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Defining Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium: The University of Puget Sound Sound Ideas All Faculty Scholarship Faculty Scholarship 2012 Defining Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium: The umiN smatic Images of the Empress Irene (797–802) Kriszta Kotsis University of Puget Sound, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/faculty_pubs Citation “Defining Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium: The umiN smatic Images of the Empress Irene (797–802),” Journal of Late Antiquity, 5.1, 185–215, 2012. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Sound Ideas. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Sound Ideas. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Defining Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium: The Numismatic Images of the Empress Irene (797–802) Kriszta Kotsis Journal of Late Antiquity, Volume 5, Number 1, Spring 2012, pp. 185-215 (Article) Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/jla.2012.0011 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jla/summary/v005/5.1.kotsis.html Access provided by University of Puget Sound (18 Sep 2013 17:43 GMT) Kriszta Kotsis Defi ning Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium: The Numismatic Images of the Empress Irene (797–802)1 This study off ers insight into the complex processes through which an unusual ruler, the empress Irene, articulated her authority in visual terms. An examination of the numismatic iconography of her gold coins demon- strates how the public imagery of this female ruler was crafted by carefully joining together a wide network of associations that draw extensively on both male and female imperial predecessors and fi gures of religious author- ity. It is suggested that while remaining within the narrow confi nes of eighth century numismatic style and iconography, Irene’s coinage presents her both as a reigning monarch and a personifi cation of her most important imperial accomplishment, religious peace. Furthermore, the imagery also conveys a novel iconophile message and casts the empress as an orthodox and philanthropic ruler. As the most widely available imperial public images, coins enunciated fun- damental notions about power, and off er insight into the complex processes through which rulers articulated their authority in visual terms in the late antique and Byzantine periods. The offi cial imagery of the Byzantine empress 1 Abbreviations of frequently cited sources: Theop. Chron. = Cyril Mango, Roger Scott, tr., The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern History AD 284–813 (Oxford, 1997); I.I. Reiske, ed., De ceremoniis = Constantinus VII Porphyrogenitus, De ceremoniis aulae Byzantinae, (Bonn, 1829); DOC = A.R. Bellinger, P. Grierson, eds., Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks and in the Whittemore Collection (Washington, 1966–1973); DOSeals = Nicolas Oikonomides, John Nesbitt, eds., Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbar- ton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art (Washington, 1991–); Grierson-Mays, LRC = Philip Grierson, Melinda Mays, eds., Catalog of Late Roman Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks and in the Whittemore Collection (Washington, 1992); ODB = Alexander Kazhdan et al., eds., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (New York, 1991); Oikonomides, Dated Seals = Nicolas Oikonomides, A Collection of Dated Byzantine Lead Seals (Washington, 1986); RIC = J.P.C. Kent, The Roman Imperial Coinage, vol.10 (London, 1994). Journal of Late Antiquity 5.1 (Spring): 185–215 © 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press 185 JLA 5.1 3rd proof text.indd 185 6/7/2012 4:35:41 PM 186 Journal of Late Antiquity Irene (797–802) demonstrates how a dynastic crisis and a rupture in the exer- cise of imperial power—conceived as a role fi t for a man—could be negotiated by a woman. Irene ascended to power in 780 upon the sudden death of her husband, Leo IV. For the next ten years, she served as regent for their und- eraged son, Constantine VI. In December 790 Constantine banished Irene from the palace, yet recalled her from exile in January 792. Constantine’s rule ended in August 797, when he was arrested, blinded, and exiled upon the command of his mother. Irene governed independently until she was deposed on 30 October 802.2 The solidi of Irene’s sole reign (797–802) issued in Constantinople epito- mize the most innovative devices of her visual propaganda (Fig. 1).3 With a design consisting of portrait busts only, they carry identical legends and types of the empress on both sides. Irene, rendered with a stylized bust, wears a crown and holds prominent symbols of authority, the globus cru- ciger and the cross scepter. She is dressed in the loros, a long and narrow jewel encrusted band made from leather or heavy silk, wrapped around the upper torso in the shape of an X with one end hanging down to the feet and the other draped over an arm. The legends identify her as “Irene Empress.”4 Identical effi gies also appear on Irene’s copper coins and the lead seals of customs offi cials (Fig. 2). 