THE ORACLES OF THE MOST WISE EMPEROR LEO

&

THE TALE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

(AMSTELODAMENSIS GRAECUS VI E 8)

SAPIENTIS SIMI IMPERA TORIS LEONI S ORACULA

&

ANONYMI NARRATIO DE VERO IMPERATORE

THE ORACLES OF THE MOST WISE EMPEROR LEO

&

THE TALE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

(AMSTELODAMENSIS ORAECUS VI E 8)

/~IT / .

(,. I '~: ••. ~~r ... 1 ~, • ')_.~'\: /. ,h' ..;:oj \ \ .,. {i-\'··'''~' \ t. ~

'/ . ,fIt " v -

TEXT, TRANSLATION AND INTRODUCTION

EDITED BY W.O. BROKKAAR

with the collaboration of

Joke A. Aalberts, 1. Ireen Beijemum-Averink, Arthur S.M. Bot. Matjolijne C. Janssen. Daniel R.1. Koster, Marc D. Lau~1ennann.

Tatiana Markaki, Pinelopi Motsenigou. Sonia Stamboulidou, 1.H. Marietje Wennekendonk-Visser

IN HONOUR OF PROF. DR AT V AN GEMERT

ON THE OCCASION OF HIS RETIREMENT

Amsterdam 2002

''1::' 2002 by the authors, c/o Leerstoelgroep Nieuwgriekse taal- en letterkunde en Byzantinologie. Spuistraat 210, 1012 VT Amsterdam

ISBN 90-9016178-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted in any form or by any means. electronic. mechanicaL photocopying.

recording or otherwise without thc prior written permission of the authors

Cover illustration: Ms. Amstelodamcnsis Graecus VI E 8. f. 4v

Printed at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Repro Roeterseiland Fonts: Times New Roman and Symbol Greek P

CONTENTS

PREFACE .............................................................. .. ...................................... 9

IN1RODUCnON ........................................................................................... 11

I The Manuscript VI E 8, Bibliotheca Universitatis Amstelodanlensis ............ 11

n The Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the True Emperor..... .. .. .. .......... .. ...... ... 23

ill Language .......................................................................................... 45

TEXT AND 1RANSLA nON ............................ ................................. . ................ 51

INDEX OF GREEK WORDS ............................................................................ 103

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................... .. ............ .................................................... 117

PREFACE

In the year 2000 Arnold van Gernert intimated to his friends and colleagues his wish to retire and to be accorded emeritus status in November 2002. at the age of siA1y-four. He has served the Universiteit van Amsterdam for more tllan thirty-five years, first as an academic staff member and then. from 1996 to the present day, as head of tile Section of

Modem Greek and Byzantine Studies (formerly known as 'Byzantijns-Nieuwgrieks Seminarium'). Arnold van Gemert is the third professor of our section, after G.H. Blanken (1954-1972) and W.F. Bakker (1972-1995).

During the years of his outstanding academic career, Arnold devoted his time and

talents to moulding the section into an institute of international renown. TIrroughout tllese long years his commitment has been essential in many ways, but foremost in de­veloping tile institute. building up the library, professionalizing the curriculllIR creating a centre of research, and establishing a network of contacts abroad and in the Nether­

lands. Although Arnold's decision to retire one year ahead of schedule was no secret, it

apparently did not immediately dawn upon us what this entailed, for it was not until the autwnn of 2001 that we (his colleagues and friends) started to think about the Fest­

schr~ft he so much deserved. At our very first meeting, where we discussed what would be the best way to express our gratitude for all he had done for our institute, it was al­ready clear to all of us tIlat a great scholar and passionate reader like Arnold deserves a

scholarly publication: a BOOK. But what sort of book? Arnold is interested in almost any subject, provided it is not too classical (in his 1973 PhD tIlesis, he confessed to his professor of Ancient Greek that he was actually interested in a text only if it contained

obvious elements of post-classical and thus vulgar Greek). Finally we decided to publish tile contents of the AnlStelodamensis Graecus VI E 8, a precious manuscript at our University Library, which contains the texts of tile Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the

True Emperor. We hope that tIlese texis are post-classical enough for Arnold's taste. An additional plus was that this seemed a project that could easily be completed

within one year. Little did we know! As it turned out, the edition of IllS. VI E 8 pre­

sented lnaoy difficulties: not only the Greek text itself, but also tile interpretation of this ratller obscure prophetic material gave us quite a lot of trouble. Once we had inspected tile manuscript and scrutinized its contents, we knew that we were in over our heads. in

the deep and muddy waters of philology - but lucky for us, we did emerge in the end.

And this is the report of our underwater experiences. The manuscript is rightly considered to be one of the jewels of tile collection of tile

University Library of Amsterdam. It is also the manuscript Lanlbeck used for his edition ofthe Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the True Emperor. And as Lanlbeck's edition was

10 PREFACE

reprinted in Migne's Palr%gia Graeca (albeit with some considemble changes). it is

fair to say that the scholarly world knows these two te:\1s in the version of illS. VI E 8.

Lambeck's edition. however, is not entirely satisfactOlY. TItis alone is reason enough to

justify a new edition of these two texts.

The edition and translation of the texts were entrusted to the following contributors:

Joke Aalberts and Arthur Bot: ff. 7\ gf. gv and 12v; !reen Beijemlan and Walter Brok­

kaar: if. IV, 2f and 2v; Walter Brokkaar: ff. lOf and lOv; Walter Brokkaar and Pinelopi

Motsenigou: ff. 4v )T and 5v; Walter Brokkaar and Sonia Stamboulidou: f. 9f; MaIjo­

lijne Janssen and Marc LauxtemIann: ff. 3f. 3v. 4f. 111' and llv ; Tatiana Markaki and

Marie~e Wennekendonk: ff. 6f• 6v. 7f and l2f. Walter Brokkaar. Mrujolijne Janssen and

Marc Lauxtennann checked the Greek te:\1 and the translation. The introduction was

written by Daniel Koster and Walter Brokkaar (l Manuscript). Marc Lam.ieID1allll and

Marjolijne Janssen (II Oracles and Tale). and Walter Brokkaar (m Language). The index

was compiled by Walter Brokkaar and Pinelopi Motsenigou (with the help of Marc

LatL .... 1ennann). and the bibliography by WaIter Brokkaar. Matjolijne Janssen prepared the

book for printing and Walter Brokkaar supervised the edition as a whole. Needless to

say, each individual author is responsible for his own contribution.

We would like to e""press our gratitude to the following persons: Jeannine Vereecken

for providing us with a copy of several pages of her still unpublished dissertation;

Katerina Kyriakou for sending us her book on the illuminated oracles; Paul Magdalino

and Eva de Vries-van der Velden for valuable comments on the second chapter of the

introduction; Jos Bielllans for useful infonnation concerning the lnanuscript: Paul Dijs­

telberge for photograplting the manuscript; and Wim Bakker. Dia Philippides and

Richard Kweskin for correcting our English. We should like to thank the University

Library of Amsterdam for granting us pemtission to publish the pictures of ms. VI E g

and providing us with help in every possible way. We are also extremely grateful to the

Executive Board of the Universiteit van Amsterdam and to the Department of Language

and Literature of the Faculty of Humanities for supplying a substantial part of the funds

necessary for this publication.

Universiteit van Amsterdam,

September 2002 W.G.B.

IN1RODUCTION

TIlE MANUSCRWT VI E 8. BIBLIOTHECA UNIVERSITATIS AMS1ELODAMENSIS

Ms. VI Egis listed as no. 70 in the general catalogue of lllanuscripts of the Univer­

sity Library of Amsterdam; this is why the lllanuscript is usually, but incorrectly,

nanIed Amstelodamensis Gmecus 70. Ms. VI E g contains a collection of oracles. Tou

<Yotj>oo'to:wu ~a<Y1AEro.; AEOV'tO~ XpTJ<YJloi, wltich tradition attributes to the Byzantine

emperor Leo VI (886-912), known as the Wise, but which was probably compiled dur­

ing the first half of the tltirteenth century. TIle Oracles of Leo are followed by an

anonymous te:\1. christened by Petrus Lambecius, its first editor. 'AvoovvJl0'U

TIapatj>paat~ 'troY 'LOU ~aatAEOX; AEOV'LO~ XPTJ<YJlrov, i.e. a paraphrase of the said oracles.

In the present edition tltis te:\i is called Tale of the True Emperor.

1.1 EARLIER DESCRIPTIONS

In modem times the manuscript was described for the first time by H. Omont:

"Leonis VI. imperatoris oracula.

Fol. l. t Tou <Yo.poo'ta'to'U ~aatAEOX; AEOV'tO~ XPTJOJlot. Tr,v

£X9p01totoV £v00gev !Cptrn'tel .. . - .. . (Fot. 9.) TIept 'tou

9PTJUO'UJlEVO'U 1t'tOOXou '" EV 'tij 1tPcOTI) o!CPQ tfj~ B'Ut;av't{Oo~. '0

aATJ91 VO~ ~aatAeix; ... 'tou 8eou EJl$OPTJ9ei~.

t 'H 'tOWV'tT\ 'Ypaq,r, Jle'teypaq,,, (sic) a1to 1ta/catcOta'tov ~t~Aiov cb~

AE:'YEtat Elvat 'Ypa.p" XPov(Ov u' !Cat £1tE!Cetva.

A chaquc page. jusqu' au fol. g inclus. se trouvent des pein­

tures assez grossieres. - Cf. Ie pamphlet hollandais: Prophetien,

ofvoorseggingen der beyde Keyseren Severi en Leonis. die

beyde in Orienten geregeert hebben ... met vele kopere

Figuren verciert. CAmsterdam. Broer Jansz, 1640. in-4°. IV-43

pages. Les gravures sur cuivre de ce volume ont ete faites d'apres

les peintures du manuscrit.

XVle siec1e. Papier. 11 feuillets. 222 sur 160 ntillim. ReI.

parchentin"l .

The second description is by M.B. Mendes da Costa:

"a. LEO VI DE WUZE, Tou <Yotj>oo'ta'to'U ~amUoo~ Aeov'to~ XPTJ<YJlOL.

b. [ANnNYMOY TIAPA<I>PALIL 'troY 'LOU ~aatAeO~ AeoV'tol;

XPTJOJlrov] .

1 Omont. Catalogue, pp. 197-198. no. 7 (16).

12 INTRODUCTION, MO\NUSCRIPT

Hs. uit de 16e eeuw. Met gekJeurde figuren. - Aan het einde der

paraphrase staat: 11 'tOLOUTI\ 'Ypa41i! J.l£tE'YpaCPTl O1tO 1tOAOUOra-WV

/3l/3Aiov ci:ls AE'Y£'tOl £ivat 'Ypa41i! xpov(OV 1/ Kat £1teK£lVO. -

12 bIn. 40 . VI E 8 Dit hs. door G. Dousa uit Constantinopel medegebrachL werd reeds uitgegeven door JAN. RUTGERSIUS, Variarumlect. II. VI (a. 1618), p. 467 sqq. - P. L.<\lI.1BECIUS heeft het gebruikt voor zijn uitgave dezer orakels, achter GEORGJUS CODINUS, Excerpla de allliquilalibus Conslalliinopolilanis, Parisiis 1655~ hij heeft daarin ook de figuren, hoewel niet nauwkeurig, overgenomen. - Nog vrijer nagevolgd zijn de figuren in: Proplle/iell of Voorseggillgell der beyde Keyserell Severi en Leonis. enz., Amsterdam 1627"".

The third description is found in Jeannine Vereecken's unpublished dissertation:

"Amstelodamensis Graecus 70 (= hs. 1)

16de eeuw, papier 222 x 160 mm, 12 ff.

§ Inhoud

<Leo VI* : XpTlcrJ.loi> met miniaturen (PG 107, 1129-1140;

1151-1158) - (9V ) leeg.

2. (lOQ2V) ANONYMUS: I1apacppacrls nov 'tOD l3acrtAECOS Aeovt0s

XPTlcrJ.lrov. (PG 107, 1141-1150),,3.

Finally, the fourth description was made by Katerina Kyriakou:

"Amstel. Bibl. Univ. VI. E . 8

Xapt. 22 x 15,7 £K.

I.2 THE MANUSCRlPTj

The manuscript is about 222 millimetres by 160°. It is bound in a parchment cover.

The manuscript consists of one quire of paper, which comprises seven bifolia, foliated 1

to 14. It furthennore contains twelve flyleaves, the first two (ff. [i + ii]) and the last two

2 Mendes da Costa, Handschriftell , p. 15, no. 70. A copy of this description has been glued to the inner side of the front-cover.

"Proplletiell of Voorseggillgen der beyde Keyseren Severi en Leollis, enz., Amsterdam 1627" was reprinted in 1640, and it is to this reprint that Omont (see footnote 1) refers in hi s description of the manuscript.

3 Vereecken, Orakels, p. 9. 4 Kyriakou, XpT/aJ1,oi, p. 61 sq. The number of folia is actually not 21, but 22 or rather 26

(see below). 5 Dr Jos AAM. Biemans, Curator of Manuscripts at the University Library of Amsterdam.

was of great help to us in writing this part of the introduction. We thank him very much for his assistance.

° However, according to M. Peereboom (in: Koster, Hellen's land. p. 250), the size of the manuscript is 23.0 centimetres by 16.0 by 1.0 and, according to Kyriakou, XPTJaJ1,oi. p. 61 , 22 centimetres by 15.7.

INTRODUCTION, l\·lANUSCRlPT 13

(ff. [19 + 20]) of which are glued to the inner side of the cover: the first six flyleaves are

not nmnbered and only the fIrst four of the last six flyleaves are foliated 15 to 187

• In

short, the manuscript consists of the following: vi + 14 + vi.

Thc watermark offf. 1 to 14 (the manuscript proper) shows a pilgrim and resembles

bOtil Briquet no. 7590 (1569) and no. 7603 (1561)8. So we may assume that tile manu­

script was written at some date after 1561 or 1569, but before November 21. 1597, when

Georgius Dousa, who had purchased the manuscript in Constantinople, left for Holland

(see below). If it was Georgius Dousa who ordered the manuscript to be written when he

stayed in Constantinople, the terminus post quem shifts to April 1597.

The paper of the flyleaves shows a different watermark. which strongly resembles

Briquet no. 1371 (1599; an eagle without a crown), but also shows some similarity to

Briquet no. 1370 (l595-1596r As this type of paper circulated rather widely in Hol­

land, it is reasonable to assume that the flyleaves were added in Holland when the

manuscript was bound. As paper was generally used shortly after being produced. the

parchment cover probably dates from c. 1600. The terminus post quem is May 1598,

when Georgius Dousa arrived in Holland.

The tex1 is written in black ink by one handlo. At flISt glance the text appears to

h:l\'C been arranged around the watercolour illuminations, but here and there the iIImni­

nations have obliterated some of the characters. Therefore we can be fairly certain that the

painting was done after the writing. However, when using a magnifying glass, it is quite

obvious that, before tile tex1 was written, the pictures were roughed out with blacklead

to indicate where the illmninator was supposed to paint.

U CONTENTS

For f. [iiV] see note 2. On f. [iiir] is written: "Leonis Sapientis, Imperatoris Dracula..

. Vcreecken, Orakels, p. 9, reports that, when she examined the manuscript (before 1986), ollh· Ihe folia L 10 and 11 were numbered. The other folia may have been numbered in 1993 or i'll 1995, when the ms. was exhibited in Amsterdam and i~ Athens respectively. As fol. 4 haJ comc loose at that time and the librarian in charge obviously was not well informed aboul Ihe way in which the oracles followed one another, it was numbered on both sides with blacl..lead with the cipher 4.

~ See Briquet, Filigranes II, p. 416: No. 7590: "31,5 x 44. Provence, 1569. A. Bouches-du­RhclIle : lollect. de pap. fi/igr". No. 7603: "315 x: 44. Marseille, 1561. Geneve, 1'vls. franc. 1'17'W: Papiers des Eglises reformees, porter. 2".

,) Sec Briquet. Filigranes I, p. 112: No. 1370: "33 x 43. Soleure, 1595-96. Ibid.: id. Var. simi!.: Utrecht, 1599; Dole, 1605". No. 1371 : "325 x 42. Loosduinen, 1599. La Haye, Rijksarch.: Papierellverzameling. Var. simil.: Rhijnsburg, 1600. Les filigr. 1367 11 1371 sont ,i la marque personnelle des During".

10 The manuscript lacks any explicit reference to its date and place of production. Kyriakou, XpT/aJ1,ui. p. 62, assumes on the basis of the handwriting that its scribe was Theodosios Zy­gomalas. If so, the manuscript must have been written in the Levant, probably Constantinople itselC For Zygomalas, see below, the main text.

14 INfRODUCTION, MANUSCRll'T

II Graece, adjectis figuris pictis illustrata. II Hoc scriptum exemplar memorat Fabricius

II Bibliothecae Graecae Vol. VI. p. 363,,11. Ff. (iiiV-viV] are blank.

F. If bears the stamp of the University LibraI)' of Amsterdam. At the bottom of the

page attentive readers stumble upon the name of the (second) owner Petrus Scriverius:

"P. Scriverij" and in the middle of the same page. just above the stamp, they may dis­

cern the titIe: "t 'tOu crO$ro'to:toU l3acrtA£ro; ,"£oV'to; XPTJcrlloi,,12.

Ff. 1"-9r present us with the te:>..1 of si,,1een oracles. On f. 9v (otherwise empty) we

read in tile margin. almost certainly written by Georgius Dousa: "Oraculu(m) de resti­

tuti- II one Constantinopolis II Leonis Imp. quaere II in fine Annaliu(m) Const. II Ma­

nassis,,13. On ff. lOr-12v, one finds what Lambecius called the anonymous paraphrase of

the oraclesl4. The copyist finished his work with the statementl5

: "t 'Ii 'tOWU'tT\ ),pa$'Ii

1l£'teypa$TJ arro rraAaHO'ta'tov I3tl3Aiov cO; '"£'Y£'tat d vat 'Ypa$'Ii XPOVO)V 1"- Kat

E:rr£K£lVa : t". Ff. 13 and 14 are blank and so are the flyleaves, ff. 1ST to (l9f).

1.4 HISTORY

The manuscript was almost certainly purchased by Georgius Dousa (loris van der

Does) in Constantinople in 1597, so it seems proper to start our story with a short biog­

raphy of his short, but adventurous life.

Georgius Dousa (1574-1599)10 was the second son of Johan van der Does, better

known as Janus Dousa. an important politician and humanist and the first 'curator' of the

University of Leyden Janus Dousa had five other sons: Joltan, Steven, Frans, Warner

(or Werner or Wernaert). and Dirk or Theodorus. as he used to call himself. All together

they , .. 'ere known in academic circles as the 'Pleias Dousica,I".

After he had finished his studies - he learned Latin and Greek from his father -

Georgius left for Poland. where he stayed for two years (1592-1594). Shortly after his

II Corrected with pencil into 364. Johann Albert Fabricius (1668-1736) read theology. phi­lology and medicine at Leipzig. A professor of philosophy and rhetorics at the Academical Gymnasium in Hamburg during 37 years. he compiled among other things the Bibliotheca Graeca, an extensive collection of biographical and bibliographical material of classical and Byzantine Greek literature from Homer to the fall of Constantinople in fourteen volumes. See NDB, IV, pp. 732-733 (Heimich Reincke).

12 Vereecken, Orakels, p. 12, assumes that it was Scriverius who wrote the title. 13 For the text of this oracle. see e.g. Lambecius. Oracula 1655. pp. 279-280: idem, Oracula

1863, pp. 1149-1150. 14 The editio princeps of the oracles, published by Rutgersius in 1618. did not include the

paraphrase. The tirst to publish the text was Lambecius (Oracula 1655). 15 This phrase is omitted in the first edition (Lambecius. Oracula 1655) as well as in the re­

print by J.P. Migne (Lambecius. Oracula 1863). 10 See Van der Aa,Biogr. wdbk. IV, pp. 221-222 and Molhuysen. Nieuw biogr. wdbk. VI. pp.

418-419. ]7 Heesakkers, Scriverius. p. 106.

INTRODUCTION, MANUSCRll'T 15

return, he and his brothers 10han and Steven planned to travel to the Ottoman Empire in

order to visit Greece. but they first went to Gern1anY in 1596. Living for tIrree months

in Heidelberg. Georgius studied the Greek and Latin manuscripts of the local library,

with the assistance of the librarian Paulus Melissus. and he was introduced to Ge01-gius

Codinus' work on the antiquities of Constantinople by the scholar Marquardus Freherus

(the latinized form of Freher). After having prepared the manuscript of Codinus for pub­

lication. he \-vas infornled in the summer of the same year that a Polish embassy would

travel to Constantinople. so he returned the manuscript to Freher. who published this

work of Codinus later in that year1S, and left for Cracow.

Although the Polish mission was cancelled. Georgius continued his journey and

arriving in Leopolis (Lvov, in Ukraine), he joined some Turkish and Armenian mer­

chants, who were travelling to the Ottoman capital. He reached Constantinople in April

1597. As the Dutch Republic at that time did not have diplomatic relations WitIl the

Ottoman Empire, the young scholar was lodged with Eduard Barton, the English am­bassador. During his visit he becanle acquainted with several members of the Greek or­

thodox hierarchy, among whom Meletios Pegas (1549-1601). the patriarch of Alexan­

drial9, and Theodosios Zygomalas (1 544-ca. 1614)20, who originated from Nauplia in

the Peloponnese, and who was at the time rrpro'tovo'toptO; tiic; EKKATJcriac; Krovcr'tav'tl­

vOurrOA£ro;21. Important, also, was his acquaintance with Georgios Kantakouzenos22,

because of his library, 'Tune des plus ceU:bres collections de Constantinople,,23.

Through these three Greeks he came into possession of several Greek manuscripts24•

18 Georgii Codini Selecta de Origillibus Conslantinopolitanis Graece et Latine, per Geor­gium Dousam, Heidelberg 1596. This edition also contains the Liber de Sigllis. slatuis et aliis spectatu dignis Constanlinopoli, another work by Codinus that had been translated by Dousa.

19 In 1597 and 1598 Meletios Pegas (MeA£'ttOt; TITlYUt;) was the overseer of the oecumenical patriarchal throne. He was the uncle of Kyrillos Loukaris (1572-1638), the patriarch of Alexandria from 1601 to 1620 and the future 'protestant' oecumenical patriarch.

20 Theodosios Zygomalas (E>eooocnot; Z'\J'f0J.laA.ut;) was the son of the scholar loannis Zy­gomalas. At the age of nineteen. he already was the foremost assistant of his father. He copied many manuscripts and sold them to European scholars. He was on good terms with Stefan Gerlach (1546-1612), a well-known theologian of those days, and corresponded regularly with the famous German scholar Martin Crusius (1526-1607). He translated Ta l(uta Lte­<j>avl.'tTjv Kat "XVTJA.a'tT1V from Byzantine into modem Greek. Zygomalas may have been the scribe of the Amsterdam manuscript (see above. footnote 10).

21 That is to say, he held a position in the patriarchal chancellery as first secretary; it is not easy to establish how high this position was at the time. See Beck, Kirche, p. 99.

22 For Georgios Kantakouzenos (reroP'YtOt; KavtalCo'USllvOt;), see Foerster, Commentalio and Papazoglou, BLfJA.wlJijICe.;. passim.

23 Omont, Crusius. p. 68. 24 Omont. Crusius. p. 68 sq., also published an agreement between Dousa and Kantakouze­

nos concerning the publication of three manuscripts copied from his library: 'OIlOA.O,¥ro eyro reroP'¥tOt; ~o'Umoollt; nrot; EA.a~OV ono trov xelprov to\i 'tlllio'U apX0V'tot; lC'Upio'U rerop,¥io'U Kav­talCo'USllvoii 'to taov tii<; ETIPO$O'U 1.a'topiat;, 11V (J'UvE'¥pmve reroP'¥tOt; Ao,¥oge'tT]t; nepi CtA.o)(J£rot;

16 INTRODUCTION, MANUSCRIPT

Because of the death of his elder brother Johan, Georgius returned to the Netherlands

earlier than he had planned. He left the Ottoman capital on the November 2L 1597 and

arrived in the Dutch Republic in May 1598. He wrote an account of his journey to the

Ottoman capital, which was published in Leyden in 1599~5. In October of the same year

he died prematurely on the island of Sao Tome while accompanying his uncle Pieter van

der Does, who had been sent to the Western African coast on an expedition against the

Spanish and the Portuguese by the Dutch government.

In 1598 a letter of consolation was published, written in Latin and dated October 23,

1597, from Meletios Pegas to Janus Dousa. This edition is of great interest for the his­

tory of philology, for it contains. on the reverse of the title page, a catalogue of the

manuscripts Georgius Dousa had collected in Constantinople. Among the 21 items are

two works of emperor Leo VI, numbered 11 and 12: "Leonis Imp. Oracula" and "ejus­

dem de virtutibus agriculturae sive de vitae solitariae institutione 190. Capita"20.

