The Emperors of Byzantium by Kevin Lygo;

Author:Kevin Lygo;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Solidus minted under the reign of Constantine VII but not showing him, depicting Christ enthroned on the obverse, and facing busts of Romanus I and his son Christopher on the reverse.

Romanos I Lekapenos was admired throughout his lifetime but not adored, and never eulogized. He was a successful and efficient statesman and a largely triumphant military commander, yet he seems to have been something of an introvert, steely in nature but not charismatic. Other than the rather stylized portraits of him to be found in the 12th-century illuminated manuscript of the Chronicle of John Skylitzes in Madrid, the only contemporary image we have of him is that on his coinage, where he appears as an ill-tempered old man with a large beard.

In his dynamic years, however, Romanos accomplished a great deal. He established a stable and efficient civil service and, most importantly, supported smaller landowners against the growing power of the aristocratic families that were beginning to deprive the state of much needed men and revenues. This may have been partly a result of a popular uprising in Bithynia led by a man named Basil ‘the copper hand’. Something of a minor revolutionary, Basil had previously attempted a rebellion, for which he had been arrested and punished by having his hand cut off. Upon returning home, he had a copper hand with a sword attached. When he tried a second peasant revolt, he was once again arrested, and this time tried and burnt alive in Constantinople.

On the diplomatic front, Romanos was very successful, making peace with the Bulgarians after Zoe had soured relations with them. In the east he sent the brilliant general John Kourkouas to defeat the Abbasids in Mesopotamia. Kourkouas also besieged the important city of Edessa and assured his place in Byzantine history by retrieving one of the most important of holy relics, known as the Mandylion. This was a piece of cloth reportedly given by Christ to Abgar, the king of Edessa, when he became ill. According to legend, when the image of Jesus’s face on the scarf was brought to the king he was instantly cured. The Mandylion remained in Edessa until Kourkouas brought it back to Constantinople, where it was paraded around the streets as an acheiropoieton – an image not made by human hands – before being kept in the palace. The image showed that Christ was a man, with human features, thus supporting the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon and representing a defence for the worshipping of icons. The style of the face resembled the image known as Christ Pantocrator, which came to be the standard representation of Christ in the church; copies of it are found in almost all Orthodox churches today.

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