Orient

SPECIAL ISSUE: Byzantine Studies

Preface

Yasuo KINBARA, Tatsuya KIKUCHI

2006 Volume 41 Pages 1
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.1

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Vorwort

Hiroshi WADA

2006 Volume 41 Pages 3
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.3

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“Eunuchen um des Himmlischen Königsreichs Willen” in Byzanz?

Hiroshi WADA

2006 Volume 41 Pages 5-19
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.5

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Im ersten Teil des Aufsatzes wird auf die Tatsache hingewiesen, daß es in der frühbyzantinischen Zeit zahlreiche Eunuchen, Geistliche sowie Mönche, aber auch Hofeunuchen, gab, die als vorbildliche Christen bzw. Engel Gottes hochgeschätzt wurden. Die Kastration, insbesondere die Selbstkastration als der extreme Ausdruck einer blühenden Begeisterung für das asketisch-religiöse Ideal wurde positiv bewertet, weil man glaubte, daß man dadurch dem Gott näher kommen könne. Die frühbyzantinische Zeit war somit als die Zeit der religiösen Extreme zu definieren.
Im zweiten Teil wird die Änderung der Situation in der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit hervorgehoben. Da verschwinden die heiligen Eunuchen vollkommen. Dafür stellen wir die Verweltlichung der Eunuchen und die Ablehnung der Kastration fest. Der erste Grund dürfte im Rückgang der anfänglichen Begeisterung für das asketisch-religiöse Ideal zu suchen sein. Dazu führten die Unmenge der Eunuchen sowohl am Hof als auch in den Kirchen und den Klöstern und der allzu schlechte Ruf der berühmten Hofeunuchen zur Geringschätzung der Eunuchen u.a. hin. So können wir die mittelbyzantiinsche Zeit als die Zeit der Verweltlichung der Eunuchen definieren.

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The Adventus Ceremony of the Image of Edessa and Imperial Legitimacy

Koichi INOUE

2006 Volume 41 Pages 21-40
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.21

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This article presents the political function of the Holy Face of Edessa. one of the most important relics in the Christian world: how it was exploited for imperial legitimacy.
In August 944 the Image of Edessa was brought into Constantinople as the fruits of Romanus I's campaign against the Muslims in Syria. The adventus ceremony of the holy image was performed solemnly so that it might miraculously heal the old Emperor of his illness. Romanus I, a usurper, also hoped that the relics would purify his usurpation of the crown from Constantine VII ofthe Macedonian dynasty.
In December 944, however, Romanus was forced to abdicate and brought into a monastery. Returning to the throne, Constantine VII also used the holy image as a demonstration of his legitimacy. Under his direction the court intellectuals rewrote the history of the acquisition and the adventus ceremony of the holy image: they insisted that the image celebrated Constantine VII.
The most important point to be noted in this article is that the Narratio de imagine Edessena, a history of the Image of Edessa composed at the court of Constantine VII, repeatedly emphasized the image's protection of the city of Constantinople. The special emphasis on the Capital City formed a part of the Macedonian dynastic propaganda that the dynasty was related to Constantine the Great, the founder of Constantinople. The Image o f Edessa was hence closely involved in the dynastic politics o f the Byzantine Empire as a palladium of Constantinople.

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The Revolt of Isaakios Komnenos

Reconsideration

Yukio NEZU

2006 Volume 41 Pages 41-60
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.41

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The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of Prof. Inoue's view which stresses the role of the byzantine aristocrat's olkos (household organization which includes the estates and the retainers) as a driving force of the rebellion of lsaakios Komnenos. I have a number of doubts about Prof. Inoue's view. First, is it possible to argue that the regular army was opposed to the aristocrat's private soldiers? Secondly, had the aristocrats' groups of private soldiers the same close connection to the management of aristocrat oikos? If anything, they seem to have been connected to aristocrats' position as high-ranking military officials. It seems more likely that they formed a small guard corps around the aristocrats' role as high-ranking military officers rather than being formed through their connections with the aristocrats' estate management. If this is the case, then thirdly, it is doubtful whether they had the military strength to determine the success of the rebellion as a separate entity from the state armies. Finally, as a fourth problem, we need to examine if, as Prof. Inoue says, the sheer number of private soldiers was main cause determining the importance of revel leaders, and whether such a condition became the basis of Skylitzes' selection when he named the rebel families.
Our final conclusion is that the number of aristocrats' private soldiers was not the decisive factor in selecting the leaders of the revolting armies. The rebellion of lsaakios Komnenos was the one of generals who could mobilize military forces stationed in Asia Minor. The precedence of leaders in the rebellion greatly depended on their careers in the state apparatus, such as their honorary titles and past military exploits. On the other hand, we could not determine any evidence that the scale of their household was considered.