After Georgius' death in 1599. his library apparently passed into the hands of his

younger brother Theodorus (1580-1663). In 1614 he published Akropolites' chronicle on

the basis of one of the manuscripts his elder brother had brought with him from the Le­

vant27. In his preface to the reader ("Theodorus Dousa Ad lectorem") he informs us that

Zygomalas had been the copyist of the chronicle: "Repertum olim Galata (pera vulgo)

redemptumque a Georgio Cantacuzeno. ex cujus libro apographum transcriptum fuit

manu Theodosii Zygomalae Nauplii. ex petitione Domini Georgii fratris mei P.M., qui

KlOvcr-rav'tlvoV1t6A£~ uno Aa'ttvlOv, Kat a;)9t.<; napa Aa'tivcov into rpaiKcov, Kat E'tEPOV MtxaTtA K1l0Ull1OU €I; apxi'\<; KOcrJlOU Jl£Xpt<; 'AM#OU 'tOU KOJlVT\VOU, ii1tEp eAalX>V cirueD 1tiCf'tEt £y­(i)1twl' 'tou 0EOU, '1 va cjlpoV'ticrco EK'tunco9i'jvat. Kat 1tap£~co amiji eav EK'tV1tCOerom. v 'to llJlt(l'\) 'toii "~' p&)\X; ano 'rrov 'tUncolhjcroJ.1EvCOV ~t~Aicov. Kat EK'rEAEcrco 'to KPEt 1:1:0V Kat (l'\)Jl~pO'tEPOV OUI 'to KOlVUI' K£POo<; itJ-lffiv Kat 1tOtt'\crco npro'rov 'tV1tco&iivUt 'rama 'ta ~l~i.U, tva 1:OXV'tEPOV £K-1Ci'£cr9wmv .... 'EAa~ov Kat £'tEpOV '[XVllA.a'tT]V Kat L'tEcjlavi.'tT]v A£'Y0JlEVOV Kat 'tOU'tO cix; iivco6ev Tl' K~' POo<; ... See also Molhuysen. Cod. Ville .. p. 37. no. 93, where on f. 1 r, in rather inarticulate (freel... a biographical note is written: To 1t(XPOV ~i~A.lOV EM&r] Ei<; 'tV1tCO"(pacjliav 1tapa 'YECOPyiou "ClVTOKUUSt'\vou. UtOU av'tcoviou KOV'tOKOUsiJvou, 'tou KOt 'tOY iroaw1lv t;covapav McraV'to<; Ei<; 1:UnlOypacjliav 1tP0'tEPOV. See further Papazoglou, L'taJl1taOa ~t~i..io: Legrand, Bib/. hellenique, IV. pp. 352-353 and Kyriakou,Xp1)O',Llo{, p. 92.

~~ J)ousa. G .. De itinere. pp. 5-90. In the same volume Georgius published a short biography of Mdetios Pegas in Latin (pp 108-11 I). as well as the letter of condolence (in Latin) Pegas \vrole to Janus Dousa on the occasion of the death of his son Johan (pp. 112-121) and a Greek letter 0[" Pegas to Georgius himself (pp. 122-123; Latin translation: pp 124-125). For an ex­tensive description of the itinerary and bibliography, see Yerasimos. Voyageurs , pp. 425-426.

20 Meietius, EpislOla. This letter was reprinted in Dousa, G., De itinere (see the previous footnote) . See also Omont, Crusius. p. 70 and Legrand. Bibl. he/Unique, IV, p. 346.

27 In his edition Theodorus Dousa announced that he would also publish the other manu­scripts collected by his brother, but he did not fulfill this promise.

INTRODUCTION, }'·1ANUSCRIPT 17

auctorem illum inter alios Constantinopoli superioribus annis attulit"2R• Theodorus

probably sold or donated a part of Georgius ' collection to Bonaventura Vuleanius (1538-

1614l'. a professor of Greek and Latin at Leyden University and a friend of the Dousa

family, for several entries in the catalogue of the Vulcanius collection refer to Georgius Dousa and Theodosios Zygomalas'o.

Far more significant. however. is the fact that on one of the flyleaves on the front

side of the manuscript Yule. 64, almost certainly in the hand of Georgius Dousa. is

written a table of contents in which the oracles of Leo the Wise are mentioned again,

this time together with another work of tlle philosopher emperor3' .

Wilh. Weinberger equally asssumes that ms. Yule. 64 (as well as two other ones)

once belonged to Georgius Dousa. According to him, several folia have been removed

from tlns manuscripe2 and as one of the two works of the emperor Leo which Georgius

took with him from Constantinople (namely, the De virtutibus agriculturae sive de vi­

tae soli/ariae ins/itll/ione J 90 capita) is included in the manuscript, while the other (the

Oracles of Leo) is missing. he is reasonably certain that ms. VI E 8 originally formed

28 Dousa. Th., Acropolita. Cf Omont. Crusius. pp. 67-68. 29 Vulcanius is the latinized form of De Smet. He was born in Bruges in 1538 and studied at

Ghent and Louvain. In 1578. after a long sojourn in Spain (1559-1570) and Switzerland (1574-1577). he was assigned to the post of rector of the Latin School at Antwerp . He became acquainted with Janus Dousa in 1578. Although he was appointed professor of Greek at the University of Leyden on February I. 1578. he did not take up oftice until 1581. In 1584 he published the works of Callimaehus.

30 See the letter of KA de Meyier. the keeper of the mss .. to J. Stolpe of the University of Goteborg. dd. September 25.1963. attached to ms. Vule. 64. See also Molhuysen, Cod. Fulc .. p. 8, no. 17. f 70v "Subscriptio eodicis Georgii Acropolitae Chronicorum quem iubente Georgio Dousa descripsit Theodosius Zygoma las - qui codex nunc est in bibL senatoria Lip­siensi (cf Naumanni Catalogus p. 10 nO. xxx. Heisenberg in Eranos II (1891) p. 117-9) - a Vulcanio descripta". Ibidem 27, no. 62 L f 36r_37r "Apographa duarum Epistolarum a Maximo Archidiacono Alexandriae ad Georgium Dousam datarum, graece quas descripsit Vulcanius in cod. Vulc. 171'. 70". Ibidem 28. no. 64 II, f 8r_39r "Leonis Sapientis de Institu­endis monaehis capita CXC". In the margin of f gr there is another reference to Zygomalas : a~uii 'tomo 'tV1tOO9i'jvOl. tim 'Yap XPElcOOTj 'YpalKOt<;. 0Eooomo<; ZU"(oJlaA.fi<; VaU1tA.lO<; 't'ii<; nE­A.o1tOvvt'\crou olKaLOcjlUA.O~ Kal 1tPO)'rovo'tapw<; 'ti'\<; E:KlCATjcrta<; KCOVCf'taV'tLVounOA£co<; 'tou nu­'tpwPXaiou (sic).

31 "In hoc volumine continentur Gregorii Nysseni, de Hierosolymitanis peregrinatoribus, oratio; Georgii Logothete de Constantinopoli a Latinis Capta, historia; Leonis lmperatoris Agricultura Euangelica. eiusdem Oracula; Pselli Aenigmata, eiusdem Dioptra id est Corporis & ani mae dialogus; Alcidamantis, Gorgiae. Antistheni s declamationes" . We compared the hand of the writer with that of Georgius Dousa in a number of letters found in the collection of the Department of Manuscripts of the University of Leyden (VL. 64 and VL. 1(6). 3~ Molhuysen, Cod. Vlllc .. p. 28, no. 64. disagre~s with Weinberger: "Post f. 7 unum folium

deest non tamen sunt exsecta Oraeula Leonis. quae nunc sunt in bibL Amstelodamensi (Cata­logus der Handschr. II, 1902 p. 69 nO. 70). ut Weinberger, Studien zur Hss.kunde p. 6, neutro codiee inspecto. statuit. Unum tanlum folium, scriptura vacans ut videtur, exsectum" .

18 INTRODUCTION, U"NUSCRJPT

part of ms. Yule. 6433. Moreover, Weinberger ascertained that the measurements of both

manuscripts are identical: ms. VI E 8 is ca. 222 millimetres by 160 and ms. Yule. 64 is

22 centimetres by 16. Considering all this evidence, he comes to the conclusion that

ms. VI E 8 is the manuscript of the oracles that Georgius Dousa brought from Constan­

tinople to Holland in 15971159834•

We may add that the handwriting on f. 9v of the ms. VI E 8 is very similar to that

of Georgius Dousa. When we also take into consideration that Rutgersius (1589-1625)35

declared in the preface to his editio princeps of the Greek text3<.l that he got the manu­

script from his friend Scriverius (1576-1660)37, a prolific philologist, historian and poet

who, according to Rutgersius, had received the manuscript from one of Georgius

Dousa's brothers (it was certainly Theodorus), it is very tempting to declare that ms. VI

E 8 is the source for the editio princeps.

It is not known when exactly the City Library of Amsterdam came into possession

of tlle manuscript. It appears with its full title for the first time in a catalogue of the

Library in 179638, but it must have entered the collection much earlier. Rummaging

through the older catalogues, we did not find the manuscript mentioned in 1612 and

33 This may have been done when the manuscript of the oracles was presented to Scriverius. See below.

34 Weinberger, Cod. Vulc., pp. 809-810. 35 Janus Rutgersius (the latinized name of Johan Rutgers, 1589-1625) was a pupil of the

well-known scholar Vossius. He studied at the University of Leyden and was a pupil of Sca­liger, Heinsius and Baudius. He became a diplomat, serving not only the Dutch Republic but also the Swedish king Gustaph Adolph. Apart from his diplomatic career, he also excelled as a poet and classical philologist.

36 Rutgersius, Oracula, p. 467: "Haec Oracula nobis donavit V.C." [= Vir Clarissimus] "ac longo amicitiae usu mihi conjunctissimus Petrus Scriverius, cum ea a Nobilissimis Douzis ipse accepisset; quorum frater Georgius cum alijs quibusdam Graecis libris Constantinopoli attulit. Interpretationem ipsius Georgij adjecimus, sed alicubi a nobis castigatam. Nam Ver­siones quae ex Italia prodierunt, tales sunt, ut, quod vulgo dicitur, neque coelum, neque ter­ram tangant. Iconas studio omisimus. quod eae saepius jam recusae sunt. Nobis satis est Auc­torem sua lingua loquentem dedisse. Neque enim, quod ego sciam, usquam adhuc Graece prodijt. Audiamus".

37 After his primary education at the Latin school in Haarlem, Petrus Scriverius (the latinized name of Pieter Schrijver, 1576-1660) started to study Law at Leyden University in 1593. but he switched to Humanities in 1596. He was highly 'esteemed by Bonaventura 'Vulcanius and Paulus Merula. his teachers in rhetoric and history. He also studied with Justus Scaliger. Among his special friends were Johannes Meursius, Janus Rutgersius and Janus Dousa's sons Georgius, Frans and Theodorus. See Van der Aa. Biogr. wdbk, XVII, pp. 583-591 and Tuynman, Scriverius, passim.

38 See Catal. Bibl. Amst. 1796, p. 229. no. 44 (one of the fourteen manuscripts in quarto): "Leonis Sapielltis Oracula; Graece: additis pictis figuris illustrata. Hoc scriptum exemplar memorat Fabricius in Biblioth. Graec. Vol. VI, pag. 363".

INTRODUCTION. lvfANUSCRJPT 19

162239. However. in the catalogues of 1668 and 1711 we came across the laconic entry: "Leonis Vaticinia Graece", among the few "Libri manuscripti in Quarto" (nine in 1668

and twelve in 1711)40. There can be no doubt we think. that tllis is our manuscript

which means tl13t tlle VI E 8 113S been noticed and 'described' for the first time in 1668.

The result is consistent with one of the few things we know for certain: the manu­

script was in the Library of Amsterdam in 1645, for in that year the young scholar Peter

Lanlbeck (better known to the scholarly world as Petrus Lambecius) came from Ham­burg to Holland to study Greek manuscripts in Amsterdam and Leyden41. In the preface

to his edition of the Oracles of Leo42, written in Paris on September 20. 1650, he stated

that he based llimself on Rutgersius' edition and on an "antiquo Codice MS. Bibliothe­

cae Amsterodamensis,,43. According to Lambecius, who is followed by Vereecken44, the

edition and the manuscript differ so much from each other that the manuscript cannot

have been the source for the Greek editio princeps.

This raises tile question whetller around 1615 there existed two manuscripts of the

39 See Calal. Bib/. Amst. 1612 and Catal. Bib/. Amst. 1622. This is hardly surprising, though. In all likelihood, the manuscript was still in the library of Scriverius or Rutgersius at the time.

40 eatal. Bib!. Amst. 1668,83 and in Calal. Bibl. Amst. 1711. 102. 41 Lambecius (1628-1680) also studied at Paris, Rome and Toulouse. After his return to

Hamburg he taught history at the gymnasium there from 1651 and became rector of the same school in 1660. In 1660 he was also admitted to the degree of Doctor Utriusque Iuris at Bourges. Because of personal problems he lett Hamburg and went to Vienna and Rome, where he was converted to Catholicism. After having settled in Vienna in 1662, he was assigned to the post of librarian of the imperial library by emperor Leopold I. He thoroughly reorganized the library and managed to build up an impressive collection. He became a man of such influ­ence that after his death even Leibniz was interested in the post. See NDB, XIII, pp. 426-427 (Gebhard Konig).

42 For an excellent description of the edition by Lambecius. see Kyriakou. Xp1J(jJ1.oi, pp. 96-98. She points out that the pictures in Lambecius' edition do not derive irom the Amsterdam manuscript, but from earlier Parisian editions of the Oracles of Leo (namely. the Artus edition of 1612 and the Mezeray edition of 1650).

43 Lambecius, Oracula 1655, p. 235: "Ne quid omnino deesset corpori Historiae Byzantinae. necessario ei inserenda esse duxi imperatoris Leonis cognomine Sapientis Oracula cum pic­turis fatidicis, quibus futuros Constantinopolitani Imperij casus portendi vulgo opinio est. Primus vero ea Graece & Latine in lucem edidit Janus Rutgersius Variarum Lectionum lib. V. cap. 8. Quam editionem ego, cum abhinc quadriennio in Batavia degerem, contuli cum an­tiquo Codice MS. Bibliothecae Amsterodamensis, quem ille non viderat: nec paucas inde satis magni momenti variantes lectiones excerpsi, quas reperies in meis Annotationibus. Praeterea in eodem codice inveni anonvmi cuiusdam Oraculorum Leonis Graecam Para­phrasin, quam ob argumenti similitudine~l una edendam esse duxi. Sed nondum satis mihi constat, sitne haec eadem atque ilia Theophili Presbyteri Expositio Oraculorum Leonis, quae in Bibliotheca Vaticana asservari dicitur. Quod superest, benevole Lector, hunc quoque la­borem meum boni consule: qui si minus accuratus tibi videbitur, propterea saltern mihi ignoscas, quia vix integri tridui spatio in itinere mihi sub manu natus est. Vale. Lutetiae Pari­siorum anno M. DC. L., die XX Septembris".

44 Vereecken, Orake1s, pp. 1O-1l.

20 INlRODUCTION, MANlJSCRIPT

Oracles of Leo in Holland or just one. If the second option is true, we are confronted with a puzzle we cannot solve. But if the first is true, it seems likely that Scriverius made (or had made) a not very accurate copy of the Dousa manuscript and gave it to his

friend Rutgersius, either without telling him it was a copy or, so much the worse, tell­ing him it was the Dousa manuscript45

.

Finally, we have to try to answer the question how the present VI E 8 found its way to the Library of Amsterdam. We know that Scriverius lived the greater part of his life

in Leyden. but "Scriverius was more than at home in the Amsterdam library. As a boy he had made a transcription of the Amsterdam Photius codex4Q, which his friend Janus Rutgersius published in 1618,,~7. In this conte:\.1 the suggestion has been made that it

was Scriverius who defrayed the costs of the publication of the first catalogue of the

~5 The odds are very high that the manuscript Rutgersius had at his disposal did not include the Tale of the True Emperor, because. if it did. Rutgersius certainly would have published it or else would have told us that he had left it out just as he tells us (see note 36) that he omit­ted the ill uminations and that he corrected the Latin version. If we are right. the present ms. VI E 8 is the original manuscript, which was given to Scriverius by the Dousa family.

The copy of the manuscriptScriverius made for Rutgersius must have disappeared. In the catalogues of the auctions of the large library of Scriverius. \",hich took place on April 3 rd

and August 8th of 1663, this manuscript copy is not mentioned. It is curious, but not very relevant for the story told here, that some fragments of the Ora­

cles and the Tale happen to be tound in ms. 74 K. ff. 18-20v, of the Library of Leyden Univer­sity. See de Meyier, Cod Graeci, p. 151. As the readings of this manuscript differ from those of ms. VI E 8, it can be ruled out that it is an apograph.

46 For the contents of the Amsterdam Photius codex (nowadays lost). see Catal. Bib/. Amst. 161 2, p. 8 (no. 7): "Ejusdem Photij de septem COllcilijs Narratio, & Nili Narratiuncuia de novem Conciliis: Item, Isaacus Prophyrogenneta (sic) de figuris et staturis PriJlcipum Grae­corum, et Troiallorum, qui illterfuerulll bello Troiano, et Iohannis Chrysostomi Oratiullcuia de S. Cruce. uno Vol. US". In Catal. Bib!. Amst. 1622. p. 8 (no. 7) we read about the same manuscript: "Sacrilega manu sublatus, abest".

47 De la Fontaine. City Library, p. 188. The author correctly states that Scriverius had con­nections with the Library of Amsterdam. but he incorrectly avers that Scriverius had made a transcription of the Amsterdam Photius codex in his early years. It was actually Rutgersius who did so, and Rutgersius did not publish the whole codex, but only a part of it: "Rune suavissimum Iibellum e bibliotheca Amsterodamensi olim pueri beneficia P. Scriverij de­scripsimus, cum Nili ac Photij Conciliorum Indice, qui illi in eadem volumine iuncti erant. Ac duos quidem posteriores Sedanenses, qui eos a nobis acceperant, ediderunt. Nos Isaacium nunc primi damus" (lanus Rutgersius, fFariarum lectionum libri sex. Lugduni Batavorum 1618, p. 509). He would have liked to consult the manuscript again, but he was infonned by Scriverius that it was impossible. because it had been stolen: "Optassem ejus exemplaris co­piam iterum nobis fieri potuisse. Neque enim dubito, quin, ut ilia aetas erat, nonnusquam in scribendo peccaverim. Ut in Achille in fine, si tamen id vitia nostro factum est. Atque ego cum per Scriverium nostrum id tentassem, respondit se e v.c. Mathia Slado, Bibliothecae praefecto, intellexisse, id exemplar plagiariorum scelere perij sse. Pereant qui eo genere se infamant" (Ibidem. pp. 509-510).

!)\''TRODUCTION, lvl."NUSCRIPT 21

City Library of 161is. So is it too rash to suggest that he at one time or another donated his manuscript of the Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the True Emperor to the

Amsterdam City Library?

48 See De la Fontaine, City Library, pp. 185-188.

n TIIE ORACLES OF LEO AND THE TALE OF THE 1RUE EMPEROR

The present diplomatic edition is based on a splendidly illuminated manuscript at

the University Library of Amsterdam. VI E 8 (s. XVI ex.), which contains two prophetic

texts, the so~alled Oracles of Leo and the anonymous Tale of the True Emperor!. These two texts can be found in a great number of manuscripts dating from the si,,1:eenth

centwy. all of which present the Tale afthe Tnle Emperor as an annex to the Oracles q{

Le02• Since the present edition is based on one manuscript only, it may seem foolish to

draw fim1 conclusions without taking into account the whole manuscript tradition.

However, as a number of manuscripts have already been edited properly3. and as there

are several excellent studies of 'the Byzantine apocalyptic tradition' (to use the tenn

coined by Alexander)4, it is not premature, we think, to propose at least some tentative

interpretations and to suggest a possible date for most of the prophetic material found in

the Amsterdam manuscript.

Although the so~alled Oracles of Leo are doubtless as Byzantine as Byzantine can

be, it is rather surprising that none of the many manuscripts that contain the texts date

from before 1453. The Oracles appear to have become popular only when the Byzantine

empire was a tiling of the past and there was little chance of an emperor ever again as­

cending the throne of Byzantium. As the Ottoman armies marched through the Balkans

and gained supremacy in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. conquering island after

island, tlle orthodox population as well as the rest of Europe (in particular, Venice and

its colonies) dreamt of the day that the Muslim hordes would be defeated and the do-

1 In the cditio princeps (Lambecius. Oracula 1655), based upon the same manuscript, P. Lambeck invented the following title for the text: 'Av(JlvUf.lo"U napcicppacrte; "trov "tou ~acrtA£rIle; AEOV"tOe; XPllcr,.uov. But as Alexander, ApocaZvptic Tradition. pp. 130-136, pointed out. it is incorrect to call the text a paraphrase of the Oracles of Leo. Alexander himself opted for the title: "Cento of the True Emperor". because the anonymous author made use of different eschatological sources. However, as all Byzantine prophecies make use of earlier material. it hardly seems fair to single out this particular text as a cento.

2 See Vereecken. Oracles, pp. 30 and 51. 3 Rutgers. Oracula, pp. 467-484 (whether the Dousa manuscript used by Rutgers is

identical to our Amsterdam manuscript. as some people aver, is still sub iudice). Lambecius, Oracula 1655, reprinted in Patrologia Graeca 107, 1130-1140 (for his edition Lambeck used Rutgers' previous edition as well as the Amsterdam manuscript). Bees, Mapf.lap(Jlf.lEvOC; BacrtA-uie;, pp. 219-244y (edition of a ms. in Berlin; Bees also makes use of an early nineteenth-century edition of a Mesolonghi ms. by a certain P. Stephanitzes [inaccessible to us]). Knos. Oracles, pp. 155-180 (edition of a ms. in Stockholm; cf. the review article by Komines. napa1:11P,lcrnc;. pp. 398-412). A. Rigo, Oracula Leonis. Tre manoscritti greco­veneziani degli ora coli attribuiti all' imperatore bizantino Leone jf Saggio (Bod!. Baroc. 170, lvfarc. gr. TIl. 22, Marc. gr. VII. 3). Padua 1988 (inaccessible to us). Vereecken_ Oracles. pp. 92-136 (edition of the so-called Barozzi version). For a thorough description of the illuminated manuscripts. see Kyriakou, XpTJ<5j.loi.

4 Alexander, Apocazvptic Tradition. passim. Bees. Mapllap(Jlf.lEVOe; BacrtA.uic;, passim. Mango. Legend. passim. Vereecken. Oracles. pp. 21-53.

24 IN1RODUCTION. ORI\CLES AND TALE

minion of the Ismaelites would come to an end. There is certainly more to tllis anti­

Islanlic daydreanling than just a combination of fear and nostalgic longing for the glory

that was Byzantium. It is also a patriotic urge to recover what has been lost. Whereas the

Oracles q{ Leo obviously envisage a truly Christian empire. ruled either by good or bad

emperors. the oppressed Greek population imagined tlmt these oracles referred to a se­

quence of bad Turkish sultans, followed at the very end by the reign of the good last

emperor who would liberate them. In other words. the definition of good and bad is no

longer simply a question of religious beliefs and ethics, but of nationality, lliding be­

hind the camouflage of true ortllOdoxy.

To return to the editorial fate of the Oracles of Leo, it is not only strange that all the

manuscripts date from the post-Byzantine period, but also that most nmnuscripts present

exactly the same error as regards the first oracle. As Vereecken pointed out, the manu­

scripts can be divided into two separate groups: the 'conservative' manuscript branch (to

which most nmnuscripts, induding the one in Amsterdam, belong) and the 'Latin'

manuscript branch (to which a few Cretan manuscripts and the earliest Latin translation

belong)'. In the conservative manuscript branch the first oracle not only misses its first

two verses and its accompanying picture. but it is also combined Witll the second oracle,

as if they were one. Since we encounter the same nlistake eveI)"vhere, it follows tlmt all

tlle 'conservative' manuscripts ultimately go back to a common exemplar. But if almost

all manuscripts go back to just one exemplar. the conclusion can only be timt tlle Ora­

cles of Leo, however popular in post-Byzantine times, were hardly known to the Byzan­

tine public at large before 1453. Byzantine historical sources are replete with references to oracles and prophecies pre­

dicting the future of tile empire and the number of years timt each individual ruler would

reign. Apart from the History of Niketas Choniates", none of these sources explicitly

refer to the Oracles of Leo, and they are accordingly of little interest to the present in­

qui I)' . Of some relevance, however, is the fact that according to certain llistorical

sources, illustrated books of oracles circulated during the reigns of Leo V (813-820) and

Andronikos IT Palaiologos (1282-1328( As the figures of these illustrated books of

oracles are described in terms that do not apply to the Oracles of Leo, it is beyond

doubt that the Oracles of Leo present just one example of a probably rich production of

illustrated prophetic books in Byzantium. In certain Latin and Russian sources we fmd

references to prophetic texts, eitllCr discovered by Leo the Wise or attributed to him: but

5 Vereecken, Oracles, pp. 51-53 . " See Niketas Choniates, pp. 41. 10-13: 222, 68; 351, 72; 355. 8-15 and 433, 91-92. 7 See Vereeeken, Oracles, pp. 22 and 24-25.

IN1RODUCTION,ORACLESANDTALE 25

to judge from the descriptions, these ~acnA.oypa4>£ta (,imperial books') belong to the

tradition of the so-called f'isions ofDanier.

