Feasting and Reading: Some Suggestions on Approaching Banquet Scenes in Rhodanthe and Dosikles

This paper examines connections between Theodore Prodromos’ Rhodanthe and Dosikles and the production of space in Byzantium in the early twelfth century. Previously, Panagiotis Roilos (2005) has argued that banquet scenes in Rhodanthe and Dosikles may have worked as liminal spaces within the narrative of the text, allowing the satirization and parody of established codes of conduct and communication. We build upon Roilos’ work to propose that interplay between passages depicting feasting and performative contexts aligned with satirical elements within the text. This, we argue, rendered the humor and satire more explicit for the gathered audience. We locate the performance of Rhodanthe and Dosikles in large halls in the households of a group involving the ex-empress Eirene Doukaina and her son-in-law Nikephoros Bryennios. Here we argue, the performance of the text contributed to the production of a space which challenged the emperor John II and his wife Piroska-Eirene’s monopoly on dynastic imperial legitimacy. The article is intended as a case study which raises broader research questions on the spatial dimensions of twelfth-century literature. Suggestions for further research on this topic are offered in our conclusion.


Introduction
During the middle years of the twelfth century in Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, four texts concerned with the love and adventures shared by two principal characters were produced.They are Theodore Prodromos' Rhodanthe and Dosikles (most likely composed in the early 1130s), Eumathios Makrembolites' Hysmine and Hysminias (AD 1120-1150), Constantine Manasses'   Aristandros and Kallithea (c1145), and Niketas Eugenianos' Drosilla and Charikles (c.AD Studies in History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation DOI: https://doi.org/10.18573/share.20ISSN 2055-4893 2 1156). 1 In this article, we examine connections between Prodromos' Rhodanthe and Dosikles and the production of space in Byzantium at the turn of the twelfth century.Our method involves a narratological analysis of the text.We also use Henri Lefebvre's analytical category of 'social space', articulated in his monograph La production de l'espace, to explain the connections between the text and processes of spatial production in Byzantium.We propose that Rhodanthe and Dosikles was read aloud in multiple spaces, rather than being focused to one space, known as a theatron, as has sometimes been argued in modern scholarship.This article is intended as a case study which raises broader research questions on the spatial dimensions of twelfth-century Byzantine literature, including the other novels.Suggestions for further research are offered in our conclusion.
The emergence of the four novels has attracted attention from scholars of Byzantine and medieval literature.Connections have been drawn between the western leanings of the Komnenoi, who were the ruling family in Byzantium in the twelfth century, and the production of the novels, or romances. 2However, as the high-register Byzantine novels have distinct features from other vernacular romances composed in the medieval west, we argue that it is also effective to examine internal changes to Byzantine culture, in order to understand how the texts worked. 3odanthe and Dosikles features several passages which depict banquets at length.Panagiotis Roilos has argued that banquet scenes in both Rhodanthe and Dosikles and Hysmine and Hysminias novels may work as liminal spaces within the narrative of the texts, allowing the satirization and parody of established codes of conduct and communication. 4Focusing on Rhodanthe and Dosikles, we depart from Roilos to propose a hypothesis that interplay between passages depicting feasting and performative contexts aligned with satirical elements within the text.This, we argue, rendered the humour and satire more explicit for the gathered audience.
1 The possible dates of composition of each novel are discussed by Elizabeth Jeffreys (2012) in the introductions to each novel.In addition, the appearance of the first written version of the epic Digenes Akritas and the satirical Timarion have also been dated to the mid twelfth century: Jeffreys, E., Digenis Akritis, Ivi-lvii. 2For intertextual connections suggesting that the novels and western European texts influenced one another: Jeffreys, E., "The Comnenian Background to the romans d'antiquité", 455-66; Jeffreys, E., "Byzantine Romances: Eastern or Western?" 221-40. 3Although the texts are often described as novels in modern scholarship (see for example the title of Elizabeth Jeffreys' 2012 English translation of the texts), they have also been described as romances.This is because the texts are versified.However, the texts are written in a high register of Greek, rather than the vernacular often associated with romances in other cultures.For a discussion of the problems involved with defining these texts as romances: Beaton, "Byzantine Verse Romances", 539-40.In this paper, we describe the texts as novels, in line with the conventions of Byzantine scholarship, whilst noting the problems surrounding their definition. 4Roilos, Poetics of the Twelfth Century Medieval Greek Novel, 253-88.

