1. The manuscript is a miscellany, containing the Chronicle of Constantine Manasses, as well as writings of Eustathios, Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysios the Areopagite, Photios and Nikephoros Basilakes. The ekphrasis of the jousts is inserted between texts attributed to the twelfth-century rhetorician Nikephoros Basilakes (between ethopoiiai and an encomium of John II). See Schreiner, Peter, ‘Ritterspiele in Byzanz,’ JOB 46 (1996) 227-42, esp. 229-30Google Scholar.

2. The ekphrasis was published by Lampros, Sp., Neos Hellênomnêmôn 5 (1908) 3–18 Google Scholar; and by Schreiner, ‘Ritterspiele in Byzanz,’ 227-42, esp. 235-41. Schreiner suggests that the work describes a painting or mosaic which he associates with a cycle of deeds of Puchner, Manuel I. W., ‘Zum Ritterspiel in Griechischer Tradition,’ BZ 91/2 (1998) 439 n. 24Google Scholar, tentatively assigns the work to Nikephoros Basilakes and suggests, without further discussion, that it describes John II. The ekphrasis is also cited in Magdalino, Paul and Nelson, Robert, ‘The Emperor in Byzantine Art of the Twelfth Century,’ Byzantinische Forschungen 8 (1982) 167 Google Scholar; Ćurčić, S., ‘Some Uses (and Re-Uses) of Griffins in Late Byzantine Art,’ in Byzantine East, Latin West: Art-Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann, ed. Mouriki, D., et. al. (Princeton 1995) 597–601, esp. 599Google Scholar; Maguire, Henry, ‘The Heavenly Court,’ in Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204, ed. Maguire, Henry (Washington, D.C., 1997) 253 Google Scholar; Jones, Lynn, ‘Imperial Dress and Manuel I Komnenos: Decoration, Audience, and Interpretation,’ Abstracts from the Twenty-third Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, September 1997 (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison 1997) 59 Google Scholar.

3. The following translation is, for the most part, literal. We have tried not to take liberties with the Greek text except where we wished to avoid doing too much violence to English syntax.

4. Nisa was a plain of Media, celebrated for its horses; Herodotus 3.106.

5. Iliad 6.507.

6. Reading άεροβατών for άδροβατών in the manuscript.

7. Reading διαστεροΰμενον for διασταυροΰμενον in the manuscript.

8. Song of Solomon 7:7.

9. Homer calls the sea (ЯОУТОС) iostôrjç, not Athena’s eyes: Iliad 11.298; Odyssey 5.56, 11.107.

10. Song of Solomon 5:12.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid., 5:13.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid., 4:3.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid., 1:10.

17. Ibid., 1:11.

18. Psalms 143: 1.

19. Ibid., 7:1.

20. Wisdom of Solomon 7:7.

21. Ibid., 7:11.

22. Galatians 2:19.

23. The manuscript gives γΰπκ (vultures), but the correct reading should surely be уршгєс (griffins), as vultures are unknown in Byzantine iconography.

24. Iliad 7.222.

25. Song of Solomon 1:11.

26. Matthew 16:24.

27. ιστίον.

28. Iliad 5.586.

29. Ed. Rabe, H., Rhetores graeci X (Leipzig 1926) 36.9-11Google Scholar.

30. Imagines, 1.28.3-4. We owe this and the previous reference to Ruth Webb.

31. For Manuel’s jousts see Schreiner, ‘Ritterspiele,’ esp. 228-232. Modern historians have perhaps overstressed the western influence apparent in this aspect of Manuel’s rule. An example is Ostrogorsky, G., History of the Byzantine State, trans. Hussey, J. (New Brunswick, NJ 1969) 380 Google Scholar: “his whole way of life bore the stamp of Western chivalry.” A more balanced view is presented by Kazhdan, A., ‘The Latins and Franks in Byzantine Perception and Byzantine Reality’ in Byzantium and the Muslim World: the Crusades from the Eastern Perspective, ed. Laiou, A., Mottahedeh, R. (Washington, D.C. 2000)Google Scholar.