All this is 'ben poco'. Except for a few te:>..1s quoted by Niketas Choniates, which are

all taken from oracles 2-5, there is no evidence tlmt tlle Oracles q{ Leo were widely

known in Byzantine times. This is the more surprising as the earliest Latin translation.

the J'aticinia Pontijicum, of the second lmif of the thirteenth century. was quite popular

in the Middle Ages among critics of the papacyq. The earliest nmnuscripts of the Latin

translation of the Oracles of Leo date from the early fourteentll centuI)' and are therefore

considerably older than the Greek nmnuscripts. Taken in conjunction, the above data (the

post-Byzantine date of all the manuscripts and the lack of evidence in Byzantine sources)

strongly suggest that the Oracles of Leo were not known to most Byzantines. In the

light of the Vaticinia Pontijicum, one might even conjecture that the original Greek te:>..1

circulated in Byzantinizing parts of the West (Sicily, Otranto, or Rome itself) and

reached Byzantine territories only when Byzantium no longer existed. Although we are

not art historians, we would like to point out that tlle eagle of the third oracle resembles

the cagle of Frederick II of Sicily and tImt the figure of tlle juvenile head of the fourth

oracle bears an uncanny resemblance to similar portraits in thirteentIl-century Western

European art.

Previous attempts to date the Oracles of Leo have failed because people understanda­

bly thought tlmt tlle corpus forms a coherent whole, and not a compilation of te:>..1S

culled from various sources. But as will be shown below, oracles 1-6 date from shortly

aftcr 815 and oracles 7-10 from the years before and after 1204, wllile oracles 11-15, pre­

dicting the reign of the Last Roman Emperor, cannot be dated with any accuracy.

However, before explaining what is perfectly clear once one understands that tllCre is

no need to assume tImt all the oracles were written in the same period. a few words need

to be said about the question of numbering. The numbering of the oracles is somewlmt

confusing in the llmnuscripts and, consequently, in tlle existing editions. There are tllTCC

problems: oracles 1-2, oracle 3 and oracle 4. In the 'conservative' branch of tlle manu­

script tradition oracles 1 and 2 have been merged into one, wllich is why tile numbering

of thc oracles and the numbering of the texts in the editions no longer correspond. We

cncounter tlle same problem of numbering in the case of oracles 3 and 4, which are both

diptychs. In most nmnuscripts as well as in the existing editions. both of these diptychs

arc presented in the form of two separate texts: 3a and 3b, 4a and 4b; needless to say,

x Sec Mango, Legend. pp. 71-73. " Sec Mango, Legend. p. 62, Vereecken, Oracles, pp. 47-50, and Kyriakou, XPT/<J/1o[, pp. 38-

43.

26 mTRODUCTION.ORACLESANDTALE

this has led to much confusion. To make things worse, the order of 4a and 4b is re­

versed in most manuscripts and. sadly enough.. in all of the editions.

Then there is the additional problem that dle Amsterdam manuscript does not present

oracles 3 through 6 in the right order. The reason is iliat folium 4 (oracle 4a and 4b)

should be in between folium 2 (oracle 3a and 3b) and folium 3 (oracles 5 and 6). but

apparendy. at some point in the history of the manuscript, some librarian accidentally

changed the order of the folia. In the following table. dle first colunm shows the original numbering of the oracles,

dle second the numbering of the texts in the Patr%gia Graeca (= Lambecius. Oracula

1863). and the third the nmnbering of dle te:..1s in our edition of the Amsterdam manu­

script.

Edition in PG Present Edition

oracle I L 1-15 I. 1

oracle 2 L 16-29 1.2

oracle 3 (a+b) II + III II + III

oracle 4 (a+b) V+IV VII + VI

oracle 5 VI N

oracle 6 VII V

oracle 7 VIII VIII

oracle 8 IX IX

oracle 9 X X

oracle 10 XI XI

oracle 11 XII XII

oracle 12 XIII XIII

oracle 13 XIV XIV

oracle 14 XV XV

oracle 15 XVI XVI

Whenever we refer to the oracles, we use the original numbering (in the first column); whenever we refer to the texts themselves, we use the numbering of our edition (in the third

column).

INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE 27

Like all prophetic texts. the Oracles of Leo can be divided into two : authentic pre­

dictions of the future. and fake predictions of events that have already taken place

(vaficinia ex eventu)IO. The authentic predictions are oracles 11 to 15 (nos. XII-A'VI): the

fake predictions arc oraclcs 1-6 (nos. I-VII) and 7-10 (nos. VIn-XI)". Fake predictions

can be dated quite accurately, \'t'hereas authentic predictions cannot. The former can be dated because they obviously refer to historical events: the latter cannot because they are 'wish-prophecies' (to use thc teon coined by Alexander), which express the hopes and

an.xieties of dle author.

The authentic oracles. dlC 'wish-prophecies'. predict dUlt dle true emperor will be revealed at the end of all time. Summoned to leave tile rock he is living in. he will

awaken as if from drunkenness. People will recognize him. although they have never

seen him and thought he was dead. An angel will tell them to look for tIlC true emperor

in the western part of the city, and there dley will find him hidden in a slUldowy rock­

cave. His cave is also called "the dwelling of dle plant". He will proceed naked from his

dwelling place and will be crowned emperor. During his reign.. dle City of seven hills

(Constantinople) will regain its fonner glory and the whole empire will prosper as it did

in the days of yore. TIle emperor wiII guide his people to the heavenly abodes - for he

will be the very embodiment of all that is good. But he will not reign forever. A daIk star wiII appear, and he will be the object of envy . In the last days. tile emperor will

return naked to his rock and will be considered to be dead as he was before. In the end

he will obtain a place in heaven on accollilt of his good deeds, piety and virtuous gov­ernment.

All dris may sound radlCr confusing, but almost all the details of the legend of the

last emperor, as summarized in the above, can be found in numerous other texts that

belong to the Byzantine apocalyptic tradition. As Paul Alexander pointed out in Iris

seminal book on the topic. the Byzantine apocalyptic tradition incorporates many ele­

ments of Judaic. Roman and early Christian eschatological folklore. Alexander also

pointed out that most Byzantine prophecies derived tIlese bits and pieces of eschatology

either from the Apoca~vpse of Pseudo-lvfethodios itself (late 7111 C.) or from its later adap­tations, the so-called Visions of Daniel (8th C. and after). For example. the idea that dle

last emperor will be awakened as if from drunkenness or even the sleep of death, ulti-

\0 See P. Alexander. 'Medieval Apocalypses as Historical Sources' , American Historical Review 73 (1968), pp. 997-1018 (repr. in: idem. Religious llnd Historical Thought in the Byzlliltine Empire . London 1978, no. XIII).

11 See Vereecken. Oracles. pp. 34 and 39-41.

28 ThITRODUCTION.ORACLESANDTALE

mately goes back to the Greek tnmslation of Pseudo-Methodios' Apoca~vpse (originally written in Syriac (.

Almost all the details pertaining to the last emperor's reign which we fmd in the last

five oracles can be traced back to Pseudo-Methodios and the Visions of Daniel. How­

ever, the belief that he dwelled in a rocky or stony environment (n:£1:pa) before his mi­

raculous resuscitation, appears to be a truly Byzantine innovation, for which there is no

precedent in Pseudo-Methodios or the T'isions of Daniel. It eventually leads to the post­

Byzantine myth of the llapllaproll£vo,; pacrtAta.; ('the enmarl>led emperor't. However,

since traces of this myth can already be discovered in German medieval sagas that go

back to Byzantine sourcesl~. it is beyond doubt that the belief in the enmaIbled emperor

dales from well before 1453. The Oracles of Leo are probably the earliest Byzantine

source to refer to tIns mythl5.

The Tale of the True Emperor, too, seems to indicate that the last emperor is petri­

fied. for it states that he "lives inside the Tetrapylon, towards the coldest part of the

Sigma and at the southern seaside" (lines 76-77), prior to the moment of his being dis­

coyered by the people and Ins being anointed by God above.

The Sigma was a senricircular portico on the triumphal way that led from the

Theodosian Golden Gate to the city walls of Constantinel6. The Tetrapylon is men­

tioned in the Patria (Freger, Scriptores, p. 181). where we read that emperor Zeno built

it and that once (when?) it was used as a place where the imperial fanrily bewailed the

dead emperor, when his corpse was brought to the church of the Holy Apostles (which.

looking at a map of Constantinople. makes no sense/ 7; but despite all tins nonsense, it

is worth noting that there appears to be a connection between the Tetrapylon and a dead

emperor. because tIle Tale e".-plicitIy states that people tIlOught of the last emperor as a

dead man.. although he was living in tile Tetrapylon. The Tale of the True Emperor con­

tains many topographical details that are difficult to locate. "A female charioteer stands

I~ See Alexander, Apocalyptic Tradition, pp. 153-155. For the Greek text of Ps. Methodios, sec the recent edition by W.J. Aerts and GAA. Kortekaas. Die Apokalypse des Pseudo­,\ /el/lOdius. Die iiltesten griechischen und lateinischen Ubersetzungen. Louvain 1998.

n Sec Bees, MapJlapcoJJivo<; BacrtA.uI<;. pp. 244f-244A.<;'. II Sec P. Alexander, 'Byzantium and the Migration of Literary Works and Motifs: the Legend

orlhe Last Roman Emperor', ,\4edievalia et Hlimanistica 2 (1971). pp. 47-68 (repr. in: idem, Religious alld Historical Thought in the Byzantine Empire. London 1978, no. XII). I' The myth was already in the making at the time of the composition of the Patria, where we

olien read stories about emperors who. prior to their elevation to the throne. lived in one of Constantinople's monuments, which served as landmarks charting the eschatological topography of the city. See G. Dagron, Constantinople imaginaire. Etudes sur Ie reclleil des "Pa/ria». Paris 1984, pp. 318-330, esp. p. 322.

10 See Mango. Triumphal Way. pp. 173-188. esp. p. 180. I" See A. Berger. Untersuchungen Zll dell Parria Konstantinupoleos. Bonn 1988. pp. 358-

359 (see also p. 353). and Mango, Triumphal Way. p. 175 and n. 19.

INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE 29

before his tabernacle and holds a crown.. loudly acclainring tile fortune of the chosen em­peror" (lines 83-84) - probably the Nike holding a crown.. placed on top of the Golden

Gate (Preger, Scrip/ores, p. 183), but in tIle Tale there appears to be some confusion

WitIl the statue of the female charioteer in the Hippodrome (Preger, ,)'criptores, p. 196).

In lines 85-90 we read that tIlere is a shrine of Christ in front of the Tetrapy]on.. with

reliefs on the outside depicting the military feats of the last emperor: perhaps tIns is a

reference to the sculptural decoration of the Golden Gate. which, according to the Patria

(Preger, Scriptores, p. 183), "conveyed much knowledge (of the future) to those skilled

(in interpreting such matters),,18. Lines 91-95 refer to a torrential flood. at the left side of

tIle last emperor's abode, which poured out into the sea at the southern sea-walls - pos­

sibly indicating the Lykos river. but probably referring to tIle myth that the XylokeIkos

gate was built to stop the water from flooding in (Preger, Scriptores. p. 259). In lines

79-80 'rve read that when the emperor wiII "come out of the Golden Gate and the Xy-

10keIkos Gate", tIlere will be an end to all wrongs. TIns appears to indicate that he is

living near the Theodosian walls. in the soutIl-western part of the city, as also indicated

by the fact tIlat "he wiII be revealed ( ... ) in the days of the soutIl-westerIy wind (Lips)" (lines 6_7)19. "On the right iliere is a wide, paved road with polished. square stones"

(lines 81-83): tIns is probably tIle triumphal way leading from the Golden Gate to the

centre of tIle city. Taken in conjunction.. all these topographical details make little sense.

but there can be hardly any doubt tImt the last emperor lives either in the Golden Gate

itself or somewhere close to tlris landmark20• The problem is that the autIlor of tIle Tale

made use of several earlier sources, which described tIle topography of the region stretch­

ing from the Golden Gate to the walls of Constantine in various. sometimes contradic­

tory tenns. The Tetrapylon Inay have been the Golden Gate of Theodosios (as we are

inclined to drink), the Golden Gate of Constantine (as Mango assumes)21, or some

monument lying in between those two golden gates. In the Oracles of Leo oem, 8) we

read that the angel tells the Byzantine people to look for the last emperor in tIle western

part of the city: that is, in the same region where the Tale locates the whereabouts of tIle last emperor.

In fact, there are many striking sinrilarities between the Oracles of Leo and tIle Tale

of the True Emperor, but as Alexander already argued, none of these sinnlarities justifY

18 See Mango, Triumphal Way, pp. 183-186. 19 For the eschatological connotations of Lips. see Theophanes Continuatus. p. 371, 12-18.

and Alexander. Apoca~vpric Tradition. p. 132. n. 12. 20 It can hardly be a coincidence that the Life of Basil (Theophanes Continuatus, p. 223. 5 -

p. 224. 20) states that Basil L the poor peasant who was to become emperor. entered the city through the Golden Gate, fell asleep in the porch of the nearby monastery of St. Diomedes, and was revealed as the emperor elect during that night by God above. Nor is it purely coincidental that this part of the city is called Jerusalem.

21 See above. footnote 16.

30 TN1RODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE

the hypothesis tlmt one of these hvo te~is imitates the otllern . Both tehis go back to a

centuries-old Byzantine tradition. The common source from which they derive their in­

formation concerning the last emperor has apparently been lost. However. it is reason­

able to assume tlmt tlns source presented the events of the last days more or less in the

same manner as Pseudo-Methodios. but added the folkloristic detail that the last em­

peror would be enmarbled or at least would live inside a cave or a monument.

The main difference behveen the hvo te~i.s is that the Oracles of Leo clearly state that

the last emperor. however pious he may be. will not reign for ever, but will be removed

from office at the end of all time. whereas the Tale of the True Emperor does not envis­

age such a sad end for tlle last emperor. In the Byzantine apocalyptic tradition the reign

of the last and true emperor is inevitably followed by 11mt of the Antichrist, who will

rule in his stead. Wlnle the Oracles of Leo obviously hint at the reign of Antichrist by

suggesting that the last emperor will fall victim to the powers of evil envy, ilie Tale of

the True Emperor ends wiili a cheerful description of his glorious and pious reign. The

latter text stops right at ilie moment the Antichrist usually makes his appearance - it

describes the worldly state of affairs at the end of time, but not its cosmic aftermath. tlle

struggle between good and evil. This does not mean that the source used by the anony­

mous writer of tlle Tale had nothing to tell about the reign of Antichrist. It simply

means that the author (or perhaps ilie scribe of the manuscripe3) was not particularly

interested in the last stage of eschatological events, but instead focussed on the second

last stage of things to come, the reign of tlle true emperor. Since the anonymous author

explicitly writes tlmt the last emperor will reign "at the end of (the dominion of) the

Ismaelites" (line 6), his treatise should be regarded as ilie prophecy of someone living in

tenitories occupied by the Ottomans. In oilier words, the auilior is not interested in

eschatology as such. but rather in its pohtical implications, being the renaissance of

Byzantimn and ilie establishment of a truly orthodox empire.

Although 'wish-prophecies' cannot be dated accurately, they may provide some clues

as to their date of composition. Taking into account the fact tlmt all manuscripts of the

Tale of the True Emperor date from the post-Byzantine period. we would say tlmt the

prophecy of the regeneration of the Byzantine empire makes more sense after 1453 tlmn

before this ominous year. As for the last five texts of ilie Oracles of Leo, it ~s worth

noting tlmt oracle 12 states tlmt the City of seven hills (Constantinople) will regain its

autllority once the last emperor will be installed: Kat 1taAt v £/;£1.<;, E1t1:aA.oq,£, 'to

Kpa'toc; (XIII, 13). This seems to indicate that this oracle was written when there was not

a Byzantine emperor residing on the imperial throne in Constantinople. And if this sup-

22 See Alexander. Apocalyptic Tradition , pp. 131 -133. 23 The text ends rather abruptly in the Amsterdam manuscript. It would be interesting to

know ho\" the Tale ends in the other manuscripts.

INlRODUCTION, ORACLES AND T . .'\LE 31

position is correct. the only possible date would be 1204-1261. given tlle fact iliat the

oracles date from before the second half of the thirteenth centUIY (the date of the earliest

Latin translation).

Since oracles 9 and 10 eX and XI) are in prose. many scholars assume that they are

an interpolation2~ . The ternl 'interpolation' obviously implies that the other oracles be­

long together and form a single unitary composition. But is this really the case? It is

fairly easy to recognize two independent groups of oracles, namely nos. 11-15 (treated

above) and nos . 1-6 (which shall be discussed below). Between these two series of ora­

cles there are four prophetic texts (nos. 7-10). The last two tehis differ from the rest

because they are not in verse. The first two te~1s, nos. 7-8 (VIII-IX), are in verse. but

differ strongly from the other oracles2s. Oracle 8 is the only te~i written in the past tense

- which is of course rather unusual for a prophetic te:\.1. Oracle 7 is composed in poetic

diction and lnghbrow style - in slmrp contrast to the other oracles, winch may be diffi­

cult to interpret but winch make use of common language and exlnbit a plain,

unadorned style. The author of oracle 7 did not rely entirely on his own poetic skills.

but borrowed several phrases from Lycophron26. Of course, Lycophron's bizarre poem.

Alexandra. is ilie right place to search for dignified eh-pressions when one composes a

prophetic te:\.1 in ilie grand style. But it is worth noting that Lycophron became a popu­

lar author in the Byzantine school cuniculum only in the twelfth century. when John

Tzetzes composed a learned commentary on the poem and when the anonymous author

of the Christus Paliens plagiarized Lycophron in his biblical play.

As oracle 7 is the only oracle in which we find obvious literary reminiscences. it is

beyond doubt that its author did not write the other texts attributed to Leo ilie Wise. As

oracle 8 is remarkable for its use of the past tense. it will have been written by yet an­otller author. And as oracles 9 and 10 are in prose. it is Inghly likely that they were

composed by a tInrd author. But if it is true tlmt all texts in the middle part of tlte Ora­

cles of Leo were composed by different authors, there is no longer any reason to believe

tlmt this collection of oracles constitutes a self-contained unity. And where iliere is no

unity. there can be no 'interpolations'. Instead of tlnnking in terms of integrated unity

and disintegrating interpolations, we should question tlle notion tImt ilie collection tlmt

goes under the name of Leo VI was composed by just one single author and at just one

specific moment in time. In fact, it is a compilation . It is a compilation of oracles.

2~ See Mango. Legend, p. 60: Komines, napa1:llPlloctl.;. p. 399: Vereecken. Oracles, p. 4l. ~~ See Vereecken, Oracles. pp. 40-41 . 26 Alexandra. v. 304 OiK'tPOV yap, OlK'tPOV KetV' £1t6",o~at q,ao;; (cf VIII, v. 2); v. 415

vi]ple~Ol.; Ea~6l.; (cf. VIII, v. 6): VV . 81-82 AOlaeiav .I ( ... ) IlOtpav 1tPOUJ.4.ultOlV OEOoPKO'tel.; (cf VIII, v. 10); and v. 154 aaaPKa Illcr'tUA.acra (cf. VIII. v. 14).

32 INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE

which some anonymous scholar culled from various sources. Since the ninth oracle (no.

X) e~:plicitly refers to the fall of the city in 1204 and since none of the oracles appear to

refer to the recapture of the city in 1261. the anonymous compilator must have been ac­

tive during the years of tile Niccne exile.

Oracle 7 (VIII) says that tile city will witness a terrible civil war when tile letter

Kappa will have ruled for a long time. The letter Kappa stands for the Komnenoi, and

the civil war is tile long period of internal strive and bloodshed, which took place be­

hveen the death of Manuel I, the last great ruler of the Comnenian dynasty, and tile

capture of the city by the crusaders in 1204. The "five choicest of the empire" will do

terrible things. These are tile five emperors who reigned between 1180 and 1204. Oracle

8 (IX) alludes to an old emperor, a fox-like hypocrite. who \\'on tile throne after having

gone twice (as an exile?) to the "islands of the seven tables" 0). This emperor assumed

power during the period of the civil wars when no one e~l>ected him to succeed in grasp­

ing the tllfone for himself. The only two old emperors in this period are Andronikos I

Kom.nenos (1183-85) and Isaac II Angelos. during his second reign (1203-04). Oracle 9

(X) states that the city will fall when tile twentieth number (= the numeral value of the

letter Kappa) will be acclaimed along its walls. The faII of the city will bring about tile

coming of Antichrist, tile emperor "with the sickle-shaped fingers", whose reign will be

an abOlnination to God. The Antichrist is Baldwin of Flanders. the first Latin ruler of

Constantinople. The letter Kappa once again stands for the Komnenoi, but in this case it

indicates the Angeloi who were closely related to the Komnenoi. Oracle 10 (XI) prophe­

sies that the reign of Emperor Isaac (= Isaac II Angelos, 1203~4) will bring about a

temporary cessation of bloodshed. and that the patriarch, John (= Jolm X Kantateros,

1198-1206). will loose his dignity as a willing accomplice to murder. It ends by stating

that the last and true emperor. the anointed one, will be revealed in tllese ominous

times. This may be an oblique reference to Theodore I Laskaris at Nicaea (1205-1221) or

one of tile rival emperors in Epirus or Trebizond.

The History of Niketas Choniates is an invaluable source of infonnation for the text

and tile interpretation of tile first series of oracles, nos. 1-6. Choniates quotes tile text of

oracle 5 in full, and quotes a few verses from other oracles27. He alludes to oracle 4 in a

passage about the superstitious beliefs of Isaac II. who used to say that a reign of nine

years had been originally allotted to Andronikos, but that the latter' s misdeeds had re-

27 For the text of oracle 5 (no. IV in our edition), see Niketas Choniates. p. 355, 9-15. For the fragments, see Niketas Choniates. pp. 41. 12-13 (= no. 1.2, v. 11). 41 , 10-11 (= no. m. v. 7). 222. 68 (= no. III, v. 6), and 35 L 72 (= no. VI, v. 6).

frITRODUCTION. ORACLESANDTALE 33

duced this span to three years. tile remainder llaving accrued to himself8. Choniates also

describes an image of Andronikos in the church of tile Forty Martyrs. which represented

tile emperor as a peasant. clad in black and holding a scythe. the curve of which enclosed

too bust of a youth: he states that Andronikos thus wished to let the world know that he

had killed young Alexios Komnenos. his predecessor on the throne29. This singular por­

trait is similar to the original pictorial composition of oracle 4, which is divided into

two in the manuscript tradition, but actually fornls just one text (VII and VI). Since

oracle 4 is divided into two texts in the manuscripts that llave come down to us, the

pictorial composition is also divided into 1\\'0, showing first a juvenile head and tllen an

emperor bearing a scythe in his right ltand. There can be little doubt, however. that when

oracle 4 llad not yet been divided into 1\vo. the accompanying image must have showed

a scythe-bearing emperor and the head of a young man. And this image. in its tum

must llave closely resembled tile portrait of Andronikos as described by Choniates.

Choniates' infonnation on tile portrait of emperor Andronikos is very useful, because

it proves that we are justified in relying on tile numbering of the oracles that we find in

the te~1:s themselves. In the second oracle (\.2). we read: "The second (symbol) is a

child, another beast" . In the tltird oracle (II and III), we read that "the tItird (symbol) is

double", as it consists of a diptych which deals with an eagle holding a cross (no. m and a unicorn (no. III). In the first part of the fourth oracle (VII). \\'e read tItat "this is the

fourth (symbol) running from tile bear": this is the scythe-bearing emperor. who is about

to reap the head of a young man. And in the frfth oracle (IV). we read: "The cow is the

flfth (in line) and the end of the bear-feeder". The next oracle, no. 6 (Y). states: "(TItis

is) another bear. a second cub-feeder". In tItis last oracle. tIle numbering starts anew, but

as it obviously refers to tile cub-feeding bear of oracle 1. there is a connection with ora­

cles 1-5. In none of the otller oracles attributed to Leo the Wise do we find any kind of

numbering, which indicates by itself tIlat oracles 1-6 fonn a prophetic entity in its own

right.

Niketas Choniates only quotes from, or refers to. oracles from series 1-6 - which is

hardly surprising since oracles 7-10, which deal with the catastrophe of 1204. must have

been too modem for his taste, and since oracles 11-15, which deal \Vitll the last emperor,

may have been written when he was already dead and buried. It is worth noting that

Choniates never omits to state that tile oracle he quotes. is either very old (naAai. 'ta'tov

or naAai.41a'tov) or has been circulating from moutll to moutll for a long time. As

Mango rightly sunnises, this implies that the oracles quoted by Niketas Choniates do

not date from the Comnenian age, but were considerably older30• It is also worth noting

28 Niketas Choniates, p. 433. 89-92. cf text no. VI, 9-lO. See Mango, Legend, p. 64. 29 Niketas Choniates. p. 332. 22-34. See Mango, Legend, p. 64. 30 See Mango, Legend, pp. 62-65.

34 IN1RODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE

that Choniates quotes the te,,1 of an oracle "translnitted orally and in manuscript", which

does not belong to the Oracles of Leo3]. This obviously implies that Niketas Choniates

was familiar with more oracles than the ones that go under the name of Leo the Wise.

Interesting is also the fact that Choniates. whenever he discusses these 'old' oracles. does

not attribute these texts to Leo VI. but rather presents them as if they were the products

of ancient and anonymous authors. It cannot be ruled out that oracles 1-6 were already

known as the divinely inspired work of Leo VI in the twelfth century, but the fact that

Choniates is apparentIy not aware of his authorship. strongly suggests tImt oracles 1-6

circulated before 1204 WitIlout any explicit ascription to Leo tIle Wise32.

