludes with two footnotes. Follow the twenty-six letters
that make up the body of the work, addressed to various recipients, where
Griselini tells of his journey in the Banat of Temeswár.
The Banat of Temeswár or Banat of Temes was a Habsburg province that
existed between 1718 and 1778. It was located in the present-day region of
Banat, which was named after this province. The province was abolished
in 1778 and incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.
In a careful analysis of the work the anthropological interests of the au-
thor cannot be omitted. Visiting new places Griselini had in fact the possi-
bility to know new peoples and to examine their uses and customs, nature
and civilization. The judgment he gives changes according to the circum-
stances and peoples. Alongside positive judgments, Griselini also reports
the negative aspects of these peoples as when in the letter XXIV, after a de-
tailed description of the Vlachs, he states that they are so hospitable, but
also prone to theft. But Griselini often limits himself to describing uses
and customs without giving a judgment and captures the analogies and
differences between the various peoples, sometimes he analyzes the way
of dressing up of the known people, the linguistic aspects that character-
ize them, their uses and customs and related economic activities. Interest
in the female condition is always shown. Still talking about the costumes
of the different peoples, he also describes the folkloric aspects, such as
when, in the letter XXIV, he inserts the representation of a dance made by
the people of «Dolny- Lubkowa».
In the Preface, Griselini writes:

Di tali viaggi, io dò in tre altre lunghe Lettere distinto ragguaglio di uno, che in-
trapresi per quel tratto del Danubio, che da Semlino, città della Slavonia dirim-
petto a Belgrado si stende fin ad Ogradina vicinamente ad Orsowa, onde di là
trasferirmi alle famose Terme Erculee situate in una vallicella alle pendici degli
ultimi monti che dividono il Bannato dalla Valachia occidentale. Felici, ed infe-
lici furono le avventure, che in tal viaggio mi accedettero; ma misto col raccon-
to delle medesime troverà il Leggitore di non aver io tralasciato di notare quel
tanto che parvemi degno di attenzione, si rispetto alla storia naturale di questo
grande e rinomato fiume, come riguardo ai più distinti antichi monumenti che
cadon sotto l’occhio sulle di lui sponde, e principalmente dalla banda della
Servia. Per quest’ultimo oggetto non manco di far riconoscere, col contesto
degl’itinerari di Antonino e Gerosolimitano, nonchè de’ vecchi Geografi, ed al-
tri Scrittori Greci Latini, i siti di non poche Colonie e Municipi, e così i posti
delle milizie stazionarie assegnate per guardia di esse sponde Danubiali; cose
tutte ommesse dal Marsili nell’atto stesso, che per vieppiù rendere magnifica e
preziosa l’opera sua fece sforzo di tavole incise in rame, rappresentanti tutti gli

312
 antichi ruderi che potè vedere, ma in modo per cui scorgesi che vedeva assai
losco, e scorretto. Per questo io presento il tipo di una delle strette vie tagliate
a’ tempi di Tiberio nelle rupi lungo, ed oltre il vorticoso passo detto Cteben, o di
Tattalia dalle Legioni IV Scitica, e V Macedonica, e riporto le iscrizioni in dette
rupi scolpite quali esistono, cioè senza gli enormi errori, e solecismi co’ quali
ne le diè il mentovato celebre Autore.

Fig. 9 – Map of the Banat of Temeswár from the Lettere odeporiche.

Griselini continues with the description of the Banat of Temeswár and

his navigation on the Danube with some comments about the work of
Marsili, Danubius Pannonico-Mysicus…:
Intorno la Bannatica popolazione, ch’è un complesso di dieci Nazioni, e pa-
recchie fin di linguaggio diverso, vengo successivamente a parlare, estenden-
domi al lume di quantità di ricerche da me fatte su i costumi de’ Zingari, e
de’ Valachi, senza mancar di rintracciare nel buio dell’istoria in tal particolare
l’origine degli uni, e degli altri, e porgendo riguardo ai secondi, che per genti
di sangue Romano si vantano, un’idea del loro idioma, il quale realmente tiene
affinità coll’Italiano, e cogli altri che sono figliuoli della lingua latina. […] Per

313
 altro oggetto attinente alla storia naturale della porzione del Danubio da me
navigata, la mappa dell’Autore Bolognese essendo scorretta, ed imperfetta, ne
dò io una, che sebben in picciola forma, e di avviso soltanto, è però migliore,
e così descritto e figurato il curioso sito rupestre detto Papagaies, o Papagalli,
e l’altro dell’indicato gran vortice di Tattalia, ch’io trapassai in picciola barca
presto tanto, quanto vola una saetta stoccata dall’arco.

Finally, as an example of the Griselini’s travel reports, from his letter

XXIII17 to the botanist and ornithologist Saverio Manetti (1723 – 1785) we
quote the description of the city of Semlino, present-day Zemun in Serbia,
which rises at the confluence of the Sava River in the Danube, encoun-
tered during his navigation of the Danube:
È Semlino una delle più popolose e ricche Città dello Slavonico Comitato del
Sirmio. Ciò avviene per la sua felice situazione, che rendela l’emporio delle
merci d’ogni genere, che trasmettonsi dalle litorali piazze Austriache sull’A-
driatico, nonché dalla Carniola, dalla Stiria, e dall’Austria per i fiumi Sava,
Drava, e Danubio in queste parti, siccome di quelle, le quali da queste stesse
parti, come da altri luoghi distanti della Turchia, vengono spedite da un lato
in Carniola, e alle predette piazze maritime, e da un altro nelle due mentovate
provincie, cioè nell’Austria, e nella Stiria. Abitano in Semlino assai famiglie Te-
desche, Slave, Ungheresi, Rasciane, nè vi mancano de’ Giudei. Le strade sono
strette, e mal in ordine, ma vanno fiancheggiate da passabili abitazioni, da fon-
dachi di merci, e da officine di varie arti, e di rinvenduglioli d’ogni maniera di
derrate. La Dogana e il Lazzaretto, nel qual ultimo si espurgano le merci, e vi
fan contumacia le persone, che capitano dalla Turchia, sono luoghi da veder-
si al pari degli avvanzi del demolito Castello, che in altri tempi rendeva sì ri-
spettabile questa piazza. Stando sull’elevata piattaforma del medesimo, mirasi
Belgrado tanto bene di fronte, che si può trarne comodamente una prospetica
delineazione dell’esteriore. Tra le Chiese della Città è celebre quella de’ Frati
Francescani osservanti, non già per l’archittettura, ma perché in essa il famoso
Giovanni Uniade, sconfitta ch’ebbe sotto Belgrado nel 1456 con mediocre eser-
cito la grande armata Ottomana comandata da Maometto II, il conquistatore
di Costantinopoli, assalito da morbo letale vi si fece tradurre, e con sentimenti
di eroica pietà Cristiana esalò lo spirito nelle braccia di S. Giovanni da Capi-
strano, che avealo eccitato a quella illustre impresa. Semlino figurò assai negli

17
LETTERA XXIII AL CHIARISSIMO SIGNORE SAVERIO MANETTI SEGRETARIO
DELL’ACCADEMIA BOTANICA, E DI QUELLA DE’ GEORGOFILI DI FIRENZE, SOCIO
DI ALTRE ACCADEMIE E SOCIETA’ ECONOMICHE, PROFESSORE DI MEDICINA, E DI
STORIA NATURALE, EC. Contiene il cominciamento della relazione di un viaggio sul
Danubio. Oggetti di tal viaggio. Descrizione di Pancsowa, e poi di Semlino, città dello
Slavonico Comitato del Sirmio, nonché di Belgrado, e seguentemente di Semendria,
Kubin, Uypalanca, ed altri luoghi sull’una e l’altra sponda di detto fiume, tanto della
Servia, che del Bannato fin a Moldova.
314
 antichi tempi, cioè mentre i Romani signoreggiavano le Pannonie in cui era
incorporato al pari della celebre Colonia Sismica. Assai Eruditi lo credono il
Serbinum di Tolomeoclxxxvii, o il Servitium di altri vecchi Geografi, ed ove i
Romani stessi tenevano una poderosa squadra di navigli fluviatili. Comunque
sia di ciò egli è certo, che quasi per ogni dove si facciano degli scavi onde sta-
bilirvi fondamenta di nuove case od altro, avvien di rinvenire frammenti di
antichità, e specialmente delle lapidee Romane iscrizioni.

Appendix
In this appendix the biography of Francesco Griselini is reproduced
written by Giovanni Battista De Toni, who also added a complete bibli-
ography of the Griselini’s publications, which appeared in the book Gli
scienziati italiani dall’inizio del Medio Evo ai nostril giorni. Repertorio bio-
bibliografico dei filosofi – matematici – astronomi – fisici – chimici – natu-
ralisti – riologi – medici – geografi italiani diretto da Aldo Mieli e compiuto
con la collaborazione di numerosi scienziati storici e bibliografi, Roma, Dott.
Attilio Nardecchia Editore, 1921.

FRANCESCO GRISELINI, biography and bibliography compiled by Gio-

vanni Battista De Toni, pp. 440-445.

Ritratto a medaglione, in rame, inciso da I. Leonardis (aetatis suae LX1V); Ripro-

duzione fotografica nella Iconotheca del R. Orto Botanico di Padova (fig. 78, p.
440).

315
 Francesco Griselini, (1717- 1783) di Venezia, viaggiatore e naturalista.
Vita. F. G. nacque in Venezia il 12 agosto 1717 e per quanto poco si sap-
pia de’ suoi primi studi, questi dovettero essere molto intensi, tali da pro-
curargli una larga coltura sia nel campo teorico che in quello pratico; in
gioventù aveva avuto tendenza per la carriera ecclesiastica, ma poscia, ab-
bandonata la vocazione, sposò una giovane di Parenzo, dalla quale ebbe
due figli e una figlia. Gli esempii del Zannichelli, del Ginanni, del Marsigli
e di Vitaliano Donati non potevano non influire sull’indirizzo degli studi
di F. G. il quale si diede con passione agli studii sugli organismi del mare;
e l’esempio del Donati lo incitò a cercare nuove conoscenze scientifiche e
pratiche nei viaggi; dapprima visitò solo le lagune venete e l’Adriatico su-
periore, più tardi compì tra il 1774 e il 1776 un lungo viaggio del quale rese
ampio conto nelle sue Lettere odeporiche.
In sul finire del 1776 era ancora in Ungheria, poi giunse a Vienna in sul
principiare del marzo 1777 e vi si trattenne qualche tempo convalescente
d’una malattia contratta nel suo viaggio di due anni e mezzo nel Banato
di Temesvar; giunto a Milano nella primavera del 1777 ebbe ad assumervi
l’ufficio di segretario di quella Società Patriotica, ufficio al quale, con lo
stipendio di 2600 lire milanesi, egli era stato destinato dall’imperatrice
Maria Teresa. F. G. cominciò presto a provare le amarezze della carica af-
fidatagli ed ebbe contro di lui rimostranze e lagni per il mal’accorto con-
tegno verso gli studiosi; ne venne che, non avendo potuto guadagnarsi il
favore dei colleghi, F. G. venne con molta avvedutezza da un consigliere
della Società (il conte Pier Francesco Secco) indotto a chiedere il colloca-
mento a riposo a motivo dell’età avanzata e del decadimento in salute; la
giubilazione gli venne accordata nel 1781 da Giuseppe II con l’assegno di
lire 2000. F. G. morì, alienato, all’Ospedale dei Fate-bene-fratelli nel 1783.
Non mancarono a questo naturalista il consenso e la stima di molti con-
temporanei; né gli mancarono gli onori accademici, appartenuto avendo
a parecchi sodalizii scientifici.
Un genere di piante, Griselinia, proposto nel 1786 dal botanico Giorgio
Forster, ricorda il G. ed è accettato dai sistematici moderni.
Opera. L’opera di F. G. è svariatissima, in parte originale, in parte di di-
vulgazione, ora letteraria, ora scientifica e solo di quest’ultima qui si tiene
conto, accennando brevemente alla prima. Rettificò, confermandole, le
osservazioni del medico chioggiotto G. Vianelli (1749) sulle cause della fo-
sforescenza del mare e descrisse col nome di Baillouviana una nuova Alga,
oggidì riferita alla Dasya elegons Ag. Fondato il «Giornale d’Italia» vi pub-
blicò moltissimi articoli; egli attribuì alle pressioni causate dall’adesione

