Isaac Komnenos Porphyrogennetos: Walking the Line in Twelfth-Century Byzantium

Twelfth-century Byzantium is characterized by a striking artistic vitality and profound socio-political changes. The Constantinopolitan elites, led by the Komnenian dynasty initiated by Alexios I, were the driving force behind the renewed intellectual landscape and power dynamics of the century. Despite the wealth of studies devoted to the Komnenians, the sebastokrator Isaac (1093–after 1152) has received limited attention in modern scholarship. Yet, Isaac is a fascinating figure at the crossroads of different worlds. He was an intellectual, the author of the first running commentary on the Iliad ever written in Byzantium. He was a patron, sponsoring magnificent buildings and supporting artists in and outside the capital. He was a would-be usurper, attempting to seize the throne several times. He was a shrewd diplomat, forging alliances with Armenian, Turkish, and Latin rulers. Modern scholars have so far failed to see the interplay between Isaac’s multiple personae. Isaac the scholar is rarely brought into conversation with Isaac the usurper, Isaac the patron, or Isaac the world traveller. Bringing together experts from a range of disciplines, this book fills a significant gap in the literature. As the first comprehensive study of one of the protagonists of the Komnenian era, it is essential reading for students of the Byzantine Empire. In addition, the portrait of Isaac presented here provides scholars of pre-modern civilizations with a relevant case study. By exposing the permeability of the theoretical and geographical ‘borders’ we use to conceptualize the past, Isaac epitomizes the interconnectedness at the heart of the so-called Global Middle Ages. Modern scholars have so far failed to see the interplay between Isaac’s multiple personae. Isaac the scholar is rarely brought into conversation with Isaac the usurper, Isaac the patron, or Isaac the world traveller Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Acknowledgements 10 List of Abbreviations 12 List of Contributors 14 Introducing Isaac Komnenos 20 1 Ties of Blood, Bids for Power: Usurpation Attempts During the Reign of John II Komnenos 41 2 Isaac in Exile: Down and Out in Constantinople and Jerusalem? 51 3 From Christ the Saviour to the Mother of God ‘Saviour of the World’: The Sebastokrator Isaac and his Place within the First Purple-Born Generation of the Komnenoi 70 4 The Sebastokrator Isaac at Home 82 5 Change and Innovation in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: The Case of Hair and Hairstyles 98 6 Komnenian Book Culture: Tracing Tastes, Mapping Networks, Unravelling Self-(re)presentation 120 7 Notes on the Construction of Isaac Komnenos’s Imperial Profile by Theodore Prodromos 143 8 The Dignity of Kingship Asserted: Isaac’s ‘Political’ Notes on the Iliad 152 9 Isaac Komnenos and the Scholarship of a Learned Prince 170 10 It Runs in the Family: Proclus, Pronoia and the Komnenoi 188 11 Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas: A Byzantine Ptolemy Between Homer, Aristotle and the Bible 205 12 Isaac Komnenos Porphyrogennetos as a Founder: Philosophical Implications in Architectural Patronage 226 13 A ‘Barren and Senseless Shoot’, a ‘Flawless Ally’ and an ‘Enkolpion of Pearls’: Isaac at Kosmosoteira 244 Index 266 byzantine;,political;,history;,komnenos;,isaac byzantine,political,history,komnenos,isaac