Oracles 1-6 deal with a series of rulers, characterized as either bad or good. As tIley

contain references to historical events, they are not real prophecies. but so-called

vaticinia ex el'entu. There are two interesting parallels to this series of imperial prophe­

cies after tIle event. In his account of his embassy to Constantinople in 968, Liutprand

of Cremona discusses a prophetic book, entitled the r'ision of Daniel, which circulated

among the Byzantines and tile Arabs, and which predicted a succession of capable and

less capable emperors, and their successes or failures in dealing with the enemy. It pre­

dicted tImt "at tile time of this Nikephoros (Phokas) tlle Assyrians (= the Arabs) would

be unable to resist the Greeks", and that "he would live no longer than seven years".

After his death, however, "an emperor much worse and much less warlike than he would

arise, during whose reign tIle Assyrians would prevail and occupy all the lands as far as

Chalcedon,,33. We can be certain tlmt the prophetic book Liutprand describes did not

mention Nikephoros Phokas by name, but referred to his reign in terms so clear that all

its readers immediately recognized who tile just emperor was. We do not know what the

book lmd to tell about Nikephoros' predecessors on the throne, but it is reasonable to

assume tImt they were characterized as less capable and morally more suspect than Ni­

kephoros Phokas, the last just ruler. during whose reign tIle Byzantine empire would

reach its apogee. But as good tlrings never last, the just ruler would reign only shortly

(seven years is not very long) and would be succeeded by a bad emperor. In tile Oracles

of Leo we fmd the same sequence of events. The fIrst four oracles describe the reigns of

four emperors who are eitiler wicked or blatantly incompetent. The fIfth oracle deals with

tile just emperor and how the empire will prosper because of Iris just rulership. but it

predicts that he will not reign for long. The sixtll and last oracle warns tlle Byzantines

that the just ruler will be succeeded by a weak emperor who is the Antichrist.

3] Niketas Choniates, p. 353, 37 - p. 354,44. 32 For the myth of Leo the Wise, see Mango, Legend. passim. 33 See Alexander, ApocaZvptic Tradition, pp. 96-98. and W. Brandes, 'Liudprand von

Cremona (Legatio Cap. 39-41) und eine bisher unbeachtete west-ostliche Korrespondenz tiber die Bedeutung des lahres 1000 AD.'. Byzantinische Zeitschrift 93 (2000), pp. 435-463, esp. at pp. 439-446.

INTRODUCTION, ORACLES ANTI T.tu.E 35

The second te,,1 describing a historical sequence of bad and good emperors is also

entitled Vision of Daniel. The te,,1 has come down to us in a Slavonic translation. It

was composed in Sicily between 827 and 82934. In chapters 2 and 3 of this text, an an­

gel instructs tIle prophet Daniel about the future of mankind. Wlrile the third chapter

alludes to signifIcant events tImt are yet to happen., the second chapter clearly refers to

political events that have already taken place. First there are tIle four "scepters" of the

Isaurian dynasty: Leo III and Constantine V, Artabasdos, Leo IV, and Irene and

Constantine VI. Then there are the six "horns": Empress Irene (her sole reign after the

blinding of her son), Nikephoros I. Staurakios. Michael!, Leo V. and Miclmel II and Iris

son Theoplrilos. All these emperors are described in unmistakable terms: Irene blinded

and killed her son; Nikephoros descended from an Arab family and fought strenuously

against the Bulgarians, fIrst defeating them and then defeated himself; Staurakios was

Iris son and only ruled for a short period: Michael I bore an angelic name; Leo V ruled

for seven years; and Michael II and Theophilos uttered blasphemy against tile Highest

(an obvious reference to their iconoclastic beliefs). Since tile text prophesies that Michael

II will be executed like a common crinrinal (whereas. in fact, he died from a kidney dis­

ease). it is obvious that the te,,1 was written when he was still alive. AItllOugh the

anonymous author fulnrinates against the iconoclasts in the passage about tile Isaurian

dynasty as well as in his vitriolic outburst against Miclmel II, he vituperates Irene for

killing her son and even calls her the "one-breasted woman of Babylon", and he omits to

criticize Leo V for re-introducing iconoclasm. This strongly suggests that, in the passage

about tlle six horns, the iconoplrile autIlOT made use of an iconoclastic source, which

heaped scorn on Irene as the whore of Babylon and presented Leo V in a more favourable

light.

The early nintIl century was a period rife Witll ominous prophecies3s• Apart from the

Slavonic Vision of Daniel, we know that the following apocalyptic texts were published

in tlris period: tIrree iconophile panlphlets predicting the deaths of Leo V, Michael II and

Theophilos. for the composition of which Metilodios (tIle future patriarch) was convicted

in 83 eo; a poem attributed to tIle prophet Bryson and 'predicting' the political upheaval

34 See Alexander, Apoca(l'ptic Tradition. pr. 62-72. 35 For a survey of prophetic and eschatological texts written in early medieval Byzantium.

see W. Brandes, 'Die apokalyptische Literatur'. in: Quellen Zllr Geschichte des friihen Byzanz (4. - 9. Jahrhulldert). Bestalld und Prohleme. eds. F. Winkelmann & W. Brandes. Berlin 1990, pr. 305-322 and 367-370. See also W. Brandes. 'Endzeitvorstellungen und Lebenstrost in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit (7. - 9. lahrhundert)" in: Varia III rJIolld).,a Bv(avnvci 11), eds. W. Brandes et alii. Bonn 1991. pp. 9-62.

36 See 1. Gouillard. 'Une reuvre inedite du patriarche Methode: La vie d' Euthyme de Sardes', Byzantinische ZeitschriJt 53 (1960), pp. 39-41 and 43-45. Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 276-277, suggests that the second pamphlet, the one predicting the death of Michael II, is the original of the Slavonic Vision of Dalliel.

36 IN1RODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE

in Sicily in the late 820S37

: the Apaca~vpse af Leo af Constantinople, which apparentIy dates from the early ninth centUI),38: and an illustrated oracle book that supposedly circu­

lated during the reign of Leo V and 'predicted' his death on Christmas39. As we will

show, the first six Oracles af Leo should be added to this list of early ninth-century

prophetic te:\.1s.

The second oracle predicts that the emperor will be blinded by ravens40. The fourth

oracle predicts that the first letter of the scythe-bearing emperor is a Mu and that the third letter of his name is a Chi: that is to say, his name is M(i)ch(ael)41. In the thou­

sand-year history of Byzantium.. there is only one period in which these two predictions

combined make sense, namely the late eighth and the early ninth century. For only tIlen

do we have an emperor who was blinded and an emperor. second next in line, who was

called Michael: Constantine VI and Michael I Rangabe. Once we understand that tile

first six oracles refer to a sequence of emperors around the year 800, tile inteIpretation of

tIlese seemingly obscure teAis becomes quite easy. It must be said, however, that tIlere

are a number of details, especially the cabbalistic value of proper names, tImt we cannot

explain. But in general. the te:\.1s contain so nmny easily recognizable details dmt it is

hard to understand why no one else was able to recognize them. It is one of the many

Byzantine mysteries. The reason is probably that previous scholars were under the im­

pression that all tile teAis of the Oracles af Leo were composed by just one author.

eitIler Leo the Wise or some anonymous ghostwriter. But. as we e:\.1l1ained above, tile

Oracles af Lea are in fact a compilation.. of the first half of the thirteenth century, which

goes back to several earlier sources, one of which is tile series 1-6. And of course, we

should not confuse the date of tile compilation with the date of its separate parts. In fact

tile series of the oracles 1-6 refers to the following sequence of emperors: Irene.

Constantine VI. Nikephoros I and Staurakios, Michael I, Leo V, and Antichrist.

Let us read backwards. from the coming of Antichrist to the evolving of history as

we know it. In the Byzantine apocalyptic tradition.. the reign of the last true emperor is

inevitably followed by the reign of Antichrist. As the Antichrist is a wicked. but weak

37 Ed. A. Pertusi, Fille di Bisanzio e fine del mondo. Rome 1988. pp. 162-166. 38 Ed. R. Maisano. L' Apocalisse lIpocrifa di Leone di Constantinopoli. Naples 1975: for the

date of the text, see the introduction, pp. 33-41. 39 Theophanes Continuatus, p. 35,20 - p. 36, 7. 40 See 1.2. v. 22 and v. 29. 41 See Vll, 7-8 (r'tOtXe1ov au'to 1tPro1:OV ( ... ) 'to 1l1) 'to mOLXEiov 'to\)1:O ~A£1tE. and 5-6 'to

'tpi:tov (J'tOLXe1ov ,; xcip, Kat. 0pE1taVOV amOrE. The word XEtP obviously refers to the letter Xi. The fact that the third letter stands for death (the scythe), alludes to the allegoric value of the letter Xi as a symbol of the cross (cf. xiacrJ.la and xwcrIlO<;) and. of course, the cross symbolizes death. In VI, 4 we read that "the third letter when duplicated is the first letter": if you join together two chi·s. you can clearly distinguish a mu in the lower half of this combination of letters.

IN1RODUCTION. ORACLES ANTI TALE 37

emperor. his reign leads to the division of tile empire into ten scepters42• In oracle 6 (no.

V). vv. 6-7. we read that "crowns (a'tEqlTl) encircling the sun at both sides bring about a

division of dle whole state". As God takes mercy on fallen mankind, he arranges that

time will be shortened and will not run its normal course as dictated by the rules of na­ture.lest men suffer for too long43

• In v. 4, we read tImt "the natural movement of time

is aborted". We furthermore read that all this "is to take place at the end of all time" (v.

5). The si:\.ih oracle. then, obviously refers to the reign of Antichrist.

Tile fiftll oracle (no. IV) refers to the reign of the last true emperor, as also indicated

by the cynical remarks of Niketas Choniates. who makes fun of Isaac II Angelos' preten­

sions tImt he was supposedly the "bovine emperor" who would reign at the end of all

time 44. What Choniates found so hilarious was that an emperor as incompetent as Isaac

could drink tllat he of all people could pretend to be the last emperor. But tIlat is of

course mere hindsight. As Isaac did not know what Choniates knew at the time of writ­

ing, nanlely that the city would fall and the Byzantine empire would collapse, it is a bit

unfair to criticize him for identifying himself with the last emperor. However. far more

important than this futile question, is the fact that Isaac correctly inteIpreted the oracle

about the bull-shaped figure as a prediction of the coming of the last and true emperor.

The teAi itself makes abundantIy clear dmt Isaac's inteIpretation is correct. In v. 9 it is

stated tllat "you. 0 mightiest, left the realms of the dead". In the apocalyptic tradition of

the Byzantines45• we read time and again that the last emperor will be awakened as from

death and that when he arises people will drink he is dead altIlough he is only asleep. In

v. 10 we read that "you shall enjoy the power for a short while". All of the prophetic

teAis in Byzantium explicitIy state tllat the last emperor. however pious and just. will

reign for a short period only. Moreover, tile virtues of the last emperor are underlined in

vv. 5-6, "you possess the cardinal virtues more tIlaO others do, and chasten your loved

ones by being moderate". And his truly imperial virtues are hinted at in v. 8: "as you

alone are brought up from tile glory of the palace". TIris is why he will "receive a most

worthy end" (v. 7). In contrast to oracles 1-4, the fifth oracle does not contain any refer­

ence to well-known historical events. TIris is because it is not a prophecy after the event

but a 'wish-prophecy', wlrich was composed during tile reign of Leo V. The fourth oracle consists of two texts (nos. VII and VI). This is tile oracle prognos­

ticating tImt the fourth emperor shall be called M(L)x(aitA), Michael. As his name begins

42 See Alexander. Apoca~vplic Traditiol/. p. 204 and n. 50. The idea that the reign of Antichrist will bring about the division of the empire into ten scepters, goes back to Daniel 7: 20-24 and Revelatioll 17: 12-16.

43 See Alexander, Apocll~vptic Tradition, pp. 209-210. 44 Niketas Choniates. p. 355, 3-18 and p. 433. 89-9. On the figure of the bovine emperor in

Byzantine prophecies. see P. Magdalino, 'Une prophetie inedite des environs de ran 965 attribuee Ii Leon Ie Philosophe', TravlIux et ANTI/aires 14 (2002), pp. 391-402.

45 See Alexander. Apocalyptic Traditioll, pp. 151-184.

38 ThITRODUCTION.ORACLESA~~TALE

with 'to 1111 (='to Jl'u). it indicates that the reign of the fourth emperor will be

characterized by 'tOlllJ, "cutting": he will "assume power in order to cut young verdure"

(cOl;; T£/1V£lV TItv XAOTJV). This is why the emperor bears a scythe. As we explained

above. the original pictorial composition of the fourth oracle showed a scythe-bearing

emperor and the head of a young man. The oracle symbolically refers to tIus young man

by stating that the emperor will "cut young verdure" (VII. 9) and will "cut off a rose"

(VII, 4). In Byzantine epitaphs to young men., we usually read that tile deceased was

harvested before his time by scythe-bearing Death, who reaped him like a rose or cut

him like the green grass. In VII. vv. 9-10, it is said that "having assumed power in order

to cut young verdure. he (tlle scytlle-bearing emperor) will not spare you. who remain

true to (imperial) autIlOrity". Tlus indicates tImt the young man., whom the scythe-bearer

will cut to pieces, is an emperor himself. an emperor more loyal to the ideals of just

rulership and more worthy to reign than the usurper who takes his place. Since tile

scytIle-bearing emperor is Michael I, it goes witllout saying tllat tlle young man must be

his predecessor. Staurakios. who reigned for a couple of montlls. Staurakios Imd been

severely wounded in combat, fighting at tlle side of his father Nikephoros. and died six

months later. of a gruesome putrefaction in his wound. Although Iris death was probably

inevitable. a rumour circulated tImt Staurakios was being poisoned by his sister

Prokopia, who was married to Michael I. Taking into consideration tIle fact that

Staurakios planned to have his brotller-in-Iaw removed, it is reasonable to assume tI13t

Staurakios hinlSelf was under tIle impression tllat lle was tlle victim of an attempt on his

life40• As the anonymous author of the oracle states tImt tlle young lllan (Staurakios) was

put to death by the scythe-bearer (Michael I). he appears to share Staurakios' suspicions

and to lend credence to tIle fUllIOur that there was some sinister assassination plot. In VI,

v. 5. we read: "Tile things that were once united have separated". Our oracular autIlOr

means to say by this that tlle family ties between Staurakios and Michael I had been

severed by tlle assassination plot and the subsequent murder. In vv. 6-7. we read tI13t

only four months would pass until tlle scythe-bearer would kill "the choicest by tlle

sword". In fact, the exact number is three montIlS and nine days. for Michael I assumed

power on October 2, 811, and Staurakios died on January 11. 812. As for vv. 9-10,

"having lived three times three life-cycles, old man, go to Hades. leaving two in tlle

middle", Niketas Choniates' interpretation of these obscure verses (see above) leave no

doubt that he thought it meant tllat a reign of nine years had been allotted to the scytlle­

bearer, but that his nrisdeeds Imd reduced tIris span to two years, the remainder having

been accrued to the last true emperor (Leo V). Micl13el I indeed ruled only for two years.

What Michael I's nrisdeeds are, is stated in v. 8: "for a short while you will erect

temples for idols". Michael I is known for Ius support to the iconophile faction and for

46 See Treadgold. Byzalltine Revival, pp. 174-177 and 412, n. 239.

INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE 39

his munificence to religious institutions. monasteries and churches. Seeing tllat our

oracular source clearly presents Michael's idolatry as the main reason why God was an­

gry with him and allowed him to reign only "for a short while". it is beyond doubt that

its author was an iconoclast.

The tllird oracle is a diptych, consisting of te:\.1s II and III. It deals WitIl a cross­

bearing eagle and a hom-bearing horse «(na'Upouxo~ Opvt~ and tTmOs lCepampopog.

These two symbols stand for the co-reign of Nikephoros I and Iris son Staurakios.

Staurakios is obviously the cnavpoVxo~ Opvt~. and Nikephoros tIle 'innos K£pa(}(p6po~

(tIle hom lCEpaS, is a well-known symbol of victory, VilCTJ). In II, v. 5 we read tImt the

first letter of tile name of Staurakios is the same as its last: namely. sigma47

• In v. 1 L

where we read that he ascended to power from the soutI1, there is an oblique reference to

the fact tImt the family of Nikephoros and Staurakios descended from tIle Arab dynasty

of the Ghassanids48• And in vv. 12-13, it is stated tImt he will come to an end on a

horse with a horn, when the morning star will be high in tile sky. The battle against the

Bulgarians, in which Nikephoros died and Staurakios was so severely wounded that he

was forced to abdicate, took place in tIle early hours, before and after da\"n., of July 25,

811. In v. 4 it is said tImt tIle emperor was passionate, bold and lascivious. Staurakios

was certainly passionate and bold. but none of our sources inform us that he was particu­

larly lascivious unless the author of the oracle believed that it was not the father, but the

son who raped two girls on the occasion of his wedding49. In v. 10, however, we read

that Staurakios was "tlle nrightiest of the birds" (the eagle, the symbol of the Byzantine

empire) and "tlle only emperor"; and in v. 9 we read tllat he "will reign in the sign of the

cross" (wlrich is once again an obvious reference to his name). In the light of oracle 4,

where Michael I is openly criticized for killing Staurakios and usurping power, this is of

course an explicit compliment to Staurakios and his imperial qualities, and an implicit

condemnation of Michael, tIle usurper. In the second part of tlle diptych, which deals

with Nikephoros (no. III), we read that he was "a descendant of Byza" (v. 3): although

his family was of Arab origin., tIley had been living in Constantinople for ages and Ni­

kephoros lrimself was a trusted adnrinistrator of the empire. working in a Constantino­

politan environment. It is also said tImt he was "ready for combat" (v. 3). which is

certainly true of Nikephoros WllO was always fighting somewhere in the few years that

he swayed the scepter over the Byzantine empire. Nikephoros is criticized for "closing

his ears" to good advice and for "whinnying (like a horse) without the reins of friend-

47 The verse reads: "having the unit (=Ietter) as his beginning and his end". The Komnenoi assumed that this prophecy predicted the reign of their dynasty, because the first letters of their respective names formed the word AlMA which begins and ends with the same letter, alpha. See Mango. Legend, p. 63.

48 See Alexander. Apoca~vplic Tradition, p. 66, n. 21. 4~ Theophanes, Chronographia. p. 483.

40 Th~ODUCTION.ORACLESANDTALE

ship" (vv. 4-5): that is to say, he acted on his own.. without listening to his friends. TIle

oracle predicts that the last part (syllable) of his name will prevail over him (v. 6)50: -

po.;. which stands for ·proC;. The Rhos are the foul tribes of Gog and Magog (cf. Ezek.

38,2 and 39.1) that will cause havoc at the end of all time; but it cannot be filled that

the Rus' are meant, the Viking warriors of southern Russia. When the Bulgarians were

utterly defeated by the Byzantine army in early 81 L their khan appealed to other tribes

and nations for help, and with the assistance of these mercenaries he succeeded in annihi­

lating the troops of Nikephoros. Were the belligerent Rus' perhaps one of the khan's

allies participating in the battIe that would lead to tIle death of Nikephoros? The oracle

furthennore predicts that Nikephoros "will une>.:pectedly fall in a wet place" (v. 7). As

we know from historical sources, the Byzantine anny had been entrapped in a narrow

valley in the mountains. through which a river flowed. When the Bulgarians and their

allies attacked, Nikephoros and his anny tried to escape and fled to the marshy river­

sides. where they tumbled in on top of each other, drowning. suffocating, and being

tnllnplcd under foot while those sUIviving were butchered by the enemy. And it is here,

in this wet place, that emperor Nikephoros died among his soldiers. In the next line (v.

8). we read that "the beginning and tIle end (of Nikephoros) is a hom". The beginning is

his dominion.. his military prowess and his victories (Iris lCEpac;). The end is his sad

death at the hands of tIle Bulgarian khan.. Krum, who turned his skull into a drinking­hom (a lCEpac;), which he used to drink the health of Iris allies,l.

As stated above, the second oracle (no. 1.2) deals WitIl Constantine VI. It begins as

follows: "The second (symbol) is a child [that is, of tIle she-bear, Irene]. artotller beast

Ithat is. a flying snake,2]". In tIle ne>..i t1lree verses it is said that "the serpent flying to

the south. immersed in black, and entirely black himself, (will be) horribly deprived of

the light (in his eyes) by ravens" (vv. 20-22). TIris is of course an obvious reference to

the blinding, and subsequent deatIl, of Constantine VI. He is totally black, not only

because he has lost his eyesight, but also because, as Theophanes infonns us, "the sun

was darkened for seventeen days and did not emit its rays" after Iris blinding53• He is

metaphorically said to be "flying to the south", because when he realized tImt his life

was in danger. he embarked on his imperial galley and sailed across tile Sea of Marmora

to Pylae. intending to seek refuge in the Anatolic theme: tImt is, taking Constantinople

.'0 cr. Niketas Choniates, p. 222, 66-70, who interpreted this verse as a prediction of the number of years that Manuel would reign, namely 38 years. the last syllable of his name being 11i,.

'il For all the historical infonnation in the above, see Treadgold, Byza1lline ReVival, pp. 127-174.

52 For the flying snake as a symbol of evil, see the passage in the Chronicle of George the Monk (cd. de Boor, p. 750. 15-18) in which he inveighs against Constantine V and calls him an 6.pu; 1tE"tO)J£VOC;.

,3 Theophanes. Chronicle, p. 649.

INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE 41

as the starting-point of his itinerary. he was clearly heading for the south. The ravens are

the disloyal and dishonest courtiers. Staurakios, Aetios, and otIler confidants of Irene.

who were involved in the conspiracy against Constantine VI. The raven is not only no­

torious for its greed, disloyalty and impiety5j, but is also known as a flatterer. a fawning

courtiers,. It also symbolizes death. of course. In the next verses we read tImt the snake

descended from an evil family conring from the East (v. 23): tIle Isaurians. Constantine

VI. tIle snake, will "throw lrimself and the city into disarray" (v. 24) - which is, per­

haps. a reference to his adulterous bigamy which led to considerable controversy, or to

his notoriously bad relations with his motIler which led to much unrest at court and in

the military. "And spring (will convey) your lamentations to the summer" (v. 25). In the

spring of 797. Constantine's son. the offspring of his adulterous wedlock. died at tIle

tender age of seven months, and the emperor "wept bitterly over him". as Theophanes

tells us. The death of Constantine' s 'bastard' son.. ilie heir to tIle throne. was a shock to

his fatller and a sign to others iliat tIrings were going awry and that the future looked

bleak for Constantine. Indeed, as it turned out. emperor Constantine VI was ousted from

power only a few months after tIris ominous portent, during the smmner. The next three

lines (vv. 26-28) are difficult to interpret. The (numeral?) figures of the letters predict

when "your end [death] will (be shown to) be inferior to iliat of your fatl1er": this is the

sort of higher Kabbala we are not trained in. "You alone are tIle wretched serpent, the

destroyer of the bear". Of course, Constantine VI did not kill the she-bear, Irene, but

instead fell victim to her wicked and devious plots. Is this perhaps an oblique reference

to the rumours that Irene had poisoned her husband Leo IV, who if she is the female

bear. would be the male bear? Does it perhaps suggest that Constantine VI, being tile

son of evil Irene. was jointly responsible for tIle deatIl of his father? Or does it mean that

the autIlor of the oracles believed Constantine VI was still alive at tile time of the over­

throw of Irene50 and assumed that lle had had a hand in it? We do not know. In tIle last

verse (v. 29). we read once again tImt he "will fall prey to the horrible ravens": the

courtiers conniving WitIl Irene.

The first oracle (no. 1.1) deals WitIl Irene and refers to tile periods she was in control.

first co-reigning with Constantine VI (780-790 and 792-797) and tIlen reigning on her

own (797-802). It is beyond doubt that Irene is the subject of tile first oracle, for llere ,ve

have a she-bear iliat is a he. In the Latin branch of the manuscripts, wlrich preserves the

54 See The Correspondence of Igllatios the Deacon, cd. C. Mango. Dumbarton Oaks 1997. pp. 204-205, and '0 Ilou?"o?"oro.;. ed. I. Tcra~apit. Athens 1987, pp. 163-167.

55 In numerous Byzantine texts we read that KOA.aKEC; are KOpOKEC;. The pun goes back to Aristophanes, Vespae, v. 45.

'0 For some dubious evidence that Constantine VI did not die immediately after being blinded, but lived on into the early ninth century. see Theophanes, Chronicle, pp. 649-650, n. 10.

42 ThITRODUCTION.ORACLESANDTALE

full text of the first oracle (in contrast to the conselVative branch. which omits the first

two verses and the accompanying picture), we see a picture of a cub-feeding bear57

. This

picture is missing in the Amsterdam manuscript and other manuscripts belonging to the

conselVative branch. but there can be little doubt that tIris is the original picture. In ora­

cle 6 (no. V, 'lV. 2-3), we read that "(this is) anotIler bear, a second cub-feeder: they are

alike in every way, but (the second) is a mere shadow (of the first)". And indeed, the

picture of oracle 6 shows a cub-feeding bear. The text of oracle 1 itself (1.1, v. 3 and v.