32. Kinnamos, Epitome, 3,16 (ed. Meineke, A., CSHB, Bonn 1836)Google Scholar; Kinnamos, John, Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus, trans. Brand, Charles M. (New York 1976) 99 Google Scholar. Manuel’s skill with the lance, his horsemanship, and his introduction of jousting exercises into the military are also confirmed in the writings of Italikos, Michael, Lettres et Discours, ed. and trans. Gautier, Paul (Paris 1972) 272-73Google Scholar.

33. Kinnamos, Epitome, 3.16; trans. Brand, Deeds 99. Manuel’s participation in jousts is also recorded by Choniates, Niketas, Historia, ed. Van Dieten, J-L., CFHB vol. II (Berlin 1975) 108–110 Google Scholar, trans, in O City of Byzantium, Magoulias, H. J. (Detroit 1984) 62 Google Scholar; and by Italikos, Lettres 272-73.

34. Kinnamos, Epitome 3.16; trans. Brand, Deeds 99.

35. Unedited poem 17 by Manganeios Prodromos included in the forthcoming edition from E. and M. Jeffreys. The date of the joust is determined by a reference in the final lines to the recent birth of a daughter. See Magdalino, Paul, ‘Eros the King and the King of Amours: Some Observations on Hysmine and Hysminias,’ DOP 46 (1992) 197–204 Google Scholar, esp. 201 nts. 28 and 34. We thank the Jeffreys for their generosity in providing copies of the unedited poems cited in this article.

36. Kinnamos, Epitome 3.9; trans. Brand, Deeds 88.

37. For Manuel’s height see Kinnamos, Epitome 3.9; trans. Brand, Deeds 88; Choniates, Historia 51, trans. Magoulias, O City 30. For his graceful, upright posture and well-proportioned figure see Kinnamos, Epitome 3.9 and 5.3, trans. Brand, Deeds 88, 156; Italikos, Lettres 272. For Manuel’s strength see Kinnamos, Epitome 3.9,3.16, 4.21, 6.6, trans. Brand, Deeds 89, 99, 143, 200; Choniates, Historia 93, 110, trans. Magoulias, O City 54, 62; Lappa-Zizicas, E., ‘Un éloge anonyme de Manuel I Comnène’ Texte und Untersuchungen 133 (1987) 306-08Google Scholar. One of Manuel’s distinguishing physical characteristics is not mentioned in the anonymous text. Niketas Choniates and Eustathios of Thessalonike both note that Manuel’s skin was dark, having been browned by the sun over the course of many campaigns. Niketas Choniates, Historia 51, trans. Magoulias, O City 30; Eustathios of Thessalonica, ed. Th. F.L. Tafel, Epitaphos 201. See too Spatharakis, J., The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts (Leiden 1976) 208 Google Scholar. Our ekphrasis, which devotes six lines to the imperial eyebrows, never mentions skin color.

38. For synkrisis in imperial Byzantine rhetoric see Maguire, Henry, ‘The Art of Comparing in Byzantium,’ Art Bulletin 70 (1988) 88–103 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For imperial panegyric see idem, ‘Images of the Court,’ in The Glory of Byzantium, ed. H. Evans and W. Wixom (New York 1997) 183-89.

39. Magdalino, Paul, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180 (Cambridge 1993) 452 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40. Kallikles, Nicholas, ed. Sternbach, L., ‘Nikolai Calliclis carmina,’ Rozprawy Akademii Umiejetnosci, Wydziat filologiczny (Krakow) 2nd series, 21 (1904) 315-92Google Scholar; translated in Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor,’ 126-27. Another example is found in an anonymous poem which describes a dynastic portrait of Manuel accompanied by his father and his son, Alexios: “To whose god-given monarchy may Alexios, his son and fulfillment of the series, succeed after the revolution of thrice-old suns.” Ed. Lampros, Sp., ‘O Markianos Kodex 524,’ Neos Hellênomnêmôn 8 (1911) fol. 180rGoogle Scholar; trans. Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor’ 146-47.

