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The rise of the dragon in middle Byzantine hagiography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Monica White
Monica White*
Affiliation:
Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham
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Abstract

Dragons were a well-established feature of the Byzantine supernatural imagination, and certain conventions governed their behaviour as described in hagiography. The textual traditions associated with Ss Perpetua, Marina of Antioch and Elisabeth the Miracle-Worker illustrate the changing role of the creatures from late antiquity through the middle Byzantine period. Although early works portray them as minor nuisances, compilations of the ninth century and later give them a new prominence, hinting at an editorial fascination with dragons which acted in a similar manner on otherwise unrelated texts.

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Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , 2008 , pp. 149 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 2008

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References

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17 A summary of this debate and the associated literature is given most recently in Habermehl, P., Perpetua und der Ägypter oder Bilder des Bösen im frühen afrikanischen Christentum: Ein Versuch zur Passio sanctarum Perpetua et Felicitatis, 2nd edn (Berlin 2004) 3–4 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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19 ‘Ήν δέ ύπ’ αύτή τη κλίμακι δράκων ύπερμεγέθης, ος δη τους άναβαίνοντας ένήδρευεν, έκθαμβών οπως μή τολμώσιν άναβαίνειν.’ Passio Sanctarum, 13. (Translations are by the author unless otherwise noted.)

20 ‘Kai ύποκάτω τής κλίμακος, ώσει φοβουμενός με, ήρέμα τήν κεφαλήν προσήνεγκεν καί ώς είς τον πρώτον βαθμον ήθέλησαέπιβήναι, τήν κεφαλήν αύτοϋ έπάτησα.’ Passio Sanctarum, 15.

21 See Dronke, P., Women Writers of the Middle Ages: A Critical Study of Texts from Perpetua (†203) to Marguerite Porete (†1310) (Cambridge 1984) 10 Google Scholar; Habermehl, Perpetua und der Ägypter, 88-96 and Robinson, ‘The Passion’, 28.

22 Όύτος όΑίγύπτιος έάν ταυτην νικήση,άνελεΐ αύτήν μαχαίρςτ αϋτη δε έάν νικήση αύτόν, λήψεται τον κλάδον τοϋτον.’ Passio Sanctarum, 27.

23 Theories about the date of the translation include that it was contemporary with the Latin original (Fridh, Le problème, 45, 82-3) and that it was made at some time before the reign of Constantine I ( Schöllgen, G., ‘Ecclesia Sordida? Zur Frage der sozialen Schichtung frühchristlicher Gemeinden am Beispiel Karthagos zur Zeit Tertullians’, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum Ergänzungsband 12 [1984] 198-9Google Scholar).

24 Based on a comparison of the text with an early enkomion to Polyeuktos, a date after the mid-sixth century is proposed by Lackner, W., ‘Zu Editionsgeschichte, Textgestalt und Quellen der passio S. Polyeucti des Symeon Metaphrastes’, in Hörandner, W., et al. (ed.), Byzantios: Festschrift für Herbert Hunger (Vienna 1984) 228 Google Scholar. For an argument for the mid-fourth century, see Aube, B., Polyeucte dans l’histoire (Paris 1882) 44-5Google Scholar.

25 Έπάτησε γάρ κοά αύτος τοδ δράκοντος τήν κεφαλήν, καθάπερ косі ή μοίκαρία Θέκλα ή πρωτομάρτυς κοα Περπετουια, ή τήν χαλκήν έκείνην και ούρανίον ήκει κλίμακα...’ Aube, Polyeucte, 77.

26 Vie et miracles de sainte Thècle, trans, and ed. Dagron, G. [Subsidia Hagiographica, 62] (Brussels 1978)Google Scholar.

27 Aubé, Polyeucte, 78.

28 Robinson argues that the Menologion entry is independent of the Greek Passio because the former uses the word skala, while the latter uses klimax. (Robinson, ‘The Passion’, 22.) He was apparently unaware of the closely-related Synaxarion entry, which uses klimax. In any case, given the other similarities between the texts, this minor difference does not seem sufficient reason to rule out the Menologion entry’s derivation from the Passio.

29 Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, in AASS, Propylaeum ad Acta Sanctorum Novembris (Brussels 1902) 440 Google Scholar, 508, 536.

30 Ibid, 440 and Basilianum, Menologium, in MPG, CXVII (Paris 1864), 292 Google Scholar. The Menologion features one of very few known images of Perpetua in Byzantine art. The miniature, like most others in the manuscript, focuses on the saint’s martyrdom and shows Perpetua and six companions being stabbed. (Il Menologio di Basilio II (Cod. Vaticano Greco 1613), II [Torino 1907] 366.) The mosaics of the Episcopal chapel in Ravenna also include a bust portrait of Perpetua.

31 ‘Kod θεωρεί ή άγία κατ’ οναρ σκάλαν χαλκήν φθάνοσαν άπο γής είς ούρανον ... και δράκονταύπο τήν σκάλαν κωλυοντα τούς άναβαίνοντας...’ Menologium Basilianum, 292. The version in the Synaxarion is almost identical, although it omits the phrase ‘in a dream’ and lists the weapons attached to the ladder. (Synaxariutn Ecclesiae, 440.)

