Everyday Life in Byzantium Read online

  Under the Comnenes life was particularly gay and light-hearted, somewhat western and essentially up-to-date. The empresses of that dynasty were fond of giving balls and of organising concerts or mimed plays in their country villas. These were situated on the outskirts of the capital, invariably in attractive surroundings where the emperors had from early times built their hunting lodges, shooting boxes and castles. Theodora had chosen to build her favourite villa on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus.

  Although every aspect of Byzantine life was organised in the smallest detail the poor of Constantinople were in such constant need of the essentials of daily life that they had little to lose by being unruly. They therefore never hesitated to express their discontent and were often so turbulent that even when the hereditary succession to the throne had come to be generally regarded as constitutional rioting often broke out in the capital. It frequently ended in a change of ruler. When a rising had been successful the crowd was apt to express its pleasure by dancing in the streets and composing songs about the event, as it did in 1042 when Michael V was deposed. In 1057 they expressed their gratitude to Isaac Comnenus for deposing Michael VI by lighting torches in his honour, sprinkling him with scent and dancing in the streets. Palace revolutions also often brought an unexpected sovereign to the throne and so too sometimes did misfortunes of a personal or national character. As a result nine dynasties and several usurpers succeeded each other on the Byzantine throne. Nevertheless, from the start the office of emperor, if not always his person, was deeply respected throughout the Empire. Diocletian had been the first Roman to claim for the sovereign’s person a touch of divinity. In Byzantium the emperor’s position as Christ’s vicar on earth assured him of the veneration of the great majority of his Christian subjects, and the ceremonial which the Church had evolved for the emperor did much to encourage that attitude. Furthermore, during early Byzantine history, the influence of her most serious rival, Persia, where the Sasanian rulers ranked as virtually divine, did much to encourage the emperor’s assertion that his office entitled him to respect or even adoration.

  Though Persia and Byzantium were frequently at war with each other, vying for world supremacy until the rise of the Arabs in the seventh century, the reverence with which the Persians treated their sovereigns appealed to the Byzantine emperors. Nevertheless, none of them ever cut themselves off from their subjects to anything like the same degree as did the Sasanian kings, though they used every visible means to stress their uniqueness and importance. Diocletian had introduced the conception of the divinely clad king; Constantine endorsed it by reserving for himself and his family the use of purple-coloured stuffs and slippers. Soon all excepting the patriarch of Constantinople were expected, regardless of rank, to prostrate themselves when greeting the emperor. Every member of the cabinet or Sacred Consistorium, when assembled in the presence of the emperor, though absolved from prostrating himself, was obliged to stand throughout the entire session.

  16 The Empress Ariadne in her regalia

  An elaborate court ceremonial grew up throughout the centuries for the purpose of enhancing the glamour surrounding the sovereign so as to increase both his personal standing and the dignity of his office. Each of his official appearances was precisely regulated and designed as carefully as any ballet, unfolding invariably in a setting of great splendour. Thus, in the early fifth century, to celebrate the baptism of Emperor Arcadius’ son, the future Theodosius II (408-50), the streets of Constantinople were decorated with silk hangings adorned with gold and other costly ornaments; this was at a time when the method of producing silk was still unknown in the West, so that all available supplies had to be imported at great expense by caravan from China. All those taking part in the official procession to and from the cathedral wore white, creating, in the words of a contemporary, the impression of an eddy of snowflakes. The highest dignitaries of the realm walked at the head of the procession. They were followed by units of the imperial regiments carrying lighted candles which flickered like myriads of stars. A nobleman of high rank carried the imperial baby, whilst the child’s father, dressed in purple, followed. Even the onlookers were gaily dressed.