7) leaves no doubt that the original picture must have depicted a she-bear with cubs:

"you raise young dogs [= cubs]" and "you suckle (cubs)". It is worth noting. however,

tItat tlris cub-feeding bear is constantly referred to in ntasculine fonns: £lC/ll/lOU/l£VOs,

autov ES<lYo)V, 6 ( ... ) <JU')'lC£lCpa/lEvOs, and OS58. It is a well-known fact that empress

Irene, during the period of her sole reign, used the titIe 'emperor' rather than 'empress' in

her official decrees and legislation. Since, during the long history of Byzantium, no

other empress is known to have been so bold as to clain} 'ntasculine' prerogatives, tile

ntale she-bear (to use an oxymoron) must be Irene. This male sbe-bear is criticized for its

hypocrisy: she pretends 10 tend her cubs, but time ,,,ill reveal her inner thoughts: she

feeds her young dogs, but her son, the snake (Constantine VI), will destroy them: she

suckles tIlem. but the Lord will reveal her hypocrisy 59 . The cubs whom Irene supposedly

takes care of, and whom Constantine VI, the snake, will take care of once and for alL are

the five younger brothers of Leo IV, who revolted, or were thought to have revolted, on

more occasions tItan one in tile late eighth century60. Irene was suspicious of her young

brothers-in-law and feared them. Upon ascending to power in 780, she had them exiled

from the capital and had them tonsured and ordained as priests, which ntade tllem ineli­

gible for imperial office. In 792. during the sole reign of Constantine VI, Nikephoros,

the most dangerous of the brotIlers of Leo IV, was blinded and tile otIlers ltad their

tongues cut off. But despite this severe mutilation inflicted on them, they were still

viewed by people in favour of iconoclasm as the legitintate heirs to the throne. They

revolted in 797 and, once again, in 799; on the latter occasion, the four brothers who

ltad not yet lost their eyesight, were blinded by Irene. By referring to them as tlle young

57 For the original text of oracle 1 and for the accompanying picture, see Vereecken, Oracles, p. 92 and fig. VI.

58 See v. 2 of the original version (see footnote above), and 1.1. vv. 9, 12 and 14. 59 See the original version, vv. 1-11 (Vereecken, Oracles, p. 92). Cf. our edition, 1.L vv. 2-10.

In v. 14 the author uses another zoological metaphor. There v ... e read that "(you) have opened your mouth (in order to swallow) the winged creatures (el\; lJ1t01t'tEpO'IJ\;)". The u1to1t'tepOt are the sons of Constantine V, the brothers of Leo IV. What the author probably means to say, is that the sons are "under the wings" (U1tO 1t'tepOt\;) of the hen Irene.

00 See Treadgold, Byzantine Revival, pp. 11 (conspiracy in 776), 60-61 (conspiracy in 780), 100-101 (conspiracy in 792), 112 (conspiracy in 797), 113-114 (conspiracy in 799), and 182 (conspiracy in 812).

INTRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE 43

cubs, whom Irene has to take care of, but does not (on the contrary. she tries to elimi­

nate them). the autllor of tile oracles suggests that she is an evil woman, full of false

pretence, who only minds her own interests without any care for the fate of the empire.

Small wonder tltat notlring good can come from tlris '''Olllan (see'lV. 11-15). In the last

verse we are told that "the words she pours out do not benefit tile city" - tIris is proba­

bly a reference to tile speeches Irene held in favour of the icons. In tile first verses we

read tItat Irene, that a\\·iul hypocrite. "hides within herself the error tltat causes emnity",

but that "time wiII reveal her reasoning". Irene's error (nA.<lVTl) is iconophily. In the first

seven years of her reign Irene did not openly profess her personal beliefs. but waited for

the right moment to restore the cult of the icons; she had to act so cautiously because

tllere was still much support for the iconoclast cause, especially in the military. In tlle

eyes of her opponents, this cautious stance must have been tantamount to sheer hypoc­

risy.

To summarize, the first series of oracles (nos. 1-6) is an iconoclastic treatise tltat was

composed during tIle reign of Leo V, most probably shortly after tile re-introduction of

iconoclasm as the official imperial doctrine in S15. It comprises four prophecies after

the event, which deal WitIl Irene, Constantine VI, Nikephoros I and Staurakios, and Mi­

chael I, respectively. It also contains one genuine wish-prophecy, celebrating the glori­

ous reign of the last emperor, Leo V. And it ends with a gloomy description of tlle reign

of Antichrist.

SU1prisingly enough. then, it turns out tItat tllere is after all a connection between tlle

Oracles of Leo and an emperor bearing tItat name - only it is not Leo VI tIle Wise, but

Leo V the Armenian. TIris connection, however, must certainly have sunk into oblivion

by the time of Niketas Choniates, for there is no trace in Iris writings of any awareness

tltat tile six oracles were related to the famous religious controversy over the cult of the

icons. Choniates simply treats these ancient oracles as accurate predictions of things that

ltad bappened or were destined to happen in his own age. The same can be said about tlle

anonymous scholar who produced a collection of oracles in tIle first half of the thirteenth

century and incorporated the series of iconoclastic oracles into his compilation. He, too,

must have thought tltat these oracles dealt with tIle future of tIle empire, not with its

past. It is difficult to establish when the iconoclastic oracles turned into mere predic­

tions, which were interpreted almost at random and without any regard for their original

topicality. But since iconoclasm beCaDle the universal bogey after 843, it is not veI)'

likely that they could have circulated after that date if people suspected tltat their con­

tents were heretical. Their potentially subversive meaning will have escaped the notice of

most people in the late nintll and tentll centuries. because tlle teA1s are elusive and diffi­

cult to interpret. In most Byzantine chronicles we find a story about an illuminated

oracle book tltat circulated during the reign of Leo V and accurately predicted his deatll

44 INlRODUCTION. ORACLES AND TALE

on Christmas. 820 (see above). It is certainly possible that the iconophile source. from

which the chronicles derived this information. was familiar with the illuminated oracle

book that presented Leo V as the last true emperor. and simply rewrote history by pre­

tending that tIris oracle book. far from presenting Leo V in a favourable light actually

predicted Iris death. But it cannot be ruled out that some iconoplrile author. living

during the reign of Leo V or shortly after. responded to the iconoclastic oracles by

producing an anti-iconoclastic oracle book in retaliation Whatever the case, the original

purpose of the iconoclastic oracles must have been lost on most people soon after their

publication. The oracles had a bright future ahead of them and could count on lasting

popularity, as they gradually turned into a-lristorical prophecies, which had supposedly

been written by that most wise of emperors. Leo VI. who had much to say about the

future, but nothing about the past.

ill LANGUAGE'

Although one can clearly distinguish stylistic differences between the various oracles

and divide them into different groups on account of their contents (see above. pp. 31-

32). it is impossible to distinguish the oracles on a purely grammatical level. The

Oracles of Leo are written in a typically Byzantine nrixture of archaizing and more

demotic linguistic elements, although it must be said that often the archaizing elements

predominate. The same is true for the Tale of the True Emperor.

Some of these clearly archaizing elements are:

Intervocalic -n- instead of -(m-: otnov 0 II. 2 (nehi to Otcrcr~ 0 IX. 5 and owcrOV)l£VOV 0 VI. 4): rpL1:'Wls 0 XV. 7: 'Wpar'W)lEv(OV N 10: <jluMn(Ov N 38: <jlu­

Mu£tv N 101: n:pon£tv N 148.

- Temporal augment in the indicative of the past tenses: ro<jl9rts 0 IV, 4; l1n:/"rocraS 0 IX, 9: lIKOVO)l£v N 150. When the syllabic augment is unstressed. vowel deletion does

not occur: £oi(O~av N 4: eooKouv N 39: e<jlovTJ N 1082.

- Reduplication (syllabic and temporal): nearly all perfect forms, 46 in totae, have

reduplication; the only exception is avoA,(O'Wt, but the forms OVTtA,(O)lat and OVOA,(O)lat

already coexisted in the classical period (the reduplication is not visible in )l£crlJA.t(O)le­

VOv; we assume that OP'Yt(O)lEVTJ is a spelling mistake for (OP'Yt(O)lEvOt).

- The perfect is prilnarily constructed with monolectic fonns: the only hvo instances of

periphrastic formation of the perfect are: ecrrat a<jl(O)lot(O)l£VOs N 62 and ecr'ttv TtA,£t)l­

I1£VOs N 105.

- The future tense is also monolectic4: the so-called attic future is still used: K£poav£l

, We refer to the Oracles a/Leo with 0 and to the Tale 0/ the True Emperor with N (Narra­tio).

2 For the development of the augment, both temporal and syllabic. see Browning, lvledieval Greek, pp. 57-58 and 64-65; Horrocks. Greek. pp. 207-208 and 248.

3 Forms of KE1Jlat and oloa are not taken into consideration: 1£11160<; 0 I, 7; <JVYKEKpa/lEvo<; o I, 12; K£XT]Va<; 0 I 14; a4>UPT]Jl£vo<; 0 I, 22; 1t£4>T]va<; 0 II, 8: K£K'tT]/lEva<; 0 III, 4; t£tEVxac; 0 IV, 7: crtJVTJ'Y/lEva 0 VI. 5; CtvaAro'tal 0 VI, 7; eiP1J.L£VT]<; 0 VIII, 6; oiP-YUO/lEVOl 0 VIII. 10; KE­XPOJlJl£VOC; 0 VIII, 13: E1AT]4>ac; 0 IX, 10; TmtKEV 0 X, 4; Kate<J'tv-yvacrJl£voc; 0 XII, 4; TtVOJlT]Jl£VOV 0 Xli, 6; AeA11<J1.l£VOC; 0 XlII, 2; KEKArocrJ.L£VO<; 0 XIII, 6; OEOotKoX; 0 XV, 5; etAT]4>OC; o XV, 6: tE6Tj1troC; 0 XV, 10: t£tEVXac; 0 XVI, 2; ecrXT]Ka<; 0 XVI 3; oE&OKacrt N 4; TtAelJlJl£VO<; N 11; KEKpVJl/lEVOC; N 18: £'YKExapaKtat N 20; emKEK1Jcj>via N 29; KEKapJ.L£vOC; N 30; ev&­O'l.>Jl£vo<; N 30; KEKPVJlJl£vov N 36; TtAelJlJlevOC; N 42; TtAelJlJ.L£VOV N 49; TtJl4>tEcrJ.L£vov N 52: a4>OlJlOtOlJl£VOC; N 62; IlECl1lAlOlJl£VOV N 74; TtVOl/lEVOV N 81: ecr"tpOlJ.L£vOV N 89; ecrtEvOl/lEVT] N 91 ; 1tE4>V"teVJl£VT] N 95; 7t£4>VKEv N 100; TtAelJlJl£VOC; N 105; £~Ecr"tT]K(.\tEC; N Ill: eK"tEtaJl£VOv N 121.

4 The periphrastic construction 0 Jl£UOlV U1tOKOAV4>6fiVOt N 11 does not have the same meaning as 0 unOKaA1Jcj>e"O"()JlEVOC;, and the same holds true for Jl£AAEl 1tpa't'tElv N 147.

46 ~~ODUCTION,LANGUAGE

o III. 6: K£pbav£tr; 0 XVI, 4; n:pOKPlv£t (post correcturam) 0 XVI, 5; on:oa'LeA.el N

48.

- The endings of the imperfect indicative and the aorist indicative are still formed ac­

cording to the rules of ancient grammar; the mixture of imperfect and aorist forms that

we find in post-classical Greek5, does not occur. Likewise, the second person of the

aorist imperative does not end in -£, but in -ov: £u8UIlTJaOv 0 VII, 14; Ol>£ucrov 0 XlI,

8: EJ..tn:ATJaOV 0 XV, 14; EAeTJaOv N 113. - The athematic veros in -Ill have not yet been replaced by thematic verbs in -Ol: one

finds numerous examples of OCPLTJ!ll, an:£LIlL (an:Levat), bW'Li8£J.lat, OiOOlIlL, bL­

La'Lallat, eiJ.li, ESiaLaJ.wL, en:£LJ.lL (Entevat), 'ia'IaJ.lat, J.l£LaotbOlJ.lt, n:pO£LJ.lL

(n:polEvat). and so on.

- The middle voice is still e>..1.ant (,y£vlia£L 0 L 29; yevTJ'Iat 0 Xl. 6; ES£A£uaoVlat

N 19; eia£A£ua£l N 19; ES£A£Ua£LaL N 42; eiaaKOOOerat N 46; ot£8ero N 122;

A.1l\jf£LaL N 135; n:poa£UsoJl£VOr; N 140; n:poa£uSOJl£VOl N 142) and has not yet been

replaced by the active or the passive voice, except for un:oKpt8ei..; « Un:OKPl vaJl£Vor;) 0

IX, 2 and an:obpaaoucrL « on:oopaaovLat) N 154.

- The dative case is used frequently: it appears in the texts with almost all its syntacti­

cal functions (pure dative [indirect object], instrumental and locative dative)".

- The use of the optative: opaa£ta.; 0 I, 11 (which is, by tlle way, the only optative).

- Participle constructions, both as adjectives and as adverbs, are frequently used: the

predicative adjunct, on the contrary, occurs only twice (N 40)'. For the genitive abso­

lute, see 0 II, 13; 0 VIII, 6; 0 IX, 7 (which in our opinion does not belong to the ora­

cle itself): 0 XIV, 8/9: 0 XV, 7; 8: N 10; N 79: N 112/113; N 122/123: N 141.

- The infinitive has not yet been replaced by 'iva- or on-constructions.

- With a neuter plural as subject the verb still appears in tlle singular: 0 VI, 7 (post

correcturam): N 9: N 68: N 80: see, however, 0 VI, 5 and 0 VIII, 8, wllere we find

verbs in the plural.

One may wonder whether, with all these archaizing elements, there is still any room

left for the characteristic forms of post-classical Greek. The answer is yes, but it is an

5 See Browning, lvfedieval Greek, pp. 31-32: Horrocks, Greek, pp. 60 (4.9) and 88-89 (5.8). o See Browning, Afedieval Greek, pp. 36-37; Horrocks, Greek, pp. 58-59 and 124-126. 7 Both texts abound with participles: there are 196 participles in total, of which 81 are used

in an adverbial sense (41%), 113 as an adjective (58%) and only 2 as a predicative adjunct (1%). However, there is a marked difference between the Oracles q( Leo (47 participles used in an adverbial sense [71%] and 19 as an adjective [29%]) and the Tale of the True Emperor (34 participles used in an adverbial sense [26%] and 94 as an adjective [72%], used mainly to denote the features of the true emperor).

ThITRODUCTION,LANGUAGE 47

undeniable fact that the authors of the Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the True Emperor

did their very best to minimalize the number of post-classical forms as much as they

could. The orthography is a feast for the eyes: iotacisms in all sorts and kinds (£1 instead of

", t, Ot; TJ instead of £1, L, OL, U; 1 instead of £t, TJ, Ot, u: u instead of £t, TJ, L; Ut in­

stead of £L); 0 instead of Ol and vice versa; at instead of £: single intervocalic conso­

nants instead of double consonants and. less frequentIy, vice versa; forms without iota

subscript (in about 40% of all cases); -u- instead of -~- (euoOJlanKQ> euooJlC!> N 5; eu­

MJ.lU N 37): -cr'L- instead of -cr8- (Aijana = Aota8ta 0 VIlI, 15); unaspirated forms in­

stead of aspirated ones and vice versa. Although these spelling mistakes are indicative of

fundamental changes in the phonological structure of the Greek language. it is reasonable

to assume that they should not be ascribed to the authors themselves, but to the many

scribes who copied the texts throughout the centuries. We will not enumerate all these

silly mistakes (for matters of orthography, see tile notes attached to the translation).

Features of post -classical Greek are:

- Comparative plus article instead of superlative: 0 JletsOlV oaLrlp 0 XlI, 7.

- Veros in a clearly demotic fonn: oepvOl < oepOl (o£pVOV'LOlV 0 IX 7; however, in

our opiniofL this line does not belong to the oracle itself. but forms a caption to ilie

picture); veros that were formed after the classical period: XUVOl < XEOl formed from the

aorist Exucra (xuaav'I£<; N 115)8; E~ou8£veOl, a Koine form typical of tlle New Tes­

tament9.

- Verbal forms that do not exist in classical Greek or are used only sporadically (as a

secondaIy form) and that ,,,ere created or became popular only in the post-classical period

(often as a result of the normalization of the paradigm), such as: tile perfect fonn

'tE'I£UXa (Att. 'I£'IUXTJKa): 'Ie't£uxar; 0 IV. 7 (post correcturam) and 0 XVI, 2; the aorist

ESTJaa (An. E~iOlV): sliaar; 0 VI, 9; otoaot 0 XIII, 3 (Att. toaat); the aorist l1sa (An.

l1'Yayov): USa'L£ 0 XIII, 10 (but see auvayayrov 0 XII. 5); the aorist Ecp9aaa (Att.

Ecp8TjV): cp8aaar; 0 XVI, 5; tile perfect participle E~£a'ITJKO'I£~ N 111 (An. Es£a'Ioh£r;):

the passive form of tlle future tense opa8rlaoJlat, derived from the aorist passive

eOlpa8T\v (Att. oocp8Tjv): opa8lia£'Iat N 118 (ne>..1 to forms ofthe future tense that derive

from the aorist oocp8TJv in 0 IV, 4; 0 VIII, 3; 0 XII, 7; 0 XIII, 6).

- Although most perfect tense fomls are used to indicate the result of an action in ac­cordance with the rules of ancient Greek, there is one example of a perfect used instead

of an aorist (the confusion of tIlese two tenses began in the Hellenistic period): o£oro-

8 For the development of verbs in -VO), see Browning, lvfedieval Greek, p. 65; Horrocks, Greek, pp. 235-238.

9 See BI.Debr.Rk., Grammatik. p. 86 (§ 108, 2).

48 ~ODUCTION. LANGUAGE

!COOl N 4 (Att. £oooov): in N 138 we find the 'correct' fonn: EOCincoc;lo. - The aorist subjunctive is frequently used to indicate the future tense II. Because of the

phonological changes of the Greek language. it is often difficult to establish whether we are dealing ',"'ith a fonn of the active voice of the aorist subjunctive or of the future indicative (most endings are phonologically identical, except for the second and third persons plural). But the distinction between aorist and future is easily recognizable if the

root of the vern or the voice is different in both tenses: and of course. in the passive voice of aorist and future, there is an obvious distinction: see n:£01]C; (AU. n:£OE1) 0 III,

7; eVpTrtE (An. eVPTtoe'te) 0 xm, 9; £VTJXTJ9TI (Att. eVllXTJf111oe'tat) N 12: et1t\l (Att. A£S£l or epel) N 14: N 15: N 18: N 135: mlocoOlv (Att. n:aoouow) N 45: £\.7[(oot (An. A£SO'OO1) N 138 (cf. A.aA.Ttoouot N 147); <j>VyCOOl (An. <j>£Usov'tat) N 142: !COA.£OCOOtv (Att. !CaA.OU01v) N 143. In 0 XI, 7 we find the exact opposite: the use of future indica­

tive instead of aorist SUbjunctive: ~A.£n:e I1Tt r£vTJ'tat (aorist subjunctive) [ ... ] KOPTtOet (future indicative) [ ... ] aXP1cof1110£t (future indicative). - As for the use of the infinitive, we occasionally find constructions that used to be

popular in Koine:

a. the substantivization of the infinitive in the genitive case in order to express a goal : n:pOO1(aA£t'tat yap oe 'toun:oll1atv£lv A.aov n:£PWtxHOv N 16-17;

b. the substantivized infinitive, dependent on a preposition: ola 'to IlTJ XPTJOlIl£U£lV N 30-31 (in N 54 the 'classical' construction: eic; ouoev XPTJollleucov). Both uses of the infinitivel2 should probably be viewed as literary reminiscences that go back to the Septuagint and the New Testament, seeing that the language of the Tale of

the True Emperor is often very similar to the language of the Bible. - The negative particle IlTt (and its derivations) is frequently used in combination with a participle instead of ou (a development that started in the Hellenistic period)l3, but it

has certainly not replaced ou entirely: IlTJ oe001KOOs 0 XV, 5: 'tOY n:'tCOXov !Cal. IlTJ uo't£pou/l£vov N 51 ; IlTJ <j>atvOIl£vOC; N 134; n:ap' ouoevoc; ~A£n:6Ilevov Kat n:apa

IlTJo£VOC; YV(OP1t;01l£vOV N 50; tiC; IlTJoev XPTJOllleUOOC; N 102; IlTJO£v XPTJOlll£UoV'ta N 103 (cf. roc; ouoev ov'ta !Cat £tC; ouoev XPTJ011l£Uov'ta N 39-40; dC; ouoev XPTJOllleUCOV N 54).

- Many of the classical prepositions disappeared in the vernacular in post-c1assical Greek and those that remained, were constructed with the accusative I 4. These changes

10 See Browning. Medieval Greek, pp. 30 and 64; Horrocks. Greek. pp. 53, 77 and 118-119. II See Browning. Medieval Greek. p. 31 ; Horrocks, Greek. pp. 75-76. 12 See BI.Debr.Rk., Grammatik. pp. 330-332 (§ 4(0) and 332-333 (§ 402): Browning. A4edie­

val Greek. pp. 63-64; Horrocks, Greek. pp. 46-47. 1:< See BI.Debr.Rk.. Grammatik, pp. 355 (§ 426) and 358-359 (§ 430) 14 See Browning. Medieval Greek. p. 37: Horrocks, Greek, pp. 216-217.

~~ODUCTION, LANGUAGE 49

cannot be spotted in the Oracles of Leo and the Tale of the True Emperorl s, but it must be said that there is some confusion in the choice of the cases used in combination with

prepositions. The use of the prepositions tis and EV is somewhat confusing and £iC; sometimes

has the meaning of the Modern Greek oe: etc; 'to. 't£l.XTJ oou 0 X. 3 (= EV 'tolC; 'teLX£oi. oou): ets 'to 'tEAOS 'trov 'I0llaTJAl'trov N 6 (cf. etc; 'to. 't£ATJ 'trov Ttlleprov N 41 and N

104), but ev't0 T£A.£t 0 IX, 10; £iC; 'to o~ au'tou £\.n:lJ N 14 and eic; 'ta cb'ta au'tou AaA,1ioo'OOl N 147: eAaias £Xcov etc; 'to. O£Slo. Il£PTJ, dC; 'tE 'to Un:Ollot;tOV N 70-71 (=

o'to. o£sto. Il£PTJ Kal o'to un:ollat;tov); CPEPOUOt au'tov ev 'tij ll£raA.l] L1rov N 129-130 and a.SOUOlV ev't0 n:aAa'tlql N 145, but avosouOlV atJ1:ov Ei.C; 'tiJv lleyaATJv L1WV N

139-140. The preposition £iC; is once used where En:i would have been more correct: Xoiiv etc; 'tas !C£<j>aAo.c; au'trov n:aoav'tec; N 114 (cf. XOUV n:aocoOlv £n:1. 'tac; K£<j>aMc; au'trov N 45).

The genitive and tlle dative case after en:! are sometimes used without any apparent distinction in meaning. Both cases are used to indicate "on" in a local sense, not only

the correct genitive: en:' WIlCOV 0 XI, 5; en:t wu o-ritOous N 33-34: en:t 'trov n:A.£uprov N 34; en:t 'tou 'tpaXTtAOU N 35 (see also N 72 and N 90). but also the accusative: en:\. 'tO~ ovo roIlOn:Aa'tas N 33; en:\. 'tOY aUxEva N 34; en:!. 'tiJv oeS10v o<j>puv N n .

On two occasions En:l is used with genitive instead of accusative or instead of etc;: olOOOU01 'ta n:poocon:a m)-rrov en:\. Tilc; Yiic; N 44 (cf. 'to. Il£'tcon:a atnrov etc; 'tiJv riiv KpoooaV't£c; N 113-114); ava~t~aoaV't£C; ecjl' V'I'TJAOU 'ton:o'O N 142-143. - There is a tendency to substitute the pronoun au'toc; for the pronoun o-\)'toc; as an al­

ternative way of ex'l>ressing the personal pronoun of the third person and tlle possessive pronoun (in the genitive)16. OU'tOC; can still be found, both in the Oracles and the Tale

(e.g. !Cav IlTJodC; WUtov ~A£1t\I 0 XIII. 3; 'ta 'tomou Il£A.TJ 0 VIII, 9)17, but hardly as frequently as autos. Another post-classical feature is that aU'toii/au'trov is used in order to refer to the subject of the sentence; however, this happens only sparingly, and in }m­

ticular in the Tale , in pluases that show striking similarities to biblical Greek: ac; Exe1 't0Ve; oaKwAous au'tou open:avcoTouc; 0 X, 6: E7rlf111oet KUptOs 'tiJv x£1pa au'tOu N 40: orooo'Ool 'ta n:poocon:a oU'trov En:t Tilc; riic; N 44. - Interesting is also the excessive use of the connective Kai ls, especially in the Tale of

the True Emperor, where in some passages almost every sentence starts Witll !Cal. We

IS 'A1to is constructed with the genitive. except for N 162, U1tO 1taAaUJl·ta'tov ~t~A.iOV. but lines 162-163 probably form a personal comment of the scribe, not of the author.

16 See BI.Debr.Rk., Grammatik. pp. 228-230 (§§ 277-278) and 233-235 (§ 284); Browning. Medieval Greek. pp. 61-62; Horrocks. Greek, pp. 58 and 74-75.

17 The fact that ou'tO<; is used more frequently than mho<; ill the nominative case, is not sur­prising because aU1:o<; then usually bears the meaning "selt" and not "he".