41. Magdalino, Manuel I 417, 452.

42. Manganeios Prodromos, unedited poem 20, 26.401-04, forthcoming edition by E. and M. Jeffreys.

43. Manganeios Prodromos, unedited poem 24, 12.165, forthcoming edition by E. and M. Jeffreys.

44. Ibid., 16.229-37.

45. Ibid., 16.238-17.240.

46. Manganeios Prodromos, unedited poem 17, 1.40-41, forthcoming edition by E. and M. Jeffreys.

47. Italikos, Lettres 275.

48. Lappa-Zizicas, ‘Un éloge anonyme’ 307-8.

49. William of Tyre, A History of Deeds done Beyond the Sea, trans. W. Babcock and A. Krey, II (New York 1943) 276-77; Choniates, Historia 102-103, trans. Magoulias, O City 59; Kinnamos, Epitome 4.17, trans. Brand, Deeds 138.

50. Magdalino, Manuel I 66-69.

51. Ibid., 276-77; Kinnamos, Epitome 4.18, trans. Brand, Deeds 139-40.

52. William of Tyre, A History 277. Also recounted by Kinnamos, Epitome 4.18, trans. Brand, Deeds 139-40. Reynald agreed to recognize Byzantine suzerainty over Antioch, to return the citadel to Byzantine control, and to install a Patriarch who would be sent from the Byzantine capital. See Magdalino, Manuel I 67.

53. William of Tyre, A History 279.

54. Kinnamos, Epitome 4.21, trans. Brand, Deeds 143, tells us the entrance into Antioch was modeled on the triumphal processions celebrated in Constantinople.

55. Kinnamos, Epitome 4.21, trans. Brand, Deeds 142-43. An Armenian account is found in Smbat, La Chronique attribuée au connétable Smbat trans. Dédéyan, Gérard (Paris 1980) 46 Google Scholar.

56. William of Tyre, A History 279; also recorded by Choniates, Historia 108, trans. Magoulias, O City 61-62.

57. Kinnamos, Epitome, 4.21, trans. Brand, Deeds 142; also in Smbat, La Chronique 45.

58. Kinnamos, Epitome 4.21, trans. Brand, Deeds 143; also recorded by Smbat, La Chronique 45.

59. Kinnamos, Epitome 4.21, trans. Brand, Deeds 143; William of Tyre, A History 279; Smbat, La Chronique 45.

60. William of Tyre, A History 280. William relates that Baldwin injured his arm during a hunt and was ministered to by Manuel himself.

61. Choniates, Historia 108-9, trans. Magoulias, O City, 62.

62. Choniates, Historia 108, trans. Magoulias, O City 62.

63. The similarity between the two accounts is recognized by Schreiner, ‘Ritterspiele,’ 231-32.

64. Ibid.

65. Choniates, Historia 109, trans. Magoulias, O City 62.

66. Ibid.

67. Choniates, Historia 110, trans. Magoulias, O City 62, 379 n. 305.

68. Choniates, Historia 109, trans. Magoulias, O City 62.

69. Ibid.

70. Ibid.

71. Ibid.

72. Choniates, Historia 108-109, trans. Magoulias, O City 62.

73. Barberini gr. 372, fol. 5.

74. Anderson, J., Canari, P. and Walter, C., The Barberini Psalter. Codex Vaticanus Barberinianus Graecus 372 (Zurich 1989) 15ff., 55-56Google Scholar. Spatharakis, Portrait 34, dates the manuscript to 1060, and identifies the miniature as a depiction of the coronation of a son of Constantine X Dukas.

75. Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, Ms. gr. Z 17, fol. IIIr. See Cutler, Anthony, The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium (Paris 1984) 115-19Google Scholar.

76. Lampros, ‘O Markianos Kodex,’ fol. 36r; trans. Mango, Cyril, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453 (Toronto 1986) 226 Google Scholar.

77. Kazhdan, Alexander P., “ The Aristocracy and the Imperial Ideal,’ in The Byzantine Aristocracy, ed. Angold, (Oxford 1984) 43–57 Google Scholar. This is also demonstrated in Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor.’