  Court ceremonial was both complicated and strict. By the tenth century it had become so involved that the learned and gifted Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus thought it necessary to record it in all its details in his Book of Ceremonies. The emperor was an historian and distinguished writer and he also wrote for his son’s benefit The Book of Government. We owe much of our knowledge of Byzantine court life and administration to these two works. In the first Constantine defined ceremony as ‘the outward form of inward harmony’ and expressed the belief that ‘ritual helps to enhance royal dignity’. The broad lines of the ceremonies he described had been laid down in Justinian’s day, when the observances had been worked out that were to be followed at coronations, royal births, marriages and burials as well as at a sovereign’s departure from and return to his capital, during his presence at such ceremonies as the Hippodrome games, at ambassadorial audiences and at religious and state festivals. But the final details were not established till the tenth century. Then even mechanical contrivances were resorted to to help stress the superhuman nature of the sovereign. The most intriguing of these was the mechanical throne commissioned by Theophilus. However, even less ingenious thrones were extremely impressive, for they were made of precious materials, adorned with jewels, surmounted by canopies, draped in rare and precious stuffs, set up on a dais or tribune, furnished with brocaded cushions and accompanied by ornate footstools.

  Whenever an emperor departed from or returned to his capital he was either speeded on his way or welcomed home by his sons, the patriarch, the senators and the senior army and naval officers at a convenient point close to the city’s boundary. If he was returning from a European campaign the welcoming ceremony was held in the Hebdomon castle standing close to the capital’s western land walls; often it took place in a pavilion situated in the same neighbourhood. After the welcoming ceremony had been performed it was customary for the emperor to enter his capital by the Golden Gate, riding at the head of his bodyguard along the Mese or Central Street, past the Forum of Theodosius and that of Constantine, skirting the Hippodrome and so back to the Great Palace.

  The emperor, in his role of Christ’s representative, had special duties to fulfil in the main religious festivals, each of which was celebrated in its own particular way. Many pagan customs had been incorporated in the Christian ritual. Thus the pagan custom of celebrating the grape harvest on 15 August became the occasion for the emperor and the patriarch to leave the capital at the head of a procession to hold a harvest festival in some not too distant vineyard. On such occasions the legs and tail of the emperor’s horse were bound in silk ribbons and its trappings were studded with jewels. Until the end of the tenth century, when the date of Christmas was fixed, it was customary to hold a public holiday in honour of the Sun God on 25 December. In the course of the festivities the emperor, impersonating the Sun God, performed a sort of traditional pantomime, appearing wearing a halo, originally the Sun God’s emblem. Christ’s birth had until then been celebrated on 6 January when, in one of the audience chambers of the Great Palace before an assembly of specially invited guests, the emperor invested newly appointed or promoted officials with their diplomas, badges of rank and carved ivory plaques similar to those known to us today as consular diptychs. The officials had prepared themselves for the event by fasting throughout the previous day; they received their diplomas from the emperor, kneeling before him. On such occasions the gentlemen of the bedchamber met the emperor’s guests at the palace gates and conducted them to the audience chamber to await the emperor. When he entered the hall each guest was expected to greet him in the manner prescribed for persons of his rank, senators being accorded the privilege of kissing the emperor’s right breast as he bent forward to kiss their heads, whilst men of lesser rank were obliged to fling themselves down on the floor and kiss
the emperor’s feet, with their arms outstretched—a posture known as the proskynesis and one which is still today imposed by certain religious orders on monks or nuns taking their vows.

  The ceremony prescribed for ambassadorial audiences was very similar, but its opening stages began when the envoy and his staff reached the frontier of Byzantium—in the case of a Persian mission, at the Euphrates. There a reception committee bearing royal gifts assembled to greet the envoy. Similar ceremonies were repeated at every regional capital situated on the ambassador’s route to Constantinople, the local governor presenting him with gifts the value of which varied in accordance with the ambassador’s importance. On reaching Constantinople the diplomat and his staff were conducted to a house which had been prepared for their use. Daily fresh supplies of food would be provided whilst they waited as patiently as they could to hear when the emperor would consent to receive them. On the day chosen for the audience the gifts which the envoy had brought for the emperor from his own sovereign and those which he was himself to receive from the emperor were displayed in the palace for all to see. Meanwhile the imperial guard, wearing full-dress uniforms of gold helms and breastplates over white undergarments, would ride carrying their lances to the ambassador’s residence, where the envoy and his suite, dressed in their finest clothes, awaited them. The ambassador would mount the splendidly caparisoned horse which had been specially selected for his use from the emperor’s stables and the whole group would set out for the palace along streets gaily decorated with carpets and hangings suspended in the envoy’s honour from the windows and balconies of the houses lining his route. The spectacle was so superb that, on public holidays, the Venetians later decorated their streets in the same manner.