2 Irene’s reign: Mark Whittow, “Motherhood and Power in Early Medieval Europe, West and East: The Strange Case of the Empress Eirene,” in Conrad Leyser, Lesley Smith, eds., Mother- hood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400–1400: Essays Presented to Henrietta Leyser (Farnham/Burlington, VT, 2011), 55–84; Judith Herrin, Women in Purple, Rulers of Medieval Byzantium (London, 2001), 51–129; Lynda Garland, Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527–1204 (London/New York 1999), 73–94; Ralph-Johannes Lilie, Byzanz unter Eirene und Konstantin VI. (780–802). Mit einem Kapitel über Leon IV. (775–780) von Ilse Rochow (Frankfurt, 1996); Warren Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival, 780–842 (Stanford, 1988), 60–126; Paul Speck, Kaiser Konstantin VI. Die Legitimation einer fremden und der Versuch einer eigenen Herrschaft (Munich, 1978). For Constantine (born on 14 January 771) and his age at the time of his father’s death, see Theoph. Chron. AM 6262, 6273, 614–615, 626–627. Irene’s regency: Aikaterine Christophilopoulou, “He antibasileia eis to Byzantion,” Symmeikta 2 (1970), 1–144, at 20–29. Irene’s recall: Theoph. Chron. AM 6284, 642. Strife between Irene and Constantine: Lilie, Eirene und Konstantin VI, 84–99. Constantine’s arrest and blinding: DOC 3.1.336–337; Theoph. Chron. AM 6289, 648–49. Irene’s fall and death: ibid., AM 6295, 655–659; Lilie, Eirene und Konstantin VI, 105–112. 3 See Cécile Morrisson, Catalogue des monnaies byzantines de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1970) 2.489–495; Eadem, “L’Impératrice Irène (780–802),” Le Club français de la médaille, Bul- letin 82/83 (1984), 118–20; DOC 3.1.336–351; Franz Füeg, “Zu einem solidus des Konstantin VI, 780–797,” SM 30 (1980), 8–9; Barbara Kopf, “Eirene von Byzanz,” in Edith Specht, ed., Frauen auf Münzen, Materialen zur Frauenforschung (Vienna, 1988), 79–89. 4 A control mark (Θ, X, ) placed after the legend distinguishes the reverse side. For control marks, see DOC 3.1.77–81. For the loros, see Jennifer L. Ball, Byzantine Dress, Representations of Secular Dress in Eight- To Twelfth-century Painting (New York/Houndmills, 2005), 11–29. JLA 5.1 3rd proof text.indd 186 6/7/2012 4:35:41 PM KOTSIS ^ Defi ning Female Authority in Eighth-Century Byzantium 187 Fig. 1: Solidus of Irene’s sole reign (797–802), obverse and reverse: busts of Irene (© The Trustees of the British Museum). Fig. 2: Follis of Irene’s sole reign (797–802), obverse: bust of Irene (© Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington, DC). Although Irene’s coins have been discussed frequently, a full analysis of the numismatic imagery of her sole reign has not been undertaken because scholars have focused on coins of the regency, with most attention directed at dating the issues.5 An examination of Irene’s independent coinage reveals how this unusual ruler, a woman exercising full imperial power, crafted her public image by interlocking a network of associations that drew on male and female imperial predecessors and fi gures of religious authority. Her portrayal combined the schematic frontal bust, established on imperial coins since the 5 See, e.g., Alfred R. Bellinger, “Byzantine Notes,” ANSMN 13 (1967), 123–66, at 127–31; DOC 3.1.336–46; Morrisson, Catalogue des monnaies byzantines 2.488–95; Eadem, “L’impératrice Irène (780–802),” and nn. 20–21, 25 below. JLA 5.1 3rd proof text.indd 187 6/7/2012 4:35:41 PM 188 Journal of Late Antiquity seventh century, with a simple yet highly meaningful legend. Although the design and style of her coins followed the numismatic tradition of her immedi- ate predecessors, subtle alterations drawn from coins of the fi fth through the early eighth centuries conveyed profoundly new meanings. This study thus suggests that Irene’s solidi expressed a novel iconophile message, which distanced her from her iconoclastic predecessors while also associating her with the tradition of orthodox rulership; she was presented as both a philanthropic monarch and a personifi cation of her chief accomplish- ment, religious peace. Following common Byzantine visual tradition, Irene’s image constructed innovative meanings through the use of minute variations of established iconographic types.6 Therefore, this investigation fi rst explores the numismatic tradition from which Irene’s coin imagery emerged and then examines the gold coins of her sole reign in order to demonstrate how her numismatic representations were invested with new meaning. The Numismatic Context Irene’s image fi rst appeared on gold and copper coins in 780 when she became regent for her son (Figs. 3–4), and her countenance remained on the coinage until her deposition in 802.
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