18 Kat occurs 207 times, 54 times in the Oracles and 153 times in the 161 lines of the Tale.

50 INTRODUCTION, LANGUAGE

may view this as an indication that parataxis gradually prevails over hypo taxis, a devel­

opment that goes back to Koine. In tins respect too, the Tale appears to have been

deeply influenced by the language of the Septuagint and the New Testament l9•

19 See BI.Debr.RL Grammalik. pp. 367-37'2 (§ 442); Horrocks. Greek, p. 92.

Plate 1

THE ORACLES OF THE MOST WISE EMPEROR LEO

&

THE TALE OF THE TRUE EMPEROR

TEXT AND TRANSLA nON

EDITION AND TRANSLATION

TIlls is a diplomatic edition. Nevertheless, as a concession to readability , we have

placed the breathings and accents where they ought to be placed (though we did not

intervene whenever the scribe wrote an incorrect breathing or accent). We also ''''fote (J for

a sigma in the inner position and c; for a sigma in the final position. Apart from these

nllnor changes. we present the texts just as they are found in the manuscript.

When the text of an omcle is written around the accompanying picture (nos. II. III.

IV, V, VI. VII. VIII and XIII), we read it crosswise: top - bottom -left - right (and not

top - left - right - bottolIl as in the existing editions). When read in tIlls order the te:\.1s

improve dramatically. and it should also be noted that none other than Niketas

Choniates (p. 355, 8-15) quotes the verses of omcle IV in the very same order.

In the Greek te:\1 we use the following symbols:

< > word nllssing in the manuscript.

( ... ) solution to abbreviations and ligatures.

/ end of line in the manuscript.

In the critical apparntus we compare the text of the manuscript with the editions by

Rutgersius and Lambecius. We decided to limit ourselves to these two editions. because

Lambecius made use of the Amsterdam manuscript as well as of Rutgersius' edition. By

the edition of Lambecius the original edition of 1655 is meant. for in Migne's 'reprint'

of 1863 considerable changes have been introduced. The apparatus is negative: when

Rutgersius or Lambecius are not mentioned. it means that they offer the same reading as

our manuscript.

In the translation we use the following symbols:

corrupt word in the manuscript.

< > word nllssing in the manuscript.

[ ... ] added by the tl"dnslators by way of explanation.

IT ... ] one or more lines that we do not consider to be part of the oracle in question.

but that presumably form a caption to the picture.

In the notes to the tl"dnslation we propose alternative readings and conjectural emen­

dations. The reader may also fmd some explanations there.

A

La

Ru

CONSPECTUS SIGLORUM

Amstclodamensis Gmccus VI E 8

Lambecius.Omcula 1655 (=I- 1863)

Rutgersius. Omcula 1618

56

1.I

TEX, AND TRANSLA nON

< ••• >

TiJv Ex8ponol()V £V008(EV) Kpvm:El n"av11v' 0>.; EUIlEvij.; O£. Kuva.; EKtPE<pEl VEOV';' / Ttv 0>.; Ul'YOU'; KAvorovo.; EXeU; !lEcrOV'

5 aU' anaUasn tOY AOY1crllOV <> xpovo.;· / 0<P1'; O£ nana.; KOraVO',(I>crn taxo.;· crvVeyOAOVXEi..; KOI "(£Y118a.; a8Ai(ro).;· /

(Kat) x£1pa.; anAtl.; Kat nooa.; OtacrtPE<jlEl';' 0'; npo,,{lla1:rov £Sro8(EV) aU1:ov / ESayroV'

10 aAA' <> K(UpLO)'; t(ijv) lJ1tOKPWlV <POiVEl'

t1 yap KOKOV opacrEta.;. i.O cru / Kuvoma;

6 to SEVq> OTrYIlOn cr'UYKEKPOIlEVO';' noo.; cru KOllicrEt.; ayo8(ov) / tt to ~iq>,

0'; to crtOIlO K£xvva.; Ei.; UnOJt1:EPOV';' /

15 noo.; anopEUSEl piilla XP11cr10V 1ii nOAE1: /

F )"

1 deesl lilli/US in A: atlla La (ex 1.2 lralls/alum). 4 A.AtyOU<; A: yA.t!KU<; RII, La I EXEt<; ~aov A: £KXEt Ei.<; lleaOV Ru, La. 5 a1taAA.uc,E1 A: Cl1tEA.EyC,£l Ru, La. 7 <:nJvqa'.u'UXEt<; A: uU IlEYClACl'UXE1<; RII, La I oe"too<;o4: 06'.lE Ru, La. 8 o1tA.£1<;A: (l1tAol<; Ru. La. 9 u<; A: ci><; Ru, La ! CliJt()v A : au'tov Ru, La. 10 cpaivE1 A: cpav£1 Ru, La. 11 KaKov.4: KClA.OV RII, La ! KvvO:l1ta A: KW01tCl RII, La. 13 ayo6<'>v 'ti A: oyoeov 'tt RII, La, 1-1 KEx'UVa<;A: KEXT]Va<; Ru, La. 15 01tU­PEUE,Et A: 01t£PEUE,E1<; RII, La.

FJV TE.XT AND TRANSLA nON

1.I < >'

The deccit that causes enmity you hide2 within you

- and seemingly well-disposed. you raise3 young dogs -

which you havc as ... ~ in your sea of troubles.

5 Timc. howevcr. will revcal~ your reasoning

and a serpent will quickly devour all of them.

You fawn, suckle' and rejoice in a miserable way.

holding out? your hands and curling your toes

asR

in an effort to save yourself from trouble.

10 The Lord. however. will expose your hypocrisy.

What kind of goodJO could you do. you shameless dog.

you who are closely attached to a foreign sting?

How will you bring a blessing into life.

you who have your mouth opened widell towards winged creatures?

15 How will any word you utter'2 ever benefit the city?

57

1 The title, the tirst two verses and the accompanying pIcture are mIssing in the manuscript~ see the introduction. pp . 24.25 and 41-42. 2 For KpU1t'tE1 read lCpU1t'tEt<;. J For £K'tPEcjJ£l read £lC'tpecjJ£t<;. 4 We were not able to emendate the corrupt Greek word U.1'¥OUt; in a sati sfactory way. 5 For 01taUuc,E1 read 01t£A.eyC,£l. 6 For a'UVqaw'Uxei<; read aaiVE1t;, yaA0UXEt<;. ~7 Read Cl1tA.ol<;. 8 Read cb<;. 9 Read au'tov. 10 For KaKov read KaA.Ov. 11 Read K£XT]vat;. 12 For <l1t0PEU;E1 read Cl1tEPEUE,E1.

58 TEx"T AND TRANSLATION

16 EV /lE<Yro 000 KroPOKffiV K(O\.) /

1J1{01t'!EPOlV oVOAro6~<YEl :

I.2 Ol)lO: /

To OE1.I1:£POV TEKVOV aUo &r)ptOV'

20 iJ / 1nO/l£VO':; -C£ 1tPO':; )l£(JT\)l~pi(ov) '

Kat / Ocfll':; iJ1tTO)l£VO':; )lEAOVL KOt /lEAO':; ' /

01.,0':; Ott vo.:; -co <jIro.:; KropOSl V <1</>11 / Pl1/lEVO':;'

YEVO':; yap oi.<YXPOv -crov / <1</> ' iJAto'U 1tEA(W

OlK-CPro.:; KAovi / <Yn.:; <Yomov (l/lO lCOl1tOALV '

25 lC(Ot.) <YO-U / <YT£VOY)lOV Till 6EPEL eop: /

Kot ypO)l)ltlCoi.:; <YX1l/lOm 011A(rov) / TOV XPOVOV'

0':; U<YT£P~<Y(£l) 1O-U 1t(OT)ptKOU / TO TE',O':; '

aPKTOV O· OA£n1P OV 0 / o</>t.:; -COAO':; IlOVO';'

ro 1troc; "(£Vil / <Y£L tlProllo O£l vrov lCroPOK(roV):

F I"

16/17 11011 slmt orllculi pars. sed figurae illterpretatio. 16 JlEC)(o.4: JlEcrO) Ru. La I KOlP(l-KO)V A : KOPOKOlV RII. La. 19 to o€Vttpov teKvov.4: 'to &m€pov n Kat VOV Ru. La. 20 ,;1ttO/l£VO~ .4: l1ttO)l£VOC; Ru. La. 21 lCal. 64Jt~ .4: 04Jt~ Ru. La I ,;1t'tOJl£VO~ A: Pa1tt()!l£VO~ Ru. La . 22 lCoipa~t v A: lCopast v Rll. La I a4Jl1pl1JlEVO~ A: a4JTIPl1Jlevo~ Ru. 24 lCA.ovicr€t~ A: lCA.Ovr1cr£t~ Ru. La. 25 9Ep£tA: 9EptLa I eapA: eap 4JaveIRll. La. 26 crxi]Jlacrt A: xpi]Jlacrt Ru. 27 o~ A: ro~ Ru: ~ La qui in aflflotationiblls ex all/iqua versione Latina et Ot~ construit. 28 aplC'tov.1. : iiPlCtOuRII. La I ovo.4: rovRu. La. 29lCOlpalCOlv.4 : lCopalCOlvRu. La.

FF TEXT AND 1R.'\NSLA TION

16 UBetween l two ravens" and

winged creatures you will bc dcvouredll

1.2 Blood

The second Isymbol] is a child. another beast.

20 a serpent flying' to the South

and immcrscd~ in black. And you, entirely black [yourself).

horribly' deprived" of the light [in your eyes] by ravens?,

you who belong, indeed, to an abominable family from the East

you will pitifully throw yourself and the city into disarray.

25 and spring <will pass on> your lamentations to the summer.

And in lincar figures you indicate the time

bv whichs your end will be inferior to that of your father. - . . You alone are9 the wretched seIpCnt, the bear-killerJO.

Oh, hm\' you will fall prey to horrible ravens II !

59

1 Read IlEcrq>. 2 Read lCopalCOlv. 3 Read i1ttaJlEVo~ . 4 For ,;1tta!l£vo~ read pa1ttOJlEvOC;. 5 Read &tvi'lC;. 6 Read aq)lJPllJi£\'O~' 7 Read Kopa~tv. B For o~ read cp. 9 For OV rcad ro\'. 10 For aplC'tov read aplCtOu. 1 Read lCOpOlCOlV. Cf. Niketas Choniates, p 41. 12-13 .

60 TEX, AND TRANSLATION

II IlE1:aVOW /

OU1:1:0V TO 1:pt rov Kat rap OPVl':; l}1[1:(hT\':;'

(H( au )poiixo.:; OPVt.:; 11[1[0':; o· a-(j KEpampopoc;;: /

t OX; &:yav o~i><; <i><; 9pamJ':; 1:E Kat A.cixvo.:;,

5 apXTtv E:XWV 1:£ T(TtV) llOvaoa K(ai.) TEAO':;: /

Ilovaoo.:; ot1tAiic;; KAl}cr(EW)c;; / 1[Pronl':; 1l0VT\':;'

~Wllol.:; / apl9llrov, Ucr1:EPOV EV 1:~ / Xpovqr

<0':; aya8(ov) 1[E / ~uvac;; lJllEPOU Xp6vou' /

£V 1i KparlicrEl':; crT(au)ptKOii / 1:'\)nOV Ilecrov: /

10 '0 1[aIlIlEYWW':; opviewv { (ivas / 1l0VO':;'

01)1:0':; yap Aap<ov ap / xilv EK IlEGTtIlPpLa.:;·

£V 'in / ncp 1[a-ucrEl Kat pan "Cij.:; lJ / IlEpa.:;·

nOAou ll£croiiv1:O':; / acrTEpo.:; rij.:; lill-epa.:;:

2 o'\)TtOV A: ot't'tov Ru, La I Tl1t'tO'tlls A: Tl1t't(J'tlls Ru, La quorum La ill anllotationibus ex allliqua versione Latilla et l7mo't11s construit I ~v no'tE coni. RII. 7 ~'\)a).lO'is A: ~1Jaf.wus Ru. La. 8 araSav nE.p'\JVas "IlEP01J Xpovo'\) A: araSou nEcf!l1va<; TtJ.!E:pov XPOV01J Ru, La quorum La ;/1 armotatiollibus Xpovov scribit. 9 'tunov A : 'tuno'\) RII, La. 12 IWl paEt A : Kal. cpaet Ru, La quorum La in annotatiollibus ex antiqua versiolle Latilla et KEpaa.popC(l cOllstmil.

II

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

Repentance

Double ' is the third [symbol), for it is a bird on horseback2,

a bird holding a cross and a horse having a hom.

How passionate. how bold. how lecherous~ you are.

5 you who have the unit at the beginning and at the end.

Calculating with the letters of only the first unit

of the double name, later in time

you have shown yourself1

to be something good of a quiet time',

in which" you \-vill reign in the sign' of the cross,

10 you, the mightiest of the birds and the only ruler.

Having assumed power in this wayS from the South,

you will end your days on a horse having a hom9,

when the morning star is in the centre of the vault of heaven.

61

1 Read OtTtov. 2 For Ttn'to'tlls read lnno'tl1s. J For laxvos read larvos. 4 Read 1!£cf!11vac;. 5 The Greek text of these verses is questionable and so is the translation. 6 For EV TI read £V i!J. 7 For ,unov read Wno1J. 8 Read OV'tO~. 9 For Kal paEt read KEpauQ or KEpac(i.' .

62

III

TEXT AND TRANSLA nON

t /lovapXla: /

Kat 8pacrUt; rot; /laAl<na Kat taxut; nEA£tt;.

Kat npot; /l<lxat; £'tOl/lOt; ro ~US11t; '¥EvOt;: /

EX£lt; b' <lKOat; 'tOlt; AO,¥Olt; K£Kt11/lEvat;· /

5 Kat XP£/l£'tiS£Lt;, (It£p iJvi£Ov <ptAint;: /

'tonol(; tv trypoit; Kat / nap' £An:lba nE<J£tt;.

EV / <JOt yap apxiJ Kat tE / AOt; KEpat; nEA£L:

F 2"

4 'tOts AOrOls: A: 'tats AOrOUs (sic!) Ru. 5 ljvlrov A: i)virov Ru, La I <pLAias A: <puyas Ru, La. 6 'icr'tu crTiicrat lCEpOaVEl. AcifjEL AOrOV A: ucr'ta't1l crE lCEpouvEl Aa~iJ AOrOU La. post Ru cOllicientem sive lllluriel/ten! ex ,vic. Choniata 222, 68 I 'i.cr'tuA: 'i.cr'tU Ru I Acif:lEL A: AUf:j€ RII. 7 £NtlooA: EA7tlOUsRu I 7tEcrHsA: 7tEcrEl.sRu, La. 8lCEpUsA: lCEprosRu.

F 2v TEXT AND lR..\NSLA nON

III Monarchy

How extremely bold and swift you are

and ready for combat. descendant of ByzaI !

You keep your ears closed2 to words

5 and you whinny without the reins3 of friendship.

The last syllable of your name wiII prevail over you4•

In wet places you will fall' unexpectedly,

for in you the beginning and the end is a hom.

63

I Busu = Krovcr'tuV'tLvounoALs: cf TGL s.v. and Preger, Scriptores. index, p. 334: Bus'll. it: "nomen Byzantii". 2 For lCElC't1lIlEVUs read lCElCAeLcrJ.lEVUS. J For ljvi(ov read i)vlroV. 4 Read aAA' ucr'ta'tTl cri:: KEPOOVEl. Aa~iJ AOrOU: cf. Nikctas Choniates. p. 222. 68. 5 Read nEcrl]s: cf. Niketas Choniates. p. 4 L 10-11.

64 TEXl Al'-ITI TRANSLA nON FJf

IV t 101.11): /

t 'Ii ~o~ (,£ 1t£)l1t·wv Kal 'teAos apK'tO'tpOq,ou' / 'to O'xi\)la <pai VIOL lOY 't01tOV Kot lOY 'tponoY: /

t 08£y )l0/,110'm; OLOe; ci>ql8de; )lOt <pi AOC; , /

5 1tpw'tac; 'Y( oP) £X(IlV oP£'tWV o.U<ov 1tA.f.OV: /

KOt O'<O<Ppovi1;£l'; O'(Ilq,pOYWY / lOUe; <pLA't(l'tOUe;'

o8£v 'tCl 't£UXTJ / XPllO''tOlCl'tOU 't£A( ou.;): /

/10VOe; { £vro8€ts £~ ava / K'tOP<OY lCA£ous' K(O\.) 'tWY / V€KPWV KpanO''t€ /,€l1trov / 'to Kpa'tTJ'

10 roe; EY ~paxu / 'Yop €U'tUXllO'£le; 'toii Kpa / lOu.;:

ill locum oracl/lorum 11" el V oraClda v7 el ~11lral/sferzll11 Ru, La (folillm -1 allle folium 3 olim posilum era! in A?) 2 OE 1tE/11t'tUV A: in anllotalionibus ex al/tiqua versione Lalina OEtn:Epa cOl1slruil La. 3 <jlaiV€t A: <jlEpet Ru, La, 4 cO<jlOEi.;A: cii<P0r].:; RII, La. 5 1tp(ota.:; A: 1tpWta.:; RII, La. 7 to 'tEVXll XPllo'to'tu'tOtJ 'tEAUtJ.:;A: 'te'tEU~1] XPll0'tUtu'tou wu 'tEA.OU'; Ru, La. 8 't' E:vro­Oei.:;A: 0' E:vroOEi.:;Ru, La. 10 [3paxuA: [3paX€t Ru, La,

F 3r TEXT AND 1R.-\NSLA TION 65

IV Cut

The cow is the fifth lin line] and the end of the bear-feeder. Its shape shows its place and its character:

having come from there, you have shown yourself' to me as a friend. 5 since you possess the cardinal virtues2 more tItan others do

and citasten your loved ones by being moderate. Therefore you received a most worthy end",

as you alone were brought up from the glory of the palace ~

and, 0 mightiest, left' the realms of the dead. 10 For you will enjoy the power for a short while".

1 Read (;)<jl0r].:;. 2 Read 1tpw'ta.; 'Yap EXet.:; ciPEtci.:;: c[ Niketas Choniatcs. p. 355. 10. j Read <SOev 't£'t£1Jxa.:; XPT]OW1U'tU1J 'tOU tEA.OtJ<;: cf. Niketas Choniates. p. 355. l~. 4 For 't' £vOlOei.:; read t' CtvaxOei.;: cc. Niketas Choniates, p, 355. 13, S Read At1tWV. 6 Read ppaXE'i.

66 TE.~1 AND TRANSLATION

t dUn 'It<; dPK'IO<;. OE1J'I£pa ()KWVO'Ipo<jlo<;' /

Kat 1tCtV'I()'"[' £KEi VT\ 1tA11V ()KtU ypa<jlO1JIl(Ev)rj: /

</l-uow xpovrov KtVll()U; £~nll~OIlEvll' /

5 ci<; £()XCt'I1lV y( up) YPCt</lE'Iat 'I(il<;) £()XCt'I1l<;: /

F 3v

ill locum oracl/forum IT' et V oracufa VI et !-7I transferunt Ru, La (folium .J allle folium 3 olim posilum erat ill .4?) 2 aUT] 1:ic;.4: aU11 'Ilc; La. 3 mlvw't' EKEiVll A: nilv, 0 lCEiVll Ru, La i OlClO ypacpow£vll A: OlCw'Ypacpo'UIl£Vll Ru, La. 4 EST]IlI3oIlEVll A: eST]n},OllleVll colli. RII. 6 napElCci'roP(1.A: 7tClP' £lCCl'tEpa Ru: nap' £lCQ't£pa La. 7 evcpepu'Ucrt..4: eIlCP£po'UO'a RII, La.

F 3" TEXT AND TRANSLATION

v Dismembemlent

[This is) another bear. a second cub-feeder,

they are alike in every way! , but [the second) is a mere shadow2 lof

the first).

The natural movement of time is aborted3,

5 for it is predestined Ito take place] at the end of all time.

Crowns4 encircling the sun at both sides5

bring about" a division of the whole state.

67

I For miV1:UT' EKEiVll read nilv 0 lCdv,.\. 2 For OlCla 'Ypacpo'UIl£Vll read O'lCw'Ypacp0'UIl£vTj. J For ESTjIl~oI!i::VTj read £ST]Il~A,OlI!i::Vll. 4 Read O'T£CPT]. ~ For napEKo'topa read nap' EKU'tEpa. 6 Read £1l<P£POOOl.

68

VI

TEX, ANTI 1RANSLA nON

"Enapot(;: /

"Opa 'YoDv ml'"t v Kat SEVOV 0V"C00':; "Cponov' /

opEnavov Kat pOOOV onEp </lEPEt: /

Tpt"Cov / OUOOUJlEVOV npcih(ov) 01:0LX£lOV /

5 OLEO"Clloav oTj "Cel 1t(:lAat OUVTJ'YJlEva: /

opEnavll</lopE "C£"CpaJ.lllvOv / OOt 'Ypa</loo' npoo"COALa O£ / nanae; avaAoo"Cm; si</l£t: /

Naou.:; Eiooo'"oov npoe; JlLKPOV / avqtlpELe;' "CpEte; "Cpde; (0£) siloae; / EV ~i(j> KUKAOUe; 'YEPO)Y'

10 TiEhl / npo.:; &OllV, 0'00 ALmOV EV / JlEOoo:

in locum oracu/orum VJ et T 7J oracula 11' e/ V trallsferzmt Ru, La (folium 3 post folium .J olim positum erat ill A?) 4 O'\)(jOU~EVOV A: Otcrcroull£vov Kai Ru. La. 7 avaj,ciYtw;..4: UVa"'Cil'tat Ru. La ' 1tpono"'ta oc 1tana~ ava",ci:l'ta~ ~icjlEl.4: 1tpro'tO"-Eta oc 1tan' av~A.ro'tat SicjlEl coni. Ru. 8 a\~YEipEt<;A: ciVE'YEPEl~RII, La. 9 'tpEl~ 'tpEl~A: 'tP1.~ 'tpEl~ RlI, La. 10 ii6rJ A: iiX9'1 RII, La quorum La in allllOtationibus ex antiqua versione Latillll et t91 conslruit ! aOllv..4: aO'lv Ru La ! ).tEcrro A: ).tEmp Ru, La.

VI

TEXT AND TR-\NSLA nON

Conceit

Now look once more at (tIlis] truly peculiar character,

(represented by] tile scythe and the rose he bears.

The tllirdl [letter] when duplicated2 is tile first letter.

5 The things iliat were once united have separated.

Scythe-bearer, I give you four months

and then tlle choicest [will] all perish by the sword3.

For a short while you [will] erect temples for idols.

Having lived three times three4 lifecycles, old man'.

10 goO to Hades7• leaving two in tlle nliddle8

•

69

1 For 'tPl'tov read 'tpi'tov OE. 2 Read OtcrcrOUI!EVOV. J Read this verse as 1tpro'tO"-Eta &:: 1tan' avci",ro'tat ~i4>Et. 4 Read 'tpl..; 'tPf.lc;. 5 Read rEpov. 6 Read 'l9t. 7 Read t;i&lv. 8 Read ~Ecrq). Cf. Niketas Choniates. p. 433. 89-92.

70

VII

1'EXj AND 1RANSLA TION

OV'tOs n£A.WV 't£WP'tOS £~ apK'tOU TpexWV' / ~icflOs pOOOV 't av(SpW7t)OS 0PIlOOV lOts SepOS: /

t \jIvyi)cr£Wt nA.TJv cOs pOOOV 't£IlWV pO&N 5 KUKAOU; KUVT\S£I.S K(Ot) yap 'to 'tpf't(ov) /

cr'tOlX£lOV iJ xti.p, KOt op£novov oinoy£: /

cr'tOlXtlOV mho npoo'tov / £1C1CO\jl£l pOOOV'

TO Ilii / TO crTOlX£lOV 'tOUTO ~Ae / n£'

A.O~(OV y(ap) o.PX(TJv) / cOs 'tellv£lv 't11V XAO.V· /

IO ou cpeicr£TOt crou nap' o.PXTJV / <'> £/lIl£vrK opa au'tov a /no.PX£'tat S£pi1;£tv' 'to / pooov cp£pwv EV nom v / £X£t 'teA.os·

£V <;> 'toA.om(ov) / £v8UIlT\crov 0>'; llo.TI)v:

in locum oraculorum H et f,71 oracula flT et V transferzlllt RII, La ((olium 3 post folium .:I olim positum eral in A?) 1 ClUyXl1Cll':;.4: crurxtlCll.:;Ru. La. 31: cXvOPOl1tOC; A: 't' Civ9pco1to,:; Ru. La. ~ \jIv¥Tjcrt'tat A: \jItlxliCl£'t(XL RlI. LlI i 1:£~COV A: 't£~ov Ru, La. 5 1(vVT\9Ei.:;.4: 1(l VT\OEi.:; Ru. La i 't(J'tpl'tOv.4:1:o'tpi'rov(jl£pnRII,La. 8~l1A : ~iiRu. La. I 'tOIlTl'tO CI'tOlXElOV 'WU'to ~A£1t£A: 't01l"v of: 'tOU CI'tOlXEiotl 'tou'tOtI 1tpOCl~A.E1tE calli. RII. 9 ciJsA: OOCl't£ Rli. La I lAU.V (partem 11 seu tI litteraefigura velal).4: XAOl1V Ru, La. 10 C/lEiClE'toi ClOtl A: 4l£iOE'tal Cloii Ru ! £IlIlEVT\':; A: £IlJlEvti.:;RII, La. 11 U1tUPXE'tat 9Epit;ELV.4: OEpit;nvrap u1tapXE'tat Ru, La. 13 'toAomov A: 'to AOl1tOV La .