Spatial contexts for Rhodanthe and Dosikles
It is now widely accepted amongst modern scholars that the texts which survive to us from eleventh-and twelfth-century Byzantium were once connected to a context involving oral performance. 5In this context it is useful to conceptualise the performance of these texts as a part of a process by which social space is produced through social actions, as proposed by Lefebvre. 6 The oral performance of the four Byzantine novels has been connected with a space which has been described by modern scholars as a theatron (θἐατρον). 7As will be seen below, the word was used by the Byzantines themselves, and appears in a variety of eleventh-and twelfth-century texts.
In Byzantine texts, the word theatron is often associated with spaces involving literary performances and it was therefore first used by Herbert Hunger to describe literary circles in middle Byzantium. 8 In Byzantine texts, however, θἐατρον is also sometimes used to describe the hippodrome. 9 Noticing this, Floris Bernard has argued that for the eleventh century the word does not refer to a specific sociocultural phenomenon.Rather, Bernard argues, θἐατρον is sometimes used to emphasise the competitive element, by implicit comparison with the games of the hippodrome, of a variety of moments and spaces involving rhetorical and literary performances. 105 See for example, Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 353; Bernard, Writing and Reading in Byzantine Secular Poetry.In the novels, several speeches and songs can be found throughout the stories.These would have been appropriate for an audience listening to an oral performance, suggesting a performative context for the texts themselves.The songs are divided into choruses and stanzas, thus connecting them with ancient lyric or dramatic poetry, written for oral performance.See, Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 14, who connects this phenomenon with the antique pastoral poet Theocritus.In Hysmine and Hysminias, the prose story is interrupted several times by short verse passages, often derived from Euripides' tragedies, and longer iambic sections.It is notable that the three other twelfth-century novels, including Rhodanthe and Dosikles are written in verse metres, suitable for oral performance, thereby deviating from their ancient predecessors, which were all written in prose.Two of the novels are written in the twelve-syllable iambic trimeter, with Aristandros and Kallithea written in fifteen syllable political verse.For the Iambic trimeter: Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 278-79.For political verse: Jeffreys, M., "The Nature and Origins of the Political Verse", 141-95. 6Lefebvre, The Production of Space, 26-34.For a summary of the scholarship on space in Byzantine studies: Veikou, "Space in Texts and Space as text: A new approach to Byzantine spatial notions", 143-75, especially 144-47.For previous analyses of the spatial dimensions of performances in a Byzantine context: Agapitos, 1999, "Dreams and the Spatial Aesthetics of Narrative Presentation"; Nilsson, "Spatial Time and Temporal Space".For an analysis of the spatial turn in wider scholarship: Williamson, "The Spatial Turn of Social and Cultural History", 703-14. 7Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 9-10. 8Hunger, Das Byzantinische Herrscherbild. 9 See for example Psellos' description of the procession of the imperial women Zoe, Theodora and Maria Skleraina to the Hippodrome at, Psellos, Chronographia, VI, section 61.Bernard,Writing and Reading Byzantine Secular Poetry,[98][99][211][212] See for example: Psellos, Oration for Xiphilinos, section 9.In his funeral oration for the patriarch John Xiphilinos (d.1075), the courtier and polymath Michael Psellos describes how when he and Xiphilinos were younger: Καὶ θέατρα μὲν ἐτελεῖτο δημόσια, καὶ ἀγωνοθέτης τούτοις προὐκάθητο, καὶ οἱ διαμιλλώμενοι περιδέξιοι• οἱ δὲ τῶν λόγων ἀγῶνες ἐψεύδοντο τοὔνομα, καὶ ἐν παραβύστῳ ἔνιοι τοὺς λόγους Ὑπεψιθύριζον.Subsequent lines of Psellos' oration indicate that he is referring to contests between schools, involving teachers and his pupils.We argue that Bernard's observation is also relevant for the twelfth century.A large quantity of occasional verse and prose survives from this period.Amongst these texts we find some references to theatra, but it is not clear that these references consistently describe a specific space.At best, we argue, the appearance of the word shows how aspects of display and competition remained important within twelfth-century literary culture.11 We suggest, for this period, it might be fruitful to think in further detail about the possibility that performances of texts, including the novels, took place in a variety of spaces and contexts.In the twelfth century there is evidence that men-of-letters gave rhetorical and literary performances before audiences in great households (οἴκοι) outside of the main imperial palaces (the Blachernae and Great Palace, fig.1).This is indicated by references in written sources, which also suggest performances took place within various spaces within these households, including audience halls, courtyards and gardens.12 We suggest it might be fruitful to think in more detail about the different spaces and occasions within these οἴκοι, which may have provided settings for performances.Below, we argue that one occasion for performances of Rhodanthe and Dosikles may have been feasts, perhaps held in large halls within households.
