Constantinople in The Early Eighth Century The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronica
Constantinople in The Early Eighth Century The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronica
Constantinople in The Early Eighth Century The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronica
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CONSTANTINOPLE
IN THE EARLY EIGHTH CENTURY:
THE
PARASTASEIS SYNTOMOI CHRONIKAI
COLUMBIA STUDIES
IN THE
CLASSICAL TRADITION
VOLUME X
LEIDEN
E. J. BRILL
1984
CONSTANTINOPLE
IN THE EARLY EIGHTH CENTURY:
THE
PARASTASEIS SYNTOMOI CHRONIKAI
EDITED BY
IN CONJUNCTION WITH
LEIDEN
E. J. BRILL
1984
Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition publishes monographs by
members of the Columbia University faculty and by former Columbia students. Its
subjects are the following: Greek and Latin literature, ancient philosophy, Greek and
Roman history, classical archaeology, and the influence of the classical tradition on
mediaeval, Renaissance and modern cultures.
The publication of this book was aided by the Stanwood Cockey Lodge Foundation,
the British Academy, the Henry Brown Fund, the Marc Fitch Fund
and the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust.
ISBN 90 04 07010 9
Preface . νπ
List of Abbreviations and Editions. ix
Map of Constantinople . xm
Sketch map of the palace area. xiv
Introduction. 1
i) The Textual History of the Parastaseis. 2
ii) The Parastaseis and the Patria. 3
iii) The Present Publication . 9
iv) The Structure and Style of the Parastaseis. 9
v) The Date of the Parastaseis. 17
vi) Is the Parastaseis a Guidebook? . 29
vii) The Parastaseis and Ancient Statues. 31
viii) Historical events in the Parastaseis. 34
ix) The Sources of the Parastaseis. 38
x) The Value of the Parastaseis for Art History. 45
Conclusion. 53
Commentary . 167
Bibliography . 278
Indices . 283
Index Topographicus. 283
Index Nominum. 285
Index Rerum. 289
Index Graecitatis. 290
PREFACE
nowhere else must be treated with the greatest respect as early and fre¬
quently eye-witness testimony.
There has never been a full-length study of the Parastaseis, though this
has been a possibility since the 1901 Teubner text of Theodor Preger
(here reprinted). Our publication has been the result of a truly col¬
laborative effort throughout its long gestation. It began in 1974-76 in a
seminar held by Alan and Averil Cameron at King’s College, London.
The foundations of this translation and commentary were laid at that
time through the collective work and individual contributions of
members of the seminar: Alan Cameron, Averil Cameron, Robin Cor-
mack, Liam Gallagher, Judith Herrin, Geoffrey House, Lucy-Anne
Hunt, Marlia Mundell Mango, Charlotte Roueche and Caro Wilson.
Liam Gallagher also contributed some acute suggestions after examining
the MS in Paris. Charlotte Roueche began the editorial work in 1978,
and it was continued by Averil Cameron, Robin Cormack and Judith
Herrin. The final version has been the work of Averil Cameron and
Judith Herrin. During this long period the circumstances and
background of the Parastaseis became a major focus for discussion. The
text has gradually emerged as a compilation characteristic of the years
preceding and opening the iconoclastic controversy. It should be
understood primarily in that context; at least as much, that is, for what it
can tell us about early eighth-century Constantinople as for its informa¬
tion on the public places and classical monuments of the late antique city.
Since the early stages of our work, the introduction, translation and
commentary have been totally rewritten, and the two editors take full
responsibility for the final result, as for all errors or omissions. We must
acknowledge the help at various times during the final writing of Riet van
Bremen, Robert Browning, Anthony Bryer, Alan Cameron, David
Buckton, John Haldon, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Michael Hendy,
Walter E. Kaegi Jr., Cyril Mango, Paul Speck and L. M. Whitby. It is
especially pleasing that the collective enterprise of scholars of different
ages and experience, from different countries and over so long a period of
time, should have come to fruition in this way, and we would like to
thank the Editorial Board of Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition and
the general editor of the series, W. V. Harris, for enabling it to be
published here.
AB Analecta Bollandiana
Agathias, Hist. Historiarum libri quinque, ed. R. Keydell, Berlin 1967.
A/A American Journal of Archaeology
A mm. Marc. Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae, ed. C. U. Clark, 2 vols. Berlin
1910-15.
Ann. Scuola arch, di
Atene Annuario della Scuola de archeologia di Atene
Anon. Treu Excerf)ta Anonymi Byzantini, ed. M. Treu, Gymnasiums-Proeramm
Ohlau 1880.
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang da rornischen Welt, ed. H. Ternporini
Anth. Plan. Anthologia Planudea = AP, book XVI.
AP Anthologia Palatina = Anthologia graeca, ed. H. Beckby, 4 vols.
Munich 1957-8, 2nd ed., 1967-8.
Aratus, Phaen. Arati Phaenomena, ed. E. Maass, Berlin-Leipzig 1893.
B Byzanlion
BCH Bulletin de correspondence hellenique
BF Byzantinische Forschungen
BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
Book of the Prefect Le Livre du Prefet, ed. J. Nicole, Geneva 1893, repr. London 1970.
BSA Annual of the British School at Athens
Bury, Imperial Admini¬
strative System J. B. Bury, The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century,
London 1911.
Bury, LRE2 J. B. Bury, A History of the Later Roman Empire from the death of
Theodosius to the death of Justinian (A.D. 395-A.D. 565), second edi¬
tion, 2 vols. London 1923.
BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift
Alan Cameron, Porphy¬
rias Alan Cameron, Porphyrins the Charioteer, Oxford 1973.
idem, Circus Factions Alan Cameron, Circus Factions, Oxford 1976.
Cedrenus George Cedrenus, Synopsis Historiarum, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB
1839.
Christodorus of C optus = AP, book II.
Chron. Pasch. Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorf, CSHB 1832.
CIL Corpus Inscnptionum Latinarum
CJ Codex Iustinianus, ed. P. Kruger, Corpus iuris civilis, vol. II, tenth
edition, Berlin 1929.
Com. Marc. Comes Marcellinus, Chronicon, ed. T. Mommsen, MGH, Auctores
Antiquissimi, vol. XI, Berlin 1894, pp. 60-104.
CQ Classical Quarterly
csco Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
CSHB Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (Bonn)
CTh Codex Theodosianus, ed. T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer, 2 vols.
Berlin 1904-5.
DA CL Dictionnaire d’Archeologie chretienne el de Liturgie
Dagron, Naissance G. Dagron, Naissance d’une capitate, Paris 1974.
De Coer. Constantine Porphyrogennitus, De Caenmontis aulae byzantinae (The
Book of Ceremonies) ed. I. I. Reiske, 2 vols. CSHB 1829-30.
Diakrinomcnos in Theodore Lektor (see below).
X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND EDITIONS
John of Ephesus, HE Ecclesiastical History, ed. E. W. Brooks, CSCO, Scriptores Syri, ser.
3, vol. Ill, Louvain 1935-7.
John of Ephesus, Lives
of the Eastern Saints ed. E. W. Brooks, Patrologia Orientalis, vols. 17-19, Louvain
1923-6.
John Lydus, de Mens. De Mensibus, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB 1837.
Jones, LRE A. Η. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602, 3 vols., Oxford
1964.
Julian, Misopogon ed. W. C. Wright, Loeb ed., II, 1913.
Krumbacher, Gesch.
byz. Lit.2 K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur, second edi¬
tion, Munich 1897.
LSJ Liddell-Scott-Jones, Greek-English Lexicon
Mai alas Chronographia, ed. L. Dindorf, CSHB 1831.
Malchus in FHG IV.
Mango, Art of the By¬
zantine Empire C. Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey 1972.
Mango, TS C. Mango, ‘Antique Statuary and the Byzantine Beholder’,
DOP, 17 (1963) pp. 53-75.
Mango, Brazen
House, C. Mango, The Brazen House: a study of the vestibule of the Imperial
Palace of Constantinople, Copenhagen 1959.
Mango, Byzantium C. Mango, Byzantium. The Empire of New Rome, London 1980.
Mansi J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio,
Florence-Venice 1759-98.
MEFR Memoires de I’Ecole franyaise de Rome
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historiae, ed. G. H. Pertz, T. Mommsen
and others, Hanover 1826-.
Michael Glykas Annales, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB 1836.
Moravcsik, Byzantino-
turcica2 G. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica, 2 vols. second edition, Berlin
1958.
Muller-Wiener W. Muller-Wiener, Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls, Tubingen
1977.
Narratio de S. Sophia ed. Preger, I, pp. 74-108.
Nicephorus Breviarium, in Nicephori opuscula historica, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig
1880.
Nicetas Choniates,
Hist. Histona, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB 1835.
Nicetas Choniates, De
Signis as above, pp. 854-68.
Oikonomides, Lutes de
preseance, N. Oikonomides, Les listes de preseance byzantines des IXe et Xe siecles,
Paris 1972.
P Parisinus graecus 1336.
Par. Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai, ed. Preger, I, pp. 19-73.
Patna I, II, III, Patna Constantinopoleos, I, II, III, ed. Preger, II, pp. 135-50,
151-209, 214-83.
PG J. P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeco-latina, Paris
1857-66.
Philostorgius, HE Philostorgius Kirchengeschichte, ed. J. Bidez, rev. F. Winkelmann,
GCS 1972.
PLRE, I, II A. Η. M. Jones, J. Martindale, J. Morris, Prosopography of the
Later Roman Empire, I, Cambridge, 1971;
T. R. Martindale, Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, II,
Cambridge 1980.
XII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND EDITIONS
1 Mango, AS, |) 60. This article in the (rent introduction to Par ancl its subject matter.
7 Section vi below,
1 Section ix below.
2 INTRODUCTION
barrier to full understanding is certainly the state of the Greek text, which
is both difficult in itself (to say the least) and frequently corrupt and even
lacunose.4 Par.’s editor, Th. Preger,5 went a long way towards making
intelligible a text where emendation is often little more than a matter of
guesswork; we are thankful, therefore, to have the opportunity of reprint¬
ing his text and apparatus criticus, and have made this the basis of our
translation. However, though it is often impossible to propose better
solutions with the certainty that one would like, we have discussed every
instance where the meaning or the text is uncertain, and often offered our
own suggestions, based on a fresh collation of P from microfilm.
Par. was edited from the one MS, P (Par. gr. 1336), by Th. Preger in
1898, and this edition he later incorporated, with a small number of cor¬
rections, in his two-volume Teubner edition of Scriptores Originum Constan-
tinopolitanarum (I, Leipzig, 1901; II, Leipzig, 1907), where Par. appears in
volume I, pp. 19-73 (reprinted here).6 The prefaces to both Preger’s edi¬
tions, especially the second,7 give basic information about Par. and are
supplemented by Preger’s excellent indices. The same editor also pro¬
duced an earlier Programm on the textual tradition of Par.8 These works
are the foundation of all study of the text of Par., and Preger’s pioneering
achievement will be recognised once the complexity of Par. is fully
understood.9
As stated above, Preger’s text and apparatus are taken as basic for this
translation and commentary. This is not only for their usefulness, in¬
cluding that of the apparatus in reporting interpretations or conjectures by
earlier editors (Lambeck, 1655, Combefis, 1664, Banduri, 1711) and ex¬
tensive quotations from the testimonia (Suda, Anon. Treu, Patria; see sec¬
tion ii below), but also because we believe, with Preger himself (I, 1901,
p. ix) that many problems remain unsolved, and that the nature of both
4 See the review of Preger’s text byj. Pargoire, BZ 12 (1903), pp. 333-35 (‘cette prose
idiote’, ... ‘un manuscript de Paris parfaitement execrable’).
5 See Th. Preger, Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitanarum I-II (Leipzig, 1901, 1907,
repr. New York (Arno Press), 1975). Par. is to be found in vol. I (1901), pp. 19-73.
6 The two volumes also contain the Patria in full (see section ii below), and our
references to the Patria are to this edition. Preger’s first edition of Par. is to be found in Th.
Preger, Anonymi Byzantini Παραστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί, Programm des k. Max.-Gymnasiums
Miinchen, 1898. The preface of this edition contains material not included in the 1901
preface.
7 pp. viii-x.
8 Beitrage zur Textgeschichte der Πάτρια Κπόλεως, Programm des k. Max.-Gymnasiums,
Miinchen, 1895.
9 See Pargoire, p. 333 (n. 4 above).
INTRODUCTION 3
the Greek and the subject matter preclude the constitution of a new text
that would be substantially better than Preger’s.
10 For these works see G. Dagron and J. Paramelle, ‘Un texte patriographique. Le
‘recit merveilleux, tres beau et profitable sur la colonne du Xerolophos’ (Vindob. Suppl.
gr. 172, fol. 43v-63v)’, Travaux et Memoires 7 (1979), pp. 491-523, especially 491-504. We
shall refer often to the text edited here ( = Diegesis), an introduction to a 16th century MS.
of the Oracles of Leo the Wise’ concerning the reliefs on the column in the Xerolophos.
11 Rarely noted, for instance, in R. Janin, Constantinople byzantine, 2nd ed. (Paris,
1964), which for all its defects remains essential. Even Dagron, op. cit., p. 494, in practice
uses Par. and the Patna interchangeably.
12 The Ongines of Constantinople by Hesychius, also edited by Preger, Scriptores, I
(1901), pp. 1-18, was perhaps part of a longer history (preface, p. vi).
13 See L. M. Whitby, ‘The Chronicle Sources of Theophanes’, B, 53 (1983), pp. 312-
45, and see on chap. 43.
4 INTRODUCTION
Though the formal connections between Par., Anon. Treu and the
Patria are complex, that between Par. and the Anon. Treu itself is
relatively simple. It so happens that our knowledge of Par. rests entirely
on one eleventh-century MS. (P), which is actually later in date than the
only complete MS. of the Anon. Treu (Par. suppl. gr. 607a, of the tenth
century). Yet it is clear that Anon. Treu not only followed and copied
Par., but also that it was composed well before the Patria, since it was
drawn on extensively by the Suda lexicon, a compilation of the late tenth
century.18 The Anon, begins with a random collection of material from
different sources (pp. 3-9 Treu), followed by a sequence of abbreviated
extracts from Par. (pp. 9.14-21.19). These extracts are not only shortened
but simplified and explained. Where Par. is often tortuous or even
incomprehensible, the Anon, is invariably clear and simple. This very
fact means that the Anon, is rarely of demonstrable value in itself for the
restoration of Par. Very often one has the impression that the compiler
was confronted with and perplexed by much the same problems as us.
On the other hand, where P is defective, the Anon, might help; and since
the compiler was working before both the Suda and the Patria, it is at least
possible that he had access to a text of Par. better in general than that of
P. Very cautious use of the Anon. Treu in textual matters is therefore in¬
dicated; but see below for Par., chaps. 1-20.
By contrast, the Patria have a rich and varied MSS. tradition.19 The
MSS. diverge quite widely in style, content and arrangement of the
material, the most elegant and even the most historically accurate not
necessarily reflecting the text of the original most closely. Indeed, the
normal conception of a unitary work or discrete ‘text’ can only be applied
within limits. We should think rather of a growing body of material in
which much overlap and variation is possible, and in which fidelity to an
original text is far from being the prime concern. However, in broad
terms Par. is distinctively the earliest phase in this body of material;
equally, it is clear enough that the greater part of the basic text of Patria II
was copied almost word for word from Anon. Treu, for in both we find
the same selection of abbreviated extracts from Par., the same telling
omissions, the same simplifications, even though the order of individual
‘chapters’ or entries has been considerably altered. The compilers of the
Patria even included, in a work devoted to the antiquities of Constantino¬
ple, the irrelevant material about other places in Anon. Treu, pp. 3-9-13,
only omitting the chapters about the Goths and the Norici (pp. 8.28,-9.10
fO.
iB preger> Scriptores, I (1901), p. x; Beitrage (n. 8), pp. 28 ff.
19 Prcger, Scriptores, II (1907), pp. xxv IT., lists 67 MSS. For their relationships, see
ibid., pp. iii-xxiv and Beitrage, pp. 7 IT.
6 INTRODUCTION
For the chapters taken through the medium of Anon. Treu, therefore,
the Patria is of no great value for the study of Par. But the compiler(s) also
used a copy of Par. direct. As will be seen from the comparative table
below (fig. 1), apart from certain omissions, Anon. Treu followed the
order of chapters in Par. very closely, with the exception only of the rever¬
sal of chaps. 22 and 23. It is essential to note however that Anon. Treu
has omitted nearly the whole of the beginning of Par., that is, chaps.
1-10, 13-15, and 17. In all the other cases of omission in Anon. Treu, the
Patria are similarly deficient, but these opening chapters, in the con¬
tinuous form of Par., chaps. 1-20, appear complete in the Patria, added at
the end. The corrlpiler(s) must therefore have known another text of Par.
direct, from which these chapters could be taken. But it does not look as
though they regularly consulted this text when compiling the sections
based on Anon. Treu. We may deduce that Anon. Treu’s exemplar of
Par. lacked the opening. Indeed, Par. in its present state begins abruptly,
and it is not impossible that there was originally some other opening, now
lost. To return to the Patria: they did not use their text of Par. to make
good the other omissions in Anon. Treu, and they left in some chapters to
appear twice over {Par., chaps. 16, 17, 19, 20). The process of compila¬
tion of the Patria, so far as their relation with these other texts is con¬
cerned, was therefore a crude one.
Accordingly, since the Patria normally follow their source more closely
than the compiler of Anon. Treu, and make less effort to eliminate in¬
comprehensibilities, the Patria offers a better check for Par., chaps. 1-20
than Anon. Treu for the rest of the work. On the other hand, the Patria
will frequently interpolate (e.g. chap. 93) and update (e.g. chap. 41).
Cautious use of the Patria for the reconstruction of Par. is again indicated.
The problem becomes acute in relation to Par., chap. 5, where a whole
folium is missing in P. It is likely enough that Patria II, chaps. 87-91
represent approximately what stood in Par.·, but there are crucial pro¬
blems of dating involved in the material of this section, which make the
problem particularly difficult (see section v below, and notes ad loc.).
There is another, more substantial, problem. Patria II contains twenty
chapters (35-37, 45, 46a, 54-65, 72, 101, 103) absent from both Par. and
Anon. Treu. Where did they come from? We cannot exclude the
possibility that they originally stood in a fuller text of Anon. Treu and/or
Par. In particular, among the twenty odd chapters from a version of Par.
added at the end of the Patria, there are two (101 and 103) which do not
occur in our manuscript of Par. and which are additional to the sequence
in Patria, chaps. 88-91 that seems to represent the missing section of Par.
between the present chaps. 5 and 6. Since all the other material in this se¬
quence (Patria, 86-110) demonstrably comes from the opening of Par., it
INTRODUCTION 7
is tempting to suppose that Patria 101 and 103 also stood in the fuller text
of Par. used by the compiler(s) of the Patria, with the exception only of the
allusion to Michael Rhangabe in 101; 103, certainly, is entirely in the
manner of Par.20
The following table, based on Preger,21 shows, with Anon. Treu as
base, the relative arrangement of material from Par. in Anon. Treu and
the Patria.
Fig. 1: Table to show the arrangement of material from Par. in Anon. Treu and the Patria
20 Cf. its allusions to the meaning of statues, its use of ίστορίαι, its references to the ar¬
cane knowledge of οί στηλωτικοί, its use of έστοιχειώσατο (for all these see section iv).
21 Beitrage, pp. 30-35.
8 INTRODUCTION
9.14 11 96 69
9.26 12 97 19.5 70 48
13 98 19.12 71 19(b)
14 99 19.17 72 68
15 100 19.21 73 33
10.15 19.24 69
16 102= 16
10.21 19.26 74 40
17 102= 18 19.30 34
10.26 18 104 75
10.29 19 104a= 76 20.3 76 73
11.1 20 105 = 19(a) 20.7 77 28
21 20.10 78 28
11.8 23 20 20.14 79 74
11.13 22 21 20.17 80 28
24 81
11.23 25 22 20.20 82 39
11.28 26 23 83
27 20.23 84 75
12.7 28 24 20.26 85 85
12.24 29 25 86
13.1 30 26 21.12 87 71
31 21.16 88 70
13.4 32 27 21.20 περί 51 (cf.
13.10 33 28 τοΰ Μοδίου Par. 12)
Finally, we must consider MS. G of the Patria (P ar. su ppl. gr. 657, of
the thirteenth century), which not o nly uses far more elegant language,
but also arranges the material quite differently. This reorganisation
shows, in fact, that G’ s scribe has been through his exemplar twice.22
More significantly still, there are places where obscurities in the text of
the Patria are sorted out, or else supplemented with additional informa¬
tion. Par., chap. 41 is particularly interesting in this connection. Where
G does conspicuously diverge from the other Patria MSS. in a passage
deriving from Par., therefore, its readings might just preserve a better
text of Par.
The complex relationship between Par., Anon. Treu, the Patria and
now the additions of MS. G demonstrates the inappropriateness of the
normal procedures of textual criticism in dealing with these compilations.
Each represents a particular stage in the development of a corpus of inter¬
related but separate texts. Nevertheless, if there is one more fitted than
the rest to be seen as a distinctive and separate whole it is Par., both
because it is the earliest and because it has its own idiosyncratic literary
aspirations.
The aim of this publication is to make this text, difficult as it is, accessi¬
ble both as a source and as a witness to the literature and culture of the
eighth century, especially in relation to the patriographic tradition. We
have provided a fairly literal translation, elucidating the text as we
understand it and giving alternatives wherever there seems to be a
serious difficulty. We do not hesitate to discuss the text itself where need
be. The commentary also has as its first aim that of elucidating the text
itself, then that of explaining its subject matter and value. Obviously it
does not provide exhaustive discussion of the many different topics raised
in Par., but we hope to have provided a minimum bibliography for fur¬
ther study.
heading (chap. 27) calls the latter chartularius. The story is addressed to
a certain Philokalos, and warns against the dangers attaching to pagan
statues. It is set in the reign of Philippicus (711-13) (chap. 28, p. 36.21
Preger).
29-36: another separate section, this time with a title ‘Again from Theodore
the Lector (?the same as in 27-28), a brief section on women’. This sec¬
tion lists statues of empresses (and, from chap. 34, some emperors); the
latest allusion is to the reign of Heraclius (610-41) (chap. 36). This sec¬
tion is much more laconic than the foregoing. Green acclamations ap¬
pear twice (chaps. 29, 35a), and another reference to the Greens at
chap. 36.
37-43: a section headed ‘About spectacles’, consisting first (37-41) of notes on
five numbered ‘sights’ of Constantinople. Chaps. 42 and 43 lack the
heading ‘spectacle’, and the numeration, but the subject matter is
similar; as 42 begins with a further address to Philokalos, it is possible
that these two chapters may have been added on later. Or, if they are
original, the headings should perhaps be restored. 41 ends also with
such an address, which there looks like a conclusion. Both allusions im¬
ply that Philokalos was in some way responsible for encouraging this
research, and 42 alludes to his letters requesting information. The
beginning of 43 seems to ascribe the material of the chapter to a
Dioscorus otherwise unknown, but see notes ad loc. The latest allusion
is to the second reign of Justinian II (705-11) (chap. 37).
44-44a: a heading and an allusion in 44a ascribe 44 and 44a to a certain Papias.
Whether he continues as the source for what follows, or how far, is
unclear: there are no further headings in P and no clear indications
from the subject matter. The latest allusion is by implication to Justi¬
nian II (second reign, 705-11) (chap. 44a).
45-59: arranged according to the activities of certain emperors: Leo I (45),
Julian (46-49), Gratian (50), Valentinian (? Ill) (51) and, in a slightly
different format, Constantine (52-59). 56 (on the statue on Constan¬
tine’s porphyry column in the Forum) invites comparison with chap. 5,
and the two stand independently (see below, section viii).
60-65: a section about the Hippodrome and its monuments. 61 alludes to the
‘godless’ Justinian II (705-11), and 63 to a monk being burned in the
Hippodrome for the faith (but ‘in our time’ is a conjecture — see note
ad loc.).
66-89: like the first section, the last lists and describes a series of monuments
and places, but this time on the whole more briefly. The same didactic
tone is preserved and statues feature in chaps. 66, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74,
75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87. The section contains a
reference to a portrait of Philippicus (711-13) (chap. 82), and alludes to
the restoration of the port of Neorion by Leo III (717-41) (chap. 72).
more than once (chaps. 27, 41, cf. 24). Since some of this material seems
as if it might be in the form of personal letters, the possibility arises that
Philokalos, if that is his real name, put. together the dossier we now know
as Par., or even that the collection represented in our one MS. was
Philokalos’s own copy.24 Chap. 42 mentions letters from Philokalos to the
other contributors, asking for just such information as we now have in
Par. The many references to alternative explanations derived from oral
sources (section ix below) support this notion of a group of authors who
found their material in many cases by simply going round and asking,
rather than in books.
It is less clear exactly which of the names recorded in Par. are those of
members of this group (section ix), but we should probably set its initial
activity under the Emperor Philippicus (711-13). One of the firmest
indications is provided by the story of the death of Himerius the char-
tularius, told by one Theodore Lector (chaps. 27, 28). This is clearly dated
to the reign of Philippicus, and contains an address to Philokalos.
Chapters 41 and 42 use the first person plural in addressing Philokalos
and emphasising the toil involved in fulfilling his requests; Caracallus the
praepositus, who seems to be cited as the source for chap. 41, might
therefore be another member of this group. Other possibles are ‘Philip
the eparch’ and/or ‘Philip the dynast’, cited in chaps. 61-62 for informa¬
tion, some of it oral, about the statues in the Hippodrome. Then there is
‘Herodian’, mentioned in chap. 61, and the unnamed informants of the
first-person author of that chapter (T have heard from many people_
cf. chap. 59). Less certainly authentic names are discussed in section ix
below. But even if the membership is uncertain, and despite Par.'s
tendency to resort to fictitious sources (section ix), these discrete
passages, and the allusions to Philokalos combined with first-person en¬
tries, do strongly suggest a genuine initiative towards more or less
original ‘research’, which derived from a group of laymen, officials in
Constantinople, in the reign of Philippicus and continued in that of Leo
III (section v). The collection and writing up of material seems to have
taken some time, but the signs point to the reign of Philippicus as a key
moment in the evolution of Par. The authors went about their work
vigorously, consulting written sources where they could and asking ques¬
tions where they could not (see e.g. chaps. 60, 62, 69, 75). Often the very
language in which they refer to their sources of information is awkward
(24, 41, 44a, 69), as though they were unfamiliar with the processes of
scholarly work, as well as with the technicalities of reading inscriptions
and so on. Sometimes they will dispute the primacy of one type of source
over another (68a, 69). The entire procedure, and its recording, is highly
self-conscious, and the work is full of throw-away allusions to statues
which ‘can still be seen’ (e.g. chaps. 16, 44, 83, 87 — present tense signi¬
fying survival; 15, 19, 37 etc. — references to survival ‘till the present
day’, for which see section v). Though the compilers resorted to whatever
written sources they could find (section ix), this is not a work represent¬
ing the gradual and more or less anonymous development of the
patriographic tradition. It is the deliberate effort of men of some educa¬
tional and literary pretensions.
This self-awareness is in fact very apparent in the semi-technical
vocabulary which Par. affects, and which seems to reflect a common
agreement about methods and objectives. The contributors regarded
themselves as ‘philosophers’, men who could understand the deeper
significance of monuments (chaps. 14, 28, 40, 64, 75). Their activity in
explaining or interpreting the meanings of statues is seen as the practice
of philosophy (37, fin, and 39, fin), involving much effort, and not ac¬
cessible to the masses (ibid.). Only ‘lovers of knowledge’ (24) can under¬
stand the subject matter or appreciate the ways in which it has been
transmitted, or the difficulty of piecing together the information. There
are special words for this process: έρευναν, e.g. chaps. 24, 27; ίστορεΐν, 28,
62. It seems to have involved actual expeditions round the city looking at
monuments and inscriptions (chaps. 24, fin, 42, fin). Then came the
writing up of the material, which included not only monuments in
general but specifically statues (cf. chap. 28 ‘we went off ... to investigate
the statues’) and their interpretation, and any kind of ‘wonder’ or ‘spec¬
tacle’ (chaps. 37-43). Hence Par. ’s terminology for statues is likely to be
important (section vii below), and we have always indicated in the
translation which Greek word we are rendering. Unfortunately, both the
ambiguity of some of the terms themselves (stele, for instance, can be used
of a statue, a picture or a monument) and Par.’s lack of consistency make
it impossible to be sure in every case exactly what is being described.
It would seem, then, that Par. took its inception from the efforts of a
group of friends,25 many of them government officials. Much of their
work depended not on written records but on hearsay (section ix); thus
the frequent ‘they say’ or ‘it is said’, and hence too the difference of opi¬
nion about certain monuments. The first-person entries and the
references to unspecified people who have told the author certain things
(e.g. chap. 59, fin) all point to personal activity, in an atmosphere in
which books were not objects of daily and familiar use (section ix). Chap.
25 For the possibility of such groups, see N. Wilson, ‘Books and Readers in
Byzantium’, in Byzantine Books and Bookmen, Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium 1971 (Washington,
D C., 1975), pp. 1-15.
14 INTRODUCTION
whose activities require certain definite qualifications. And they are en¬
tirely serious about their task, recognising that the interpretations which
their ‘research’ may reveal are all too often malevolent ones.