316
o concrescenza di due rami del polipaio l’origine dei polipi mostruosi in
quell’antozoario che allora chiamavasi Madrepora dell’Imperato, riconob-
be la irritabilità del polipo, il suo ermafroditismo, la riproduzione per uova
espulse attraverso l’apertura orale; mise in luce l’opera, ch’era rimasta ine-
dita, di Vitaliano Donati sull’Antipate o Corallo nero dell’Adriatico; sosten-
ne, come alcuni suoi predecessori e contemporanei, la natura animale del
Corallo, delle Madrepore, ecc. contro le erronee asserzioni di L. F. Marsigli;
trattò dei Balani, della formazione del bisso nelle Pinna, dei movimenti
dei Molluschi e di altri animali, della colorazione rossa dell’acqua deter-
minata da animaletti (Cladoceri), si occupò di parecchie Alghe marine, tra
altre del Virsoide di Vitaliano Donati ossia del Fuctts virsoides dei moderni,
di quella che oggi denominasi Padina Pavonia, di molti organismi animali
invertebrati; dei vertebrati descrisse il modo particolare con cui si prepara
il nido il pesce del genere Gobius; non ommise di trattare argomenti rela-
tivi alle industrie, soprattutto alle colture di piante utili foraggere, oleifere,
eduli; gli si deve il restauro, eseguito nel 1762, delle Mappe illustrative dei
viaggi di Marco Polo e di altri veneziani nel Palazzo Ducale di Venezia;
scrisse una memoria sulla vita e sulle opere di fra Paolo Sarpi e comme-
die varie, da taluna delle quali si sostiene abbia tratto il Goldoni. L’opera,
che dal punto di vista più generale resulta importante, è data dalle Lettere
odeporiche, in tutto ventisei lettere nelle quali F. G. racconta il frutto del
suo lungo viaggio nel Banato, fornendo molti ragguagli su gli argomenti i
più svariati: i fenomeni del Timavo, la fosforescenza del mare, la costitu-
zione antica e moderna di Trieste, le colture agrarie dei dintorni, le roccie
istriane e i loro fossili, le foibe del Carso, le perforazioni fatte da Molluschi,
la formazione dei banchi corallini, le grotte a stalattiti e stalagmiti presso
Corgnale, di Adelsberg e di S. Maria Maddalena, le miniere della Stiria, le
sabbie aurifere del Muhr, gli zingari, le acque minerali, i pesci del Tibisco,
le dannosissime «mosche di Columbach», le usanze delle popolazioni del
Banato, l’uso della vaccinazione contro il vaiuolo, senza contare notizie
che interessano l’archeologia, la filologia e altri rami del sapere. Di que-
ste Lettere Odeporiche avrebbe dovuto venir in luce un secondo volume;
quest’ultimo, giusta un documento del R. Archivio di Stato di Milano (po-
scritto del Principe di Kaunitz del 24 agosto 1780) doveva contenere molti
disegni in rame ed era compreso nella elargizione sovrana di fiorini 400
accordata per il primo tomo delle Lettere odeporiche.

317
 Bibliografia.
Scritti dì scienze naturali:
1. Sopra l’abilità della Zootomia. Venezia, 1749, Battaglia [V]; 2. Observations sur
la Scolopendre marine luisante et la Baillouviana. Venise, 1750, 8” [VR]; 3. Sulla
Scolopendra marina luminosa. «Giornale d’Italia», II, n. XLIII, 26 aprile 1766, p.
342-344, n. XLIV, 3 maggio 1766, p. 345-347, n. XLV, 10 maggio 1766, p. 353-355.
con tav; 4. Mostro singolare in quel genere di Poliparo, ch’è conosciuto sott’il nome
di Madrepora dell’Imperato. Osservazione indirizzata al chjariss. Profess. il Sig.
Saverio Manetti di Firenze. Ibidem I, n. V, 4 agosto 1764, p. 38¬40, con figure; 5.
Storia naturale dell’Antipate, o Corallo nero dell’Adriatico, opera postuma del sig.
Vitaliano Donati. Ibidem I, n. VI, II agosto 1764, p. 51-56, n. VIII, 25 agosto 1764, p.
60-64, con tavola; 6. Sopra i Polipi marini, o del passaggio della Natura dal Regno
de’ vegetali a quello degli animali. Ibidem, I, n. XVI, 20 ottobre 1764, p. 121-124, n.
XVII, 27 ottobre 1764, p. 129-136, n. XVIII, 3 novembre 1764, P. 137-141; 7. Sopra la
Torpedine. Ibidem, I, p. 47; 8. Sopra un pesce del genere dei Cetacei preso ed ucciso
sulle spiaggie di Rovigno, città dell’Istria, il 27 novembre 1764. Ibidem I, p. 208; 9.
Della coltura, e degli usi, che fanno varie Nazioni d’Europa delle Patate, o Pomi di
terra, e di quelli, che farne potrebbero con molto loro utile gl’Italiani. Ibidem I, n.
XXXIX, 30 marzo 1765, p. 305-309; 10. Sopra il preteso cambiamento dell’acqua in
sangue [in risposta al sig. Alberto Moncali]. Ibidem I, n. XXXV, 1° marzo 1765, p.
273¬274; 11. Sopra le Piante parassite, che danneggiano gli Alberi, le Erbe de’ Pra-
ti, le Canapaie, e le Liniere. Lettera in risposta d’un quesito avanzatogli dal sig.
Giambattista Bonanome di Modena. Ibidem II, XII, 21 settembre 1765, p. 89-93; 12.
Osservazioni e scoperte fatte da Francesco Griselini il dì 24 settembre 1765 intorno
ad alcune produzioni vegetabili ed animali della Laguna di Venezia [indirizzate al
sig. A. Vallisnieri]. Ibidem II, n. XVIII, 2 novembre 1765, p. 137-144, c. tav; 13. Nuova
maniera di seminare e coltivare il formento. Venezia, Fenzo, 1763, 4°; Venezia, 1765,
Zatta, 4° [V]; 14. Nuova maniera di seminare e coltivare il grano. Firenze, Bonduc-
ci, 1765, 4°, p. viii-64; 15. Saggio di scoperte di alcuni Polipi roditori di legnami di
quercia piantati nelle acque salse. Giornale d’Italia IV, n. XIV, 3 ottobre 1767, p.
111-112; 16. Lettera al chiarissimo sig. Abate D. Lazzaro Spallanzani contenente il
saggio di alcune osservazioni sullo sviluppo delle uova di una specie di Celerino co-
mune nella laguna di Venezia. Ibidem IV, n. XLI, 9 aprile 1768, p. 321-324; 17. Sopra
un pesce Tenia (Trachypterus) pescato nella laguna di Venezia. Ibidem III, p. 182;
18. Notizie sopra la mignatta marina. Ibidem IV, p. 15; 19. Del Napo selvatico detto
comunemente Ravizzone. Venezia, s. a. [Museo Civico, Venezia]; 20. Dissertazione
che mostra essere originate dai Polipi alcune produzioni petrose del mare. Venezia,
1768; 21. Notizia d’alcune interessanti osservazioni fatte nello scorso mese di maggio
di quest’anno 1770 sulle ossa fossili d’animali che in copia sterminata si trovano nell’
isole di Asaro, di Cherso e scogli vicini, situati nel golfo detto il Quarnaro, spettante
al mare Adriatico. Giornale d’Italia VI, n. LI, 16 giugno 1770, p. 401-403; 22. Lette-
re odeporiche. Venezia, 1780, 8° [V]; Sopra alcuni straordinarj cespi di frumento.

