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court and ceremony 159
Though doubtless reflecting a shift in the structure of power that
benefited the civilian bureaucracies to the detriment of the army, the move
towards the circus probably responded to other factors as well. By linking
great ceremonies to the empire’s most popular sport, imperial ceremonial
managers guaranteed a huge audience – the Hippodrome held perhaps
300,000 spectators 121 – for the key symbolic moments in the life of the
state, at the same time that the kathisma guaranteed imperial security. Races
had, in any case, long celebrated anniversaries or important events, while
the cult of sporting victory came, in the emperor’s presence, to be confused
and fused with the all-pervasive cult of the emperor as the military victor
par excellence. Now, however, the circus became not only a means of celebrating
political realities, but the place in which those political realities were
publicly acted out. In some sense, the move of imperial accessions from
the suburban parade ground to the urban Hippodrome represents a final
acknowledgement that the court was part of a great capital city.
As the ceremonial importance of the Hippodrome grew, so did that of
the factions in the life of the city and, ultimately, the court. These associations
of partisans of the colours which identified racing teams may have
been inspired by late Roman theatre claques and grew out of the organizations
which staged circus games. Though formally enrolled members
would have been a small minority of Constantinople’s population – 900
Blues and 1,500 Greens in 602 122 – they were young, energetic and well
organized, they tended to come from comfortable backgrounds, and they
were vociferous. They sat in special sections at the races and became amazingly
adept at chanting the acclamations which, however carefully stagemanaged
by the authorities, were persistently regarded as the people’s
voice, with the capacity both to reassure and terrify men of power. The factions’
skill at performing these indispensable tokens of public approval
encouraged the court to build political bridges to this emerging pressure
group. 123
The emperor’s scrupulous and flamboyant performance of Christian
rites reassured all concerned that God was on the side of the Roman
empire. Although the palace’s churches allowed the emperor to discharge
his Christian duties in seclusion, there was clear advantage to be gained by
publicly worshipping with the people. By the reign of Theodosius II, the
seasonal celebrations of the new religion permeated the social life of the
court: the aristocracy customarily visited each other and the emperor on
feasts like Epiphany. 124 Though emperors normally attended religious services
in the Great Church only on great feast days, the stational nature of
Constantinople’s liturgy opened the way for new imperial processions to
121 Müller-Wiener (1977) 64. 122 Theophyl. Sim. Hist. viii.7.10–11.
123 Cameron, Circus Factions; cf.ch.8 (Liebeschuetz), pp. 224,9 below. 124 V. Petr. Iber.p.25.
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