Johannes Koder

Remarks on linguistic Romanness

in Byzantium

Preliminary remark
The Greek language has an exact equivalent for the key word Romanness, on which
this symposium focussed.ltis romiosyne or (more conservatively) romaiosyne, an im-
portant facet in the interpretation of post-Byzantine and modern Greek identity; it ex-
presses also nostalgic Greek feelings, especially in popular culture and in poetry. Ro-
miosyne is, for example, the title of a cycle of nine poems of Giannis Ritsos, written in
1966, which were set to music by Mikis Theodorakis.l For a deeper understanding of
the complexity of its meanings for medieval and modern Greek identity I would like
to refer here to the exceptionally sensitive essay of Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Helleno-
Romaic Dilemma.z Though, for our context of. Romanness, romiosyne does not apply,
because it appears in written sources only in the nineteenth century.3

Spatial and linguistic dimensions of identity

This paper is in a way a follow up of another, which I read in Zwettl in 1986, on the
occasion of Herwig Wolfram's symposium on'Typen der Ethnogenese'.4 Within the
manifold aspects of collective identity, two, language and space, are of particular im-
portance, in general and in the special case of Byzantium.5
The spatial dimension is one of the most obvious and basic. Concerning this con-
text, historians at the end of the last century invented the research topic 'sites of
memory', which at its beginning focussed on real places, though now refers to any
phenomenon which directs our attention to a certain aspect of the past.6 A prominent
Byzantine example, which was seen as a site of memory throughout the Middle Ages,
is the (second) church of Saint Sophia in Constantinople, built by the Emperor Jus-
tinian L As early as 562, the church was already called, in the anonymous hymn on
its second inauguration, 'a heaven on earth' (oüpavdq lq 6niyeroq),7 and since then

ffilrrror Theodorakis, Mikis / Ritsos, Giannis, Romiosyne,cD, Athens, c. 1990. *see http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritsos and https://en,wikipedia.orglwiki/Mikis_Theodorakis (seen 15.6.201,6).
2 Leigh Fermor 1983, 96-125 and144-1,47.
3 Babiniotis 2002, 1577; Mantouvalou 1985, 188 - 190.
4 Koder 1990.
5 See the article by Ioannis Stouraitis in this volume, and Stouraitis 2014.
6 See Nora 1984-1992.
7 Trypanis 1968,1.43, stanza 5.5.

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772 Johannes Koder
praised so also outside the frontiers of Byzantium. In the Kievan Rus', for example,
an ambassador, who returned from Constantinople in 987, reported to Grand Prince
Vladimir and the druäna with the following words: 'Then we went on to Greece, and
the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not
whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or
such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells
there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For
we cannot forget that beauty'.8
Yet with respect to Byzantium, the linguistic dimension offers, in my opinion, the
still more productive approach: the number and variety of languages that coexisted
in Byzantium enables us to ascertain an in depth understanding of the long-term de-
velopment of its ethnic, cultural and ideological structures. Because of multilingual-
ism, the process of linguistic identification was in Byzantium more complex than in
the majority of early medieval nations and politically organized tribes.e Many of
these groups kept much of their original ethnic and linguistic homogeneity. The By-
zantine state, by contrast, had no 'ethnic' origins in the usual sense; it was from the
beginning multilingual and remained so after the loss of the Levant in the seventh
century when Greek became, in contrast to its Roman identity, the dominant lan-
guage of state, culture and everyday life for all social classes.lo
The populations or tribes in the Byzantine territories spoke not only Greek and
Latin, but also - regionally and chronologically differentiated - Albanian, Caucasian
Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Gothic, Hebrew, Persian, Romance
Ianguages (the Wlachs), southern Slavic languages and Syro-Aramaic. Still in the
twelfth century John Tzetzes deplores that even the thiefs in Constantinople don t
speak one language and that they are not from one tribe, but, for example, Cretans,
Turcs, Alans, Rhodians and Chians.11 His statement is also interesting, because he
qualifies inhabitants from Byzantine islands as well as the more typical 'barbarians'
as foreigners.
The pilgrim Egeria
An early document of Christian multilingualism in the Levant is the pilgrim Egeria's
vivid description of the liturgical practice in and near Jerusalem:
8 Povest'vremennikh let, a, 6495 (987), ed, I(imball, 6. For other examples, see Majeska 1984,
236.
9 Koder 2003, I(oder 2011 und l(oder 2012.
10 l(oder 1990; Chrysos 1996,7-16,
11 JohnTzetzes,Chiliades,13,ll.356-362,ed.Leone,528:oinöÄLvyoptilvävaooavyeÄrirweq/oü1i
xci ö0vouq övöq prövou, / pi{erq yÄo-rooöv öe neprooöv, övöpeq rdrv noÄuxÄöntc,rv, /
prdq rporv{g eiot
I(p{teg xoi Toüpxot, 'AÄavoi, 'P66roL rö xqi Kor, / ünÄöq ö0vouq roü oüpnowoq, tdrv ünaoöv ltrrpdrv
te / önaweg oi xÄentlorepot xui xexrB6qÄeupdvot, / lerpotovoüwar äyLor tfl n6Äer Kcrrvmqwlvou.
