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The architecture of ekphrasis: construction and context of Paul the Silentiary’s poem on Hagia Sophia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Ruth Macrides  and
Paul Magdalino
Ruth Macrides
Affiliation:
Department of Mediaeval History, University of St. Andrews
Paul Magdalino
Affiliation:
Department of Mediaeval History, University of St. Andrews
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The written or spoken word can contribute to the appreciation of a work of art in three distinct, though by no means mutually exclusive, ways. First, it can comment directly on the artefact. Second, it can fulfil a parallel function, by conveying a similar message or using broadly comparable techniques. Third, words can physically accompany the artist’s work, either in the form of an inscription, or in the form of a recitation. We are so used to taking, and dealing with, the first of these approaches, that of commentary, that we have been slow to develop proper criteria for evaluating the other two. This has led, in the past, to some imaginative theorising about Byzantine aesthetics and, in reaction, some deflationary statements about the quality of Byzantine aesthetic criticism. There is now, however, a growing, if still implicit, recognition that the relationship of the verbal and the visual in Byzantine, society was not primarily one of commentary, but one of parallel function and physical accompaniment. Byzantine literary responses to art pointed in the same direction as art; they did not confront it, or cut into it in order to lay bare its anatomy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 12 , 1988 , pp. 47 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1988

References

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35 See previous note.

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37 Mango, Art 81, translates this as ‘the band of singers’, evidently taking it to refer to the choir. However, since Paul elsewhere uses the word polyhymnos of the patriarch (1.345), the Virgin Mary (1.434), and the emperor (1.527), it has to mean ‘much-hymnea”, and therefore in this instance can only refer to the group of people currently being praised, i.e. the clergy.

38 The twelfth-century ekphrasis of the church actually characterises the synthronon as a sphendonê: edd. Mango — Parker 239.

39 Cf. Whitby, Michael, ‘Justinian’s Bridge over the Sangarius and the Date of Pro-copius’ De Aedificiis’, JHS 105 (1985) 129–48 Google Scholar.

40 For Anastasios’ repairs to the breakwater of the Pharos, see Prokopios of Gaza, Panegyric, §20: PG 87/3, cols. 2817–20 Google Scholar; on the emperor’s building policy in general, cf. L. Di Segni — Hirschfeld, Y., ‘Four Greek Inscriptions from Hammat Gader from the reign of Anastasius’, Israel Exploration Journal 36 (1986) 263ff Google Scholar.

41 Deaed. 1, 1, 23ff.

42 Cf. St. Máximos the Confessor, Mystagogia 4; PG 91, 672 A-C.

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44 As implied by Friedlánder 125-32; Mathew, , Byzantine Aesthetics, 92–3 Google Scholar.

45 Ibid., 87, 88ff.; Dronke, P., ‘Tradition and Innovation in Medieval Western Colour Imagery’, The Medieval Poet and his World (Rome 1984) 57–60 Google Scholar.

46 Whitby, Mary, The Occasion (as in n.34) 215–228 Google Scholar.

47 Ed. Friedlànder, 11.66-67, 81-88, 411-416; Ekphrasis of the Ambo, 11.1-14. See the analysis by Whitby, The Occasion 216-218.

48 Paul achieves this by opening his description of the dawn procession (11.315-349) with an appeal to his audience to enter the church (11.311-313) and by ending it with words reminiscent of the verse from Psalm 23 (see above, p.55) which had been sung at the moment when the doors of the church were opened to the procession (1.350-351).

49 For this recreation, in homilies and imperial ceremonial, of past events and the elimination of the intervening lapse of time through their celebration in the present, see the discussion by MacCormack, S., ‘Christ and Empire, Time and Ceremonial in Sixth-Century Byzantium and Beyond’, B 52 (1982) 287–309 Google Scholar, esp. 298-304.

50 Roma attempts to kiss Justinian’s feet (11.243-244), a modification to the act of proskynesis of an emperor introduced by Justinian and Theodora: Procopius, Secret History, 15, 15. Justinian extends his right hand to ‘his familiar’ Roma, to raise her up (1.244-245). On this passage see Mary Whitby, Paul the Silentiary and Claudian (as in n.34), 507-516, esp. 511 and n.28.

51 11.255-261 describe the attendants who usually (‘as was the custom’) accompanied the emperor. On this passage see Whitby, Mary, ‘On the omission of a ceremony in mid-sixth century Constantinople’, Historia 36 (1987) 462–488 Google Scholar.

52 Whitby, The Occasion, 217-218.

53 The first break, indicated at 11.411-416, was not far into the recitation and therefore probably represents only a brief intermission. See Friedlànder, p. 110 and n.3, who makes a comparison with a mid-day break indicated in John of Gaza’s Ekphrasis ofthe Tabula Mundi (zá. Friedlànder, 11.1-4 (p.150). The second interruption in the recitation at the end of the ekphrasis of the church and before that of the ambo (Ekphrasis of the Ambo, 11.1-14) is more problematic. Inferring from the opening lines (11.1-2) that the ambo was not completed when Paul recited the main ekphrasis, Friedlànder suggested that the ekphrasis of the ambo was recited on a separate occasion (see the lemma also) but probably not long after the main ekphrasis: ‘for I have summoned you three times now’ (1.11).