We would expect such affectation to be perceptible in Par.’s literary
style, and we shall not be disappointed. In the near-total absence of com¬
parable secular literature from the period, it is hard to be categorical: yet
Par. stands out for the oddity and obscurity of its expression.28 The seek¬
ing out of rare inscriptions (now a lost art, so that it is not surprising that
Par. ’s authors found such difficulty in decipherment) is paralleled by the
search for rare words and constructions. Yet a high proportion of words
unknown elsewhere (see below) is combined with a looseness of construc¬
tion that can go to grotesque lengths. In fact the most obscurely expressed
sections are those where Par. is trying to describe everyday subject mat¬
ter—directions, for instance—in its own words (chaps. 16, 33, 44a). This
must suggest an unfamiliarity with good Greek style, combined with the
desire to write in some kind of ‘elevated’ way. On a first reading of Par.,
the most striking feature is probably the frequent changes of subject, and
the constant use of genitive absolutes, often as connectives between
sentences, after which Par. will simply continue with a main verb refer¬
ring to the same subject. Nominative absolutes serve similar purposes, or
are attached at the ends of sentences, and in general participles often ap¬
pear where a main verb is required. Infinitives, too, often replace main
verbs or are juxtaposed with them. Often through one or more of these
usages, Par. ’s sentence structure becomes very disturbed, and the situa¬
tion is made worse by the authors’ fondness for relative clauses, often
with little or no relative content. The combination of extraordinarily con¬
torted sentences with rare and abstruse vocabulary, added to the affecta¬
tions noted above, marks Par. out as a work of pretension to high style,
but written by one or more authors with little or no experience of good
high-style Greek.
The problem of multiple authorship and overall editing is not simple,
and the brevity of Par. makes it impossible to arrive at statistically well-
based conclusions about its style. We have not been able to do more than
come to impressionistic findings. Certainly the work is not homogeneous
throughout. Thus chaps. 66-89 are more straightforward in style, with
fewer serious difficulties than other sections; a feature of these chapters is
28 A comparison with the work of Hesychius and the Narratio de S. Sophia (both in
Preger, Scriptores, I) certainly bears this out. It is striking that the Anonymous of Treu
seems to have felt it necessary to simplify Par. wherever possible. We can now compare
the LifeoiS. Samson (F. Halkin, ‘Saint Samson le xenodoque de Constantinople (VIe sie-
cle)’, Riv. di Studi bizantini e neoellenici, n.s. 14-16 (24-26) (1977-79), pp. 5 ff.; see especially
p. 6 note 3).
16 INTRODUCTION
29 For all these and other characteristic usages, see Preger’s index of υαήα grammatica
(Scriptores, I, 1901; pp. 120-24), which includes readings of P not adopted in Preger’s text.
30 See Preger, s.v. abundantia sermonis (1901, p. 124).
INTRODUCTION 17
terms, but also more generally: thus έξέρκετα (56), πάκτον (8, 39).31 Par. is
fond of diminutives, e.g. θεμάτιον (20). It employs the classicising op¬
tative and dative, sometimes incorrectly by classical standards, yet also
omits augments and reduplication, interchanges prepositions, makes
mistakes of declension and gender, uses active for passive and so on. The
bad state of P makes it hard to know when these are the mistakes of Par.
and when they are textual corruptions. But overall one can see in Par. the
changing nature of the Greek language in the eighth century. Par. cannot
be said to have succeeded in writing in an intelligible high style, if that
was its aim; but its preciosity makes it both unusual and hard to classify
in relation to other texts. Nevertheless, as an example of a secular Greek
work from the eighth century, its sheer rarity value makes it an excep¬
tionally valuable document.
As we have suggested above, Par. received the first impetus in the reign
of Philippicus (711-13), when a group of self-styled ‘philosophers’ or
‘researchers’ apparently collected material for inclusion, partly by going
round and looking at the monuments themselves. Individual sections
may have been written at different times, and the work as a whole may
have evolved over a period, or even gone through more than one
‘edition’, but by and large Par. dates from the first half of the eighth cen¬
tury, and most of it was probably written before the first iconoclastic
measures of Leo III in 726. Nothing except one doubtful allusion in chap.
56 (see below) suggests a date later than the mid-eighth century, and we
are convinced that whereas it may be wrong in principle to try to fasten
an exact date of composition on Par.,32 it is a work of the first half—and
mostly of the first quarter—of the eighth century.
This conclusion has important consequences for the evaluation of
Par. ’s evidence. It combines with the findings set out in section ii above to
place Par. in a very clear and distinctive relationship to the Patria, with
which it must not be uncritically confused. The evidence of Par., in other
words, is primary, whereas that of the Patria, is usually derivative of
Anon. Treu, and of Par. only through this intermediary, except for the
sections where it can be shown to have used Par. direct, and the few cases
where it seems to have extra information possibly once standing in Par.
On the whole, then, Patria II derives its information from Par., but at two
centuries’ remove.
1. We must begin with the references in Par. which link the work with
specific reigns.
(a) Justinian 7/(685-95, 705-11).
For Par., the second reign of Justinian II seems to represent recent
history. Only Par. (chap. 37) gives the name of the Khazar Khan to
whom Justinian appealed for aid, and in the same chapter it records
statues of Justinian and his Khazar wife at the Basilica, commemorating
his restoration by the Bulgar Tervel in 705 and the great ceremony of
gift-giving which followed. Still in the same chapter, Par. tells of the
kneeling statue of Justinian, an object of some art-historical interest.
Elsewhere Par. is uncomplimentary to Justinian, calling him ‘ungodly’
(chap. 61), and referring to a statue in the Hippodrome depicting
somehow his ‘story’ (perhaps his mutilation and exile in 695). This at¬
titude seem to reflect the hostile account of Justinian current during the
reign of Philippicus and justificatory of the latter.34 It is noticeable that
Par. is favourably disposed towards Philippicus (see below), who was
brought to the throne in a military coup against Justinian.35 We would
not expect from a work like Par. overt comment on the bloody history of
the early eighth-century emperors; but its various allusions to them do
hint at the stance of at least some of the contributors. It is tempting to see
in the reference to the bloody deeds and murders that have recently taken
place in the Hippodrome in chap. 63 an allusion to these events, even
though Par. is careful to place them ‘before our time’. The late seventh
and early eighth centuries saw many emperors fall; perhaps in chap. 41
33 Which call Constantine V μισόθεος (III, 9, p. 217); the Chronicle of Theophanes (early
ninth century) goes much further, calling Leo and Constantine ασεβής and δυσσεβής and
more (e.g. pp. 413, 427 etc.).
34 See C. Head, Justinian II of Byzantium (Madison, 1972), p. 14 f.
35 Head, p. 146. For these emperors, see J. Herrin, ‘The Context of Iconoclast
Reform’, in A. A. Bryer and J. Herrin, (eds.), Iconoclasm (Birmingham, 1977), pp. 15-20.
INTRODUCTION 19
36 p. 383 de Boor (Philippicus was having his siesta there when the conspirators of 713
captured him and took him to be blinded and dethroned).
37 For Leo’s names see note on chap. 1.
20 INTRODUCTION
(i) Chap. 3 records the acclamation given to the ‘great and pious Leo’
on his restoration of the land walls of Constantinople. Only here does
Par. use the term ‘pious’ of an emperor; as it is a standard epithet for
reigning emperors, this entry presumably derives from a contemporary
source. The description of a procession and a religious ceremony strongly
suggests the record in oriental sources of a similar occasion as part of the
imperial propaganda during and after Leo’s successful resistance to the
siege of 717/18 (see note ad loc.). It seems therefore that this entry
preserves an authentic record of an occasion in the early years of Leo’s
reign.
However, an alternative restoration of the corrupt MSS. tradition
would give an allusion to Leo III and his son Constantine V together as
restorers of the walls, as is in fact attested on extant inscriptions. The
most natural date for such activity would be after the earthquake of 740
when we know that such rebuilding took place.38 It is certainly possible,
too, that this entry came from an official record of acclamations, and that
the use of the epithet ‘pious’ does not give us a date for this part of Par.,
but merely for the event commemorated.39 On balance, however, the
first interpretation, i.e. linking this with the aftermath of the 717/18
siege, seems the more likely. Leo died in 741, so there would have been
little time for processions, especially as Theophanes presents the
rebuilding after 740 more in terms of dire emergency than of triumphal
achievement, as here. Above all, the circumstantial detail about the pro¬
cession, combined with the formal designation of the emperor, make the
linking with the propagandistic activity recorded in the oriental sources
for the earlier period extremely plausible. It may still be that the extract
came to the compilers of Par. some time after the event, in a list of ac¬
clamations of various sorts (see on chaps. 29, 38). But at least we have
here a chronological pointer of some exactitude for this material. It is
most unlikely to have been included in Par. substantially later, since
favourable references to iconoclast emperors were largely suppressed in
later iconophile sources. Thus if it was not embodied in Par. or at least
recorded by the compiler of this entry at the time, it will not have been
added very much later, and probably not later than 726 or 730, when Leo
destroyed the Christ icon on the Chalke (see below). Since this reference
to Leo differs strikingly from the others in Par. in being so favourable, it
is most natural to suppose that it comes from a genuine source dating
38 Theophanes, p. 412; Nicephorus, p. 59 de Boor; seejanin, CB2, pp. 267 ff.; note to
chap. 3.
39 As with Theophanes, p. 396, calling Leo III ό ευσεβής βασιλεύς. Contrast the passages
cited in n. 33 above.
INTRODUCTION 21
from the early years of Leo’s reign, when he was enjoying great military
prestige, but before overt signs of iconoclasm.
(ii) Chaps. 1 and 72 both refer to Leo by his baptismal name, Conon.
Like many emperors born out of the purple, particularly in this period,
Conon adopted a more regal name in order to advance his career.40 The
original name stuck, however, and these two instances deserve considera¬
tion as genuine early testimony. The only other eighth-century text to
give it is the Adversus Constantinum Caballinum of c. 775/87.41 While chap.
72 simply uses the name Conon, chap. 1 cites Marcellus the Lector (see
section ix below) for a statement about ‘Conon the Isaurian’. It is unlike¬
ly that this is an error, and although eighth and ninth-century sources
show some confusion as to Leo’s origins, some placing his birth in Syria,
others in Isauria, the likelihood is that his family were Isaurians who had
migrated to Syria (see note ad loc.).
(iii) The remaining reference to Leo III is more problematic. Chap.
5d, which is lost in P and has to be supplied from the Patna (see note ad
loc.), again refers to Leo as an Isaurian, and says that many statues were
destroyed by him because he was ‘irrational’ (alogistos). The passage
seems to associate Leo with hostility to monuments; though these are
pagan ones, his action in destroying them puts him in the same category
for Par. as Julian, a precursor of iconoclasm (see below). Further, ‘irra¬
tional’ seems to be a code word used by iconophiles of iconoclastic
behaviour (see note ad loc.). It is unclear therefore whether chap. 5d does
represent what Par. actually wrote (for another use of alogistos in a similar
sense see Patria, II. 33, p. 168). But although our other examples of
alogistos and so on are later in date, it is not impossible that it could be us¬
ed in this sense already in the reign of Leo. It would then seem natural to
date 5d after Leo’s First major iconoclastic action, i.e. after 726/30. But
the wording of the chapter is very vague; thematia seems rather to suggest
general attitudes to statues rather than a dramatic act, perhaps not
specific acts of image-breaking at all, but rather the general notion that
Leo was cast in the mould of Julian (see below). The chronology of the
years 726-30 is far from certain, as is the question whether Leo issued a
specific edict against images at that time.42 There is not much to go on in
40 See on chap. 1. The Patriarch Germanus taunted him with the name Conon and
prophesied disaster from it—Theophanes, p. 407.
41 For discussion see S. Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during the reign of Leo III, CSCO 346,
Subsidia 41 (Louvain, 1973), pp. 1-24; ‘Notes on Byzantine Iconoclasm in the Eighth Cen¬
tury’, Byzantion 14 (1974), pp. 23-42.
42 Brazen House, p. Ill, n. 12. For the date of the destruction of the icon by Leo, see
ibid., Appendix I, and for general discussion of the history of the icon and its date,
pp. 108-42. Partly on the basis that the reference to the icon in 5b came in at the stage of
the Patria, Mango concluded that the Chalke icon was probably not set up before the
seventh century (p. 112).
22 INTRODUCTION
this chapter; but its carefully vague wording is characteristic of Par. (see
below), and while it may belong to the years after the destruction of the
Chalke image, it is perhaps more likely in the context of unease before the
calm was broken by that action.
It will be helpful now to summarise the chronological pointers in
chaps. 5b and 5c, also supplied from the Patria like 5d. Chap. 5b refers to
the Chalke icon of Christ, with no indication whatever that it was sensa¬
tionally destroyed by Leo III in 726 or 730; it seems inconceivable that a
reference such as this could have been left in after the icon’s destruction
and before it was finally replaced in 843. While it is theoretically possible
that the allusion came in for the first time in the Patria, and thus relates to
the restored image, as Mango once assumed,43 it is more likely that the
passage does represent what stood in Par., which must therefore date
from before 726/30. It is not usually in the manner of the Patria to add a
detail of this brief sort; moreover, the juxtaposition of reference to the
icon and reference to statues of Maurice and family, if both are early, is
of wider interest, since it would confirm that the icon already existed in
Maurice’s reign, even if the concluding words ‘for they were made by
him’ need not strictly be taken to mean that the icon itself was set up by
Maurice. Chapter 5c similarly indicates an early date of writing, and the
simplest assumption is that the passage came substantially in this form
from Par. It records the removal of the relics of S. Euphemia from
Chalcedon to Constantinople, an event which probably took place in the
early seventh century.44 But there is no mention of the fact that the
restored church of S. Euphemia in which the relics were placed was
desecrated by Constantine V, the son of Leo III, and converted into a
store for arms and manure.45 It is most unlikely that this chapter was
original to the tenth-century Patria, or even near it in time, for by then
the full story of the triumphant return of the relics to Constantinople
under Constantine VI and Irene had been known in written form for a
century; Constantine V was believed to have cast them into the sea, and
their recovery called forth an elaborate story according to which they
were washed up on the island of Lemnos (see note ad loc.). So both 5d and
5c probably point to an early date for this part of Par.
The allusions to Leo III do not therefore give consistent chronological
indications. Chap. 1 gives a terminus post quem, for that entry, of 718/19
(the second year of Leo III). If chap. 3 should be associated with the
earthquake of 740, it provides a second terminus post of that year. But it
seems more probable that chap. 3 relates to the immediate aftermath of
the 718 siege (see above). In any case, termini in individual chapters only
relate to those chapters. As for the earthquake of 740, it is not mentioned
as such in Par., and there are some grounds for supposing that it provides
a terminus ante quern for parts at least, since much damage was done, e.g.
to the statues of Constantine on the Atalus gate and Theodosius on the
Golden Gate;47 none of this is recorded by Par. But it could be that the fall
of the statue of Theodosius at the Xerolophos, recorded in chap. 71, was
the result of the 740 earthquake (see note ad loc.).
It is quite clear, then, that Par. was not completed in the reign of
Philippicus. Several chaps, mention Leo III, but seem to relate to differ¬
ing points in his reign. It is possible that chap. 5d stood in Par. much as it
is, and if so, it suggests a date after 726 or 730. Chap. 3 might relate to
740, but more probably to 718.
(e) Constantine V (sole reign 741-75)
Leo Ill’s son and successor, Constantine V, is alluded to indirectly
more than once in Par., and on one restoration of the text in chap. 3, is
named there (but see above and note ad loc.). His building activity,
however, including the redecoration of the Milion, and the Blachernae
church, is not mentioned, and this is noteworthy in view of Par.’s fre¬
quent references to the Milion (see on chap. 35).
A number of references allude to events as having taken place ‘in our
time’ or the like, and these references clearly point to the reign of Con¬
stantine V. First, in chap. 15, on the Forum, Par. says that three of the
‘gilded sirens’ were removed from the Forum by ‘the emperor in our day’
and set up near S. Mamas, leaving four still in the Forum. Now the only
eighth-century emperor who can be associated with S. Mamas and with
the persecution of monks in the Hippodrome (see below) is Constantine
V. The S. Mamas complex, consisting of harbour, portico, palace, hip¬
podrome and church,48 was used by him as a base for his attack on the
capital in 742/43.49 It was also the scene of his persecution of iconophiles,
the execution of the monk Andrew Kalybites and the legendary debate
between Andrew of Crete and the emperor.50 In chap. 15, then, Par.
avoids naming Constantine out of circumspection. At chap. 63, however,
47 Theophanes, p. 412.
48 Millet, art. cit. (n. 32), p. 395; Janin, CB2 pp. 473-74.
49 Millet, p. 396 f.
50 Theophanes, p. 432. The odd story of Plato the eunuch (chap. 26), though located in
the fifth century, probably reflects similar contemporary events; its moral has to do with
what happens to those who ‘oppose the emperor’.
24 INTRODUCTION
though the emperor is still unnamed, Par.’s opinion comes over more
clearly. The reference is to the burning of a monk called Anastasius in the
Hippodrome, which leads Par. to state that the place was used for
murders and evil deeds ‘even up to our time’. Anastasius is said to have
been put to death for ‘opposing the emperor’, and ‘so to speak, for the
sake of truth’. An Anastasius has been proposed for the identifica¬
tion—the first Iconoclast patriarch who replaced Germanus in 730;51 but
he was not burned to death, but publicly humiliated in the Hippodrome
for his support of the rebel Artavasdos. After this he regained the patriar¬
chal throne and died only in 753, just before the opening of the Iconoclast
Council of Hiereia.52 And if this iconoclast is the right man, given Par. ’s
favourable attitude to images (see below), where does ‘the truth’ come
in? Iconophile sources do record public humiliations inflicted in the
Hippodrome under Constantine V, though we know of no other
Anastasius who suffered in this way.
Whoever this Anastasius was, Par.’s reference fits the mid-eighth cen¬
tury context well enough, and its curiously guarded reference to ‘the
truth’ surely puts it on the side of the iconophiles. It has been suggested
that this was the Anastasius who is one of Par.’s informants (see chap.
10), who perhaps composed a collection of iconophile texts (see note ad
loc.) but this remains speculative.
Par.’s references to this unnamed emperor can only be referring to
Constantine V, and the second of them, in chap. 63, belongs in the con¬
text of the persecution of the monks, that is, in the 760’s, when S.
Stephen the Younger was martyred.53 On the other hand, this will then
be the latest certainly datable reference in Par., and it stands alone; most
other dating indicators point to the first half of the century. It is
noticeable too that Par. is extremely circumspect in writing of Constan¬
tine V. It tells us nothing of the details of his iconoclastic policies, nor of
the Council of Hiereia (754); as we have seen, his redecoration of the
Milion goes unrecorded. It may be that the authors are deliberately
avoiding such controversial matters. But it still seems probable that the
bulk of Par. as it now stands dates from earlier in the century, and that it
received only limited additions under Constantine V.
Presumably therefore the numerous references in Par. to statues which
are still to be seen ‘up to the present day’ or ‘in our time’ and the like
(chaps. 1, 2 ‘our predecessors handed down’, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19, 37, 41, 43,
62, 68, 70, 76, 77) must be taken to refer to the early eighth century too,
though perhaps they cover a range of dates within the spectrum indicated
by the more explicit allusions. Sometimes, too, Par. will simply use the
present tense (‘can be seen’, for instance) in such a way as to indicate that
the object is still there (chaps. 16, 44, 83, 87, and cf. 11, an invitation to
readers to go and look for themselves).
54 For which see the Patriarch Germanus’s letters to two Anatolian bishops (before
730), PG 98.164 B, 165 C-D, 168 D-188 B (from Mansi). The monk Andrew Kcdybites
called Constantine V ‘the new Valens and Julian’—Theophanes, p. 432. See too the Life
ofS. Stephen, PG 100.1181.
55 For instance that recorded by Bishop Arculf of Gaul during his visit to Constantino¬
ple, c. 681 (D. Meehan, ed., Adamnan’s De Locis Sanctis, Dublin, 1958, pp. 118-19).
56 Theophanes, p. 382; Nicephorus, p. 48; see A. Grabar, L’Iconoclasme byzantin (Paris,
1957), p. 48 f.
26 INTRODUCTION
uses ‘Arian’ as an umbrella term for all undesirables; in chap. 5d (but see
above) their tombs are near those of pagans, and in chap. 8 they club the
archdeacon Arcadius to death. Arianism as a living creed was not a
serious problem in the eighth century, but it figures largely in later anti-
iconoclastic polemic. This surely accounts for the prominence of Arians
in Par. and their association with iconoclasm, and more generally with
all the enemies of true Christianity. As a further important example of
Par.' s connection with the polemical themes of the period we may cite its
inclusion of the Paneas statue (chap. 48), which is there simply because it
was a story currently much in point; the statue of Christ put up by the
woman with the issue of blood is said to have been destroyed by none
other than Julian. Here only, Par. cites Eusebius correctly (see section ix
below); but the story was well known in contemporary debate, and was
cited in similar detail by Patriarch Germanus in his letter to Bishop
Thomas, thus exactly at the time when we believe most of Par. to have
been put together.57 Interestingly, Par. has removed references to the
Gospel, in line with its literary pretensions.58 Not merely did the
destruction of this statue, told in a famous passage of Eusebius, become a
standard example cited of the beginnings of iconoclasm: Eusebius himself
was blackened in iconophile texts as a Arian especially for his disapproval
of images.59 Par. is not concerned to go into these subleties; indeed, it
rather carefully avoids direct comment on such matters. It betrays its
sympathies only occasionally, and belongs more comfortably in the at¬
mosphere of the polemic of early or pre-iconoclasm, rather than in the
full-blown and uninhibited world of later iconophile writers. By com¬
parison, the Life of S. Stephen the Younger, though dating only from
80 7,60 is far more outspoken. Naturally, part of the explanation must lie
in the difference of Par. ’s subject matter and purpose; but even so, it is
hard to see it as other than a text of the first half of the eighth century.
57 PG 98.185 D.
58 Par. is in fact remarkably (and therefore deliberately) free of Scriptural quotations
(see on chap. 64).
59 See Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during the reign of Constantine V, pp. 37, 49 ff.
60 PG 100. 1072 C, with Theophanes, p. 436.
INTRODUCTION 27
66 Mango, loc. cit. Several patriarchs and emperors mutilated statues in order to render
them harmless — Patria, II. 101 (Michael I, 811-13); Theophanes Continuatus, pp.
155-56 Bonn (the 9th-century patriarch John the grammarian); ibid., 411-12 (Romanos I
Lekapenos). The sister of the Empress Sophia (wife of Justin II, 565-78) allegedly had a
statue of Aphrodite destroyed when it exposed her as an adulteress (Patria, II, 65). See
Mango, AS1, p. 61.
67 Mango, Byzantium, p. 78.
68 See R. Guilland, ‘Contribution a l’histoire administrative de l’Empire byzantin. Le
chartulaire et le grand chartulaire’, RESEE 9 (1971), p. 406; N. Oikonomides, Les listes de
preseance byzantines des IX* et X* siecles (Paris, 1972), p. 310.
INTRODUCTION 29
in force by the time of the Patria.69 In embarking on Par., these men were
undertaking an ambitious task for which their education had not fitted
them and for which few reliable sources were readily available. It is in¬
structive because it is not a ‘popular’ work, but the product of laymen of
some standing. As a product of the first half of the eighth century Par. can
tell us a good deal about that obscure period.
69 See on the development of titles the remarks of B. Bavant, ‘Le duche byzantin de
Rome’, MEFR (Moyen Age) 91 (1979), pp. 41-88.
70 See η. 1 above and Mango, Byzantium. The Empire of New Rome, p. 80.
71 See e.g. R. Valentini and G. Zuchetti, Codice Topografico della Citta di Roma II (Rome,
1942), Notitia ecclesiarum urbis Romae, pp. 72-99, especially 75; and the thirty-two steps up
to Golgotha recorded in the guide by Epiphanius the monk (J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem
Pilgrims before the Crusades, Warminster, 1977, p. 117). These itineraries belong to the
seventh-eighth centuries and are therefore curiously close to Par. chronologically, yet lack¬
ing its special interests. Cf. also the Iconographia Ratenana, a drawing of Verona, probably
tenth century, showing the combination of medieval with surviving classical buildings (C.
Cipolla, ‘L’antichissima iconografia di Verona, secondo una copia inedita’, Atti dell’ Acad.
Lincei, Memorie, ser. 5.8 (1903), pp. 49-60).
30 INTRODUCTION
72 L. Ruggini, ‘Changing Fortunes of the Italian City from Late Antiquity to Early
Middle Ages’, Rivista di Filologia 105 (1977), p. 463, on this kind of literature. Compare
the Versus de Mediolano civitate, a poetic encomium of Milan, c. 739 (ed. G. B. Pighi,
Bologna, 1960); Versus de Verona, a poetic description of Verona, c. 800 {ibid.).
73 As the laudationes did (Ruggini, p. 466).
74 Epiphanius the monk, for instance, does not mention the synagogue at Tiberias,
noted by an eighth-century pilgrim, Willibald (see Wilkinson, op. cit., n. 68, pp. 117 ff.,
128). The Roman itineraries largely omit classical sites (Valentini and Zuchetti, op. cit.,
pp. 60-66, 72-99, 106-31; C. Huelsen, La Pianta di Roma dell’anonimo Einsidlense, Rome,
1907, Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia, ser. II, vol. ix).
75 Wilkinson, op. cit., pp. 59-61, 63-71, 117-21.
76 As was done in early medieval Rome (G. B. de Rossi, Inscriptiones christianae urbis
RomaeUA (Rome, 1857-88), pp. 18-33.
INTRODUCTION 31
77 Above, n. 66.
78 PG 38, cols. 341-670.
32 INTRODUCTION
84 Which raises the question of whether eidolon should actually be translated ‘idol’.
Eidololatreia can certainly mean ‘idolatry’, as here (cf. Dagron, p. 516, line 106), and in
the context of Julian, eidolon clearly does refer to what we mean by ‘idol’ (chaps. 47, 49);
compare too chap. 57 of Severus. But it can also be used more neutrally (chap. 60). A
consistent translation of eidolon as ‘idol’ would be misleading. For the concern about
idolatry as a constituent in the debate about images see Leslie Barnard, ‘The Theology of
Images’, in A. A. Bryer and J. Herrin (eds.), Iconoclasm (Birmingham, 1977), p. 10 f.
85 See C. Blum, ‘The Meaning of stoicheion and its derivatives in the Byzantine Age’,
Eranos 44 (1946), pp. 316-25. This article, published posthumously, and in unfinished
form, nevertheless does usefully survey the problem of the meaning of stoicheion in Byzan¬
tine works, including Par.
86 Cedrenus, II, p. 346 Bonn. The Patria, 11.79, claim that he did this to statues all over
Constantinople. On Apollonius, see W. Speyer, ‘Zum Bild des Apollonios von Tyana bei
Heiden und Christen’, JbAC 17 (1974), pp. 47-63; E. L. Bowie, ‘Apollonius of Tyana:
tradition and reality’, ANRW ii. 16.2, (Berlin, 1978), pp. 1652-99; C. P. Jones, ‘An
epigram on Apollonius of Tyana’, JHS 100 (1980), pp. 190-94.
87 Dagron’s phraseology at art. cit. (n. 9), p. 494, suggests that Par., chap. 40 states that
Apollonius of Tyana at Constantine’s behest had a hand in setting up on statues in the city
a record of its whole future history. But it is only the Patna, II. 103, which says this. It is no
accident, then, that the Patna uses the word apotelesma for statues with power (stoicheia), a
word generally used in earlier texts but avoided by Par. (see Blum, p. 317). This, and the
fact that Hesychius knew of Apollonius’s activity (p. 11 Preger), might suggest that there
was something deliberate about Par.’s silence about him.
34 INTRODUCTION
of stoicheion was well established in the late ninth century,88 but is not
uniform in Par. The compilers of Par. are entirely earnest about their
statues and their warnings, but the messages which the statues were
capable of providing have not yet, at this stage in the tradition, been
decoded in a detailed fashion.
Par. ’s interest in statues also invites comparison with the higher-level
literary ekphraseis, that is, formal descriptions of works of art, in particular
with one work, the De Signis of Nicetas Choniates, written after the sack
of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.89 This too is a work that is
hard to place, for save Constantine the Rhodian’s poem on the seven
wonders of Constantinople (tenth century) it is the first surviving ekphrasis
of antique works since Justinian’s day.90
Again, therefore, Par. must be compared with a much later work.
Nicetas’s description is written in a far more learned style than Par. But
though meant for the elite, its attitude to the statues it describes is as
superstitious as that of the Diegesis; the author is as ready to believe in the
prominent role of Apollonius of Tyana as the Patria or Cedrenus.91 By
comparison with all these works, Par. ’s attitudes are noticeably restrain¬
ed; they represent an early stage in a developing tradition.
93 See S. MacCormack, ‘Roma, Constantinopolis, the Emperor and his Genius’, CQ_
25 (1975), pp. 131-50, especially 139, 145 f.
94 See note ad loc. The story of the dedication of Constantinople to the Virgin, current
by the seventh century, is clearly an attempt to give a respectable Christian origin to the
city when there was no firm tradition along these lines. Further, it originated at a time
when for various reasons Constantinople did perceive itself to be under the special protec¬
tion of the Virgin. See A. Frolow, ‘La dedicace de Constantinople dans la tradition
byzantine’, RHR 127 (1944), pp. 61-127; Averil Cameron, ‘The Cult of the Theotokos in
Sixth-Century Constantinople’, JThS n.s. 29 (1978), pp. 79-108; ‘The Virgin’s Robe: an
Episode in the History of Early Seventh-Century Constantinople’, B 49 (1979), pp.