318
Giornale d’Italia VI, n. I, 1° luglio 1769, p. 2-4; 24. Sulla coltura del Cavolo rapa e
sull’olio che si ricava dai di lui semi. Ibidem VIII, n. VIII, 17 agosto 1771, p. 57-64,
n. IX, 24 agosto 1771, p. 65-72, n. X, 31 agosto 2771, p. 73-74; anche Firenze, 1772,
Allegrini; Giornale d’ Italia spettante alla scienza naturale e principalmente all’a-
gricoltura, alle arti ed al commercio. Tomi I—XII. Venezia, Milocco, 1765-1776, 4°.
Scritti d’altro argomento:
1. Descrizione delle Tele geografiche nella sala dello Scudo. Venezia, 1763 [V] (Esiste
una ristampa dal titolo: Succinta descrizione delle Tele geografiche ora rinnovate
ed accresciute nella sala dello Scudo nel Palazzo Ducale ed esposte alla pubblica
vista il dì 24 dicembre 1762; Venezia, 1880, 8°) [R]; 2. Della fabbrica dei vasi di por-
cellana esistente in Venezia, e intorno la qualità della medesima porcellana. Gior-
nale d’Italia II, 7 giugno 1766, p. 387-390; 3. Della coltura dei gelsi. Istruzione ad uso
degli abitanti di campagna, arricchita di molte figure. Giornale d’Italia IV, agosto
e settembre 1767, p. 33-35, 41-45, 49-51, 57-59, 66-68, 77-79, 87-91; 4. Elogio all’il-
lustre memoria del Veneto Patrizio Nicolò Lorenzo III Da Ponte. Giornale d’Italia
VI, n. XVI, 14 ottobre 1769, p. 121-124; 5. Elogio alla memoria del fu Antonio Zanon.
Giornale d’Italia VII, n. XXVI, 22 dicembre 1770, p. 201-210; 6. Elogio del fu N. U.
Cavalier Niccolò Tron. Ibidem VIII, n. XLII, II aprile 1772, p. 329-336, n. XLIII, 18
aprile 1772, p. 337-342; 7. Memoria sullo stabilimento, coltura e conservazione de’
Boschi di Quercie. Ibidem IV, 1768, p. 186, 193, 201, 233, 236; 8. Lettera in difesa
della sua memoria sullo stabilimento e coltura de’ Boschi. Giornale d’Italia IV, 23
gennaio 1768, p. 236-240; 9. Pensieri intorno ai modi pratici di rendere ricca e pos-
sente una Nazione. Ibidem III, n. II, 12 luglio 1766, p. 9-12; 10. Descrizione dell’arte
di fabbricare la porcellana. Ibidem III, 10 gennaio 1767, p. 9-12; 11. Piano d’un’opera
sull’arte importantissima del disegno per le stoffe di seta. Ibidem II, n. XXIII, 7 di-
cembre 1765, p. 177-180; 12. Delle Torbe che si vanno scoprendo nella Provincia Friuli
Veneto. Risposta a una lettera del signor Antonio Frezza da Sacile. Ibidem II, n.
XXXII, 8 febbraio 1766, p. 249-252; 13. Sopra un’ingiusta imputazione datagli da
frate Alberto Fortis. Giornale d’Italia IV, 19 settembre 1767, p. 95-96; 14. Memorie
anedote spettanti alla vita ed agli studi del sommo filosofo e giureconsulto F. Paolo
Servita. Losanna, Nestenus & C., 1760, 8°, p. XL-369 [V, R]. [Anche nel Tomo I del-
la Istoria del Concilio Tridentino scritta da fra PAOLO SARPI dell’Ordine dei Servi,
teologo e consultore della Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, p. 1-192; Helmstat,
Müller, 1761, folio]; altre edizioni delle Memorie anedote in Losanna, Bouschet,
1866, 8°, 2a ed. 1870, Losanna; Nestenno, e in Venezia, Fenzo, s. a., 4°; 15. Memoria
funebre per il fu Tommaso Suarez. Venezia, 1767 [Museo Civico, Venezia]; 16. Della
fabbricazione de’ Pannilani. Venezia, 1769; 17. Le sciocche e maligne imposture già
messe fuori per denigrare la illustre memoria di fra Paolo Servita. Venezia, 1770
[V]; 18. I principj dell’arte del disegno per ogni genere di stoffe di seta e con oro
ed argento. Giornale d’Italia II, 7 dicembre 1765, p. 177-180; 19. Corriere letterario.
Venezia, 1766, Grapigli, 1 vol; 20. Dizionario d’arti e mestieri, vol. XVIII [continua-
to da MARCO FASSADONI]. Venezia, 1768-1778, Fenzo, 8°; 21. Discorso del debito

319
 de’ Parochi di Campagna d’istruire i contadini nelle regole dell’Agricoltura. Vene-
zia, s. a. [V]; 22. Fanale di nuova invenzione per illuminare le strade quanto più
è possibile. Giornale d’Italia, V, 27 agosto 1768, p. 65-68; 23. Discorso preliminare
all’edizione del: Gentiluomo Coltivatore, o corso compiuto d’agricoltura ad uso della
nazione italiana, tratto dagli Autori che meglio hanno scritto sopra tutti i rami
della medesima. Venezia, Milocco, 1769; 24. Nota critica ad una lettera di Rocco
Bovi sulle produzioni pietrose del mare da lui supposte vegetabili. Giornale d’Ita-
lia VI, 12 luglio 1769, p. 21; 25. Lettera a GIOVANNI ARDUINI [dove parla della
perizia in agricoltura del dott. BIAN-CHETTI]. Giornale d’Italia VI, 18 novembre
1769, p. 166-167.26. Risposta ad una lettera di un Cavaliere Trivigiano, dilettante
d’agricoltura, per informarlo di parecchie erbe da foraggio che con grande utilità si
potrebbero seminare per accrescere la rendita e l’ubertà dei prati artifiziali. Gior-
nale d’Italia VII, n. LI, 15 giugno 1771, p. 409-412; 27. Del mestiere del Boaro, e delle
cognizioni che si richiedono in chi lo esercita. Giornale d’Italia IX, n. XV, 3 ottobre
1772, p. 118-120, n. XVI, 10 ottobre 1772, p. 121-127, n. XVII, 17 ottobre 1772, p. 129-132;
28. Del libero commercio delle vettovaglie. Ibidem IX, n. XXXV, 20 febbraio 1772, p.
271-282, n. XXXVI, 27 febbraio 1772, n. 283-290, n. XXXVII, 6 marzo 1772, p. 291-297,
numero XXXVIII, 13 marzo 1772, p. 299-306, n. XXXIX, 20 marzo 1772, p. 307-308;
29. Elogio di Catterina II (dal francese). Venezia, 1773, 4°, c. tav.; 30. Dissertazio-
ne mitologica e storica sopra la Dea Iside. Calogerà, Raccolta di opuscoli, t. 39, p.
297-350. Venezia, Occhi, 1848, 16°; 31. Lettera al Padre D. Angelo Calogerà intorno
l’elettricità nelle particolari esperienze della medesima. Ibidem t. 38, p. 35-81. Vene-
zia, Occhi, 1848, 16°; 32. Manuale dell’affittuale di campagna [in forma dialogica].
Giornale d’Italia III, p. 233-241, 277, 281-289, IV, p. 137-361, 345-353, V, p. 33, 169, 337;
33. Saggio di una storia politica e naturale del Banato (trad. dal tedesco). Vienna,
Kraus, 1780; 34. Il setificio, ovvero memorie dodici sopra i diversi rami georgici e
d’industria che lo sostituiscono. Verona, Moroni, 1783, 2 vol. in 4° [V]; 35. Del genio
di Fra Paolo. Venezia, Bassaglia, 1785, 2 vol. in 8° [V]; 36. Istituzioni, riti e Ceremo-
nie dei Franc-Maçons. Venezia, 1785, 8°.
Commedie e poesie, lettere:
1. Della Commedia italiana e delle sue regole ed attinenze considerate in riflesso
al secolo nostro, applicate in seguito all’esame di una nuova commedia compar-
sa alla luce col titolo: Il marito dissoluto. Conferenze tra un cavaliere e l’A. delle
lettere critiche (avv. COSTANTINI). Venezia, Bettinelli 1752, 8°; 2. I Liberi Mura-
tori. Libertapoli [Roveredo] l’anno dell’Era Volgare 1754, e della ristaurazione della
Loggia 152 (col nome e col cognome anagrammati in FERLING’ ISAC CRENS =
FRANCESC’ GRISELIN) [R]; 3. Il marito dissoluto. Venezia, s. a. [R. Museo Civi-
co, Venezia]; 4. La Schiava nel serraglio dell’Agà de’ Giannizzeri in Costantinopoli.
Commedia Turca. Firenze, Giovanelli, 1756, 4°, p. xvi-88 [R]; 5. Socrate filosofo sa-
pientissimo. Tragicommedia con un Saggio dell’antica commedia di Aristofane in-
titolata «Le nubi». Venezia, De Regni, 1775 [R. Museo Civico, Venezia]; 6. Reginetta
o la Virtuosa di Musica. Venezia, Bassaglia, 1778 [R. Museo Civico, Venezia] (S.

320
RUMOR indica una edizione di Firenze del Giovanelli); 7. Capitolo [in lode di S.
E. SEBASTIANO VENIERO nella partenza del gloriosissimo Reggim. di Capitano
vicepodestà di Bergamo] (in Componimenti poetici in lode di S. Venier, pubblicati
in Bergamo dal LANCELLOTTI nel 1758) [Museo Civico, Venezia]; 8. Lettera agli
autori del Giornale Enciclopedico di Buglione, di quello Economico di Parigi e
agli oltramontani scrittori di novelle e fogli letterari. Giornale d’Italia I, 9 marzo
1765, p. 287-288; 9. Lettera di un Veneziano ad un Prelato Romano contenente la
storia di una causa che ‘molto interessa l’inclita e sempre rispettabile Compagnia di
Gesù ai 20 settembre 1766, e deffinita con inapellabile sentenza dall’Ecellentissimo
Consiglio dei Quaranta civil novo, aggiuntavi in fine una lettera del medesimo Au-
tore sopra i nuovi gianizzeri. Venezia, Colombari, 1766 [Come osserva S. RUMOR,
nel testo il libro è annunziato anonimo, ma nell’Indice appare il nome dell’Au-
tore]; 10. Lettera alla celebre Società economica di Berna in occasione della di lui
aggregazione alla medesima. Giornale d’Italia II, 12 aprile 1766, p. 322-326; 11. Let-
tere due sopra un viaggio pel Danubio (nella Raccolta di Memorie di GIOVANNI
ARDUINO) [V]; 12. Lettere tre a GIOVANNI ARDUINO contenenti diverse curiose
notizie ed osservazioni fatte viaggiando da Trieste a Temesvar. Giornale d’Italia XI,
15 e 22 ottobre 1774, p. 118-126. NB. Nelle Lettere odeporiche di F. G. le lettere 5a, 6a
e 7a sono dirette a GIOVANNI ARDUINO; 13. Lettera all’ab. ANTONIO GENOVESI
[nelle Lettere famigliari dell’ab. ANTONIO GENOVESI. Napoli, 1788); 14. Lettera
all’ab. LAZZARO SPALLANZANI (nelle Lettere di illustri italiani del secolo XVIII e
XIX a’ loro amici e de’ massimi scienziati e letterati nazionali e stranieri al celebre
abate Lazzaro Spallanzani e molte sue risposte ai medesimi ora per la prima volta
pubblicate, t. VI, p. 103-104; Reggio, Torreggiani e C., 1842; anche in G. B. DE TONI,
op. cit. Oltre; 15. Lettere quattro (in G. B. DE TONI, Francesco Griselini viaggiatore
e naturalista veneziano del secolo XVIII. Archivio di storia della scienza diretto da
Aldo Mieli, vol. I, n. I, 1919, p. 21-26); 16. Lettera all’ARDUINO da Temesvar. Gior-
nale d’ Italia XII, 22 giugno 1776, p. 393-396; 17. Lettera all’ARDUINO ove si reca
notizia delle fossili produzioni organizzate, che trovansi nel Bannato di Temesvar.
Nuovo Giornale d’Italia l, 9 novembre 1776, p. 129-134; 18. Lettera all’ARDUINO
sopra una specie di perniciosi insetti detti Mosche Golumbacensi, che assalgono
i buoi, le pecore, i cavalli e i maiali e ne fanno strage nella Servia, nel Bannato di
Temesvar e nella Valacchia. Nuovo Giornale d’Italia I, 7 dicembre 1776, p. 162-166;
19. Lettera da Vienna all’ARDUINO in cui si annunzia il suo ritorno in patria. Nuo-
vo Giornale d’Italia 1, 5 aprile 1777, p. 297-299.

