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
622
Theresia Raum
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;
theresia.raum@uni-tuebingen.de
“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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