42-56.
95 For a very sceptical view see Alan Cameron, ‘The Foundation of Constantinople’,
forthcoming; such ‘pagan elements’ are dismissed out of hand by T. D. Barnes, Constan¬
tine and Eusebius (Cambridge, Mass., 1981), p. 222. On the other hand they are taken
seriously e.g. by S. Mazzarino, Antico, tardoantico ed era constantiniana I (Bari, 1974),
pp. 441 ff.; L. Cracco Ruggini, ‘Vettio Agorio Pretestato e la fondazione sacra di Costan-
tinopoli’, Φιλίας χάριν, Miscellanea in onore di E. Manni (Rome, 1979), pp. 595-610.
INTRODUCTION 37
Christian founder throughout; that these passages should have been in¬
cluded indicates both that they reflect a good early tradition and that the
authors regarded them as entirely compatible with a Christian interpreta¬
tion of Constantine’s foundation.
We can see the extent to which Par. did set Constantine within an
ideological framework familiar to its own day in the passages where it
mentions crosses as having been erected by him, with statues of himself
and Helena his mother (chaps. 16, 23). These crosses, if genuine, are
likely to have been post-Constantinian, reflecting the belief current only
after his death than Helena had found the True Cross. Par. records
buildings named after Constantine, such as the Constantinianai baths
(but see on chap. 73) and especially the Forum of Constantine (see on
chap. 39), but it does not attempt a serious conspectus of his rebuilding as
a whole, not even the great churches erected by him. Thus Constantine is
less a historical character for Par. ’s authors than a symbolic, semi¬
legendary figure in the history of the city. Similarly, Par. ’s information
about fourth- and fifth-century historical events after Constantine is
either mythologising (cf. chap. 64) or banal (18, 35a). More interesting
are the odd circumstantial details, such as the claim that metal statues
were melted down for coin under Marcian (chap. 13),96 and that the
coinage of Julian caused embarrassment to Theodosius (chap. 46). On
some points Par. ’s knowledge is clearly superior, as in chap. 50 (Gratian
in Rome). Par. seems particularly well informed on the fifth-century
emperors Leo I, Zeno and Leo’s wife Verina.97
The historical awareness shown in Par. is anecdotal and biographical,
usually connected with the fate of some statue, as in the remarks on
Anastasius’s treaty with the Persians (chap. 44), in which he is said to
have handed over a statue of a fox with an inscription mentioning
Aphrodite and Selene. The last two deities occur again in connection
with the Persians (chap. 11) and chaps. 5 and 6 describe the Persians as
carrying off statues to Persia. The work is not interested in the reality of
Byzantino-Persian relations save as a backdrop for the history of statues.
It is even more strikingly prepared to ignore completely the current real
threat to Byzantium, which was coming from the Arabs, whereas the Per¬
sian empire had been a dead letter since the early seventh century. If we
compare Par. with Theophanes on the years 698 onwards, the difference
is overwhelming. But whatever the reason for this total exclusion of the
Arabs, Par. ’s rather frequent references to Persians help to locate much of
96 For another case of melting down precious metal see chap. 54; and cf. chap. 42 (the
bronze ox melted down by Heraclius). The interest of the authors often seems to focus on
the value of the material in question.
97 Leo: chap. 14, 45, 64, 67, 88; Basiliscus: 26, 29, 32; Verina; 29, 40, 89, cf. 61.
38 INTRODUCTION
the work again in the early period while such events as it relates were still
remembered.
It is curious that despite all that is know of the building activity of
Justinian I he figures so rarely in Par. His redistribution of the S. Sophia
statues round the city is given more attention than his rebuilding of the
church itself (chap. 11), and Par. seems totally unaware of the Buildings of
Procopius (see below). We are told only that the city markets were moved
from the Neorion to the harbour of Julian under Justinian (chap. 72).
Par. is much better informed about the later sixth-century emperors,
beginning with Justin II (565-78), for whom a certain Plumbas is cited in
a confused entry (chap. 81), and most clearly in relation to Maurice
(582-602). The description of the statues in the Senate seems to be drawn
from material dating from Maurice’s time and confirmed by observation
(chap. 43). The information about the statues on the fagade of the Chalke
may come from a source of about AD 600, or a chronicle composed under
Heraclius (chaps. 5b, 44a).98 As we near Par. ’s own time, its information
about emperors become more circumstantial. Chap. 74 identifies
Phocas’s statue behind the Magnaura and records how the emperor tried
to hasten its completion. In the same chapter, Par. reports a story which
derives from the Life of S. Theodore of Sykeon." And for Heraclius
(610-41), Par. has accurate and important information about his
recruiting in Pontus, financed by melting down a bronze ox (chap. 42, cf.
36-37); Par. had excellent sources here, perhaps official ones. As for
emperors from Justinian II, they have been reviewed already in section
v, and belong to the realm of recent memory. Not surprisingly, it looks as
though such written material as was available to Par. petered out with the
reign of Heraclius.
Par. ’s historical references, therefore, are conditioned both by subject
matter and by the availability of sources. Most emperors it knows by
name only, or by an anecdote or two. But its frequent references to Con¬
stantine owe little to secular historical sources, and we shall see that such
history as Par. does give us tends to be derived from ecclesiastical writers,
and then usually at second hand. Par. ’s contributors had little access to
history proper, and they had to take it as it came, whether through stray
anecdotes, from official lists, or from such compendia as were available.
Nevertheless, the authors were ambitious to give their work the ap¬
pearance of learning, and frequently mention written sources by name
i°° por the remaining fragments, see G. C. Hansen, Theodoras Anagnostes: Kir-
chengeschichte (Berlin, 1971).
101 As it happens, Par. more often cites Diakrinomenos for the fourth than for the fifth
century.
102 For which see Hansen, op. cit. (n. 100), pp. xxix-xxxix. 103 See Hansen, p. 64.
104 Germanus: PG 98. cols. 185-88; see Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm dunng the reign of Con¬
stantine V, pp. 49 ff.; Mango, Brazen House, p. 109; see e.g. LifeoiS. Stephen the Younger,
PG 100. 1085.
40 INTRODUCTION
is telling that Par. includes it, but likely that its knowledge came from
contemporary debate rather than direct from Eusebius. The closeness of
Par. ’s terminology to the original (we find here Par. ’s only use of the term
andrias, also used by Eusebius) suggests a written source, but we should
look for this rather in the compendia which probably included it (see
below). Here Par. probably also found the reference to Diakrinomenos
(,loc. cit.) rather than to the more obvious Philostorgius (HE VIE 3, p. 79
Bidez) or Sozomen (HE V.21).
It is not surprising that Par. turned to the ecclesiastical historians, since
in the eighth century the early Byzantine secular historians were forgot¬
ten, and education would have been based primarily on ecclesiastical
authorities (see below). John of Rhodes’s Passio S. Artemii lists among
authors consulted Eusebius, Socrates, Philostorgius, Theodoret ‘and
many others’, though the author knew only Philostorgius;105 compare the
citations of Philostorgius and Theodoret, together with a certain
Hesychius and Dorotheus, in the Life of Theodore of Chora.106 The ec¬
clesiastical historians were cited as witnesses at the Council of Nicaea in
787,107 and are drawn on in S. John Damascene’s De imaginibus, written
probably soon after the accession of Constantine V (741).108 Obviously,
then, the compilers of Par. would tend to turn to these authors, but it does
not follow that they knew their works at first hand. More probably, the
knowledge they derived from books came from the anthologies and selec¬
tions which for many took the place of full texts. Books in the early eighth
century were very expensive and rarely privately owned,109 but an¬
thologies and epitomes circulated among lay officials in the capital, and
these collections formed the basic texts and schoolbooks of successive
generations of intellectuals in Constantinople. A collection of this kind
may be traceable in chap. 10 of Par.110 Although education continued to
i°5 ρ0Γ authorship, see H.-G. Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen
Reich (Munich, 1959), pp. 482-83. For Philostorgius, see J. Bidez, Philostorgius Kir-
chengeschichte, 2nd ed. rev. F. Winkelmann. (1972), p. xliv f.
106 Bidez, op. cit., p. lii. The monk Epiphanius, writing c. 800, likewise claimed to have
used Eusebius for his Life of the Virgin (Beck, op. cit., p. 513). By contrast, Photius, a cen¬
tury later, had a first hand knowledge of both ecclesiastical and secular sources for the late
patristic period (C. Mango, The Homilies of Photius, Washington, D.C., 1958, pp. 237 ff.).
107 Mansi, XIII. col. 1042; see Hansen, op. cit. (n. 100), pp. xxix, 99, 124, 155.
Significantly enough, however, two brief extracts from the Epitome go under the name of
Socrates and a passage of Socrates under that of Rufinus, who of course wrote in Latin.
108 For the date, see Beck, op. cit., pp. 477 ff. For the quotations, see Hansen, op. cit.,
pp. 107, 117, 131, 140, 142 (six from Theodore Lector); PG 94. 1375 A (Socrates), 1366
B, 1398 B (Theodoret).
109 N. G. Wilson, art. cit. (n. 25), pp. 3-4.
110 See note ad loc. and Alan Cameron, ‘A quotation from Nilus of Ancyra in an
iconodule text’, JThS n.s. 27 (1976), pp. 128-31.
INTRODUCTION 41
111 The fathers of Tarasios (born c. 730), Nicephorus (c. 750) and Theodore Studites
(759) were all well-educated imperial officials, while the Life of S. Stephen the Younger
{PG 100. 1069 ff.) reveals the existence of secondary education in the capital before 730.
Platon of Sakkoudion (born 735) received a lay education and the existence of educated
people is assumed by Theophanes’s claim that they were persecuted by Leo III (p. 405 de
Boor). See P. Lemerle, Le premier humanisme byzantin (Paris, 1971), pp. 128-34.
112 ‘La culture grecque et l’Occident au VIIIe siecle’. Settimani di Studi_XX (Spoleto,
1973), pp. 712 ff.; ‘Who wrote the Chronicle of Theophanes?’, ZRVI 18 (1978), pp. 9-17;
Byzantium. The Empire of New Rome, p. 137. Some general remarks in Kathryn M.
Ringrose, ‘Monks and Society in Iconoclastic Byzantium’, Byzantine Studies 6 (1979), pp.
130-51.
113 F. Diekamp, Hippolytus von Theben (Munster i. W., 1898), with full discussion of the
two citations from Par. (included at pp. 33-34 as fragments ‘zweifelhafter Echtheit’) at pp.
xliii-xlviii. At least 14 MSS quote fragments nominatim.
114 Diekamp, op. cit., p. xvi.
42 INTRODUCTION
115 Perhaps we should emend to Herodian (cf. chap. 61). Though the Patria also offer
the name Herodotus, a scholion in the Mosquensis of George the Monk (quoted in Muralt’s
edition, p. 428), clearly derived from the Patria (cf. E. Patzig, BZ 6 (1897), pp. 332-33)
gives the name in the form Herodes.
INTRODUCTION 43
authority, however dubious and ill-founded it now seems, stems from this
background.
We can see this concern for accuracy and authority in several places in
Par., on the statues in the Augusteum and the Forum, for example
(chaps. 68, 68a), where a parade of sources is brought out, even if at sec¬
ond hand. At chap. 61 the author (though the plural is used at the begin¬
ning of the entry) prefers the majority opinion to that of Herodian; it is
not clear whether either opinion was written, but the writer is clearly ex¬
ercising critical judgement, έδίδαξεν, the word used of Herodian, is am¬
biguous; at chap. 44a Par. uses it of ‘Papias’ but adds ‘from his own
writings’, ίστορεΐν is similarly vague (cf. chap. 62, for instance, of Philip
the dynast).117 Rather telling is the fact that Par. ’s Greek, never its strong
point, is at its most awkward when trying to express how the material was
collected and from what sources—not merely the notorious chap. 24, or
44a, but also 69, where we find an odd reference to Promuntius having
verified something by reference to ‘writing’. This is confirmed by ‘those
who are familiar with his writings’, especially, Par. then says, those who
judge by prophecy. How are we to conclude that Par. itself found this in¬
formation? The word it actually uses of Promuntius is λέγει. It is often
therefore impossible to be sure whether in a given entry Par. draws on
written or oral information (certainly written at e.g. chap. 74, but not
usually so explicit). In the text as a whole there is a pervasive flavour of
oral communication (e.g. chaps. 59, 60), with frequent statements that a
certain statue ‘is still to be seen’, as though people were going round
looking for themselves (chaps. 44, 83, 87, and frequent references to ‘the
present day’, or ‘in our time’, e.g. chaps. 14, 15, 19, 37, 41, 43 etc.); this
is surely Par. ’s major source of information—i.e. common hearsay or
mutual discussion. The attitude is even projected into the past, as at
chap. 65, where someone is said to have ‘pointed out’ to Asclepiodorus in
the reign of Anastasius the inscription on the reclining Heracles.
Where oral sources were not enough, Par. resorted to written
authorities. As we have seen, however, these were not in plentiful supply,
and the chief source of historical information for Par. probably came from
florilegia of ecclesiastical texts, mostly put together for doctrinal or
polemical purposes. In addition to this kind of material, Par. seems to
have access to a list of factional acclamations which went as far as Leo III
but which did not provide the historical contexts of the acclamations it in¬
cluded; this is the most likely explanation of the otherwise extraordinary
error in chap. 38, where Par. attributes to the Emperor Constantine a
genuine epigram still visible in the Hippodrome on a charioteer named
117 Similarly chaps. 1 ώς λόγος εχει, 9 έμφέρεται, 10 έμφέρεται εις τούς πολλούς etc.
INTRODUCTION 45
though the difficulties are great.125 In chap. 11, for instance, we are given
a precise number of statues taken from S. Sophia: 427, mostly pagan but
including about eighty Christian statues (those identified are of the im¬
perial family or the post-Constantinian aristocracy). Par. reports that
Justinian distributed these round the city. But there is no way of knowing
whether the total could possibly be correct, or whether the same statues
are described again (or how often) in other contexts. Another problem
arises with Par. ’s vocabulary (section vii above). Eikon, stele and zodion are
all used in the context of the statue that killed Himerius (chap. 28); stele is
the usual word for statue and is used about seventy times in Par., yet it
can be used of a painting (chap. 82). Eikon, as we have seen, can refer to
sculpture, but also to an icon in the technical sense (chap. 5b, cf. chaps.
10, 49). Mostly the various words are used interchangeably, whether the
statues are Christian or pagan, classical or imperial.
However, Par. is a major text in any attempt to trace the fate of antique
statuary brought to Constantinople. Mango has estimated that the
number of antique pieces surviving in the Middle Byzantine period was
‘probably over one hundred’.126 Many of them are listed in Par., though
it must be remembered that Par. has a cut-off point in the mid-eighth cen¬
tury, and that some no doubt perished after it was put together. Par. also
has an important role to play in the appraisal of early Byzantine portrait
sculpture, the majority of pieces mentioned dating from the fourth and
fifth centuries. Noteworthy also is the evidence it offers on the decoration
of the Chalke fagade, for which it gives important information about late
sixth-century sculpture, at least if chap. 5b represents what originally
stood in Par. (see note ad loc.).
125 Cf. the classic attempt at such a list in C. G. Heyne, Priscae artis opera quae Constan-
tinopoli extitisse memorantur, Commentationes societatis regiae scientiarum Gottingensis, cl.
philol.-hist. 11 (1790-91), pp. 3-38.
126 Brazen House, p. 98 f. See notes to chaps. 5b, 44a.
48 INTRODUCTION
chap. 44: marble fox with gold and silver lettering, given as tribute
chap. 44a four gorgon heads on Chalke, the other four at the Forum Tauri
on the palace of Constantine, with the statues of Julian and his
wife, Constantine and his sons and Gallus;
cross put up by Justinian I, a gilded Belisarius with radiate
crown, Tiberius II and Justin II and seven relatives, some mar¬
ble, some bronze, very lifelike
chap. 45: pictures (?) of Pulcheria in the palace;
statues of Marcian and Pulcheria set up by Leo I on the Theodo-
sian porticoes
chap. 46: statue of Julian outside the Mint, destroyed by Theodosius I
chap. 47: imperial statues set up by Julian;
gold-niello statues of Apollo and Artemis set up at Nicomedia
(reused as imperial statues?)
chap. 48: Paneas statue of Christ with the woman with the issue of blood,
destroyed by Julian and replaced with statues of Zeus and
Aphrodite and Julian himself
chap. 49: statue of Julian on porphyry column at Constantinian porticoes;
panel icons and bronze statues of Julian at Rome and Antioch
chap. 50: statues of Gratian and his wife in Rome, of silver
chap. 51: statue of Valentinian III at porticoes of Leontius
chap. 52: silver gilded cross set up by Constantine in the Forum Bovis with
statues of Constantine and Helena, their hands holding the cross
chap. 53: statues (?) of Constantine, Helena, Christ and His Mother at
Kontaria
chap. 54: bronze statue of Constantine made from armour, at Ta Viglen-
tiou
chap. 56: Constantine’s statue in the Forum;
objects placed on the pillar
chap. 57: at Taurus, statue (?) of Severus;
(?) pagan statues destroyed by Constantine;
statue of Constantine with cross in right hand;
relief showing Constantine’s wars
chap. 58: at Philadelphion, gilded cross set up by Constantine as in his vi¬
sion, on a four-sided porphyry column with a sponge depicted at
the bottom;
statues of Constantine, Helena and his sons on thrones beside the
column;
statues of centurions (?)
chap. 59: thirty statues set up by Constantine in the Forum
chap. 60: sixty statues from Rome in the Hippodrome including one of
Augustus
chap. 61: Thessalian statue in Hippodrome, above the Kathisma; female
statues (Scylla and Charybdis; see note);
equestrian statue of Justinian I;
bronze seated Athena (thought by some to be the Empress
Verina)
chap. 62: dragon-statue set up (?) by Arcadius commemorating (?)
Honorius;
hyena brought from Antioch under Constantine
INTRODUCTION 51
and one in iron. This suggests that there is more interest felt in the value
of the materials than in artistic style or skill. Only very rarely does Par.
comment that a statue or image is ‘lifelike’ (chaps. 44a, 82). But Par. is
interested in iconography (the subjects are normally identified) and in
some cases provenance, especially of antique statues. It is the mixing
together of surviving and lost statues, with no clear topographical or
other arrangement, that makes the work as we have it so confusing. It is
repetitive, and some statues, as some places, e.g. the Forum and the Hip¬
podrome, are described more than once. While copies of ancient statues
were often made, Par. records the same statue in different places without
indicating whether one was a copy. This applies to the reclining
Heracles, mentioned at the Amastrianon, the Hippodrome and the
Basilica. Sometimes, one suspects, Par. describes the same group twice
without noting the repetition, and thus gives the impression of two
groups rather than one (perhaps in the case of the Constantine and
Helena with the cross at the Milion and in the Forum). But even allowing
for Par.’s raggedness, it gives us an astonishing amount of information
about the decoration of the city in the eighth century and earlier.
Conclusion
130
E.g. Alan Cameron, Circus Factions (Oxford, 1976), p. 245.
ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
Marcellus the Lector falsely states that the church collapsed in the
second year of Conon the Isaurian (i.e. Leo III, AD 718).
2. S. Agathonikos was built in the first place by Anastasius
(491-518) and a second time by Justinian the Great (527-65). Seven
patriarchs held office in this same church over fifty years, and
emperors wear crowns there. For what reason it was altered f .1
is not known. Our predecessors handed this down to us, however:
that there was also a large palace near this church, and that being in
a ruined state it was converted by Tiberius (II, 578-82) into the
present palace.
3. The sea walls were repaired under Tiberius Apsimar
(698-705); before him they had been completely neglected. The
western walls, those of the great gates, were restored under Leo the
Great and Pious;2 on that occasion they also held a religious proces¬
sion and chanted the ‘Kyrie eleison’ forty times, and the demos of
the Greens shouted ‘Leo has surpassed Constantine’.3
4. At the ground-level gate which has been filled up4 stood a
statue (stoicheion) of a certain pagan, Fidalia. When the statue {stele)
was removed, a great wonder was to be seen, namely that the place
shook for a long time, so that even the emperor marvelled and sent
a procession to the place and only stopped it in this way. S. Sabas
(439-532) achieved this by his prayers.
5. In the place called Neolaia stood a statue [stele) of a woman
and an altar <with a>') small calf; with these too were four
horses, shining with gold; and on a <chariot with a> charioteer
was a < statue1 2 of a female> (stele) holding in her right hand a small figure
(stelidion), a running image (agalma). About this, some say that the group
(kataskeve) was erected by Constantine (324-37), while < others say>
merely the group of horses, while the rest is antique and not made by Constan¬
tine. For up to the time of Theodosius the Great (379-95) there was a spectacle
(theama) enacted by the citizens in the Hippodrome, when everyone with
candles and white chlamydes came in conveying this same statue (stele) alone
on a chariot [or a carriage]3 4) up to the Stama from the starting gates. They
used to perform this each time that the Birthday of the city was celebrated. And
there were represented in statues (zoda) on columns Adam and Eve and Plenty
and Famine.
5a. About the harbour of Neorion*.
At the harbour called Neorion stood a bronze ox of enormous size. They said
that it bellowed like an ox once a year and that on that day on which it bel¬
lowed, disasters happened. In the reign of the Emperor Maurice (582-602) it
was sunk in this harbour.
1 I.e. the statues were put up by Maurice. See note for the implications of this
for the date of the Chalke icon.
2 P has Marcian, but see commentary.
3 Omitted here by Preger, though present at Patria, 11.89, p. 198.
4 Similarly omitted by Preger, though present at Patna, loc. cit.
5 See note.
6 P’s text resumes at this point.
7 See commentary.
64 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1
A scribal memo which has crept into the text. See note.
66 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1
Supplied from Patna, 11.93, p. 201.
68 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 See note.
2 See note.
70 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 A scribal memo, apparently from someone who had checked; cf. chapter 6.
2 Supplemented from Anon. Treu and Patria, 11.96, p. 202.
72 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΤΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
Γ O
north as you come in and to the east as you go out, a cross inlaid
with silver, with circular orbs at the ends of its arms was erected in
this place by Constantine the Great, just as he saw < it in the
sky> d There gilded statues of his sons and himself can be seen.
17. In the same Forum also stood an awe-inspiring statue {stele)
of an elephant, in the area on the left near the great statue {stele).
This manifested a strange spectacle {theama). For once there was an
earthquake and the elephant fell over and broke one back foot. The
soldiers of the Prefect (for the Forum falls under their sphere of du¬
ty) shouted to each other and came running up to re-erect it, and
found inside the same elephant all the bones of a complete human
body, and a small tablet, which had written at the top:1 2
‘Not even in death am I separated from the holy maiden
Aphrodite’.
The Prefect added this to the public treasury for coins, in addition
to the above cases.
18. In the place called the Milion stood a bronze equestrian
1 See note.
2 Whatever the passage means, it is about predicting the future; so Preger’s sug¬
gestion, χρισμόν (‘baptism’) is unnecessary.
84 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 I.e. ‘destroyed the pagan temple’, or ‘put an end to the pagan practices’.
2 See commentary.
3 Or ‘bearing witness’.
4 Supplemented from the Anon. Treu.
86 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
statue (stele) of a eunuch which had written on the breast ‘Let him
who disturbs monuments (thematia) be hanged’. The statue (stele)
was of Plato the cubicularius, who was burnt in the days of the
Emperor Basiliscus (475-77). When his parents asked the emperor
that the eunuch Plato be commemorated in a statue as a reminder
to those who opposed the emperor, he did not forbid it. In the
course of the renovation of the church of the martyr it was removed
to the Hippodrome; but the houses of the same eunuch survive until
today at Chelone.
27. From the story of Himerius the chartularius, told by
Theodore, when he was with him in the Kynegion looking
round.1 We have taken great care to research accurately the
things about which you asked and to describe them to your
honour, O Philokalos.2
28. One day we went off to the Kynegion with Himerius the
aforementioned honourable chartularius to investigate the statues
(eikones) there, and found among them one that was small in height
and squat and very heavy. While I was wondering at it and not get¬
ting on with my enquiry,1 Himerius said ‘You are right to wonder,
for he is the builder of the Kynegion’. When I said ‘Maximian was
the builder and Aristides the architect’,2 immediately the statue
(stele) fell from its height, which was great, and dealt Himerius a
great blow and killed him on the spot. I was afraid, for there was
no-one else there except for the men who were holding our mules,
and they were outside the steps. Terrified of being hurt myself, I
dragged him by the right foot to where they throw the convicts and
tried to throw him in, but in my terror I let go of the load at the edge
of the bank and ran away and sought asylum in the Great Church.
When I told the truth about what had happened, I was not believed
until I resorted to confirmation by oath, since I was the only one
who had seen the event at the time. So the dead man’s relations and
the friends of the emperor went with me to the place, and before ap¬
proaching where the man lay fallen, stared in amazement at where
the statue lay fallen.3 A certain John, a philosopher, said ‘By divine
providence, I find it so in the writings of Demosthenes, that a man
of rank would be killed by the statue (zodion)’. And he told this at
once to the Emperor Philippicus (711-13) and was commanded to
bury the statue (zodion) in that place; which indeed was done, for it
was impossible to destroy it. Consider these things truly,
Philokalos, and pray that you do not fall into temptation, and take
care when you look at old statues (stelai), especially pagan ones.
A bronze < statue > of Verina, the wife of Leo the Great
(451-74), on a pillar near S. Agathonikos above the steps. Another
of her at the Anemodourion, to the south, near S. Barbara. The
first, at S. Agathonikos, was erected during the lifetime of her hus¬
band; the one beyond S. Barbara after the death of her husband
Leo and the flight of her son-in-law Zeno (i.e. after 475), when she
crowned her brother Basiliscus (475-77) to the acclamations of the
Green faction: ‘Long life to Verina the orthodox Helena’. For she
was very orthodox.
30. A very small gilt statue (stele) of Euphemia, the <wife> of
Justin the Thracian (518-27), on a plinth in the quarter of Olybrius,
near S. Euphemia, a church she founded herself.
31. A very large < statue > of Eudoxia, the wife of Arcadius
(395-408), and of her daughter Pulcheria and two other daughters,
all in silver. Another of the same Eudoxia in bronze on a pillar and
one more at the Augusteum, on account of which arose the
machinations against Chrysostom.
94 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
37. Spectacle number one. The gilt statue (agalma) of a man in the
golden-roofed Basilica colonnade2 (where the measure of the
horses, driven headlong beside (?)* two statues (stelai), has existed
since ancient times. There Constantine the Great (324-37) was ac¬
claimed after defeating Azotius and Byzas and Antes, the Blue fac¬
tion shouting
but the Green faction said ‘We don’t need you, miserable wretch;
the gods above have taken him’.3 And the chariot of Helios was
brought down into the Hippodrome, and a new little statue (steli-
dion) of the Tyche of the city was escorted in procession carried by
Helios. Escorted by many officials,4 it came to the Stama and
received prizes from the Emperor Constantine, and after being
crowned, it went out and was placed in the Senate until the next5
birthday of the city. But because of the cross engraved on it, it was
consigned by Julian to a pit where there were many other spectacles
(.theamata). And if anyone researches accurately the inscriptions of
the Forum, he would be still more amazed.
1 See note.
2 A genuine charioteer epigram, totally inappropriate to the Emperor Constan¬
tine; see note.
5 P has αύτοϋ. At least read αυτόν.
4 See commentary.
5 Supplied from Anon. Treu and Patna, 11.42, p. 173. For the subject matter cf.
chapter 5.
104 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
peacock and an eagle and a lioness and rams, and sparrows and
crows and one turtle dove and a weasel and five heifers lowing1 and
two Gorgons, one on the right and one on the left, one looking into
the face of the other, carved from marble in relief f < and >2 all
mixed up together below the same building3 or Bread Market, as a
spectacle, the work of Constantine. There was also an oxherd4
above an ox ploughing,5 as if intending to dig the earth, a great
spectacle (theama) for those who saw it. This remained for many
years, and the story lasted until the reign of Zeno. But a certain
Galen, a doctor and philosopher, as he himself taught from the
writings of chronographers,6 proceeded thither and ascertained that
the marble Gorgons—that it, that on the right and that on the left,
grasping snakes, with hieroglyphic and astronomical mean¬
ing—recorded the stories of the emperors, this having been done by
nulli codd.; cf. Nic. Chon. p. 405, 20 schol., cod. Hierosol. Sab-
bait. n. 422 (βαβιλογράφιν), Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fur
altere deutsche Gesch. XV (1890) 155 sqq. (Vasilographus)
3 τοντο P, corr. Lamb. 4 βερηνης P 5 fortasse in-
serendum <(έπιβονλενειβ έμβατενοντι κτλ. 7 Et φρατριάξειν
et φατριάξειν (— insidiari) Byzantinis in usu est 10 τό
πέρας seclusi άρτοπωλίω (sic Ρ) καλενδία] sanumne sit
dubito. Cf. 'calendar locus ubi territorium aliquod incipit’
Du Cange Favre s. v. (saec. XIII) 11 Σελεντίον νπ’ άρχον-
τος edd. 14 τοιώδε Ρ, correxi 15 νεμομένη Comb., νενοη-
μένη? 17 έΰώ&η] sc. η γραφές 19 &εμάτιον? cf. ρ. 32, 9
et 35, 2
TRANSLATION 111
1 See commentary.
2 See chapters 29 and 32.
3 P’s νενομένω cannot be right, but it is far from clear what should be read.
4 Or possibly a pagan temple.
112 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 See note.
