The Power Game in Byzantium

The Power Game in Byzantium:
Antonina and the Empress Theodora

James Allan Evans is Professor Emeritus of Classical Near Eastern and Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and the author of several books about the Byzantine Empire, including The Age of Justinian: The Consequences of Imperial Power (1996, 2000) and The Empress Theodora: Partner of Justinian (2002).

His book about the power game in sixth century Constantinople is based on modern scholarship, ancient literary sources, and - to a limited extent - archaeological objects, such as buildings and monuments.

The main text is divided into thirteen chapters which follow a (more or less) chronological line. At the end of the book there are notes with references, a bibliography, and an index.

Two ancient authors are mentioned frequently in the text and cited frequently in the notes: Procopius of Caesarea and John of Ephesus. Their credibility is discussed in an appendix at the end of the book (pp. 211-218).

[Penguin Classics published an English translation of The Secret History by Procopius in 2007.]

Evans covers the macro-history, in particular the foreign policy of the Byzantine Empire: the wars in the east against Persia, the war in Africa against the Vandals, and the wars in Italy against the Goths.

He also covers the micro-history, i.e. the personal relations between Emperor Justinian and Empress Theodora, as well as the personal relations between the famous general Belisarius and his wife Antonina.

The conflicts between the many different Christian denominations play an important role in the Byzantine Empire. These conflicts are explained as well, especially the struggle between the orthodox Catholics (also known as the Chalcedonians) and the Monophysites.

[Emperor Justinian was - for most of his life - a Chalcedonian, while his wife Empress Theodora was a Monophysite.]

The Power Game is written by an expert, who knows his topic very well and who knows how to present his knowledge to his readers in a clear and concise way. But even for an expert something can go wrong. I have to mention a few things which bother me.

(1) There are only nine illustrations in this book, and they are all in black-and-white. Most of them are too small and of a rather poor quality.

On page 51 there are two illustrations: on the top of the page a mosaic from Basilica di S. Vitale in Ravenna, which shows Justinian; on the bottom of the page a mosaic from the same church, which shows Theodora.

The latter mosaic is printed in colour on the dust jacket two times: on the back cover we have the total view: Theodora flanked by two persons on the left and seven persons on the right. On the front cover we have a detail of the mosaic: Theodora flanked by one person on the left and two persons on the right. All illustrations should have this size and this quality, but unfortunately they do not. It is a shame.

(2) Several saints are mentioned in this book. When Evans mentions a chapel dedicated to SS Peter & Paul (page 109) or a church dedicated to SS Sergius & Bacchus (page 110), everything is in order. But when he says (on page 114) that the stylite saint Z’ura arrived in Constantinople around 535, there is a problem: While Z’ura was still alive, he was not yet a saint. In order to be a saint you must be dead. Evans makes the same mistake with other saints on pp. 26 and 27.

(3) There are many cases of careless editing. Sometimes a word is missing. In the following examples I have added the missing word in square brackets:

Page 52: “… she was [a] beautiful woman…”

Page 73: “Yet the situation was more volatile than anyone at court [including] Justinian imagined and when the revolt broke out, Justinian [was] quite unready for its extreme violence.” 

Page 85: “It was [a] crippling disaster.”

Page 86: “He would never pray [to] God that Theodora give birth…”

Page 135: “The aqueducts would never be repaired and [the] baths which they supplied decayed into picturesque ruins.”

Page 136: “The Goths raised the siege and withdrew over the Tiber River by [the] Milvian Bridge…”

Page 208: “… as she … listens to [a] young slave reading…”

Sometimes a word is printed, although it should not be there. In the following examples I have typed the word which should be deleted with capital letters:

Page 97: “But was the empress Theodora WAS involved in it in some way?

Page 177: “… the ruins of his great audience hall can still TO be seen.”

In one case the order of the words is reversed. On page 92 we hear about “old the imperial palace,” while it should be “the old imperial palace.”

Two cross-references are wrong: 

** Note 21 on page 231 refers to the appendix: “see pages 00.” This looks like a temporary device which was never updated. The correct reference is to page 216

** Note 20 on page 237 refers to the so-called Three-Chapters-Dispute: “See above page 100.” This looks like another temporary device which was never updated. The dispute is explained on pp. 189-191 and mentioned briefly on pp. 197-198 and 202-203

(4) On page 194 Evans mentions “St Peter’s basilica on the Vatican mount.” But in this case he is describing an event which happened in 546, and the first church built on the Vatican Hill is known as Constantine’s Basilica (consecrated 326). After more than a thousand years it was pulled down and replaced by the second church known as St Peter’s Basilica (consecrated 1626).

These flaws are unfortunate, but the good thing is that they do not disturb the meaning and the message of the book (I hope they will not be repeated if the publisher decides to release a paperback version of the book).

In spite of these flaws The Power Game is an interesting and valuable book, because it gives us detailed and well-documented insight into the inner workings of the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century, and because it brings to life the four main characters: Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius, and Antonina. Each of them made their mark on history. This book tells us how and why it happened.

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James Allan Evans,
The Power Game in Byzantium:

Antonina and the Empress Theodora,

Continuum, 2011, 264 pages

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