Manoscritti e disegni:
1. Sei lettere al sig. AMEDEO DE SWAYER mercante in Venezia [nell’epistolario
MOSCHINI Go-Gu) [Museo Civico, Venezia]; in questo Museo e nella Marciana
di Venezia sono conservate lettere scritte al GRISELINI da scienziati e letterati, ri-
spettivamente in copia e originali]; 2. Primo abbozzo del GRISELINI della Mappa

321
 della China in Sala dello Scudo (Casoni, Scritti diversi; busta n. 3373, antico 3660)
[Museo Civico, Venezia]; 3. Tavola idrografica della Laguna e Mar Adriatico (data-
ta 1740), in sei fogli (provenienza Cicogna, ubicaz. Rot. F. I) [Museo Civico, Vene-
zia]; 4. Esattissima nuova idrografica dimostrazione delle Lagune di Caorle, Maran
e Grado (provenienza Cicogna-Casoni, n. 3374) [Museo Civico, Venezia]; 5. Carta
geografica dell’India e dell’America Occidentale. Copia fatta da F. G. e tratta dall’o-
riginale esistente nella Sala delle Carte geografiche in Palazzo Ducale a Venezia;
appesa nel passaggio dalla sala 20a alla 21a nel Museo Civico di Venezia); 6. Pala-
estinae tabula geografica ex veteri et novo Testamento scriptisque Josephi, Eusebii,
Hieronimi et Epiphani deprompta elaborata a BLASIO UGOLINI et a FRANCISCO
GRISELINI delineata; alt. M. 1.24, larg. 2.14 (appesa come la precedente); 7. Gran-
de prospettiva della città di Venezia, a tinta nera, con cinque vedute dei principali
fabbricati e cogli stemmi dei Dogi, all’intorno «Franciscus Griselini delineavit»;
cfr. Marinelli G., Saggio di Cartografia veneta, n. 320 (Misc. R. Deputaz. Ven. st.
patr., Venezia, 1881); 8. Disegni e lettere autografe varie (in Casoni, Scritti diversi
ossia Memorie raccolte da GIOVANNI CASONI per tessere la vita di FR. GRISE-
LINI; Raccolta Cicogna, n. 3374, antico 3661; notisi che GIOVANNI CASONI, inge-
gnere, era figlio di LAURA GRISELINI) [Museo Civico, Venezia].
Letteratura:
MOSCHINI GIANNANTONIO, Della letteratura veneziana, t. IV, p. 121. Venezia,
Palese, 1808, 8°; C. v. WURZBACH, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oes-
terreichs, V, p. 354-357. Wien, 1859; G. D. NARDO, Brevi cenni sui progressi dell’A-
driatica fauna da Oppiano fino a’ dì nostri, par. I. A tutto il secolo XVIII (Comment.
per la fauna, flora e gea del Veneto e del Trentino, n. 3, I° gennaio 1868. Venezia,
tip. del Commercio, 8°); P. A. SACCARDO, La Botanica in Italia, par. I, p. 86, par.
I, p.56. Venezia, Ferrari, 1895, 1902, 4°; DOM. MADDALENA. Francesco Griselini.
Schio, Marin, I890, 8°, p. 35. SEB. RUMOR, Gli scrittori vicentini dei secoli decimot-
tavo e decimonono, II, p. 85-96 (Miscellanea di storia Veneta, R. Deput. Ven. di st.
patria. ser. II, t. XI, par. II); G. B. DE TONI, Francesco Griselini viaggiatore e natura-
lista veneziano del secolo decimottavo (Archivio di storia della scienza I, (1919) p.
21-26). KENNETH Mc KENZIE, Francesco Griselini and his Relation to Goldoni and
Molière (Modern Philology, vol. XIV, n. 3, July 1916. p.145-155, illustr.).

322
 22

Црковно-музичката дејност на
Јанаки Стојменович
Мирјана Павловска-Шулајковска, ДМБУЦ
„Илија Николовски-Луј“, Скопје
UDK 783:929
UDK 783:271.22(497.7)

Abstract: The period of the XIX and the beginning of the 20th century in
Macedonia is marked by the creation of a large number of musical manuscripts
and printed books by Byzantine and Macedonian authors, in which
representatives of Eastern church music from this period use Hrisant’s notation.
In this paper we look at the work of church-musician Janaki Stojmenovch,
from the village Orizari, Kochani. His Short resurrection in manuscript form,
created in 1849, is chronologically listed in the first church-music manuscripts
produced in Macedonia on this type of notation, containing works written in
Slavic and Greek language, which shows the transitional period of the use of
church-Slavic language in the works as an important example of practice and
the development of church singing from the old tradition in Macedonia.

За современата македонска и сесловенска култура и наука од не-

проценлива важност е дејноста на планот на просветата на словен-
ските народи, којашто започна со апостолското дело на светите
323
 солунски браќа Кирил и Методиј, а го продолжија нивните ученици
св. Климент и Наум Охридски, народните учители - втемелувачи на
Охридската школа. Дејноста на нивните следбеници - подоцнежни-
те црковно-просветни дејци уверливо го потврдуваат растежот и
континуитетот во развојот на македонската и словенската култура,
создавајќи дела од првостепено значење, како што се: „Битолскиот
триод“ (XII век), “Болоњскиот псалтир” (XIII век), “Охридските нев-
матски ракописи” (XI-XIV век), музичките идеи на Св. Јован Кукузел и
други просветителски пројави на територијата на Македонија, кои го
навестуваат периодот на националната преродба во втората полови-
на на XIX и почетокот на XX век. На планот на музичкото творештво
овој културен процут во Македонија беше одбележан со создавањето
на бројни црковно-музички ракописи и печатени книги со напеви
од византиски и македонски автори во кои претставниците на ис-
точната црковна музика од преродбенскиот период во Македонија
изобилно и на мошне високо професионално ниво ја практикуваат
реформираната Хрисантова музичка нотација, во историјата на цр-
ковната музика позната под називот нов систем. Значајна улога во
националното будење на македонскиот народ имаа и црковно-му-
зичките дејци: Димитар Златанов - Градоборски (ок. 1800 – 1887), Јоан
Хармосин -Охридски (1829 – 1890), Калистрат Зографски (ок. 1820 –
1913), Димитар Павлов – Штипјанин, (1840 – 1919), Манасиј поп Тодо-
ров (1856 -1936), Андон Шахпаски (ок. 1850 – 1928), Атанас Бадев (1860
– 1908), Васил Иванов Бојаџиев (1876 – 1950) и редица други.
Еден од првите црковно-музички дејци кои кон средината на 19 век
своите зборници започна да ги пишува и на словенски јазик е Јана-
ки Стојменович. Животот и делото на овој претставник на источното
црковно пеење кој дејствува на територијата на Македонија во пе-
риодот на националната преподба е мошне малку истражуван. Овој
прилог претставува прв обид пред македонската културна и научна
јавност да се соопшти нешто поконкретно и да се подосветли негови-
от творечки лик.1

1
Првичните сознанија за овој ракопис се сретнуваат во книгата Словенски рако-
писи во Македонија, vol. 5-6 од 1993 година, од Михајло Георгиевски, како и во обем-
ните истражувања на проф. Коџабашија (Андон Шахпаски : Литургиски Зборник:
воведен текст, редактура и нотографија: д-р Јане Коџабашија (Скопје: Центар за
византолошки студии, 2006); Коџабашија, Јоан Хармосин Охридски: Живот и дело:
редактура и нотографија: д-р Јане Коџабашија (Скопје: Центар за византолошки
студии, 2007); Коџабашија, Црковното пеење во Македонија. Скопје: Центар за ви-
зантолошки студии, 2008).
324
 Факсимил од ракописниот Воскресник на Јанаки Стојменович

Јанаки Стојменович еден е од неколкумината црковно – музички

дејци кои дејствувале во кочанскиот крај во 19 век.2 Потекнува од се-
лото Оризари од кочанскиот регион, каде во 1849 година и го создал
црковно – музичкиот зборник.3 Воскресникот на Јанаки Стојменович
хронолошки го вбројуваме меѓу првите црковно – музички ракопи-
си настанати во Македонија на Хрисантовата невматска нотација и
прв од ракописните зборници кој го прикажува процесот на јазична
трансформација во литургиската богослужба од грчки на црковно
– словенски јазик. Овој музички зборник содржи и мал број на цр-
2
Во овој регион дејствувале црковниот псалт Иван Стојков, автор на печатени
книги и еден музички нотиран ракопис и учителот Спиро Стојанов, исто така
истакнат црковен псалт кој за своите потреби составил повеќе ракописи. Види,
Михаило Георгиевски, Македонски црковни псалти од XIX век (Скопје: Македонска
реч, 2013).
3
Овој ракопис денес се чува во НУБ „Св. Климент Охридски“ во Скопје, под
сигнатура Мс 161.
325
 ковни творби пишувани на грчки јазик, поместени на самиот крај на
ракописот. „Всушност станува збор за препис којшто содржи делови
од три псалтикиски ракописи од библиотеката на Рилскиот мана-
стир под редни броеви X (инв. бр.2860), XV (инв.бр.2865) и XIX (инв.
бр.2969)“.4
Со досегашните истражувања се уште не се обезбедени поконкрет-
ни биографски податоци за животот на Јанаки Стојменович. Сепак,
достапниот ракопис како артефакт содржи соодветни информации
кои се солидна основа за продлабочување на истражувањата во оваа
насока. Според записите кои се составен дел на Воскресникот, дознав-
ме дека Зборникот бил напишан под влијание на свештеноѓаконот
Кирил од Рилскиот манастир. Имајќи ја предвид оваа информација
може да се предпостави дека Јанаки Стојменович престојувал во овој
познат манастир, каде можеби го изучил источното црковно пеење,
кое подоцна го практикувал во црквата во селото Оризари.5
Судејќи според другите податоци коишто произлегуваат од запи-
сите во ракописниот зборник на Јанаки Стојменович, може да се
заклучи, дека овој ракопис бил во употреба и од други псалти од по-
доцнежниот период, ширејќи ја црковно – музичката традиција во
кочанскиот крај.
Прикажаната кратка граматика на Хрисантовата музичка нотација
укажува на интервалската поделба на октавата (во која големиот сте-
пен има 12, малиот 9 и полустепенот 7 коми) ја покажува определ-
бата на Стојменович која ја застапуваат и другите теоретичари на
источното црковно пеење. Во прикажаната граматика на почетокот
на ракописот, тој посочува на формули за одредени гласови, како и
објаснување на интервалските, временските и украсните знаци. Јане
Коџабашија, укажува дека поедини композиции од ракописниот
4
Јане Коџабашија, Антологија на македонското црковно пеење (Скопје: Центар
за византолошки студии, 2018), 31.
5
Поаѓајки од веќе познатите податоци можеме да согледаме дека некои црковно
– музички дејци (освен во другите позначајни центри) изучувањето на црковното
пеење го совладувале и во Рилскиот манастир: Андон Шахпаски од с. Смојмирово,
Беровско одреден период живеел и работел како псалт во с. Бураново, недалеку
од Рилскиот манастир според што може да се претпостави дека тој црковно пеење
можеби учел кај рилските монаси во т.н. Рилска црковно-пеачка школа. Освен
тоа, во овој манастир тој можел да ги совлада и калиграфската вештина и да го
усоврши шиењето на свештенички одежди; Атанас Чолак, црковен псалт и автор
на ракописна пслатика од Берово, кој престојувал во Рилскиот манастир, каде
што можеби го научил црковното пеење, а можеби и престојувал на Света Гора;
црковниот псалт од малешевскиот крај Георгија Николов од Пехчево, за кој се
предпоставува дека со црковно пеење се запознал во Беровскиот или Рилскиот
манастир (види: Георгиевски, Македонски црковни псалти од 19 век).
326
Воскресник на Стојменович се сродни, а на места идентични, со оние
од зборникот на Никола Трандафилов – Сливненец Цветособрание
– првата печатена книга на словенски јазик во 1847 година во Буку-
решт. Сепак, Коџабашија претпоставува дека тие не се преземени
од овој зборник, туку од разни други ракописи, најверојатно од оние
на Рилскиот манастир или од нивни преписи. Врз основа на тоа тој
приметува дека Воскресникот на Јанаки Стојменович всушност има
сличности со Краткиот воскресник на Андон Шахпаски.6
Овој ракопис содржи напеви за различни богослужбени потреби:
од литургиите на Св. Јован Златоуст и на Св. Василиј Велики, како и
други литургиски творби од најпознатите византиски автори на цр-
ковна музика од XIV до XIX век: Петар Пелопонески, Петар Ламбар-
диј, Григориј Протопсалт, и некои други. Притоа, творбите пишувани
на црковно – словенски јазик честопати се забележани како ’словен-
ски’ (херувика славенска, тропари, антифони и сл).
За македонската музика ракописниот Воскресник на Јанаки Стојме-
нович е значаен бидејќи, како што е веќе нагласено, е еден од првите
ракописи на црковно – словенски јазик и напишан на Хриснтовата
невматска нотација, кој го прикажува преодниот период на јазична
трансформација во црковното пеење од грчки на црковно – словен-
ски јазик и претставува значајна алка во развојот на источното цр-
ковно пеење во Македонија.