54 Whitby, The Occasion, 217-218.

55 Ibid., 219. Averil Cameron, on the other hand, sees the poem in much more Christian terms: ‘Images of Authority: Elites and Icons in late Sixth-Century Byzantium’, Past and Present 84 (1979) 9 (reprinted in the author’s Continuity and Change in Sixth-Century Byzantium [London 1981]) and Procopius and the Sixth Century [London 1985] 10, 255.

56 Paul’s Ekphrasis is itself a source for the 24 December date: 11.326-330; also Theophanes, ed. de Boor, 238; Chronicon Paschale. ed. B.G. Niebuhr (Bonn 1832) I, 687.

57 Friedlánder, 110 and n.2.

58 Viljamaa, T., Studies in Greek Encomiastic Poetry of the Early Byzantine Period (Helsinki 1968) 61 Google Scholar; Hunger, H., Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzan-tiner, II (Munich 1978) 111 Google Scholar; Cameron, Averil, Procopius, 11 Google Scholar; Whitby, M., The Occasion, 216 Google Scholar and n.8: ‘perhaps on the Feast of Epiphany’.

59 Constantine Prophyrogenitus, De cerimoniis, ed. Reiske, J. I (Bonn 1829) 369–370 Google Scholar.

60 The ‘Selection from the Ecclesiastical History’ (ed. Cramer 1839) provides confirmation in a ‘negative way’ when it states that Justinian processed to church without his diadem on Christmas and Epiphany 557, after the devastating earthquake of December: The Chronicle of John Malaias, translation (as in n.36) 296 and note.

61 For the twelve days of Christmas see Philotheos, ed. Oikonomides, N., Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles (Paris 1972) 165–191 Google Scholar. Some of the variants of Malaias’ chronicle seem to indicate that the twelve-day holiday period existed in Justinian’s reign, although these may be later glosses; see the apparatus in the translation of Malaias (as in n.36) 296.

62 Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitanarum, ed. T. Preger, I (Leipzig 1901) 104-5.

63 E.g. Proclus, PG 65, cols. 757 ff.; Severian of Gabala, PG 65, cols. 15-25; Romanos. Hymnes, ed. J. Grosdidier de Matons, II Sources Chrétiennes 110 (Paris 1965), 236-93.

64 Whitby, The Occasion, 217 n.11 and references.

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69 (1.935) alludes to the beginning of a consular year on 1 January, marked by the ceremonial ‘elevation’ of the new consul. See also 1.308 of the poem for the word in another context and 1.599 for reference to January as the ‘month of the golden vestments’. On consular inauguration see Cameron, , Elites and Icons (as in n.55) 13; eadem, Corippus, In laudem Iustini (London 1976) Book IV and commentary 175, 199, 202–203 Google Scholar.

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73 Malaias, ed. Dindorf, 493-495; translation (as in n.36) 298-303; Theophanes, ed. de Boor, 234-239. On the conspiracy see the discussion by Whitby, The Occasion, 220-222.

74 Malalas, ed. Dindorf, 488-490; Theophanes, ed. de Boor, 231-232; Agathias, ed. Keydell, 5, 3.

75 Malalas, ed. Dindorf, 489.

76 Agathias, ed. Keydell, 5, 5.

77 Romanos, Hymnes, ed. J. Grosdidier de Matons V, Sources Chrétiennes 283 (Paris 1981) 296-327 (text) 271-291, esp. 272-285 (commentary).

78 Procopius, Secret History, 12, 12-23 (79-81)

79 Romanos, ed. Grosdidier de Matons, V, 234-267, esp. str., 5-7.

80 See Scott, R.D., ‘Malaias, The Secret History, and Justinian’s Propaganda’, DOP 39 (1985) 99-109, esp. 107–109 Google Scholar.

81 The Buildings I, 16-21. For the conspiracy of 548, see also The Wars, 7, 32.

82 Agathias, AP IV, 3, 47-97; A. Cameron, Corippus, In laudem Iustini, praef, 1-36, and commentary, 118-119.

83 See, e.g., the south side of the base of the column of Arcadius; MacCormack, S., Art and Ceremony (as in n. 3) 59 Google Scholar.

84 Mary Whitby, ‘Paul the Silentiary and Claudian’ (as in n. 34) 507-516 for a discus sion of this scene. The fatherly image of Justinian here is paralleled by Procopius’ application of the Homeric phrase ‘gentle as a father’ (Od. 2. 47; 15. 152) to Justinian in his introduction to The Buildings 1.1.15.

