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The Spiritual Arsenal of the Siege

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The Avar Siege of Constantinople in 626

Part of the book series: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture ((NABHC))

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Abstract

This chapter points out the significance of sacral objects that are connected to the siege of Constantinople in 626. There is an initial stress on the importance of the procession of the patriarch Sergios with an image of Christ not made by human hands at the dawn of the Avar attack. This is followed by a consecutive discussion of the testimonies of later authors, where the “arsenal” of sacral objects grew ever larger. Towards the end of the chapter, there is a focus on the use of images during the Avar siege. While the primary source of Theodore Synkellos tells us about the hanging of several images of the Mother of God which were finished right before the siege began, in the later liturgical tradition the primary task of saving the city was attributed to just one image. This was a large icon portraying the Hodegetria, which became the main palladion of Constantinople in the late Byzantine period.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Theodore Synkellos, 305.21–26.

  2. 2.

    Theophanes, 503.5–14.

  3. 3.

    Theodore Synkellos, 305.14–16; cf. also Speck 2003, 267.

  4. 4.

    Cf. Janin 1966, 69–88; Baldovin 1987, 167–171; Berger 2001, 73–87; Bauer 2001, 27–61, in this connection esp. 50–59.

  5. 5.

    Meier 2003a, 494–496.

  6. 6.

    For the sources, cf. Baldovin 1987, 186–188.

  7. 7.

    For a summarization of these attacks, cf. Pfeilschifter 2013, 212–223.

  8. 8.

    Hurbanič 2011, 323–324.

  9. 9.

    In depositionem pretiosae vestis 3, 594–595.

  10. 10.

    Meier 2003a, 495.

  11. 11.

    Cf. Nilsson 1916, 318–321; Baldovin 1987, 236–237.

  12. 12.

    Wolf 1990, 3.

  13. 13.

    Theodore Synkellos, 304.36–305.12. For this concept, cf. Hurbanič 2016, 271–293.

  14. 14.

    Speck 1980, 8, 27–29 and 2003, 267–268; Pentcheva 2002, 4–9 and 2006, 38–42.

  15. 15.

    The Chronicle of Ps.-Joshua the Stylite, 48, 74.

  16. 16.

    Prokopios Bella, 2.11.14 – 2.11.23, 200–201; Evagrios, 4.26, 172–174. Cf. Meier 2003a, 365–373.

  17. 17.

    Evagrios, 4.26, 172–174.

  18. 18.

    Dobschütz 1899, 1–3.

  19. 19.

    Dobschütz 1899, 16.

  20. 20.

    Dobschütz 1899, 11–12.

  21. 21.

    Wolf 1990, 3.

  22. 22.

    Cf. Nilsson 1955, 435.

  23. 23.

    Kruse 1934; Belting 1990, 117–122; Gogola 2017, 41–46.

  24. 24.

    Dobschütz 1899, 37–39; Belting 1990, 69.

  25. 25.

    Kitzinger 1954, 119; Trilling 1998, 109; Brubaker – Haldon 2011, 11–15; 35–36; 55–56.

  26. 26.

    For the comparison of icons and relics, cf. Wortley 2002/3, 163–174.

  27. 27.

    Dobschütz 1899, 264–267; Belting 1990, 69.

  28. 28.

    Theodosius, 7, 141.12–17 (Jerusalem); Antoninus Placentinus, 22, 174.5–9 (Jerusalem) and 44, 129.9–14 (Memphis).

  29. 29.

    Euagrios, 4.27, 175.6–17; cf. also Prokopios Bella, 2.26–2.27, 268–282. On this episode: Dobschütz 1899, 118–120; Runciman 1929, 243–244; Kitzinger 1954, 103, 110; Av. Cameron 1983, 84–85; 1998, 39; Chrysostomides 1997, XXVII–XXVIII; Drijvers 1998, 18–22; Meier 2003a 387–401; Guscin 2009, 170–173 and 2016, 23–27.

  30. 30.

    Dobschütz 1899, 117; Runciman 1929, 244; Mich. Whitby 2000a, 323–326 and 2000b, 90–91; Illert 2007, 67; Guscin 2009, 170–173, and 2016, 23–27.

