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12 See note 1.

13 His argument was based on an inaccurate, sixteenth-century reproduction: Frashëri, K., ‘Fillimet e Krish-terimit në viset Shqiptarë’, Studime Historike, no. 1/2 (2000) 5–19, esp. 15Google Scholar. Erharďs accepted list of originally included saints invalidates Frashëri’s claim: Patterson-Ševčenko, N., Illustrated Manuscripts of the Metaphras-tian Menologion (Chicago and London 1990) 209-13Google Scholar; Høgel, C., Symeon Metaphrastes. Rewriting and Canonization (Copenhagen 2002) 172-4Google Scholar. Also for the Metaphrastic corpus: Nersessian, S. der, ‘The illustrations of the Metaphrastian Menologium’, in Forsyth, G. and Weitzmann, K. (eds.), Late Classical and Medieval Studies in Honour of A. M.|Friend Jr. (Princeton 1955) 222-31Google Scholar; Patterson-Ševčenko, N., ‘Six illustrated editions of the Metaphrastian Menologium’, JŐB 32/4 (1982) 187-96Google Scholar.

14 Flusin, B., ‘L’ empereur hagiographe. Remarques sur le rôle des premiers empereurs macédoniens dans la culte des saints’, in Guran, P. (ed.), Ľ Empereur Hagiographe. Culte des Saints et Monarchie Byzantine et Post-Byzantine (Bucarest 2001) 29–54, esp. 41-7Google Scholar; Høgel, , Symeon Metaphrastes, 54–6 Google Scholar; S. Efthymiadis, ‘Hagiography from the ‘Dark Age’ to the Age of Symeon Metaphrastes (eighth-tenth centuries), in idem (ed.), Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Volume 1, Periods and Places (Farnham 2011) 129-30 (including previous bibliogaphy).

15 Nersessian, S. der, ‘Remarks on the date of the Menologium and the Psalter written for Basil II’, B 15 (1940-41) 104-25Google Scholar; Ševčenko, I., ‘The illuminators of the Menologium of Basil II’, DOP 16 (1962) 245-76Google Scholar; Paschalidis, S.A., ‘The hagiography of the eleventh and twelfth centuries’, in Efthymiadis, Byzantine Hagiograpby, 145 Google Scholar.

16 St.|Asteios’ vita is included in the now lost second volume of the Menologion. I follow the accepted view that the copy in the PG is an accurate reproduction: Bocca, F., Il Menologio di Basilio II (cod. Vaticano Graeco 1613), Testo 1 (Torino 1907) viii-xi; MPG 117, cols. 525–8 Google Scholar.

17 der Nersessian, ‘Remarks’.

18 der|Nersessian, ‘Remarks’,108. The same question was raised for the Metapbrastic Menologion indicating that the selection of saints remains to be explored: Ševčenko, ‘The illuminators’ 5-6.

19 See Treadgold, W., The Byzantine Revival 780-842 (Stanford 1988)Google Scholar.

20 Treadgold, , The Byzantine Revival, 330-3Google Scholar; Byzantium in the Ninth Century: Dead or Alive?, ed. Brubaker, L. (Aldershot 1998)Google Scholar.

21 For the term ‘Macedonian Renaissance’, see Hanson, J., ‘The rise and fall of the Macedonian Renaissance’, in James, L. (ed.), A Companion to Byzantium (Oxford 2010) 338-50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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23 Hippodromes acted as visual signifiers of imperial presence and power: Gutteridge, , ‘Cultural geographies’, 26-7Google Scholar.

24 See Gregory, T. E., A History of Byzantium (Oxford 2005) 156-8Google Scholar.

25 Gutteridge, ‘Cultural geographies’, 32-4.

26 Fine, J.V.A., The Early Medieval Balkans. A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century (Ann Arbor 1983) 113-17Google Scholar.

27 Anastos, M.V., ‘The transfer of Illyricum, Calabria and Sicily to the jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Constantinople 732-33’, Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici 9 (1957) 14–31 Google Scholar; Miller, D.H., ‘Byzantine-papal relations during the pontificate of Paul I: confirmation and completion of the Roman revolution of the eight century’, BZ 68 (1975) 47–62 Google Scholar.

28 Acta et Diplomata Res Albaniae Mediae Aetatis Illustrantia [hereinafter AA], eds. Thallóczy, L., Jireček, C;. and Sufflay, E., I (Vienna 1913) 14, no. 57Google Scholar; Farlati, Illyricum Sacrum, 353.

29 Hussey, J.M., The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire (Oxford 1986) esp. 90-2Google Scholar; Gregory, A History of Byzantium, 212-13.