Theodore Prodromos, the writer of Rhodanthe and Dosikles, seems to have performed widely in this context.In a demotic verse written to Manuel I Komnenos soon after this emperor's accession in 1143, Prodromos provides us with some autobiographical information on his own literary career.He claims to have been primarily supported by the ex-empress Eirene Doukaina until her death in c1138. 13Eirene was the empress consort of Alexios I (r.1081-1118).However she was probably estranged from the imperial government during at least a part of the reign of her son John II Komnenos, because she had attempted to arrange for her son-in-law Nikephoros Bryennios to succeed Alexios.
Prodromos' own account suggests that he produced texts for Doukaina during this time. 14odanthe and Dosikles is however dedicated to a Kaisar. 15The content of the prologue to the text suggests that a presentation copy was prepared for this person.Modern scholars agree that the Kaisar is most likely to be Nikephoros Bryennios. 16The text was likely presented to Bryennios after 1122 (the date of Prodromos' earliest securely dated writings) but before Bryennios died in 1138. 17The dedication does not however contradict Prodromos' assertion that he was primarily supported by Doukaina in these years.As will be outlined in further detail in the last section of this article, there is evidence that Bryennios was involved in a group including some of the Komnenoi-Doukai family and their relatives by marriage, who partook in intellectual activities during John II's reign.As will be shown, Doukaina was preeminent in this group, and so a text dedicated to Bryennios would likely have been implicitly written for her reception too.
In the remainder of this article we will first discuss passages within Rhodanthe and Dosikles, which reflect evidence from other sources for twelfth-century Byzantine feasting practices.Then, in the following section, we conduct a more detailed prosopographical analysis of the group involving Doukaina and Bryennios.We suggest that parts of Rhodanthe and Dosikles may have been performed when an audience gathered to feast in the households of Doukaina, Bryennios, or one of their allies.Lastly, we will highlight the possible significance of dynastic rivalry as context for the composition of Prodromos' Rhodanthe and Dosikles, especially the satirisation of Byzantine culture during feast scenes.

Evidence for oral performance in feast scenes
In this section, we will focus on the significance of banquets and feasts within the narrative structure of Rhodanthe and Dosikles.Below, two banquets occurring in the text will be examined in detail.Through a comparison with other written and visual sources we will show that several elements in these passages reflect feasting practice in twelfth-century Byzantium.We will then argue that the text was likely performed orally in a feast setting, and that the clustering of realistic elements around feast scenes was therefore especially significant.We will propose a hypothesis that they aligned with satirical elements in the same passages to alert the audience that here the text functioned as a critique of the outside world, namely twelfth-century Constantinople.
The first banquet in Rhodanthe and Dosikles occurs in the second book (II, lines 57-495).
Studies in History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation DOI: https://doi.org/10.18573/share.20ISSN 2055-4893 7 displays reluctance to participate because she is a virgin and therefore considers it inappropriate to be present amongst a great number of men. 18This compares with the writings of the twelfthcentury canonist Balsamon, who describes how pious women sometimes avoided feasts from fear of the potentially lecherous behaviour of gathered men on these occasions. 19Next, as the party takes their seats, the order of seating is described in detail (II.97-104).
He was at the head, in the chief place, Seated together with his friend the merchant.Once the feast has begun, some details are provided on mixing, pouring and offering of wine.A character named Dryas offers a cup to Rhodanthe as a romantic gesture (II.141-6).