6
Андон Шахпаски, Краток воскресник: воведен текст, редактура и нотографија
д-р Јане Коџабашија, (Скопје: Центар за византолошки студии, 2004), 21.
327
 23

Principles of Conservations treatments used

in the Icons of the Ohrid Collection
Angelina Popovska, National Centre for Conservation - Skopje
UDK 75.046.033.2.025.3/.4(497.771)”10/18”
UDK 27-562.62 (495.02)(497.771)(06.064)

Abstract: Radical conservation interventions greatly contributed to the final

image of the most important Byzantine iconographies from Ohrid. Promo-
tively presented at the first Byzantine congress held in Ohrid (1961), they still
retain an interest in their significance and representativeness. The conserva-
tion interventions and their interaction, performed on this highly representa-
tive iconographic collection, have formed a chain of principles, methods, and
treatments over the course of seventy years, testifying to their dependent bal-
ance between the original tissue and the conservation stake. Expressive peaks
of the conservation achievements, from the very beginning of the institutional
protection (1949) to the present, prominent one of the most treated collections
in our country, through which we can holistically follow the preservation in our
cultural heritage, with a specific note on icon conservation. Given the fact that
many experts have shaped and enriched their knowledge in other countries,
the effect of foreign influences that were transmitted and practiced on our
cultural monuments was unquestionably expected.The chronological order
of the applied conservation methods and treatments on Ohrid icons revealed
the principles of conservation that acted as prerequisites for the accomplished
work. On this basis, the high artistic value underpinned by the consolidating
328
 power of conservation implants has led future conservation thought to the fi-
nal point of its review.

Introduction
After the Second World War, the destruction of numerous important cul-
tural monuments influenced expressively the development of conser-
vation and restoration. The restoration of the church of St. Sophia (11th
century) in Ohrid, subsequently led to many principles in conservation,
as a practice, especially because this multidisciplinary project (1951-1958)
have brought together Europe’s most famous conservation theorists in
one of the critical phases of the project. International experts participat-
ed as members of the UNESCO mission: two from Italy, including Cesare
Brandi of Rome and Ferdinando Forlati of Venice, as well as Yves Broadvo
of Paris, France and with their participation the project has gained a great
reputation. In fact, the restoration of the church St. Sophia in Ohrid has
the greatest merit for the major steps and development of the conserva-
tion in Balkan region, and wider in a European context1 that left a visible
mark on the todays’ image of our values. The conservation was based on
the foundations and postulates of Alois Riegl2, and Max Dvorák, as the
founders of the conservation approach3 that was already established and
implemented by the institutions for protection4 in former Yugoslavia5.
The collection of Ohrid icons, displayed in the Gallery located on the
churchyard near the church ”The Holy Mother of God Peribleptos” rep-
resents 37 icons from various artistic and historical styles. Exhibited in
chronologically order these iconographies date from the early 11th to 19th
century and the primary conservation and restoration started with the

1
UNESCO, 1956 - General Conference and the establishment in Rome, Italy.
2
Alois Riegl, Moderni kult spomenika, njegova bit, njegov postanak, Anatomija povjesnog
spomenika (Zagreb, 2006), 349-412.
3
Marjan Mušič, “Konzervatorski lik Franca Stela (opis života i rada povodom sedam-
desetog roᵭendana)”, Зборник заштите споменика културе IX (1958), 4.
4
Franc Stele, “Zaštita spomenika kulture (Principi-Uverenja-Iskustva),” Zbornik zaštite
spomenika culture XI (1960), 9-26.
5
Радивоје Љубинковић, “Стање и проблеми заштите службе у ФНРЈ,” Зборник
заштите споменика културе (1951), 10. The basic principles of modern protection in
the Republic of Macedonia begin to be regulated by the Law on Protection of Cultural
Monuments, renewed on July 23, 1945, and amended on October 8, 1946 as a General Law
on Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities.
329
 most significant core of the Byzantine icons, when several discoveries fol-
lowed after finding numerous icons neglected over the time6.

Conservation and principles

The creation of the chronological overview about the accomplished
conservation treatments was inevitable to endow us with enormous testi-
monials about the previous affairs. Provided by all descriptive and photo
documentation, conservation files, elaborates, projects (fig.1), from the
archives in Institutions for Protection the Cultural Monuments in Ohrid
and Skopje, also facilitated by the published books of the conservator Z.
Blažič, involved in the earliest conservation processes, traced back to sev-
eral distinguished periods that recognize distinctive peaks of conserva-
tion treatments. Many of these conservation accomplishments feature
about crafts and skills of the conservators that have been transmitted
from generation to generation which participated along within the con-
servation processes, especially those experiences recorded in the personal
Conservation Diaries that nowadays represent valuable documents about
the current affairs.

Fig. 1 - The archive with the old documents, photos and past conservation projects

6
Ангелина Поповска, Конзерваторско реставраторски методи и третмани на
Охридската збирка икони (Скопје: Каламус, 2018), 123-134, ...under the churches’ ruins,
in the roofs, under the boats, given for temporary storage to old Ohrid families, etc.
330
 Observing the traditional icon as a technological phenomenon, its ma-
terial composition identifies a complex, adhesive system of layers: wood-
en support, fabric, preparatory layer, painted layers, gilding, and natural
resin varnish (Fig.2). These layers under bad external influences can cause
characteristic damage to each layer separately or all together, depending
on the evolution of the damage and its reflection in each layer.

Fig. 2 – (a) Microphotography of cross-section, magnification 100x:

reflected light (1- gypsum layer, 2-bole, 3- golden leaves

(b)- Painting system of layers

Conservation efforts are aimed at recording and treating damage and in

this sense7 we distinguish wood consolidation and reconstruction, fabric
treatment by revitalizing and fixing the preparatory and iconographic lay-
er, regeneration or removing old varnishes. But also some more complex

7 Robert L.Feller, “Aspects of Chemical Research in Conservation: the Deterioration

Process,” JAIC 33/2 (1994), Article 2, pp.91-99, Deterioration; R.A.Blanchette, “A Guide to
Wood Deterioration Caused by Microorganism and Insects,” Proceedings of a symposium
at the J. Paul Getty Museum, 24-28 April 1995 (Los Angeles, 1995); Gilberto Artioli, Scientific
methods and Cultural heritage, An introduction to the applicattion of material science to
archaeometry and conservation scince (Oxford, 2010), 37; Organic materials, 356.
331
 processes such as transposing the iconography on a new carrier, wax im-
pregnation, etc.

The period of the first decade (1950-1960)

Damaged wooden supports, as the holders of the most important ele-

ment - the iconography layer were a major target in primary conservation.
The most common damage to the wood tissue caused by the active worm-
wood (biodegradation) is a consequence of the moisture microclimate
fluctuations8, where usually icons have been exposed for a long time. The
construction of the wooden support can also cause certain consequences
that further result in damages which were treated with new wooden sup-
plements recognized as reconstructions.
The methods used for preservation integrate the use of homologous ma-
terials, but also modern ones with improved properties. Impacts from for-
eign schools (Check-German and Russian) and their experiences enriched
the range of conservation materials used by Macedonian conservation
practice. Following conservation experiences from eastern and western
practice, they recommended that the degraded wooden supports be im-
mersed in wax resin, thereby filling the carcass ducts and solidifying the
tissue. The renewed physical-mechanical properties of the wood tissue
brought the wooden supports into the function for retaining the icono-
graphic (painting) layers above. Most of the Byzantine icons such as St.
Mathew (fig.3) were impregnated with this waxy resin mixture.

8 Nathan Stolow, “Standards for the Care of Works of Art in Transit and on Exibition,”
Museum & Monuments, Geneva Unesco XVII (1979),Vibrations, Shocks, 89-102.
332
 a b

c
Fig.3 - The icon St. Mathew before and after the conservation treatments executed
in 1957year

Further, the same mixture, but with the pigment additive (umbra)
mostly in the color of wood, was used to fill the lacunae’s from the waste
substrate and the paint layer from the front surface of the iconography
(fig.3-b).

333
 In the examples of icons where the wooden support recorded advanced
damages, the wooden tissue was mechanically removed (amputated) (fig.4-
a) and the removed mass was supplemented / replaced with a more stable
wooden tray (panel slabs) sandwiched between the remaining original (fig.4-
b). This radical approach to conservation reveals complex processes made on
wooden supports and a transposition used as a method to replaced the iconog-
raphy on a new wood carrier as a replacement for the old one. Furthermore,
these treated icons were placed in wooden frames for their greater stability.

b
Fig.4 - (a) Removing the damaged wooden tissue from the wooden support from
the back side up to the fabric layer (from the both sided icon Virgin Hodegetria-
Crucifixion,14th cenury); (b) - Transposition of the fabric with the painting iconogra-
phy layer on new wooden support -panel slabs (details from different Ohrid icons)
334
 By gaining solid carrier consolidation, a stable foundation is formed for
access to the removal of accumulated impurities and deposited patina on
the yellow and dark varnishes. The dark varnishes were cleaned with the
method of chemical dissolution by dipping the solvent solution, in dura-
tion of soaking and removing. “There were also basic principles such as:
“To remove as much as possible from what man and time could have done
to one work, and to add as little as possible”9. In that sense: “Every restora-
tion work represents a case for itself and brings a particular problem, so
it extends a treatment that suits it”10. This method was pioneered in the
cleaning of frescoes from the Church of the Mother of God Peribleptos
(13thcentury) in Ohrid and was boldly presented at the First Conservatory
Consultations in Split (1952)11.

