149:", the Byzantines did not distance themselves or their art from their classical Roman forebears, and had no sense that their interpretations of subject matter, often given Christian reidentifications, or the artistic style in which these representations were dressed, had drifted; by contrast, "we notice the distance that separates the Byzantines from the original meaning of pagan statues", given new identities as Christian figures or Emperors. More recently, Benjamin Anderson has argued that the
174:, surviving in a single manuscript, its modern commentators have not esteemed it highly: Alan Cameron found it "so stuffed with such staggering absurdities and confusions (especially where Constantine is concerned) that it is seldom worth even attempting to explain them, much less sift out the few grains of historical fact behind them." A reviewer of its modern edition even called it "the Byzantinist's
131:(reigned 711–13) then had the statue buried. Such anecdotes do not directly relate to the commonly attributed imperial motivations for displaying classical plunder, as manifestations of imperial splendor past, present and future, and may be too summarily dismissed merely as examples of Christian superstition concerning "
144:
inhabiting such three-dimensional figural representations as potential sources of power, for those
Christians who understood how to harness it. The objective assessment of a work of art was immaterial: what mattered to Byzantine writers was the "meaning" for which the statue served merely as a
340:, studded with antique statues, is seen by S.G. Bassett as "a neatly crafted ensemble that described a vision of power in its past, present, and future manifestations" (Bassett, "The antiquities of the Hippodrome of Constantinople",
153:
represents an attempt by a group of self-styled aristocrats to claim the statues as repositories of secret knowledge about the future of the empire, and thus to gain leverage in their dealings with the eighth-century emperors.
112:
were as extended as the first-person narration about a statue of "Maximian" in the theatre of the
Kynegion, which fell upon the investigator's companion, killing him; the narrator, who had taken refuge in
68:", the generic "lover of beauty", are generally interpreted on the simplest level as a kind of tourist's guide to the curiosities of Constantinople, in the manner of the later guides to Rome,
76:
188:
and his successors, and which continued to represent continuity with the classical tradition by their prominent presence in
Constantinople's public spaces.
97:
fail to give an objective description. Instead, the reader is offered anecdotal narratives about the statues, which had become foci for
170:, has made interpretation ambiguous. Though it is virtually the only secular text from the Byzantine age of eclipse that preceded the
101:
and wonder-working objects themselves. "Statues were perceived on both the intellectual and popular level as animated, dangerous and
502:
347:); H. Saradi-Mendelovici, "Christian attitudes to pagan monuments in Late Antiquity and their legacy in later Byzantine centuries"
286:
86:, and when considered under this rubric, or compared with the later compilation of notes on Constantinople called the
372:
Liz James and R. Webb, "'To understand ultimate things and enter secret places': Ekphrasis and art in
Byzantium",
207:
507:
311:
James, "'Pray Not to Fall into
Temptation and Be on Your Guard': Pagan Statues in Christian Constantinople"
337:
492:
487:
252:
45:
87:
250:
and Judith Herrin argued for an early eighth-century date; A. Kazhdan, reviewing their edition in
497:
171:
163:
185:
70:
268:
Its modern edition, with text and translation, is Averil
Cameron and Judith Herrin, eds.
8:
512:
282:
192:
176:
117:, was exonerated when a certain philosopher, Johannes, found a text attributed to
146:
456:
Possible alterations by a later writer have complicated the study of this text.
247:
219:
203:
41:
25:
397:
Benjamin
Anderson, "Classified knowledge: the epistemology of statuary in the
270:
Constantinople in the Early Eighth
Century: the Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai
228:
Constantinople in the Early Eighth
Century: The Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai
180:". Classicists have been frustrated in not being able securely to identify in
481:
223:
199:, in which Nicetas described the destruction of the remaining statues by the
184:
the great sculptures of
Antiquity that had been removed to Constantinople by
191:
Fire and damage took their toll, but enough remained to form the subject of
200:
114:
128:
118:
49:
138:
Liz James reinterpreted the text as exemplifying Byzantine views of the
37:
82:
33:
272:, series Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition (Leiden, 1984).