TEXT AND 1RANSLA TION

VII Confusion I

Here is the fourth [symbol) running from the bear.

a sword. a rose and a man who hurries to bring in the harvest.

However. he will wither like a rose, having cut off a rose.

5 moved~ by the cycle [of nature] . For the third

letter is the hand and exactly that is the scythe.

That first letter will cut off a rose:

see. [it is] the M3, that letter;

for. having assumed power to cut young verdure~,

10 he will not spare you. you who remain true' to [imperial] power.

Look at him.. he starts harvesting:

carrying a rose, he has the pm,ver among all [people).

In this respect cheer up. though .. for it is to no avail.

71

1 Read crUrXtlcrt.:;. 2 Read 1(lV1l9EiC;. l Read IlU; 'tOIlU ::::- 'tOllli = "cut". 4 Read XAOl1V. 5 For 6 £1l!1EVT\':; read 6.:; £~!1Evn.:;.

72 TE..'I.' AND TRANSLATION FST

VIlI a1lla: /

t a'1 a'L 'taAatva 'tA11n:aS£0"'ta'tT] n:o At<; ,

oiK'tpov yap OiK'tPOV LV En:rocp8JlO"ll cpao<;' /

~/l0e; KpauiO"l1 n:poe; llalCPOV Karma XP()v(Ov)' 5 O"cpaya't y(ap) EV 0"0l. K(al) n:pOXUO"£t<; aL/la't(rov): /

Tije; £VO£Ka'tT]<; £ipY/lEV11e; OUK £KAli'V£t. /

Kat n:£v't£ n:PO)'tO/_W 't(i'j.;) /lovapxiae;' / opaKov'ta O"upi~ooot 'toy At~OK'tOVOV. /

aO"apKou /lit O"WAoooa 1<1 'tOUlOU Il£A11: /

\0 Kat n:po<; /laXllv EVq,UAOV /OP'YtroIlEVll' vijptS/lov EO"/l(UV) / -rapaXtO"ouO"t 1:U ~iq,£l" n:pO(<;) / XLALaoae; E~ Emu f.lnpou / f.lEva.;: /

Kat n:fie; aO"£AYlJ<; K(at) q,Ov(rov) / K£xpa/lEVO';' /lixo<; rip / n:a~ aOtKo,; app£vo - / .pSapo.;'

15 't<1 )_ijO"'tta AtOOOU / crt n:poUJ.la'trov cpaoc;:

3 'tv E1tCJJ4!eT]crT\A: viiv U1to<\leT]aT]RII, La. 4 KpanlaT] A: lCpU'tliaE:1 Ru, La. 6 Tii.:; i::vDE:lCaTIJI; dp'f~VT]':; OUK E:Kl.iJ'VE:1 A: Tiis £V3E:lCOTIJs dp'YIl£VT]<; OUlC EKA£i'VE:1 RIl, La: 'tTi<; £VDE:1Ca'tT]s E:lPIlOs OUK av ElCA£i'Vat coni. Ru. 7 1tPOYtOAlU A: 1tpoJ't(lA£lU RIl, La. 9 oaapKou Ilit a't1JA01.laa A: aaapKa llua1iA.A.oUaO Ru, La I Ill] a1uAouaa A: IlW1UAAOVW coni. Ru, 10 £V<\l1.lAOV 0P'Y1Cll~VT] A: EIlCPUAov O)P'Y1Cl)IlEV01 Ru: Ej.I<\lUAov roP'YVCllj.l£V01 La, 11 1apoxiaoua1 'tit ~icpE:l.>J: 1apxuaoucrl 1ip ~i<\lE:1 Ru, La, 12 E:l; A: ff, Ru, La. 13 cpOVCllV KEXpallEvos A: cpUvql KE:xpallllEvos Ru, La. 1-' Ilixos A: 1l01XOs RII, La. 15 1it Aliana A: 1it Aotalha Ru, La I A£uaoua1 A: A£uaaoua1 Ru, La i 1tPOUj.101CllV A: 1tPOUIlIlO'tCllV RII, La .

FST TEXT AND TRANSLATION

VIII Blood

Oh. wretched land] woeful city. for pitiful. pitiful will that day bel for your eyes, when Kappa will have reigned2 for a long time:

5 for blood and murder [will there be I 'within you.

When the eleventh < ... > has been shut in3• it will not come to an end4

and the fjye choicest' of the empire

will break" the monster that killed the south-westerly \-vind, cutting to pieces" the limbs of that bag of bones.

10 And launchingH into a civil" war, they will stir UplO a countless swann I I with their swords l2

•

around six 13• seven thousand in number.

And those \ ... ho are licentious and have blood-stained I 4 hands.

the adulterersl'. robbers. unjust ones and sodomites. 15 they will all see before their cyes lb the light of day for the last time I ?

73

1 Cf. Lycophron. Alexandra. v. 304~ fodv E1tCll<\leT!crT\ read 'iv' E1to<\lSij (J01. 2 Read KpaTI]Cl1J or Kpa'tiJaE:l. 3 The Greek text of this verse is questionable and so is the translation. 4 Read EKA£i'VEl. 5 Read 1tPOYtUA£W. 6 Read auppliSoual. ? For Ill] a1uAoucra read Jl1<mJUov1a~ cf. Alexandra. v. 154. where aauplCa is written instead of oaaplCou: if we follo\\.' Alexandra. the meaning here is: "cutting its limbs tleshless" . 8 Read roP'YlCJ)~VOl. 9 Read EIl<\luAOV. 10 For wpaxiaoucrl read WpaSOUGl. 11 Read £allov. Cf. Alexandra, v. 415. 12 For 10 ~iCP£l read 'tip ~icpE:l. 13 Read E). 14 For cpOVCllV KE:xpa~vot; read cpOvq) KE:xpa~vos. 15 Read 1l01XOs. 16 Read npOUIlJla10lv. 7 Read 10 AoiaSw: cf Alexandra. \'Y. 81·82: ... 'tOt 3E Ao1aSiav / vi!xov10 Jlo1.pav 1tPOUIlIl01CllV &80plCo'tE:<;. So. instead of 'to AoiaSw. one could also read 10 JeoiaSlOv: "they will all see their tinal day before their eyes".

74

IX

TEXI AND 1RANSLA nON

£VXOpt01£lO: /

TiJv clA.01t£KiJv V1toKpteds cjILA.tOv,

KOtIlOKpOeVI.HOs 1(iJV) cjIPEvo XOA.l vroOOs' /

Ws a:yov 1tPEOJ)VS KOl1tOA.LOS EXE<PPlOV,

5 EA.eWV bE btOoros 1as viJoovs E1t1O - / muA.lOs·

1Otx; OAOVS acjld.; OUVeAOOe£V1Os aUl)AOvs: - /

1roV bOO b£PVQV't(lOV) 0 'tPi,lOs <los' /

KOt 1tpOxuon; <p£\) OlJl.Cncov EKXVe£V1lOV,

ou 1(i'\.;) VtKTls Tl1tA-lO ... /10.; X£lpos £vXOpi01lOS'

\0 KOt llpoJ)£1ov dATl<POS EV 1cj) 't£A£L / 10U OlCl)1t'tPOV: -

F 5"

1 £uxapt<J'tEia A: Euxaptcr'tia Ru, La. 2 clA01tEKTtV A: clAw1tEKiiv RII: ciAw1tEKTtv La. :l E1t'tCl­tauAw~A: £1ttatCl1)Aou.;Ru, La, 6 oAou,; A: in annotalionihlls ex allliqlla versione Latina iiAAou,; COflSfrllit La I clAAtlA01J~ A: OAAtlAGt.; RlI . 7 11011 esl oracl/li pars, sed Jigllrae illierpreialio I 'toov ow OEPvOvtWv 6 tpi to.; aD.; A: omillil RI/: 'toov ow &pVUVtwv. U tpi1:o.; 1tpOito.;. Iii La: quae collocaf post versum 10 9111tl.W ... (duo sell Ires liueras figura velat) A: t;1t}.wcra~ Ru, La.

IX

TEXT AND 1RANSLA TION

Gratitude '

You simulated the friendship o[ a [ox'

and patiently bridled your impulses

like a very sensible grey-haired old man.

5 Twice you went to the islands ofthe seven tablesJ,

leaving them all behind crushed by each other~,

Uwhen two people scuffle, a third (will be] first5!D

just as. alas. the streams of blood that flo\\'ed.

And then it was you who gratefully reached" for victory"

10 and finally received the prize: the sceptre.

75

I Read Euxaptcnia. 2 Read clAw1tEKTtV. aUTtAou<; read ciUTtAot.;. 5 ao~ = 1tpffitO~.

J For E1ttatauf.CD* read £1t'tCl'tci~A.ou~. 4 For 6 Read t;1tA.waa.;. For ti;.; viK:ll~ read tfJ vi K1:1.

76

x

TEXT AND TRANSLA nON

£~ouaia: /

Ovai aOl nO)"l<; £wnlAo<j!E' o'WV'tO EtKoa'tOV

a't01XEIOV £v<j!11!lil;E'tat £i<; 'ta 'tEin aou' /

'to't£ Tinl KEV 11 n'tO)al'; 11 Tj anro)"Eta

5 'trov 8uvaaTrov aou, Kat 'trov a81Kta KP1VOV't(rov): - /

0'; EX£l TOil<; 8aK't'UAOu,; auTOU 8p£naV(OTOUC;

o £an / 8pEnavuv riic; epll!lroa(£ro)c;' Kat ev't0

U\jftaTtp ~Aaa<j!11!l11a:

K

2 oval. crulA: oVal. crOt RII I 'to EiKOcr'tOV A: ciKomov Ru. 3 cr01) A: crOll Ru. La. 4 T\ A: Kat RlI, La. 5 cr01) A: crOll RlI, La ! aOlKta A: aOlKtc.x Ru. La. 6 av'toll A: aU'toll Ru. La. 8 ~A.acrq>TII.!"aA: ~A.amPTJIli.a Ru. La. 9 omittllnl Ru. La.

x

TEXT AND 1RANSLA nON

Power

Woe you. City of seven hills: when the twentieth

sign is acclaimed along your walls.

then your downfall is near. or the loss

5 of your rulers and ofthose who judge unfairlyl.

He who has fingers like scythes.

which is the scythe of devastation and

blasphemy2 in [the eyes of] the Highest.

I Read a01Kic.x. 2 Read ~A.acr$TJllia.

77

UKll

78 TEx, AND 1RANSLA nON

XI < ... >

1 cO" 'I(mciKLO~ O'V¥KOmlV </IOvou a'i.llaLO~ / Iw Iw' EuXaplO'tEia: / Kw' Kat KW' it tOU 1ttroxou e1tlKpci'tTJO'l~' /

5 1t(at)plclPX' ~A£1tE of: au 0 tn eda </IpovcOV Kat tn eEta </IE:PWV e1t' OIIlCOV' /

10

1111 O'ou it KOVlS OVElOO~ YE:vrrrm' Kat 1tcoyova ~eUV evOl Koo.; /

KapTJO'(ll)' Kat IlEYclAWs nXPlroeiJO'lJ autoc; 6 </IoVOO'UIl~OUAOC; np - / XlEPEUs' OU to ovolla iw" Kat cl1tOKaAu</IeTjO't:tal () l)AElIlIl(ev)oS /

€1trovull°C;.IlEvaXElll:-

Ilovapxia

1 deesllitlllus in A: nU'tpuipXllC; La (ex 5 lralls/alumj. 21iil' A: IIll Ru: liii' La. 3 liii Iiii' A: 1(0. I(O.RII: Iiil. 100La i EuxupwreiuA: EUXUPlcrriu Ru. La. 4 KiO' KUt Kiii' A: Kill. Kut Kiii Ru: Kiii'. Kut KiiiLl!. 51tu'tpuipX. A: nU'tptuPXllC;Ru. 6 JlTJ crouA: Jl" crovRII ! 1tCJYyovu A: miJyo)va Ru. La. 7 KUPTJ<J1'l A: KUp,;crl] Rll ! UXptlll91lcrll A: eXyptIll6i]<J1] Ru: uypt0l6i]crll La i q,uvocrUJl~uA.uC;A: cpovou crVJl~uA.oC;Ru. La. 8 lor A: 1m Rll, La. 10 jigllrae illlerprelalio eSl; omillulll Rll. La.

F 6v

XI

5

6

7

8

IO

TEXT ANTI TRANSLA nON

< >

Io(annes) Isaakios interrupts' the bloodshed.

Io(annes) Io(annes) is gratitude~. Ko(nstantinos) [Of] Ko(nstantinos)3 is the supremacy of the poor [emperor].

Patriarch You who mind the divine and who bear the divine [insignia]

on your shoulders, see to it

that the dust ,,,ill not disgrace you and that your full bcard4

will not rightly

be shaven off'. and that you yourself will not be made utterly

useless". you murder-inciting high

priest, \"hose name is Io(annes). And then the anointed one,

named Menachi~

will be revealed.

79

Umonarchyll

1 For crV'{KUni)v read avyKon';. 2 Read EUXuptcr'tla. J Read KIll(v<J'tuV'tlv)ou. 5 Read KUpTjcrEt. 6 Read UXPEtlll6JlcrEt.

4 Read 1tCJYyIllVU.

80

XII

TE-TI AND TRANSLATION

eVO€~eLa: /

Tilv nE'CpaV oiJerov aye OeUpO !lOt ~EVe' 8PTJVO"Lh:; npOAt1tWV Kat ~iov 'C(ov) aYP0'C(llv)' / !Cal 1;f\8' () Ve!CpOC;, !Cal. !Ca"teOnY'{vaO!lEvoc;: /

5 Luvayaywv !CaAAtCna navta O"!Copn"foac;.

aot!Ci( ac;) ena8AOv liVO!lllIlEVOV' / owv 0' () Iletl;rov aoti}p w</l9!iO(ll) IlEAa.:;,

YWVOC; na/"tv OOeOOOV etc; yf\c; nu81l(€v)a: -

7 rocjJ6itOTJ A : ocjJei]O"El RII, La. 8 oOe"UO"ov A: oOe"UO"ov Ru, La I 1t\)91l£va A: 1t"U9~va.; RII. La.

XII

TEXT AND TR..<\NSLA TION

Piety

You who inhabit the rock. come to me. stranger.

leaving behind your lament:1tions and the rural life'.

May you live, you. the dead one with the deeply sad face.

5 After bringing all the best together. you will scatter2

the illegal trophy of injustice.

but when the biggest star will appear) black to you,

then go back4 naked deep into the bowels of the earth.

81

1 For TOV cl'YPO"tTlV read TOU U'Yp01:O\). 2 For O"Icop1tiO"a.; read mcop1tiO"n.;. J Read ocjJ6f\ O"ot. 4 Read 08£\)0"0v.

82

xnI

5

10 11

+ <I>

11+ 12

A

8

o

TE..,{T AND TRANSLATION

t 6 V£KPO'; i\OTl KOt 8£0 A£ATla/l£Voe;' oloam noUot KaV IlTlodC; tOUtov / ~A£n£t ·

roc; £K /l£81lc; o£ $avdc; a8poroc;'

aKflntpo KpOn;a(tt) tflcro£ / tf\c; ~oatAiooe;'

crwAoe; r( op) 00$8£t.;, EV nOAcp K£K/,OO"/l£VOe;: - /

Kl1PU~ a$aviJe; tpdC; avoKpO~£t /l£,,(o' antt£ anouoiJ npo(e;) OW/lOe; £nta - / Ao4>0u '

£UPTlt£ 0' clvopa OiK£TT)V E/lOV 4>1.AOV,

cl~at£ tOU1:OV de; ~oatAti(oue;) / OO/lOUC;

/lTJvoKpavo/llAuXov: /

1tpaUV U\jfTtVOUV

'[0 /lE:UOV o~u'[a'[ov £iMvat / /laUov' (Kat) nOt,LV €~tt'; £n'[oAo4>£ '[0 KPO,[OC;:

N

cr o

t

K

A

Crllces, lit/erae sollliae deslIlIl ill Ru; pro 0 in parle sillislra II/riusque crucis cr legil La. I £00£13£10 A: £vwj3£10 La. 2 eta A: et~ Ru, La I AtAT\crJlEVOC; A : in annotalionibus ex allliqllll versione Lalilla AtA:UJlEVOC; cconslruir La. 3 KaV A: K(XV Ru, La I ~A.E1t£1 A: ~A.E1t1J RII. La. 5 'ti;cr& A: 'tiic; o£ RII, La. 6 K£KAOcrJlEVOC; A: K£KAlllcrJ.LEVOC; RII, La. 7 'tp£lC; A: 'tPlC; RII, La. 8 <rnoooilA: <rnotJoij RII, La. 10 ~acrll..£i.otJC; A: ~acrtl..£iac; Ru, La. 11 JlT\vOKpavo-Jli A.tJXo V A.: JlT\VOKpaVOv, JlElA1XOvRu, La I u'!'ilvowA: u,!,ivo1)vRII, La.

TEXT AND 1RANSLATION

XIII Piety!

He is dead in appearance2 and hidden from sight'.

Many people know him, although no one sees4 him.

Suddenly emerged as if from an intoxication..

5 he will obtain the sceptre of this imperial city.

For when a column predestined' by fate will be seen" in the sky,

an invisible messenger will call thrice' in a loud voice:

hastenS to the western part of the City of seven hills,

and there you will find a man, [who is] my beloved servant.

10 Lead him to the imperial palace,

him whose skull is shaped like a half moon9, who is friendly,

mild, high-minded JO,

very quick at knowing the future.

And once again.. 0 City of seven hills, you will obtain the power.

83

1 The meaning of the \etters at the ends of the arms of both crosses is not certain. Some of us think thaI Ihese \etters form the words EiPOPOi 6EQV EA60(\'ta), while others, reading a cr in stead of an 0 at the left side of both crosses and seeing the letter 't at the intersection of the first cross, prefer to read the words cr'tEIj>(OC;) 'Plo(Jlailllv) cr6EV(OC;) EA6o(v'tOC;). The ten letters at the. right side of the page are a comtlete mystery to us. 2 Read ei&t. J Read etc;I. 4 Read ~AEm:1. 5 Read K£KAIOO'JlEVUC;. Read ocp6EiC;. 7 Read 'tplC;. 8 Read cr1tOtJofj . 9 Read f.lT\VOKpaVov, Jl£lA1XOV: an other possible translation is: "him who is wearing a helmet shaped like a half moon" ; see the illuminations on 1'018. 7v

, gV and 9r that c1earlv show such a 'helmet'. 10 Read \)\lIi vow. -

84 Th'IT AND TRANSLA nON F 8T

XIV 1tpOlLflTJatC;: /

'100'0 1taAl v av(8pro1t)o.; b( 1tPOllO'U yevo'U.;·

Kp'U~eVloc; EiC; yfiv 'tplOavapl8flo'UC; / KUKA.O'UC;·

"f'U1l VOC; 1tPOE1<Jl v £K 1t£'tpac; aVTJAlo'U' 5 Kal. OEUlepo'U I,all - / 1tOv'tOC; aPX£lat ~iou '

etKO)V 1taAt v swIac; a/,TJ8E<JlalTJC;: /

~ EUAal3£la /

1tATJV apnaKTJC; apltrov Ol1tAOU / flevrov' l(OV) llAlOV a1t£tat VEKpO(C;) / l(TJV) 1ttlpav: /

10

6 mlA.l v 1;,cil'(ClC; A: 1tClA.l v/;rotac; RII: 1tClA.iSCO"iClC; La. 7 jigurae interprelalio est; omittunt Ru. La. 8 apnaK1lc; A: apnaKIC; RII. La . 91:oV ~;_lOV a1tEI01 A: 1:rov ~;julV U1tEUn Ru. La. 10 omitlllllf Ru.La.

F 8f TE.XT AND TRANSLA nON 85

XIV Preference

See. once again a man from the first race which was hidden in the earth during thrice-innumerable cycles. emerges naked from a sunless rock

5 and starts a second life in full light, an image of a most genuine revival I .

Uz pietyn

When the even number of suns~ doubles

an even number of times'. he will retum~ dead into the rock.

JO USn

1 Read 1tClA.lvi;;ro"i:m;. 2 Read 'trov T]A.irov. J Read apnaKlC;. 4 FOT a1tEIO"l read V1tEl<!l .

86 TEXT AND 1RANSLA TION

xv npox£ipT)cn;;: /

bESOt "Co bropov Ill) Ka"CWKV1l ).lOt YEProv'

aA.'Aa Aaj3(;)V KpaU(H£ "COU "CEA.OU;; £xou' /

Kat npo;; KaAOv £u8uv£ T(lJV) crKT)nlOUxiav'

5 T' oUa "C£ nav"Ca ).llJ b£b£lICro;; "C(ov) Xpov(OV)' /

Kat y(ap) ovro8(£v) "COUTOV c'lA.T)q,a<; 1l0VOV'

TPt"CWi..; (b£) 1Wyal.; £YYUdOU).lEVOU XpoVO'tJ' /

).lia.; b£Kabo,;. a<H£po;; nAllPOU).l£VOU'

Kalro.; T£lc£tJTa nj) Ka8t£poU).l£VCP' /

10 TI. b£ T£81)nro.; oyy£A.£iav EiaMn'

acj>£;; optm:£ "ClJV cj>UTOU Ka"COtKiav' /

enou KaA.ouV"Cl npo.; npOK£t).l£VT)v Msav'

Kalro;; b' avuaa.; tilv £v - / apxal.; TJIlEpaV '

KaA.OU "CEA.Ou.; ellnA.llaOV anaaav nicnv'

15 Kat. npo.; / ).lOVa;; Ob£U£ TO.;; ou(pa)vlou,:;'

£V aol. y(ap) 0PXlJV "Crov oya8rov Kat "C£A.o,;: t

F 8"

11tpOXEipT]<n~A: 1tpoXEipt<n~ RII, !AI , 2 KCl'tIllKVT] A: KCl't~KVEt RII,~: 5 't' aU"Cl 'tE A: 't~",,,,a 'tE RII: i al.A.ri 'tE La I &DEtK~A : DEootK~Ru, La , 6 EtA.T]4lCl~ A: EtA.l1XUb Ru, La, 7 E'Y'Y"!' KI.O'UJlEVO'U A : E-yK'UKA.O'UJlEVO'U RII, La, ? KCletEpO'U~V~ A: ,KUelEp~~~C? Ru, La, 1 ~ 't~el1~{J)~ A : 'tE9111t~Ru, La I aYYE/cElavA : ciyyEi"wv Ru, La ! Etcr~EX11.~: E~cr&Xl1 RII, 13 avucra", 'U scriba ex £1 correxit, 15 ODE'UE A: OSE'UE RII, La, 16 apXl1v A: apXl1 RII, La ,

F 8v

xv

5

10

15

TEXT AND 1RANSLA TION

Appointment'

Accept the gift. do not hesitate~. old man3•

but after taking it. 0 mightiest. hold on to power

and lead your rule and all the rest to the good.

without fearing 4 time.

for you alone' have received tIlis from above,

While tile time of a decade revolves"

wiOlin three ellipses' and the star is waxing.

then end in a good way for the initiateS,

Why then do you accept" the message lO in amazement?

Leave. 0 excellent one. the dwelling of the plant

follow llim who calls upon you to the glory that awaits you

and when you have completed the day of the beginning in a good way.

then bring the whole creation to a good end"

and travel '2 to the heavenly abodes,

for in vou is the beginning" and the end of all good'4 ,

87

1 2 J d ' 4 R d""~ , , F" d Read 1tpoXEiptcrt~, Read KCl'tOKVEl. Rea YEPOV, ea uEuvtK~, . or ).lovov,rea 116vo~, 6 Read EYK'UKI.O'U).IEVO'U, 7 Read 1tayat,;, 8 The Greek text may be corrupt. It one ,... <, , ' fi d ' d" 9 R d reads viii for 't(ii . the translation is: "then end in a good way WIth a sanch Ie mm, ea Eicr&XE'l. 10 Read ciyyEI.iav, 11 Ifthe meaning o~ apXCli:~ here is, "power", the tr,~nslati~~ is: "and when you have completed the day YOll v.-,eld the power m a good way , and Ii the meaning o{'t£) .. o'U~ is "rulership". the translation is: "then fill the whole creation with good rulership" , 12 Read UD£UE, 13 For aPXtlv read apXtl, 14 S~e ~el', 2,1. 5-6" where :-"~ re~d a~ou~ the new heaven and earth and about the new Jerusalem: Kat El7tEV 0 KaEh1).1EVO~ Em 'tep epOVO) tooU, KatV<l 1tOliii 1tav'ta, .. , Kai. EhE\' flOt' y£yovav' £Ylll [E1.).IlJ 'tu a~a Kat 'to iii, i] apxllKai. 't()

'teA.o~ ,

88 TEXT AND lRANSLA nON F 9r

XVI < ••• >

lCaAoii ~iou 1:ET!oUXae; £~ ooo~"t(ae;)'

n e~ ap£1:lie; o· £<JX11lCOC;, £'\l1:UXEl.; / 1tAEov' n aAI.' ouo' OI.We; apl<J1:E lCEpoav£l'; XaPLV: /

5 cpeovo.; cpea<Ja.; y(ap), 1tpOlCpiV£L <JOL 1:(ljv) ~1.a~llv·

OUK O<J1:0X11mol'; 1:(ri).; avw / KAllPOUXi ar;:

1 deest titullls ill A: n.n. La (ex 3 trallslatum). 2-6oraculo quod 1tPOXEiPlcrt<; illscribitur (orae-ulllm .XV) attribuit Ru. 3 litterae n ... n desullt ill Ru ! E\rtUXE1<; A: 11 niXll<; prop. La post DOllsam cOllicientem, teste Ru. 4 ouo' o:A.(f)<; A: in allllotatioflibus ex antiqua versiolle Latilll! aoo:A.m<; calistro it La. 51tpotcpivElA: 1tPOtcPlvEl Ru, La i aOl A: aoi Ru. La.