78. Choniates, Historia 206, trans. Magoulias, O City 117.

79. Eustathios of Thessaloniki, ed. Tafel, T. L. F., De Thessalonica eiusque agro (Berlin 1839) 419 Google Scholar; trans. Mango, Art 225. Stephen Nemanja’s visit took place in 1172; the art presumably showed events from the campaigns of 1162 and 1168.

80. Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary (Malibu 1987) 71 Google ScholarPubMed.

81. Malakes, Euthymios, Oration to the emperor Manuel Komnenos, delivered when the Sultan came to Constantinople,’ in Noctes Petropolitanae, ed. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. (St. Petersburg 1913) 173.7-16Google Scholar; translated in Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor,’ 132.

82. Kinnamos, Epitome 6.6, trans. Brand, Deeds 199-200.

83. These images were most likely in the narthex of the church. Lampros, ‘O Markianos Kodex,’ fol. 108r; trans. Mango, Art 227-28.

84. An anonymous text describes two such plates “representing our holy emperor routing the sultan,” probably depictions of Manuel’s expedition against the sultan of Iconium in 1146, and a third gold plate which depicted his campaigns in Hungary. Lampros, ‘O Markianos Kodex,’ fol. 180r; trans. Mango, Art 228-29, nt. 227.

85. Venice, Marciana gr. Z. 17, fol. IIIr.

86. Kitzinger, Ernst, ‘The Mosaic Fragments in the Torre Pisana of the royal Palace in Palermo: A Preliminary Study,’ in Mosaïque, Recueil d’Hommages à Henri Stern (Paris 1983) 239-43Google Scholar. The mosaics of the upper register preserve fragments representing buildings, bowmen, and horses. The lower register was more highly stylized than the upper, and featured symmetrically arranged horses and bowmen. Kitzinger compares the composition of the lower register to a scene found on an ivory casket produced in Constantinople and now in Troyes. The lid of this casket, which will be discussed in greater detail below, shows two mounted emperors symmetrically flanking a fortified city. Although the casket cannot be linked directly to any particular emperor, its solid ivory construction and the purple pigment used to color the scenes suggest court patronage of the highest rank. See Glory of Byzantium 204-06.

87. Lampros, ‘O Markianos Kodex’ fol. 112v.; trans. Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor’ 142-45.

88. Lampros, ‘O Markianos Kodex’ fol. 112v.; trans. Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor’ 143.

89. Pseudo-Kodinus suggests that equestrian imperial imagery was used on banners. Although he was writing in the Late Byzantine period, it is not clear that these banners were still in use after the eleventh century. See Verpeaux, Jean, Pseudo-Kodinos, traité des offices (Paris 1966) 167, 196Google Scholar.

90. Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor’ 157-58.

91. von Falke, Otto, Kunstgeschichte der Seidenweberei (Berlin 1913) II, fig. 219 Google Scholar; Robert, de Micheaux, ‘Le Tissu dit de Mozac,’ CIETA Bulletin, 17 (1963) 14–20 Google Scholar.

92. Hamidullah, M., ‘Nouveaux documents sur les rapports de l’Europe avec l’Orient musulman au moyen âge,’ Arabica 7/3 (1960) 287 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grabar, O., ‘The Shared Culture of Objects,’ Byzantine Court Culture from 829-1204, ed. Maguire, H. (Washington, D.C. 1997) 115-29, esp. 118-20Google Scholar. The use of laurata is also confirmed for the tenth century by Porphyrogenitos, Constantine, De Ceremoniis, I, ed. Reiske, , CSHB (Bonn, 1829) 87, 393-98Google Scholar.

93. Grabar, André, L’Empereur dans l’art byzantin (Paris, 1936) 51–53 Google Scholar; Beckwith, John, The Art of Constantinople (London 1961) 98–100 Google Scholar, suggests that the scene depicts the triumph of Basil II over the Bulgars. More recently Günter Prinzing, ‘Das Bamberger Günthertuch in neuer Sicht,’ Byzantinoslavica, LIV/1 (1993) 218–231, suggests that the scene instead depicts the 971 triumph of John I TzimiskesGoogle Scholar.

