ΠΟΡΦΥΡΑ - Porphyra

A Prôtospatharios, Magistros, and Strategos Autokrator of 11 th cent.
the equipment of Georgios Maniakes and his army according to the Skylitzes Matritensis miniatures
and other artistic sources of the middle Byzantine period.
which are now long lost 39 . If this was the case, there is not doubt
that the artists used models of official representations for their
work, so that the miniatures could easily represent real episodes.
Their modern counterparts would be pictures of the First World
War illustrated with scenes based on photographs and newsreels
from the Vietnam war. Sometimes - in spite of the stylisation
and conventions and the more or less individual interpretation of
the historical episodes - they give an impression of the live in
the Byzantium at the time of the artist, and I would add that
some figures could well have been copied from people living in
the City. 40
The relevance of the miniatures to the living history
could be underlined with the two following examples, which
show the correspondence among old literary sources and the
work of the painters. In the Chronicle of Leo Diakonos is
described a duel among the proud Anemas, imperial bodyguard,
and the Prince of Rus Svjatoslav, at the battle of Silistra, in 971
AD 41 : the sword of Anemas is stopped by the chain mail
(αλυσιδωτοs χιτων) of Svjatoslav. The same episode,
mentioned in Skilitzès, does not report the detail of the chain
mail, speaking only generally of the οπλα of the Russian
prince : but in the Skilitzès Matritensis folio 171v Svjatoslav is
represented clad in a blue chain mail reaching down feet long 42 .
It is obvious that the miniaturist does not represent in a casual
way this episode, but used a previous source for the
representation of the history.
In the Ceremony Book of Constantine Porphyrogenitos
there is an accurate description of the military epilorikion (over
chain mail garment) worn by the Emperor Basil I in 878 AD 43 ,
the so called “rose cluster” (rhodovotrun) : a gold embroidered
breast-plate tunic covered in pearls set in a criss-cross pattern,
and with perfect pearls along the hems. This piece of Imperial
military garment is represented very clearly in the folio 43 v, as
worn by the Emperor Theophylus 44 . Also in this case the
representation is not casual, but, as I suppose, based on earlier
iconographycal sources representing the Emperors of the 9 th
century in their own garments.
A final example can support my theory. That is the facial
representations in the Skylitzès Matritensis could be used as a
39 For example the walls of the armoury of the Emperor Theophilus, painted with all kind of arms in use in his days, or
the precious mosaics let by the Emperor Basil I in Kainourgion represented him among his guards, or in battle scenes ;
cf. Dalton O.M., Byzantine art and archaeology, Oxford, 1911, pp. 261 and 393.
40 Hoffmeyer, Military Equipment, p. 33.
41 Leonis Diaconis Caloensis Historiae libri decem, Bonn 1828 p. 153.
42 Cf. folio 171v in Johannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum, Facsimile Edition ; cf. Skylitzes 297 = Kedrenos 410.
43 Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, De Cerimoniis Aulae Byzantinae libri duo, Bonn 1829, p. 500 ; cfr. the commentary
of Haldon J. F. on page 277 of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus - "Tres tractatus de expeditionibus militaribus
imperatoris" -Three Treatises on Imperial military expeditions, Wien 1990 ; cfr. Dawson T., “Suntagma Oplon, The
equipment of regular Byzantine troops, c. 950 to c. 1204” in David Nicolle, A Companion to Medieval Arms and
Armour,London 2002, pp. 81-90 note 11 p. 82.
44 Cf. folio 43v in Johannis Scylitzae Synopsis Historiarum, Facsimile Edition.
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