Ghost Empire
Page 40
I stand at the back, trying to observe unobtrusively. Then I notice the room is divided along gender lines and I am on the women’s side. I shift over to the other side as surreptitiously as I can manage. No one is paying me the slightest attention anyway; the congregation are intensely focused on their worship.
Three aged priests, bent under the weight of their heavy robes, lead the service. Their rich voices are joined by two cantors in plain clothes at the side of the altar. The liturgy is entirely musical. The voices of the cantors soar up and swoop down through the eastern scales with assurance. One cantor, dressed in a jogging suit, looks bored, like he’s only here to please his mother. The other cantor wears a crisp, white shirt; he seems more devoted to the music.
Here there is both taxis and theosis. I entered the church feeling footsore and irritable. After ten minutes or so I am cool and calm, and I begin to daydream. My eyes wander down to the floor and there it is, emblazoned on the carpet runner: the insignia of the double-headed eagle under a single crown. One talon clutches a sword, the other holds a globe. After all these years, the ghost empire still makes its claim, even here, to dominion over the upstart land of the Franks. The double-headed eagle, representing the unity of the eastern and western empires, still awaits its resurrection in Constantinople, the capital of a universal empire.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my wife Khym and daughter Emma for their patience with a heavily distracted father and husband; Kári Gíslason, who at times had a better idea of what this book should be than I did; the extraordinarily erudite Scott Stephens, editor of the ABC’s Religion & Ethics online portal for his insights into early Christian history and theology; Pam O’Brien and Elizabeth Troyeur for their sound advice and warm encouragement; Brigitta Doyle, Lachlan McLaine, Foong Ling Kong and the people at ABC Books and HarperCollins for their editorial wisdom and guidance, and for engaging so enthusiastically with the idea; the great Liz Gilbert, who knows how to write a book for a single person that everyone wants to read; Simon Winchester, whose relentless curiosity has propelled him to just about all the strange and wonderful places on and under the face of the earth, for his kind words and for his beautiful books; and the State Library of Queensland, so surprisingly well-endowed with otherwise difficult-to-locate texts of Byzantine history. And my deepest thanks to my son Joe, who lay back on the couch listening as I read each passage to him, and who told me everything I needed to know.
Endnotes
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.
Introduction
1There he would place: Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, 14: 2–3.
1Radiant City
14A Russian pilgrim: Sherrard, p. 51.
15In their letter: Russian Primary Chronicles, chapter 6.
2Rome to Byzantium
26Historians place him: Norwich, Byzantium, volume 1, chapter 1.
32The court historian Lactantius: Grant, p. 21.
35Diocletian wrote back: Gibbon, 13: 111.
35The decline and death: Lactantius, chapter 33.
43Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea: Eusebius, Constantine, 9: 4.
44The emperor expressed: Durant 30: 3.
46This early version: legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nicea1.txt
48Who else could be: www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas
54Constantine replied enigmatically: Davies, p. 208.
69A Roman ambassador: Jordanes, 35: 182.
70Priscus later recorded: Priscus, Dinner with Attila; Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns.
73Did the exotic Hunnish prince: Herrin, We Are All the Children of Byzantium.
74St Jerome, writing from: Letters of St Jerome, Letter CXXVII.
3The Deep State
80Procopius, the court historian: Procopius, Secret History, chapter 8.
83Theodora’s famous sexual: Procopius, Secret History, chapter 9.
83Justinian lovingly acknowledged: Quoted in Pazdernik, p. 266.
83After her death: Ibid., p. 262.
84‘Our subjects are: Novels, 43, Preface.
85One courtier declared: Procopius, Secret History, chapter 12.
85John was, begrudgingly: Ibid., chapter 10.
86Justinian complained there: The Digest, First Preface: 1.
86Since John was illiterate: Quoted in Rosen, p. 113.
86Justinian crowed as he: The Enactments of Justinian, The Code, First Preface
92Surely, he wrote: Procopius, History of the Wars, 1: 14.