94. Müller-Christensen, Sigrid, Sakrale Gewander des Mittelalters (Munich 1955) 20, figs. 19-20, pls. II, IIIGoogle Scholar. Müller-Christensen dates the silk to the early eleventh century and sees it as a product of the imperial workshop. For a discussion of this piece see Beckwith, J. and others, ‘Probleme der mittelalterlichen Textilforschung,’ in Kunstchronik VIII/11 (Nov. 1955) 315ffGoogle Scholar.

95. The style of the casket relates it to the Romanos ivory. An inscription on this ivory names the emperor Romanos and the empress Eudokia, but there were two Byzantine rulers named Romanos who married women named Eudokia. The argument for a mid-tenth century date is presented by Cutler, A., ‘The Date and Significance of the Romanos Ivory,’ in Byzantine East, Latin West: Art-Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann, ed. Moss, C., Kiefer, K. (Princeton 1995) 605-610Google Scholar. We follow the eleventh century date proposed by Kalevrezou-Maxeiner, I., ‘Eudokia Makrembolitissa and the Romanos Ivory,’ DOP 31 (1977) 305-25Google Scholar. The scene on the Troyes casket parallels the textual description of the triumphal entry of Basil I into Constantinople in 878 following a successful military campaign. See Glory of Byzantium 204-06.

96. Horna, K., ‘Die Epigramme des Theodoras Balsamon,’ Wiener Studien 25 (1903) 165–217 Google Scholar; trans. Magdalino and Nelson, ‘Emperor’ 154-55.

97. Lappa-Zizicas, ‘Un éloge’ 307-8. A related characterization may be found in Eustathios of Thessaloniki’s praise of Manuel as an “imperial garden of delights,” see Magdalino, , Manuel I 462 Google Scholar. For more on this topic see Maguire, H., ‘Imperial Gardens and the Rhetoric of Renewal,’ New Constantines: the Rhythm of Imperial Renewal in Byzantium, 4th-13th Centuries, ed. Magdalino, P. (London 1994) 181-98Google Scholar.

98. Choniates, Historia 109, trans. Magoulias, O City 62.

99. However, in the Timarion 46.7, cupids, muses, and graces run before and under the Governor as he processes on horseback.

100. Prinzing, ‘Gunthertuch’ 229-30, suggests that the blue and green costumes worn by the personifications may be an allusion to the main demes of Constantinople.

101. We thank Maria Mavroudi for this observation. Choniates, in his description of the 1159 joust documents the suitability of the imperial costume to the activity at hand; the emperor’s mantle was fastened at the right shoulder, leaving the right arm free. He does not mention a crown. Choniates, Historia 108-109, trans. Magoulias, O City 61.

102. Magdalino, Manuel I 419-20 (for Alexios I and John II), 435, 488 (for Manuel).

103. Codex Vat. gr. 1176, fol. IIr. See Spatharakis, Portrait 208-10.

104. Basil II: Venice, Marciana, gr. 17, fol. IIIr, discussed above. The portrait of Nikephoros III Botaniates (Paris, Bibl. Nat. Coisl. 79, fol. 2v.) originally depicted Michael VII Doukas, and was later refashioned in the likeness of Michael’s successor Nikephoros. See Spatharakis, Portrait 107-18; Dumitrescu, C. L., ‘Quelques Remarques en marge du Coislin. 79: Les Trois Eunuques,’ B 57 (1987) 32–45 Google Scholar. Color illustration in Grabar, André, Byzantine Painting (Geneva 1953) 179 Google Scholar.

105. Kazhdan, A., ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (New York 1991) S.v. ‘Tunics.’Google Scholar

106. In contrast, portraits of enthroned emperors generally depict them wearing a cloak and a long-sleeved tunic over a long-sleeved garment, of which only the cuffs are visible. In Paris, Bib. Nat. Coislin 79, Nikephoros III is twice shown wearing this arrangement of cloak, tunic and undergarment. Folios I (2bis)r and 2r are illustrated in Spatharakis, Portrait figs. 69 and 71, respectively.

