Theodora: Empress of Byzantium (Mark Magowan Books) (57 page)

PARRHÊSIA
. A Greek term with a double meaning: in the positive sense it means “freedom of speech,” “power of speaking.” In the negative sense it means “unrestrained speech,” “speaking recklessly.”

PATRIARCH
. An ecclesiastical title reserved in antiquity for the bishops of the five major Christian centers: Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch since the First Ecumenical Council (Nicaea, 325), and Constantinople and Jerusalem since the Fourth Council (Chalcedon, 451).

PHANTASIAST
. See Aphthartodocetism.

PLEBS
. A Latin noun that initially referred to the mass of Roman citizens (as distinguished from the patricians, who enjoyed special privileges). Later it came to signify the “common people,” or the poorest population of large cities in general.

POLIS
. A Greek noun signifying “city.”

PRAEFECTUS PRAETORIO
. In the late ancient empire, the highest civilian functionary in a given territory. Among his duties was collecting the main tax in the province, the so-called
annona
.

PRAEPENDULIA
. Long pendants that were part of the crown of an Augusta (see Glossary).

RES PRIVATA
. A Latin expression meaning “personal matter” as opposed to
res publica
(see Glossary). In late antiquity,
res privatae
were also the assets owned by the imperial crown, as separate from those owned by the empire (
fiscus
).

RES PUBLICA
. A Latin expression meaning “public matter,” and therefore, metaphorically, the “state” or its “government.”

RES SEVERA
. A Latin expression meaning “serious matter,” “weighty issue.”

RESTITUTIO
. A Latin expression meaning “restitution”; metaphorically, “restoration.”

SAMARITANS
. An unorthodox Jewish sect that recognized only the authority of the Pentateuch in the Bible. It had its temple not in Jerusalem but on Mount Gerizim in northern Palestine.

SILENTIUM
. A Latin technical term designating the council meetings the emperor held with his ministers (the term clarifies how the ministers were to behave).

SOLIDUS
. Also called
nomisma
(see Glossary) in Greek, it was the basic coin of the monetary system of the late-ancient, later Byzantine, empire. It was 4.48 grams of solid gold.

TECHNÊ
. A Greek noun meaning “art,” “skill,” “artifice,” “technique,” or “trade.”

TELL
. A technical term (
tell
is Arabic for “hill,” mount”) for the mounds that indicate the superimposition of sites of possible archaeological interest in the eastern Mediterranean.

THYMOS
. A Greek noun signifying “mind,” “life,” “vital principle,” “courage,” “ardor,” “rage,” “ire.”

TORQUES
. A Latin noun equivalent to the Greek
maniakion
(see Glossary).

VELUM
. A fabric curtain that separated rooms, whose lifting or lowering had important meaning in ceremonies and in hearings in the imperial palace and other official locales.

VENATIO (VENATOR)
. A Latin noun that originally designated the “hunt,” later the wild-animal-hunting shows performed in the circuses of the Empire, with the participation of specialized gladiators called
venatores
.

VIR ROMANUS
. A Latin expression meaning “Roman man,” with the ensemble of all the virtues and duties connected to Roman citizenship.

There are several Italian translations of the primary source for Theodora, Procipius’s
Secret History
or
Anekdota
. The first, all-important edition is by D. Comparetti and D. Bassi and is also renowned for its critical text (
Le inedite
; Rome, 1928). Among modern editions,
Storia segreta
, ed. F. M. Pontani (Rome, 1972);
Carte segrete
, 2nd ed., ed. by Lia Raffaella Cresci Sacchini (Milan, 1981); and, most recently, with a profusion of notes and with parallel Greek text,
Storie segrete
, with an introduction, critical revision of the text, and notes by F. Conca, Italian trans. P. Cesaretti (Milan, 1996), from which the quotations in this
Teodora: Ascesa di una imperatrice
have been generally taken.

The most recent French edition of the
Secret History
, by P. Maraval,
Procope: Histoire secrète
(Paris, 1990), has numerous notes but no critical text.