2 See note for the text here.
3 This chapter is perhaps the most corrupt of all: see commentary.
Reading αετός for P’s άετως.
4 P has no verb but Anon. Treu has added έγίνοντο; a stronger verb has
presumably dropped out. For the meaning cf. chapter 40.
5 All this is unintelligible in its present form, but some kind of magic is implied.
6 Reading όπως for ίσως.
114 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
stantius on the left and Constans on the right, with two feet, but six
hands—a strange spectacle (theama) for those who saw it, each one
looking in a different direction—and one head. But once there was
a fire in this place, and while everyone was busy (so to speak) that
extraordinary thing was stolen, in the reign of Theodosius II
(408-50), the son of Arcadius, who immediately <made>J threats
through a herald in the suburbs and districts by the sea if the spec¬
tacle (theama) were not found. Those who dared to do this were not
able to remove it to their own country, but were overtaken by the
emperor’s boat and did away with themselves; they cast both the
spectacle (theama) and themselves into the sea and were drowned.
And although many boats and rope-baskets and some divers came
because of the anguish of the emperor, and though he offered a
multitude of gifts and with fearful oaths promised to give five hun¬
dred centenaria to anyone who could rescue it from the sea, no one
succeeded in doing so. Then this Theodosius in anger gave over the
house of Senatos to the fire (it was supported by four columns). He
removed the statue {stele) of Helena, the mother of Constantine,
and Constantine and his wife Fausta, the daughter of Diocletian, in
the same Senate house. Constantine and his wife were made of cast
bronze and partly of stone, but Helena was of porphyry all over.1
These are preserved up to the present day.
From Papias
1 See commentary.
2 ‘Modios’ or ‘Milion’? See commentary.
3 The words δεματερίδε γυναικοειδεϊς in P are clearly a gloss, even if not quite in¬
telligible.
4 Added from Anon. Treu.
122 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 Or ‘reused’.
1 Preger’s supplements.
3 Or ‘seeing her picture in the palace, he himself then commemorated her whole
life in a cycle’.
4 See note.
124 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
tyrius, who strongly opposed the emperor, was burned near the
temple, they say, as a sacrifice to the gods.
49. While Julian was emperor (361-63), before he came to
Rome, they set up a statue {stele) of him at Byzantium at the
Constantinian porticoes. The general Demophilus, who rejoiced
in the worship of idols {eidola), set it up on a porphyry column
< inscribed>1 ... ‘This is2 the great godfearing Julian’. For this
reason, as soon as he became emperor, he set up images {eikones) to
him3 in Rome and Antioch, in the form of panels (sanides) and large
bronze statues {chalkourgemata).
50. Gratian (375-83) came to Rome after his marriage and
presented another spectacle (theama) to Rome in the shape of silver
statues (stelai) of himself and his wife.
51. There was a wonderful statue {stele) of Valentinian the
Younger (III, 424-55) at the porticoes of Leontius, where Zeno
used to hold his inspections.4 When Zeno (474-91) saw the statue
{stele) of Valentinian, he said that those Caesars who were not com¬
memorated in statues {eikones) were unfortunate.
52. In the area of the Forum Bovis a great encampment was
prepared by Constantine the Great (324-37), and Byzas made war
on him, and as Socrates says, twenty thousand pagans died. And
at once in the same Forum Bovis a silver gilt cross was set up, and
likenesses {eikones) of Constantine and Helena, the hands of both
the slaves of God5 holding the cross, they say.
53. That the so-called Kontaria had a guard for seven years; and
in the same place there was a war for two years, and a very small
temple of idols (eidola) which they said was of Galen.1 Constantine
pulled it down and built a church of the Theotokos, and portraying
himself and his mother and Jesus and the Virgin he held a festival
for twelve days.
54. In the area of Ta Viglentiou2 was the very strong watch-
tower of Constantine, which he put up before his vision outside the
city; for there, they say, he saw the cross with his own eyes about
evening. In this region, they say, the area of Ta Viglentiou,
Severus settled the Gazoi and Maximinus, the general of Constan¬
tine (sic), fought against them and killed about eight thousand. And
then the rest dismounted from their horses and breaking their
swords rolled on the ground at the feet of Maximinus and begged
for mercy. When they were spared, they set up a statue (stele) to
Constantine made out of their own bronze weapons.3
55. Constantine was honoured in the Forum for forty days and
acclaimed by the factions and by the leaders of the city. But
Canonaris the philosopher went up to a high place and when the
crowd had fallen silent4 cried out in a loud voice ‘Do not give
yourselves airs above your ancestors, you who have destroyed your
ancestors’. Constantine summoned him and upbraided him and
called upon him to give up his paganism. But he cried out loudly
that he chose to die for the sake of his ancestors, and was beheaded
in the same portico of Viglentius to inspire fear in the remaining
Gazoi.
56. The statue (stele) in the Forum received many solemn
hymns. Here the government and the prefect Olbianus, the
spatharii, the cubicularii and also1 the silentiarii, forming an escort
with white candles, all dressed in white garments, brought it raised
on a carriage from what is now called the Philadelphion but was
then called the Proteichisma, in which there was also formerly a
gate, built by Carus. But as Diakrinomenos says, it came from the
so-called Magnaura. Whereupon it was set up in the Forum and, as
has been said above, received many hymns and was revered as the
Tyche of the city by all, including the army. And finally it was
raised on a pillar in the presence of the priest and the procession,
and everyone crying out the ‘Kyrie eleison’ a hundred times.
Diakrinomenos says that many things were placed on top of the
pillar where the statue [stele) now stands, among them imperial
coinage of Constantine, the so-called sotericius, to the amount of
ten thousand pounds. Then the city was acclaimed and called Con¬
stantinople, as the priests cried out Ό Lord, set it on a favourable
course for boundless ages’. And when they had thus with great
pomp celebrated fittingly for forty days, and the emperor had
bestowed many gifts of corn on the people, each man went away to
his own home. And thus on the next day the birthday of the city
took place and a great race in the Hippodrome, and the emperor
made many gifts there too, instituting these birthday celebrations as
an eternal memorial.
57. In the area near the Taurus Constantine the Great spent
some time resting1 in the summer. There there was the palace and
temple of Severus, the son of Cams, called the idol (eidolon) of the
divine Severus. And there were four very large composite vaults,
themselves built by Severus, containing many idols (eidola) of
prophecy for tprayersf2 to the immortal gods and of the gods of the
underworld,3 made of silver and bronze and ivory and marble, of
many kinds, they say, as were found, they say,4 in the vaults. And
there the war of Constantine and Severus took place, and <he>
defeated Herculius and hung up his head and those of his leaders in
the vaults for seven days. And after this he broke in pieces the
1 See note
2 P has οίομισμών, which is corrupt.
3 See commentary.
4 The text is confused, but probably not corrupt.
134 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
pagan idols (eidola), and left them for display.1 In this place, up to
the time of Julian (361-63), criminals were punished. In the same
place in an elevated position was a very broad slab, and it re¬
mained, showing in engraved figures (zodiois anageglummenois) the
wars of Constantine, up to the third earthquake. A statue (stele) of
Constantine was fashioned there up above the vault in the upper
part, holding the sign of the cross in the right hand.
58. In the region of the so-called gate of the Philadelphion, Con¬
stantine had a dream. There first of all he saw the sign (typos) of the
cross, and he set it up, as he saw it, in the same length and breadth,
on a four-sided porphyry column. He gilded it and fixed a sign
(semeion) of a sponge at the feet (sic) of the cross. He honoured
himself and his mother Helena and his sons, setting up < statues >
of them on thrones beside2 the four-sided column. In this place
Constantine the Great gave many consular donations. In this place
centurions were honoured, being held in honour for the carrying of
the cross, seated above the f .3
1 εις θέαν.
2 Ιξ in P does not make sense.
3 See commentary.
136 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 A prime facie contradiction, since Par. has just said that Callistratus was the
first. Perhaps read έπί (‘in the reign of).
2 Or ‘wherefore’.
138 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
61. Philip the eparch confirmed many things1 for us; that the
Thessalian2 statue (homoioma) in the Hippodrome is the work of a
certain Pontios—the one that stands above the imperial box.
Among the female statues (homoiomata), that near the epigram of the
Medes < is of women > giving birth to wild beasts and they devour
men.3 4 One <of them>, Herodian made clear to me, reveals the
story of the godless Justinian.·1 The other, which is accompanied
also by a boat, has not been fulfilled, but remains. When I heard
this, I wept to think that such a misfortune should yet again befall
Constantinople. In the <area> of the Kathisma, Justinian the
Great (I, 527-65) rode t.cm a bronze horse, after the victory
over the Medes. The woman seated on a bronze chair in the Hip¬
podrome—she too is above < the imperial seat > as we mentioned
before—Herodian told me is Verina, < the wife> of Leo the Great
(474-91); but as I have myself heard from many people, it is instead
the statue (eidolon) of Athena from Hellas, and this I believed.
62. Philip the dynast5 expounded many things, in the course of
which he passed this on: that while the dragon statue (drakontaion) is
1 Or ‘at length’.
2 I.e. of verd antique.
3 Reading Θήρας; see commentary.
4 We have omitted ‘of his second reign’, added by Preger: see commentary.
5 For Philip the eparch and Philip the dynast see commentary.
140 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 See note.
2 Or ‘at a place in the Hippodrome called Demos’.
3 There is a pun in the Greek between demos and demioi (‘executioners’).
4 See note.
5 A reference to the descendants of Constantine seems to have dropped out.
6 Since in modern Greek τετραπέρατος = ‘very cunning’, άπέρατοι here might
mean the opposite (i.e. ‘ineffective’, ‘useless’). Suggested by Professor C. Mango.
7 I.e. the emperor.
8 Matth. 5.39.
9 Presumably those mentioned above.
10 θεάσασθαι.
146 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
It was formerly silver, as Sozomen tells us. Clement says that the
similar and manifold (sic) marble < statues > are of Constantine
(IV, 668-85), the son of Constans (II, 641-68).1
67. What is known as Pittakes (i.e. the statue in the Pittakia) is
Leo the Great (457-74), commonly called the Butcher. The
emperors used to hold receptions here. And there was once a palace
here, which stood near the old church of S. Irene, according to
John Diakrinomenos.
68. Note that the so-called Augusteum received three statues
(stelai) in succession. First, one of Constantine, which also had five
imperial <statues> below the column—Constantius (II, 337-61),
Constans (I, 337-40), Constantine (II, 337-40)2 and Licinius
(308-24), with Julian (361-63) added later. Under Theodosius the
Great (379-95) another statue (stele) was substituted on the column,
also of silver, with Arcadius and Honorius at ground level, as
Theodore says. But in the writings of Sozomen, they say, it is Justi¬
nian (527-65) who3 is seen there today.
1 Or, more likely, ‘and’ has dropped out and Par. means that they are of Con¬
stantine the Great and his son Constans (see chapter 68 et al.).
2 I.e. the three sons of Constantine who succeeded him.
3 Reading δς; see note.
150 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 This could mean ‘cast a spell on it’ (cf. chapter 89); but see note.
2 Or ‘the Zeuxippus is called the bath of Severus’.
3 Or ‘the many statues in the Constantinianai fell down and were an object of
wonder’.
154 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 See note. It is not very likely that Licinius would have done any building at
Byzantium, and the Constantinian foundation was only begun in 326.
156 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
82. The coloured image {stele) in the ancient bath, that is to say
the Zeuxippus, is of Philippicus the gentle (711-13), who was
deceived through ignorance. As the story goes, it is just like its
model (prototypon). Painters greatly praised the artist, because he
did not depart from1 the emperor’s appearance with regard to the
archetype {archetypon).
83. A great many statues (stelai) have come from the place called
Iconium to Constantinople, among them one of Zeus that is still in
the Hippodrome.
84. The four gilt horses that stand above the Hippodrome came
from the island of Chios under Theodosius II (408-50).
85. From the above-mentioned Iconium comes a statue {stele) of
Perseus and Andromeda, who was the daughter of Basiliscus;2 as
the myths and one of the historians say, she was given as a sacrifice
to the dragon that lived there. For this was an ancient custom, for a
young maiden to be offered to the beast. In accordance with it An¬
dromeda was bound, undeserving of death,3 and was about to be
given to the beast. And the aforementioned Perseus, passing that
way, asked the weeping Andromeda why she was bound and
lamenting. She told him what had happened. But as he took up his
position1 the beast came up. Turning away and facing backwards,
Perseus showed the Gorgon’s head he was carrying in his satchel to
the beast, which expired on seeing it. So the city was called Iconium
by Philodorus the logistes because Perseus came (ήκέναι) and saved
Andromeda, a bright stroke of luck for the city from the coming of
Perseus.2 The name of the city from its foundation was Doria; then
it was called Threnodia, but by (? according to) Philodorus the
logistes it was called Iconium from the coming of Perseus. Then the
same Perseus was commemorated in a statue (estelothe) with An¬
dromeda above the city gate; many sacrifices took place there by
order of Decius (249-51) and Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian,3
and many saints were martyred there. The statues (stelai) of Perseus
and Andromeda came, so we are told, in the reign of Constantius
(II, 337-61), after the completion of the church of Antioch, to the
bath of Constantinianai.
86. The statue {stele) behind S. Menas the martyr is of
Anastasius (491-518). It was erected when the sacrifice of oxen to
idols (eidola) stopped and the place was turned into a brothel; the
emperor ordered this so that the place should be dishonoured.
87. In the so-called cistern of Aetius, which was founded by the
1 See note.
2 The repetition is in the Greek.
3 See on Chapter 77.
164 ΠΑΡΑΣΤΑΣΕΙΣ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΙ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑΙ
1 There is no verb.
2 See note.
3 τρίτον for τρίς: see note.
'
COMMENTARY
The heading Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai, written in red, may not refer to
the whole work as we have it, for there are other headings in red too: see
note on chap. 27. The first part of the work so marked off ends at
chap. 26; chap. 27 begins with a new heading. Par. begins in medias res',
possibly there was originally a more formal opening.
Chapter 1: Arianism
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
from AD 728 (Grumel, p. 188). But the city had withstood a lengthy siege
by the Arabs under Constantine IV (674-78), so some improvement must
have been made. Nicephorus (p. 50 de Boor) and Theophanes (p. 384 de
Boor) attribute repairs to the walls of Artemius-Anastasius (713-15).
the western walls: this seems to mean simply the land walls, and
‘great gates’ probably the Golden Gate of triumphal entries. These were
repaired by Leo III and Constantine V after the earthquake of 740
(Theophanes, p. 412 de Boor); several building inscriptions on towers on
the walls refer to these two emperors (H. Lietzmann, Die Landmauern von
Konstantinopel, Berlin, 1929, p. 20 f.; B. Meyer-Plath and A. M.
Schneider, Die Landmauern von Konstantinopel, II, Berlin, 1943, pp. 127 ff.;
Janin, CB2, pp. 269 ff).
Leo the Great and Pious: the only occasion in Par. of the use of
‘pious’, the standard epithet of a reigning emperor. It is likely therefore
to be indicative of a contemporary allusion. Cf. the early references to
Leo III in Theophanes (pp. 396, 397, 398 de Boor), where he is called
‘pious’. From this point on in the Chronicle the strongly iconophile bias of
Theophanes’s own day is responsible for the condemnation of the
emperor as iconoclast. This allusion in Par. may thus reflect a contem¬
porary documentary source, perhaps that which preserved other genuine
acclamations recorded in Par. Cf. however chap. 5d with note ad loc.
It is less clear however what conclusion can be drawn from this as to
Par.’s date. The last sentence as it stands must be emended, either to
yield ‘Leo has surpassed Constantine’, or ‘Leo and Constantine (i.e.
Constantine V) have prevailed’. If the former, the acclamation would
refer only to Leo III, comparing him with Constantine the Great, and
with its reference to a procession to the sea walls would fit very well in the
context of the imperial propaganda during his masterful handling of the
siege of Constantinople in 717-18, when just such a procession is record¬
ed (see Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during the Reign of Leo III, pp. 36-43,
135-36 for discussion of the oriental sources). The evidence of Par. would
belong to the early years of Leo’s reign. On the other hand, not merely is
it just as easy to emend to ‘Leo and Constantine’ (joint rulers from 720)
but there are a number of surviving inscriptions attesting their joint
repairs to the walls (see above). In this case it is natural to think of the
damage done by the earthquake of 740 as the factor necessitating repair,
even though Leo’s death in 741 provides a tight chronology. But perhaps
there is no need to refer all the building activity on the walls to this
period; the inscriptions (and the acclamation) might date from any time
within their joint reign, i.e. 720-41.
Preger made the mistake of assuming that this refers to Leo I, whom
Par. regularly calls ‘great’ (chaps. 29, 45, 61, 64, 67, 88). But the whole
COMMENTARY 171
context, and the close parallels with both the situation after the Arab
siege and the wall inscriptions, even without the epithet ‘pious’ place it
beyond doubt that Leo III is meant.
Greens: there are several other factional acclamations recorded in Par.
(see chaps. 29, 35a, 38, 40, 59, 81). For this one, see Alan Cameron, Cir¬
cus Factions (Oxford, 1976), p. 334 (though note that Par. does not say that
the acclamations was addressed to Leo Makelles (Leo I), as we have
seen). The term ό δήμος τοϋ Πρασίνου (sc. μέρους) is standard for ‘the
Greens’ (Cameron, op. cit., pp. 39 ff.). It is probable that the acclama¬
tions were recorded in a written source and that they were there simply
listed without much or any context (see e.g. on chap. 38).
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
in fact unlikely that the horses mentioned here are the same as those at
chap. 84; whereas the latter may well be those removed to San Marco in
Venice from their position over the starting gates (see note ad loc.), these
are part of a group with driver and chariot, and their location must be
sought elsewhere in the Hippodrome. Neolaia might refer to a particular
place in the Hippodrome, presumably quite distinct from the carceres. L.
Borrelli Vlad and A. Guidi Toniato, ‘The Origins and Documentary
Sources of the Horses of San Marco’, Exhibition Catalogue, p. 127, with n.
9, p. 135, suppose that it was the place where the young men sat. It is
true that ‘young men’ were recognised as a special group, often
associated with the factions, and if there is anything in this explanation, it
might therefore have to do with the places occupied by the factions. For
‘young men’ see E. Patlagean, Pauvrete sociale et pauvrete economique a
Byzance, IVe-VIIe siecles (Paris, 1977), pp. 228-29; for the seats of the fac¬
tions, see Alan Cameron, Porphyrius, p. 182.
with a small calf: P’s text is defective and the missing letters have to
be supplied on the basis of Patria, 11.87, p. 196.
four horses shining with gold: at first sight the same as the group
described at chap. 84 as being ‘above the Hippodrome’; cf. also Nicetas
Choniates, loc. cit. This would be the group attributed to Lysippus, to be
seen on the fagade of San Marco in Venice. For discussion of the San
Marco horses, see note on chap. 84 below.
These four horses and chariot recall for Par. those at the Milion record¬
ed in chap. 38. Thus Par. here wrongly assumes that the group at the
Neolaia was involved in the annual birthday celebrations of Constantino¬
ple; the little statue was transported from the starting gates to the Stama,
where it was acclaimed. Par. clearly has in mind the annual ceremony
described by Malalas, pp. 320-22 Bonn, where a gilded wooden copy of
the Forum statue of Constantine (see on chap. 56), holding a Tyche in its
hand, was brought into the Hippodrome on a chariot and acclaimed.
However, the figure at the Neolaia which Par. evidently confuses with the
Tyche of the city is described as a ‘running statue’, and the statue itself is
said to be female (see below). The most likely explanation is that Par. is
actually reporting correctly; the Neolaia group was an antique group of a
female driver, and the ‘small statue’ was a miniature athletic figure. By
Par. ’s day it is unlikely that a statue or chariot was still involved in the
birthday ceremonies (below). The author has seen the Neolaia group and
jumped to conclusions about it based on a dim awareness of the fourth- to
sixth-century birthday celebrations.
Par. in fact preserves two more accounts of the foundation and subse¬
quent birthday celebrations of the city (chaps. 38, 56), with no attempt at
synchronisation. Yet the evident confusion may conceal genuine tradi-
COMMENTARY 173
tion; Par. is clear that a Tyche was involved in the dedication, and this
detail is unlikely to have been a later invention. In chap. 5 Theodosius is
held reponsible for ending the anniversary ceremonies in their earliest
form, whereas at chap. 38 it is Julian who destroyed the Tyche. In fact
they continued in some form into the sixth century (Malalas, loc. cit.,
with Chron. Pasch., p. 550), and the games in the Hippodrome were still
held in the tenth century (De Caer., I, pp. 340-49); see introduction, sec¬
tion viii.
statue of a female: a whole folium is missing in P from this point (to
the end of 5d). It has been supplied by Preger from Patria, II. 87-91,
pp. 196-98. In adjacent sections the Patria can be observed to follow Par.
fairly closely, and it is likely that these sections do represent essentially
what stood in P at this point. However, since the Patria do not always
follow P verbatim, problems arise about whether exact words in the Patria
actually stood in P. For further discussion, see notes below (especially on
5d) and introduction, section ii.
running image: surely not a crass error but genuine observation—the
statue was an antique model of a female athlete. The author has mistaken
it (because of the chariot and horses) for the city Tyche (chaps. 38, 56),
but failed to observe the obvious discrepancy. The rest of chap. 5
therefore concerns the annual birthday celebration as it was thought to
have been in the fourth century, and Par.’s error does not negate the
value of this latter part for the history and nature of the early ceremonies.
See further on chap. 56 (main discussion).
An alternative explanation of the ‘running’ figure might be that it was
an advancing or ‘hastening’ Victory, of the type familiar from late anti¬
que coins (see e.g. J. P. C. Kent, Roman Imperial Coinage VIII (London,
1981), 551, 588-9). But such Victories typically bear wreaths, not men¬
tioned here by Par.
group of horses: the word ζεΰξις properly means ‘yoking’, but is here
used for the horses so yoked, and perhaps the chariot as well, since the
passage below differentiates between the driver and the rest of the group;
cf. the similar use of ζεύξιπποι at chap. 8. Both the location of the group
and its firm association with a female driver, chariot and ‘running image’
make it unlikely that the four horses are the San Marco horses (see on
chap. 84). As at chap. 38 (see ad loc.) Par. has wrongly associated a
chariot group with the birthday celebrations. The authors knew of the
ceremony but (since the wooden statue had long disappeared) were
unable to connect it correctly with a surviving statue or statue group.
candles and white chlamydes: i.e. wearing the standard dress for
late antique ceremonial. Par. thus preserves at some remove a genuine
late antique description of the fourth-century ceremonial. See also on
174 COMMENTARY
Par. includes material of different dates and bias, for this passage must
predate AD 726, when the icon was removed, whereas other passages in
Par. are certainly later, including, perhaps, 5d. where allusion is made to
the destruction of monuments by Leo III (see note ad loc.). In any case,
Par. had access to a good source for the late sixth-century emperors (in¬
troduction, section viii)—see Mango, p. 102 and below on chap. 43.
For the Chalke gate see also chaps. 33, 44a, 77, 78 and 80. A substan¬
tial roofed structure, this entrance to the imperial palace was one of the
most conspicuous buildings in the ceremonial heart of Constantinople.
The icon placed on its fagade would inevitably become one of the major
religious symbols of the city. D. Stein, Der Beginn des byzantinischen
Bilderstreits (Munich, 1980), pp. 70-74, 156, 197, argues that Leo III
replaced the icon of Christ with a new image of the Cross surrounded
with prophets, apostles and their sayings. But this substitution is not
mentioned explicitly in the contemporary source, a letter of Patriarch
Germanus to Thomas of Claudiopolis (PG. 98, col. 185A); cf. Speck, Ar-
tabasdos, pp. 277-78, 378, note 649 fin. The further suggestion (Stein, op.
cit., p. 197, note 17), that the destruction of the Christ icon in 726 is a
literary topos, does not alter the fact that if chap. 5b did stand in this form
in P, it was certainly written before 726. The whole question will be
discussed further by P. Speck and D. Stein in a forthcoming study of the
sources for the reign of Leo III.
represented as God and man: this terminology could be said to be
favourable to icons. For Par.’s stance in the iconoclastic controversy, see
introduction, section v. In contrast to this description of the Chalke icon,
the Patria (III.20, p. 219) record incorrectly that there was a bronze
statue of Christ on the Chalke, erected by Constantine I and destroyed by
Leo III.
Ligurius the pagan: one of Par.’s Fictitious sources: see introduction,
section ix. Presumably he is the same as the ‘astronomer and consul’ of
Leo I in chap. 64.
they wintered outside and attacked the surrounding areas. The first occa¬
sion seems the most likely context for the events of this passage.
the equipment of the commanders of Rhegion: a typical chatty ad¬
dition by the writer.
the precious relics: the translation of the relics of S. Euphemia to the
martyrion near the Hippodrome, which had been adapted from part of
an earlier secular building (Naumann-Belting, op. cit., p. 23; Muller-
Wiener, pp. 122 ff.). Again this passage has implications for the date of
Par. and for Par.’s attitude to the iconoclastic emperors (introduction,
section v), since the relics were later disturbed by Constantine V
(741-75). They were desecrated by being thrown into the sea, whence
they were supposed to have floated to Lemnos (Theophanes, pp. 439-40
de Boor; see introduction, loc. cit., with Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm during
the Reign of Constantine V, pp. 155 ff., and J. Wortley, ‘Iconoclasm and
Leipsanoclasm: Leo III, Constantine V and the Relics’, BF 8 (1982), pp.
253-79, attempting to exonerate Constantine of all blame). If this does
represent Par.’s text, it indicates a favourable attitude to the relics and
must antedate their desecration by Constantine V. The language of
chaps. 5b and 5c thus suggests a pre-iconoclastic date, and this makes it
likely that they do represent P’s text. If so, the reference to Maurice in
chap. 5b ought to be accepted too. For the difficulties raised by the
reference to Leo III in chap. 5d see further below and introduction, sec¬
tion v.
the church: i.e. collectively, the whole church. The writer has dimly
in mind the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451).
gold-niello: supplied from Patria, 11.89, p. 198, though omitted here
by Preger. Cf. chap. 47, for a similar painted statue of Apollo. The
technique of using heated wax was regularly employed for portraits on
wood and icons (cf. chaps. 10 and 49) but could also be applied to mar¬
ble. For a pre-iconoclastic example see K. Weitzmann, ‘The Jephthah
Panel in the Bema of the Church of St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt.
Sinai’, DOP 18 (1964), pp. 341 ff.
Leo the Isaurian ... irrational: see introduction, section v, and for
Leo the Isaurian, note on chap. 1. The use of the word alogiston is in¬
teresting here. At first sight neutral, in later iconophile texts it (or similar
phraseology) is used as something of a euphemism for iconoclasts; cf.
Theophanes, p. 405 de Boor άλογία; Photius, Horn. 17.1 δυσσεβείας θράσος
άλογον. See too Par.’s use of the noun άλόγημα for ‘disaster’ at chap. 61.
If this terminology reflects the later significance, it may represent an
178 COMMENTARY
3)·
Trizodon: a tripod? Cf. chap. 20, θεμάτιον τρίπουν, in a similar con¬
text of prophecy and paganism. For astronomy see also chaps. 8, 11 and
20 with note to 20.
S. Mocius: the cistern of S. Mocius may have fallen out of use
because of declining population (cf. J. Teall, ‘The Grain Supply of the
Byzantine Empire, 330-1025’, DOP 13 (1959), p. 103; C. Mango, Byzan¬
tium, p. 80), but it was not filled in completely. See Muller-Wiener,
p. 278.
pagans and Arians: note the association for Par. between antique
statues, paganism and heresy (introduction, section vii). On tombs
within the Constantinian walls, see G. Dagron, ‘Le christianisme dans la
ville byzantine’, DOP 31 (1977), pp. 3-25.
Chapter 6
can mean the whole structure, and thus a tower or column with a stair
within, which would fit the present passage very well.
five fathoms: for this measurement, see E. Schilbach, Byzantinische
Metrologie (Munich, 1970), 17 f., 22 ff.
Chosroes: Chosroes II (590-628), in view of the general context (cf.
chap. 5c).
is worshipped: for the uses of the word λατρεύειν in Par. (often with
connotations of idolatry), see introduction, note 83.
Paradeisios: for the implications of this for the question of Par.’s
sources, see introduction, section ix. Par. seems to be citing the ‘third edi¬
tion’ of the Chronicle of Hippolytus of Thebes, apparently a very recent
work for the compilers of Par. See F. Diekamp, Hippolytus von Theben,
1898, with full discussion of Par., 6-7. We seem therefore to have an in¬
dication of a genuine written source, named also in chap. 7, and just
possibly the source of 5c (introduction, section ix). The precise reference
to Hippolytus’s ‘third edition’ (he apparently produced at least three of
the five redactions in which the fragments are preserved—Diekamp, p.
xvi) does suggest that for once Par. was using something specific and that
the story of Paradeisios may have been added by Hippolytus only in the
third ‘edition’.
It is not clear at what date this Paradeisios went to Persia as a prisoner.
