Aspar and the Struggle for the Eastern Roman Empire, AD 42171 by Ronald A. Bleeker;

Author:Ronald A. Bleeker; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781350279285
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2022-02-03T21:00:00+00:00

Crowning an Emperor

Leo was less distinguished than Marcian. Croke calls him “an unusual choice.”42 Unlike Marcian, there is no suggestion that he was a senator. However, like Marcian, he came from humble origins in the Balkans, had military experience, and was an orthodox Christian.43 In 457, he was a tribune leading a unit of soldiers stationed near Constantinople and under Aspar’s command.44

A less-distinguished emperor required a more elaborate coronation, and Aspar stage-managed things to suit. A detailed description has been preserved in the Book of Ceremonies, a Byzantine court manual that was compiled in the tenth century but is based on a sixth-century source.45

Leo was first acclaimed as emperor by the soldiers, the senate, and senior government officials in a ceremony at the Hebdomon, just outside Constantinople.46 After his coronation by the patriarch, Leo spoke to his “most valiant fellow soldiers” and, to further earn their goodwill, wisely provided “five nomismata and a pound of silver to each shield.”47

The role of the patriarch in this ceremony is of interest. As Bury points out, “[a]s there was no Augustus or Augusta to perform the ceremony of coronation, this duty was assigned to the Patriarch Anatolius, who had perhaps taken some part in the coronation of Marcian.”48 Pulcheria, as an Augusta, had been able to perform this act for Marcian in 450, but in 457 there was no one of Augustal rank in Constantinople to do the same for Leo.49 This time the job fell to the patriarch, perhaps because he had earlier participated in the coronation of Marcian, but certainly to provide Leo legitimacy with a display of religious support.50

The ceremony at the Hebdomon was followed by an elaborate procession through Constantinople to the imperial palace. It is in this procession that the dominant role of Aspar in the new regime was made plain for all to see. Aspar rode in the imperial carriage with Leo, and it was Aspar who presented Leo with the traditional gold crown on behalf of the senate of Constantinople. It was a visual image whose political significance could not have been missed by anyone in the city.51

Leo’s accession had the support of the army, the senate, the patriarch, and the people—it was not contested. At the end of that February day in 457, Aspar should have been pleased by the ease of the transition. Once again, he had made an emperor, and perhaps he had guaranteed a place for his family in the imperial house—but would his partnership with Leo last?

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