Remarl<s on [inguistic Romanness in Byzantium 773
Et quoniam in ea prouincia pars populi et graece et siriste nouit, pars etiam alia per se graece,
aliqua etiam pars tantum siriste, itaque quoniam episcopus, licet siriste nouerit, tamen semper
graece loquitur et nunquam siriste: itaque ergo stat semper presbyter, qui episcopo graece di-
cente, siriste interpretatur, ut omnes audiant, quae exponuntur. Lectiones etiam, quaecumque
in ecclesia leguntur, quia necesse est graece legi, semper stat, qui siriste interpretatur propter
populum, ut semper discant. Sane quicumque hic latini sunt, id est qui nec siriste nec graece
nouerunt, ne contristentur, et ipsis exponitur eis, quia sunt alii fratres et sorores graecolatini,
qui latine exponunt eis.t
Her account is all the more remarkable because it allows the interpretation that, in
Oriens, Greek was already in the late fourth century the dominant language in the
church. Greek represented the Christian cultural identity of the educated classes.
But although in the early Byzantine period only a minority of the eastern Roman
Empire's population were native Latin speakers, a conscious and active political
identification with romanifas required until the era of Justinian's reign at least a
basic knowledge of Latin.13 Latin was the language of the emperor, the army, the
laq and the administration. From the sixth century onwards romanitas lost its lin-
guistic significance, but remained the supreme political principle. It was plainly
propagated by the emperor and the authorities of the state and the church. Romani-
fas formed the basis for the at times changing political homogeneity of the empire
and for the Byzantine sense of cultural superiority within the European - or better
Euromediterranean -
ecumene, though with a growing separation fuom latinitas.
Separation began with the simple loss of the knowledge of Latin, and continued
with the growing antipathies on both sides, which became more and more evident
from the ninth century onwards.
The Emperor Justinian
On the occasion of the publication of his early novellae the Emperor Justinian ex-
plained why he published them in two languages, in Latin and Greek,la though it
seems to be evident, that he (and his advisers in legislative matters, above all Tribo-
nianus) would have preferred Latin to Greek. He called Latin'our fiom the fathers
inherited language', in contrast to 'the language of the Greeks' or 'the common
Greek language'.15 In one case, in his novella'about the Jews', he permitted them
199-
L2 Egeria, Itinerarium, c.47,3-4, ed, Maraval, 31.4-317,
13 See Zilliacus 1935; Dagron 1969; Dagron 1994,22o-221; Adams 2003.
14 Pieler 1978,4O9-411 and 425-426l. Adamik 2003; W. Kaiser 2012.
15 ]ustinian, Novella 66, ed. Kroll/Schöll, 342: [,,.] öt6tr yevopdvr,rv ilpiv ioorunu-rv 6tctd{eolv nepi
toü pörpou t{g övmdoeorq tdrv nqlöt,lv, {q pöv tJ1 'EMllvov govfl yeypopp6v4g ör& rö t(r nÄl1Oet
xo'rdÄÄ4Äov, tr1q öö rn'Por;ratt-rv iinep ömi xci xupLotatl 6Ld tö t{q noÄtte[cq oXnpq [...h Iustinian,
NovellaT, ed. Kroll/Schöll,52:6tönep aüti1v [scil. t4v ötdto{rv] xci npoüO{xapev xqi oü tfl ncrpir4
 v -{
774 lohannes Koder
to read the Old Testament during Jewish religious ceremonies, but only in Greek or
'in the language, which we inherited from our ancestors, namely the Italian
(sic)'.16 However, Justinian expresses his opinion only in legal texts, which have a
limited (re)liability as testimonies for the everyday linguistic realities in Byzantium.
The Greek language dominated, and since the seventh century had become, mainly
as a consequence of the territorial reduction of Byzantium, the only language that
was common in all parts of the empire, be it in the Balkans, where the 'southern'
Slavs first immigrated in the late sixth century and changed the ethnic and linguistic
structure significantly,lT or in the Levant, where the rise of Islam and the subsequent
Arabic conquest of Oriens and Aegyptus in the first half of the seventh century led in
the long run to a linguistic dominance of Arabic.18
The general loss of knowledge in Latin must, of course, not be equated with a
total indifference towards the language. A translation division existed at the imperial
courtle, and Latin-Greek lexica or dictionaries of Latin foreign loan words were pro-
duced, for example the lexeis tes romaikes dialektou (13th century).2o Constantine Por-
phyrogenitus (10ü century) made a remarkable statement that to his regret'his ances-
tors turned to Greek and got rid of their fathers' Roman language'.21 This is not a
mere nostalgic clich6, because another source, the history of John Scylitzes, con-
firms, that in the tenth century the ideological significance of the Latin language
as an instrument of politics was not forgotten, and the prominent use of Latin
words appeared again in order to indicate the ecumenic claim of the Byzantine em-
perors. After his victory over the prince of the Rus' Svjatoslav in 971, the emperor
John Tzimiskes minted gold coins (nomismata) and copper coins (oboloi), showing
the icon of the Saviour and on the reverse in Latin characters the words 'Jesus Christ,
king of the kings' - 'This didn't happen before', comments Scylitzes.22
qo.rvfl töv v6pov ouveyparpopev, dÄtra touql öi1 tfl xorvfl te xqi ö^^dör, öote änaoLv qütöv rivqt
yvöprprov öLa tö np6letpov t{q öpprlvelaq.