The other works of Procopius are currently unavailable in Italian translation, although there have been renowned versions of the
Wars, Le guerre persiana vandalica gotica
(The Persian, Vandal, and Gothic Wars), ed. M. Craveri (Turin, 1977); but especially
La guerra gotica
(The Gothic War), 3 vols., ed. and trans. by D. Comparetti (Rome, 1895–99).

English-language readers may read all of Procopius’s opus with parallel Greek text in the Loeb edition that has been generally used for the quotations in this English-language translation of
Theodora
.
Procopius
, 7 vols., ed. H. B. Dewing (individual volumes published by several publishers from 1914–40), has been reprinted numerous times.

German-language readers may read the German translation with parallel Greek text by O. Veh published by Tusculum, Prokopios,
Werke
, 5 vols. (Munich, 1966–77).

The reference critical edition for the works of Procopius is still Teubner’s, by J. Haury,
Procopii Caesariensis Opera Omnia
, 4 vols. (Leipzig, 1905–13), revised by G. Wirth in 1963–64.

For the text of the
Secret History
the edition by H. Mihăescu,
Historia arcana
(Bucharest, 1972), is important.

Antologia Palatina
(
Greek Anthology
) Ed. F. M. Pontani, 4 vols. (Turin, 1978–81).

Quotations in this
Theodora
are from
The Greek Anthology,
English trans. W. R. Paton (Cambridge, Mass.: Loeb Classical Library, 1916–18; repr. 1993–98), English version with parallel Greek text.

Agapetus

Agapetus Diaconus.
Expositio capitum admonitoriorum
, in Migne,
Patrologia Graeca
, vol. LXVI 1, cols. 1164 foll.

Corpus Iuris Civilis

Vol. I,
Institutiones—Digesta
, 16th ed., ed. P. Krueger and Th. Mommsen. Berlin, 1954.

Vol. II,
Codex Iustinianus
, 11th ed., ed. P. Krueger. Berlin, 1954.

Vol. III,
Novellae
, 6th ed., ed. R. Schoell and G. Kroll. Berlin, 1954.

Dialogus de Scientia Politica

Menae patricii cum Thoma referendario De scientia politica dialogus
, ed. C. M. Mazzucchi. Milan, 1982.

Evagrius Scholasticus

The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius
, ed. J. Bidez and L. Parmentier. London, 1898.

John Lydus

Lydus, Iohannes.
De magistratibus populi romani
, ed. R. Wuensch. Leipzig, 1903.

John Malalas

Malalae, Iohannis.
Chronographia
, ed. I. Thurn. Berlin and New York, 2000.

Narratio de Sancta Sophia

In
Scriptores Originum Constantinopolitanarum
, ed. Th. Preger. Leipzig, 1901. Vol. I, pp. 74–108.

Theophanes

Theophanes Confessor,
Chronographia
, 2 vols., ed. C. de Boor. Leipzig, 1883–85.

Vita Sancti Sabae

In E. Schwartz, “Kyrillos von Skythopolis,”
Texte und Untersuchungen
XLIX 2. Leipzig, 1939, pp. 85–200.

Collectio Avellana

Epistulae Imperatorum, pontificum, aliorum inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque ad a. DLIII datae
, 2 vols., ed. O. Guenther,
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
XXXV. Vienna, 1895–98.

Liber Pontificalis

Le Liber Pontificalis
, 2nd ed., ed. L. Duchesne. Paris, 1955, vol. I.

Liberati

“Breviarium causae Nestorianorum et Euthychianorum,” in
Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum
, ed. E. Schwartz. Concilium Universale Chalcedonense V 2. Berlin and Leipzig, 1936, pp. 98–141.

Victorinus of Tonnennae

Victorinus Tonnennensis,
Chronica
, ed. Th. Mommsen, in “Monumenta Germaniae Historica,” Auctores Antiquisissimi XI. Berlin, 1894, pp. 184–206.