The period of the third decade (1970-1980)

During the 70’ several conservation teams were involved and they were
influenced by Italian conservation school, gaining the experience in protec-
tion and preservation of the cultural heritage, including the development
which coincided with the newly established conservation team in Ohrid.
Their focus was placed on icons dating from the post-Byzantine period.
The period of the third decade abounds in diversity in the performance of
the retouches. Filling the surface damages with a white conservation pri-
mal layer (Gypsum primmer) usually afterwards rose the question about
the type of the retouches’ performance. Depending on the location be-
ing retouched, but mostly depending on the reconstructive power of the
contractor the retouches differ in styles: monochromatic, polychromatic,
linear-tratteggio, pointilistic, imitative etc. (fig.5).

9
Cesare Brandi, “Teorijski osnov restauracije,” Reantika 12 (2003).
10
ICCROM, Standards in Preventive Conservation, Meanings and Applications, Rebeca
Alcantara, June 20, 2002.
11
Zdravko Blažič, Тehnologija i konzervacija naše freske (Skopje, 1958), 36.
335
 Fig.5- The conservation done in early 70’s including the filling of the damages with
white gypsum primmer and the retouch style (tratteggio) which changed the ico-
nography image

The period of the fourth decade (1980-1990)

With the opening of the Icon Gallery in 1982 in Ohrid, it became clear
that the core of icons was slowly being formed and would represent fu-
ture exhibits in the newly opened gallery space. The conservations already
covered the icons from the Byzantine and Post Byzantine periods which
became the main content for the public eye of the visitors. New indoor
microclimate conditions have become the next subject of observation by
the conservators from the former Republic Institute for the Preservation
of Cultural Monuments in Skopje. Growing awareness about the preven-
tive safeguards begun as monitoring the temperature and the degree of
the moisture in the gallery space.

336
 Fig.6 - The conservation processes on the icon Mother of God Psychosostris dated
at 14th century and the removing of the over-painting from 19th century

The interest for the well-known Ohrid collection of icons was growing,
and for its promotion the icons were often transported to many foreign
destinations. During this period, the over-paintings were also widely dis-
cussed. One of the examples was the icon Mother of God Psychosostris
from 14th century and the over-painting from 19 th century, where the art
historians, chemists and the conservators attempted to present the origi-
nal separately from the over-painting layer, which ended, with the remov-
al of the upper image and the irreversible loss of the 19th century painting
(fig.6).

The period of the fifth decade (1990-2000)

After an intense period of affirmation, proportionally, with the frequent
transports, the conservation treatments increased in type of corrections,
reconstructions, retouches etc. that opened wide the door to re-conserva-
tion. During the 90’s the industrial improved materials for conservation
replaced the traditional ones used in the early periods. The curiosity that
emerged among the top conservationists was fueled by modern appli-
ances and technologies that heralded the scientific era of conservation.
The composition of the silver coating was analyzed by using ion-selective
electrodes (tab.1). The principle of prioritizing value, interest, protection,
planning, finance and intervention neglected conservation research, and

337
 the various aspects of conservation activities often remained separate or
integrated, which reduced the level of conservation and questioned its
meaning12.
icon compound, compound,
weight Ag, weight Cu, 0/0
\.0/0
Arch. Gabriel - Annunciation XI century 90,2 2,9
Virgin Hodegetria, second half of XIII cen. 89,5 3,4
Virgin Peribleptos, XIV century 90 2,7
Virgin Psychosostris,  beginning of XIV cen. 90,1 3,6
Christ Psychosostris, XIV century 89,6 3,7
Virgin with Christ, XIV century 89,7 3,9

Tab.1 - Identification of silver and copper in icon coatings using ion-selective

electrodes

The period of the last decades (2000-2020)

The most recent period is characterized by comprehensive research and
sophisticated apparatus that opens the era of the multidisciplinary inves-
tigations13. New research highlights a series of new scientific discoveries
that, through the prism of museum activity, can surely enrich the knowl-
edge of visitors and the public about Ohrid icons. Previous destructive
methods for excavations were replaced with new non-destructive meth-
ods or infrared camera imaging, which offered an easy approach to pan-
oramic or in-depth analysis that lead to more complete new insights into
the authentic iconography and its condition.
The international cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic En-
ergy Agency), aimed at cultural values ​​in Macedonia, such as Ohrid icons,
gave us an opportunity to detect an old iconographic surface and distin-
guish the original iconography from the over-painted one (fig.7). With
new researches and modern apparatus, we can in fact establish accurate,

12
Erica Avrami, Randall Mason, Marta de la Torre, “Conservation Perspective, Values
and Heritage Conservation,” Research Report, The Getty Conservation Institute (Los
Angeles, 2000), 6.
13
S. Polić-Radovanović, S. Ristić, B. Jeglić, Z. Nikolić, Metodološki i tehnicki aspekti primene
novih tehnika u zaštiti kulturne baštine (Beograd, 2010), Konzervacija i heritologija; Nove
metode i tehnike..., 56-125. A. Atanasov, 8. Ethical and Aesthetic Conservation-Restoration
Problems in Our Icons, Restoration and Conservation of Cognition, 1982.
338
precise images of the underneath iconography, making the distinction
between a look that is recognizable and familiar to us and one that we
have not investigated, yet, undoubtedly in a direction of their separation
or removing14 (fig.8). Multidisciplinary research, performed on few Ohrid
icons, involved photo-diagnostics images and by using IRR and UV imag-
ing, as well as digital side-light photography, we comprehended some new
discoveries, which contemporaneously started to build the datasheet for
the range of pigments (tab.2) used over the centuries, the composition of
gold leaves (gilding)15 provided by XRF and Raman spectroscopy.

Fig.7 - IRR images from the icon Jesus Christ from 1262/3uncovering the
lower authentic iconography under the over-painting from newer period

Fig.8 - Detail from the icon St. Gabriel (Annunciation) from 11-12th century with
digital and under the UV light

14
Реставрация на иконата Христос Пантократор – преоткриване на четири
културни слоя (Несебар, 2014).
15
GILT-EnArt 2015-1st International Conference on Gilding materials andtechniques
in European Art, Evora, Portugal.
339
 period icon pigment

first half of the ca.1045 - “St.Basil the Great and St. Blue -Cu (CO ) (OH)
11 century Nicholas” - blue-lazuli (lapis lazuli), Yellow - Pb
3
SnO
3 2 2

green (lead- tin -yellow), black- Organic black

2 4

charcoal
first half of the - “Forty Martyrs” - brown, yellow - Brown -mineral
11 century yellow lead-massicot + Siena (ocher White lead-
with the addition of a lead-white 2PbCO Pb(OH)
background), red (cinnamon + red Red - HgS
3
и Fe O
2

ocher), azurite and lead white Blue-green- 2 3

2CuCO Cu(OH)
3 2

the end of - wooden icon “St. Clement” - dark Red Ocher- Fe O

13 century brown - brown, umbra - (umbra + Organic black2 3
small additive red ocher) and organic
black under which is a layer of lead
minium
the beginning of - “Mother of God the Episkepsis Yellow -Pb SnO
14 century “- Bordeaux red (lead tin yellow + Red -HgS и2 Fe2O3
4

hematite + charcoal), green (azurite Organic black

+ lead tin yellow), red-cinnamon Blue-green-
(vermilion) 2CuCO Cu(OH)
Yellow -Pb
3
SnO 2
2 4

mid- 14 century “Jesus Christ Pantocrator” - lead White lead-

white, azurite, red color - (red 2PbCO Pb(OH)
ocher + lead white + additives from Blue-green-
3 2

unidentified pigments), yellow ocher, 2CuCO Cu(OH)

natural shade, brown - (umbra + Red -Fe3 O 2

organic black + small additive red 2 3

ocher)
second half of the -”Presentation of the Virgin” - lead- White lead-
14 century white, red-red ocher, brown- 2PbCO Pb(OH)
gray, yellow-orpiment or Red ochre
3
- Fe O2
yellow ocher, green-green Yellow- As S 2 3
- “Arch. Michael and St. Naum” - red- Green earth2 3

cinnabar, lead-white, green- White lead-

malachite, yellow and red 2PbCO Pb(OH)
ocher (earthy ocher), azurite Yellow 3ochre- Fe2 O
Red - HgS и Fe O2 3
Blue-green 2 3
-2CuCO Cu(OH)
3 2

mid-18 century - “St. Marine “ - red-brown in Red -HgS

composition of cinnabar with lead- White lead-
white additive, chromium green- 2PbCO Pb(OH)
viridian, ultramarine with addition of Blue- Cu
3
(CO ) (OH)
2

leaded white Green - Cr O

3 3 2 2
2 3

Tab.2 - The identified pigments from several icons belonging to different centuries

340
 period icon church gilding

13 St.George St.George,Struga Golden leaves

century
14 Royal Doors Holy Mother of God- Golden leaves
century Bolnichka, Ohrid
(Annunciation)
14 St.Naum (Arc. St.Nicholas Tin, silver
century Michail) Bolnichki,Ohrid
14 -15 Royal Doors Ss.Constantine and Tin
century (Annunciation) Helena, Ohrid
15 St.Nicholas St.Demetrius, Ohrid Orpigment
century
19 Iconostasis Holy Mother of God- Copper,zink
century Kamensko, Ohrid
Tab.3 - XRF investigation of the gilding from the important icons belonging to dif-
ferent periods from Ohrid region

New measures in the field of preventive care revealed spatial anoma-

lies through microclimate conditions and risk factors16, which further
undoubtedly brought into question the gallery space itself as well as its
ongoing maintenance (tab.4).

Tab.4 - Concentration of the suspended particulate with the high level of particu-
lates on the position 5 on the wooden icon St. Clement from 13 century (measure-
ments made in 2011 after a group of visitors)

16
S. Hackney, “The distribution of gaseous air polution within museums,” Studies in
Conservation 29 (1984), 105-116.
341
 Also in the field of museology there were drawbacks to the valuable facts
on the back of the exhibits, which were never offered as information17 or
provided as virtual signalization in an exhibition gallery, nor was there
any thought of updating the museum setting in a sense of cyber direction.

