DOCSLIB.ORG

CYBELE's PASSION for ATTIS Pessinus' Version of the Attis Legend

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CYBELE's PASSION for ATTIS Pessinus' Version of the Attis Legend CHAPTER THREE CYBELE'S PASSION FOR ATTIS Pessinus' version of the Attis legend simply states that the Mother of the Gods and (or) Agdistis 10ved the extremely handsome young man. 1) Diodorus relates another version which, he says, was also told in Phrygia. He mentions the love of Cybele, I) daughter of king Maion and His wife Dindyme, for 'rWV tyxrop(ov 'rLVtl v£ar.v(axov -rOv TCpOOar.yOp£u6!'£Vov (LEv "AnLv, G(J"C'£pov 3'bm(),,~ar. nIlTCar.v. In Diodorus' story Attis' beautiful and handsome traits are trans­ ferred to Cybe1e herself, who begets a child by him. Classical authors and other artists place the Goddess in the foreground. She is the dominant figure who bound Attis to her by eternal, pure and priestly love. 8) A relief from the Metroon in the Piraeus (PI. XI) near Athens, ') dedicated to Agdistis and Attis at the beginning of the third or the end of the fourth century B. C., shows Attis in oriental dress sitting on a rock with his pedum leaning against it. In his left hand he holds the syrinx and his right hand is upraised to receive a small jug 11) from Agdistis=Cybe1e. The Goddess is approaching him and is dressed in a low polos, a 1) Paus., VII, 17: ~<; 3~ ~~IX"ordv~ xillou<; 01 ru:'rii" ~)jo" ~ XIXT« ct30<; clv6p~~ou, mcxOOIX TOU ~lXl3b<; 1p6)<; laxcv "AyB'aT'''; Amobius, Adv. Nat., V, 6: hutl(; unies Mater tUum, ewe.fuet'at quod BXesllentissimo, diligebat. Dili­ gebat et Agdestis, blandus aduUo comes ..... I) Diodorus, Ill, S8 (= Hepding, 112 and 16); the neo-platonist Saloustios, De diis et mutulo, IV, 7 recounts that Attis was found on the banks of the river Gallos and was loved by the Mother ('p~ '"" ~ MiJ'"IP TOU"A'TTC6)<;). An inscription from Asia Minor mentions ~lXawu<; "AT(T],<: vc6ylX(I'0<;): H. Chadwick in IThS Ill, 19S2, 9011 with Plates. For Attis vc6y1X1'0<; see also Herod., I, 36. I) See Hepding, 103, n. I concerning Attis as the first priest of Cybele. ') Berlin, Staatliche Museen, Inv. no. 1612; Br. Schr6der in AA XXXIV, 1919, 109; Kekule von Stradonitz, Die w. Sk.l, 201; Kurze Beschreibung der antiken Skulpturen im Alien Museum, Berlin-Leipzig 19221, l09f, no. 1612; RRR, 11, II; J. Leipoldt, Die Religionen in der Umwelt des Urchistentums, Leipzig 1926, fig. 142. I am obliged to Mrs. Huberta von Littrow for the photograph. I) And not a flower, as is generally believed. CYBELE'S PASSION FOR ATTIS 23 girded ionic chiton with peplos, and hoJds a tympanum in her Jeft hand. This is the only relief which gives the interpretation of the myth 1) which Pausanias later literally repeated. At the same time the relief is the oldest one to tell of the reJation between the mighty Goddess and Attis in such a quiet way. Another relief I) from Greece or Asia Minor dated in the second century B. C. (PI. XII, I) shows both deities in a temple or sacred precinct. The heavy high bronze door has just opened, and a mother and her daughter are entering, bringing fruits and other small gifts to the divine Mother. Full of astonishment the mother raises her right hand, for before her very eyes she sees Cybele herself. She is standing in a majestic attitude, dressed in a nicely draped and folded chiton and himation, and she wears a low crown. The Goddess holds a large staff or sceptre in her right hand and a heavy tympanum in the left one. On her left side a fierce lion is crouching, looking towards his master. Before her the beloved Attis is standing, facing directly forward. He wears an oriental cap with two long flaps and is dressed in a long-sleeved tunica, a mantle and long trousers. His right hand rests on his hip and with the left hand he leans upon a long crook whose end rests on a low rock. The artist created a very mighty Goddess who is adored by simple people who bring the first fruits of the harvest to her and who, like Demeter, is known as the deity who invented fruit. 