16 Justinian, Novella 1.46, ed. Iüoll/Schöll, 715: Oeoni(opev rolwv, döeLqv eivqr toig BouÄopÖvorq
'Eppalorq xctd t&q ouvcyoyaq taq aütdrv, xq0' öv 'Eppaior öÄurq rönov eiol, 6rd tfig öMlviöog
rp<,-rvqg tüq iepäq piBÄoug dvayLvÜoxerv toiq ouvLoüoLv, ii xai qq notplou tu1öv (qg itaÄrxflq toÜrr1g
qapöv) ii xqi töv dtMorv ünÄdrg, toiq tönoLq ouppetupaMopr6vrlg tflq yÄ6ttqq xoi t{q 6r' aüqg avo-
yvöoeoq, [...] nÄiv oi öt& tflq öÄÄqvtöoq dvoyrvöoxov'reg rfl rriv öBöoprilxovra [only the Septuaginta!]
1p{oovtaL nopaööoeL rfl ndv'rov dxpLBeotöpg xoi napü tog öÄÄaq öyxexprpöv1 6rd tö pdÄroto nepi
d1v öpprlve[av oupBeBqxöq, örr xatd öüo 6rarpe06vteg xoi xatd 6rag6pouq öpprlveüoaweg rdnouq
öpo4 plav änaweg öxöeööxqor oüv0eoLv.
17 Gerov 1980; Schramm 1981; Curta 2001.
18 Kaegi 1992; Rubenson 1996; Wasserstein 2003; Heilo 2010; Sarris 2011.
19 Gastgeber 2001; Gastgeber 2005.
20 Gastgeber/Diethart 1998, 153 Lemmata,
21 Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De thematibus, Prooem, ed. Pertusi, 60: [...] [qfuotq öMqvi(ovteq
r<ci tilv ndtpLov xci potrraLxilv yÄöttav anopuÄövteq.
22 lohn Scylitzes, Synopsis historiarum, John I Tzimiskes 19, ll. 78-80, ed. Thurn, 311: [...] rQ vop[-
opatr xoi tQ öBoÄQ eixövo öyypageo0qL toü oor{poq, pi1 npdtepov toü'rou yrvopövou. öypdrpovto
6ö xci ypdppoto'Ptr-rpaiori öv 0ot6pq pöper öö6 n1 öredrövto. 'lr1ooüg XpLotög paorÄeüg Booüöurv.
Remarks on [inguistic Romanness in Byzantium 715
The Roman axis
A special case is the wording romaikos axon.lt symbolizes in the writings of Michael
Psellos (l1th century) the ecumenical claim of Roman emperors.23 ln his Chronogra-
phia and in other works Psellos describes the accession of Byzantine emperors to
the throne or the attempts of usurpers to approach imperial power as follows: 'he
was burdened with the Roman axis' (Michael IV Paphlagon) or 'He passed over to
the Roman axis' (Romanos Boilas) or'He ascended to the Roman axis' (Constantine
Leichudes) or 'With the crown he ascended to the Roman axis'2a (lsaac I Comnenus)
or 'He (the patriarch Michael I(eroularios) removed one of the ruling emperors (Mi-
chael VI) from the Roman axis, and nearly so another one (Isaac I Comnenus)'.25
These words were also used, four centuries later, by the church historian Nike-
phoros IGllistou Xanthopoulos, not in a contemporary context, but on the occasion
of his narrative about the emperor Augustus' visit to Delphi. Augustus asked the ora-
cle, who will rule over the Roman axis after him; after a period of silence he received
Pythias' well-known answer: 'A Hebrew boy, a god who rules among the blessed,
bids me leave this house forever and go back to Hades. So in silence go from my al-
tars'.26 This answer was quoted by many early Christian and Byzantine authors. But
23 It occurs - perhaps for the first time in another context in the early fifth century in Synesius,
Dion 1.6, 11, 12-20, ed. Terzaghi, 274: xuirot tLvög ög' rlptirv a{Loüorv dnö toü roroütou p{topeg eivar,
ypappareiq cteXvdrg öweg. oi 66, xäv pdprupog avapLpdoorvtqr, roü npaypatoq 6ni roütorg övtog,
nap' öoutoüg oi{oovtaL nenpal0oL tilv öix1v.oürorg eioi xoprl-roi re xqi veqviqr. 6nei öä 4peTg oüx
ör töv'Ptr-rpclxöv d{övt.rv töv vöpov üv6yvr,-rpev, ivq xqi oxöwov äv ioXü1, dlÄ' dvöpög ömL rprÄo-
oöqou xoi naÄoroü, neL0tir tLvq ösi npooeivat, xai yevöo0cr vöprov töv Äöyov.