‘Up to today’ might imply that the statue was taken in the invasions of
Chosroes II in the early 7th c. but that Paradeisios himself was not cap¬
tured until much nearer Par. ’s own time, perhaps during the Arab inva¬
sions in the seventh or early eighth centuries. The first provincial
διοικηταί (tax collectors) do not otherwise appear until the late seventh
century (Oikonomides, Listes de preseance, pp. 313, 315). But they could
also be city officials; cf. Theophanes, pp. 367, 412. It would be equally
possible to take the νΰν as referring to the citation of Paradeisios in the
chronicle of Hippolytus, and to suppose that Paradeisios was in fact cap¬
tured during the Persian invasions of 609 or 616-17. The passages in Par.
where Persian invasions are in point must come from literary sources;
Par. shows no direct awareness of the contemporary situation of Persia
under Arab rule. For the idea that the Persians too manifested fear of an¬
cient statues, see John of Ephesus, HE VI.23, who says that a statue of
Trajan in Persia was so much feared for its malevolent potential that it
was eventually destroyed by royal command. This notion too belongs,
therefore, in the context of the Byzantine-Persian wars of the late sixth
and early seventh centuries. On balance, Paradeisios probably lived in
that period too.
Check this extraordinary story: evidently a scribe’s marginal note:
see introduction, section iv. We may well sympathise with his reaction.
See too on chap. 43.
180 COMMENTARY
Chapter 7
tion, section ix), it is at first sight surprising that its awareness of Con¬
stantine as a historical figure is so deficient (introduction, section viii).
But this and other passages make it highly likely that in fact the compilers
only knew the earlier ecclesiastical writers through later compendia, and
that even then they have made little attempt to sort out myth from fact in
the early history of Constantinople or the reign of Constantine. It is
highly unlikely that Constantine would have erected any such statue, in
Constantinople or anywhere else, since in fact the circumstances of
Crispus’s disgrace and death were kept as quiet and unpublicised as was
decently possible. Thus they go unmentioned in Eusebius, Vita Constan-
tini.
prostrated himself in penance: for the concept of μετάνοια (which
could actually mean προσκύνησις, prostration, the outward sign of repen¬
tance) see N. Oikonomides, ‘Leo VI and the Narthex Mosaic of Saint
Sophia’, DOP 30 (1976), p. 156 f.
Severus .... Eleutherius: all these are the names of persons who gave
their names to quarters of Constantinople. They seem to have been ar¬
bitrarily grouped together and crudely connected with the previous story
(like Crispus, they were all put to death unjustly). If Severus and Ar-
matius are correctly identified (see below) their statues could not have
been in existence before Valens.
Severus: probably not the emperor. According to the Patria, III. 108,
pp. 251-52, a quarter was called after one Severus, patrician and adopted
brother of Constans II (641-68). Severus may also have given his name to
the Severianae (Janin, CB2, p. 423). For the Emperor Severus in Par., see
note on chap. 73, and introduction, section viii.
Harmatius: eponymous founder of the quarter Τά Άρματίου accord¬
ing to the Patria, 1.71, p. 149. In another passage however it is said to be
named after the house built there by Armatius, magister, who betrayed
Basiliscus to Zeno in 477 and was executed by him (Patria, III.61,
p. 238). In both cases the Patria gives Armatius rather than Harmatius.
But all these explanations of the derivation of names of localities are
highly dubious.
Zeuxippus: the name comes from the baths of Zeuxippus. But at c.
73 Severus is made responsible for the baths and at c. 82 they are des¬
cribed as very ancient. An absurd story existed according to which they
were named after Zeus Hippios (Hesychius, pp. 15-16, cf. Chron. Pasch.,
p. 494 Bonn). See Janin, CB2, p. 442; Muller-Wiener, p. 51; R.
Guilland, ‘Les thermes de Zeuxippe’, JOBG 15 (1966), pp. 261-71.
Viglentius: the name of the Viglention is variously derived from Βίγ-'
λα (chap. 54, probably correctly, cf. Janin, CB2, p. 323) or from Vigilan-
tia, sister of Justinian (Patria, III. 117, p. 254). The discrepancy between
182 COMMENTARY
this passage and chap. 54, like that on the Zeuxippus (see above), is an
indication of Par. ’s multiple and uncoordinated sources, perhaps also of
separate entries written by different people.
Eleutherius: said to have been a secretis (Patria, 11.63, p. 184) and
patrician (Patria, III.91, p. 248) under Constantine, whose statue (and
house—Patria III.91, p. 248) stood near the harbour known as
Eleutheriou. But as the character is otherwise unknown, the etymology is
almost certainly fictitious. For the Senaton, see on chap. 8 below.
Arians: for Arians in Par. see introduction, section v and note to chap.
1. With this sentence (suggested by the mention of the Arian Valens) Par.
‘explains’ what was perhaps the starting point of the passage as a whole,
the suspicion that there were some ancient statues buried at the Tetrade-
sion near the church of S. Theodore. See also notes on chaps. 1 and 28.
The words ‘until today’ (introduction, section v) betray the concerns of
the compilers, and leave one with the suspicion that the derivations and
identifications offered here are their own work.
Chapter 8
II (cf. chap. 43). More probably however it reflects a vague and uneasy
general feeling that there was a lot of potentially dangerous pagan
statuary buried under the streets of the city. This may not have been so
far from the truth; a rise in the level of occupation since the late antique
period, combined with neglect of many classical monuments, may have
resulted in some being half hidden and all the more mysterious for that.
Chapter 9
the twelve baskets: i.e. the baskets used to gather up the crumbs after
the feeding of the five thousand. One MS of Hesychius (p. 17,n. tol. 15)
refers to their having been buried by Constantine at the base of the great
column with other relics (see also chap. 23). This connection again in¬
dicates that Par. is here dealing with the Senate house of the Forum of
Constantine.
Metrophanes: bishop AD 306-14.
vault: according to Hesychius (see above) they were buried under the
column of Constantine. Par. might possibly be taken to be referring to the
so-called ‘oratory of Constantine’ at the foot of the column (see J. Eber-
solt, Constantinople, Paris, 1951, pp. 71-74; Dagron, Naissance, p. 34, with
n. 3).
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
These statues.: i.e. they were (it is said) in or around the site of the
earlier church of S. Sophia before its rebuilding by Justinian I. The
writer of this passage did not therefore see them all in one group.
Whether he is likely to be right about their identification or their collec¬
tive origin seems doubtful, especially as the last sentence seems to imply
that only ‘most’ could now be seen. The last sentence even has a defen¬
sive air, as though this is good information, even if not everyone believes
it. For similar exhortations see e.g. chap. 39, fin.
Chapter 12
Manaim: otherwise unknown, but for the name (the Patria, 11.97,
p. 202 have Mocvocvafj) see de Boor, Texte und Untersuchungen V.2b (Leip¬
zig, 1889), p. 170, and Acts 13.1.
Scythians: quite unspecified, simply an umbrella literary term for
any northern barbarians. The identification of the statue is not likely to
be other than semi-legendary, if indeed not invented.
Horreum: For P’s ώρίω (ώρείω Preger) we read ώρίω. ώριον is used
for ώρειον (= horreum, a granary) in Geopon. 2.28 etc. (LSJ s.v.). See
below on ‘measure’ and cf. Theophanes, p. 384 τά βασιλικά όρια mean¬
ing ‘imperial granaries’.
The Modion
This chapter raises many problems, not least because a whole sentence
is missing in P; thus the question arises again (see on chap. 5) to what ex¬
tent the Patria can be relied on as an indication of Par. ’s original text. In
this case the difficulty is acute, since there seem to be differences between
P and the Patria (11.97, p. 202, cf. 51, p. 179) over the location of the Mo¬
dion.
‘Modion’ was the name given to a granary, horreum, associated with
the official standard measure, the archimodion, established there by Valen-
tinian. This took the form in part of a pair of bronze hands fixed on
spikes, which warned merchants who cheated of the penalty for their
crime, i.e. mutilation. The name of the measure derived from modios, a
term for the measurement of wheat (Schilbach, Metrologie, p. 58 f.); hence
the presence of a granary and its assumption of the name. In 455 Valenti-
nian III fixed the official price of wheat in Africa at 40 modioi for 1
solidus; 30 modioi per solidus was also a common rate (Jones, LRE I,
pp. 445-46). Only in bad harvests, dearth or famine did the price rise to
only 12 modioi per solidus {ibid., pp. 445, II, p. 844). But Par. seems to
be confusing prices and measures, probably because as usual (cf. chaps.
16, 24) the text is at its most obscure when the author is trying to explain
COMMENTARY 187
something in his own words. Here it claims that the solidus (nomisma)
was originally silver, probably a simple error (but see below). The whole
chapter relates to the imperial control of corn imports used to provide free
bread for the people of Constantinople (cf. chaps. 29 and 32) and com¬
memorates Valentinian’s role in this matter. By Par.’s day the bread
doles may not have existed on the same scale, but in 713-15 Artemius-
Anastasius stocked the imperial granaries with foodstuffs in anticipation
of a long siege (Theophanes, p. 384). The Horreum of this chapter may
have been one such depot.
As for the location of the Modion, Par., in its extant sections in P, gives
no location, while the Patria, II, 51, p. 179 and 97, p. 202, place it in the
Amastrianon. From De Caer., I, pp. 83, 106 Bonn, however, we learn
that the Modion lay between the Philadelphion and the Forum Tauri,
where in fact a pair of stone hands was found (Janin, CB2, p. 66), no
doubt a copy of the bronze hands on spikes. Possibly this was the original
site of the Modion, a public place on the Mese named after the measure
set up there. The Modion at the Amastrianon mentioned by the Patria
may only have been erected in the late eighth century, when the Empress
Irene installed bakeries there; see on chap. 40. We would have to suppose
that the Patria, drawing on Par. ’s entry about the orignal Modion, have
added the Amastrianon location. Par. will not have known of the second
Modion. Thus it is not clear whether the house of Crateros, mentioned in
the Patria, II. 97, and supplemented here, was actually at the
Amastrianon or near the Mese, though the latter would follow if in fact
the Patria got this sentence from Par. The following chapter in the Patria
(II.97a) also places the statue of Valentinian described by Par. at the
Amastrianon; so it seems likely that it has similarly misplaced the original
site of the Modion. Since the statue itself was destroyed under Justinian,
both Par. and the Patria are reporting on something no longer possible to
check. In Par. it is striking that the modion of Valentinian seems to be
clearly distinguished from any association with the Amastrianon, nor
does Cedrenus relate it to that area (I, p. 566 f. Bonn). The next chapter
in Par. (chap. 13) describes a statue erected in the buildings of the Bread
Market, the Artotyrianos, thus showing the logical connection for the
writer between the Modion, associated with grain, and bread. But as the
Bread Market lay on the other side of the Forum Tauri, further to the
east, it cannot have adjoined the Modion.
Thus it seems likely that the original measure established by Valenti¬
nian was set up on the Mese, and gave its name to a public place known
as the Modion. The Patria, on this view, knew of another modion at the
Amastrianon, evidently set up after the compilation of Par.; it is possible
also that the original modion was moved to this different site.
188 COMMENTARY
The difficulty and obscurity of the Greek in this chapter, together with
the fact that a number of letters are missing in P, make it one of the
hardest to interpret, though the parallel texts in Anon. Treu and the
Patria just about make it intelligible.
what is called a measure: the text from here to ‘spikes’ must be sup¬
plemented from the Patria, 11.97, p. 202, since P omits a sentence. The
use of ώρολόγιον (normally ‘clock’, ‘sundial’: see on chap. 39) should be
compared with Patria, 11.51, p. 179, where it is glossed by εξαμον (see
below). The Modion is thus identified by both terms, and the reference is
specifically to a monument at the Amastrianon.
Valentinian: Janin, CB2, pp. 66, 69, assumes Valentinian III
(425-55); perhaps rather Valentinian I (364-75), who built the aqueduct
(see chap. 74) according to Cedrenus, I, 685. Valentinian III, on the
other hand, established a measure for Africa (see note above).
an official measure: the text is very compressed, but the meaning is
more or less clear from Anon. Treu, p. 9 (Suda, s.v. Μαναΐμ), though the
compiler has freely paraphrased Par. One or two letters are probably
missing at different places in P’s text.
for the nomisma was originally made of silver: we expect a
reference to the measurement of wheat, but Par. seems to be referring to
the price. If Par. does have the measurement in mind, the ratio 1:40, not
1:12, would have been expected. Nor is Par. right about the Constanti-
nian solidus (= the nomisma), which was of gold from the beginning,
and famous as such. It is very odd that Par. is at its most obscure when
dealing with everyday things; but cf. chaps. 16, 24. It may very well be
that what Par. is actually thinking of is the ratio of lesser denominations
to the solidus/nomisma in its own day; in the tenth century certainly, 1
solidus = 12 miliaresia (Book of the Prefect, III.3, ed. Nicole, p. 25). This
might well account for its (wrong) assumption about the origins of the
solidus. If there is anything in this suggestion, it confirms both the ig¬
norance of Par. about the real early history of Constantinople and the in¬
ability of the author(s) to explain things clearly in his own words.
Theodoret: see introduction, section ix.
full: cf. Patria, 11.51, p. 179.
shippers: the navicularii. A considerable body of legislation was con¬
cerned with confirming the privileges and regulating the conduct of these
merchants, who maintained the corn supply of Constantinople and
Rome.
one of the shippers: the Greek as it stands is very difficult, with a
genitive participle (καταγγείλαντος) left hanging without reference. But
Patria 11.51, p. 179.8 has turned the construction round, evidently find¬
ing it difficult too, so that P’s text is probably correct, even if obscure,
COMMENTARY 189
and should not be emended. It was the shipper (or sailor—see below)
who was accused of cheating and punished by the emperor by having his
hand cut off. Par. is thus explaining the significance of the bronze hands.
We have translated P’s text as ‘one of the shippers’ (for άμφότερα mean¬
ing ‘all’, cf. chap. 17). Whether ναυτών (usually ‘sailors’) has its normal
meaning here seems doubtful; more probably it is simply a variant for the
participial ναυτιοϋσιν. It is impossible to translate this sentence literally,
but P’s tortuous syntax elsewhere (see introduction, section iv) suggests
that it must stand nevertheless.
among those present: what appears to be envisaged is that the ship¬
pers are selling corn to the emperor so that it can be used for corn doles
(see chap. 18). Since the price had been fixed (see above) the shippers
could be punished if caught cheating on the weight. ‘Those present’
presumably implies that the accusation took place in public while the sale
was proceeding. The subject of the participle will then be an unspecified
‘someone’.
at the foot of the Modion: for κατωγάιω see chap. 4. No doubt ‘at
ground level’, or ‘basement level’ rather than actually underground.
measure: the word εξαμον appears again at chap. 37 (the examon of
Heraclius in the Basilica) and at Patria, II. 51, p. 179, used to gloss
ώρολόγιον. The sense is uncertain, but it ought to mean ‘measure’ and
perhaps comes from Latin examen. Here it clearly recalls Valentinian’s
establishment of a just measure, commemorated in this monument. But
see on chap. 37.
was removed: Par. seems to be saying that the statue, measure and
all, was removed, i.e. to be melted down or simply handed over for
tribute, by one Curius, a protector, i.e. an imperial guardsman, in
528/29 (the title suggests Justinian I, though MS G of the Patria, at
II.97a, p. 203, understands it as Justinian II). See R. Frank, Scholae
Palatinae (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome,
23, Rome, 1969), pp. 84 ff.
Chapter 13
struck ... into coins: cf. chap. 42 and note to chap. 28. Obols were of
silver; see Schilbach, Metrologie, pp. 175, 185.
Chapter 14
Ardaburius: son of Aspar, mag. mil. or. from AD 450; dismissed for
treason by Leo I in 466, further accused and executed in 471; PLRE II,
s.v.; see Jones, LRE I, pp. 221-23. For Ardaburius’s character see Suda,
s.v.
Herodian: see below.
hunchbacked: for statues so described, see chaps. 19, 44 and cf. 76.
The writer sees something potentially funny or malevolent about them.
This story is typical of the kind of moral that Par. tends to draw from en¬
counters with statues: introduction, section vii and note on chap. 28.
heavy: cf. chap. 28, of the statue that falls on Himerius and kills him.
he found: either inside or under the statue.
talents of gold pounds: talents and pounds of gold used inter¬
changeably—Schilbach, Metrologie, pp. 171-72.
he was killed: i.e. Ardaburius was killed by Leo. His dying words
follow.
‘No one who has debased ...’: Ardaburius protests that his lot is
worse even than that of proved counterfeiters. For harsh penalties for
malpractice by monetarii see Jones, LRE I, p. 436. The text is corrupt
where we have written ‘received’: but the promising ηύρίσκετο in later
MSS of the Patria is likely to be a later conjecture rather than the original
reading.
this hunchbacked emperor: clearly the point of the story is to
underline the malevolence of pagan statues, and to point a comparison
between the ugliness of the statue and the unpleasantness of Leo.
‘Hunchbacked’ seems to be used as a general term of abuse—cf. chap. 44
on Tiberius II, who was certainly not hunchbacked, and cf. also chaps.
19, 29. In some way the statue signified the emperor and the punishment
that Ardaburius would receive from him. Those who could understand
these arcane matters (the ‘philosophers’—introduction, section iv) knew
that this incident with the statue, rather than any other action, brought
on the execution of Ardaburius. The moral is: don’t play about with an¬
cient statues, especially pagan ones. At the end of chap. 28, where a not
dissimilar tale is told, the moral is stated in so many words, but here it is
only left implicit.
this place: this ought to mean the place where the statue was, but that
was in Thrace (see above). Nor can it mean the place of execution, for
that took place in the palace (Com. Marcell., a. 471). Perhaps it refers to
COMMENTARY 191
where Aspar, his father, was commemorated, i.e. the Taurus (see
below). Such carelessness would not be untypical of Par.
philosophers: introduction, section iv. Cf. chaps. 24, 37, 41, 64.
‘Philosophers’ are above all those who can understand the secrets of anti¬
que statues.
Aspar: father of Ardaburius, responsible for Leo I’s elevation in AD
457. He controlled the army in the German interest, though an Alan
himself, and his other son, Patricius, was made Caesar and betrothed to
Leo’s daughter. But in 471 Leo had both Aspar and Ardaburius killed by
eunuchs in the palace (Bury, LRE I2, p. 320; Jones, LRE I, p. 223).
up to the present day: introduction, section v. See chap. 15 also,
mounted on a horse ...: there is clearly something missing in P’s text,
and the meaning of δεξιολαβεΐ is also uncertain (‘led on the right’? or
‘armed on the right’?).
Taurus: Aspar is associated with the cistern and palace named after
him (Muller-Wiener, p. 279), but these were not near the Forum Tauri.
See on chap. 88 and further, Janin, CB2, p. 204; G. Vernadsky, ‘Flavius
Ardabur Aspar’, Sudost Forschungen 6 (1941), pp. 38 ff.
Chapter 15
For the Forum see also chap. 39 (note), with chaps. 10, 17.
<he> received: there is no subject in P’s text. It should be either
Leo I (the subject of the preceding chapter) or (more probably) Constan¬
tine, the builder of the Forum.
in our time: introduction, section v.
the < emperor > in our day: P simply says ‘he’ or ‘the one in our
day’, i.e. presumably the emperor. That must surely be Constantine V,
who did have a connection with S. Mamas (introduction, section v). The
name could be omitted deliberately, or another word might be missing in
P. The Patria (11.100, p. 205) omit the allusion altogether. For Par. ’s at¬
titude to Constantine V, see introduction, section v.
S. Mamas: see chap. 22 and Janin, CB2, pp. 473-74. The region was
at Besiktas on the European bank of the Bosphorus. Constantine V used
the harbour here as a military base in 742/43, and the palace and hip¬
podrome there were the scene of his persecution of iconophiles: see in¬
troduction, section v. Par. might be carefully avoiding a direct mention of
such controversial matters. For the relevance of this to the dating of Par.
see introduction, loc. cit.
up to the present day: see introduction, section v.
192 COMMENTARY
l’arc oriental’ (loc. cit.) has no basis in the texts. Janin also seems to en¬
visage the cross described here as being different from that between the
statues of Constantine and Helena (see below).
angels: cf. Patria, 11.16, p. 159, where they are described as ‘winged’.
A similar group (a cross flanked by Constantine and Helena and two
angels) is shown in an 18th-century drawing of a reliquary at the Sainte-
Chapelle (Ebersolt, Constantinople, p. 119; see A. Frolow, Les Reliquaires de
la Vraie Croix (1965), pp. 94, 217). These groups, associating Constantine
and Helena with the Cross, are unlikely to have been of Constantinian
date, since they clearly commemorated the post-Constantinian legend of
the finding of the True Cross by Helena (see now E. D. Hunt, Holy Land
Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire AD 312-460, Oxford 1982, pp. 38 ff.).
on the right and left: i.e. of the cross.
to the north: i.e. of the Forum. For similar contortions see chap. 44a,
11-15. The impression in both places is of a pretentious but unsuccessful
attempt at ‘precision’. The Patria (11.102, p. 205) simplify things con¬
siderably— ‘on the south curve (?)’, but elsewhere (as with the inscription
on the cross—see above) they elaborate (11.18, p. 160).
a cross inlaid with silver: at 11.102, p. 205, the Patria similarly refer
to silver, but at 11.18, p. 160 to gold. It is not clear whether ‘orbs’ really
refers to round balls at the ends of the arms of the cross or to ‘tear-drop
serifs’.
just as he saw <it in the sky>: the phrase is completed from the
Patria, 11.102, p. 205. For the erection of another cross at the
Philadelphion on a porphyry column, together with statues of Constan¬
tine, Helena and his sons, also to commemorate the vision, see on chap.
58, and see note above.
Chapter 17
one back foot: perhaps we should read ένα των όπισθεν πόδα (Preger,
Addenda).
Prefect: i.e. the praefedus urbi (Dagron, Naissance, pp. 213 ff.;
reorganisation by Justinian, Jones, LRE II, p. 692; R. Guilland, ‘Etudes
sur l’histoire administrative de l’empire byzantin. L’Eparque’, Byzan-
tinoslavica 51 (1980), pp. 17-32, 145-80). In the early eighth century the
eparch was considered the most important person in the capital after the
emperor; his role at that time may be indicated by the fact that Daniel of
Sinope, eparch under Artemius-Anastasius, was sent as an envoy to
Caliph Walid (Theophanes, p. 384).
soldiers: they formed part of the τάξις τοΰ έπαρχου, a city police re¬
corded in De Caer., App. to vol. I, p. 498; 11.19, p. 609 Bonn. At Patria,
11.31, p. 167 they are said to guard the petitions deposited at the Pittakia
(see on chap. 67).
all the bones: for άμφότεφα meaning ‘all’ see on chap. 12.
tablet: uncertain whether Par. means a flat tablet or a box with a lid.
‘Not even in death’: the general vocabulary strongly suggests a con¬
fused versions of an epigram, possibly ending χωρίζομαι ουδέ θανούσης in¬
stead of the unmetrical ουδέ θανούσης χωρίζομαι. The T’ of the epigram is
the tablet or box (if the latter, a perfume or make-up box) and the
priestess Aphrodite is its owner. It would be typical of Par. to misunder¬
stand a conventional classical (i.e. pagan) usage. If the bones really ex¬
isted, they ought to be those of Aphrodite herself. But though the
box/tablet and its inscription were probably genuine enough, the story
associating them with the elephant is of course highly suspicious.
This: of the whole elephant statue. The medium is not specified, but
is most likely stone.
as in the above cases: cf. chap. 13.
Chapter 18
In the place: presumably ‘nearby’ rather than ‘on’, the Milion being
a monument, not a place. This looseness of terminology for indicating
place is typical of Par. The Patria, 11.104, p. 207, add that the statue held
in its hand an orb and a crowned human figure. For the other statuary at
the Milion and the figures of Constantine and Helena with a cross and
the Tyche of the city on the roof see on chaps. 34-35.
donated much grain: see also chap. 35a.
Chapter 19
III.9, p. 217 (MS G); but chap. 33 refers to a Peripatos in front of the
palace (see note ad loc.). Since chap. 18 is about the Milion, the Peripatos
of the palace is perhaps more likely here.
the crooked Firmillianus: the point of the joke is lost on us. At chap.
29 there is also an obscure lesson to be drawn from a crooked or hunch¬
backed statue, and see too chaps. 14 and 44. Certainly ‘crooked’ is a
word of abuse, probably not to be taken literally.
for a joke: either meaning that the statue was set up as a joke, or that it
became the object of laughter. In Par. the ‘philosophers’ who understand
the secrets of statues often find themselves laughing at what they
discover—see particularly chap. 64. On the other hand, the lessons that
they draw are, to the Christian author(s) of Par., deadly serious.
until today: introduction, section v. Cf. the identical wording at
chap. 7.
The Xerolophos on the seventh hill of the city in the western region
was the site of the forum and column of Arcadius. The forum itself could
be called the Xerolophos, but was also known as the Forum of
Theodosius (Patria, II. 105, p. 207). For the consequent confusions, liable
to involve the Forum Tauri as well, see Guilland, Topographie, II,
pp. 59 ff.; Muller-Wiener, pp. 250-53. Severus built the Xerolophos as
well as many other pagan monuments connected by Par. with spectacles,
idolatry, divination and sacrifice (see on chaps. 37 and 73). But Par. does
not comment on the images sculpted on the column of Arcadius which
later gave rise to such debate (see Patria, II, 47, 53, pp. 176-77, 180).
These form the subject of the Diegesis (ed. Dagron and Paramelle, Travaux
et Memoires 7 (1979), 491-523), where they are explained as prophesying
the future of the city. The Xerolophos was decorated with other statues
which may have been erected by Theodosius II (Guilland, loc. cit., citing
Com. Marc., a. 435). It also held many imperial statues, including one
on top of the column of Arcadius, identified by Par., following
Diakrinomenos, as Theodosius II, with Valentinian and Marcian at the
foot (chap. 71). But Theophanes (p. 412 de Boor) says this was of Ar¬
cadius himself, as one would expect. Both sources agree that the column
fell in an earthquake, which in Theophanes is clearly the great earth¬
quake of 740: on the implications of this for the date of Par., see introduc¬
tion, section v. Both Par. and the Patria link the Xerolophos with the Ex-
akionion, which was similarly decorated with pagan sculpture and the
site of spectacles. Their close proximity explains this association, which
may indeed go back to the time of Severus (see note to chap. 21).
196 COMMENTARY
spectacle: see introduction, section iv. The writer implies that there
might be disagreement about what statues and monuments fell into this
category. The specialised use of theama in Par. (see also on chap. 21)
makes Guilland’s suggestion (loc. cit.) that the forum was originally called
Thauma (sic) most unlikely.
Formerly: probably implying that the columns and statues have now
disappeared.
sixteen spiral columns: an unlikely number; they have after all
disappeared, and the author may simply be guessing. ‘Spiral’—i.e.
covered with reliefs in the form of a spiral (see G. Becatti, La Colonna
coclide istoriata, Rome, 1960), or, perhaps more likely, simply ‘twisted’.
composite statue: i.e. as Artemis of the Ephesians, with many breasts
and surrounded by animals.
the founder, Severus: for Severus, see also on chap. 37, and especial¬
ly 73 and introduction, section viii. Severus’s role as the pagan counter¬
part of Constantine in the development of Byzantium/Constantinople is
even more fully developed and mythologised in the Diegesis (Travaux et
Memoires 7 (1979), 491-523).
oracles: introduction, section vii. Pagan statuary was obscurely felt to
be capable of yielding prophecies of the future history of the city—to
those who knew how to read the signs. Similarly, it is often presented as
the scene of sacrifice, execution or, on occasion, martyrdom; see Dagron
and Paramelle, op. cit. However compressed, the present chapter fits
perfectly into this whole patriographic complex of ideas concerning the
dangers and hidden powers of antique statues, though it represents an
early stage in the development. For astronomy in relation to pagan
statuary, see chaps. 5d, 8, 11.
sacrifices: Severus’s pagan practices are similarly magnified in the
Diegesis (Dagron and Paramelle, op. cit.)·. cf. also chap. 22 below.
an astronomical position: the meaning is very uncertain, though
the connection of astronomy and pagan statues is built in to Par.’s at¬
titudes. For the word in an astrological context, see D. Pingree, ‘The
Horoscope of Constantinople’, in Y. Maeyama and W. G. Saltzer (eds.),
Πρίσματα. Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtliche Studien (Wiesbaden, 1977),
pp. 305-15, especially p. 307.
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
at S. Mamas: see above and on chap. 15. Par. uses the name of the
church to denote the area in general.
bridge: presumably this bridge was in the area to which Par. refers at
chaps. 15 and 21, thus at Besiktas. The Patria, 11.21, p. 161, refer to it as
πέραν τής πόλεως, which Janin, CB2, p. 243, takes to mean at the Golden
Horn, on the basis of the modern Pera/Galata area, which took its name
from this phrase. In fact the Flamurdere river, in a deep ravine, would
well explain the existence of a bridge such as this.
arches and vaults: the Greek is very ambiguous, and P seems to have
made a mistake (μαρμάρας for καμάρας, as in the Patria). The twelve
arches and vaults may be spans of the bridge, but they may also be refer¬
ring to its decoration.
dragon: cf. also the dragon statue at the Hippodrome, chap. 62.
virgins were sacrificed: see above on chap. 20.