8) Other, generally minor representations show the Goddess with her attendant in a hieratic attitude. On a relief from Smyrna ') or 1) Cumont in PWRE S.v. Gallos. col. 676: "und iiberhaupt ist in Griechen­ land der fremde Gott (=Attis) kaum eingedrungen." I) ColI. Grimani. now in Venice. Archaeological Museum. Inv. no. 118. Ch. Picard in eRA] 1955. 243 believes that the relief represents a scene in the theatre. See also W. H. Schuchardt in die Antike XII. 1936. 104. PI. 7; Bruno Forlati Tamaro. Il Museo a,cMologico del Palazzo reale di Venezia. Rome 1953. 21. no. 17. Concerning the date it should be noted that P. Lam­ brechts. Allis. 47. cf. BBAB XXXIX. 1964. 164 believes that representations of Cybele and Attis together do not occur in the official Roman art before the Antonine period. Standing Cybele and Attis from Capua: Spinazzola. Via Abbondanza, 239 and fig. 268. I) Lucretius. RN. II. 61011: haft(; vanae gentes antiquo moresaerorum/ldaeam voeitam m""em PA'ygiasque eateroas/dam comites. quia pnmum es illis ftnibus edum/per terranum cwbem fruges coepisse erean. t) Unpublished. Izmir Museum, Inv. no. 329. Possibly Roman period. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Seven Churches of Revelation Turkey
    TRAVEL GUIDE SEVEN CHURCHES OF REVELATION TURKEY TURKEY Pergamum Lesbos Thyatira Sardis Izmir Chios Smyrna Philadelphia Samos Ephesus Laodicea Aegean Sea Patmos ASIA Kos 1 Rhodes ARCHEOLOGICAL MAP OF WESTERN TURKEY BULGARIA Sinanköy Manya Mt. NORTH EDİRNE KIRKLARELİ Selimiye Fatih Iron Foundry Mosque UNESCO B L A C K S E A MACEDONIA Yeni Saray Kırklareli Höyük İSTANBUL Herakleia Skotoussa (Byzantium) Krenides Linos (Constantinople) Sirra Philippi Beikos Palatianon Berge Karaevlialtı Menekşe Çatağı Prusias Tauriana Filippoi THRACE Bathonea Küçükyalı Ad hypium Morylos Dikaia Heraion teikhos Achaeology Edessa Neapolis park KOCAELİ Tragilos Antisara Abdera Perinthos Basilica UNESCO Maroneia TEKİRDAĞ (İZMİT) DÜZCE Europos Kavala Doriskos Nicomedia Pella Amphipolis Stryme Işıklar Mt. ALBANIA Allante Lete Bormiskos Thessalonica Argilos THE SEA OF MARMARA SAKARYA MACEDONIANaoussa Apollonia Thassos Ainos (ADAPAZARI) UNESCO Thermes Aegae YALOVA Ceramic Furnaces Selectum Chalastra Strepsa Berea Iznik Lake Nicea Methone Cyzicus Vergina Petralona Samothrace Parion Roman theater Acanthos Zeytinli Ada Apamela Aisa Ouranopolis Hisardere Dasaki Elimia Pydna Barçın Höyük BTHYNIA Galepsos Yenibademli Höyük BURSA UNESCO Antigonia Thyssus Apollonia (Prusa) ÇANAKKALE Manyas Zeytinlik Höyük Arisbe Lake Ulubat Phylace Dion Akrothooi Lake Sane Parthenopolis GÖKCEADA Aktopraklık O.Gazi Külliyesi BİLECİK Asprokampos Kremaste Daskyleion UNESCO Höyük Pythion Neopolis Astyra Sundiken Mts. Herakleum Paşalar Sarhöyük Mount Athos Achmilleion Troy Pessinus Potamia Mt.Olympos
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts-Booklet-Lamp-Symposium-1
    Dokuz Eylül University – DEU The Research Center for the Archaeology of Western Anatolia – EKVAM Colloquia Anatolica et Aegaea Congressus internationales Smyrnenses XI Ancient terracotta lamps from Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean to Dacia, the Black Sea and beyond. Comparative lychnological studies in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire and peripheral areas. An international symposium May 16-17, 2019 / Izmir, Turkey ABSTRACTS Edited by Ergün Laflı Gülseren Kan Şahin Laurent Chrzanovski Last update: 20/05/2019. Izmir, 2019 Websites: https://independent.academia.edu/TheLydiaSymposium https://www.researchgate.net/profile/The_Lydia_Symposium Logo illustration: An early Byzantine terracotta lamp from Alata in Cilicia; museum of Mersin (B. Gürler, 2004). 1 This symposium is dedicated to Professor Hugo Thoen (Ghent / Deinze) who contributed to Anatolian archaeology with his excavations in Pessinus. 