24 MichaelPsellos, Chronographia4,1,4,l,3,ed.Renauld,1,60:röv'PrrrpaikövöntnegöptLotarä{ovo
(Michael Paphlagon); ibid.,6,140,11.10-11, ed. Renauld,2,38: eig röv'Popaiköv pe0Lotfl ö{ovo
(Boilas); ibid.,6, 177,1.6, ed. Renauld, 2, 58: eig'röv'Popatxöv dvcpepqxög ä{ovo (t(onstantinos Lei-
chudes); ibid.,7, 57, ll. 6 - Z ed. Renauld, 2, 118: öni töv 'Pcuprciköv äveror petä toü 6raö{patog ö{ovo
(lsaak Komnenos).
25 MichaelPsellos, Orationesforensesl(addressedtothesynod), ll. 1,650-1653,ed.Dennis,61:xai
töv npoeotqxötarv aütoxparöpov töv pöv toü'Ptr-rpoixoü aneplBuoev ü{ovog, töv öö, ei pu1 xüprog
dvteÄdpetö pou, ptxpoü öelv. - Psellos used axon also in other contexts, especially in combination
with nomoi (laws) and nomikos (legal). About the patriarch Ioannes Xiphilinos he says, that he clim-
bed the legal axis (öxeivog yoüv öneLör1 toü voprxoü öneBeB{xet ä{ovoq, xai rö nÄr1Ooq öyvöxer rftq
voprrxflg önrorllprlq; Michael Psellos, 'EnräErct Aöyo4 4,428, ed. Sathas), and he asks a former stu-
dent, who became publican (kapelos), in an invectiver nrig oüv toüto pr1 npolprlprövoq noreiv oOpöov
tflq ouv{Ooug Öxnenrlö4xög xon4Äeiaq äni rövtöv vöpov öncvopöp4xag ädova (Michael Pse11os, Or-
atoria minora 1,4, ll,7-9, ed, Littlewood, 52).
26 Nikephoros l(allistou Xanthopoulos, Historia ecclesiastica, "1, 17, I -17, PG 145, ll. 681 684: I(oioop
öö Aüyumog [...] nu0rn6e nopoyivetar. 'Exotöpp4v öö tQ öoipovr Oüooq, örenuvOaveto rig 64 ;.ret'
aÜtöv toüq'Polpairoüq ä{ovcg SLt0rlvetev,'Enei ö'örel0ev oü npofeL ondxpLorq, rci öeuröpav npooftye
Ouo[av. xqi oüOtq dv{peto, ivq'rl tö noÄütpOoyyov povreiov vüv övqu6ov.tö 6ö prxpöv 6Lq^rnöv ovei-
Äev oütQ' Ilaig'Eppaioq x6Äerai pe Oeöq;roxdpeoo'w dvaooorv, Tövöe 6öpov npoÄrneiv xqi äi6oq oüerg
lxöo0qL. Äornöv änt0t öx npoödporv ipetöpolv; cL Anthologia Graeca, Appendix, Oracula, no. 105, ed,
Cougny, 484, and John Malalas, Chronographia, l0, 5, ed. Thurn, 176.
776
Johannes Koder
-
the term romaikos axon is not originally a part of the oracle itself, Xanthopoulos
probably borrowed it from Michael Psellos.
It is crucial to understand the meaning of axon in the sense of 'axis of the cel-
estial sphere' or 'axis of the earth'.2t It is connected with the myth about the titan
Atlas, well known also in Byzantium; we find it for example at John Galenos (12ü cen-
tury), who mentioned in his commentary on Hesiod's Theogony that Atlas had to
bear the weight of the heavens, standing with his feet on the earth and holding
up with his hands and his head the heaven.28 Following Eustathius of Thessalonica
(1lh century), Atlas supported the axis of the celestial sphere, which was 'driven
through the midst of the earth',2e and held earth and heaven together. In this
sense, Michael Psellos identifies the eastern Roman emperor with Atlas, in bearing
the burden of the axis of the Roman ecumene.3o
Romaioi, Romanio, Groeci, Rüm?
It is well known that the Byzantines named and defined themselves through all the
ten or eleven centuries of the Eastern Empire as Romaioi, whereas the term Romanoi
referred in Greek only to the Romans who settled in Dalmatia in the times of Diocle-
tian and later on.31 In the European medieval terminology the Byzantines were
named Graeci. Originally a linguistic distinction with a pejorative touch ('coward'),
the term had since 800 come to express also the refusal to acknowledge the eastern
emperor's right to rule over the first Rome and the Western ecumene.