30 Ahrweiler, H., Byzance et 1a mer. La Marine de guerre, la politique et les Institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VII-XV siècles (Paris 1966) 71-2Google Scholar; Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans, 200 Google Scholar. For the archon in medieval Albania: Frashëri, K., ‘Les Albanais et Byzance au VIe-XIe siècles’, in Gasparis, Ch. (ed.), The Medieval Albanians (Athens 1998) 47–57, esp. 53-7Google Scholar.

31 Gutteridge, ‘Cultural geographies’, 33.

32 Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans, 82-3. The date of the establishment is disputed: Ferluga, J., ‘Sur la date de la création du thème de Dyrrachium’, in idem (ed.), Byzantium on the Balkans. Studies on the Byzantine Administration and the Southern Slavs from the Vllth to the Xlth Centuries (Amsterdam 1976) 225-44Google Scholar; Nicol, D., ‘The foundation of the themes of Kephallenia, Dyrrachium and Nikopolis’, in Sakellariou, M. (ed.), Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History (Athens 1997) 185-86Google Scholar.

33 Fine, The Early Medieval Balkans, 188-201; Holmes, C., Basil 11 and the Governance of the Empire (976-1025) (Oxford 2005) 154-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Curta, F., Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages 500-1250 (Cambridge 2006) 237-47CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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35 Stephenson, P., ‘The Balkan frontier in the year 1000’, in Magdalino, P. (ed.), Byzantium in the Year 1000 (Leiden 2003) 117-19Google Scholar.

36 Dvornik, F., The Slavs: their Early History and Civilization (Boston 1956) 279-81Google Scholar.

37 AA, 15-16, nos. 58 and 59.

38 Efthymiadis, S., ‘The Byzantine hagiographer and his audience in the ninth and tenth centuries’, in Høgel, C. (ed.), Metaphrasis and audiences in Middle Byzantine Hagiograpby (Oslo 1996) 59–80 Google Scholar; idem, ‘New developments in hagiography: the discovery of Byzantine hagiography’, in Jeffreys, E. (ed.), Proceedings of the 21^st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London 21-26 August 2006, vol. 1, Plenary Papers (Aldershot 2006) 157-71 (both reprinted in Hagiography in Byzantium: Literature, Social History and Cult (Farnham 2011) studies XI, I)Google Scholar.

39 Efthymiadis, S. and Déroche, V., ‘Greek hagiography in Late Antiquity’ (fourth-seventh centuries)’, in Efthymiadis, , Byzantine hagiography, 35–96 Google Scholar.

40 For instance, the legal codification initiated by Basil I or the systematization of existing knowledge by Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. See Toynbee, A., Constantine Porphyrogennetus and his World (London 1973) esp. 1–25 Google Scholar; Brubaker, L. and Haldon, J., Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca 680-850): the Sources. An Annotated Survey (Aldershot 2001) 287-93Google Scholar.

41 Efthymiades, ‘Dark Age’, 108-13.

42 Efthymiades, ‘Dark Age’, 99-103. For hagiography and propaganda: Auzépy, M.F., Ľ Hagiographie et l’ Iconoclasme byzantin. Le cas de la Vie ď Etienne le jeune (Aldershot 1999)Google Scholar; idem, ‘Manifestations de la propagande en faveur de 1’ Orthodoxie’, in Brubaker, (ed.), Dead or Alive?, 85–99 Google ScholarPubMed.

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44 Efthymiadis, ‘New developments’, 166-9.

45 Efthymiadis, ‘Dark Age’, 102-3.

46 Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes, 51-3.

47 Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes, 59-60.

48 Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes, 69-70, 127-9.

49 Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes, 31-6.

50 Gregory, A History of Byzantium, 157.

51 See note 9.

52 Tomadakes, “Ιωσήφ’, 77-8.

53 Kazhdan, ‘Constantinopolitan Synaxarion’, 485-515.

54 Høgel, Symeon Metapbrastes, 55.

55 Luzzi, A., ‘El “Menologio de Basilio II” y el semestre invernal de la recencio Bdel Sinaxario de Constan-tinopla’, in Pérez-Martin, I. (ed.), El “Menologio de Basilio II”. Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Gr. 1613.Libro des Estudios con ocasión de la edición fascímil, Colección Scriptorum 18 (Vatican City, Athens and Madrid 2008) 47–75 Google Scholar; Paschalidis, ‘The hagiography of the eleventh and twelfth centuries’, 145.