  31. 31.

    Speck 1998, 120–121; Chrysostomides 1997, XXVII–XXVIII.

  32. 32.

    Cf. Kitzinger 1954, 104.

  33. 33.

    Egeria, 19.11–13, 63.

  34. 34.

    Illert (2007, 27) tries to place this episode in the context of the Roman–Persian war of 260.

  35. 35.

    George of Pisidia Bellum Avaricum, v. 373, 180.

  36. 36.

    Kitzinger 1954, 112; Pertusi 143 a 220–221; Van Dieten 1972, 15, esp. 174–178; Speck 1980, 27–29 and 2003, 266–271.

  37. 37.

    Schlumberger 1917, 6; Stratos: 1968, 184.

  38. 38.

    Ps.-Zachariah Rhetor, 12.4, 425–427; cf. also George Kedrenos, 685.1–4; cf. Dobschütz 1899, 40–50; Meier 2003b, 237–250.

  39. 39.

    Theophylaktos Simokattes, 2.3.4, 73–2.3.9, 74 and 3.1.11–3.1.12, 111.

  40. 40.

    Whether it was a copy of the Kamouliana (Dobschütz 1899, 51–52), the Image of Edessa (Guscin 2009, 207–208 and 2016, 32), or some other acheiropoietos is impossible to prove.

  41. 41.

    Brubaker 1998, 1229; Brubaker and Haldon 2011, 55.

  42. 42.

    cf. Schreiner 1985, 261, n. 211, and 270, n. 300.

  43. 43.

    Kitzinger 1954, 126; Belting 1990, 122–125.

  44. 44.

    Speck 1988, 54 and 2003, 266.

  45. 45.

    George of Pisidia Expeditio Persica 1, v. 139–140, 80; cf. also Theophanes, 303.17–24; cf. Dobschütz 1899, 53–54; Van Dieten 1972, 15.

  46. 46.

    Wolf 1990, 4.

  47. 47.

    George of Pisidia Expeditio Persica 2, v. 99–100, 94.

  48. 48.

    Theodore Synkellos, 304–305.12.

  49. 49.

    Theodore Synkellos, 304.

  50. 50.

    Dobschütz 1899, 8.

  51. 51.

    Kitzinger 1954, 83–150; Brubaker 1995, 1–24; Meier 2003a, 528f.

  52. 52.

    Claude 1969, 141; Meier 2003a, 558–559.

  53. 53.

    Historia Syntomos, 334.18–20.

  54. 54.

    Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Lipsiensis R II 25), col. 873–874.48; cf. Pentcheva 2002, 23 and 2006, 50.

  55. 55.

    Diegesis Ophelimos, col. 1356D.

  56. 56.

    Lectio Triodii, col. 1349C–D.; Antonios of Larissa, 132.19–25.

  57. 57.

    Diegesis Ophelimos, col. 1357A; Historia Syntomos, 334; Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Lipsiensis R II 25), col. 873–874.48–49; Lectio Triodii, col. 1349C; Antonios of Larissa, 132.19–20.

  58. 58.

    Klein 2004, 35–43.

  59. 59.

    Van Dieten 1972, 175.

  60. 60.

    Historia Syntomos, 334.21.

  61. 61.

    Diegesis Ophelimos, col. 1357A; Historia Syntomos, 334.21; Lectio Triodii, col. 1349C; Antonios of Larissa, 132.21–22.

  62. 62.

    For the Arab siege of 717/718, cf. Diegesis Ophelimos, col. 1365C; Lectio Triodii, col. 1352D; Letter from Germanos to Pope Gregory II (149A–B). On this, Speck 1981, 162–163; Klein 2004, 47; Stephen of Taron, 2.4.130, 192; cf. also Gero 1973, 38. For the siege of 822, cf. Joseph Genesios, 2.5, 28.43–49; Theophanes Continuatus (lib. 1–4), 2.14bis, 88.1–10; John Skylitzes, 34.78–85; cf. also Klein 2004, 54.

  63. 63.

    For these examples, see Klein 2004, 32–34 and 2006, 81 and 89.

  64. 64.