  17 Emperor in full regalia

  At the main entrance to the palace the ambassador was met by a senior official who conducted him, together with his interpreter and retinue, to the audience hall where the throne stood on a platform concealed from view by sumptuous hangings. At a given moment these were drawn apart to reveal the emperor seated, dressed in his state robes and wearing his crown. His clothes consisted of a long, close-fitting robe made of a sumptuous brocade, decorated round the neck and waist and down the centre of the back and front with jewelled and embroidered bands. The crowns varied slightly in shape according to date, but the superb eleventh-century crown of Monomachus preserved in Budapest is made of eight beautifully enamelled gold plaques. The shimmer created by his crown and jewels probably explains why an enthralled visitor compared the costume of Emperor Manuel Comnenus (1143-80) to ‘a meadow covered in flowers’.

  On perceiving the emperor all were expected to fall on their knees. When the majesty of the spectacle had made its full impression on those privileged to see it the ambassador was led towards the throne, but he was made to halt three times in his advance in order to kneel to the Basileus. On reaching the throne he handed his letter of credence to the Master of Ceremonies and greeted the emperor in the name of his own sovereign. The emperor replied by inquiring after the latter’s health, in the case either of the king of Persia or of the caliph of Islam referring to him as his brother, but in that of a European ruler calling him his son. He then named the day on which the ambassador was to return to the palace to discuss affairs of state.

  When an ambassador had completed his mission the emperor often gave a farewell banquet in his honour. The guests were seated in strict order of precedence. Though the tables used were what we would call T-shaped, the Byzantines—their lives centred on their Christian faith—described them as half cross-shaped. The top end —or cross-piece—formed the high table and was made of gold. The emperor sat at its centre, wearing a purple robe over a white tunic, with the empress on his left; the male guests and his equerries, all wearing sashes of honour, were ranged along the right side of that end of the table, the ladies along the left. Until quite a late date (the tenth century has been suggested by some authorities) all reclined on couches in the Roman manner, though when dining in private the imperial family appear to have used chairs from rather earlier times. A court official called a silentarius held a rod of office and stood behind the emperor throughout the banquet, whilst a lady-in-waiting holding a wand stood behind the empress. If the visiting ambassador represented a major power his place was set at the high table; if not, or if the emperor wished to affront him, he sat at the transversal section, where his suite and his interpreter were placed. In the tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, ambassador of the emperor of Germany, was so incensed at being assigned to the lower end whilst the Bulgarian ambassador was seated at the upper table that he failed to enjoy the music, miming and dancing provided as entertainment for the diners.