56 Commemorated with his co-martyrs on 17 June: AASS, June, III (Antwerp 1701) 287-8.

57 Tomadakes, “Ιωσήφ’, 170.

58 Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Ίεροσολυμιτική Βιβλιοθήκη, 118 and 124. The liturgy is also preserved in Patm. Ms. 806A: Papaeliopoulou-Fotopoulou, E., Ταμεΐον Άνεκδότων Βυζαντινων Άσματικων (Athens 1996) 220 Google Scholar.

59 Synaxarion, 804-5; MPG 117, cols. 527-8.

60 The Synaxarion places it on 7 July while the Menologion puts is on 6 July, the same day as St. Asteios.

61 Ducellier, A., La façade maritime de l’ Albanie au Moyen Âge (Thessalonike 1981) 32, 55Google Scholar.

62 Ducellier, La façade maritime 55, no. 55. Remarkably, the recently constructed Orthodox cathedral in Dyrrachion is dedicated to the two saints.

63 Grozdanov, ‘Saint Astios’, figs, on pages 80, 82, 83.

64 Saradi, H., ‘Aspects of early Byzantine urbanism in Albania’, in Gasparis, Ch. (ed.), The Mediaeval Albanians (Athens 1998) 90 Google Scholar. The construction of the Monastery of the Virgin and the chrysobulls issued by the Komnenoi and the Palaiologoi emperors for it, the commission of the imperial dedicatory portrait with Michael VIII in its exonarthex and the iconography of its refectory demonstrate the subsequent Byzantine interest in the area: H., and Buschhausen, H., Die Marienkirche von Apollonia in Albanien: Byzantiner, Normannen und Serben im Kampf um die Via Egnatia (Vienna 1976)Google Scholar; Yannias, J.J., ‘The Palaeologan refectory program at Apollonia’, in Ćurčić, S.; and Mouriki, D. (eds.), The Twilight of Byzantium. Aspects of Cultural and Religious History in the Late Byzantine Empire (Princeton 1991) 161-74Google Scholar.

65 He was the bishop of Illyricum, martyred for his missionary activity in the second century AD (commemorated on 15 December): Tomadakes, “Ιωσήφ’, 133; Synaxarion. 307; MPG. 117, cols. 207-8.

66 See note 2.

67 Commemorated on 16 January: Synaxarion, 397; MPG 117, col. 261-2.

68 Høgel, Symeon Metaphrastes, 59.

69 For St. Ursikios (commemorated on 15 August): Synaxarion, 892; MPG, 117, cols. 585-6. For Sts. Floros and Lauros (commemorated on 18 August): Tomadakes, “Ιωσήφ’, 184; Synaxarion, 907; MPG, 117, col. 589-90. For the ‘narrowed geography’ in post-iconoclastic hagiography: Efthymiadis, ‘Dark Age’, 96.

70 For the amphitheatre: Gutteridge, A., Hoti, A. and Reynolds, P., ‘The walled town of Dyrrachium (Durres): new light on the early defences’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 14 (2001) 390–410 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Bowes, K. et al., ‘An amphitheatre and its afterlives: survey and excavation in the Durres amphitheatre’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 16 (2003) 380-94 (including previous bibliography)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sartori, S., Hoti, A. and Assi, B., ‘L’ amfiteatro Romano di Durazzo. Studi e scavi 2004-5’, Annuario della Scuola Arceologica di Atene 83, ser. 3, II (2005) 716–805 Google Scholar.

71 Views range from the sixth to the eleventh century: Ducellier, A., ‘Dernières découvertes sur des sites Albanais du Moyen Âge’, Archeologia 78 (1975) 35–45 Google Scholar; Castrillo, J., ‘L’ énigme de la mosaïque de Durrës dans le courrier des lectures’, Archeologia 79 (1975) 82-3Google Scholar; Thierry, N., ‘À propos de la mosaïque murale de Durrës’, Archeologia 83 (1975) 60-2Google Scholar; Reynis-Jandot, J., ‘La mosaïque murale dans la chapelle de 1’ amphitheatre de Dyrrachium, Iliria 1 (1983) 229-32Google Scholar; Cormack, R., The Church of Saint Demetrios: the Water Colours and Drawings of W.S.|George (Thessalonikel 985) 50–94 Google Scholar; Andaloro, M., ‘I mosaici parietali di Durazzo o dell’ origine Constantinopolitana del tema iconografico di Maria Regina’, in Feld, O. and Peschlow, V. (eds.), Studien zur Spätantiken und Byzantinischen Kunst III (Rome 1986) 103-12Google Scholar; Dhamo, Dh., ‘Les mosaïques paléochrétiennes’, Histoire et Archaeologie 111 (1986) 56–61 Google Scholar; Miraj, L., ‘The chapel in the amphitheater of Dyrrachium and its mosaics’, in Buora, M. (ed.), Progetto Durrës: L’ Indagine sui beni Culturali Albanesi dell’ Antichità e del Medioevo. Tradizioni di Studio a Confronto (Trieste 2003) 245-90Google Scholar.

