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.
concept should not be regarded as absolute. There is, in my
opinion, many elements which show completely the opposite,
i.e. that the East-Roman artists, throughout the 12 centuries of
the Byzantine history even if following some conventions,
represented in their works military figures which they saw with
their own eyes. There is even the possibility that they based
their works on cartoons or drawings which depicted real figures,
or historical events illustrated in earlier paintings executed at the
time of the actual event.
From a general point of view, the East-Roman artist was
a realist who had to represent a specific character, or some event
in history which followed the directives bestowed by his patron.
In such representations he adapted the fashions of the age in
which he lived and represented characters and figures as they
came in to view or as the iconographic tradition dictated that
they appear. But while this last element was essential for the
major characters of the Church and of the life of Christ, because
nobody would have accepted Saint Peter dressed in 10th century
fashion or depicted Saint Paul dressed like a priest of the 11th
century, the entourage who often surrounded such personages
were taken from contemporary life. These would have included
representations of peasants, women, priests, houses and
Churches and I do not see why soldiers should have been
considered as a separate category. Therefore in my opinion they
are represented within conventional outlines but which does
not exclude an element of reality.
It is important however to consider the problems of
artistic convention and stylisation. It is obviously artistic
convention not coincidence that on the Great Trajanic Freeze of
the Constantine Arch, the Emperor Trajan is represented in the
same position as Alexander the Great in the Issos mosaic 30 .
Trajan charges the enemy with his spear, in the same way as the
Great Macedonian, and rides a horse whose harness echoes
those of Bukefalos. Nobody would contest however that in the
Issos Mosaic Alexander is dressed as a Senior Macedonian
Cavalry Officer of 3rd century B.C., or that in the Trajanic
Freeze Trajan is dressed as a Roman Emperor of the 2nd century
AD. Some figurative outlines in the ancient World and middle
Age art of Byzantium were used and applied for different
personages of different ages, but it does not preclude the
possibility that artists represented the reality of their own age.
Numerous elements of arms and armour, as well as
military clothing mentioned in literary sources are corresponded
in the artistic works of the period, as we will highlight in this
article. I do not see any reason to deny the value of evidence of
the ancient artistic sources when it comes to the reconstruction
of East-Roman military equipment. This is even more true when
the representations of the artist was an official one, i.e. when the
30 Cf. Touati A.M. L., The Great Trajanic Frieze, Stockholm 1987, p. 40 and pl. 2, 11.
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