International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

RHETORIC AND HISTORY – RHETORIC IN HISTORY. 
CREATING DISCOURSES IN BYZANTIUM – PART 1
Conveners: 
Stratis Papaioannou
, 
Anthony Kaldellis
Theresia Raum
, 
“When Events, like Streams, Flood the Earth” – Threat Discourse in the Reign of Heraklios
Laura Borghetti
, 
When Rhetoric Tells a Story. Beauty and Grace in Cassia’s Female Euchologic Discourse
Dragoljub Marjanović
, 
Is there a Hero in the 
Short History
of Patriarch Nikephoros?
Daria Resh
, 
From Ioannes of Sardeis to Symeon Metaphrastes: Rhetorical Rewriting in Its Social Contexts
Jovana Anđelković
, 
Epistolographic Memoirs
– The Case of Storms in John Mauropous’ Letter Collection
Milena Repajić
, 
Intellectual (Self)advertizing: Some Remarks on the 
When
and 
Why
of Psellos’ 
Chronographia

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Theresia Raum
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; 
[e-mail]
“When Events, like Streams, Flood the Earth” – 
Threat Discourse in the Reign of Heraklios
The seventh century is widely regarded as a time of epoch-making changes in Byzantium: old 
economic and administrative structures perished, human and financial resources were drastically 
reduced while ancestral traditions are thought to have been broken. Students of the period speak of 
“crisis”. But what means “crisis” and can its definition help us draw a sharper picture of Byzantine 
society? Social theory regards the establishment of a “threat discourse” as the first step towards 
successful crisis management: current, real or alleged threats dominate the public debate entirely; 
the time factor plays a crucial role, the search for solutions is urgent. It is only after such a threat 
discourse has become predominant, that it would be possible to mobilize people in order to overcome 
the crisis. This paper considers the evidence for the development of such a threat discourse in the 
reign of Herakleios (610-641). During the first decades of the seventh century the Byzantine Empire 
faced major threats from the outside and the inside: the Avars and the Slavs attacked the northern 
territories and in 626 the capital itself while the long-lasting war with the Sasanian Persians exerted 
massive pressure on the eastern borders. Shortage of grain supply and money, military defeat, and 
internal strife led to frustration among the population. Those tensions are mirrored in contemporary 
numismatic and literary sources: the poems of Georgios Pisides, the emperor’s court poet; the 
homily on the siege of Constantinople of 626 commonly attributed to Theodoros Synkellos; the 
work of the historian Theophylaktos Simokates. All three were staying in Constantinople and thus 
eyewitnesses to the present turmoil. For example, in the words of Mary Whitby Georgios Pisides 
in particular acted as intermediary between the population of the capital and the emperor. The 
aim of the paper is to describe on this basis how contemporaries perceived the current threats and 
what or whom they blamed them on. Moreover, a distinction can perhaps be drawn between the 
perception of threat by the emperor, the authors, and the population. Furthermore it is important to 
look at the prognosis of future and provided solutions. From the beginning Herakleios is presented 
unanimously as saviour. It is argued that specific aspects of the threat discourse created a sense 
of community among the Byzantine population and a bond of trust between the people and the 
emperor. This association finally was able to concentrate all available forces, be they human or 
material, to handle the crisis and save the Byzantine Empire. In sum, the aim is to better identify 
and describe successful communication strategies, their agents, and audience in early Byzantium.

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