Expert: Conrad T. Jalowski - 4/28/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I live in an area with no access to the TLG database. I'm looking for a quote from Konstantinos Porphyrogenitos in his De Cerimoniis Aulae Byzantinae. At some point he mentions that a seven-branched candelabrum (heptalychnos)was used for solemn processions in the Byzantine palace. I do not have a Patrology lexicon or know enough Greek to find the exact reference (chapter or verse) in the text. If you can help, I'd be extremely grateful. Blessings.

ANSWER: The 'De Cerimoniis Aulae Byzantinae was an agglomeration of works produced for Basileus and Autokrater Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. Nikephorous II Phocas under the guidance of Basil the Nothos revised and updated the compilation. This compilation contained descriptions of court ceremonies from the perspective of court officials and the day-to-day life in Byzantium.  The compilation is divided into two books: Book One contains 97 chapters whilst Book Two contains 56 chapters.  Chapters 1 to 83 contain details on holy day processions such as in the objects 'acheiropoietos' and the melismatic music of pentecostarion, octoechos and triordion in which the religious ceremonies were carried out. Chapters 96 and 97 deal with the military campaings of the Byzantines in Crete and the Catapanate of Italy, as well as Syria-Cilicia Phoenice.

The center theme of the compilation was 'taxis' or the 'good order' of the Byzantines that represented a perfect hierarchal or appellation system. The Byzantines are seen as the upholders of a balance of power and the general structure of the oecumene. The Byzantine Basileus viewed himself as 'Rex Romanorum' or 'King of the Romans'. When Charlemage took that appellation and expanded his empire: 768-814 CE through the Exarchate of Ravenna and the Lombard autarchy, the Byzantine appellations grew more grandiloquent as they became atrabilious to growing powers which disrupted their sense of hubris and imperium. Beyond the empire was the 'ataxia' or the 'disorder' of the oligophernial 'barbarians'. Semi-autonomous princelings took the appellation of archon, with the permission of the Byzantine Basileus. Thus, the lack of sophrosyne within the Byzantine Empire and their sense of entitlement, viewing all of Europe as their legacy and within their suzerainty.

Thank you for the question,

         Conrad Jalowski

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks. Sounds like you are an expert on Heraclius.  Could you tell me what would be the proper mode of address from an abbot to the emperor in the year 614? I'm doing a project, composing a letter from Modestus to Heraclius regarding the sack of Jerusalem by the Persians.  For example: "Modestus, Prior of the Monastery of St. Theodosius, near the Holy City, to his Imperial Majesty, Flavius Heraclius Augustus, Emperor of the Romans, King of kings."  Would he have used the traditional Roman or later Greek forms of address (e.g.,  Augustus v. Basileus)?

Answer
Initially the Byzantine Empire took the appellation of the Eastern Romans, and did with contumacious defiance hold onto such an autonomasia until after the turmoil from 1204-1261 CE of fall of Byzantium to the Crusader autarchies: Latin Empire: 1204-1261, Kingdom of Thessalonica, Duchy of Athens, Duchy of Negropolis, Duchy of the Archipelago of Naxos/Cycladic Islands, Principality of Achaea, and the kleptocracy found within the division of the Byzantine Empire with the Grecian Successor states of the Despotate of Epirus: 1305-1479, Kingdom of Nicaea: 1204-1261, Despotate of Morea: 1204-1461 and the Kingdom of Trebizond: 1204-1461, in which the insouciance to the Byzantines was so great that imperial aspirations and the hubristic self diminished as the emperors started only then to call themselves "King of the Greeks" of a "Hellenic Empire". (The other contestors to the appellation of "Rex Romanorum" were Charlemagne's Empire: 768-814 and the Ottonian Empire or the Holy Roman Empire which was a vast agglomeration.

To answer your question, Emperor Heraclius would have been addressed with the appellation of "Rex Romanorum", however, changes did occur from the previous centuries from 330-610 CE. Koine Greek became the official language of the Byzantines which replaced Latin. Thus, Emperor Heraclius would also have been addressed with the Hellenistic appellations of Basileus (Great King), Porphyrogennetus (Born to the Purple or royal throne), and Autokrater (one with despotic power which would equate to imperium). Though some emperors continued to dispute with the West such as Nikephrous II Phocas and Manuel I Komnenos, most of the Byzantine emperors turned to the East and the Balkans for  puissant expansion and subjugation, such as under Basil II Bulgaroctonus. (After the Byzantine loss at Manzikert: 1071 CE to the Seljuk Turks of Iconium, most of central Anatolia, as well as the suzerainty of Greater Armenia, Mygdania, Sophene, Commagene, Atropatene, Adiabene and Gordyene was lost. Only the possessions of Lydia, Lycia, Mysia, Ionia, Caria, Pontus, Bithynia and Hellespontine Phrygia remained in Anatolia.) The Byzantine Empire consisted of the Amorian, Isaurian, Nikephorian, Phrygian, Macedonian, Komnenian, Angelid, Laskarid, and Palaeologan dynasties.


Thank you for the question,

         Conrad Jalowski