32 For an introduction to Marina’s Western cult see Drewer, L., ‘Margaret of Antioch the Demon-Slayer, East and West: The Iconography of the Predella of the Boston Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine ’, Gesta 32 (1993) 11–20 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Boulhol, ‘Hagiographie antique’, 258-68.

34 Festschrift zur fünften Säcularfeier der Carl-Ruprechts-Universität zu Heidelberg, ed. Usener, H. (Bonn 1886) 3–14 Google Scholar.

35 Boulhol, ‘Hagiographie antique’, 261.

36 ‘...άνιμήσατο αύτήν κοά κατέπιεν είς τήν κοιλίαν αύτοϋ.’ Festschrift, 24-7.

37 ‘έγώ γάρ τον συγγενέα μου ‘Ροϋφον άπεστειλα έν σχήματι δςάκοντος, οπως σε άποκτείνη• σύ δέ διά τών εύχών σου αύτον άπέκτεινας...’ Festschrift, 19.

38 Festschrift, 29-30.

39 ‘κατάμαθε τήν καρδίαν αύτου και έξερεύνησον τήν ένθύμησιν αύτοδ.’ Festschrift, 31.

40 Festschrift, 31-6.

41 Festschrift, 36-46.

42 Descriptions of portraits of this type can be found in Kalopissi-Verti, S., Die Kirche der Hagia Triada bei Kranidi in der Argolis (1244): Ikonographische und stilistische Analyse der Malereien [Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia, 20] (Munich 1975) 207 Google Scholar; Lafontaine-Dosogne, J., ‘Un thème iconographique peu connu: Marina assommant Belzébub’, B 32 (1962) 256-8Google Scholar and Ross, M. C. and Downey, G., ‘A Reliquary of St. Marina’, BS 23 (1962) 41-4Google Scholar .

43 For a list of frescoes featuring this scene see Kalopissi-Verti, Die Kirche, 207-8 and Hadermann-Misguich, L., ‘Contribution à l’étude iconographique de Marina assommant le démon’, Annuaire de l’institut de philologie et d’histoire orientales et slaves 20 (1968-72) 267-71Google Scholar.

44 Schlumberger, G., Mélanges d’Archéologie Byzantine (Paris 1895) 30-1Google Scholar, no. 11.

45 S. Kalopissi-Verti, Die Kirche, 208, sketch 26, ill. 26.

46 Lafontaine-Dosogne, J., ‘Le cycle de Sainte Marguerite d’Antioche à la cathédrale de Tournai et sa place dans la tradition romane et byzantine’, Revue belge d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art 61 (1992) 97–125 Google Scholar.

47 Ibid., 94, fig. 3 and Papageorghiou, A., Icons of Cyprus (Nicosia 1992) pl. 34 Google Scholar. Another icon with scenes from Marina’s life, which Papageorghiou (p. 2) dates to the eighth or ninth century, may have included the dragon-slaying episode, but most of the scenes have been lost.

48 ‘ΖητεΧσθε αύτά τίνος ή χείρ τυγχάνει; / Μάρτυρος ήδε Μαρίνης τής άγίας/Ής το κράτος εθλασε δράκοντο[ς] κάρας.’ Translation in Ross and Downey, ‘A Reliquary’, 42.

49 Festschrift, 48-53.

50 Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 825.

51 ‘τον έπαναστάντα αύτή δράκοντα προσευξαμενη διερρηξεν.’ Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 825.

52 Synaxarium Ecclesiae, xxiii-xxiv, xxvi; Il Menologio di Basilio II, II, viii-ix.

53 ‘... ήπείλει καταπιεΐν αύτήν. Kai κατασφραγισαμένη καΐ ποιήσασα τον τύπον τοϋ σταυροϋ, ένέκρωσεν αύτόν.’ Menologium Basilianum, 548.

54 Menologii Anonymi Byzantini, ed. Latyshev, V. [Subsidia Byzantina, 12] (St Petersburg 1911, repr. Leipzig 1970) 179-84Google Scholar.

55 Menologii Anonymi Byzantini, 182.

56 Ibid.

57 ‘Ήλεγξας / xòv πολύμορφον οφιν / έν γυναικείςί μορφή / καί τής Εοας τήν πτώσιν / άνώρθωσας, άξιάγαστε.’ Analecta Hytnnica Graeca e Codicibus Eruta ¡taliae Inférions, 13 vols., ed. Schirò, I., XI (Rome 1966-83) 307 Google Scholar.

58 Analecta Hymnica Graeca, 310.

59 Christopher of Mytilene, I calendari in metro innografico di Cristoforo Mitileneo, ed. Follieri, E. [Subsidia Hagiographica, 63], I (Brussels 1980), 365 Google Scholar; Tsiknopoullou, I. P., ‘Άγιοι της Κύπρου’, Κυπριακαί Σποοδαί 30 (1966) 160-1Google Scholar. The enkomion mentions demons in a general sense, but without specific reference to Beelzebub.