Long before the seventh century the term Romaioi was adopted and adapted into
Rümt by the Syrians and Arabs, and later also by the Turkish tribes. Some Arabic
scholars and writers made a clear distinction between the Byzantines, the Rümi
and the ancient Greeks, the lünäntünr al-Öahiz (d. 868), a member of the 'House
of Wisdom' (bait al-hikma) in Bagdad, denied the hellenic tradition, maintaining
27 tiddell/Scott/Jones 1966, 172b; Lampe 1961, 168b.
28 John Galenos, c. 502 ed. Flach, 333: öni tti.r ä{ovL npoooyopeuet ö Äöyoq, rüq pöv leipcq xai qv
xerpolrlv öq töv oüpavöv ö1owa xot öLo toürt-rv öpe[öowo aütöv, roüg 6ö nööag öni'r{g yflg; similar
ibid., 347.
29 Eustathius Thessalonicensis, Commentarü ad Homeri Odysseam, ed. Stallbaum, 17, 11.29-3O:
AMor 6e AtÄqvtq töv vo4töv ä(ova vooüot töv örä pöoqq rflq yRS öÄqÄapÖvov xai qnö toü popeiou
eiq röv vötrov nöÄov xo0{xovtc,
30 And stili Helena Laskaris, the fictitious heiress of the imperial crown of Byzantium, exclaims in
Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando's mystery play Die Krone von Byzaru:'Auf meinen zarten Schultern
lastet die Welt!'
31 'Ptrrpövor are mentioned several times in Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De administrando imperio
cc.29-J6, ed, Moravcsik, 122-1.65. - See the article by Francesco Borri in this volume, and Chrysos
2003,120 -122.
Remarks on linguistic Romanness in Byzantium 777
that the ancient Iünäntün had been savants ('ulama'), whereas the Rümi are only ar-
tisans (9unna).32
The territorial term Romania appears in Greek sources in the context of political
geography as a name of the Empire since the first century CE,r3 and until the post-
Byzantine period. A famous early documenl for Romania as a political and geograph-
ic term is a sgraffito on a roof-tile in Sirmium, an anonymous quick prayer. Probably
it was written on the occasion of the Avar siege of Sirmium in the year 582. It reads:
'Oh Lord, help the town and halt the Avar and protect the Romania and the scribe.
Amen',ta
Another related term, Romais, originally an adjective, developed to a noun,
which became common, in the sense of the Byzantine Empire as a political entity,
mainly in the high-brow literature, in the tenth century.r5
Summing up, we may say that in Greek sources the terms Romaioi and Romania
mean exclusively only the Byzantines and the Byzantine Empire. Therefore, if the
poem of Digenis Akritas relates that an Arab amiras had an excellent command of
the Romaion glotta, the author means Greek,36
One remarkable exception is the adverb romaisti,which always refers to the Latin
language.3T A good example is found in the biography of Saint Melania, who lived in
the early fifth century. According to her biographer, she read romaisti aloud so excel-
lently, that all believed that she did not know hellenisti, whereas on other occasions,
she read hellenisti so excellently, that all believed that she did not know romaisfi.3s
Hebrew, Greek, Latin
As I mentioned already, Greek was considered to be superior to Latin since the end of
the fourth century at the latest as language of the Christian religion and culture.
Striking examples are the commentaries on the inscription, which was fastened to
32 Allouche 1939,134-135; see Signes Codofrer 2001.
33 Arrianus, Fragmenta, 49a, ed. Roos/Wirth. They identified it with its centre, the first Rome: [..,]
pqtpönoÄLg i'P,iUn rflg'Po;povlog Ömiv, Athanasius, I{istoria Arianorum 35, 2, ed. Opitz.
34 t(Staurogramm) K(üp|e polltr tftg nöÄeog xö pü{ov töv hBapLv xö m.rÄa{ov r{'Popaviav xö töv
ypdr[awa dp{v, ed. Noll 1989; see Koder 2018.
35 Genesios, Basileiai 3,3, ed. Lesmü1ler-Werner/Thurn,37-38; Constantine Stilbes, Poemata, Car- i
men de Incendio ll. 889-891, ed, Diethart/Hörandner, 42; Theodoros Metochites, Poem 14, l. 94, ed. :
and trans. Featherstone, 24. - See also G. Page 2OOB,40-67.