Eastern and western influences

Given the fact that many experts have shaped and enriched their knowl-
edge in other countries, it was expected that the effect arising from the
established methods practiced in these countries, along with foreign
influence, would be transmitted through them and applied to our cul-
tural monuments as well. The methods and treatments of conservation
performed by Macedonian conservators over the course of seventy years
were influenced by several conservation schools.
- (a) the post-war period recognized by the strong conservation mea-
sures, applied with conservation materials with a high consolidating
power, reflecting the Vienna-Czech school (reconstruction of wooden
supports, transposition of the iconography, cleaning of the old varnish
and patina), as well as the Russian school (reinforcing the wooden dam-
aged supports with a deluge placement in the high-resin mass). The col-
laboration with foreign countries was established with (PKZ) the Polish
Conservation Institutions, as well as the co-operation initiated by the
Federal Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade
(in the former Yugoslavia) which included the examinations of medieval
materials in Brussels, Belgium18.
- (b) The second period began in the late 1970s with the introduction
of new industrial products as a replacement for the old traditional (re-
versible) conservation materials, reflecting the Italian school and futuris-
tic direction. The application of new products and their rapid drying and
adaptability properties reduced the duration of conservation processes,
leading to more frequent interventions under the designation of urgency,
which were applied mostly before and after each exhibition in the era of
affirming cultural heritage (30 exhibitions from 1970 to 2011). The most
common microclimate changes, during the transportations, caused a
17
Gary Edson Museum Ethic, Theory and Practice (London: Roudledge, 1997), 220.
18
Paul Koreman, “Čuvanje kulturnih dobara u Jugoslaviji,” Zbornik zaštite spomenika
kulture (1960), 5.
342
series of minor damages that were treated with urgent interventions re-
ferring to retouches and protective varnishes (spray). During the 90’s the
affirmation of these icons highly represented repairs that followed before
and after every exhibition.
- (c) Multidisciplinary research has become indispensable in the era
of the diverse application of conservation materials. The compilation of
conservation approaches and the calibration of conservation materials
involved in current conservation practice, as they age, are becoming an
essential part of conservation research on Ohrid icons. The organic na-
ture of the icon, vulnerable to damage, necessarily requires a new defini-
tion of the word “damages” through an interpretation of their origin. The
synchronization between the old and the new strength or the condition
of the original mass and infiltrated consolidators significantly influences
the decisions of any future applied conservation treatment, which will
be conducted and determined mainly through the implemented conser-
vation materials in the past. Heritological processing certainly does not
imply comprehensiveness in its dispersion, since the cultural heritage of
a technological period cannot be expressed as a non-selective set of in-
formation, but rather as a complex system in the relation between the
knowledge that arose in the period in which the object was examined and
the rules by which the new knowledge is generated at the time the herito-
logical view is constituted19.

Contemporary researches in Europe represent a type of collaboration

formed by associations in the interest of cultural heritage, through which
joint teams of experts from different specialties work with conservation
laboratories (MOLLAB, IPERION CH MTA Atomki etc.). This period is
characterized by a wide exchange of knowledge and the use of foreign lab-
oratories, which are equipped and can respond to multiple requests and
identifications that broadens the unity and quality of the investigations.

19
Metodološki i tehnički aspekti primene novih tehnika u zaštiti kulturne baštine
(Beograd, 2010), 1.2.2; Semantički kapacitet heritološke obrade, 5.
343
 Foreign influences Period in the Conservation method
(educations and Macedonian applied
specializations of the conservation practice
conservation staff)

Austrian School-Vienna The beginning of the Consolidation of images

Academy of Fine Arts-
Masters School
Czech school
Italian School - Central
Institute in Rome
Russian School-VCNILR
(Federal Central Scientific
Research Laboratory
for Conservation and
Restoration in Moscow, as
well as in the Hermitage,
Leningrad)
primary conservation on a wooden carrier; Wax-
(1957/58) resinous mass, xylamon,
prepared stages (by
heating and purification)
The period of 1970/80 Transposition, industrial
years materials (PVA, Paraloid
B-72),
retouch tratteggio,
wooden parquets
The period of 1963,70,80 Pancol paste,
years cyclonization, egg
emulsion
as a retainer

Table 5 - Three conservation schools that mainly influenced the Macedonian

conservation practice

Classical conservation theories (from J.Ruskin to C.Brandi) are char-

acterized by their close adherence to truth. These theories are currently
dominant, but criticism and new alternatives are developing and gaining
momentum20. The new page in the Conservation Diary marks an era of
new sensibility in the research and treatment of Ohrid icons, all the more
so that each work of art is a unique object followed by a unique approach.

Conclusion
According to the periods of conservation, we can derive the sinusoid
of ventures by dividing the three most important upward or downward
peaks. Comparing the conservation processes with the medicine, or com-
paring the icons as Art Patients treated by the Conservators Cure, we can
assume several developing items:
20
Salvador Munoz-Vinas, Contemporary Theory of Conservation (London, Routledge,
2012).

344
 The first decade (1950-1960) was a period characterizing highly protective
conservation style involving the use of conservation materials with strong
protective value or high strength, which leads us to conclude that the
icons were in acute condition compared to their extreme impairments,
which endorsed treatments with a high percentage of prevention, even to
the extreme such as amputation of unhealthy wood. During this period,
documentation was a principle, which led the organized conservation ser-
vice to approach the restoration of its cultural monuments and stabilize
their damaged state, mostly consuming the prosthetic reconstructions or
implants that refer to wooden reconstructions.
Developments in the industry in the early 70’s have improved conserva-
tion materials and their massive emergency utilization within the popu-
larly called “cosmetic interventions”. Urgent interventions often performed
before and after every exhibition become a daily occurrence21. “Building”
the icons always with the new entry, simply increased the accumulated
preservation material, which further became a subject of research into
their condition.
Sophisticated equipment and methods have escorted the science to
a new diagnostic posture or a newly established diagnosis and monitor-
ing22 about the actual icons’ condition. Contemporary era attacked by the
modern technology delving deep into the treasure trove of information,
discovered new insights, so far impossible to be seen without apparatus.
Multidisciplinary researches combined hand in hand with the conser-
vation experience have been scientifically interpreted. Numerous former
dilemmas about the distinction between over-painting surfaces and
authentic iconography now have been revealed. Cyber-museums have
promoted the virtual scene, allowing further penetration into the whole
tangible and intangible structure of the entire content, composition and
spirituality of the icon.

21
K. Bachmann & R.A.Rushfield, Conservation conserns:A guide for Collections.
Principles of Storage, Planning, Location, Climate control (Ligthing, 1992), 2; Nathan
Stolow, “Standards for the Care of Works of Art in Transit and on Exibition,” Museum
&Monuments, Geneva Unesco XVII (1979), Vibrations, Shocks, 89-102.
22
COST Domain Committee “CMST”,COST Action D42 Chemical Interactions between
Cultural Artefacts andIndoor Environment (EnviArt) MONITORING PROGRESS REPORT,
Period: from 27/06/2006to 31/12/2008.

345
 24

Процена на загрозеноста од елементарни

непогоди кај православните верски
храмови во општина Штип
Драган Веселинов, Регионален центар за управување
со кризи, Штип
Tрајче Нацев, Универзитет „Гоце Делчев”, Штип
UDK 551.515.9:271.2 (497.731)

Abstract: In general, fires as a potential hazard are noted for all Christian
religious temples on the territory of the Municipality of Stip and in most of
them as a the only natural hazard. Only a few temples beside the fires, floods
and strong winds are also a danger. The fires as a danger in the municipality of
Stip based on the Assessment of the threat from all risks and dangers prepared
for its territory are of second degree of danger, so the fires in the municipality
are a rare manifestation of endangerment. But despite this qualification and
degree of danger, in the event of a larger scale fire in any of the places where
there are religious temples this disaster can cause damage or destruction of
these buildings. Floods also have a second degree of threat on the territory of
the municipality while strong winds have a first degree of threat. Here, too,
in the event of their occurrence with greater intensity can lead to damage to
those Christian religious temples for which we have emphasized in the text
that they are vulnerable to such natural hazards.
346
Bо општина Штип се наоѓаат над педесетина христијански верски
храмови (Сл. 1). Немањето конкретна бројка на ваквите храмови се
должи на неколку фактори меѓу кои недовршената градба на некои
од нив, па се до нивната неосветеност или непризнаеност од стра-
на на Македонска православна црква - Охридска архиепископи-
ја.1 Но и покрај ова сите тие се градени, посетувани и негувани од
страна на христијанските верници поради што за нив овие објекти
се од посебно значење. Со ова всушност и се потврдува вредноста на
христијанските храмови а секако и потребата за нивна заштита од
било какви штетни влијанија предизвикани од разни видови на ри-
зици и опасности.2
Од интерес на овој труд се елементарните непогоди како дел од се-
вкупните ризици и опасности дефинирани со законски акти. Пора-
ди тоа истите ќе бидат презентирани во текстот т.е. ќе биде даден
степенот на загрозување од елементарни непогоди карактеристични
за територијата на општина Штип и можноста за оштетување или
целосно уништување кај христијанските верски хармови при нивни
евентуални појави. Утврдувањето на ваквите работи ќе се добие со
анализа и процена на Процената на загрозеност од сите ризици и
опасности на подрачјето на општина Штип како и статистичките по-
датоци за црквите и манастирите во општина Штип од Брегалнич-
ката епархија и Картата на верски објекти во Република Македонија.
На тој начин и ќе се дадат потребните резултати со кои може да се од-
редат потребните мерки и активности за заштита на христијанските
верски храмови при појава на елементарни непогоди.
Во процената на загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на
подрачјето нa oпштина Штип како опасности карактеристични за
нејзината територија се наведени пожарите, поплавите, сушите,
земјотресите, загадување на вода и почва, температурни разлики и
варирања, силни ветрови, поледици и ледени дождови. Меѓутоа сите
овие појави немаат ист степен на загрозување односно некои од нив
би можеле да предизвикаат значителни оштетувања или пак уништу-
вања на христијанските верски хармови додека други не би имале
некакви негативни влијанија кај овие објекти.3 Поради ова, опасно-
1
Ваквите тврдења се поткрепени со изјави на одредени ктитори на верските
храмови и официјални ставови на Брегалничката епархија односно МПЦ-ОА.
2
За видовите на ризици и опасности види во член 3 став 2 од Законот за
управување со кризи (Службен Весник на Р.Македонија бр.29, 2005).
3
Согласно член 6 од Уредбата за Методологија за изработка на Процената
на загрозеноста на безбедноста на Републлика Македонија од сите ризици и
347
 стите како што се сушите, загадување на вода и почва, температурни
разлики и варирања, поледици и ледени дождови претставуваат поја-
ви кои нема да предизвикаат штети или уништувања на христијан-
ските верски хармови, па затоа истите нема да бидат подложени на
процена и елаборација во текстот. Кон сето ова би ги доделе и земјо-
тресите за кои се смета дека нема да создадат штети ниту пак да
уништат некој од овие објекти бидејќи општина Штип претставува
подрачје каде оваа појава е ретка и со слаб интензитет.
Христијанските верски храмови во општина Штип според нивната
локација ги делиме на две групи т.е. оние кои се наоѓаат во градот
Штип со неговите приградски населби (урбаниот дел на општината) 4
и храмови во селата и нивните атари (руралниот дел на општината).5