2 Table of contents Ergün Laflı, An introduction to the ancient lychnological studies in Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean, Dacia, the Black Sea and beyond: Editorial remarks to the abstract booklet of the symposium...................................6-12. Program of the international symposium on ancient lamps in Anatolia, the eastern Mediterranean, Dacia, the Black Sea and beyond..........................................................................................................................................12-15. Abstracts……………………………………...................................................................................16-67. Constantin
    [Show full text]
  • General Index
    GENERAL INDEX A.GILIM, and n. Aesopic tradition, , and abstractions, n. nn. –, Acarnania, Aetna, , Acastus, Aetna, n. Accius, and n. Agamemnon, n. , , , accusative, , n. , –, , –, , – Agdistis, Achelous, Agenor, Achilles, , , , , , , , ages, myth of, see races, myth of –, , , , , Agias of Troezen, , Acontius, , n. , , agriculture, , , , , , – and n. , , , , , –, Actaeon, n. , , , , n. , –, ; Actor, agriculture section in Works and Acusilaus of Argos, and n. , Days, , , –, and n. Agrius, Adad, aidos, n. , ; personified, , adamant, adjective(s), , , Aietes, Admonitions of Ipuwar,andn. Aigipan, Adodos, ainos, , –, Adrasteia, Aither, and n. Adriatic (sea), Aithon, , n. Aegean (sea), , , aitiology, , , nn. –, Aegimius, – and n. , , , and Aegle, , n. , , , , Aelian Ajax son of Oileus, Historical miscellany, , Ajax son of Telamon, , , – and n. Aeolic dialect, , –, , Akkadian, n. , n. , , , , –; East Al Mina, , or Asiatic Aeolic, –, Alalu, , n. , , Alcaeus, , , n. Aeolids, , , Alcidamas, , , , , , Aeolis, Eastern, , , –, , n. Aeolism, , , , Alcinous, , n. , n. , Aeolus, –, , , , Aeschines, Alcmaeonidae, Aeschylus, , , , and Alcmaeonis, n. , Alcman, n. , and n. , Prometheus Bound, n. , and n. n. Alcmaon, – general index Alcmene, –, –, Antoninus Liberalis, , , n. , , , Anu, –, , –, –, aoidos see singer Alcyone, , , , aorist, , –, Alexander Aetolus, , n. apate, ; personified, Alexander the Great, n. , Aphrodite, , , n. , and n. , n. , and n. ,
    [Show full text]
  • Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1996
    Kernos Revue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion grecque antique 12 | 1999 Varia Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1996 Angelos Chaniotis, Joannis Mylonopoulos and Eftychia Stavrianopoulou Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/724 DOI: 10.4000/kernos.724 ISSN: 2034-7871 Publisher Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique Printed version Date of publication: 1 January 1999 Number of pages: 207-292 ISSN: 0776-3824 Electronic reference Angelos Chaniotis, Joannis Mylonopoulos and Eftychia Stavrianopoulou, « Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1996 », Kernos [Online], 12 | 1999, Online since 13 April 2011, connection on 15 September 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/724 Kernos Kemos, 12 (1999), p. 207-292. Epigtoaphic Bulletin for Greek Religion 1996 (EBGR 1996) The ninth issue of the BEGR contains only part of the epigraphie harvest of 1996; unforeseen circumstances have prevented me and my collaborators from covering all the publications of 1996, but we hope to close the gaps next year. We have also made several additions to previous issues. In the past years the BEGR had often summarized publications which were not primarily of epigraphie nature, thus tending to expand into an unavoidably incomplete bibliography of Greek religion. From this issue on we return to the original scope of this bulletin, whieh is to provide information on new epigraphie finds, new interpretations of inscriptions, epigraphieal corpora, and studies based p;imarily on the epigraphie material. Only if we focus on these types of books and articles, will we be able to present the newpublications without delays and, hopefully, without too many omissions.
