This chapter explores the complex networks and varied kinds of movement of people, ideas and objects that shaped artistic creativity in the early Byzantine empire. As part of a historiographic review, centers of cultural production, ethnicity, identity, style, and decorum are considered. Decades of largely futile attempts to locate the places of production of portable luxury media, especially silver, are presented. High-quality styles can be illusionistic, but can also be based on very different criteria. A more complex and nuanced model for understanding the process of creation is proposed. This chapter concludes with some remarks about Egypt’s significance in the empire, and what the visual record tells us about the distribution of artistic creativity.

Chapter 3 introduces the eight Byzantine churches housing visual depictions of Christ’s miracles and presents a thematic analysis of the cycle. The first part of this chapter examines the selection process of the episodes depicted in early Palaiologan cycles and their iconography. It theorizes how the choices were made about which miracles were included or excluded and delves into the political and theological concerns that might have affected this selection. The second part of the chapter assesses and explains the iconographic peculiarities of this period by examining the development of Christ’s miracles in the early Palaiologan period in comparison to earlier visual material.

Chapter 4 discusses the episodes’ setting and layout within the space of the church. It examines chronological, liturgical, and didactic devices, coming to the conclusion that there is a fixed core of episodes that is repeated in each church while the remaining miracles always vary. Identifying this lack of a single codified program is at the heart of both Chapters 3 and 4, and it suggests a greater fluidity and flexibility than we are used to ascribing to Byzantine art.

Chapter 5 takes a step back and considers, individually and comprehensively, the eight Byzantine churches that housed Christ’s miracle cycles. Specifically, I examine how the overall iconographic program of each church impacted the inclusion of the miracle cycle. I ask who were the promulgators of this new iconographic program and what kind of audience we imagine viewing these scenes. By trying to answer these questions, this chapter defines the role played by the miracle cycle in the broader context of church decoration and patronage, leading to a claim of its distinctive status.

The Epilogue identifies classical masculinity as reflected in depictions of late antique clothing,liturgy in Carolingian monasteries, and miniature illustrations in middle-Byzantine manuscripts. Fifth-century clergy wore specific apparel to signify manhood. Benedictine lectors (readers) were selected according to their virility of voice. And Byzantine artists set clergy face to face in manuscripts, in part a legacy of the agōn trope of reciprocal strength. These examples show that elements of classical masculinity continued to inform the Christian church in western Europe and Byzantium into the eleventh century. Such representations continued to evoke power and authority within the hierarchy of the church.Like fourth-century agōn rhetoric, these trappings of classical manhood provided a language of hierarchy for church leaders to integrate into a faith that lacked comparable platforms for displays of social and spiritual distinction.