Immediately below them was
18 'πῶς οὖν, Δοσίκλεις, εἰσοῦσα τὴν θύραν / τόσων μετ' ἀνδρῶν συμφάγω γυνὴ μία;' 'How, Dosikles, can I enter that door / anda woman on her own -join in a meal with so many men?'(II, lines 74-5, trans.Jeffreys, E.). 19Balsamon's comments are summarised by Kazhdan and Epstein, Change in Byzantine Culture, 23, who also note that John Zonaras made similar observations.See further, Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 38 n.55, Roilos, Poetics of the Twelfth Century Medieval Greek Novel, 247.The eleventh-century advice book written by Katakalon Kekaumenos stresses the need for younger women to be secluded, Kekaumenos, Consilia et Narrationes, III.See also the depiction of a secluded virgin in the epic Digenes Akritas, which may have been first put into writing in the twelfth century: Digenes Akritas, IV, lines 254-299. 20Ἄνω μὲν αὐτὸς ἐς κορυφαῖον θρόνον / ὁμοῦ καθεσθεὶς τῷ φίλῳ συνεμπόρῳ· / εὐθὺς δʹ ὑπʹ αὐτοὺς δεξιὰ Μυρτιπνόη, / καὶ δὴ μετ' αὐτὴν ἡ Ῥοδάνθη, καὶ τρίτη / Μυρτιπνόης παῖς, παρθένος Καλλιχρόη· / τὰ δ' ἔνθεν ἡμεῖς ὑπὸ τὸν Στρατοκλέα, / ἐγὼ μετ' αὐτόν, καὶ κατωτέρω Δρύας, / τρίτος δ' ὑφ' ἡμᾶς ναυτίλος Ναυσικράτης. 21Liutprand of Cremonia, Mission to Constantinople, section 447; Constantine VII, Book of Ceremonies, sections R70-71; Pseudo Kodinos (ed.Macrides), Book of Ceremonies, 272.This is a recurring topos in Byzantine texts, including Hysmine and Hysminias, as well as earlier ancient literature. 23The frequent appearance of this topos in Byzantine texts suggests that it is reflective of feasting practices, where romantic gestures may have been more acceptable than in other spaces.This suggestion is corroborated by the twelfth-century canonists Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras, who both write that pious women sometimes avoided feasts, because they feared the lewd behaviour of the participants. 24nally, a large part of this banquet scene is taken up by Dosikles telling stories about his adventures (II.171-485).Other written sources suggest that this reflects a common practice in Byzantium.For example, a letter written by Michael Psellos between 1068 and 1071 to the exiled Caesar John Doukas recounts how the reigning emperor Romanos Diogenes had been listening to stories about the Caesar whilst at table (ἐπιτραπέζια). 25In a monastic context, two early fourteenthcentury typikons (foundation documents) for the Constantinopolitan monasteries of Lips and Bebaia Elpis prescribe that edifying works be read aloud during meal times. 26We should also note here that the depiction of oral performances which evoked the oral performance of the text itself 22 Ἀλλʹ ὁ προσηνὴς μειρακίσκος ὁ Δρύας, / ἁλοὺς ἔρωτι τῆς Ῥοδάνθης ἀδίκῳ, / βακχῶν προπηδᾷ καὶ κρατῆρα λαμβάνει, / λαρὸν δὲ κιρνᾷ τοῖς ξένοις πιεῖν πόμα./ Εἰς γοῦν Ῥοδάνθην ἐμμανῶς ἀφιγμένος / διδοῖ προπιὼν τὸν κρατῆρα τῇ κόρῃ· 23 Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 40 n.61.For a further example of the topos in a Byzantine text: Skylitzes, Synopsis, section 26.For the topos in ancient texts, see Achilles Tatius, Leukippe and Kleitophon, II, section 9.2; Longos, Daphnis and Chloe, IIII, section 8.2. 24Kazhdan and Epstein, Change in Byzantine Culture, 83. 25 Psellos (ed.Sathas), ιστορικοί λόγοι, επιστολαί και άλλα ανέκδοτα, Letter 156, line 30, 408. 26The typikon for the Lips monastery prescribes that the document itself should be read out three times a year at mealtimes: Palaiologina (trans.Talbot), Typikon for Lips, section 8.The author of the typikon for Bebaia Elpis also prescribes the reading of the typikon at mealtimes but acknowledges that other books will be read as well: Synadene, (trans.Talbot), Typikon for Bebaia Elpis, section 120.See further: Rapp, "Figures of Female Sanctity", 315.When considering the applicability of evidence from monastic sources to secular contexts, it is worth noting here that the twelfth-century historian and imperial woman Anna Komnene describes the culture of her father's court as similar to a monastery: Komnene, Alexiad, III, section 8. Let us now examine the second banquet of the novel (IV.119-417).This meal occurs at the court of the pirate commander Mistylos, in the absence of the two main characters of the story.