259:(1987:400-03), argued for a late eighth or early ninth-century date.
167:
132:
109:
281:
The Inheritance of Rome, Chris Wickham, Penguin Books Ltd. 2009,
123:
140:
102:
98:
300:
Constantinople imaginaire: Etudes sur le recueil des "Patria"
465:
Cyril Mango, "Antique statuary and the Byzantine beholder",
36:
text that concentrates on brief commentary connected to the
80:. In Classical Greek, a description of a work of art is an
32:, "brief historical notes") is an eighth- to ninth-century
417:Even the sources given in the text prove elusive.
479:
246:The date is a matter of discussion: its editors
16:Byzantine Greek text about Constantinople
439:Barry Baldwin, in a positive review in
480:
197:On the Statues destroyed by the Latins
64:, dedicated to a doubtless imaginary "
127:to kill a prominent man. The emperor
430:(Oxford University Press) 1973:110.
13:
403:Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
14:
524:
121:, predicting that the statue was
48:, for which it has been mined by
503:Culture of the Byzantine Empire
459:
450:
433:
420:
411:
391:
382:
213:
44:and its monuments, notably its
399:Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai
366:
357:
330:
321:
305:
292:
275:
262:
240:
208:sack of Constantinople in 1204
21:Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai
1:
30:Παραστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί
230:, Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1984.
7:
388:Saradi-Mendelovici 1990:58.
327:Recounted by James 1996:12.
162:Its crabbed and elliptical
145:vehicle. With no sense of "
10:
529:
298:Edited by Gilbert Dagron,
157:
77:De Mirabilibus Urbis Romae
55:
428:Porphyrius the Charioteer
253:Byzantinische Zeitschrift
46:Classical Greek sculpture
29:
234:
105:," observes Liz James.
318:.1 (1996:12-20) p. 15.
172:Macedonian Renaissance
467:Dumbarton Oaks Papers
349:Dumbarton Oaks Papers
342:Dumbarton Oaks Papers
186:Constantine the Great
71:Mirabilia Urbis Romae
508:Byzantine literature
447:.2 (April 1986:388).
195:'s little pamphlet
493:9th-century books
488:8th-century books
363:James 1996:12-20.
287:978-0-670-02098-0
193:Nicetas Choniates
91:of Constantinople
520:
473:
463:
457:
454:
448:
437:
431:
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409:
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328:
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177:Historia Augusta
31:
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58:
17:
12:
11:
5:
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498:Constantinople
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458:
449:
432:
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365:
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329:
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304:
291:
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261:
248:Averil Cameron
238:
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233:
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220:Averil Cameron
215:
212:
159:
156:
57:
54:
50:art historians
42:Constantinople
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
525:
514:
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472:(1963:55-59).
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224:Judith Herrin
221:
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136:
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108:Few of these
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63:
53:
51:
47:
43:
39:
35:
27:
23:
22:
469:
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461:
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444:
440:
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427:
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408:(2011:1-19).
405:
402:
398:
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384:
379:(1991:1-17).
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214:Bibliography
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115:Hagia Sophia
107:
94:
88:
81:
75:
69:
65:
61:
59:
20:
19:
18:
374:Art History
354:(1990:47-61
182:Parastaseis
151:Parastaseis
129:Philippicus
119:Demosthenes
95:Parastaseis
62:Parastaseis
513:Topography
482:Categories
338:Hippodrome
166:, full of
103:talismanic
66:Philokalos
38:topography
426:Cameron,
289:. p. 255.
204:crusaders
168:solecisms
147:Antiquity
110:anecdotes
83:ekphrasis
34:Byzantine
441:Speculum
226:, eds.,
141:daimones
302:, 1984.
206:at the
158:Critics
99:legends
56:Content
285:
93:, the
89:Patria
313:Gesta
235:Notes
201:Latin
164:Greek
133:idols
124:fated
26:Greek
336:The
283:ISBN
222:and
74:and
60:The
401:",
135:".
40:of
484::
470:17
445:61
443:,
406:35
377:14
352:44
345:45
316:35
257:80
210:.
52:.
28::
24:(
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