36 Digenis Akritas, G 1.113-115, ed. Trapp, 84: ö dplpdq 1..,1 dxprßöq ydp rlniototo tdv tdrv'Poprclorv
yÄritrcv; cf. De Boel 2003 and Dagron1994,232, i
37 Erich Trapp, Vienna, kindly informed me that to his knowledge only in one case the meaning
'Greek' for romaisti would be possible, though not probable: Andreas Salos, Bios, 2, 18 app, ed. I
Ryd6n. I
38 Melania, Bios, c,26, ed. and trans, Gorce, 180: dvoyLvöoxouoa ptrrpoioti öööxer ndotv ;.u1 eiö6voL
öÄÄr1vtmi, xal ndÄLv övoyLvöorouoa öM4vLoti övopl(eto popoimi pril öniotao0ur.
i
I
I

118 Johannes Koder
the Holy Cross. It read 'Jesus of Nazareth, Iüng of the Jews', and according to
St. Iohn's Gospel 'This inscription was read by many Jews [...] and it was written
in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek'.3e But Greek patristic commentators put the holy lan-
guages into the'right'hierarchical order:1) Hebrew 2) Greek, 3) Latin. The Patriarch
Cyril of Alexandreia (t 444) explained this order in analogy to the well-known three-
stage spiritual system: Latin (romaisfr') is equated with the lowest level, practice,
which is closely connected with bravery a main virtue amongst the Romans;
Greek (hellenisfi) is related to the universal contemplation of God in the nature,
which is a characteristic of the Greeks, who most of all men pursued philosophy;
and Hebrew (hebraisti) is related to the highest level, the vision of God, which God
had entrusted to the Jews from time immemorial.ao
The roots *hellen and *graik
With regard to the terminology for the word family 'Greek', it is known that since the
earliest period of Greek literac/1 it was described by terms with two roots, deriving
from *hellen and *graikaz. Some Byzantine philologists derived the meaning of the
*graik-root (following the late antique tradition) from a hellenic toponym or a per-
sonal or tribal name (fpatxol' oi "EÄAr1veq, änö xdrpr4q trvöq, ii dnö lporxoü 'rLvog).a3
Although the meanings of the adverbs graikisti and hellenisti in many lexica from
the Byzantine period (and also in other texts) are equated, a distinction is made
when authors feel the necessity to explain, why classical Greek and contemporary
Byzantine colloquial Greek use different words. The lexicon of Pseudo-Zonaras, for
example, gives the following translations for ancient Greek kossos ('slap): romaisti
(Latin) maxilla, gr aikisti (colloquial Greek) rapisma. 4
The roots *hellen and *graik could also express the very same Greek identity,
though from a different socio-linguistic point of view: The imperial ambassador Pris-
kos, waiting at the court of Attila for an audience, is greeted by a passer-by, wearing
39 John 19.19-2oz t...1 ifv öö yeypaprprövov, 'lr1ooüg ö Na(t;paiog ö pooLÄeüg rd.rv 'louöqiov. toütov
oüv töv tl'rÄov noMoi av6yvc,-roav triv 'louöolov, [..,] xqi iv yeypopp6vov 'Eppaimi, 'Pcrrpaioti,
'EA-\r1vro'r[.
40 Cyril of Alexandreia , Commentarü in Lucam, PG 72, 937,11. 21,-J5z Noö 6ö örd päv toü 'Popar'mi
d1v npoxlx{v, ög t{g 'Popaiolv Baoüelog xatä töv AavrilÄ öproOeloqg av6prxo-rt6pcq töv öni y{g
pcoüeuirv' npoxtrxftq öö iörov, elnep tL örÄÄo, i1 avöpelc. ALä öö roü'EÄÄr1vLoti, r1v guorxqv 0eo-rpiav,
ög ;rdMov toü'EMllvtrrv ö0vouq, napä toüg tiÄÄoug avOpönouq q1 guorxll o1oÄdoowog qüoooglg.
Arä öö toü 'Epparmi tilv 0eoÄoyrxiyv puotoyo.rylov, rig toü ö0voug toutou npo6r1Äorg dv6xa0ev trir
Oe<ir 6ra toüq nattpaq dvote06vrog.
41 Hesiod, Fragmenta Hesiodea 4, ed. Merkelbach/West, 5 (Bth/7th century BC).
42 See also l(oder 2000.
43 Suda, Gamma 447, ed, Adler, 1, 541; see also Etymologicum magnum, I(allierges 239 and.241, ed,
Gaisford.