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Ascentism and Women's Freedom in Christian Late Antiquity

Some Aspects of Thecla Cults and Egeria's Journey

Hiroaki ADACHI

2006 Volume 41 Pages 61-90
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.61

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How women involved with history? Recently, there have been many attempts to scrutinize the women's experiences in history. ln this article, I try to reconstruct the women's traditions in late antique Christian society in the Mediterranean World, by reading some written materials on women, especially about Saint Thecla and a woman pilgrim Egeria.
First of all, I briefly summarize the new tide of the reinterpretations of the late antique female hagiographies. In spite of the strong misogynistic tendency of the Church Fathers, Christian societies in late antiquity left us a vast amount of the Lives of female saints. We can easily realize how some aristocratic women had great influence on the society through ascetic renunciation. However, we should bear in mind the text was distorted by male authors.
On the account of the problem, I pick out the legendary heroine Thecla. She is the heroine of an apocryphal text called the Acts of Paul and Thecla. In the Acts, she is really independent. She abandons her fiancé and her mother and follows Paul in the first part. On the second part, Paul disappears and she baptizes herself in the battle with wild beasts. At that time, crowd of women encourage her. Though there have been many disputations about the mythological Acts, all scholars agree with the “fact” that late antique women accepted the Thecla Acts as the story for themselves.
In spite of serious condemnation of Tertullian, Thecla cults flourished throughout the late antique times and a woman pilgrim Egeria visited her shirine Hagia Thecla in Asia Minor. She left us a precious testimony of “real” woman in the ancient times. The analysis of her using the grammatical subject “ego” in her diary is my original idea.

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Lituragical Illustrations in the Byzantine Lectionary Cod.587 in the Dionysiou Monastery, Mount Athos

Tomoyuki MASUDA

2006 Volume 41 Pages 91-108
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.91

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The Dionysiou Lectionary (Cod.587 in the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos) possesses not only the largest illustrations among the seventeen manuscripts with th~ narrative cycle of Christ's life, but also the greatest variety of pictorial forms according to the importance of the texts and feasts. To grasp the characteristics of its iconographic program, I discuss on the illustrations for Holy Week.
The miniature depicting Christ's Prayer at Gethsemane is placed at the top of the Twelve Evangelia for the Passion of Holy Thursday. Why is Christ depicted three times in different motions? Why the miniature of the Conference of the Chief Priests before Caiaphas for the Liturgy of Holy Thursday has the same composition as the Conference ofthe Chief Priests before Pilate for the Orthros of Holy Saturday? Why the Betrayal of Judas is selected for the Holy Friday Liturgy? To solve these questions, we have to interpret whole texts of the church services for the Passion and surviving illustrated lectionaries.
Our painter depicted the Prayer at Gethsemane in the composition of Moses Receiving the Law to emphasize Christ as New Moses and to visualize the typological correspondence between the Old and the New Testament.
The Conference of the Chief Priests, an insignificant episode at a glance, is regarded as the important event which connects the Gospel typologically with the Psalter in the context of the liturgy. To emphasize the point visually, the Dionysiou Lectionary selected the Conference of the Chief Priests with the same composition as the Psalter illustrations of the conference of the kings, in spite of the Gethsemane scene originally suitable for the place.
Though the Betrayal is suitable for the twelve Evangelia, being pushed out by the Gethsemane, it is moved to the next position of the Holy Friday Liturgy. The main interest of the planner of the manuscript consists in the liturgy and the typology, and not in the correspondence with the text. The program of Holy Week in the Dionysiou Lectionary is deliberated carefully.

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Narthex Mosaic of St. Sophia, Istanbul

A New Approach

Kazuo ASANO

2006 Volume 41 Pages 109-126
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.109

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The Narthex Mosaic of St. Sophia, Istanbul, represents a composition consists of Christ enthroned, an emperor crouching in proskynisis at his feet, and the Virgin and an archangel in medallions. Most scholars have identified he figure of the emperor has as Leo VI, who was active in the late 9th-early 1Oth century. The author surmises the execution of the mosaic was not long after the recovery of the icon in 843 after the iconoclasm when the activity of the mosaic workshops was not fully developed, observing the unique technique of this panel, such as coating o f the tesserae with pigments. As the background o f the execution o f the Narthex Mosaic, the author suggests the circumstances around the recovery of the icon. According to Theophanes Continuatus, Theodora, wife of the late Theophilus, the last iconoclastic emperor, testified at the council in 843 that his husband had repented of his mistake of his iconoclastic doctrine on his deathbed and succeeded in exempting him from the accusation as an anathema. In the Byzantine times, the composition of the figures must have reminded spectators of Theophilus' repentance, the position of Theodora as an intercessor, and the innocent position of Michaellll, her son and an infant emperor after Theophilus.