    [Show full text]
  • Attis, a Case Study
    Conceptual machinery of the mythopoetic mind: Attis, a case study S´andorDar´anyi1 and Peter Wittek1;2 1 University of Bor˚as,Sweden 2 ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences Abstract. In search for the right interpretation regarding a body of re- lated content, we screened a small corpus of myths about Attis, a minor deity from the Hellenistic period in Asia Minor to identify the noncom- mutativity of key concepts used in storytelling. Looking at the protag- onist's typical features, our experiment showed incompatibility with re- gard to his gender and downfall. A crosscheck for entanglement found no violation of a Bell inequality, its best approximation being on the border of the local polytope. 1 Introduction With Ref. [1] now presenting \quantum information science" to the public, re- porting on work in progress, below we look at two of the key phenomena of quantum mechanics (QM), noncommutativity and entanglement. To contrast Refs. [2{4], Refs. [5] or [6]'s methodological claims, we are inter- ested to find out if conceptual entanglement may be shown outside of a cogni- tively typical questionnaire or polling scenario, in our case, in classical narratives populating mythologies, with text variants considered as repeated measurements of the same experiment. One of the aforementioned pioneering efforts, Ref. [7] employed four concepts (horse, bear, tiger, cat) in the Animal category vs. four vocal reactions (growl, whinny, snort, meow) from the Act category to create ex- amples of The Animal Acts predicate and have users rank the typicality of the resulting combinations. On the other hand, in the literary analysis we depart from, below we describe our subject matter, The Protagonist Acts, by means of a pair of logical oppositions, one pertaining to the gender of the hero, the other to his downfall.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek Cities & Islands of Asia Minor
    MASTER NEGATIVE NO. 93-81605- Y MICROFILMED 1 993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK / as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project'' Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United photocopies or States Code - concerns the making of other reproductions of copyrighted material. and Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries or other archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy the reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that for any photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used purpose other than private study, scholarship, or for, or later uses, a research." If a user makes a request photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair infringement. use," that user may be liable for copyright a This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept fulfillment of the order copy order if, in its judgement, would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: VAUX, WILLIAM SANDYS WRIGHT TITLE: GREEK CITIES ISLANDS OF ASIA MINOR PLACE: LONDON DA TE: 1877 ' Master Negative # COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MTCROFORM TAR^FT Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record m^m i» 884.7 !! V46 Vaux, V7aiion Sandys Wright, 1818-1885. ' Ancient history from the monuments. Greek cities I i and islands of Asia Minor, by W. S. W. Vaux... ' ,' London, Society for promoting Christian knowledce." ! 1877. 188. p. plate illus. 17 cm. ^iH2n KJ Restrictions on Use: TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA i? FILM SIZE: 3 S'^y^/"^ REDUCTION IMAGE RATIO: J^/ PLACEMENT: lA UA) iB .
    [Show full text]
  • An Anthology of Mediocre Metamorphoses
    An Anthology of Mediocre Metamorphoses Dear audience, dear Jonathan, We gathered today under this drowsy grey skey to celebrate together - I see parents, family, friends, strangers and most important, Jonathan, who worked for the past four years on the marvellous publication, called ‘366’ that will be presented today. I was a close witness of the process towards this book, from the first set of drawings to the final, alluring design as a boxed book. Therefore I cannot stress enough how joyful and honoured I am to be standing here, in front of you, on this festive occasion. I wrote a text today about my two favourite books of the moment (and in extent of all times), the Metamorphoses by Ovid on the one hand and 366 by Jonathan Paepens on the other hand, complementing each towards the culmination of an anthology, which I will recite for you today, as in now. This text is titled An Anthology of Mediocre Metamorphoses, a name which can benefit from some etymological context. An anthology is a collection of poems or epigrams of various writers, arranged as an abundant and reverbing flowerpiece. The word itself derives from the two ancient greek components, as in Anthos -which translates to flower and Logos -which means word. An anthology therefore is a flourishing set of words and phrases, carefully composed and tied together as a beautiful bouquet. Mediocre entitles the state of being in a middle state but actually finds its roots in the antique language, ultimately combining the Latin medius with the Greek ocris, which literally means halfway up a mountain.