44 Ps,-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Tittmann, kappa1234,
-1
Remarks on linguistic Romanness in Byzantium 779
Slcythian dress, with 'chaire' ('Welcome!'). He asks him, astonished, how it is that he
speaks to him in the hellenike language, and the man, laughing, answers that he is
graikos by origin.as
In general, most words from the root*hellen- express in Byzantium the idiomatic
relationship amongst educated classes with what they believed to be 'Attic' Greek,
and with Byzantine high-brow literature. Since the twelfth century and particularly
since the Fourth Crusade the auto-stereotype of being culturally a Hellen and there-
fore in principle superior to all other nations or tribes, becomes evident.a6 In the thir-
teenth century Nicholas Mesarites claims for the hellenoglossoi, the speakers of
Greek, that they already 'had essentially the cognition of what is essential',A7 and
the archbishop of Ohrid, Demetrios Chomatenos, assures us, that a pure (katharos)
Hellen must be deafened when he is forced to endure the faulty pronunciations of
a heteroglossos (a 'speaker of another language') or a hemigraikos (a 'half-caste
Greek') or a mixhellen (a 'half-breed Hellen').a8
On the other hand, the voice of George Metochites in his speech about peace in
the church in his time is conciliatory when he ascertains, paraphrasing Saint Paul's
report on the miracle of Pentecost, that among the apostles harmony ruled - there I
was not ltalos nor Graikos, not barbaros nor Hellen, he says (though at the same
time he differentiates in this allusion between linguistic and cultural identity).ae
I
In general there is no doubt that nearly all written sources in the Iate Byzantine
period stick to their Roman identity. The works of Theodoros II Laskaris (7254-7258),
the last emperor in the so-called Nicaean exile, are an exceptional case. He has a
deep-rooted aversion to combining Greek cultural with Roman political identity. In
a letter to his friend Hagiotheodorites, for example, he expresses his love for classical
45 Priscus Panita, Fragmenta B, 11, 459 - 477,ed. Bornmann, 46, l. 2-20: [...] npooeÄ0öv ttg, öv Bop-
Bapov öx qq lxu0rxrlq Ql10qv elvor moÄrlq, 'EÄÄr1vLxfl aona(etal pre go;vfl, loipe npooetnöv, 1...] öyö
öö ögr1v aittav noÄunpcygoouv4g elvor poL r1v'EÄÄrivo;v gr,.rvl1v. rdte 611 yeÄdoaq öÄeye lpaLxöq ;röv
eivqr rö ydvog 1..,1.
46 Gounaridis 1985.
47 [..,] nqpq yap toiq öMrlvoyÄcilooorq i töv öworv öwt-rq yurirorq öyvöptotqr, Nicholas Mesarites,
Orationes, 21,25 f , ed, Heisenberg.
48 Demetrios Chomatenos, Ilov4para 6ü9opa,151, 18, ll. 386-389, ed, Prinzing, 452: xo0opög
"EMriv töv örepöyÄt.rooov, i1plyporxog 6ö tLq ri pr{64Är1v, öq oürtuq eineiv, öxxo<pqOeir1 t4v dxo4v
t11 nopaBdÄql npoevd{er [..,] nÄnrtöFevoq,. For the word lpiyporxoq Chomatenos' text is the only evi-
dence in TLG, for pr{äM4v there are a few other texts; Chomatenos probably found it in Eusebius'
Praeparatio evangelica 3,11, 43, ed, Mras/des Places, 1, 142. It is not clear, what makes the difference
between both words for Chomatenos; he makes this annoyed digression in the context of an expertise
on the legal status of a first and a second marriage, as he comments the unclear and slipshod com-
mentaries of his juridical predecessors.
49 GeorgiosMetochites, Historiadogmatica,2, 1.4-17,ed.Cozza-Luzi: [,..] itvöte tqütqxqitpavdrg
Ön6Äc;.rne td r{q öprovotcg, xai toü p6oou ndv tö eiq 6rXövorav dneÄ11Äoto xqi xsrä röv nveuporopri-
topo;röycv qnömoÄov, oüx dv iraÄöq xai ypaLxög, oü BdpBopog xoi öÄÄr1v, dÄÄd tö önioqpov dprgoiv
ö Xprmög. - Cf. Colossians 3.11: önou oüx övr "EÄAqv xoi'louöoioq, nepLropq xoi axpoBumic, Fdppq-
pog, XxüOr1q, öoüÄoq, öÄeuOepoq, riiÄq [t&] nqvtu xqi öv ndorv XpLotöq.
720 Johannes Koder Remarks on [inguistic Romanness in Byzantium 727

Greek with the following words: 'I will converse with you in the Hellenic language, member of the Christian Greek Roman Empire and community. To be a Roman was
which I learned to love more than breathing'.5o His Greek identity goes far beyond normal; it did not express a conscious relationship to ancient Rome, but simply a su-
language and culture, and it has traits of a persecution complex: In case of war, periority and delimitation from other nations or states - and this continued until the
he says, 'the tribes fight against us and who will help us? [...] only the "helenness" ftventieth century. Personally, I remember the quarrel of a fisherman with another on
(to hellenikon) takes care of itself, because it receives the motivation from its ori- a Greek island in the early seventies, ending with the angry question: 'So, what are
gins'.51 In a letter to the metropolit of Sardeis Andronikos, he goes so far as to you, a Roman or a Turk (Porprdq eioat 11 Toüpxog)?'
refer to a voyage from the Balkans to his realm in Asia Minor as a return to Hellas,52
evidently because western Asia Minor was the heart of Greek rule and culture in his
time.