Studies in
The resulting detachment from the rest of the story, and the crudity of some of the content of this passage, sets this scene apart.The banquet is preceded by the arrival of Artaxanas, carrying a letter.
After the feast, Mistylos writes his reply.The banquet is therefore enclosed by two letter writing scenes, suggesting a connection between the reception of the letters and the banquet.The episode where Artaxanes offers a letter to Mystilos is significant as it likely reflects the process by which Byzantines presented and received letters.A possible connection to Byzantine practice is foregrounded when the commander is suddenly called 'emperor' (τῷ βασιλεῖ) in verse IV.25. 27d so the summons was made and Artaxanes presented himself.

The satrap, bowing his head
Before the feet of the fleet commander Mistylos, put a small sealed letter into the emperor's hands.
He in turn gave it to Gobryas, so that he could read it in the presence of all.

Studies in History
In this context, it would make sense if a stage of letter reception involved a feast where the letter bearer was a guest, and where consumables attached to the letter could be enjoyed by the recipients.
Here, once more, the second banquet depicted in Rhodanthe and Dosikles likely reflects twelfthcentury feasting practice.We should also note the possibility that a manuscript of Rhodanthe and Dosikles may have been received by Eirene Doukaina, or Nikephoros Bryennios and their households in the same way as a letter.The parallels between the reception of a letter at a feast within the text and Doukaina and Bryennios' reception of Rhodanthe and Dosikles would likely have produced a further element of interplay between the textual and outside worlds.What follows in the text is a banquet with numerous comic elements.As Roilos has pointed out, Prodromos seems to use this banquet as a setting for humorous scenes.Artaxanes becomes the subject of a joke when a flock of sparrows appears from inside of a piece of cooked meat.A magician called Satyrion (Σατυρίων) also performs a show, first killing himself but then quickly springing back to life again.After reviving, Satyrion sings a song, accompanied by lyre music (IV.243-308).This song consists of thirteen four-verse stanzas, with single-versed choruses dividing them.Here Roilos notes how Satyrion evokes performers that might entertain at the Byzantine court and aristocratic gatherings.The depiction of Satyrion aligns with several passages in the history written by Niketas Choniates, which describes lavish twelfth-century imperial banquets involving performances of singers and mimes.Here we also note Roilos' argument that the depiction of Satyrion works as satire on the Byzantine imperial and elite culture, as the character's name indeed suggests. 31In the next section we build upon Roilos' argument to propose that the clustering of realistic elements in the banquet scenes of Rhodanthe and Dosikles renders the satirical elements of the text more forceful.Satyrion's song is followed by an extensive ekphrasis of Gobryas' cup (IV.331-411).

Studies in
Ironically, the cup is first shattered by Artaxanes before the narrator describes the, by then, lost object.Depicted on the cup are the classical god Dionysus and his accompanying Maenads and Satyrs.Jeffreys notes how the depicted dance of the Maenads 'may reflect contemporary peasant dances'. 32On the other hand, we propose that the depiction of Maenads in Rhodanthe and Dosikles might refer to a ceremonial celebration, perhaps at the imperial court.We base this proposition upon the depiction of dancing women on the so-called Monomachos Crown, which has been identified in recent scholarship as ceremonial item used in a military triumph in 1043.The images of dancing women in this item may allude to the context where it was worn, when dancing women performed during the celebrations (figs.4, 5). 33Therefore, the conversion of Byzantine women performing a ceremonial dance to wild Maenads may in Rhodanthe and Dosikles work as satirical and humorous reference to the Byzantine imperial court.
In summary, two aspects of the depiction of banquets in Rhodanthe and Dosikles stand out.
Firstly, as Roilos has suggested, these banquets appear as distinct moments in the text, which suspend the linearity of the narration. 34Their distinctiveness is marked by their length, and the narratological significance of the events taking place during the banquets.Secondly, elements which reflect contemporary twelfth-century Byzantine societal practices are clustered in these passages.Also notable in these passages are the recurrent depictions of oral performances within the text.The clustering of these realistic elements produces a clear sense of interplay between the textual banquets and the contemporary world in which they were written.This may have disrupted the boundaries of the textual and outside world, thereby encouraging audiences to receive the texts as commentary on wider society and culture.