Христијански верски храмови во урбаниот дел на оштина Штип

Парохискиот храм „Св. Николај“ претставува трокорабна базили-

ка опкружена со тремови од западната, северната и јужната страна
кои на катот преминуваат во галерија е подигнат на црква од стари
темели, која била изградена 1341 година. Покрај фрескоживописот,
црквата има и богато украсен балдахин во олтарниот дел и вла-
дичкиот трон во нејзиниот наосо што претставуваат извонредни
копаничарски дела. Поради видот на градба, непосредната близи-
на на река Отиња и опкружувањето со други објекти оваа црква е

опасности, нејзината содржина и структура, начинот на чување и ажурирање, како

и определувањето на субјектите во системот за управување со кризи се одредува
степен на загрозеност што означува ризик односно состојба со манифестирани
појави на загрозеност од одредена опасност. (Прв степен означува редовна
состојба (нема ризик); Втор степен означува низок ризик (редовна состојба со
ретко манифестирани појави на загрозеност); Трет степен означува покачен
ризик (можен почеток на криза или кризна состојба); Четврт степен означува
висок ризик и веројатност за почеток на криза или кризна состојба; Петти степен
означува највисок ризик на загрозеност на виталните вредности (создадени услови
за прогласување на криза или кризна состојба). Степенот на загрозување за сите
видови на опасности карактеристични за општина Штип е даден во Процена на
загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на подрачјето нa oпштина Штип, 2014.
Според тоа пожарите, поплавите и сушите се со втор степен на загрозеност додека
земјотресите, загадување на вода и почва, температурни разлики и варирања,
силни ветрови, поледици и ледени дождови се со прв степен на загрозеност.
4
Карта на верски објекти во Република Македонија (Скопје: Комисија за односи
со верски заедници и религиозни групи, 2011), 26-27.
5
Карта на верски објекти во Република Македонија, 26-27; Трајче Нацев,
Ранохристијанска архитектура во источните области на Република Македонија
(Штип, 2019).
348
загрозена од појава на пожар, поплава и силни ветрови. Поплавите
не би и предизвикале посериозни оштетувања на црквата бидејќи
реката Отиња има уредено корито и нема постојан водотек поради
што и излевањата нема да бидат со појак интензитет. Кровната кон-
струкција и целокупната градба на црквата е стабилна и од цврст
материјал па и најсилните ветрови карактеристични за општина
Штип не претставуваат закана која ќе предизвика штета. Единстве-
на опасност што може да предизвика посериозна штета или пак
уништување на објектот се пожарите пред се поради опкруженоста
со објекти и присуството на дрвен материјал кај самата црква. Ис-
тата процена на загрозеноста од елементарни непогоди се одредува
и за парохиската црква „Успение на Пресвета Богородица“ (19 век),
манастир „Покров на Пресвета Богородица“ и црквата „Св. Дими-
трија Солунски“, кои се наоѓаат во Ново Село. Единствена разлика
кај овие цркви во однос на црквата Св. Николај се јавува разлика
само во тоа што тие се во непосредна близна на реката Брегалница
која во однос на реката Отиња е со постојан и голем водотек и не-
уредено речно корито што и самото по себе претставува зголемен
ризик и опасност од полава.6
За параклисите „Св. Архангел Михаил“ Главатов (14 век) и „Св. Ар-
хангел Михаил“ Фитијата (14 век), како и за црквите „Вознесение Хри-
стово – Св. Спас“ кај Ново Село (14 век), „Св. Јован Крстител“ (14 век),
„Св. Бесребреници Козма и Дамјан“ и „Св. пророк Илија“ е каракте-
ристично тоа што сите се наоѓаат во централното подрачје на градот
или во негова непосредна близина и сите овие објекти се со местопо-
ложба на доминантно извишување во однос на реката Отиња.
Поради дискутабилноста за видот на храмот кај црквата „Св. про-
рок Илија“ (13/14 век) и неговата запуштеност не е возможна соод-
ветна процена на загрозеност од одредена опасност. Останатите две
цркви и двата параклиси поради непосредното и тесно опкружување
со објекти (стари маала од збиен тип) во кое се наоѓаат се изложени
на опасност од пожари. Кај параклисот „Св. Архангел Михаил“ Глава-
тов и црквата „Св. Јован Крстител“ поради недоволно цврстата кров-
на конструкција силните ветрови можат да предизвикаат одредени
6
Врз основа на податоци добиени од Процена на загрозеноста од сите ризици
и опасности на подрачјето нa oпштина Штип во одредени периоди од годината
кога врнежите се постојани и обилни или при нагло топење на снежната покривка
доваѓа до забрано зголемување на нивото на река Брегалница. Поради тоа во
минатото се случувало и излева на реката на местата во чија близина се и самите
цркви бидејќи тие места претставуваат “тесно грло” низ кое поминува водениот тек.
Досега не се евидентирани оштетувања кај овие цркви од поплава предизвикана
при излевање на реката.
349
 оштетувања. Поради локацијата полавите не претставуваат опасност
која би ги загрозила храмовите.
Црквите „Св. Петка“, „Св. Климент Охридски“, „Св. Троица“, „Св. Ки-
рил и Методиј“ (н. Баби), „Св. Троица“ (н.Баби), „Св. Наум“ (н. Караор-
ман), „Св. Богородица“ (н. Балканска), „Св. Петка“ (н. Балканска), „Св.
цар Костадин и царица Елена“ (н. Балканска), „Св. Иларион“ (н. Же-
лезничка), „Св. пророк Илија“ (н. Три Чешми), параклисите „Отсеку-
вање главата на свети Јован Крстител“, „Св. Злата Мегленска“ (н. Три
Чешми), „Исусови рани и Богородични солзи“, манастир “Св. Недела“
(Мирјанина црква) врз основа на нивната местоположба, типот на
градба и непосредно опкружување со објекти и вегетација се изло-
жени само на опасност од појава на пожар.7 Параклисите „Св. Ѓорѓи“,
„Св. Петка“, „Вера Надеж и Љубов и мајка им Софија“ и покрај нивната
близина до брегот на реката Брегалница досега не биле загрозени од
поплава а се проценува и дека не постои сериозен ризик од поплава
на овие објекти поради широкото и уредено речно корито на потегот
на нивната локација. Другите појави на елементарни непогоди не би
предизвикале оштетување или уништување на овие објекти.8
Во непосредна близина и отворена кон самиот водотек на река Бре-
галница се наоѓа цркавата „Св. Петка“ (Ново Село). Самиот податок
говори дека оваа црква е изложена на опасност од поплави, што во
минатото и се случувале кога нивото на реката Брегалница било дос-
та високо.9 Покрај поплавата, друга опасност која би влијаела нега-
тивно на овој објект се и пожарите. Тоа се должи на видот на градбата
на црквата и околната густа високостеблеста и нискостеблеста веге-
тација што го прави објектот ранлив на оваа опасност.
Параклисот „Св. Ѓорѓи Кратовски“ е сместен во дол кој при поројни
долготрајни дождови може да биде полавен. Поради ова поплавата
претставува опасност која може да го уништи или оштети овој парак-
лис.10 Од другите видови на опасности не постојат сериозни закани
за објектот.
Во парк во централното подрачје на градот се наоѓа цквата „Св Га-
врил Велички“. Иако во нејзина близина се наоѓа реката Отиња не
7
Процената на загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на подрачјето нa
oпштина Штип, 2014.
8
Процената на загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на подрачјето нa
oпштина Штип е добиен заклучокот дека нема опасност од загрозување од други
видови на елементарни непогоди.
9
Регионален центар за управување со кризи.
10
Процена на загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на подрачјето нa
oпштина Штип, 2014.
350
постојат никави опасности од поплавување на објектот како резултат
на уреденото речно корито и непостојаниот речен тек. Но местопо-
ложбата на објектот каде тој е опкружен со вегетација и објекти го
прави да биде загрозен од појава на пожари.11 Силните ветрови исто
како и поплавите не претставуваат опасност која ќе ја оштети или
уништи црквата бидејќи нејзината кровна констукција како и воопш-
то целата градбата е изградена од цврсти и стабилни материјали.

Христијански храмови во руралниот дел од општината Штип

Двете цркви „Св. пророк Илија“ и „Св. Симеон Столпник“ во село

Долани врз основа на својата градба, местоположба и околина един-
ствено се загрозени од појава на пожари. Другите видови на елемен-
тарни непогоди немаат штетни влијанија кај овие објекти.
Истата процена како за претходните два храма важи и за црквите
„Отсекување главата на св. Јован Крстител“ и „Св. Петка“ во с. Љубо-
тен, „Вознесение Христово“ во с. Шашаварлија, „Св. великомаченик
Ѓорѓи“ во с. Лесковица, „Св. Атанасие Велики“ во с. Брест, „Св. Петар
и Павле“ во с. Лакавица, „Св. пророк Илија” во с. Патрик, „Преполове-
ние (Руса Среда)“ во с. Пиперово и манастирите „Св. Пантелејмон“ во
с. Брест и „Св. Богородица“ во с. Пиперово.12 Црквата „Св. Теодор Ти-
рон” која се наоѓа во селото Пиперово и покрај зачуваниот иконостас
претставува градба која е во лоша состојба и распаѓање. Поради вак-
вата специфична состојба на објектот утврдувањето на релевантна
процена на загрозеност од елементарни непогоди кај истиот е отеж-
нато. Но ако извршиме анализа врз неговата местоположба, градба и
непосредна околина, овој верски храм е загрозен од опасности како
што се пожарите и силните ветрови.13
Сите седум верски храмови кои се наоѓаат во селото Судиќ един-
ствено се загрозени од појава на пожари.14 Другите видови на еле-
ментарни непогоди не претставуваат опасности кои би предизвикале
некакви оштетувања или пак уништувања на овие објекти.
И црквите „Св. Петка“ во с. Сарчиево, „Св. Ѓорѓи” и “Свети Илија”
11
Истото.
12
Процена на загрозеноста од сите ризици и опасности на подрачјето нa
oпштина Штип, 2014.

13
Исто.
14
Исто.
351
 во с. Пухче се изложени само на опасност од појава на пожари.15 Не-
гативни влијанија кај овие верски храмови од останатите појави на
елементарни непогоди не постојат.

Илустрации:

Слика 1: Христијански верски храмови на територијата на општина Штип;

Слика 2: Христијански верски храмови во градот Штип и неговите

приградски населби;

15
Исто.
352
Слика 3: Христијански верски храмови во градот Штип и приградската
населба Ново Село и нивната изложеност на опасности;

Слика 4: Христијански верски храмови во приградските населби Караорман,

Железничка, Три Чешми и Балканска (Свињогојство) и нивната изложеност
на опасности;

353
 Слика 5: Христијански верски храмови во руралниот дел на општина Штип
и нивната изложеност на опасности.

354