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Document Details :

Title: A New Look at the Narthex Paintings at Lesnovo
Author(s): SCHIEMENZ, Günter P.
Journal: Byzantion
Volume: 82    Date: 2012   
Pages: 347-396
DOI: 10.2143/BYZ.82.0.2174094

Abstract :
The narthex paintings of Lesnovo, executed three years after Stefan Dušan’s coronation as a tsar and a few months after the release of his law code, are interpreted as a depiction of Dušan’s achievements and political goals. Having become the suzerain of Greeks, he was in need of a new title to replace his Serbian title kral. As King David and Moses had been the most prominent leaders of God’s Old Chosen People, Dušan wished to be a New David and a New Moses – the leader of God’s New Chosen People, the Orthodox Christians. Tsar David served as his proto type for his new title tsar, and Moses the law-giver, as the prototype for Dušan as a law-giver. In a scene of the αἶνοι psalms, Moses alias Dušan is depicted addressing the Chosen People.

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