107. The earliest Late Byzantine example of the use of animal imagery on “imperial” garments may be recorded by a drawing of a destroyed portrait of Manuel I of Trebizond (1238-63), originally located in the narthex of H. Sophia in Trebizond. Manuel I is wearing ornamental robes bordered with a double row of eagles. See Rice, D. T., The Church of Haghia Sophia at Trebizond (Edinburgh 1968) 1, 2, 118 Google Scholar; fig. 79.

108. Paris, Bib. Nat. Coislin 79, fol. 2r. The paint is badly flaked and the animals are difficult to read; they have been variously identified as lions and griffins. For lions, see H. Maguire, Glory of Byzantium 207-9. An argument in favor of reading these animals as griffins is put forward by Spatharakis in his discussion of a portrait of Alexios Murtzouphlos (Vind. Hist. Gr. 53, Nat. Lib. Vienna, fol. 29lv). Spatharakis argues that here the griffin-decorated robes, worn by the emperor who ruled during the disastrous year of 1204, reflect his status as protovestiarios before his elevation to emperor. Alexios is shown without regalia. See Spatharakis, Portrait 156-8. A Late Byzantine example of the non-imperial use of griffins is found in Paris, Bibl. Nat. gr. 2144, fol. II, which portrays the Grand Duke Alexis Apokaukos (d. 1345) wearing a tunic decorated with addorsed griffins in medallions. Illustrated in Spatharakis, Portrait fig. 96. The author known as Genesios, writing during the reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos (913-59) describes a robe decorated with eagles in his account of the investiture of Leo V (813-20). During the ceremony — but before he attains imperial status — Leo removes a kolobion, a “rose-colored garment with eagles” and gives it to his chief groom. This kolobion was evidently indicative of Leo’s pre-imperial status as senior general and dignitary. Genesios, , Historia ed. Lesmueller-Werner, A. and Thurn, J. (Berlin/New York 1978) 5 Google Scholar.

109. Digenes Akrites, Grottaferrata version, 3.257-60, ed. and trans. E. Jeffreys (Cambridge 1998) 59. Magdalino, Manuel I 420-21, 449, has pointed out that Digenes Akrites served as an inspiration for Komnenian rule as presented in rhetoric, and suggests that in one panegyric Manuel is compared to the fictional hero.

110. Digenes Akrites, Grottaferrata 4.226, ed. and trans. E. Jeffreys, 81.

111. Digenes Akrites, Grottaferrata 4.923, ed. and trans. E. Jeffreys, 121.

112. M. Hamidullah, ‘Nouveaux documents’ 287; O. Grabar, ‘Shared Culture’ 119.

113. It is dated to the eleventh century. See Muthesius, Anna, ‘The Griffin silk of St. Trond’ in Studies in Byzantine and Islamic Silk Weaving (London 1995) 159-60Google Scholar. Another example featuring griffins was found in the reliquary of St. Siviard and is now housed in the Cathedral Treasury of Sens. It is dated to the late-eleventh or early-twelfth century; Glory of Byzantium 226. An imperial silk decorated with eagles is preserved in the reliquary of Saint Germanus in Auxerre, and dates to early eleventh century, see Glory of Byzantium 225-26. A similar silk, now in Bressanone, is dated to 1006, see von Falke, Kunstgeschichte II, 17, figs. 250-51. A similar textile is found in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; Kendrick, A. F., Catalogue of Early Medieval Woven Fabrics (London 1925) no. 1015, 49–50 Google Scholar. These coveted silks were also replicated in paint. One example, dating to the end of the twelfth century, is found in the crypt of the cathedral of Aquileia. Here the portrait of St. Martial shows him wearing a splendid chasuble decorated with griffins in pearled medallions. Illustrated in Demus, Otto, Romanesque Mural Painting (New York 1970) pl. 80 Google Scholar; Thomas E. A. Dale, , Relics, Prayer, and Politics in Medieval Venetia. Romanesque Painting in the Crypt of Aquileia Cathedral (Princeton 1997) 93, fig. 50Google Scholar.