72 Vestiges survive on the arched entrance, the bare edges of the south wall, the north-west corner, the north wall and the ceiling of the west alcove. The programme of the ceiling is partly reconstructed: Dhamo, Dh., ‘Konsiderata mbi zhvillimin a mosaikut Paleokristian ne Shqipëri’, Iliria 16/1 (1986) 311-19CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Busschausen, , ‘Durazzo’, 7 Google Scholar; Bowes, K. and Mitchell, J., ‘The main chapel of the Dürres amphitheatre, decoration and chronology’, Mélanges de l’école française de Rome 121/1 (2009) 571-97, esp. 580-1Google Scholar.

73 Bryer, ‘Saint Asteios’, 42; Busschausen, ‘Durazzo’, 9-11. The chapel at Salona supersedes a gladiatorial sanctuary dedicated to Nemesis-Fortuna, the patroness of gladiators: Dyggve, E., Recherches à Salone, II (Copenhagen 1933) 35–150 Google Scholar; idem, History ofSalonitan Christianity (Oslo 1951) 5-11; Ceci, E., l Monumenti Cristiani di Salona (Milan 1963) 241-3Google Scholar.

74 Mackie, G., Early Christian Chapels in the West: Decoration, Functions, and Patronage (Toronto, Buffalo and London 2003) 213-30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

75 Bryer, ‘Saint Asteios’ 44; Busschausen, ‘Durazzo’, 11.

76 Bowes and Mitchell, ‘Main chapel’, 593.

77 Bowes and Mitchell, ‘Main chapel’, 575-6.

78 See note 20.

79 Mango, C., The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453. Sources and Documents (New Jersey 1972) 181 Google Scholar.

80 Auzépy, , ‘Manifestations’, and Cormack, R., ‘Away from the centre: ‘provincial’ art in the ninth century’, in Brubaker, (ed.), Dead or Alive? 85–99,151-63Google Scholar.

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82 Miraj, ‘Chapel in the amphitheater’, 252-6; Bowes and Mitchell, ‘Main chapel’, 576.

83 Mango, Art of the Byzantine Empire, 181.

84 See note 27.

85 Bowes and Mitchell, ‘Main chapel’, 576.

86 Bryer, ‘Saint Asteios’, 44; Bowes and Mitchell, ‘Main chapel’, 593-4.

87 See note 1.

88 See note 2.

89 The late antique walls follow the line of the pre-imperial and imperial defences: Gutteridge, ‘Cultural geographies’, 20-1.

90 It was probably built in the second or third century: Bowes et al., ‘Durres amphitheatre’, 387-8.

91 The study of the church was part of my PhD dissertation: Christidou, A., Unknown Byzantine Art in the Balkan Area: Art, Power and Patronage in Twelfth to Fourteenth-Century Churches in Albania, PhD dissertation, Courtauld Institute of Art (London 2011) (under publication)Google Scholar. A detailed presentation of this study falls outside the scope of this article.

92 Dhamo, Dh., ‘Piktura e vjetër murale e kishës së Rubikut dhe datimi i saj i ri’, Studime Historike 18/2 (1964) 87–96 Google Scholar.

93 See note 91.

94 AA, 31, no.93. The document records the presence of the bishop of Arbëria and the abbot of the Saviour’s church at the inauguration of the apse of St. Tryphon’s church at Kotor (modern Montenegro).

95 The subordination of Arbëria to Antivaris eventually materialized in 1199: AA, 39, no. 120.

96 The attack was recorded in a now lost inscription transcribed by Benedict Orsini, the bishop of Alessio in 1621: Cordignano, F.S.J., ‘Geografia ecclesiastica dell’Albania. Dagli ultimi decenni del secolo XVI alla metà del secolo XVII,’ OCP 36 (Rome 1934) 276 Google Scholar.

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99 Grozdanov, ‘St. Astios’, 85-7.

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101 Grozdanov, ‘St Asteios’, 85-6.

102 Emphasized also by the imperial portraits of Milutin and Simonis at Staro Nagoričino and Gračanica: Todić, Serbian Medieval Painting, 55-7.

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