    George Kedrenos, 685; Michael the Syrian 10.2, 284–285. Cf. Meier 2003b, 237–250. Cf. also Theophylaktos Simokattes, 5.16.11, 220.

  65. 65.

    Cf. the discussion on this problem by Maguire 2011, 43–47.

  66. 66.

    Ebersolt 1921, 45–47; Baynes 1955, 240–247; Wenger, 1955, 111–136; Belting-Ihm 1976, 38–57; Wortley, 2005, 179–187.

  67. 67.

    One can only speculate if the so-called esthes was the same as the peristolia mentioned by Theophylaktos Simokattes (8.5.2, 291.27) when describing the end of the rule of Emperor Maurikios. Cf. also Wortley 2005, 179–180. The term “pallium” used by Gregory of Tours (1.9, 44) can hardly refer to the robe. Only in the Life of Saint Theodore of Sykeon (128, 103.12–13) it is mentioned that the monastery of that saint received a piece of the “maphorion” of the Virgin among other precious relics commissioned by patrician Domnitziolos.

  68. 68.

    In depositionem pretiosae vestis, 610–611.

  69. 69.

    For the use of esthes/garment during the Arab siege of Constantinople in 717/718: Diegesis Ophelimos, col. 1357A; Lectio Triodii , col. 1349D; Historia Syntomos 334.20–21. Cf. Hymnus Sancte Dei Genitricis Marie, § 1, (pallium). For the siege of the Thomas the Slav in 821/822, cf. Joseph Genesios, 2.5, 28.43–49; John Skylitzes, 34.78–85; Theophanes Continuatus (lib. 1–4), 2.14bis, 88.1–10. For the Russian siege of 860, cf. the Chapter “The Sacred Iconography of the Siege”.

  70. 70.

    Alexander the Clerk, 163.

  71. 71.

    Alexander the Clerk, 163.

  72. 72.

    Theodore Synkellos, 304.6–8.

  73. 73.

    George of Pisidia Heraclias 2, v. 12–18, 210; Theophanes, 298.16–17 (referring to George of Pisidia, but he mentioned several images). Cf. Speck 1988, 54 and 2003, 266; Pentcheva 2002, 15.

  74. 74.

    Belting 1990, 87–91; Angelidi and Papamastorakis 2000, 373–397; Baltoyanni 2000, 144–147, Pentcheva 2006, 109–143; Wortley 2005, 171–174.

  75. 75.

    Janin 1969, 199–200. Berger 1988, 378; Lidov 2000, 48–49; Angelidi and Papamastorakis 2000, 376.

  76. 76.

    For this tradition, cf. Belting 1990, 87; Pentcheva 2006, 120–127.

  77. 77.

    Anonymus Mercati 4, 249. The account of an anonymous English pilgrim is based on the older Greek archetype written after 1063, cf. Ciggaar 1996, 148.

  78. 78.

    Angelidi and Papamastorakis 2000, 379–380.

  79. 79.

    Niketas Choniates, 382.55–57; Frolow 1944, 103.

  80. 80.

    Eustathios of Thessalonica, 42.11–12 (English translation on 42).

  81. 81.

    Anonymus Tarragonensis, 128.392–400.

  82. 82.

    Miraculum Mariae, col. 576A.

  83. 83.

    Synopsis Chronike, 108.26.

  84. 84.

    Lectio Triodii, col. 1352D.

  85. 85.

    Dujčev 1962, fig. 43.

  86. 86.

    Oikonomides 1991, 40; Ševčenko 1995, 549; Angelidi and Papamastorakis 2000, 383–385; Baltoyanni 2000, 147 and Pentcheva 2006, 129–136.

  87. 87.

    Pätzold 1989, 42; Ševčenko 1995, 551.

  88. 88.

    Joseph Bryennios, 409; Doukas, 38.10, 339, 341; Michael Kritoboulos, A.45.1–5, 58–59.

  89. 89.

    Doukas, 39.15, 363.

  90. 90.

    Doukas, 36.4, 317.

  91. 91.

    Wolf 1948, 328.

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    Martin Hurbanič

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Hurbanič, M. (2019). The Spiritual Arsenal of the Siege. In: The Avar Siege of Constantinople in 626. New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16684-7_14

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