Theodoros Laskaris, however, is an exception, which may be explained by the
political situation in the mid-thirteenth century as well as by his difficult personality
and character. After I26t, the Palaeologan emperors and the maiority of Byzantine
intellectuals until 1453 stick to the - so to speak self-evident - 'double' identity,
they are politically Romans and culturally Hellenes. Still, on 29 May 1453, it is the
Romans of Constantinople, who are defeated by the Ottomans, so the historian Dou-
kas states (and he insists that they were even in this last moment actually superior to
the Turks).53

In the end we should note that the importance of 'being Roman' in the everyday lin-
guistic usage of average Byzantines should not be overestimated: their romanness
was unreflected and 'natural', and they used the term Romaioi to mean (being) a

50 Theodorus Laskaris, Epistulae,21,6,4-5, ed. Festa, 268: [...] rfl 'EMrlvlör 61atr6{opoi oor öruÄäxtq,
iiv xoi pdMov floncodprlv ii rö dvanveiv.
51 Theodorus Laskaris, Epistulae,44,79 -85, ed. Festa, 58: [...] tü ö0v4 pdletor xaO' i1pöv, xai tiq ö
Boq0{oorv ripw; [.,,] pövov 6ö tö 'EM4vLxöv aütö Boq0ei öourrir o'ixoOev ÄctrrBdvov täg dgoppdq.
52 Theodoros Laskaris, Epßtu\ae,125,52-54, ed. Festa, 176: IÜ öö nöt' äv 6r tqq Eüpönnq dv6Ä01q
öni qv'EMdöa, n6t'äv 6ö xqi rnv Op{xqv 6LeÄ0öv töv'EÄÄ{onowov öranepdolg xui rnv öoo Aoiqv
xotiö1q. - He never mentions to romaikon in the context of his own reign. Only when praising his
father's merits on the military defence of the Roman loI (Romaikon lachos) he emphazises, that
John Doukas Batatzes subiugated those, who had offended to hellenikon, and that he had protected
the Roman cities (romaikai poleis): öOev xqi p6oov nÄ{Ooug öOvdrv xqtq6uvqoteuöwov toü 'Prrrpai-
xoü Äd1ouq eio6rig, xai (i^q tti, ünöp toü y6vouq xcMonL(öpevog oÄr10rirq, xci dvöpe(g xo0onÄr(öpe-
voq, oüg pöv 6öpotL nÄri{aq rnv xorplav xai äquxrov, oüq öt onüfu ötaleLpr odpevoq, oüq öö (oyp{-
ouq p6v, dMd gpouplorq öuoaÄörorg öpneprxleioog, öpoü ndvturv ö0vriv xurexpdr4oaq, xoi toüq
npdrqv tQ ööpctr tö'EÄÄr1vrxöv oürd(owag otflOoq noöoxdrJl ouv66rloaq xoi ög dv6pdnoöa äöe(cg,
xoi öv tctq töv'Portrraixtirv nöÄeorv xai gpouplov oixo6opaig rrirv 0ptyylorv toirrorv te xai röv m.rp-
yorgdtr,.rv ronervoüg ünqpdtaq toüq npiv xcptepoüq cilpqt&g dnetdÄeoaq; Theodoros Laskaris, Enco-
mio,193-2O3, ed. Tartaglia, 54; see Koder 2015.
53 Doukas, Histoia Turco-Bbantina,39,24, ed. Grecu, 369, ll. 23 -28,371,1.1.t hoqv oi 'Porpoior Önr-
xpotdmepor töv Toripx<rrv, BdMoweq ÄlOorq xai Bdleor ö1pr rpiqq öpoq n1S iU6pqS, öorq oü,
öÄ0öv xai xo,qwRocv pöpoq töv oxuÄeudworv dnö npo-riaq öwöq r4g nöÄecrrg xci iööwsq toüg
'P<lpclouq noÄepi(ovtcq roüq ö{ur xci gc,.rvl1v, öo4 örivcpLq, dg6vreq ööpcpov öndvol tdrv tet16ov.
Oi öä 'PopoioL toüq Toripxouq iöövteq öwöq tflq n6Äeo4 xci govilv d96weq ööuvrpdv' tö ol;roL,
dnö toü tetlouq xcrdnrntov. oü ydp fiv öxei nÄ6ov iqpq oüte öüvopLg totg 'Prrl;.ra(oLq.
Mitlennium-Studien
zu Kultur und Geschichte
Transformations
des ersten fahrtausends n. Chr.
of Romanness
Millennium Studies
in the culture and history
of the first miltennium C.E.

Early Medieval Regions and Identities

Herausgegeben von / Edited by
Wolfram Brandes, Alexander Demandt,
Helmut Krasser, Hartmut Leppin, Edited by
Peter von Möllendorff, Rene Pfeitschifter, Karla Pollmann Walter Pohl, Clemens Gantner, Cinzia Grifoniand
Marian ne Pollheimer-Mohaupt
VolumeTT

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