Basiliscus: surely the Basiliscus who rebelled against Zeno in AD 475
(cf. chaps. 26, 29, 32 and see note on 85). Par. is well informed about the
reigns of Leo I and Zeno, and this must reflect an available source,
though the considerable confusion apparent in these passages may well
be the contribution of Par. Basiliscus was the brother of the Empress
Verina, wife of Leo I. The paganism attributed to him here derives from
the supposed association here with Numerian (Caesar AD 282, Augustus
283, died 284), son of Carus (for Carus see also on chaps. 37, 56-57) and
thus connected by Par. with the pagan side in the various stories of the
foundation of the city.
put an end to these things: i.e. to the worship of Zeus, perhaps by
destroying the temple.
Chapter 23
underneath the great statue: for the ‘great statue’ see above, on
chap. 17. For the objects said to have been buried beneath the column
(see chap. 10) see Ebersolt, Constantinople, pp. 73-74.
crosses bearing the form of the Great Cross: perhaps ‘bearing the
shape of’, i.e. regarded as types of the True Cross, or literally ‘bearing
traces’, i.e. relics, of the True Cross. It is not clear what size these crosses
are intended to be. The crosses of the two thieves, which follow next in
Par., are of course thought of as full-size; but here Par. is describing the
objects deposited beneath (or ‘at the foot of’) the column of Constantine,
and it is hard to imagine two full-size crosses, still less several more. The
other texts do not mention these crosses, and Cod. Ang. at Hesychius, p.
17.15 says rather ‘precious wood and holy relics’. In any case the column
was set up before the discovery of the True Cross. See further A. Frolow,
Les Reliquaires de la Vraie Croix (Paris, 1965), p. 88 f. σημεκχρορικά below
raises the same kind of problem: ‘testimonials’ or ‘types’ of the Passion?
Or ‘working miracles’ (see translation)? The language recalls the very
ambiguous terminology employed by Eusebius, whether of crosses, or the
sign of the cross, or in referring generally to the Passion.
Par. ’s references to the statue of Constantine in the Forum (see on
chap. 68a) represent different stages of a growing tradition whereby the
statue came to be regarded as a talisman in its own right. Whereas in the
chaps, relating to the foundation (5, 38, 56) Par. presents the statue with
few if any Christian associations, here and at 68a it reflects the tradition
of its own day, when the statue had been invested with religious over¬
tones and when a developed catalogue of the Christian relics supposedly
buried beneath it had been worked out. See especially on chaps. 56 and
68a.
Chapter 24
Great Strategion: in the fifth region, the place of exercise for the ar¬
my. See Guilland, Topographie, II, p. 55 f. identifying the ‘Great
Strategion’ with the general exercise area and the ‘Little Strategion’ with
the Forum of Theodosius nearby (see too Janin, CB2, pp. 431-32, and for
the name, Chron. Pasch., p. 495 Bonn).
pagan coins: νουμία (nummi), presumably bronze coins, though Par.
seems to think they were of gold (see below). But this passage is hardly
likely to preserve a historic event—see below. Par. is shaky on earlier
coinage, perhaps not surprisingly (see on chap. 12).
in a pit: there seems to be a word missing in P.
we have not found this in written form: a central passage for Par. ’s
methods and sources: see introduction, section iv. The contorted effort to
COMMENTARY 199
Chapter 25
29 (1910), pp. 1-34). See also Patria, III.2, pp. 214-5, and for the
Anastasius story, Michael Glykas, p. 492 Bonn. Cf. chap. 86, also con¬
necting the Emperor Anastasius with the church of S. Menas.
Fossa: the Fossa (‘Ditch’), if it existed, seems to be quite unknown to
other writers. But cf. also chap. 73. This Fossa, according to Par., was
constructed in the reign of Constantine (cf. chap. 73), no doubt during
his ‘wars’ (cf. that constructed during the siege of Constantinople in
717-18: Theophanes, p. 395 de Boor); it then became a repository for
‘wonders’.
wonder: see introduction, section iv.
Chapter 26
Chapter 28
chaps. 3, 35a, and see Alan Cameron, Circus Factions, p. 142 f. This can¬
not be used by itself to support Verina’s orthodoxy or her favouring of
the Greens. On the other hand, if Verina was Chalcedonian, as Par. (or
Theodore) says, then the Greens were primafacie Chalcedonian too. But it
is more likely that the comment ‘for she was thoroughly orthodox’ is a
deduction from the words of the acclamation, and further, that the ac¬
clamation (from a genuine list of Green acclamations) was applied to this
context by Theodore, because of the association of the statue of Verina
and the quarter of Basiliscus. ‘When she crowned her brother Basiliscus’
is Theodore’s linking sentence. Basiliscus had not been intended for the
throne by Verina at all; she had preferred her lover Patricius.
Chapter 30
S. Euphemia: cf. chap. 5c. This church however was in the region
north-west of the Philadelphion, Ta Olybriou (Janin, CB2, pp. 398-99;
Eglises et monasleres2, pp. 124-26; Muller-Wiener, pp. 122-25; Naumann-
Belting, Euphemia-Kirche, p. 25), but Euphemia, wife of Justin I, was not
responsible for it. The Patria, 11.60, p. 238, attribute it to Eudoxia and its
completion after her death to Olybrius, whose house was nearby; accord¬
ing to the Chron. Pasch., p. 594 Bonn, Olybrius and Placidia built it. Both
these notices surely derive from Anth. Pal. 1.12 and 14, where Anicia
Juliana, builder in the 520’s of the church of S. Polyeuktos (not men¬
tioned by Par.) is described as the third generation of her family to work
on the church; thus her grandmother, Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III
(425-55), started the building which her mother Placidia and Olybrius
continued, and it was only completed in the early sixth century. Par. ’s at¬
tribution of the church to the Empress Euphemia is a crude deduction
based on the name of the church and the statue. In the Patria, III. 183,
p. 273, Justin I and Euphemia are correctly associated with the
monastery of the Augusta, where Euphemia was indeed buried.
Chapter 31
The latter is correctly associated with the plot against the patriarch John
Chrysostom (398-404), for the latter’s disapproval of the noisy and pagan
inauguration of the statue provoked Eudoxia’s rage; her influence led to
the Council of 404 and John’s removal from Constantinople. See F. van
Ommeslaeghe, ‘Jean Chrysostome en conflit avec l’imperatrice
Eudoxie’, AB 97 (1979), pp. 131-59. On this statue and the many others
in the Augusteum, some listed in chap. 68, see Mango, Brazen House,
pp. 56, 59; Janin, CB2, p. 76; Muller-Wiener, p. 52; P. Speck,
‘Eudoxia-Saule und Pittakia’, Ελληνικά, 22 (1969), pp. 430-35. The
base of this statue was discovered in 1848 and is now in the garden of S.
Sophia; see Mango, AJA 55 (1951), p. 63.
Chapter 32
Arcadia: perhaps the first wife of Zeno; she was outlived by Ariadne,
who selected and then married his successor Anastasius (491-518). See
PLRE II, s.v. Arcadia 2.
Topoi: this place was near the Arcadianai, NE of S. Sophia and near
the Mangana palace (Janin, CB2, pp. 311-12, 435; cf. Patria, 1.52, p. 141;
11.27, p. 164). Zeno re-entered Constantinople in August, 476, and ex¬
iled Basiliscus to Cappadocia. Par. is the only source to connect these
events with Topoi and to identify these steps with the steps for bread
distributions near a church of S. Michael. Cf. chap. 29 βάθρα. It is tem¬
pting to associate the Topoi with the area where Zeno set up his seat of
judgement with his inspections, recorded in chap. 51, at the portico of
Leontius, another otherwise unknown site. Janin, CB2, p. 91, observes
that this cannot have been far from the palace, and indeed there was a
church dedicated to the archangel nearby.
on the imperial gate: i.e. the Chalke gate of the palace. These statues
are also mentioned in chap. 80. Par. is an important source for the
statuary which adorned the fagade of the Chalke: see chaps. 5b, 33, 44a,
80, 88 with notes, and Mango, Brazen House, pp. 99-103. The statues
were probably arranged in niches above a central doorway (ibid.,
pp. 103-4).
Chapter 33
statue of the Empress Pulcheria which stood at the peripatos in front of the
palace, i.e. possibly on the Mese’. The Greek itself is highly compressed,
and seems to be saying that the statue is ‘on the Chalke’ and ‘on the
Peripatos’.
Peripatos: cf. chap. 19. Probably the same, but see note ad loc. It was
a colonnade in front of the palace.
Chapter 34
above the arch: cf. chap. 10 on the ‘curved Milion’, and below, note
on chap. 35.
a cross: Patria, 11.29, p. 166, here gives a fuller account. The cross had
at its centre an image of the Tyche of the city (compare chap. 16 for the
same grouping in the Forum); according to the Patria, this Tyche was
‘bewitched’ (έστοιχειώμενον—see introduction, section vii) and signified
victory for the inhabitants of Constantinople and defeat for their
enemies. In P there is an erasure between ‘cross’ and ‘middle’ and the
words ‘and the Tyche’ should be supplied from the Patria (they were
probably erased in P because they seemed pagan). The comment about
the meaning of the Tyche in the Patria is however likely to be a later addi¬
tion (see introduction, loc. cit.).
Chapter 35a
Chapter 36
Tribunal: see Janin, CB2, p. 112. There was another room in the
palace called the Tribounalion, in addition to the famous Chamber of the
Nineteen Beds.
Eudocia: see on chap. 64.
ceremonial dances: an important piece of evidence for the existence
of a ceremonial role for the factions before the reign of Heraclius. See
Cameron, Circus Factions, pp. 251 ff., especially p. 255. Not only did the
210 COMMENTARY
Blues and Greens take part in imperial ceremonies and processions; they
had their own established places in the palace where they staged
ceremonial shows. After the reign of Heraclius, the factions were given
special courtyards outside the palace {phialai) by Justinian II, which were
in turn abolished by Basil I (867-86) in favour of a different arrangement
(see Cameron, loc. cit., and Theophanes, pp. 367-68 de Boor for the
phialai).
1954), p. 171; Head, Justinian II, p. 102. If Par.’s entry was written early
in the eighth century, it must be regarded as an excellent source for Justi¬
nian II.
Apsimar: P has ‘Tiberius son of Apsimar’, but cf. chap. 3 where the
emperor’s double name is correctly given.
Philippicus: according to Theophanes, the later emperor Philippicus
(then called Bardanes) was exiled by Tiberius Apsimar to Kephalenia
(p. 372) in AD 703; from there he was recalled by Justinian II and sent
‘with the fleet’ against the Chersonese in 711 {ibid., p. 378). But
Nicephorus (p. 44) suggests that he was to be left there as an exile.
Perhaps Philippicus did not return to favour in Justinian II’s second
reign (as assumed by Head, Justinian II, p. 146). He was proclaimed
emperor and adopted the name Philippicus in Cherson. Either our text is
referring to some sort of retrial under Justinian II (705-11), or to the
events of 703. It does not seem likely that Par. has in mind the fall of
Philippicus himself in 713; we know that he was blinded in or near the
Hippodrome (Nicephorus, p. 49; Theophanes, p. 383). See however
Speck, Universitat, p. 99 and note 52.
censured: or ‘condemned’. It is best to punctuate here and start a
new sentence with ‘Tervel’, since the trial of Philippicus is less easily
linked with the presence of foreign princes ‘on several occasions’ than is
the presentation of tribute. But either construction is awkward.
Tervel: the Bulgarian ruler who enabled Justinian II to return to
power in 705 (Nicephorus, pp. 41-42; Theophanes, p. 374); he was richly
and ceremonially rewarded by Justinian {ibid.). Par. must be referring to
these great ceremonies. See Head, Justinian II, pp. 123-24.
Gliavanos the Khazar: see Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica2 (1958), I,
pp. 81-86; II, pp. 335-36, on the Khazars. The chroniclers make no
mention of a visit by the Khazar Khan, but they do describe how Justi¬
nian sent for his Khazar wife after his reinstatement (Nicephorus, p. 43;
Theophanes, p. 375). It is possible that the Khan, or one of his kinsmen,
accompanied the empress and was honoured in Constantinople; Justi¬
nian’s recall of his wife suggests that he valued the alliance, despite the
Khan’s treachery while Justinian had been in exile.
payment: for πάκτον of tribute, see on chap. 12. For Justinian’s
rewards to Tervel the Bulgar see V. Besevliev, VV 16 (1959), pp. 8-13.
elephant: for another statue of an elephant, in the Forum of Constan¬
tine, see chap. 17, and cf. Speck, Universitat, pp. 99, with note 45; 106.
as the exhibitors of animals have assured us: Par. ’s chatty tone sur¬
faces again. Even if chaps. 37-41 or 43 came from a different ‘source’,
they have the same language and outlook as the rest of Par.; cf. the
following sentence, for example. Here the ‘evidence’ of animal keepers is
COMMENTARY 213
Guilland, Topographie, II, pp. 99-101). The note about the reclining
Heracles seems to have slipped in parenthetically, since we are now back
with the ‘strange story’ of Severus and the elephant.
Nouzametos: one would say a fictitious name, except that Par. seems
clear that this person was of Persian origin.
tribute payments: for πάκτον see also chap. 12. But the mention of
Byzas and Antes locates the story in the realm of legend.
This spectacle: i.e. the elephant statue was still to be seen in or near
the Basilica and clearly needed exposition by Par.’s group of
‘philosophers’. Chap. 37 is a good specimen of their claims and their
methods; see introduction, section iv.
Chapter 38
Spectacle number two: this time P has the number and an ex¬
planatory title as well; so too with chaps. 39-43. Preger’s suggestion that
ώρέω stands for aureo (Latin ‘golden’) must be right, the Milion being
often so described. For the Milion see chaps. 10, 34-35 and note to
chap. 35.
This chapter wrongly ascribes an epigram from the Porphyrius base in
the Hippodrome to the supposed acclamation of the Emperor Constan¬
tine at the Milion, and probably also wrongly connects a chariot group at
the Milion with the birthday ceremonies of the city which included the
procession of a statue of Constantine into the Hippodrome to be
honoured there (see on chaps. 5, 56, and introduction, section viii).
Nevertheless, the chapter does preserve a genuine text known from other
sources, and some possibly authentic, if confused, idea of the early birth¬
day ceremonial.
It is obviously natural to suppose that the author read the epigram off
the Porphyrius monument in situ in the Hippodrome. It is not clear when
the bases were removed from the Hippodrome (see Cameron, Porphyrius,
p. 5 f.), but they were probably still there in Par. ’s day. In this case the
author can hardly be excused: he has taken a charioteer epigram about a
charioteer called Constantine to refer to the Emperor Constantine the
Great; see Cameron, Porphyrius, 109-11. Moreover, the (genuine)
epigram attributed to the Blues seems to have belonged rather to the
Greens (Cameron, op. cit., p. 111). But since the bases were on top of the
fifteen-foot high spina, it would in fact have been hard to read the inscrip¬
tions on them, and it is at least possible that Par. found these in a written
source, though perhaps more probably in a collection of acclamations
(for which see chaps. 3, 29) than a MS anthology, as suggested by
Cameron, op. cit., p. 112, since there is nothing to suggest that the
216 COMMENTARY
pagan origin but without explaining what this rumoured pagan origin
was. Hesychius, whose terminology comes nearest to making the connec¬
tion in the early period, merely says that the statue ‘shone like Helios’
(p. 17.14 Preger). Thus Par. may offer some support for the view that
Constantine’s statue was an Apollo-Helios (held by most scholars since
the article of Th. Preger, ‘Konstantinos-Helios’, Hermes 36 (1901),
pp. 457 ff., but rejected by Alan Cameron, ‘The Foundation of Constan¬
tinople’, forthcoming). See now R. Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals
(1983), pp. 62 ff.
At the golden Milion: for έν meaning ‘at’, see p. 184.
chariot of Zeus/Helios: the Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.42,
pp. 172-73, remove ‘Zeus’ and attribute the chariot to Helios alone. Par.
couples the two again at chap. 41.
Azotius, Byzas and Antes: as usual when Par. mentions Constantine,
we are in the realm of legend; see introduction, section viii.
‘you have taken up the whip again the Blue acclamation is ac¬
tually from one of the extant inscriptions on the Porphyrius base in the
Hippodrome (= AP XV.44), but hopelessly misapplied (see Alan
Cameron, Porphyrius, pp. 109-11; Dagron, Naissance, pp. 307-9). The
epigrams commemorated a charioteer called Constantine along with Por¬
phyrius—hence Par. ’s confusion (and a sad reflection on its lack of
awareness about the Christian founder of Constantinople). Par. perhaps
derived the epigram from a written collection of acclamations rather than
from the Porphyrius base itself—see above. It is even probable that Par. ’s
‘Blue’ acclamation was actually Green (Cameron, p. 169).
Green faction: this alleged Green acclamation is hardly applicable to
the Emperor Constantine, nor does Dagron’s translation help (‘the gods
higher than he (i.e. the charioteer) have carried him off’—Naissance,
p. 308). Perhaps it is a genuine Green acclamation from a genuine fac¬
tional record (see Alan Cameron, Circus Factions, p. 245), misunderstood
and/or misapplied by Par. See also on chaps. 3 and 29. Here Anon. Treu
and the Patria (11.42, pp. 172-3) have typically left out the acclamations
altogether. Par. has totally failed to see the inappropriateness of a
reference to ‘the gods’ in connection with the Christian Constantine (see
on chap. 68a).
a new little statue: evidently the same idea as in Malalas, p. 322 and
Chron. Pasch., p. 530 Bonn, where Constantine is said to have instituted
processions to the Hippodrome of a copy of his own statue from the
Forum, holding a copy of the Tyche also held by that statue. Par. ’s ver¬
sions of the procession have much in common with Malalas and Chron.
Pasch., but have lost the idea that these copies were wooden and gilded;
thus the author can suppose that the Milion group actually was that used
218 COMMENTARY
in the procession. The account here passes from describing the Milion
group to the ceremony itself, which was now known only from hearsay or
from such chronicles as were available. As here, chap. 5 associates the
small statue at the Neolaia with Tyche, and for the same reason; but see
note ad loc. Chap. 34 records a cross and a Tyche of the city together with
statues of Constantine and Helena on the Milion (for the text, see
translation and note ad loc.)—a group unlikely to be of Constantinian
date, but nonetheless indicative of the importance attached to the Tyche
in the fourth century. It would be wrong, however, to see this as having
a religious, as opposed to a symbolic, significance: see Alan Cameron,
‘The Foundation of Constantinople’, forthcoming.
escorted by many officials: cf. De Caer. I, pp. 440, 705 άξίαι δια
βραβείων. The insignia serve to denote the officials themselves, for which
see Oikonomides, Listes de preseance, pp. 282-83. If the terminology is
anachronistic (see on chaps. 5 and 56), it does not thereby follow that the
ceremony itself was not authentic.
Stama: the place in the Hippodrome where the charioteers were
crowned after winning a race (cf. chap. 5 and see Alan Cameron, Por-
phyrius, pp. 50-51; Dagron, Naissance, pp. 39-40).
Senate: the Senate in the Forum of Constantine; see note on chap. 8.
under Julian: apart from the parallel passage at Patria II. 42, p. 173
this is the only reference to such an action. But for the burial of suspect
statues (inverted here) see chap. 28, and for Par. ’s interest in Julian as a
prototype of iconoclastic emperors, see chap. 48 and introduction, sec¬
tion v.
inscriptions of the Forum: i.e. inscriptions on the bases of the statues
in the Forum of Constantine (cf. note to chap. 39). Each chapter in the
section ‘about spectacles’ (37-43) ends with a comment by the writer on
what has been described, either justifying the efforts of the ‘philosophers’
or else noting that the objects can still be seen. Chap. 41 concludes with a
note to Philokalos (on whom see chap. 27 and introduction, section iv)
emphasising the hard work that his commission (?) has entailed. The
language here (‘he will be amazed’) is very typical of Par.·, these statues
are objects of ‘wonder’ (introduction, section iv). At the end of chap. 11
also the writer encourages the readers to go and see for themselves by
looking round the city that what he relates is true. It may seem odd that
in a chapter about the Milion, Par. directs its readers to inscriptions in
the Forum; but its train of thought has led it to the Constantine statue
there. The implication is that Julian had recorded his destruction of the
Tyche in an inscription in the Forum—and that this is Par.’s source.
COMMENTARY 219
The Forum of Constantine lay on the Mese between the Milion and
the Forum Tauri. It was oval in shape and contained many ancient
statues, dominated by the porphyry column in the middle, bearing the
famous statue of Constantine (possibly a reused statue of Apollo):
Mango, TS, p. 57; Janin, CB2, pp. 77-80; Muller-Wiener, pp. 255-57;
Dagron, Naissance, pp. 38-39 and see on chap. 68a. When this column
was erected, at the refounding of the city, later legend claimed that a
number of significant objects were buried at the base, some listed in
chaps. 9 and 23, while others were placed on top. According to
Nicephorus Callistus one such was the axe with which Noah built the Ark
(the ‘treasure of Constantine’, HE VII.49); Malalas, p. 320 and Chron.
Pasch., p. 528 Bonn, add the palladium of Rome. Most had a Christian
purpose; cf. the crosses and other objects of Christ’s Passion mentioned
in chap. 23. In addition to the ‘great statue’ or great column of the
Forum, there were many statues and unusual objects, such as the clock or
sundial and patriarchal portraits. Around the sides were colonnades with
niches large enough to hold equestrian statues, many of which had in¬
scribed bases (chaps. 38, 39). Constantine himself commissioned many
of these (chap. 59), and destroyed one of Maxentius, an object of pagan
worship. Those of Arius and other Arians were erected by Theodosius I
so that Christians could recognise and condemn the arch-heretic
(chap. 39). The Forum of Constantine was an important ceremonial
space in the city and assembly point for the inhabitants, where the city
prefect summoned the people for announcements. It appears from
chap. 39 that free meals were sometimes distributed there, probably on
the south side where the ground slopes away and steps up to the Forum
might be required (see note ad loc.).
Both chap. 39 and chap. 40 are very corrupt and translation is often
difficult. Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.43, p. 173, lack the first part of
chap. 39 altogether.
Forum: i.e. the Forum of Constantine.
Balsama the centurion: quite unknown (if genuine).
devotee of idols: for ‘idol’ in Par. see introduction, section vii.
Though it can be neutral, simply meaning statue, as at chap. 60, εϊδώλον
does often carry the connotation of pagan ‘idols’ (chaps. 47, 49) and
είδωλολατρεία can certainly mean ‘idolatry’ (chap. 47 and see below). For
a full discussion of Par. ’s terminology of statues and the various meanings
of είδώλον see introduction, section vii. Another ‘champion of idols’ is
Koukobutios the ‘philosopher’ (chap. 41).
220 COMMENTARY
Arius: see note to chap. 1. Par. ’s notice here is unusually detailed and
vehement, and should probably be linked with renewed condemnation of
Arianism in the immediately pre-iconoclastic period—see introduction,
section v. Par. ’s phraseology looks as though it derives from a written
anti-Arian source, probably a homily (cf. Photius, Homilies XV, XVI,
trans. Mango (1958), with p. 239 f.). ‘By imperial aid’ would seem to
refer to Constantius II (337-61), who supported Arianism and promoted
the interests of Arius himself and his hopes of gaining the patriarchal
throne of Constantinople. Par. can afford to be much more outspoken in
its condemnation of Arians than of iconoclasts; Arianism was a much
safer topic. However, the very prominence of Arians in Par. indicates a
context in the early stages of iconoclasm when Arianism was very much
at the centre of polemic.
Alexander: cf. chap. 11. Bishop of Constantinople, 327-40, also com¬
memorated in an icon burned by Arians (chap. 10). His prayers through
the night were thought to have brought about the death of Arius
(Sozomen, HE 11.29).
Some letters are missing in P before ‘until’, and the whole entry up to
the death of Arius is omitted by Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.43, p. 173.
palms: 7.81 cm (Schilbach, Metrologie, p. 18).
in the reign of...: Anon. Treu, followed by Patria, 11.43, p. 173, have
changed this to ‘by’ (επί to ύπό), but P’s text is likely to be right.
Sabellius, Macedonius, Eunomius: i.e. the arch-heretics of the late
third and early fourth centuries, all associated with Arianism.
vent on: P has σφετερίζειν (‘take over’). Par.'s hostility to heretics is
expressed in the strongest possible language, noticeably contrasting with
its restraint in dealing with iconoclasm; see introduction, section v.
Photius in an earlier sermon (now lost) had told of the death of Arius,
clearly in similar language (Mango, Photius, Homilies, p. 244), and no
doubt the theme was common in homilies contemporary with Par.
For the final sentence, see note on chap. 38. ‘With philosophy’ hardly
does justice to Par.'s sense of φιλοσοφία (see introduction, section iv). The
idea is that to understand Par.'s work, and the monuments which it
describes, one needs φιλοσοφία, the quality of being a ‘philosopher’, i.e.
insight, connoisseurship, the understanding of the arcane secrets of an¬
cient statues. Similarly ‘effort’ (πόνος) and ‘examine’ (διερευνάν) are
technical words for Par. At the end of chap. 41 the effort of collecting the
information is again emphasised.
up to the present day: see introduction, section v.
222 COMMENTARY
Chapter 40
The text of this chapter in P is very corrupt and much of the translation
must be regarded as very tentative. Like the other chapters in this sec¬
tion, i.e. chaps. 37-41 or 43, chap. 40 has a heading as well as the title
‘Spectacle number four’.
buildings: again the mysterious πύρος (see on chap. 39). In any case
something seems to be missing in P’s text, perhaps ήτοι before πύροις (cf.
p. 45.6 ‘the buildings, or rather the Bread Market’), πύρος exists with the
meaning ‘wheat’, and it is possible to envisage its extension by Par. to
mean the buildings in which the grain was kept, or possibly baked (see
below). Bread had probably been produced in this area before Irene in¬
stalled the new ovens; see chap. 41. It seems as though most of the ter¬
minology to do with grain, and with weighing it (see on chaps. 12, 39) is
only half understood by Par., unless it has been corrupted later; there is
certainly a high incidence of rare and difficult words in this connection.
Bread Market: see on chap. 13. It was just beyond the Forum (Janin,
CB\ pp. 37, 100).
A small dog: the text is fairly hopeless. Anon. Treu, followed by
Patria, 11.46, pp. 174-75, has attempted to smooth it out. P’s text is well
written at this point and not erased, so the corruption was early.
Lambeck, perhaps rightly, envisaged a group of different animals
mingled together, depicting Nature.
a peacock and an eagle: either we must supply ‘there were images of’
or take ‘heads’ as referring to all of these, since they are all in the
genitive. More probably the complete animals and birds were portrayed,
except for the rams’ heads.
heifers Plowing: P’s έμαοΰσαι is meaningless. Preger suggests t
μυκοΰσαι (‘five heifers lowing’), which is just possible,
to be looked at: cf. θέας χάριν, introduction, section iv.
oxherd: P has the nonsense word βούλαρος. βούκολος (‘oxherd’) at
least fits the context, especially with ύπέρ βοός. If this is a group represent¬
ing ploughing, the corruption in P after ‘ox’ ought to be solvable in this
way. What P has is κατάραος, suggesting the verb καταρόω (‘plough’).
Preger suggests καί άρότρον (‘above an ox and a plough’.
a great spectacle: hence its inclusion in this section. For θεάμα and
θαύμα (‘wonder’) in Par. see introduction, section iv.
for many years: punctuate after ‘years’ and take the next words as a
separate clause with historic infinitive, as so often in Par.
the story lasted until the reign of Zeno: i.e. this account held the
field until the true meaning of the statues was revealed in the reign of
Zeno.
COMMENTARY 223
Galen: not of course the famous physician, but a ‘wise man’ in the
time of Zeno who understood the real significance of the statues. Possibly
however he is called a doctor because Par. or its source confused him with
the famous Galen.
historical writings: for ‘chronographer’ in the sense of historian see
chap. 7 and introduction, section ix.
the stories of the emperors: the figures turn out to signify prophecies
as to the future of Constantinople and its rulers. For the same idea cf. the
16th-c. Diegesis, 513 ff., and see introduction, section vii. When Galen
realises what this means for Zeno himself, he is said to laugh—a typical
reaction for ‘philosophers’ who understand the secrets of statues (see
chap. 64).
and when he applied his attention: partially supplied from the
Patria, 11.46, p. 175, since half the line is missing in P.
Zeno_Verina: for Verina see on chap. 29. She hoped to replace
Zeno with Patricius but was forestalled by her brother Basiliscus who
seized the throne for himself. Thus the episode appears to have taken
place at the very beginning of Zeno’s first reign, 474-75, before the usur¬
pation of Basiliscus.
Callistratus: this episode, by contrast, occurs after Zeno’s return to
power. Par. seems to be on the side of the unfortunate Galen, who could
after all interpret statues correctly—cf. the terms of abuse used of
Callistratus (vulgar and in trade). Whether there is anything at all in the
connection of this further Green acclamation (see notes on chaps. 3, 29
and 38 above) with an execution in the area of the Bread Market we can¬
not know; nor whether there was indeed some kind of a tradition which
named the strange animal statuary there after one Galen.
building: καλενδία, another rare word.
a court was held: a silentium was held, i.e. a trial.
Green faction: see note on chap. 38.