95Environmental groups led: Kotsev, 2 June 2013.
96Erdoğan stated bluntly: Quoted in Tabet, ‘Turkey and the Deep State.’
97Some journalists have: Rainsford, ‘“Deep State” Trial Polarises Turkey’.
100Theodora now gestured: Procopius, Secret History, chapter 24.
105‘It exults in an: Procopius, On the Buildings, I.
105Procopius saw how: Ibid.
107Once inside the church: Hichens, chapter 6.
108To the Romans: Procopius, Buildings, 1: 30.
109Then one of the: Isaiah, 6: 6.
115‘So it was: Procopius: History of the Wars, 5: 14.
116‘Tell us Lord Pope’: Liber Pontificalis, 60: 8.
118Narses presented Belisarius: Ibid., 6: 7.
119‘As for John: Ibid., 6: 16.
122He was, Procopius records: Ibid., 7: 30.
124Procopius records sympathetically: Procopius, Secret History, chapter 4.
125Procopius records that: History of the Wars, 4: 14.
125At sea, there were: John of Ephesus, p. 75.
127Inevitably, they too: John of Ephesus, p. 74.
128John of Ephesus reports: Ibid., p. 75.
128Workplaces fell silent: Ibid., p. 88.
129Within the space: Rosen, p. 187.
131‘For a few weeks: Oman, p. 95.
138Pliny estimated that: Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book 11.
4Persian Nightmares
152Tiberius ruled for: Norwich, Byzantium, volume 1, p. 272.
154Historian Edward Gibbon: Gibbon, 4: 46: 49.
156Persian campfires were visible: Norwich, volume 1, p. 284.
156Heraclius was handsome: Quoted in Kaegi, p. 31.
159Ambassadors were sent: Kaegi, p. 85.
159Revelling in his: Davies, p. 245.
166Instead his guards: Nikephoros, p. 63.
166News of Khusrau’s: Quoted in Sarris, p. 118.
168Princess Anna Comnena: Alexiad, 12:6.
171According to Muslim tradition: www.cyberistan.org/islamic/letters.html
172A German historian: Heck, The Burden of Hitler’s Legacy, p. 259.
174Procopius had written: Procopius, The Wars of Justinian: Book II, chapter 18.
177George of Pisidia: George of Pisidia, On the Vain Life, 10.215–25, quoted in Kaegi, pp. 322–23.
178The annihilation of Carthage: penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/38*
5Children of Ishmael
183‘Superstition riveted their chains: Gibbon, chapter 48.
183Voltaire was similarly: Quoted in Harrison, p. 46.
187The revelations were: Quoted in Armstrong, p. 5.
188There is only one: Qur’an 82:1.
189An anonymous Muslim: Sizgorich, pp. 1–2.
190The document notes: Letter of John of Sedra.
190Another clue can be: Sebeos, chapter 30.
196Pliny the Elder wrote: Pliny 34: 18.
198Spiced wines were: Liutprand of Cremona, Report of his Mission to Constantinople
205The three sages: en.wikisource.org/wiki/Khazar_Correspondence
208As the boat rolled: Bury, p. 359.
214The author of Revelation: Revelation 20: 7–10.
215They wretched creatures ate: The Greek Alexander Roma
nce, supplement J.
217In the next phase: Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, 13: 9.
218With Gog and Magog: Ibid., 14: 2–3.
227According to these sources, Leo’s correspondence: Theophanes, The Chronicle of Theophanes
6Uncreated Light
237Muslims accused the Christians: Exodus 20: 4–5.
237Theodore, the abbot: MacCulloch, p. 451.
247The envoys of: Russian Primary Chronicles, chapter 6.
258Constantine, in Christ: De Administrando Imperio, p. 45.
263Liutprand recorded his impressions: Liutprand, p. 443.
264The adulation of the emperor: Ibid., pp. 446–47.
264He bade Constantinople: Liutprand, Report of his Mission to Constantinople.
270A German chronicler: Thietmar, p. 158.
276The witch-wife was feeding: Helmskringla, 84.