114. Discussed, with illustrations, in Beckwith, ‘Probleme’ 314ff. The tunic was first mentioned in the 1127 inventory of the cathedral treasury, providing it with a terminus ante quem.

115. A Georgian example is found on the church of Osk Vank, now in Turkey, which contains multiple images of the two eldest brothers of the ruling Bagratid family. One portrait group depicts the two brothers presenting models of their church to Christ. David Bagrat is identified in an accompanying inscription by the Byzantine title magistros, and he wears a tunic covered by a long-sleeved mantle decorated with eagles in medallions. David inherited his title from his father, Adarnase III, who received it and perhaps the appropriate garments from the Byzantine emperor Romanos I. For discussion and bibliography see Eastmond, Antony, Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia (University Park, PA 1998) 20–30 Google Scholar. A Russian example was found in the central nave of S. Sophia in Kiev, which was originally decorated with frescoes dating to the mid-eleventh century. The fresco portrait of the Grand Prince Yaroslav and his family has been destroyed, but a copy made in the seventeenth century shows the Grand Prince wearing a mantle decorated with eagles. Lazarev, Viktor, Old Russian Murals and Mosaics (London 1966) 48 Google Scholar.

116. De Ceremoniis II, 15, ed. Reiske, 580-81.

117. Prodromos, Theodore, ed. Hörandner, W., Historische Gedichte (Vienna 1974) 220-24Google Scholar.

118. Ibid., 222 v. 58ff.

119. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Urb. gr. 2, fol. 19v; illustrated and with bibliography, Glory of Byzantium 209-10.

120. Komnenian emperors are frequently compared to lions in imperial rhetoric; John II is frequently characterized as a lion, and as a youth Manuel was frequently called “the lion’s cub.” Prodromos, ed. Hörandner, Hist. Ged. no. 19, trans. Magdalino, Manuel I 434; Manganeios Prodromos, unedited poems 3.118-119, 17.32, 20.414, 25.58-61.

121. In addition to the examples cited above, see the tenth-century description by Liudprand of Cremona of the palace ceremony in which officials were awarded costumes by the emperor according to their rank; Becker, J., ed., Die Werke Liudprands von Cremona, Monumenta Germaniae historica: Scriptores rerum germanicarum 41 (Hannover and Leipzig 1915) 157-58Google Scholar.

122. In the same way, a famous author today will sign his books to give to admirers, but will not sign the copies that he keeps for himself.

123. See, for example, the lions adopted as a device of the Hauteville dynasty of Norman Sicily on the mantle of Roger II and in the “Stanza di Ruggero” in the Palace in Palermo; these are discussed, most recently, by Hoffman, Eva R., ‘Pathways of Portability: Islamic and Christian Interchange from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century,’ Art History 24 (2001)17–50 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

124. However, the Byzantines never had a fully developed heraldic system, as in the west. See ‘Coats of Arms,’ Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 472-73.

125. The earliest known representation of a Byzantine emperor standing on a suppedion decorated with eagles is found in a portrait of Theodore II Lascaris (1254-8) in a manuscript in the Tübingen Public Library, Cod. M B 13 fol. 15r, illustrated in Spatharakis, Portrait fig. IIIb. Michael VII Palaiologos (1261-82) is portrayed standing upon an eagle-decorated suppedion in two surviving manuscripts, Munich Cod. gr. 442 and Tübingen Cod. gr. M B 13, fol. 247. For imperial suppedia and their decoration see Starenseiser, A., ‘An Art Historical Study of the Byzantine Silk Industry,’ unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Columbia University 1982, 421 ffGoogle Scholar; Hadermann-Misguich, L., ‘Tissus de pouvoir et de prestige sous les Macédoniens et les Comnènes. À propos des coussins-de-pieds et de leurs représentations,’ ΔΧΑΕ 17 (1993-94) 121-28Google Scholar. Pseudo-Kodinos, writing on the offices of the court during the reign of John VI Cantacuzenus (1347-1354), notes that boots embroidered with eagles are among the imperial footwear kept in the vestiarion. Traité des offices, ed. Verpeaux, Jean (Paris 1966) 171.11-17Google Scholar. When Constantinople fell to the Turks the body of the emperor was identified by his boots, which were purple and embroidered with eagles. Phrantzes, Chron. III, 9. An illustration of eagles embroidered on royal shoes is found in the portrait of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander in a Tetraevangelion dated to 1355/56 (BM Add. 39627, fol. 3r); illustrated in Spatharakis, Portrait 69-70, fig. 39 and in color in Shivkova, L. Das Tetraevangeliar des Zaren Ivan Alexandar (Recklinghausen 1977) 85 Google Scholar. We thank Slobodan Ćurčić for this reference.