Aristides the philosopher: i.e. one of Par. ’s sources; see introduc¬
tion, section ix. He merits the title because he could interpret meanings
(here of the supposed name of the statuary).
which can be seen until today: perhaps therefore an inscription on
the statues, still visible, but no doubt misinterpreted by Par.’s source.
injustice: P’s text is corrupt and the meaning uncertain. Perhaps it
means ‘the beasts of Galen, who (i.e. Galen) was rewarded with injustice
(i.e. unjustly punished) by Zeno’.
when he had carved the inscription: why Aristides should have run
away to Cherson, and whether ‘was preserved’ means that he was still
alive at the time of writing or (more likely) could still be seen com¬
memorated in a statue, are questions which probably go together. The
224 COMMENTARY
which a measure (examon or horologion) was set up with the two bronze
hands as at Valentinian’s modios (see chap. 12) near the Lamia (Patria,
11.51, p. 179, cf. Janin, CB\ pp. 104, 379; REB 13 (1955), p. 88f. and
note on chap. 12). The area of the Amastrianon was partially destroyed
by the Empress Irene in the late eighth century when she built the
Eleutherios palace and installed bakeries (Theophanes, pp. 467, 472,
476; Patria, III. 173) Judging by an ingenious theory devised to explain
the much later term, coliseo de spiriti, these bakeries may have been
established at the curved end of the hippodrome or theatre of the
Amastrianon, for the occuli typically associated with such buildings ap¬
pear on a late sixteenth-century map of Constantinople (see C. L.
Striker, ‘The Coliseo de Spiriti in Constantinople’, in O. Feld and U.
Peschlow (eds.), Festschrift F. Deichmann, forthcoming). Thus the associa¬
tion between the Amastrianon and bread making and hence with the
measure (modios) may date only from this time. But the coliseo de spiriti
perhaps owes its name partly to the form of the hippodrome or theatre in
the Amastrianon, and partly to the long tradition of divination, proph¬
ecy, the ‘rise and fall of demons’ and emperors and other pagan activities
so vividly evoked in Par., chap. 41.
Caracallus the praepositus: unknown. He seems to be cited as the
source; see introduction, section ix.
statue: for the uses of είδώλον see on chap. 39 and introduction, sec¬
tion vii.
Mekas and Glaukos: on all these ‘sources’ see introduction, section
ix. What follows (for which Par. might well have had some kind of written
source) is clearly a list of statues. The corruptions and difficulties in the
text perhaps suggest that the list was only partially understood.
Zeus-Helios in a chariot: the same as that mentioned of Helios by
Cedrenus, I, p. 566 Bonn, as being in this region and ‘on a white
chariot’. We have already heard of a Zeus-Helios on a chariot at the
Milion (chap. 38; see note ad loc.).
the staff-bearer of Zeus: P’s Διός σκυταλίδης is surely corrupt.
Cedrenus, loc. cit., may give a clue to what stood in Par., since there we
find the word σκηπτούχος. Neither Anon. Treu nor the Patria mention this
statue. It is clear that Cedrenus was not drawing on Par. but was using a
different and good source, despite Janin, REB 13 (1955), p. 88. The
‘staff-bearer’ of Zeus would be Hermes. For Διός see on chap. 41.
Aristides: unknown; the name is dropped by Anon. Treu and the
Patria. Cf. chap. 28 (Aristides the architect of the Kynegion) and
chap. 40 (Aristides the philosopher). This looks like Par. using classicis¬
ing names for greater ‘authenticity’; see introduction, section iv.
226 COMMENTARY
the reclining Heracles: see chap. 37. This recalls the famous reclin¬
ing Heracles of Lysippus (see Nicetas Choniates, De Signis, 5, p. 858
Bonn, on which see A. Cutler, AJA 72 (1968), pp. 116-17). In chap. 37 it
is said that a similar statue was moved from the Basilica to the Hip¬
podrome, and that is certainly the same as the statue described in
chap. 65 as being in the Hippodrome. Why then do we seem to find the
same statue listed at the Amastrianon? One possibility is that it was a
copy of the famous one (see Cutler, art. cit., p. 117, n. 55 for an imitation
in ivory). It seems that there was indeed such a statue at the
Amastrianon, since Manuel Chrysoloras refers to a reclining statue
‘above the wolf’ (see below) in a letter written in 1411 (PG 156.48).
Another possibility is that while it was a reclining figure, it was not
Heracles, for Cedrenus, I, p. 567 Bonn, places in the Amastrianon a
reclining Zeus attributed to Phidias.
a charioteer of the gods: i.e. a statue of a pagan god driving a
chariot.
inscribed: Greek επιγραφών, i.e. active for passive, cf. chap. 26.
the river: the question is whether there are two representations here
(a river and an eagle) or one (a group of the river and a wolf), since the
Greek is very compressed and Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.52, p. 179
abridge it so as to leave out the eagle altogether. There have been
numerous attempts to explain the Greek, either by taking κυτλος and
λύκος as proper names or by fairly drastic emendation. It does seem clear
that there was a statue of a wolf (Chrysoloras loc. cit. above), for Malalas
also refers~to one, put up by Apollonius of Tyana (p. 264 Bonn), and
Cedrenus, I, p. 364 Bonn picks this up. But κύτλου is still a puzzle, as is
άέτιος (‘like an eagle’?). Anon. Treu and the Patria as usual leave out the
difficult words. At least it is clear that the first two syllables of the im¬
possible μυκολατρευόμενος must be regarded as a scribal error and cut out,
giving the sense ‘worshipped’.
tortoises: a stone tortoise is mentioned by Malalas in the same
passage (p. 264 Bonn).
eighteen she-serpents: MS G of the Patria adds ‘completely of stone’,
as though to explain that these are all statues; Par. simply lists what the
statues represent.
Koukobytios: all the names are completely unknown. Presumably
there was a group of at least three, possibly six, figures but Par.’s iden¬
tification hardly looks convincing. Koukobytios is a ‘champion of idols’,
like Balsama the centurion in chap. 39, who is an equally suspicious
figure. Probably Par.’s designation of Koukobytios is influenced by its
suspicion that the Amastrianon, being the site of so many peculiar
statues, is a rather dangerous place; so it gives an aetiological explanation
COMMENTARY 227
From these it was known to you ...: possible emendations are καθ’ ήν
for καί ήν or δπως for ίσως. Who is it who is being thus suddenly ad¬
dressed, people in general, or the ‘philosophers’? Not Philokalos, for he
is addressed (below) in the singular, and here we have a plural.
much silver: we are on surer ground here. It is typical of Par. ’s
outlook that pagan statuary might also indicate the presence of buried
treasure; cf. chap. 24.
there was a theatre: the theatre and arena in this region were known
later as the Coliseo de Spiriti\ see note below.
arena: πέλμα is the normal Byzantine term for the arena in a hip¬
podrome: Guilland, Topographie, II, p. 442, n.l. The Patria, III. 173, p.
269, refer to a hippodrome in the region of the Amastrianon built by
Theodosius and later demolished by Irene, the mother of Constantine VI
(see Janin, REB 13 (1955), pp. 90-91); see the study by C. L. Striker,
‘The Coliseo de Spiriti in Constantinople’, in O. Feld and U. Peschlow
(eds.), Festschrift F. Deichmann (forthcoming).
the horses: we seem to be back with the list.
the dux Galindouch: unknown. The name looks Persian (cf. S.
Golindouch, a late sixth-century Persian martyr).
Artemision: unknown. The Greek τω πυρί is possibly the same word
as in chaps. 39 and 40 (see notes).
Philokalos: the chapter ends with an address to Philokalos, the ‘spon¬
sor’, it seems, emphasising the industry of the compiler(s). Perhaps the
element of resentment here expressed reflects the difficulty in dealing
with the Amastrianon statuary. For Philokalos, see introduction, section
iv, and for the ‘effort’ involved, cf. chap. 39 fin. ‘For your honour’: cf.
chap. 27 and note.
chapter 42
P has the words ‘About the Ox’ as a heading, but not ‘Spectacle
number five’ (added by Preger): see above, note on chap. 37. However,
P does seem to have the numeral six at the beginning of the heading to
chap. 43 (though not the word for ‘spectacle’); this suggests that ‘Spec¬
tacle number five’ did originally stand here in P (and ‘spectacle number
six’ at chap. 43).
the Ox: it gave its name to the Forum Bovis: Janin, CB2, pp. 69-71.
clearly: cf. chaps. 12 τρανότατα and 61 έτράνωσεν; evidently these are
part of Par.’s special vocabulary of ‘research’ (they are not everyday
words); see introduction, section iv.
Philokalos: chap. 41 ended and chap. 42 begins with remarks ad¬
dressed to Philokalos. Here the writer alludes to ‘frequent letters’ of
COMMENTARY 229
Chapter 43
The title raises great problems. P’s heading seems to refer to the
Milion, though there is no reference to the Milion in the passage. As for
ζή, it could represent the numeral ζ', in which case θέαμα (‘spectacle’) has
COMMENTARY 231
common (see Mango, AS, p. 58, note 16, where one of the examples is
the Perichytes statue mentioned at Par., chap. 64). AP IX. 779 com¬
memorates the (temporary) theft of a sun-dial.
suburbs: διαστατούς, only here. The root means ‘apart from’ hence
perhaps ‘suburbs’. Otherwise it must somehow mean ‘by land’, to
balance ‘by the sea’. The verb is missing in P.
gave up to the fire: the Senate House of the Augusteum was indeed
destroyed by fire, the one started in 404 by the supporters of S. John
Chrysostom (Mango, Brazen House, p. 56), though not because of the
anger of the then three-year old Theodosius. Curiously the sources for
that event specifically say that while the fire burned people went about
their business (Mango, loc. cit. and n. 129)—Par. ’s άσχολουμένων? If Par.
was drawing on a written description of the famous fire, that might ex¬
plain why he needs to ‘explain’ the rather rare άσχολουμένων with ‘as it
were’ (ώς εϊπεΐν). But if so, the writer failed to notice that he had got the
wrong Senate House. However, a garbled story of the fire, which is dated
more or less correctly, would naturally have suggested a context for the
tale of the theft of the porphyry group, which people remembered as hav¬
ing looked so odd.
<made> threats: no verb in P.
Fausta the daughter of Diocletian: in fact of Maximian, married to
Constantine in 307, died in mysterious circumstances in 326. Another
statue of Fausta is mentioned at chap. 7.
porphyry all over: Preger suggests περιφερούς (probably =
‘rounded’).
Hardly the Papias cited by Eusebius, HE III.39 (‘a man of little in¬
telligence’), nor the author whose works are preserved in a fragmentary
state (see de Boor, Texte u. Untersuchungen V.2b (Leipzig, 1889). More
probably, if he is genuine (see Mango, Brazen House, pp. 102-103) a con¬
temporary of the author; see introduction, section ix. The name occurs
on seals (J. Nesbitt, DOP 31 (1977), p. 119). But the word is also attested
from the reign of Leo VI (886-912) as a title (of a guard of the imperial
palace and of the Magnaura); see Oikonomides, Listes de preseance,
pp. 306-7.
Stater: neither Stater nor Molion is found elsewhere as a place name.
Molion, implying a harbour (from μώλος) would be out of place between
the palace and the ‘old church’ (see below), but the obvious correction to
Modion also raises problems of topography (see on chap. 12); the Mo-
dion was not near the palace. ‘Milion’ could be a possibility.
COMMENTARY 233
The Chalke, forming one of the chief entrances to the imperial palace,
was a substantial roofed structure (‘vestibule’ is a better translation than
‘gate’, but cf. Mango’s term ‘Brazen House’); Janin, CB2, pp. 100-101;
Mango, Brazen House, pp. 98-107. It was one of the most conspicuous
features of the ceremonial heart of the capital and was adorned with
many statues, mosaics and a famous icon of Christ, on which see chap.
5b and note. The Milion, close by, similarly possessed decorative
elements which took on theological, political and imperial significance
under certain emperors (see note to chap. 35). Mango, op. cit., pp. 103-4,
envisages the Chalke fagade as having arcaded niches containing statues,
mostly imperial. These are described by Par. at chaps. 5b, 33, 77, 78 and
80 (see notes ad locc.). There was also a cross erected by Justinian, a gild¬
ed statue of his general, Belisarius, with a crown of rays, and four of the
Gorgon heads from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (see below and
chap. 78). Nearby were statues of Maximian, the whole family of
Theodosius I (possibly a reference to the group near the Milion? see
chap. 18) and Pulcheria. It must be emphasised that the Chalke icon was
one of the major religious symbols of Constantinople. Its removal in 726
caused a sensation which Par. could hardly have neglected; see
Theophanes, p. 405 de Boor and cf. Patria, III.20 pp. 219-20, where the
icon is transformed into a bronze statue of Christ associated with the
Paneas one and attributed to Constantine. This was destroyed by Leo III
and replaced under Irene by a mosaic icon of Christ.
gorgon-like heads: a gloss has crept into the text, in P’s γοργονοειδεΐς
δεματερίδε γυναικοειδεΐς. Preger thus brackets δεματερίδε γυναικοειδεΐς. But
Anon. Treu has γυναικοειδεΐς; possibly therefore it should be kept. On the
234 COMMENTARY
other hand, δεματερίδε (corrupt, but probably with the meaning ‘fearful’,
cf. δειματωδεΐς, δειμωδεΓς) can hardly stand as well. It is probably best to
cut out both, with Preger. For these heads see also chap. 78 and Mango,
Brazen House, p. 100, describing them as ‘gilded masks’ (cf. Patria, 11.28,
p. 165 κεφαλαί ήμίσειαί.. .χρυσέμβαφοι). There were eight in all, from the
temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Only four of them were at the Chalke,
where they are described as being ‘in the vestibule’ (chap. 78), on the
left-hand side (chap. 44a) or ‘opposite the Chalke, on an arch’ (Patria, loc.
cit.). ‘Eight’ has to be supplied here, but is clearly needed for the sense.
ancient palace of Constantine: since this palace is in the region of the
Forum Tauri, it cannot be the Daphne, the oldest part of the imperial
palace (Janin, CB2, pp. 109, 112-13; Dagron, Naissance, pp. 92-94). But
there may have been another palace near the Forum Tauri, where chap.
57 absurdly says Constantine liked to spend his summers.
Julian and his wife: cf. chaps. 47 and 70.
cross: there is no other mention of this cross, except at Par., chap. 78.
statues of Belisarius: according to Mango, Brazen House, p. 101, it is
‘highly unlikely’ that there would be a radiate statue of Belisarius. The
mistake would be an easy one, however, since he was commemorated in
the ceiling mosaic which Justinian did put up in the Chalke (Procopius,
Aed. 1.10) (a source which Par. does not know). In the mosaic Belisarius
was portrayed as a victorious general. A. A. M. Bryer suggests that Par.
might have misinterpreted the crested military headdress on a genuine
statue of Belisarius.
Tiberius the Thracian with a hunched back: but the sources for
Tiberius II remark particularly on his handsome appearance (cf.
Evagrius, HE V.13). Par. seems to use ‘hunchback’ as a term of abuse
(cf. chaps. 14, 19), but its application here is mysterious. For Tiberius as
a Thracian cf. Evagrius, HE V.ll.
Justin I: perhaps the same group of statuary to which AP 1.97 refers
(Mango, Brazen House, p. 83).
very close to his real likeness: Par. singles out this statue for its
realism; cf. the praise accorded to an image of Philippicus in chap. 82
(see note ad loc.), and see Mango, Art of the Byzantine Empire, p. 133. For
the appearance of Justin I, cf. Procopius, Aed. VI.3 (not known to Par.).
For passages commenting on the physical appearance of emperors see C.
Head, Byzantion 50 (1980), pp. 226-40; B. Baldwin, ibid., 51 (1981),
pp. 8-21. Both Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.28, p. 165, omit this com¬
ment, but after mentioning the seven relatives of Justin I the Patria refers
to two horses brought by Justinian from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus
(Mango, Brazen House, p. 103, with the comment that it is impossible to
be sure which of these statues continued to exist and at what period). The
COMMENTARY 235
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
I have seen a black man: though μέλας can mean ‘evil’ or ‘malig¬
nant’, Theodosius is presumably also referring to the appearance of the
statue. Julian’s coinage was not conspicuously pagan, except for his still
unexplained ‘bull’ types (J. P. C. Kent, Roman Coins, (London 1978), p.
56; Roman Imperial Coinage VIII (London, 1981), pp. 46-47; G. W.
Bowersock, Julian the Apostate (Cambridge, Mass., 1978) p. 104). The
ridicule they generated (Julian, Misopogon 355 D) was mentioned by
Socrates (HE III. 17), so a garbled recollection may have filtered down to
Par., though the implication is that it was less the iconography of Julian’s
coins that gave offence than simply the fact that they bore his likeness.
The connection of Theodosius and Julian here (the emperor who out¬
lawed paganism and the last pagan emperor) suggests an ideological
rather than a genuinely historical opposition; cf. the appearance ofjulian
and Theodosius together in chap. 5. On Julian in Par. see introduction,
section v.
Chapter 47
emperors Leo III and Constantine V with Julian, the arch-pagan (see
chap. 48; the Acts of the Council of 787 (Mansi, XI11.356); the Life of S.
Stephen the Younger, PG 100.1181).
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Kontaria: on the basis of this passage Janin sites the area on a hill,
probably the second, overlooking the harbour of Sophia, near the church
of S. Theda and the krithopoleia (barley market) (CB2, pp. 98, 373). The
Patria, 11.66, p. 187, record that the Kontaria was a great hill,
war: presumably still the war against Byzas and Antes.
Galen: Anon. Treu gives Gallinos, which Lambeck, perhaps rightly,
takes as a reference to the Emperor Gallienus (253-268).
church of the Theotokos: Dagron, Naissance, p. 400, doubts this,
pointing out that Constantine did not undertake a wholesale conversion
of pagan temples into churches. Yet this is a demolition and new con¬
struction, not a conversion, and the Patria's attribution of the rededica¬
tion to S. Theda to Justin II looks circumstantial (III.35, p. 229); see
Janin, Eglises et rnonasteres2, p. 291. However, the attribution of the
church of the Theotokos to Constantine could equally be a throwback of
the later belief in the dedication of Constantinople to the Virgin, current
since the seventh century (Dagron, Naissance, p. 42 and in general A.
Frolow, ‘La dedicace de Constantinople dans la tradition byzantine’,
RHR 127 (1944), pp. 61 ff.). See also chap. 56 below on the birthday
celebrations.
COMM KNTAR V 241
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
eighth century, the late antique period from the fourth to the sixth cen¬
tury must have seemed a unity, and Par. ’s authors had no sophisticated
technique for distinguishing details appropriate to the sixth but not to the
fourth century (introduction, sections viii and ix). The persistence in Par.
of the idea of ceremonial connected with the foundation of the city by
Constantine, even against the Christianising tendencies of the seventh
and eighth centuries, should lead us to consider seriously the possibility
that some of this ceremonial did regularly take place in the fourth cen¬
tury, even if not in the lifetime of Constantine himself (see above, on
chap. 56 generally). In this chapter we can see the effects of that Chris-
tianisation in the claim that the erection of the statue, more probably the
occasion of imperial acclamations (cf. the mention of the army), was ac¬
companied by Christian hymns and prayers. Yet even so we are not
given the elaborate catalogue of Christian objects beneath the pillar men¬
tioned elsewhere in Par. (chap. 23).
white robes: i.e. in the standard manner of a late antique adventus\ see
chap. 5.
Philadelphion: cf. chaps. 58, 70, and see on 43. For the ‘gate’ of the
Philadelphion see on chap. 58, where the Philadelphion is the site of Con¬
stantine’s vision, located at Ta Viglentiou in chap. 54. It was a place on
the Mese leading from the Forum of Constantine.
Carus: cf. chaps. 37, 57 and introduction, section viii.
Diakrinomenos: Par. seems to be saying that according to
Diakrinomenos the procession left the Magnaura, but this was next to the
imperial palace (see Mango, Brazen House, pp. 57-58). Diakrinomenos
was probably only known to Par. through a later epitome (see introduc¬
tion, section ix).
raised on a pillar: i.e. on the porphyry column in the Forum. This
erection of the statue has been Christianised to some extent (see above),
but Par. sees no contradiction between this and the mention of the Tyche,
for the city Tyche had a symbolic rather than a religious significance.
Nevertheless, chaps. 5 and 38 indicate that the Tyche belonged to the
early stage of the foundation and birthday ceremonial, though the ac¬
counts of its disappearance given in those chapters are quite different
from each other.
Kyrie eleison: probably an anachronism (see above), despite the
assertion of the Vita Constantini, III.48, that everything about Constan¬
tinople was totally Christian. More probably such ceremony as did ac¬
company the actual foundation was entirely secular, though not
specifically pagan.
on top of the pillar: the coins stand for the prosperity of the city; see
Dagron, Naissance, p. 59, n. 3, comparing the sack of money represented
COMMENTARY 245
in the Calendar of 354. Note that Par. does not relate the tradition that
Constantine secreted beneath the statue the Palladium of Rome
(Malalas, p. 320; Chron. Pasch., p. 528 Bonn; cf. Procopius, BG
1.15.11-14), though elsewhere it does refer to the later belief that many
Christian relics were buried there (chap. 23).
sotericius: certainly not a coin of Constantine and in fact common on¬
ly in the tenth and eleventh centuries (Grierson, DOC III. 1 (1973),
pp. 54-55). Par. has little idea of early Byzantine coinage (see on chap.
12). See introduction, section v, for possible implications for the date of
Par. This term might be a later addition, but in any case does not
necessitate a tenth-century date for Par. itself.
ten thousand pounds: not clear whether this means ‘worth ten thou¬
sand pounds’, which is unlikely, or whether ‘and’ has dropped out so
that we should translate ‘and ten thousand pounds’.
Ό Lord the acclamation looks genuine.
made many gifts: there is no subject, but we must understand ‘the
emperor’, i.e. Constantine, from the previous sentence.
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
For the statues of the sons of Constantine mentioned here see on chaps.
43 and 70.
the gate of the Philadelphion: cf. chaps. 56, 70. Janin, CB2,
pp. 19-20, suggests that it belonged to an outwork defending the Severan
wall.
had a dream: at chap. 54, Constantine’s vision is located at Ta
Viglentiou, and stress is laid on the fact that he actually saw it ‘with his
own eyes’ (i.e. not in a dream) at evening. See also note to chap. 16,
where the various traditions about Constantine’s vision are discussed. It
COMMENTARY 247
Chapter 59
Chaps. 60-65 and 76 concern the Hippodrome, its history and its
statues. Cf. chap. 56 on the foundation of Constantinople and the
ceremonies which took place in the Hippodrome in 330 and then annual¬
ly. On the Hippodrome in general, see Janin, CB2, pp. 193 ff.; Miiller-
Wiener, pp. 64-71. It was built by Severus (see on chap. 73) and
developed by Constantine and decorated by him with statues and objects
brought from many different cities: see chaps. 60, 62, 76, 61. Under
Theodosius I the Egyptian obelisk was erected on the Spina, round which
the chariots raced, and in the sixth century the Porphyrius monuments
with an inscription known to Par. (but probably from a written source,
COMMENTARY 249
see on chap. 38). Many of the statues in the Hippodrome were of ancient
origin and depicted strange animals, mythological figures and events and
pagan gods, e.g. the Scylla and Charybdis group, the boat of Odysseus,
the dragon statue, Zeus-Helios and the reclining Heracles of Lysippus.
Par. does not however show any awareness of such famous items as the
Egyptian obelisk or the Rhodian quadriga (see on chap. 84). The
obscurity of most of the statues by the eighth century had given rise to the
strange account in chap. 64 of the encounter between Theodosius II and
the pagan philosophers and their ‘explanations’ of the statues. There
were also representations of Adam and Eve, Plenty and Famine on col¬
umns (chap. 5) and inscribed monuments to emperors, e.g. the
equestrian statue of Justinian (chap. 61). Par. records a chariot group,
probably antique, at the Neolaia (see on chap. 5), and the four horses
above the carceres, probably the ones later taken to San Marco in Venice
(see on chap. 84). But it does not mention the Diippion, an area im¬
mediately behind the carceres through which in the reign of Constantine
V the usurper Artavasdos and the patriarch Anastasius were made to
enter the Hippodrome (in 743, cf. the patriarch Constantine II in 766;
see Mango, REB 8 (1951), pp. 152-61; Speck, Artabasdos, 33 ff.). On the
basis of zodiacal inscriptions on certain monuments in the Hippodrome,
prophecies were given, possibly as a result of the ‘interpretation’ of statue
groups like the Perichytes (see on chap. 64). The regular activity in the
Hippodrome, chariot racing between the Green and Blue factions
(demes), is of less interest to Par. than spectacular occasions such as the
burning of a monk (chap. 63) or the birthday ceremonies (chaps. 5, 38,
56). Nor does Par. allude to the triumph of Justinian II (see on chap. 37,
and introduction, section v).
For particular information about the Hippodrome statues Par. cites
Philip the eparch and Philip the dynast, on whom see introduction, sec¬
tions iv and ix. It gives a fairly full account of the decoration of the Hip¬
podrome, which may be set alongside that of Nicetas Choniates (see
below). But it makes no attempt whatever to portray the Hippodrome in
visual terms, as it actually appeared in Par. ’s day. It gives no impression
of the crowding of statues on the high spina which so struck later visitors
to Constantinople (Cameron, Porphyrius, pp. 7, 181). This is not a
guidebook description (introduction, section vi). At best Par. comments
on isolated monuments with little attempt to account for their arrange¬
ment, respective locations or mutual relationships; cf. the similar treat¬
ment of the statues in the Forum (see on chap. 39).
as many as sixty: Anon. Treu has misread P’s text as ‘six’ (εξ), but
the Patria, 11.73, p. 189, keeps the correct number. For the number of
statues in the Hippodrome generally, see Cameron, Porphyrius, pp. 5 ff.
250 COMMENTARY
likeness: the term is used only here and in the next chapter, where the
information is said to come from ‘Philip the eparch’ (introduction, sec¬
tion ix). For Par. ’s phraseology of sources, oral and written, see especially
chap. 24. Philip’s information seems to have been given orally, γέγραπται
might mean ‘inscribed’, but seems to fit better into Par.’s self-conscious
claims about source material.
Chapter 61
(1967), pp. 173-94 (who argues against the evidence for two groups, one
in the Peripatos, though it is clear that this one is in the Hippodrome and
should be identified with the Scylla of Nicetas and AP).
has not been fulfilled: i.e. the prediction which it implies has not yet
come to pass. Cf. chap. 64 for the hidden meanings of Hippodrome
statues.
misfortune: P’s word is άλόγημα. Cf. άλόγιστον of Leo III in chap. 5d.
Justinian the great: clearly the equestrian statue of Justinian I mark¬
ing his victory over the Persians (Anth. Plan. 62-63; cf. Alan Cameron,
Byzantion 47 (1977), pp. 42-48). This statue, though a bronze equestrian
statue of Justinian, is not the same as that on a column in the Augusteum
(on which see Mango, Brazen House, Appendix II, pp. 174 ff.; A. Cutler,
AJA 72 (1968), p. 114, with remarks on the eclipse of such bronzes after
the Augusteum one). The latter is dated by Theophanes, p. 224 and
Cedrenus, I, p. 656, to AD 543; but it may have been an earlier statue re¬
used (Mango, op. cit., p. 174, n. 2). The statue commemorating the Per¬
sian victory is said to have been ‘near the kathisma’, but after that P’s
text seems to be corrupt. One suggestion is that only the base survived in
Par. ’s day and that κατ’ έπος here in P means ‘according to the inscrip¬
tion’. Nicetas does not mention this statue in the Hippodrome, but since
he specifically says his list is not complete (De Signis, 12, p. 866) this omis¬
sion cannot be pressed.
she too is above: i.e. like the Thessalian statue mentioned above. The
Scylla, said here to be ‘near’ the ‘inscription of the Medes’, is thought to
have been on the spina, the high wall down the middle of the arena round
which the chariots raced, and which was packed with statues (Cameron,
Porphyrins, p. 18, and in general pp. 180 ff.). This was ‘in front of’ rather
than ‘above’ the kathisma.
Verina: see on chaps. 29, 89.
Athena: a bronze Athena did still stand in Constantinople, in the
Forum of Constantine (perhaps the Athena Promachos of Phidias—see
R. J. H. Jenkins, ‘The Bronze Athena at Byzantium’, JHS 67 (1947),
pp. 31-33; ‘Further Evidence regarding the Bronze Athena at Byzan¬
tium’, BSA 46 (1951), pp. 71-74); its destruction in 1204 is recorded by
Nicetas Choniates, Hist. pp. 738-40 Bonn. But Par., perhaps surprising¬
ly, does not mention this statue, though cf. a reference to a statue of
Pallas at chap. 39. The difficulty of identifying ancient statuary correctly
is made very clear by Par. ’s acceptance here of the majority view, against
the opinion of Herodian, apparently an expert. These remarks imply the
importance of oral interchange in the formation of Par.’s knowledge.
252 COMMENTARY
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
in our own day: Combefis’s έφ’ ήμών must be right. For this impor¬
tant dating indication see introduction, section v.
Anastasius the monk: discussed in detail at introduction, section v.
Apparently an allusion to the iconoclastic policies of Constantine V,
under whom monks were indeed subjected to extreme penalties in the
Hippodrome. According to G. Millet, BCH 70 (1946), pp. 392 ff., this
refers to the humilation of the patriarch Anastasius for his support of Ar-
tavasdos (742/43), though he was not actually burned to death. An
Anastasius is cited in chap. 10 as confirming a story in Ancyrianus (see
note ad loc.), and the suggestion has been made that he was the author of
iconophile writings, perhaps a florilegium, known to Par. (Alan
Cameron, ‘A quotation from Nilus of Ancyra in an iconodule tract’,
JThS n.s. 27 (1976), pp. 128-31). But the most that can safely be said
here is that this Anastasius seems to fit a mid-eighth century context
when monks were being punished for opposition, presumably religious.
