Powerful Women in Byzantine Empire: The Life and Ideology the Empress Theophano (941 – after 978)
Abstract
In this paper we present the life and the character of Theophano, the mother of Basil II Porphyrogenitus, the Macedonian. Some women made spectacular progress up the social ladder by marrying into higher-class families, even sometimes into the imperial family itself and to become empresses as Theophano did. So, social advancement could be achieved through marriage. The power and privileges of an imperial spouse were directly dependent on the emperor. Did it have a catalytic role in the life of Theophano? Through her life we will examine woman’s position in Byzantine Empire. It will be searched if there was any discrimination among women according to their classes and if the byzantine society faced with the same way a vicious life of an imperial woman and of a poor one. Which was the position of the Christian Church for woman? Had Church Fathers forgiven rich and powerful women and had they condemned poor women from lower social class? All these questions are going to be answered through the life and the actions of Theophano, a woman who managed from being the daughter of a poor tavern-keeper, to become the Empress and one of the most powerful and vicious women in the Byzantine history.
Keywords:
Theophano, Nikephoros Phokas, Bulgar SlayerReferences
Codex Justinianus, ed. Paul Krueger, Berlin 1892.
Georgius Cedrenus, Historiarum Compendium II, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 35, Bonnae 1839.
Gregorius Nazianzenus, Oration 37, PG 36, 280-309, From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, tr. Ch. Gordon Browne – J.E. Swallow, ed. Ph. Schaff – H. Wace, Second Series 7, Buffalo 1894.
Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum (811-1057 A.D.), tr. J. Wortley, New York 2010.
Leo Diaconus, Historia, PG 117, 635-925.
Liutprandus Cremonensis, Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana, in: Liudprandi Cremonensis Opera, ed. P. Chiesa, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 156, Turnhout 1998, p. 185-218.
Mattheus Edessae, Chronicon, tr. A. Edmonton Dostourian, Lanham – New York – London 1993.
Michaelis Pselli, Historia Syntomos, Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 30, Berlin 1990.
Theophanes Continuatus, Chronographia, ed. I. Bekker, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 45, Bonn 1838.
Alexandre M., Early Christian Women, in: A History of Women in the West, v. 1: From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints, ed. P. Schmitt Pantel, Cambridge 1992, p. 409-444.
Alexiou S., The Minoan Civilization, Heraklion 1996.
Artemi E., Basileios II o Makedōn, o eponomazomenos Boulgaroktonos (= Βασίλειος ΙΙ ο Μακεδών, ο επονομαζόμενος Βουλγαροκτόνος), “Enomeni Romiosini” 15 (2013) p. 12-27.
Artemi E., Male homosexuality, adultery and concubinage in the Byzantine Society, “Ekklesiastikos Faros” 89 (2018-2019) p. 39-58.
Beaucamp J., Le statut de la femme a Byzance (4e–7e siècle). I. le droit imperial, Travaux et memoires du Centre de recherche d’histoire et civilisation de Byzance, College de France. Venographies 5, Paris 1990.
Blundell S., Women in ancient Greece, Cambridge 1995.
Bury J.B. – Gwatkin H.M. – Whitney J.P. – Tanne J.R. – Previté-Orton Ch.W. – Brookem Z.N., The Cambridge medieval history, Cambridge 1923.
Christophilopoulou A., Byzantine Empire. Modern Hellenism, v. 1: Herodotus, Athens 2006.
Clark E.A., Early Christian Women: Sources and Interpretation, in: That Gentle Strength: Historical Perspectives on Women in Christianity, ed. L.L. Coon – K.J. Haldane – E.W. Sommer, Charlottesville 1990, p. 19-35.
Evans J.A., The Emperor Justinian and the Byzantine Empire, London 2005.
Garland L., The life and ideology of byzantine women: a further note on conventions of behaviour and social reality as reflected in eleventh and twelfth-century historical sources, “Byzantion” 58/2 (1988) p. 361-393.
Garland L., Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium AD 527-1204, London 2002.
Garland L., Byzantine women: Varieties of experience (800-1200), London 2006.
Geanakoplos D.J., Church and State in the Byzantine Empire: A Reconsideration of the Problem of Caesaropapism, “Church History” 34/4 (1965) p. 381-403. (Crossref)
Goodman Ε. – Goodman W., The family, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, New York 1975.
Harrison F., Theophano: The Crusade of The Tenth Century; A Romantic Monograph, London 2008.
Herrin J., Unrivalled influence: women and empire in Byzantium, Princeton 2013. (Crossref)
Hutchinson R.W., Prehistoric Crete, Baltimore 1963.
Jenkins R., Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries (A.D. 610-1071), London 1996.
Koutrakou Ν., La propagande imperiale byzantine. Persuasion et reaction (VIII – Xe siècles), Athènes 1994.
Matzarioti-Kostara S., The Theology of Gender –The Place of Women in Byzantine Society, 3 April 2017, in: https://pemptousia.com/2017/04/the-theology-of-gender-7-the-place-of-women-in-byzantine-society/ (accessed: 20.07.2021).
McCormick M., Emperors, in: The Byzantines, ed. G. Cavallo, Chicago 1997, p 230-254.
Women in early Christianity. Translations from Greek Texts, ed. P.C. Miller, Washington 2005.
Nasaina M., Woman’s Position in Byzantine Society, “Open Journal for Studies in History” 1 (2018) p. 29-38. (Crossref)
Nikolaou K., Ē thesē tes gynaikas stē Byzantinē Koinōnia (=H θέση της γυναίκας στη Βυζαντινή Κοινωνία), Athens 1993.
Norwich J.J., Byzantium: The Apogee, New York 1992.
Ostrogorsky G., History of the Byzantine State, tr. J. Hussey, Oxford 1956.
Sifonas Ch., Basile II et l’aristocratie Byzantine, “Byzantion” 64 (1994) p. 118-133.
Tobias N., Basil I, (867-886), the founder of the Macedonian dynasty: a study of the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire in the ninth century, New Jersey 1969.
Treadgold W., A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford 1997. (Crossref)
Vasiliev A.A., Byzance et les Arabs, v. 2/1, La dynastie macédonienne (867-959), tr. M. Canard, Bruxelles 1968.
White L.L., The ideology of the feminine in byzantine historical narrative: the role of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis of Histories, Winnipeg – Manitoba 2003.
Whitlow M., The Making of Orthodox Byzantium 600-1025, London 1996. (Crossref)
Hellenic Open University
Professor Eirini Artemi has bachelors on Theology and Classical Philology. Her master and doctorate are on Patristic Theology, History of Dogma, Patrologia. Her post-doctorate is on ancient Greek and Byzantine Philosophy. She teaches theology on the postgraduate level in Hellenic Open University. She teaches the koine biblical Greek language in the Israel Institute of Biblical Languages of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Also, She teaches Patrology and Patristic Theology in the Theological School of the Orthodox University of Congo - Kinshasa. She has published many books and articles.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8852-9907License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.