85 ‘fruitful’ (1.145); ‘Anthousa’ (1.156) ‘fresh-budding’ (1.165). The visual parallel on coins and elsewhere, is Constantinople holding a cornucopia: see Toynbee, J.M.C., ‘Roma and Constantinopolis in late-antique art from 312-365’, JRS 37 (1947) 135–144 Google Scholar, continued in Studies presented to Robinson, D.M. (Missouri 1953) II, 261–277 Google Scholar.

86 Dölger, F., ‘Rom in der Gedankenwelt der Byzantiner’ in Byzanz und die europäische Staatenwelt (Ettal 1953, repr. Darmstadt 1964) 89–93 Google Scholar.

87 CJ I 17, 1, 10.

88 Dölger, op.cit., 93-95; Whitby, Paul the Silentiary and Claudian, 514-515, esp. n. 48; Fenster, E., Laudes Constantinopolitanae (Munich 1968) 93–95 Google Scholar.

89 Stein, Bas-Empire II, 660-675.

90 According to Malaias, ed. Dindorf, 489-490, the furniture of the eastern end of the church — the ciborium and altar table — were destroyed when part of the dome fell in 558. Kedrenos, ed. I. Bekker (Bonn 1838) I, 676-677, adds the ambo to this list and is the only source to record the inscription on the altar table (677, 14-19).

91 The rededication of the Holy Apostles on the anniversary of Theodora’s death (28 June 550) is another example of the honour accorded to the deceased empress: Malaias, ed. Dindorf, 484. See, also, S. MacCormack, Art and Ceremony, 263, who argues that the San Vitale depiction of Theodora dates to after her death.

92 Edd. Foerster-Richsteig, 24, 44; Litsas, Choricius of Gaza and his Descriptions of Festivals at Gaza (as in n. 24).

93 See n. 90 above.

94 Malalas, ed. Dindorf, 493-495; translation (as in n. 36) 301-303; Whitby, The Occasion, 220-222; Cameron, commentary on Corippus, In laudem Iustini, 2, 357f. (176) who sees the argyropratai as bankers. On this function of argyropratai/argentara see also S. J.B. Barnish, ‘The Wealth of Iulianus Argentarius: Late Antique Banking and the Mediterranean Economy’, B 55 (1985) 5-38. There is, however, no reason to believe that they were not also responsible for the manufacture and sale of ornamental silver; see, e.g. Vie de Théodore de Sykéon, ed. A.J. Festugière (Brussels 1970) I, 36-37; and note Hendy, M.F., Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. 300-1453 (Cambridge 1985) 242–251 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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96 Malalas, translation (as in n.36) 298.

97 Chorikios’ oration on the Brumalia of Justinian (edd. Foerster-Richsteig, 175-9) hardly counts, since it was not recited in the emperor’s presence, nor, as far as we know, communicated to him.

98 Cameron, Procopius, passim, esp. ch. 2; Scott, op.cit., 104-6 and literature cited.

99 Mary Whitby, Paul the Silentiary and Claudian, esp. 512ff.

100 In poems by Christodoros of Koptos and Kollouthos: Suda-Lexikon, s.v.; cf. Cameron, Alan, ‘Wandering Poets: A Literary Movement in Byzantine Egypt’, Historia 74(1965) [repr. in Literature and Society in the Early Byzantine World (London 1985)] 480–1 Google Scholar.

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102 Above, n. 14; cf. Harrison, R.M., ‘The Church of St. Polyeuktos in Istanbul and the temple of Solomon’, Okeanos, Essays presented to Ihor Sevcenko, edd. C. Mango — O. Pritsak [= Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 7 (1983)| 276–9 Google Scholar and works cited in n. 19.

103 De magistratibus, III, 28; cf. Cameron, Procopius, 11.

104 Ibid, 9-12; the case for a later dating has recently been argued by Michael Whitby, op.cit. (above, n.39) 145ff; see also R. Scott, ‘Justinian’s Coinage and Easter Reforms and the date of the Secret History’, BMGS 11 (1987) 215-21. There seems to have been no attempt to pursue the possible compromise solution: that different parts of The Buildings were composed at different times. For the view that Book I was originally a separate panegyric; see Downey, G., ‘Notes on Procopius, De Aedificlis, Book I’, Studies presented to David M. Robinson II(St Louis 1953) 719–725 Google Scholar.

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106 Ed. C.A. Trypanis, Fourteen Early Byzantine Cantica, Wiener byzantinistische Studien 5 (Vienna 1968) no. 12, p.141ff; translations and commentary by Palmer, 137ff. infra.

107 Cf. Procopius, De aed, I, 1, 61.

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109 Ed.. Akakios, Athens (1868), 243-8, 274-80; partial translation by Mango, Art, 202-5.

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112 There may be an echo of a Justinianic ekphrasis in the fulsome treatment of Justinian as opposed to Constantine (1.365ff).

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