126. Illustrated and with bibliography, Glory of Byzantium1 227-28. The similarity of the face of the Alexander figure to that of the emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (920-44) as depicted on coins has led to the suggestion that this should be seen as an imperial portrait. Trahoulia, Nicolette, ‘Alexander the Great as Imperial Paradigm in Byzantine Art and Literature.’ unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University 1997 Google Scholar.

127. For a discussion and illustrations of silks with addorsed griffins see Muthesius, ‘The Griffin Silk of St. Trond.’ On a more mundane level the description of the griffins in our anonymous ekphrasis evokes the bilateral symmetry seen on many imperial textiles which have been preserved from the Middle Byzantine period.

128. Magdalino, P., ‘The Bath of Leo the Wise,’ DOP 42 (1988) 109 Google Scholar, suggests a similar function for a griffin featured in this imperial decorative program.

129. Magdalino, Manuel I 432.

130. Manganeios Prodromos, unedited poem 24, 14.187-94, forthcoming edition by E. and M. Jeffreys.

131. Kinnamos, Epitome 2.7, trans. Brand, Deeds 47-48.

132. Cumont, F., Recherches sur le symbolisme funéraire des Romains (Paris 1942) 97 n. 2, 154, 209, 240, 336-37Google Scholar. MacCormack, Sabine, Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity (Berkeley 1981) 136ffGoogle Scholar.

133. See above, n. 125, and ‘Eagles,’ Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 669.

134. According to Eustathios, Stephen Nemanja, upon viewing the images depicting his defeat, “agrees with everything and approves of the visual feast. In one respect only does he chide the painter, namely that the latter has not called him a slave in all the scenes of triumph, that the appellation ‘slave’ has not been coupled” with his name. Eustathius of Thessalonica, De Thessalonica 419; trans. Mango, Art 225.

135. Related by Michael the Syrian, ed. and trans. Chabot, J.-B., Chronique de Michel le Syrien patriarche Jacobite d’Antioche (1166-1199), III (Paris 1963) 319 Google Scholar. Textual evidence suggests another appropriation of foreign iconography by Manuel during Kiliç Arslan’s visit to Constantinople. Manuel received the sultan wearing a specially-made garment, a purple robe on which a “meadow” was embroidered in rubies and pearls. Kinnamos, Epitome 5.3, trans. Brand, Deeds 156-57. For the interpretation of this image and its significance to an Islamic audience see Jones, forthcoming, and ‘Imperial Dress and Manuel I Komnenos.’

136. Magdalino, Manuel I 475. The poems are in Venice, Marciana, MS. gr. 524, nos. 315 and 333, ed. Sp. Lampros, Neos Hellênomnêmôn 8, 1 (1911) 172, 176-7.

137. For Amalric’s presence in Antioch, see William of Tyre, Deeds 279.

138. William of Tyre, Deeds 382.

139. Ibid., 380. This display of Byzantine superiority is apparent elsewhere in Manuel’s dealing with Amalric. In the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a mosaic inscription in Greek dating to 1169 first mentions Manuel, then Amalric. See Hunt, Lucy-Anne, ‘Art and Colonialism: The Mosaics of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem (1169) and the Problem of Crusader Art’ DOP 45 (1991) 69–85 Google Scholar.