  18 Emperor Theodosius with courtiers and guardsmen in the Imperial box at the Hippodrome

  When in residence in Constantinople or other large towns it was the emperor’s duty to preside at the circus games and chariot races in the Hippodrome (/8). Though pagan in origin, diversions of this type were held at regular intervals throughout the greater part of Byzantine history, taking place not only in Constantinople, where a special meeting was held annually on 11 May to commemorate the founding of the city, but also in the provincial hippodromes. The main features of these events were chariot races, four horses being harnessed abreast to each chariot. In Constantinople it fell to the emperor to give the signal for the Games to begin. He did so by dropping a white handkerchief called a mappa. Four races were run during the morning and as many again in the afternoon. The emperor gave a lunch party between the two series; on the occasion of the Gothic Games he held it in the Hall of the Nineteen Couches. At the end of each day’s events he awarded prizes to the final winners; these consisted of an aurigarion (a gold emblem), a silver helmet and a belt. During the intervals between the races the audience was entertained by mimes, dancers, acrobats and circus turns, many of who performed to the accompaniment of music played on organs and lutes. Distinguished visitors from Kievan Russia were so impressed by these entertainers that, in the eleventh century, the grand duke of Kiev had some of the scenes which had diverted them recorded on the walls of the staircase leading to his pew in the gallery of Kiev’s cathedral of Haghia Sophia; many of these paintings survive as the only known pictorial representations of these entertainments.

  As the sole fount of law and order, the emperor was necessarily a very busy man. His day was a long one. He was woken at six o’clock every morning by three knocks on his door. He rose and dressed himself unaided, dispensing with any semblance of the ceremony evolved later by Louis XIV of France and known as the lever du roi. He went straight from his bedroom to the Golden Hall to pray before an icon of the Saviour placed there in a special alcove. Then he seated himself on his golden throne to breakfast. When he had eaten he received his chamberlain and discussed the day’s business with him. Then he received those ministers and officials who had business matters of importance to lay before him. All came to his presence wearing the elaborately and diversely embroidered robes to which their rank and functions entitled them. With the exception of the patriarch they all remained standing in the emperor’s presence. When the day’s business had been concluded the ministers withdrew, but the patriarch often stayed on to lunch with the emperor. Before entering the dining-room both men removed their robes of office; they resumed them at the end of the meal, the patriarch embracing the emperor before making his departure.

  The emperor was obliged to sign virtually every state document that was drawn up. To begin with these were written on parchment, but from the eleventh century a particular kind of paper called bombazine (because it was made in Baghdad) came into use. The emperor’s name and titles were written at the top of each document in very large letters of a special script, the emperor signing his name at the foot of the page in purple ink. All writing material was placed in the charge of a special high-ranking official. He was expected to provide the purple ink at his own expense, but he was doubtless able to find ample compensation for this in the
influence he was able to wield. Every document signed by the emperor was recorded in the Chancery’s files. A special government department was responsible for translating those communications which were sent abroad. Copies of the translations were attached to copies of the original texts and filed with them. Special charters known as bulls were often written in gold; when headed with a picture of Christ and of the emperor wearing his robes of state and his crown they were known as chrysobulls or golden bulls.

  Although the emperors were very busy men, and although Byzantine life (and more especially court life) was rigidly controlled by carefully defined regulations, it would be wrong to think of the rulers of Byzantium as mere puppets. They were all men of temperament and of marked individuality; many had wide interests and spent their leisure hours pursuing their personal tastes. Some were sociable and made a habit of inviting guests to dine in private with them and members of their families, readily accepting in return invitations to dine in the houses of their subjects. All lived a full family life pursued in privacy. Justinian spent as much time as possible with Theodora, whom he adored, but in order to do so he generally rose at dawn and went to bed very late, often even getting up during the night in order to read and study. He never ate meat nor drank wine. Nicephorus Phocas (963-9) and Basil II (976-1025) were also abstemious. Leo VI made a habit of walking the streets of Constantinople at night, alone and incognito, in order to see for himself whether the police were carrying out his order to imprison vagrants. One night, when dressed as a tramp, he was able to persuade two patrols to let him pass, but the third paid no attention to his pleadings and imprisoned him. In the morning he rewarded the last of these and severely reprimanded the first two. Leo was also fond of visiting monasteries unannounced and, on the spur of the moment, staying on to dine there. Michael IV (1034-41) lived in terror of revolution and used to ride through the streets of Constantinople at night to see whether people were gathering into groups, perhaps to conspire against him. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus was keener on writing and illuminating books than on governing; Theodore Lascaris was a fine calligrapher and book illuminator. Practically all were patrons of art and passionate collectors of beautiful objects.