277The runestones are carved: www.worldlibrary.org/articles/greece_runestones
282John Scylitzes, a contemporary historian: Quoted in Norwich, volume 2, p. 356.
7The Starlit Golden Bough
286She begins by: Alexiad, Preface I.
289The night before battle: Alexiad, 7: 5.
294Anna, the emperor’s daughter: Alexiad, 13: 10.
297In any event: Freising: The Legend of Prester John, p. XX.
298It began with: Silverberg, p. 2.
299India was known: De Rachewiltz, p. 22.
300Yelü Dashi’s victory: Ibid., p. 34.
305Irene was renowned: Irene, chapter 3.
315He was physically powerful: Choniates, s. 141.
318Andronicus laid down: Ibid., s. 139.
321Unburdened by any: Ibid., s. 323.
8The Fourth Crusade
328The merchants of Venice: Gleeson-White, Double Entry, pp.6–7.
331The congregation was hushed: Villehardouin, s. 7.
334Dandolo climbed into: Villehardouin, s. 16–17.
335I will not in: Clari, p. 44.
339Simon of Monfort: Tyerman, p. 529.
340Villehardouin recorded the awe: Villehardouin, s. 31.
344The Roman soldiers: Villehardouin, s. 43.
346Isaac heard him: Ibid., s. 47.
347You stupid boy: Clari, chapter 6.
351The conflagration ran: Villehardouin, s. 64.
356One historian observed: Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages, p. 61.
9End of Days
362Théophile Gautier: Gautier, p. 214.
369To such a degree: Vasiliev, p. 680.
371‘I, sinful Stephen of Novgorod: Majeska, p. 28.
371His advice reads: Ibid., p. 44.
371Stephen of Novgorod: Ibid., p. 237.
373As he wandered: Tafur, Travels and Adventures, p. 17.
373It was a thrilling: Ibid.
377But the chief advisor: Sphrantzes, quoted in Philippides, p. 360.
378Gurani taught Mehmed: rasoolurrahmah.wordpress.com/2014/05/29
380With the murder: Ibid., p. 66.
383Halil’s reply to: Quoted in Nicol, p. 52.
385Mehmed’s reply to the envoys: Doukas, quoted in Crowley, p. 59.
387He drafted a message: Doukas, quoted in Philippides, p. 409.
10A Thing Not of this World
392Rum Papa: Crowley, p. 68.
394Pope Nicholas was well: Runciman, Steven, The Fall of Constantinople, pp. 63–64
395Ducas saw through: Quoted in Geanakoplos, Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes, p. 225
396He scrawled a note: Gibbon, VII, 176.
397Then, hinting that: Babinger, p. 81.
399He would know: Quoted in Babinger p. 7.
402A warning was sent out: Doukas, quoted in Philippides, p. 423.
404As the sense of crisis: Barbaro, 5–7 April.
405The ball crashed: Kritovoulos, 1: 136.
408His orders to Baltoglu: Kritovoulos, 1: 162.
409Eventually, through all: Ibid., 1: 166.
415Barbaro noted that: Barbaro, 19 May.
417A Russian observer: Iskander, XXX.
417Perhaps this was proof: Kritovoulos, 1: 185.
418In the street: Philippides, p. 222.
418Most likely the strange lights: www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/93/release_1993_1543.html.
426The roar of the cannon: Barbaro, 29 May.
426The brothers were unlikely: Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, 13: 9.
11The Artifice of Eternity
432Barbaro, from aboard his ship: Barbaro, 29 May.
445Priests adopted an intense: McCulloch, p. 487.
446Christian wisdom was: Runciman, The Last Byzantine Renaissance, p. 28.
448By 1487, the Byzantine: Harris, Byzantines in Renaissance Italy, p. XX.
450Speaking of the poem: Yeats, The Major Works, p. 502.
450The exhibition’s catalogue: Byzantium: Faith & Power, p. vii.
451Fat chance: Schjeldahl, Striking Gold, p. XX.
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