60 Delehaye, H., Les legendes grecques des saints militaires (Paris 1909)183–201 Google Scholar. I follow the early dating proposed by Zuckerman, C., ‘The reign of Constantine V in the miracles of St. Theodore the Recruit (BHG 1764)’, REB 46 (1988) 191–210 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Theodore is depicted slaying a dragon on seals from the sixth or seventh century ( Walter, C., ‘Saint Theodore and the dragon’, in Entwistle, C. (ed.), Through a Glass Brightly: Studies in Byzantine and Medieval Art and Archaeology Presented to David Buckton [Oxford 2003] 97)Google Scholar, but the miracle does not appear in the fifth-century collection by Chrysippos of Jerusalem ( Chrysippos of Jerusalem, ‘Des Chrysippos von Jerusalem Enkomion auf den hl. Theodoros Teron’, ed. Sigalas, A., Byzantinisches Archiv 7 [1921] 51–79 Google Scholar).

61 Hengstenberg, W., ‘Der Drachenkampf des heiligen Theodor’, Oriens Christianus n.s. 2 (1912) 78–106 Google Scholar, 241-80.

62 Menologium Basilianum, 317; Halkin, F., ‘Un opuscule inconnu du Magistre Ouranos’, AB 80 (1962) 308-24Google Scholar.

63 ‘Life of St. Elisabeth the Wonderworker’, trans, and ed. Karras, V., in Talbot, A.-M. (ed.), Holy Women of Byzantium: Ten Saints’ Lives in English Translation (Washington, DC 1996) 119—20Google Scholar. F. Halkin has argued for a date before the late sixth century ( Halkin, F., ‘Sainte Élisabeth d’Héraclée, abbesse à Constantinople’, AB 91 [1973] 249-50Google Scholar), while A. Kazhdan has proposed the thirteenth century (Kazhdan, ‘Hagiographical Notes’, 170).

64 ‘Vita di Santa Elisabetta di Constantinopoli, la Taumaturga, Scritta dal Monaco Cantone’, ed. Criscuolo, R., Annali della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università di Napoli 14, n.s. 2 (1971-2) 51, 61Google Scholar.

65 ‘.. .φωνεί τον θήρα και έξελθεΐν τοϋ φωλεοδ καί άκουοντα παρασκεύασε’ και σφραγίσασα τοϋτον τφ σημείφ τοϋ σταυροΰ, σιέλου το στόμα πλήσασα τής αύτου κατέχεται κεφαλής και τοΐς ποσί τοϋτον καταπατήσασα άπέκτεινεν.’ Halkin, ‘Sainte Elisabeth’, 259. Translation in ‘Life of St. Elisabeth’, 130.

66 Halkin, ‘Sainte Élisabeth’, 259-64.

67 ‘Vita di Santa Elisabetta’, 59-67.

68 Έντεΰθεν τοιγαροϋν ευελπις ώσπερ γενομενη κου πληροφορίαν δεξαμένη βεβαίαν τοΰ καί τον νοητον δράκοντα ώς τον αϊσθητον τοϋτον τή συμμαχία [Χριστοϋ καταπατήσαι και] κατ’ αύτοϋ νίκην άρασθαι, τών θαυματουργιων τεθαρρηκότως άπήρξατο.’ Halkin, ‘Sainte Elisabeth’, 259. Translation in ‘Life of St. Elisabeth’, 130. The Athens vita includes a roughly similar passage. (‘Vita di Santa Elisabetta’, 65.)

69 ‘παντοΐα νοσήματα ίάσατο’; ‘χοΰς γάρ έκ τής σοροϋ αύτής λαμβανόμενος πασαν νόσον θεραπεύει’; ‘Όφιν μέγιστον κοα δεινον προσευχή έθανάτωσεν’. Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 625-7. Although this passage refers to Elisabeth’s enemy as a serpent, it is similar to lines in a kanon discussed below which call it both a serpent and a dragon.

70 Menologium Basilianum, 421.

71 Analecta Hymnica, VIII, 289-301.

72 ‘τφ κρυει’ Analecta Hymnica, 291; Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 625.

73 ‘Όφιν δεινον / δράκοντα συ έθανάτωσας, / προσευχή σου’ Analecta Hymnica, VIII, 293-4. These verses seem to have been preserved in subsequent rewritings of the kanon, although the editors only reprint the first line of one later version. Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 435.

74 Ίάσεων φεγγος’ Analecta Hymnica, 290.

75 Analecta Hymnica, 293-4.

76 Analecta Hymnica, 289.

77 Stiernon, D., ‘La vie et l’oeuvre de S. Joseph l’Hymnographe: A propos d’une publication récente’, REB 31 (1973) 243-66CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

78 ‘Life of St. Ioannikios’, trans, and ed. Sullivan, D., in Talbot, A.-M. (ed.), Byzantine Defenders of Images: Eight Saints’ Lives in English Translation(Washington, DC 1998) 250-1Google Scholar.

79 AASS November II.1, 332-84, 384-435.

80 Synaxarium Ecclesiae, 191-3; Menologium Basilianum, 141.

81 Analecta Hymnica, III, 141-2; Symeon Metaphrastes Vitae Sanctorum in MPG, CXVI, 48-9, 52, 69.