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Document Details : Title: Early Byzantine Ideologies and Identities in Two Panegyrics for Anastasius I Author(s): DMITRIEV, Sviatoslav Journal: Byzantion Volume: 90 Date: 2020 Pages: 19-46 DOI: 10.2143/BYZ.90.0.3288835 Abstract : The two extant panegyrics for Anastasius I pursued the same aim of legitimizing and glorifying the emperor in very different ways. Taken together and examined within a broad historical and cultural context, these texts reveal the co-existence of two differing perceptions of imperial ideology and cultural identity in the early Byzantine period, each view tracing its roots into earlier centuries. Procopius’ vision of Anastasius as the one who obtained imperial rule through a unanimous vote of the people because of his virtue dates back to Plato and recurs in later Greek philosophical and rhetorical works. Conversely, Priscian’s praise of Anastasius engages with the conventional Roman notion of the divine origins of imperial power — which had evolved to identify that power with the Christian God — without reference to the emperor’s real-world merits and accomplishments. |
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