Female power and its propaganda: textual representation and visual display of imperial women in Late Antiquity and Byzantium (II) 16:00 - 18:30 Friday, 23rd August, 2019 Room 8 Presentation type Workshop 163 The image of empress Lupicina/Euphemia in the patristic sources Margarita Vallejo Girvés University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain Abstract Among the important governments of emperors Anastasius and Justinian, and those of their respective wives, that of Justin I has gone unnoticed. Until the study of B. Croke in 2007 the period between 518 and 527 has been treated as a previous step of the mandate of Justinian I, being therefore Justin I a mere puppet in the hands of his nephew. Nonetheless, there is currently a broad debate about the figure of Justin I and his real political activity. On top of this, it should not be surprising that the interest for Euphemia, wife of Justin I, has been practically reduced to a simple opposition to the marriage of Justinian and Theodora. However, the ecclesiastical sources present her with a great capacity to influence her husband in such matters as the end of the Acacian schism, which was the great religious initiative of Justin I´s reign. This is the case of Pope Hormisdas, on behalf of the supporters of the ecclesiastical union between Rome and Constantinople, who requests the intervention of Euphemia to persuade the emperor to restore three Chalcedonian bishops deposed by Anastasius I. This is also the case of John of Ephesus who, as attested in fragments preserved through Pseudo-Dionysius of Tel-Mahre and Michael the Syrian, is presented not only as an active militant of the Chalcedonian, but also as the only member of the court of Justin I whose pressure on John of Constantinople achieved that he accepted, in the end, the union with Rome. 158 The Contest of beauty and sainthood in Byzantine imperial hagiography Ernest Marcos Hierro Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Abstract This paper deals with the accounts of the imperial bride show on Byzantine hagiographical sources from the ninth and the tenth centuries. Putting aside the discussion on the historicity of such a ceremony, which is dubious, it identifies as its literary origin the account of the Book of Esther about the search of a new wife for King Artaxerxes and as its purpose the justification of the marriage of a saint empress to a heretical husband. It proposes to read as an actualisation of the so-called 'novel of Esther' the narratives on the marriage of Theodosius II and Eudocia in Malalas’ Chronography (sixth century) and on the marriage of Theophilos and Theodora in the Life and encomium of Theodora (ninth century). The paper also argues that the Life of Theodora could be the model for the other sources on this subject from the ninth century such as the Lives of St. Philaretos, St. Theophano and St. Irene of Chrysobalanton, the Funeral Oration for Basil I attributed to Leo VI and the accounts on Cassia as a contender in the bride show for Theophilos. 161 Empress Catherine's role in John Skylitzes’ Continuation. Francisco Lopez-Santos Kornberger University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom Abstract The eleventh-century Byzantine historical account known as the Continuation of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis has received little attention by scholars. This may be largely due to the fact that the Continuation mostly consists of the edition of previous historical materials, most of them being accessible to modern researchers. However, the Continuation hides a number of oddities regarding the author’s edition of sources and additions from unknown materials. Some of these additions concern Skylitzes’ depiction of the empress Aikaterine of Bulgaria, daughter of the tzar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria and wife of Isaak I Komnenos. The Continuation’s main source, the History of Michael Attaleiates, does not develop the character of Aikaterine. Michel Psellos’ Chronographia, perhaps the second source used most by Skylitzes, depicts her as a disruptive element at court who put the emperor’s patience to the test. Against all odds, Skylitzes developed Aikaterine’s character in the Continuation. Even further, the empress became a positive character in Skylitzes’ representation of Isaak’s reign. Aikaterine is represented as a pious woman who cared for her duties as a mother and a wife, even after Isaak’s decease. This article will contextualise Skylitzes’ decision based on recent contributions to eleventh-century Byzantine history-writing and the audience’s expectations of female characters. Aikaterine’s role in the Continuation is possibly linked to the Komnenian expected audience of the account – more specifically, it may have offered a model of feminine virtue to a court where the women’s place possibly had become a matter of debate. ..