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ARTICLES

Lift Up Your Eyes!

Emar VI 42 in the Light of a Ugaritic Prayer

Masamichi YAMADA

2006 Volume 41 Pages 127-143
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.127

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Emar VI 42 includes an interesting reference to a Hurrian attack on Emar and its repulse (ll. 9b-16). Because of its historical significance and difficulties in reading the text, scholars have proposed various readings. Although all of them assume that the Emariote soldiers (or the king) achieved this victory with a positive response of Ba‘lu to the prayer of King Pilsu-Dagan, they overlook the intention of the text. As clearly shown by comparison with KTU² 1.119: 26'-36', it is the god Ba‘lu himself who defeated the enemy and saved Emar.
The same Hurrian attack seems to be recorded also in ASJ 12-T 7, which states that the divination (i.e., extispicy) of the diviner Masrube played a decisive role in repulsing the enemy (ll. 29-33). In this case, one might assume that Ma\v{s}ru\v*{h}e's divination and the positive response of Ba‘lu (by auspice?) in Emar VI 42 are the same. However, since it is not uncommon to inquire of a god through plural means (e.g., Zakkur and Idrimi), it may be fair to assume similar behavior for Pilsu-Dagan. If this is so, it is not strange that the two texts seem to refer to different means of inquiry (extispicy vs. auspice).
Finally, it is worth noting that Emar VI 42 and KTU² 1.119 share not only the West Semitic expression “to lift up the eyes,” denoting “to pray,” but also the whole plot of divine deliverance of a besieged city. This clearly shows a strong link between Emar and Ugarit within the common cultural world.

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Spiritual Beings in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's Cosmology, with Special Reference to His Interpretation of the Mi‘rāj

Kaoru AOYAGI

2006 Volume 41 Pages 145-161
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.145

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This paper examines the interpretation of the mi‘rāj (the Prophet Mul;tammad's ascension to Heaven) of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d.l209) on the basis of the cosmology, i.e., ontology, in his Koran exegesis (tafsīr), The Keys of the Invisible (Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb), and clarifies the mystical aspect of al-Rāzī's thought, to which few studies conducted thus far have paid attention. Further, it discusses the originality of his cosmology by analyzing his classification of beings, which introduces philosophical spiritual beings into traditional theological atomism, compares his cosmology with the mystical cosmology of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d.1111), and evaluates how al-Rāzī's position is different from traditional theologians in the history of Islamic thought.
Both al-Ghazālī and al-Rāzī develop a mystical cosmology and discuss spiritual ascension through the two worlds. Al-Ghazālī presents two systems of cosmology, namely, a mystical cosmology that cautiously introduces philosophical substance and the traditional theological atomic cosmology. On the other hand, al-Rāzī integrates these two systems of al-Ghazālī's cosmology and adopts philosophical spiritual beings into traditional theological atomism. Although he does not confront the difficulty of the ontological integration of atoms and spiritual beings, al-Ghazālī and most other Islamic thinkers do not even attempt to integrate them. It is concluded that in his interpretation of the mi‘rāj, al-Rāzī establishes a unique mystical cosmology that clearly accepts the existence of immaterial spiritual beings.

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Changes in the Military System of Northern Ethiopia During the Gondar Period (1632-1769)

Their Influence on the Decline ofthe Solomonic Dynasty

Hiroki ISHIKAWA

2006 Volume 41 Pages 163-180
Published: March 31, 2006
Released on J-STAGE: July 08, 2014

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.5356/orient.41.163

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In this paper, the author examines how the changes in the military system during the Gondar period (1632-1769) influenced on the decline of the Solomonic dynasty. His conclusion is as follows: The regiments, which were under the control of the emperors, were stationed at strategic points in northern Ethiopia during the first half of the Gondar period. These regiments, however, ceased from performing during the latter half of this period. The emperors depended increasingly on nobles of the Amhara-Tigre people and of the Oromo people in military affairs. The political situation was temporarily stable during the reign of Iyasu II and Iyo'äs on the corporation between emperors and nobles. As emperors' power declined, nobles came to increase wä‘alyan, or retainers and strengthened their power. Then the power balance between the emperor and nobles tipped in favor of latter, a race for power triggered a severe civil war in the end of the Gondar period. Nobles destroyed the ruling system o f the Solomonic dynasty and made puppets o f the emperors.

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