International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Demetrios Kyritses
University of Crete, Department of History and Archaeology, Rethymno, Crete, Greece; 
[e-mail]
The Palace and the City as Political Stage: 
The Theatrics of Public Deliberation in Byzantium
Decision-making at the highest level in Byzantium usually entailed consultation within a 
counseling body, in the presence of the emperor. Whether we have to do with a standardized political 
institution or with an ad hoc summoning of counselors, the emperor’s council usually convened in 
the palace, or wherever the emperor happened to be present, away from the public eye. On certain 
occasions, however, the emperors opted for a public deliberation, with the participation of a large 
number of dignitaries and, sometimes, representatives of the Church, the army, etc. Such open 
gatherings did not really entail active deliberation, but were a means of extracting and displaying 
the consensus of the body politic towards policies that had already been decided. 
This paper focuses on the topographical aspect of these public gatherings examining the 
locations in which they occurred, and the practical, as well as symbolic reasons that determined 
the choice of venue. The most usual location was within palace grounds (either the Great Palace, 
or, later, that of Blachernae), but they could also occur in public places such as the hippodrome or 
Saint Sophia. The venue of a gathering could determine the number of participants, the hierarchical 
allotment of place, as well as the process of this deliberation, for example who could be seen, who 
could speak and who could be heard. The paper will examine some exemplary instances from the 
seventh century to the Late Byzantine period. By focusing on the spatial aspect of these gatherings 
and by approaching the deliberation as a staged display, the paper will attempt to contribute to the 
investigation of both persistent and innovative aspects of Byzantine political theory and practice.