John of Ephesus

Lives of the Eastern Saints
, 3 vols., ed. E. W. Brooks. Paris, 1923–25. (
Patrologia Orientalis
XVII 1; XVIII 4; XIX 2).

Iohannis Ephesini Historia Ecclesiastica Pars Tertia
, ed. E. W. Brooks, in
Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Scriptores Syri
(henceforth CSCO.SS), LV. Louvain, 1936.

Zacharias Scholasticus

Historia Ecclesiastica Zachariae Rhetori vulgo adscripta
, 2 vols., ed. E. W. Brooks, CSCO.SS, XLI and XLII. Louvain, 1924.

La vie de Sévère par Zacharie le Scholastique
, ed. M.-A. Kugener. (
Patrologia Orientalis
II 1). Paris, 1907.

Michael the Syrian

Michel le Syrien.
Chronique
, 4 vols., ed. J.-B. Chabot. Paris, 1899–1924. (esp. vol. 2; Paris, 1901).

Vitae virorum apud Monophysitas celeberrimorum
, vol. I, ed. E. W. Brooks. CSCO.SS, VIII. Louvain, 1907.

The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu
, trans. R.-H. Charles. London and Oxford, 1916.

Documenta ad origines Monophysitarum illustrandas
, ed. J.-B. Chabot. CSCO.SS, LII. Louvain, 1933.

History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria
, ed. B. Evetts. (
Patrologia Orientalis
I 4). Paris, 1907.

Baronii, C.
Annales Ecclesiastici
cum
Critica Historico-chronologica
Antonii Pagi, etc., 38 vols. J. D. Mansi. Lucca, 1738–59, vol. IX.

Gibbon, Edward.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
, 7 vols. London: Methuen & Co., 1909.

de Sade, D.-A.-F.
La filosofia nel boudoir,
(Italian translation of
La Philosophie dans le boudoir
, 1795) Rome, 1993.

Sardou, Victorien.
Théodora: Drame en cinq actes et sept tableaux
(Theodora: A Five-Act, Seven-Scene Play). Paris, 1884.

D’Annunzio, Gabriele.
La nave: Tragedia
(The Ship: A Tragedy). Milan, 1908.

Graves, Robert.
Count Belisarius
. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1982.

In general, pages 255–60 of Browning’s
Justinian and Theodora
serve as a good introduction. But it is less well known that Theodora appears in
Upravda
, a
récit dramatique
(1912) by one of the more significant Russian authors of the early twentieth century, Velimir Chlebnikov (a sort of modern “mad saint” and “baradeus” whose portrait by Angelo Maria Ripellino is unforgettable). The text, chock-full of pathos and lacking critical accuracy, indulged an ancient and undocumented tradition according to which Justinian was of Slavic origin and named, appropriately, “Upravda.” In the play, during the Nika riots Theodora is likened to an oriental tiger that incites the Russian ruler of Constantinople to fight back, because “only with strength can strength be subdued.”

By virtue of an ironic historical coincidence, precise even at a distance of centuries, Chlebnikov died in 1922 after a brief life, in Novgorod, that most Byzantine of Russian cities, and on the same day, June 28, of Theodora’s death.

Silvia Ronchey wrote an essay that is rich with information (although some readers, including myself, may not subscribe to her overall interpretation) which depicts Theodora as a Byzantine
femme fatale
of a decadentist European culture; the essay is “Teodora Femme Fatale,” in S. Ronchey, ed.,
La decadenza
(Palermo: Sellerio Editore, 2002), pp. 19–43.

Film

Leopoldo Carlucci,
Teodora
(1922); see M. Musumeci, “Fra decadenza e restauro. Un film degli anni Venti,” in S. Ronchey,
La decadenza,
pp. 131–153.

Riccardo Freda, with Gianna-Maria Canale,
Theodora, imperatrice di Bisanzio
(Theodora, Empress of Byzantium) (1953).