    [Show full text]
  • Caravanserai, Trade Routes, and Dark Mothers" (2016)
    Digital Commons @ CIIS Re-Genesis Encyclopedia 2016 CARAVANSERAI, TRADEO R UTES, AND DARK MOTHERS Eahr Joan CIIS, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/regenesis Part of the African History Commons, Cultural History Commons, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, and the Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Joan, Eahr, "CARAVANSERAI, TRADE ROUTES, AND DARK MOTHERS" (2016). Re-Genesis Encyclopedia. Paper 2. http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/regenesis/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Re-Genesis Encyclopedia by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 25,000 CARAVANSERAI, TRADE ROUTES, AND DARK MOTHERS Caravanserai. With the expansion of the Caravanserai, was the spread of black madonna temples, African rites and rituals, and dark goddesses. (RGS.) Dark Mothers. The veneration of the dark mothers began to spread throughout all continents following the african intercontinental dispersions including anatolian trade routes. (AO: 1-2.) The caravanserai (or Turkish kervansaray) was a roadside area, structure or inn for pilgrims, traveling tradespeople, and their animals providing lodging, substance, trade and marketing opportunities. In addition to providing food and temporary lodgings, many caravanserais also included a black madonna temple, shrine room, holy of holies, sacred cave or adjacent rock shelter. Tethered to the advancement of the caravanserai, was also the spread of African rites and rituals, black madonna temples, and dark goddesses. This was especially apparent with the Phoenicians. * Devotion to the great goddess of the Levant was prolonged by the Phoenicians who lived along the Syro-Lebanese coast in the first millennium BC and were great seafarers and traders.
    [Show full text]
  • THE GEOGRAPHY of GALATIA Gal 1:2; Act 18:23; 1 Cor 16:1
    CHAPTER 38 THE GEOGRAPHY OF GALATIA Gal 1:2; Act 18:23; 1 Cor 16:1 Mark Wilson KEY POINTS • Galatia is both a region and a province in central Asia Minor. • The main cities of north Galatia were settled by the Gauls in the third cen- tury bc. • The main cities of south Galatia were founded by the Greeks starting in the third century bc. • Galatia became a Roman province in 25 bc, and the Romans established colonies in many of its cities. • Pamphylia was part of Galatia in Paul’s day, so Perga and Attalia were cities in south Galatia. GALATIA AS A REGION and their families who migrated from Galatia is located in a basin in north-cen- Thrace in 278 bc. They had been invited tral Asia Minor that is largely flat and by Nicomedes I of Bithynia to serve as treeless. Within it are the headwaters of mercenaries in his army. The Galatians the Sangarius River (mode rn Sakarya) were notorious for their destructive and the middle course of the Halys River forays, and in 241 bc the Pergamenes led (modern Kızılırmak). The capital of the by Attalus I defeated them at the battle Hittite Empire—Hattusha (modern of the Caicus. The statue of the dying Boğazköy)—was in eastern Galatia near Gaul, one of antiquity’s most noted the later site of Tavium. The name Galatia works of art, commemorates that victo- derives from the twenty thousand Gauls ry. 1 The three Galatian tribes settled in 1 . For the motif of dying Gauls, see Brigitte Kahl, Galatians Re-imagined: Reading with the Eyes of the Vanquished (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2010), 77–127.