The effect of the interplay between the textual and outside worlds would have been amplified if one of the performative contexts for Rhodanthe and Dosikles was indeed a feast setting, as we will argue below.Commenting on Rhodanthe and Dosikles and Hysmine and Hysminias, Roilos suggested that the banquet scenes 'may create liminal spaces within the story where subversive metalanguages are employed to reverse or satirize established codes of conduct and communication'. 35In the next section, we build upon Roilos' suggestion by first suggesting that Rhodanthe and Dosikles was performed in a feast setting, then arguing that the interplay between the textual and outside worlds during the banquet scenes was significant for the reception of satirical elements in the text.We will argue that the interplay developed in these scenes maximised the impact of the satire in the text for contemporary audiences.

Rhodanthe and Dosikles
We will now further discuss the possibility that Rhodanthe and Dosikles was produced within a group involving Eirene Doukaina and Nikephoros Bryennios.We will also identify feasts organised within the households of Doukaina, Bryennios and their allies as likely settings for the performance of the text.Above, we have noted evidence that the author of Rhodanthe and Dosikles, Theodore Prodromos, was connected to Eirene Doukaina in the period after her son John II Komnenos became Byzantine emperor in AD 1118.As we have also mentioned, the Byzantine historians John Zonaras, Michael Glykas and Niketas Choniates all attest that Doukaina made an unsuccessful attempt to arrange the succession for her son-in-law Nikephoros Bryennios, who was married to Doukaina's first-born daughter, the historian Anna Komnene.
Choniates writes that Doukaina was eventually reconciled to her son John Komnenos.However, he does not specify what this reconciliation involved, or when it took place.Although the evidence is not conclusive, it therefore seems likely that Doukaina was isolated from the centre of government in the imperial palace for at least a part of John II's reign.Both the writings of Michael Italikos and Anna Komnene suggest that these people gathered together to form an audience who received literary performances which they had commissioned.We have already noted that Doukaina was the commissioner of Bryennios' history.
A speech composed by Italikos, which was purportedly impromptu, provides further evidence for the hierarchy of this group.In the speech, delivered after Alexios I's death, he describes Doukaina as presiding in a space described as a theatron, involving her relatives, including Bryennios and Anna Komnene.This suggests that Doukaina, as mother, or mother-in-law of the other group members, held a position of precedence within the group. 37yennios' role as the commissioner of Rhodanthe and Dosikles suggests that performances of this text contributed to the production of spaces involving Doukaina and her group.This is the view of Elizabeth Jeffreys, who has argued that Rhodanthe and Dosikles was performed in a theatron where Doukaina presided, and that it was possibly located in the Kecharitomene monastic complex which the empress founded in c.AD 1110. 38However, as we have seen, it is not clear that twelfth-century Byzantines used the term theatron in consistent connection with a specific organised space.We suggest it is more likely that Doukaina, Bryennios and their allies received texts in a process more akin to the multi-stage process of letter reception mentioned above, rather than being focused around a single moment in a theatron.
