Antony Eastmond

Robing, Power, and Legitimacy in Armenia and Georgia

This chapter addresses the relationship between ceremonial, robes, and the legitimization and display of royal power in Armenia and Georgia. These Christian states of the Caucasus acted as buffers between the Byzantine empire to the west and the Islamic caliphate to the east and southeast, and for much of the Middle Ages they were dominated by one or the other of their more powerful neighbors. This study concentrates on the ninth and tenth centuries, a period when both Armenia and Georgia began to establish their own power and independent position in the region. It examines the different ways in which ceremonial and the gifts of robes and regalia from the emperor in Constantinople or the caliph in Baghdad or Samarra were used to establish or enhance rulership.

An Intentional Error? Imperial Art and “Mis”-Interpretation under Andronikos I Komnenos

This paper examines the interpretation of a description of a lost portrait of the twelfth-century Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos. It shows that previous attempts to re-create the original appearance of the image through the emperors intentions have been unfruitful. Instead, the paper demonstrates that by considering how the image was perceived by its original audience, it is possible to indicate the ways in which imperial art functioned in society. The paper further shows that the interpretation of art was determined as much by the audiences knowledge of the emperor as by the details of the image, and that imperial imagery could be manipulated by its viewers as well as by its creators.