    [Show full text]
  • Brogitaros and the Pessinus-Affair Some Considerations on the Galatian Background of Cicero’S Lampoon Against Clodius in 56 BC (Harusp
    GEPHYRA 15, 2018, 119-133 Brogitaros and the Pessinus-Affair Some Considerations on the Galatian Background of Cicero’s Lampoon against Clodius in 56 BC (Harusp. Resp. 27–29) Altay COŞKUN I. The Romanness of Our Perspective on Ancient Pessinus The sanctuary of Kybele Agdistis in Pessinus is considered to be one of the most famous of ancient Anatolia, if not the ancient world at large. Most recent research is, however, increasingly skeptical of its alleged Phrygian past, or at least of any renown that the cult place might have enjoyed beyond the narrow confines of the Gallos Valley so early in time. Scholars are thus ever more inclined to take seriously the lateness of the material, literary and epigraphic evidence. Some of them now believe that the foundation of the so-called temple state may well have happened as late as the 3rd century. I have suggested elsewhere that we should put more trust in Strabo’s brief account on Pessinus, because he seems to be hitting the nail when he claims: “Famous has the sanctuary been made by the Romans, when they sent for the statue of the throned goddess (aphidryma) from there, following the oracles of the Sibyl, just as in the case of the statue of Asklepios at Epidauros.”1 The reference to the aphidry- ma is certainly anachronistic, for we know that the Roman ambassadors brought home an aniconic meteorite (baitylos) in 205/4 BC.2 This concession notwithstanding, the main allegation is still con- sistent with the rest of Strabo’s report, namely that the architectural splendor of Pessinus was owed to the Attalid kings, and that the humble remains of a great Phrygian past have to be sought outside the Gallos Valley on the banks of the Sangarios River.3 Assoc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Connections Between Pergamon and Delphi (Sport and Politics in the Hellenistic Period)
    International Quarterly of Sport Science 2010/1 THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PERGAMON AND DELPHI (SPORT AND POLITICS IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD) István Kertész Eszterházy Károly College, Eger [email protected] Abstract In 182 B.C. Eumenes II, the king of Pergamon, renewed the games and sacrifices in honour of Athena Nicephorus and requested that the states of the Hellenistic world recognize the games of the Nicephoria. The organization and rules of the Nicephoria were equal in the music contests of the Pythian Games and in gymnastics and equestrian events of the Olympic Games. Beside the answer of a Carian town we have only the texts of decisions made by the Delphic Amphictyons and the Aetolean League and both of these decisions contain affirmative answers to the request of the Pergamene king. Why we have no other inscriptions on this subject although in that period the political- economical connections between Pergamon and the cities of Asia Minor were very friendly, and we have found a lot of written material? I think so that the fact that just these organizations gave fast and affirmative answers to Eumenes is ascribed to the very close political connections between them and Pergamon, which had already been established in the years of late 280s B.C. The facts of these connections are the followings: from this time forward, Pergamon strove for a close friendship with the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi and later, from the years of 220 B.C., established a political alliance with the Aetolean League, the main protector of this sanctuary. Through the mediation of the latter, Pergamon became a strong ally of Rome during the Hannibalic War.
    [Show full text]
  • Authority and Control in the Interior of Asia Minor, Seventh–Ninth Centuries
    chapter 4 Authority and Control in the Interior of Asia Minor, Seventh–Ninth Centuries James Howard-Johnston 1 Asia Minor and the Onset of the War for Survival: Cities, Villages and Fortresses Byzantium cannot be demarcated clearly from its greater, antecedent, imperial self. The name is a term of art, used to pick out the most Roman of the Roman successor states. Continuity being so marked in terms of constitution, institu- tions (notably those which sustained a traditional fiscal prowess), infrastruc- ture and, not least, culture and religion, the east Roman empire simply shades into a reduced but still ideologically potent early medieval state. But change was forced upon it from without, by successive defeats at the hands of Mus- lims, by successive losses of territory to the Muslim umma. At the beginning of the eighth century, the authority of east Roman emperors was confined to a well-defended but exposed capital city, enclaves in the far west (Sicily, south- ern Italy and the exarchate of Ravenna) and north-east (part of the Crimea and the western Caucasus), tracts in the western, southern and south-eastern Balkans (often under no more than nominal Roman control), the islands of the Aegean, and one substantial, defensible land-mass, Asia Minor. Asia Minor became the heartland of the rump-empire from the 640s, its most important resource-base, the great eastern bulwark of Constantinople. Explanations for the extraordinary resilience shown by Byzantium in its 200-year-long battle for survival and the success ultimately achieved have to be sought as much in the evolving structures, social, economic, administrative, of Asia Minor as in poli- cies formulated at the centre and the ideology which underpinned the will to fight on.1 1 This paper represents views developed over many years of reading and teaching.
    [Show full text]