Par.’s own attitude, therefore, is left as carefully unspecified here as
elsewhere, though its sympathies in general lie with the iconophile side
COMMENTARY 253
(cf. its frequent and hostile references to Julian, who was in the eighth
century often identified with the iconoclasts; for discussion see introduc¬
tion, section v). The general context of association of the Hippodrome
with horrors would be reinforced for Par. by the mutilation of Justinian II
there in 695 and the triumph over Leontius and Apsimar, followed by
their execution, in 705 (Nicephorus, pp. 38, 42; Theophanes, pp. 369,
375 de Boor).
This chapter springs from a real and earnest need to know the truth—a
need which doubtless supplied Par. with a receptive audience, possibly
familiar with the series of prophecies about the Emperor Philippicus from
a late seventh-century hermit later recorded by Theophanes (p. 381 de
Boor). If so, they would be doubly interested in learning about the
messages to be gleaned from statues.
Eudocia the Athenian: wife of Theodosius II (408-50); she was said
to be the daughter of a pagan philosopher, and much was made of her
early paganism in contrast with her later piety (see Alan Cameron, ‘The
Empress and the Poet: Paganism and Politics at the court of Theodosius
IT, in John J. Winkler and Gordon Williams (eds.), Yale Classical Studies
27, Later Greek Literature Cambridge, 1982, pp. 217-89). The earliest
source to mention the dispute between Athenais-Eudocia and her
brothers that brought her to the notice of Pulcheria and led to her being
chosen as bride for Theodosius is Malalas, pp. 353-55 Bonn, repeated in
Chron. Pasch., pp. 576-79 Bonn. A close examination reveals that the
function of the story in Malalas is as a moralising fable illustrating the
development of good fortune from bad.
her brothers: Malalas, p. 353, says there were two, Valerius and
Gesius (or Genesius: Zonaras, XIII.22, Bonn III, p. 101).
seven philosophers: it is easy to see why this confrontation, not men¬
tioned in any other source for Eudocia, has become attached to her story.
The story itself could as well be told of any other emperor, but the tradi¬
tion of Eudocia’s Athenian origin and philosophic connections made her
the obvious link. The philosophers speak in turn, usually with a riddle or
pun, as they look at the statues in the Hippodrome. The Patria, 11.79, p.
191, tell us that the statues had been ‘magicked’ by Apollonius of Tyana
(έστοιχειώσατο); cf. also 11.103, p. 206, where they say he similarly
‘magicked’ the statues in the Forum of Constantine, as οι στηλωτικοί will
understand (cf. p. 191. 18 f.). Thus the Hippodrome statues are all
presumed to have underlying meanings, which it takes an expert to
unravel. But it is worth noting that Par. does not mention Apollonius by
name, and that Apollonius does not play in Par. the role that he has ac¬
quired by the time of the Patria and Cedrenus (he is also prominent in the
16th c. Diegesis). See however the response of Silvanus below. For these
ideas about statues see C. Blum, Eranos 44 (1946), especially p. 321; in¬
troduction, section vii. Par. seems to represent an early but established
stage in the development of the idea of statues with hidden powers.
good fortune from misfortune: Par. emphasises the same reversal as
Malalas (see above).
Theodosius drove in: why should Theodosius seek to ‘please the
philosophers’? There is much that is obscure in this chapter and we have
translated as best we could.
COMMENTARY 255
Kranos, Karos: the names indicate the folkloristic tinge of the story,
but do not detract from its seriousness for the compilers of Par.
to see the Olympians: corrected by Combefis to θέας χάριν (see in¬
troduction, section iv). Olympians’ must mean the statues of the pagan
gods, though there is no article and indeed the text has to be corrected.
The allusion is picked up in the reply of Apelles ‘when the Olympians
change...’. There might be a pun intended: i.e. Apelles means not only
‘when the Olympian gods are cast down’ but also ‘when the Olympic
games come to an end’ (usually put in AD 394). Either way he is
threatening Theodosius with dire results, things going topsy-turvy. But
the remark is certainly very difficult and neither Anon. Treu nor the
Patria seems to have understood what it was all about.
the philosophers were amazed: that is, they were evincing the cor¬
rect response when confronted with these ancient statues (introduction,
section iv). Anon. Treu and the Patria, 11.82, p. 193, seek to explain the
amazement by saying that they were looking at the emperor on
horseback. But Apelles’s answer is a paradox, not a response to the sight
of the emperor.
you have been out-philosophized: the whole point is that this is a
confrontation between Theodosius, the representative of the Christian
empire, and the seven philosophers who stand for paganism. If they can¬
not explain the statue, their claim to ‘philosophy’ is exploded.
I am surprised: the text is certainly corrupt, and we cannot recover
the first part of Apelles’s reply. Anon. Treu solves the problem by omit¬
ting it altogether and then smoothing out the grammar.
when the Olympians change: see above. Apelles is saying, in effect,
that all will be revealed (and for the worse, from the pagan point of view)
when the Olympians (gods and/or games) give way to Christianity.
There will then be no need for ‘wonder’. Cf. chaps. 40-41, especially 41:
‘the fall of demons’, i.e. of the pagan gods; clever philosophers are able to
predict the fall of emperors.
Nerva: the beginning of Nerva’s reply is very compressed, but seems
to yield some sense as indicated. Stoicheion in Par. usually means simply
‘statue’ (introduction, section vii), but might also have the sense of
‘meaning’, so that Nerva is saying that the statues correspond to their
meanings (or vice versa). He too is foretelling a bad future for Constan¬
tinople on the basis of these ancient statues.
leaning on its knee: despite the corruption in P it is clear that this is
the reclining Heracles of Lysippus (see on chap. 37, where it is said to
have been at the Basilica, but subsequently moved to the Hippodrome.
In chap. 41, a similar statue, perhaps a copy, is placed at the
Amastrianon. The statue is further described at chap. 65). For reference
256 COMMENTARY
May the words ... not come to pass: Par. interposes a personal reac¬
tion to the interpretations of the future of the city offered by the
philosophers; cf. also chap. 61.
This problem: the problemata to which Par. refers more than once in
this chapter are literally the ‘problems’ posed by the statues, i.e. the
question of their interpretation. To solve the problems, i.e. to expound
the meaning of the statues, is called ‘philosophizing’; Par. uses the verb
in this specific sense, just as ‘philosophers’ are either those who can inter¬
pret statues, like Kranos and the rest, or members of Par.'s own circle
who do their best to understand these arcane secrets. The same ter¬
minology and the same set of ideas reappears in the Diegesis; see pp. 514,
521 and introduction, section vii. Ligurius the astronomer and consul is
presumably the same Ligurius as at chap. 5b (see note ad loc.). ‘Leo the
Great’ is Leo I; cf. chaps. 14, 45, 67, 88. Par. uses the term tomoi for
books, possibly a confusion with the famous ‘Tome’ of Pope Leo I (AD
448). Although the Diegesis knows Leo VI as an emperor who consulted
philosophers and astronomers about the meaning of the Xerolophos
reliefs (p. 521), there is no possibility of this passage actually containing
an allusion to him, if only because the Oracles of Leo’ and stories about
him to this effect did not reach their peak of circulation for some con¬
siderable time after his lifetime and achieved their maximum diffusion in
the 16th century, the date of the Diegesis (introduction, section vii).
Rather, the striking parallelism between Par. and the Diegesis is indicative
of the long patriographic tradition which is fairly fresh in the first work
and at its most highly developed in the second. Ligurius is most unlikely
to be a real source, in that he is described as pagan, as an astronomer and
as consul, an unlikely combination; see introduction, section ix.
Chapter 65
The subject of the Hippodrome statues and the theme of the reactions
of philosophers on viewing them leads naturally to a later example of the
same kind. The statue in chap. 65 is again the reclining Heracles (the
Heracles Trihesperus) of Lysippus (chaps. 41, 64).
Asclepiodorus: no need to emend, with Lambeck, to Asclepiodotus,
and identify with the late fifth-century philosopher (PLRE II,
Asclepiodotus 3), especially as the latter was mainly active at
Aphrodisias. It is even possible here that the Anastasius is not the fifth-
century emperor but the successor of Philippicus (713-15), thus that this
Asclepiodorus is a contemporary.
the large statue: obviously the reclining Heracles already mentioned
in chap. 64 (see note). Choniates describes the figure as mournfully sup-
260 COMMENTARY
porting his head on his left hand and lamenting his fate (De Signis, 5,
p. 859 Bonn).
kneaded: the exact pun escapes us.
the writing on the marble: i.e. the inscription on the base. But Par.
does not tell us what the inscription said, contenting itself with
mysterious hints.
It were good not to know: Asclepiodorus’s comment is hard to
translate, since it is not altogether clear whether he is referring back to
those who set up the inscription and the statue, or to the present in a
general sense. If the early eighth-century emperor Artemius, who reign¬
ed as Anastasius II (713-15) is indeed intended, then this statement must
refer to his exile to Thessaloniki under Theodosius III (715-17) and un¬
successful coup against Leo III (Theophanes, p. 383; Nicephorus, p. 55).
But the chapter is too vague to be certain of the reference. Among recent
emperors Par. has most to say about Justinian II and Philippicus (see on
chap. 37; introduction, section v).
Chapter 66
Constantine I and his son, in which case Clement may fall into the
category of dubious authorities (introduction, section ix).
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
The Augusteum
Chapter 69
there was a statue of Alexander the Great in the Strategion which Con¬
stantine brought from Chrysopolis, where it had stood for 648 years, and
the association of Alexander with the Strategion is also preserved in
Chron. Pasch., p. 495 Bonn. A tripod of Hecate is mentioned in the
Strategion by Cedrenus, I, p. 563, together with an equestrian statue of
Constantine carrying a cross. For the Strategion see Janin, CB2,
pp. 431-32.
S. Constantine: Constantine is usually presented in Par. simply as
emperor, albeit important for his Christianisation of the city. It was the
anonymous Life of Helena and Constantine that elevated Constantine to
sainthood. This was probably composed between the seventh and ninth
centuries; Par.’s reference is therefore an early witness to the growing
cult, and Par. ’s attitude to Constantine in general should be interpreted
against the background of these developments. See DACL III.2, cols.
2688-89 (Leclercq).
to chap. 43. Par. is also confused on the crosses which Constantine sup¬
posedly erected after his vision; given the inaccuracy of the account of his
dream at the Philadelphion (chap. 70), the statues mentioned here may
also be a duplication of those put up in the Forum (chap. 16; cf. also 52
on the Forum Bovis). The tradition about the meeting in Constantinople
of the sons of Constantine is certainly without foundation, for they met
only in Pannonia after Constantine’s death (see T. D. Barnes, ‘Imperial
Chronology, AD 337-350’, Phoenix 34 (1980), pp. 160-66; Constantine and
Eusebius, p. 262). What the statues originally were like is itself unclear,
and it is very doubtful whether the connection with the sons of Constan¬
tine is authentic; nor is it clear whether they still stood in Par. ’s day, since
the final words may refer only to those of Julian and his wife. At chap. 58
Par. alludes to seated statues of Constantine’s sons put up by Constantine
himself, and these did survive (note ad loc.)\ presumably this is an entirely
different group. Par. seems to have thought that this was similar to the
group described in chap. 43, which it says was of Constantine himself,
Constans and Constantius. But in neither case is the detailed identifica¬
tion of the figures or the description of the group itself beyond doubt, to
say the least. On the whole it seems most likely that the group of chap. 70,
like that of chap. 43, had disappeared long before, perhaps very soon
after 337, when the theme of concord between the brothers had been
rudely shattered.
One of the three ... from Gaul: here Par. has preserved a genuine
detail of fourth-century history in saying that Constantine II was
previously in Gaul; see Barnes, HSCP 79 (1975), p. 332, and see on chap.
50. Anon. Treu is fuller here: ‘when Constantine died, Constantius be¬
ing in the eastern parts, Constantine, [i.e. Constantine II], coming from
the Gauls, met Constans and they greeted each other’ (p. 19.6 f.). It
seems unlikely that Anon, used another source, or that the extra material
is the result of guesswork. It may be therefore that it used a fuller version
of Par. than in P.
Julian and his wife Anastasia: Julian’s wife was called Helena and
died soon after his accession. She was certainly not forced to take the veil.
Perhaps the statue was actually of Anastasia, sister of Constantine I
(PLRE I, s.v. Anastasia 1).
Promotus: P’s Promountos is influenced by the Promuntius of chap.
68. Janin, Eglises et monasteres2, p. 444, cites this passage without comment
for an otherwise unknown convent of nuns.
Chapter 71
Xerolophos: see chap. 20 and note. The 16th-c. Diegesis is about the
inscriptions on this column, interpreted as full of sinister implications for
COMMENTARY 267
the city. But although at chap. 20 Par. recognises the place as a location
for pagan rites and prophecy, it does not here lay any particular stress on
the column and its associations.
Diakrinomenos: introduction, section ix.
and Marcian: P puts the words ‘and Marcian’ after ‘at the foot of the
pillar’, but Anon. Treu has rightly reversed the order.
seven pillars: cf. the sixteen spiral columns in chap. 20, part of the
reason for calling the Xerolophos a ‘spectacle’.
earthquake: introduction, section v, for possible dates, and cf. chap.
3.
Tribunal: Janin, CB2, pp. 174-75, cites tribunals at the imperial
palace and the praetorium, but there were probably also regional
tribunals for the administration of justice, and this may have been the
one serving the western region of the city on the seventh hill.
Chapter 72
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
iconoclastic iambics, see Gero, Byzantine Iconoclasm in the Reign of Leo III,
pp. 113 ff.
Chapter 81
From the latter part of the chapter, it is clear that the statues were ac¬
tually of Justin II (565-78) and Sophia. It would be possible to emend the
text so as to remove the common confusion between Justinian and Justin,
but since it is unclear whether it stems here from an error in transmission
or from a confusion in Par. (which is surprisingly ignorant about Justi¬
nian I), it is probably best to leave the text as it is. For Theodora see note
on chap. 80.
Green faction: for Green acclamations in Par., see chaps. 3, 29, 38.
iambic verses of the philosopher Plumbas: cf. chap. 80 on Secun-
dus. Whereas the latter has some shadowy existence, however,
Plumbas’s status is much more doubtful; see introduction, section ix.
The statues of Justin II and Sophia might be those mentioned by John of
Ephesus, HE III. 24 (so Mango, Brazen House, p. 102, n. 125). For the
Zeuxippus, see note on chap. 73.
Chapter 82
solved by adopting the suggestion έχώρισε, which would then give the
meaning ‘he (i.e. the artist) did not depart in the matter of the emperor’s
appearance from (or ‘in comparison with’) the archetype’ (i.e. the
original). The change is merely a matter of orthography.
This is a very rare example in Par. of what is apparently an aesthetic
judgement, the picture of Philippicus being praised for its realism, even if
not by the writer himself. On the whole Par. shows no interest in the
aesthetic qualities of the art works it describes, since its preoccupations
are rather with their meaning, or with the oddities of their appearance. It
also seems to reflect, if indirectly and carelessly, the terminology of cur¬
rent debate about the nature of images.
Chapter 83
The problem of the identification with the San Marco group arises
from the existence of another similar monument at the Neolaia in the
Hippodrome (see chap. 5, supplied from Patria, II. 87). This consisted of
four shining horses connected with a nearby chariot and a female driver
holding a statuette, described as ‘running’ (chap. 5). Par. connects this
with the annual birthday celebrations of the city, but admits that some
believe it to be an antique statue, at least in part, and it seems likely that
this was in fact the case (see note ad loc.). However, it was probably quite
distinct from the four horses mentioned here, both because of its different
location and because the chariot and driver were essential to the Neolaia
group, whereas the four horses ‘above the Hippodrome’ are not
associated with a chariot. It seems most likely, therefore, that these four
horses are the ones shipped to Venice by Enrico Dandolo. There remains
the question of the relation of the Neolaia chariot group to that described
by Par. in chap. 38 as being at the Milion, and also said to be antique. It
is probably most likely that the two are quite separate; at any rate, the
Milion group is said to be of a Helios, the Neolaia one to have a female
driver. Whether the Neolaia group could be identified with the Rhodian
quadriga from Delphi (see Crome, art. cit.) remains open; but the silence
of the early literary sources must render it problematic. Par. is quite un¬
conscious of such a connection and indeed assumes that the group was
used in, or commemorated, the birthday ceremonies instituted by Con¬
stantine. All in all, it seems most probable that the San Marco horses are
to be identified with the ones mentioned in this chapter and that the
Neolaia and Milion groups were quite distinct.
Chapter 85
Constantinianai: for this bath see chap. 73. Par.’s mention of Con-
stantius here seems to support the dating of it in Chron. Pasch., p. 534
Bonn, to 345.
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
For this cistern see Janin, CB2, p. 204; Muller-Wiener, p. 279. It was
begun in 459 [Chron. Pasch., p. 593 Bonn). For Aspar and Ardaburius cf.
chap. 14, where Par.. similarly connects the killing of Ardaburius at least
in 471 with a monument (see J. B. Bury, LRE I2 (1923), pp. 319-20; G.
Vernadsky, Sildost Forschungen 6 (1941), pp. 38 ff.
COMMENTARY 277
Chapter 89
Verina: wife of Leo I (457-74) and sister of Basiliscus, cf. chaps. 29,
40, 61.
bewitched: Greek έστοιχειώσατο, on which see introduction, section
vii. But it is possible that the meaning is neutral, as mostly in Par., with
the sense of ‘build’, and that the ‘island’ is actually some kind of artificial
mole or other maritime construction, in the course of whose building a
number of workmen died.
Justinian: most of Par.' s references to Justinian are to Justinian II, if
not otherwise specified.
three times: Preger keeps τρίτον against other editors, understanding
it as τρις.
The destruction of the ‘island’ does perhaps suggest that malevolence
was ascribed to it, but still leaves the interpretation of έστοιχειώσατο itself
open.
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INDEX TOPOGRAPHICUS
Achilleos, bath 272 129, 131, 137, 151, 169, 172, 182, 183,
Aetius, cistern 51, 163 191, 192, 193, 197, 198, 212, 217, 218,
Agathonikos, S., church 49, 59, 93, 169, 220, 222, 241, 242, 243, 246, 257, 262,
205 263
Amastrianon 49, 52, 111, 187, 224, 225, Forum Bovis 50, 127, 174, 229, 266
226, 228 Forum Tauri 50, 51, 121, 147, 169, 187,
Anemodoulion 49, 93 219, 246, 260, 261, 268
Antioch 50, 127, 238
Arcadian ai 207 Golden Gate 23, 170
Archangel, church 95
Artemision 224 Heliakon 51 , 269
Artotyrianos 48, 49, 77, 189 Hiereia 24
Aspar, cistern 165, 191, 276 Hippodrome 18, 24, 31, 33, ■43, 44 , 49,
Atalus gate 23 51, 52, 61, 103 , 115, 133, 137, 139,
Augusteum 49, 51, 93, 206, 232, 262 141, 147, 153, 159, 161, 171, 173,
177, 184, 185, 200, 212, 213, 214,
Barbara, S., church 93, 205 215, 217, 224, 226, 229, 241, 242,
Basilica 18, 19, 49, 51, 52, 97, 99, 153, 243, 246 f. , 252, 253, 256, 259, 268,
155, 189, 211, 213, 214, 255, 269 271, 273, 274
Blachernae, church 23, 30 Holy land 30
Bread Market 107, 109, 111, 205, 222, Horreum 48, 73, 189
223
Byzantium 34, 63, 111, 127, 167, 192, Iconium 16, 32, 161, 163, 275
251 Irene, S., church 30, 149
Mocius, S., church 57, 63, 167, 168 Stater 121, 232
Modion 73, 75, 186, 187, 189, 199 Steps 205
Strategion, Great 51, 87, 151, 198, 265
Neolaia 48, 61, 171, 172, 208, 274 Strategion, Little 87, 199
Neorion 11, 38, 48, 61, 152, 174, 229,
267 Ta Anthemiou 101
Nicaea 40, 167 Ta Antiochou 275
Nicomedia 16, 50, 51, 157, 270 Ta Harmatiou 181
Ta Marinakiou 157
palace 50, 97, 123, 190, 234, 235
Ta Olybriou 93
Paneas 33, 39, 50, 125, 233, 237, 238
Ta Viglentiou 11, 50, 67, 129, 241, 244
Panormon 48, 63, 178
Taurus 48, 50, 79, 133, 147, 245, 261
Peripatos 83, 95, 207, 208
Tetradesion 48, 65, 67
Persia 179, 253
Theda, S., church 240
Philadelphion 11, 50, 131, 135, 151, 153,
Theodore, S., church 65, 67, 180
187, 192, 206, 244, 246, 265
Theotokos, church 240
Pittakia 51
Thessaloniki 260
Pontus 117, 229
Topoi 95, 207
Porticoes of Leontius 50, 127
Tribunal 49, 97, 209
Procopius, S., church 87
Proteichisma 131
Valens, aqueduct of 27, 153
Rhegion 63, 177 Venice 273
Rome 29, 32, 35, 50, 115, 127, 137, Viglentiou 181
188, 192, 214, 220, 238, 239, 242,
245, 252, 263 walls, sea 59, 169, 170
walls, land 170, 171
Senate 23, 38, 67, 103, 117, 119, 182,
183, 218, 231, 232 Xerolophos 23, 32, 35, 51, 52, 83, 153,
Smyrnion 180 195, 204, 266, 267, 268
Sophia, S., church 38, 48, 71, 184, 185,
186 Zeuxippus 35, 51, 153, 159, 161, 181,
Stama 61, 103 268
INDEX NOMINUM
79, 81, 85, 95, 97, 101, 103, 105, 109, Gazoi 35, 131, 192, 202, 241, 268
111, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123, 127, Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople
129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 145, 149) 21, 24, 25, 26, 39, 43, 169, 175, 181,
151, 153, 167, 169, 170, 175, 180 f., 200
184, 191 f., 193, 202, 205, 208, 215 f., George Monachus 42
220, 231, 232, 234, 240 f., 245 f., 247, Glaukos 41, 113, 225
248, 253, 261, 263, 265 f., 268, 269; Gliavanos 99, 211 f.
see Index Rerum, s.v. Constantinople, Graphentia 113
foundation of; Constantine, vision of; Gratian (375-83) 37, 49, 50, 83, 127,
‘great statue’) 238, 239
Constantine II (337-40) 48, 51, 65, 149, Gregory of Nazianzus 31
266
Constantine IV (668-85) 42, 51, 149, 170 Harmatius 48, 67, 181
Constantine V (740-75) 18, 19, 20, 23, Helena, mother of Constantine I 37,
24, 40, 43, 170, 177, 184, 191, 209, 45, 48, 49, 50, 52, 71, 79, 95, 119,
237, 249, 252 121, 127, 135, 193, 194, 208, 209,
Constantine VI (780-90) 22, 228 218, 240, 247, 262, 265
Constantine VII (913-59) 28 Helena, niece of Sophia 49, 95, 209
Constantine the Rhodian 34 Helias, spatharius 204
Constantius II (337-61) 48, 49, 51, 57, Helios 36, 49, 103, 216 f., 259, 264;
71, 149, 163, 168, 183, 184, 221, 266, see Apollo-Helios, Zeus-Helios
268 Heracles 11, 44, 49, 52, 99, 113, 214,
Cosmas of Jerusalem 31 215, 224, 226, 243, 249, 255, 259
Crispus 180, 181 Heraclius (610-41) 3, 10, 38, 49, 97,
Curius 75, 189 99, 117, 189, 205, 208, 209, 210, 211,
Cypros, rhetor 73, 185 213, 229, 230, 231
Herculius 133, 246
Demophilus 127, 238 Hermes 49, 224, 225
Demosthenes 91, 204 Hero, philosopher 48, 71, 185
Diegesis 32, 253, 256, 259 Herodian 12, 42, 44, 77, 139, 180, 190,
Diocletian (284-305) 203, 232, 270, 275 250, 251
Dioscorus 10, 42, 117, 228, 231 Herodotus the chronographer 42, 67,
180
Eleutherius 48, 67, 181, 182 Hesychius 3, 14, 33, 45, 184, 198, 217,
Epiphanius the monk 29, 30, 40 264
Eudocia 49, 97, 141, 254 Hilarion, praepositus 48, 65, 180
Eudoxia 39, 49, 93, 206, 207, 261, 276 Himerius, chartularius 9, 11, 12, 16, 28,
Eunomius 49, 107, 221 31, 32, 46, 49, 190, 201
Euphemia 49, 93, 206 Hippolytus of Thebes 41, 67, 179, 180
Eusebius of Caesarea 26, 39, 41, 125, Honorius (393-423) 50, 51, 141, 149,
198, 232, 237, 263 252, 260, 263
Eutyches 176
Eve 48, 61, 249 Irene (790, 797-802) 22, 189, 225, 228,
233
Fausta 48, 49, 65, 119, 232 Ivouzeros 99, 211
Fidalia 48, 59, 171
Firmillianus 83, 195 John, philosopher 19, 91, 204
Flaccilla 206 John, S. Chrysostom, see Chrysostom
John, S., Damascene 40
Galen, doctor in the reign of Zeno 14, John Diakrinomenos 27, 39, 40, 125,
109, 111, 223 131, 149, 153, 237, 243, 244, 261, 267
Galen, quaestor 71, 185 John of Ephesus 179, 183, 220, 272
Galerius (305-11) 203,271 John the Lydian 36, 243
Galindouch 115, 228 John of Rhodes 40
Gallienus (253-68) 240 John Strouthus 204
G alius 123 Julian (361-63) 18, 21, 25 f., 33, 37,
INDEX NOMINUM 287
48 f., 57, 71, 73, 95, 103, 117, 121, Maximian 159, 163, 203, 204, 220, 232,
123, 125, 135, 149, 151, 167, 173, 233, 271
185, 216 f., 218, 229, 234, 235 f., 253, Maximinus, general of Constantine I
266 35, 129, 203, 268
Julian, eparch 48, 71, 185 Maximus Confessor 43
Julian, consularis 101, 214 Mekas 41, 113, 225
Justin I (518-27) 93, 123, 206, 234 Menander, ‘seer’ 48, 77, 189
Justin II (565-78) 50, 95, 208, 240, 267, Metrophanes, bishop of Constantinople
272 69, 183, 202
Justinian I (527-65) 30, 38, 47 f., 50, Michael I (811-13) 7,28
123, 139, 149, 159, 165, 167, 169, Milichius, chronographer 41, 42, 231,
171, 176, 186, 187, 189, 194, 203, 263
209, 233, 234, 251, 253, 262, 268, Mocius, S. 167
269, 272
Justinian II (685-95, 705-11) 10, 18, 38, Narcissus, praepositus 45, 258
42, 49, 99, 189, 210 f., 212, 224, 227, Nerva, philosopher 141, 143, 255, 256
249, 250, 253, 277 Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople
41, 203, 211, 212
Karos, philosopher 141, 145, 255, 257 Nicephorus Callistus 192, 219
Khazars 18, 99, 211 f. Nicetas Choniates 34, 171, 172, 175,
Koukobytios, philosopher 113, 219, 224, 184, 214, 235, 249, 250, 252, 257,
226, 227, 241 258, 260, 273
Kranos, philosopher 14, 141, 145, 255, Nilus of Ancyra 40, 183, 252
257 ff., 259 Nouzametos 101, 215
Kyrvos, philosopher 141, 143 Numerian 85, 197
acclamations 103, 111, 129, 133, 159, historical events in Par. 34 ff.
170, 215, 217, 245 iconoclasm 18, 21, 23 f., 25, 26, 39,
Anon. Treu, relation to Par. 3 f. and 43, 170, 175, 177 f., 236 f., 238, 252 f.
commentary, passim idolatry 18, 25, 33, 125, 179, 189, 195,
archetype 161 219, 236, 238, 276
Arianism 26, 57, 107, 167, 182, 221 monothelitism 19, 43, 272
art history, value of Par. for 45 f. pagan statues, associations of 31 f., 171,
authorship of Par. 11 if., 204, 218 196, 202, 214, 220, 224, 245
Chalke icon of Christ 20, 21 f., 48, 63, Paneas statue of Christ 26, 33, 39, 50,
174 f., 233, 237 125, 233, 237 f.
coinage 27, 87, 115, 123, 188, 191, Patria CP, relation to Par. 3 ff. and
198, 229, 235 f., 245, 275 commentary, passim
Constantine, vision of 129, 135, 192, recruiting, army 229
241, 246 f. relics 177
Constantinople, in Par. 27 ff.; founda¬ San Marco horses 172, 249, 273 f.
tion of 35 f., cf. 103, 131, 172 f., 208, San Marco tetrarchs 231, 265
216, 241, 242 f. sources of Par. 38 ff.
date of Par. 17 ff. ‘spectacles’ 31, 97 f., 195 f., 210 ff.
Forum of Constantine 79 f., 85, 103 f., Sophia, S., statues in 71
137, 218 f., 263 statues, Par.’s attitude to 31 f.; evidence
guidebooks 29 f. for 46 ff.
‘great statue’ 183, 193, 198, 216, 243, Suda, relation to Par. 5
262, 263 f. textual history of Par. 2 f.
Hippodrome statuary 216, 248 ff. vocabulary, ‘technical’ 13 f.
Xerolophos, meaning of 83, 195
INDEX GRAECITATIS
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