1-12, describes a further conspiracy after John II's reign had begun, involving Anna Komnene, but not Eirene Doukaina.The fragmented account of Alexios' death in the Alexiad also depicts Doukaina as distressed when she heard that John II had moved to secure the throne: Komnene, Alexiad, XV, section 11.The possibility that Doukaina was in some way distant from John II during at least part of his reign is hinted at by the man-of-letters Michael Italikos, who says that he does not blame her for his lack of favour from John II: Italikos (ed.Gautier), Lettres et Discours, 98.Further evidence for this group is provided by two funeral monodies for Andronikos, which portray Bryennios as playing a major role in the funeral, alongside Doukaina: Italikos (ed.Gautier,), Lettres et Discours, 87; Prodromos (ed.Hörandner), Historische Gedichte, 188.In his impromptu speech for Doukaina, discussed below, Italikos mentions Bryennios, Komnene and some other imperial women.Gautier suggested they might be Komnene's sisters or daughters, but we suggest it is likely that one of these women was Maria Komnene, the wife of Euphorbenos: Italikos, (ed.Gautier), Lettres et Discours 151.Italikos also produced a letter for Bryennios, where he recalls receiving humorous letters from the Kaisar, which he claims to have read aloud in a space he describes as a theatron Italikos (ed.Gautier), Lettres et Discours, 154.This is likely the space involving Doukaina and her group described in his impromptu speech.Further evidence for this group and their activities appears in the Alexiad, the history written around 1148 by Bryennios' wife Anna Komnene.The author uses the first-person plural 'us' to describe a group of recipients of drafts of the History which Bryennios himself wrote, and which was commissioned by Doukaina.In the same passage, when describing how Doukaina commissioned Bryennios to write the History, Anna also refers to her mother as 'our Despoina'.I suggest that in this passage Anna seems to be referring to a distinct group, headed by Eirene, also involving herself and Bryennios: Komnene, Alexiad, Prologue, section 3. Doukaina is also named as the commissioner of texts written by Nicholas Kataskepenos, Nicholas Kallikles and Manuel Starboromanos: PBW (2016), Eirene 61.It is important to note that Leonora Neville has argued against the likelihood that Doukaina, Bryennios and Komnene were opposed to the succession of John II: Neville, Anna Komnene,[93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112]  Italikos (ed. Gatier), Lettres et Discours, 146-51.See also Komnene's description of Doukaina as 'our Despoina', above.38 Jeffreys, E., Four Byzantine Novels, 9-10.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Map of Byzantine Constantinople showing numbered regions and major districts, including the Blachernae (top left) and the Great Palace (bottom right).Map adapted from Wikicommons users Andrew Dalby and Cplakidas.Licensed according to the licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.Universal Public Domain Dedication Myrtipnoe on the right, And with her Rhodanthe, and the third Was Myrtipnoe's daughter, the maiden Kallichroe.We were opposite, below Stratokles, I next to him and a little lower Dryas, And the third with us was the sailor Nausikrates.(II.97-104, trans.Jeffreys, E.). 20This reflects the focus upon seating order as a signifier of hierarchy and status in middle-Byzantine feast settings.The stress on formality and rank in the text bears comparison with the German ambassador Liutprand of Cremona's description of strict seating order at a tenth-century imperial banquet in Constantinople.Further comparisons may be drawn with the focus on seating order in the tenth-century Book of Ceremonies attributed to Constantine VII and the fourteenth-century ceremonial book by Pseudo Kodinos. 21 History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation DOI: https://doi.org/10.18573/share.20ISSN 2055-4893 8 (...) but the gentle lad Dryas, Overcome by an unwarranted passion for Rhodanthe, Jumped up in a frenzy and seized the wine bowl, And mixed a pleasant cup for the guests to drink.Coming up to Rhodanthe like one possessed, He took a sip from the bowl first and gave it to the girl.(II.141-6, trans.Jeffreys, E.). 22 History, Archaeology, Religion and Conservation DOI: https://doi.org/10.18573/share.20ISSN 2055-4893 9 would have produced a further element of interplay between the textual world and the outside world.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: The Emperor Michael III receives a message.Uploaded to Wikicommons 07 August 2013.Source: History of John Skylitzes (Skyllitzes Matritensis (Biblioteca Nacional de España).Author: Unknown, 13th-century author.This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art.This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Georgios Maniakes sends the letter of Christ to Romanos III.Uploaded to Wikicommons 31 August 2012.Source: History of John Skylitzes (Skyllitzes Matritensis (Biblioteca Nacional de España).Author: Unknown, 13th-century author.This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art.This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer.

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Crown of Constantine IX Monomachos, viewer's left.Photograph by Wikicommons user Johnbod.Licensed according to the licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.Universal Public Domain Dedication.

Figure 5 :
Figure 5: Crown of Constantine IX Monomachos, viewer's right.Photograph by Wikicommons user Johnbod.Licensed according to the licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Combined evidence from several written sources, including Choniates and Zonaras' histories, and Komnene's Alexiad, indicates that a group of Doukaina's relatives shared her opposition to John's government.We can identify Bryennios and Anna Komnene as members of this group, as well as Doukaina's youngest son Andronikos, her daughter Maria Komnene and her son-in-law Nikephoros Katakalon Poetics of the Twelfth Century Medieval Greek Novel, 301. 36Evidence for Doukaina and Bryennios' attempt to secure the succession is provided by Zonaras, Epitome, VXIII, sections 26-27 (who links Andronikos and Nikephors Euphorbenos with the effort) & Glykas (ed.Bonn), Annals, 622.Choniates, History, sections