F 9r

XVI

[pn

5

TEXT AND TRANSLA nON 89

< >

A noble life you have gained. starting from obscurity,

and you got tlus on account of your virtue rdtller than by good luckl. [pn

But by no means, 0 excellent one. will you reap gmtitude,

for envy will corne earlier and mete out2 harm to you.

You will [however) not fail to obtain tlle inheritance of heaven

t For E\mJXE1<; read il "tUxT\<;. Z For 1tpotcpi VEL read 1tpotcpl\'El.

90 TEXT AND 1RANSLA 110N

nEpt 'tOU 8PllA/.OU/lEVOU mroXou Kat EKA£lC'tOU ~a<JtA.£ClX; · 'tou YVCl)(HOU.

Kal. OYVcO(HOU' 'tOU Ka't01KOUV'tOC; EV 'tfj npo>T1J aKpa U\c; ~ut;aV'tibOC;'

F lOr

<> aATj8l voc; ~a<JtA£UC;, OC; Ka'tOlK£l f.V uyp0 'tonC!> bta 't() KatKn;lJC()V ' OV

Ebirosav U\S olKia.; alJ'tOU Ot av(8pron)01. Ka\. b£bcOKa<Jt 'tTjv (Hpro/lvTjv alJ'tOV

5 EV 't01C; vijcrOls' nAE:OVWs Kal aAl£UOV'tOC; EUbO/la'tlK0 f.uM)lc!>

XpOV<~' Eis'tO 'tEAOs nov icr/lall/.l'trov OnOKaAU4>8ijcr£'tat· napa

KOAOU811crEl be OU'tOs EV 'talC; TJ/lEpms 'tou Al~'; ' Kat. ecr'tat 6 np<iho.;

bEU'tEPO';' Kat 0 b£U'tEPOs np<iho.;· (Kat) /l£'ta 'tOUW nOl£iv 'ta </IOVEU -

'tijpw EV )lE:crC!> U\c; nOAEro.;, EV 'to AEOq,6p<9 1tAaKO't<~' f.v'Ii/lE:pa

\0 1tapacrKEuij, ropa ,;pi'tTj U\S Tt/lEpas ' Kat 'tpUOV -rapanoIJ.f.vrov

<'> 'tPi'to.; 1tpro'tOC;' Kat a1toKaAu<j>811crnm 0 £ tI.ll/lE:vOs· 0 /lEUrov

a1tOKaAucpeTivm bla 'tosrov Kat. GTJIJ.£lrov K(upio)u cpavijcrE'tm' EVllXll-

8fi napa 'tOu wpro/lEVOU <lrYEAOU 't(~ onoKaAucp8EV'tl <i>s av(8pcOrr)<9

AEuKocpapC!> EVVOUXW Kat E1.s 'to 01'>c; a\J'tou etnll a\J'tov Ka8£u

15 bOV't0s' Kat U\c; bESLll'; au'tOu ).a~O)lEvo,; £'irrTj' £Y£lPE 6 Ka8Eu

b<oV Kat avacr'ta EK 'tOV /lvTj/l£iou. Kai Enl</laucr£l crOl 0 X(plG'l:<'»';' 1tpOcrKa

t.£hat yap crE 'tOU 1tol/laiv£lV Aaov nEpLOucrLOV' Kat EK bEU'tf.pOU au't(o

d1tll ' £sEA8E 6 KEKPWEVOS /lllKE'tlKpUmOu, 1toUOI. crE Sll'tOiXH '

1tav'tE'; E:sEAEucrov'tm, cru (M) /lavos E1.cr£A£ucrEL' Kat EK 'tpi'tou bcOcrEl

20 aimo nAaKas A18i vas, E:V aIs EYKqapalC'tat EV'toAal. bU~ ' i;Xbl

Kijcrat Ka\. E8vllnolijcrm XPllcr'ta' Kat OcrE:~Etav E:KblOOSm Kal. 't(O-US)

'ta crObO/lT\'tlKa epya 1t010UV'tas. 1tUjHKaoo'tOUs nOlijcrm' wcrau't<tx;

Kal. 'tOU<; KaKOUs LEP£i.;, EK 'tOU iEPOU blcOsm' Kal. 'toUs aSiou.; d s 'to

8£iov anoKa'tacr'tijcrm, d<; Euapecr'tTj<Jtv 'tou 8(EO)U 'tou ou(pa)vou Kal 'tij.; y('ii)s'

25 eX£l (be) ov'tO.; GTJ/l£ia' <'> oV'Us wu /lqaAou banDAou 'tou bESIOU 1tooo<;.

'tijAo/la ex<ov ' 11 AaAla alnou Ttb£ta ' 'Ii O'lll'; au'tOu t\)llbi]s' 'to

£1bos av'tou yuvmKElov' /lEcrO'; !'Iiv 'lihKiav' </IaAaKpos' /llKp6v

1 8PTtAA.OUJ,1EVOU A : 8PUA.A.OUJ,1EVOU La. 2 clKpa A : (h(p~ La I ~usaV'tiOo<; A : ~ucravtioo<; La . 5 EuOoJ,1a'tuciPA: EI3OOJ,1a"C1.lCcpLa I EuOOJ,1QlA : El3OoJ,1aLa. 8 Kal. A: 'ti La. 9 TtJ,1Epa A: ';J..LEp~ La. 11 ElA.TtJ,1Evo<;A: TtA£tJ,1J,1Evo<;La. 12/13 EVTtX11eiiA : EvTtXTtcrEtt,La qui in annolalionibus EVTtXi!Ett, scribit. 13/14 'tiP u1tUlCaA.t>cP8Ev"Ct Ox; uv8pWnQl A£UlCO«!>OPCI,> EUVOUXQl A: 'toi) cl1tOlCaA.t>cP8Ev'tO<; ro<; uv8po:mo'U A£'UlCO<jl6pOU EUVOUXou La . 14 d1tT\ A: Et1t1J La. 15 Et1tT\ A : d1t1J La . 17/18 amOl EtnTt A : al.l"Ccp £t1t1J La. 18 lCEKp'UJ..LEVO<; A: KEKpUJ,1J,1EVO<; La I lCPU1t'tOU A: lCPU1t1:0i) La I 1tOA.A.OI. crcA : 1tOA.A.Ot crc La. 20 amOl A : aU't0 La I 1tA.alCa<; A: 1tAaKa<; La . 20/21 ElCOtlCiicratA : EKStlCi]cratLa. 22 rocramOl<;A: 6crau'tOl<;La.

TE..XT AND 1R.'\NSL A 110N

About the famous I • poor and chosen emperor. known

and unknown. who lives in the first citadef of Byzantion.

The true emperor. who lives in a moist place because of the burning heat,

whom people drove away from his residence and whom they lodged

5 on the islands. where he is sailing and fishing in the seventh year­

week). will be revealed at the end of the [dominion of the) lsmaelites. He

will succeed (them) in the days of the south-westerly wind and Itllen) the first will

be second. and the second first. And after that. places of execution [will be)

prepared~ in the middle of the city. on the crowded Plakoton5. on a

10 Fridal. at the third hour' of the day. When three men are in an uproar.

91

the third [will be] first. And the anointed ones will be revealed. The one who will be

revealed, wiII become manifest by means of rainbows and signs of the Lord. He will

be instructed9

by an angel who presents himself to the revealed one in human fonn

!like] a eunuch wearing white I 0, and who will speak)) into his ear while he is

15 asleep. And taking his right hand, he wiII sayl2: "Awake, you who

sleep, arise from the dead. and Christ will give you light J3: for he appeals

to you to tend Iris chosen people" . And the second time he will say to himl4 :

"Come out. you who are hiddenl5

, hide no more, many people are looking for you.

All of them will go out, you alone wiII go in". And the tlrird time he wiII give

20 lriml6

stone tables. in which two conunandments have been carved: to punish

the gentiles and make them righteousl7. and to persecute impiety and

bum to death those who are doing the tlrings of SOdoml8. and, likewise.

to drive away the wicked priests from tile temple and restore the

worthy ones to holy [office], as it pleases the God of Heaven and Earth.

25 His identifying marks are as folIows 19: the nail of the big toe of his right foot

shows a knob~o, his conversation is pleasant. his face is well-shaped21 and his

appearance is feminine. He is middle-aged, bald on the crown and slightly

1 Read 8PUUOUJ,1EVOU. 2 Read UKP«;l. J Read e(300J,1attKiji e!3&>J,1Ql. 4 For 1tot£1v 'tel read 1tOtEi.tm 5 I.e. the Forum of Constantine; see Janin, Constantinople, pp. 63 and 413. 6 Read TtJ,1Ep~ . 7 Read ci)p~ 'tpitl;t. 8 Read tiA£lJ,1J,1EVOC;. 9 Read EVT\XTt&ti. 10 For clv8pc01t0l A£'UKO«!>OPCP £UVOUXCP read uv8pc01toU A£'UKO<jl6pOU £UVOUXuu. 11 Read cl7t1J. 12 Read d1t1J'. IJ C[ Ep. Et,h. 5, 14. 14 Read a&tiji d1tlJ. 15 Read K£1CPUJ.1J..LEVO<;. 16 Read amiO. 17 Read E8~ 1totiicrat. 1 Read croOOJ,1tttlca. 19 For oU'to<; crrtJ,1£la read omOl<; 'tel crrtll£ia. 20 Read tUA.OlJ,1a or ifone prefers, 'tilAOllla: "a tattoo". 21 Read EUctSi]<;. '

92 TExT AND TRANSLATION

noA10S· nOAUTJCnrop KOt ~U1AAO cloos· nporoponKoS KOt npocjlll'tEiOs JlE

'tEXroV Kat JlE't00100US· l) pl..;; OU'tOU E:nlKeKuq,U'i'O· Ot O<jlElOA~.lOl.

30 JlE'tEroPOt· n£Y11s KEKOPIl£VOs· KOl POKta EVOEOUJlEVO<;. Ola to Jlil

XP1l(1)lEV£lV · £<J'tat OE npatk; Kat <jl1Aov(Elpcon)os· EUJle'tOO<no<;· JlE

yaAo\jliixo.;;· <jlO~EPO,;;· YEVVato.;;· r, OE~la av'tOu apJlov,;; Mo, O€lpa<;

Kat OtQ"UPOV';; nop<jlupou<; exrov Ent 'tov.;; OVO (OJlOnAO'ta<;. enl. 'tou

oti}Elou.; OE: Kal. ent 'tOY auxeva aU'tO<jltOY· OELpa<; Enl. 'troy nAe"I.JproV

35 Kal. en\. 'tou 'tpaxTJAou· Kat Ent 'troy JlllProv Kat ~aXtovrov· 'to OE: OVO

Jla tOU ~a<JtMro.; KEKPUJlIlEVOV ev 'tOt';; eElve(Jl· 6JlOlet O€ 'tij E:OXOTll

lJJlEP<;X 'tij EUOOJllJ · ypO<jl£1:al OE: Kat ano 'tou npro'tou YPO)l)lQ'tO<;·

EV tcj) OK'troKatO£KO'tCP· 1\'t01 E:V 'tcj) 'tptaKO(JlCOO'tcj) npOOtcp· <jlu

AO't'tCOV El£OOE~etaV Ka1 npocjlll'telav· OV eOOKOUV oi iiv(Elpron)Ol 00';; ou

F 10"

40 oev ov'tO, Kat £i..;; OUOEV XPll<Jt)l£VOV1:a· entElTJ<JTj K(UPtO)S 'tilv xdpa au'tOu

Ent 'tilv Kopu<jlilv oU'tOu. KOt XptO£l atl'"cov £Aatov ti.;; 'ta 'tEAll 'troy lJJl£p{rov) ·

0';; ypacjlTtO£'ta1 lJAE1J..lJlEVOs, KOt E~£AEUo£tat Ka'ta 'troY tOJlOllA1

'troY· KOt KpOti}<JTj oU'tou,;;. on EV 'tOt';; r,JlEpaU; bcelvat.;; ElAt~Tt

OOY'tat oi Civ(Elpron)Ol Kat OOOOOUOl 'ta npoocona a-\J'trov Ent. tii.;; Y1K Kat

45 XOUV nOOCOO1V Enl 'ta.;; Ke<jlaAa<; au'trov· Kat ~lJOOUOL npo.;; K(UptO)V 'tOY El(eO)V 'tou ou(pa)vou K01. tii<; yij<;. Kat 'to't£ elOOKOUOe'tat

K ( up to)<; 'tij.;; O£Tt

47 OeW<; au'trov· Kat Eli}<JTj 'ta c1)'tQ Enl 'tOU';; Ka't01.KOUY1:a<; 'tilv yijv·

Kal (mOOtEAet 'tOY aPXclYYeAOV oU'tou EV OXTt)lan civ(Elpron)ou, Kal. aUAl

oEli}Oe"tat EV 'tal';; VTt001';;· Kat eUPTtOe1 'tOY a'{tov au'tou. 'tOY tiAll)l -

50 JleVOv nap' OUOeVO';; ~AEnOJ..leVOV· (Kat) napa Jl1l0eVO';; yvroP1SOJlEVOV·

"tOY XP1l0"tOV Kat aXPllo'tOV· "tOY 1t'troxov KOt Jlil txnepOUJ..leVOV· tOY

eAEOUV"ta Kat EAEOUJlEVOV· 'tOY YUJlVOV Kal ~VOOLVa lJJlCPt£O)l(ev)ov·

'tOY VEKPOV ov'ta 'tcj) oroJlan, K( at) evnvouv Kat sCi)v'ta 'tcj) nv( eVlla't}t· 6

apno.;; Kat KUUO,;;· 0 npOKQ'tOp~a.;; Kat el';; ouoev XP1l0LlleVCOV·

28 )laU .. aA : )laUovLa I ElOo~ A: Ei&ill;La I ltporopanlCo\;: 0 [lJ ex (J) [?J scriba correxit. 29 post Ocjl6a;i..iJ.oi scriba avrov de/evit. 30 iJ.l] A: !If:v La. 32 ap)lotlC; A: ap)lo"U~ La. 36 EOXa'tT] A: EOX<l'tlJ La. 37 euOOJ.llJ A: £~)llJ La. 43 KpaTiJ aT] A: ICpatf)aEt La. 44 npo­arona A: nproaOlta La. 46 EiaOlcouaE1at A: EiaalCOtl<rrj1at La. 49/50 Ei;i..T])l)lEVOV A: it}"£t)l).l£vov La. 52 itJ.lcjltEcr!lf:VOV A: EJ.lcjllEcr!lf:VOV La. 53 ev1tVo"Uv A : EWtvO"UV La.

F lOy TEXT AND TRANSLATION

grey-haired. He is very learned I and erudite2• He foresees the future3

• sharing in [the

gift of] prophecy in which he lets other people share. He has an aquiline nose and

30 protuberant eyes. He is poor. shaven and dressed in rags, because he is of no

use. He will be mild. kind. generous. magnanimous.

formidable and noble. His right hand rhasl two joints. he bears cords

and purple crosses on his two shoulder blades. a

naturar1 < .. . > on his chest and ncck, and cords on his sides.

35 his throat, his thighs and his anns. The name

of the emperor is hidden from the gentiles: it is similar5 to the last6

day. the seventh', and it begins with the first letter

in the eighteenth. or the three hundred and first He observes

piety and prophecy. People considered him to be

40 nothing and useful for nothing. TIle Lord will place9 his hand

on Ius head and will anoint him with oil lO at the end of time.

He will be represented ras] anointed and will march out against the Ismaelites and defeat I I them. For in those times people will be

distressed. beat their heads against the ground.. sprinkle

45 dust over their heads and cry aloud to the

Lord. the God of Heaven and Earth. Then the Lord will hear their prayer

and will turn12

his ears to those who inhabit the earth.

He will send his archangel in human shape. who

will take up his abode on the islands and will find His holy man.. the anointed13•

50 whom nobody sees and nobody knows.

He is useful and useless, poor and not destitute,

merciful and dealt with mercifully. naked and clothed in linen,

dead in body, and alive l4 and well in spirit.

perfect and deformed, the first among the prophetsl5 and useful for nothing,

93

I Read nO;i..'UlO'trop. 2 Read )l<l;i..a Ei&ill;. J Read ltpoopa1tK6~. 4 Read amocjloov. 5 Read • 0 - 6 R d" 7 Rd' ru: . 8 9 10 O)l lOt. ~: Eoxa't1]. ea EpvO).l1J Read 1PWKOcrtOO'tij). Read Em6TjcrEl. Cf. Ep. Hebr. 1,9. 15 Read ICpatf)crEt or lCpa1i]01J. 12 Read 6itaEt. IJ Read it}..£t)l).l£vov. 14 Read eiJ.ltvovv. Read npOcjlT]1apsa~, cf. lines 101-102.

94 TEXT AND TRANSLATION

55 (; aoaTJs Kat noUa ei.oWs· 6 'tOls nucrt O"K01£tVOS Kat a</lavlk

14> of: 8(£)4> Kat tam4> </lav£pos' (; €.K ~Otpas OOUKtKiis Kat €.K "(e

vous pamA.tKOU Ka1<l"{6~£vos' pamAe(j~ U\.o<; Kat amos pam

A£U<; 'ti\s M~T\<;' K(l'tOtKrov €.v 14> aKPCll 'ti\<; pu1;av'ttoos' ano l(iis)

o'U1tKiis 'ti\s nOA£(J)~ nUAT\s nAT\criov lOU criy~al0s' aUl0u lJ ava

60 'tPO</lTJ {X "(evo'Us O,,{0011Kovla \j1lJ</lo'Us EXCllV 10 ovo~a all"wu' Ecru (0£)

Kat ano lOU oroo£KalOu crlOtXeio'U' 10 O£ £l£POV ,,(pa</l£lat ano lOU npoo'to'U 'YPa~~(l'tOs €.v 14> OK1CllKatO£KChCll ' Ecr1<lt O£ a</l' 6 -

~OtCll~£VO<; 14> 8(£)4> 14> U\j1icrlql" 'to O£ ovo~a 'tOU n(a't)p(o)~ al>10U 8£lOV ' Os

ecrnv u\j1tvo~ ' Ecrn O£ ana'tCllp ' a~'i}'tCllp' Kat cryeVeaA.O'YT\lOs·

65 a~a of: Kat lptKOVOT\AOs' £K cruvo'Ucrias natoas not'i}cras' yv

valKa ~iav' lOU<; ~f:V app£vas lCIs of: 81lA'Uias' Kat laU1<l lrov

natOCllV Kat 'troy yuvatKrov la ovo~ma' ii~a' ~ O' Y' ii 0: U· t · Kat Ecr'tat of: OiiAa 'wu'ta ano lOU O"T\fJetOU 'tou ovuXo<; lOU

O£~tOU noM<;' Kat ano 'tOU O£stOU O</l8aAfJou aulOu' 0<; €.crlt crlpe

70 PAOs Olj>8aAfJos 't(iis) nopvetas' Kat ii"{w<; "4> K(upi)q>' £Aaia<; EXCllV

ei.<; la Oe/;ta ~epT\. e1s 't£ 'to uno~o:1;wv ' Kat ~uUov 'tou rollo

nAchou' £ni 't£ 'tou fJT\POU Kat 'tOU oo'tos' Kat £nl 't(lJV) o£/;tav oq,puv'

ota 'to 'ti\s eAeT\~OcrUVT\s ~e'tpov ' £s£pu8paivCllv 'ta~ ~nA.a<; xapi

£t<;· eUfJnKT\s 'to y£v£tOv fJ£O"T\A.tCllfJ£VOV, EXCllv -rlJV tnniVT\v alla

75 'Iii Kpm(t). fJiUtxos' ~eAtcr'taYTJs' Il£M8ptS' avalj>eAavoos' YT\pato(s)'

F llr

VtKT\-rlJs' 'tponawuxos' avas avO:K'tCllV' aptcr'tO<;' Ka'tOtKrov T\ T\

£v ti) 'te'tpanUAq>, Ent 'to \j1'UXPO't£POV fJepos 'tOU crl"{lla'tos' Kat O. O. €.v 'tC9 vO'ttaiq> fJ£PT\ 'ti\s 8aAO:crO"T\~ ' Kat ev 'tonq> acrnfJq> Kat POP

POPCOOT\' £S£PXOfJeVOu EK 'ti\s nUAT\s 'ti\s xpucr£as' Kat 'tfis SU ~o AOK£PKOU' no:vta 'ta av'taKO:taV1<l, Ka'tavta' va"{ta lJP£llel'

'to of: crKnVCllfJa EXCllV lJVCllfJevOV €.K ODO ESCll n'UArov' lJ O£Sta fJ(£v)

58 iiK:POlA : UKPqlLa I ~'Ut;avtiOo<;A: ~'U<JavtiOo<;La. 62 OlCtOllC(llOElCOtOl A: OlCtOl lCat ~~o~ La. 62163 aep' 0110tOlI1£VO<; A : a4X>l1otco~vo<; La. 66 6rjA'Uia<; A : 6rtA.eia<; La. 67/68 g o· 'Y' ii· ii· ii· t ' A: 11'. o. y. a'. ri. ri. t'. La. 68 oc OTtAa A: O£/>T\Aa La.:. _ 75 lCpatt A: Kpat_ fa I J.liAAtxo<;A : J.leiAtxo<;La I avacpeAavoo<;A: avacpoAavto<;La. 76T]T]A: omittitLa. 770.0. A : omillil La. 78 J.l£pT] A : J.t£PEt La. 78179 ~pflopcOOT] A: ~pfloPcOOEt La. 80 KatavtO A: lCa'tavta La I vayta A: v6yta La I iJPEllEt A: KPEllEt La. 81 iJvcoJ.t£vov A: TtVOJ.l£vov La I E/;co 1t'UAci'>V A: aSC01t'UAci'>v La.

FIJf TEXT ANTI TRA.NSLA TION 95

55 ignorant and learned. dark and invisible to all.

but visible to God and to himself. He is part of the Doukas family and descends

from an imperial dynasty, being the son of an emperor and being himself the

emperor of gIOJ),. He lives at the far end I of the city of Byzantion, towards

the western gate of the city and close to the Sigma. He grew up

60 in a family that has2

a name [consisting of] eighty ciphers. which begins

with the twelfth letter: but his other [name] begins with

the first letter in the eighteentI{ He resembles4

God Almighty, and the name of his father is divine. His

thoughts are elevated. He is fatherless, motherless. and without ancestry.

65 He also has tIrree-knuckled5

fingers . He has children from intercourse r\~itI1J one wife; some of them male and others female", and these are tile names of the boys and tile females. nanlely. m. d. g, a.

a. a. i. These tIrings will be evident from the mark on the nail of his

right foot and from Iris right eye, wlrich is the squint-eyed

70 eye of fornication. He is holy in the sight of the Lord. He has birtlunarks

on the right side [of his body]. under his chest, and even more on iris

shoulder. his thigh and his ear, and on Iris right eyebrow,

because of the e,."ient of his mercy. He is lovely with blushing cheeks',

and tall. His beard, his moustache and [the hair on] his head are

75 streaked. He is kind8• honey-sweet. black-haired9 with a lrigh forehead1o• He is of age .

He is victorious. triumphant, king of kings. excellent. He lives

in the Tetrapylon, towards the coldest part of the Sigma and

at the southern seaside I I , and in an obscure and muddi 2 place.

When he comes out of the Golden Gate and the Xylokerkos

80 Gate, all things that are topsy-turvy come to anend13 and the defilements ceasel4 .

His quarters lie in bet\veen the two outer [piers of the] gates. On the right

; Read OlCpql. Z For EX(J)V read EXOV'tO<;. J Read OlC'tCOKatOelCUtCO. 4 Read acpOlJ.lOlcoJ.t£VO<;. Read 'tPtKOVOl)A.O<;. 6 Read 6rtAEiu<;. 7 For 'ta<; J.lll Aa<; read 't~ J.lTtAa. 8 Read ~ei"'tXO~

9 For J.lEA06plS read J.lEAav6ptS. 10 For uva$EAavoo<; read avacpaAavoo<;. II Read J.t£PE~: 12 Read Rr. Ar. cOO 13 F ' " , ""p""p E1. or navta 'ta UV'talCU'taV'ta lCu'tavta read 1tavta 'ta avolCu'ta lCa'tavtc;i. 14 For v<iyta read ta Ev<i'yta.

96 TExl ANTI TRANSLATION

nA.a'tela 000;; lCat h80CHPO)l0C;' EX01XJa Ai80uC; Se<J'rO~ lCat 'rE'rpabl -aiouc;' O<jll£ObTJ<; lCtllleVO;; lCal 8TJptOOTJe; <JWAO;; 'rE'rap'rOC;' lCat bl

<jlpeA.a'rT\e; 811A.UKii T<Jta1:at on£vav'rt 'Iiie; <JlCTJVii;; autou' Kat lCpa'tel 85 <J'r£</lavov lCpa1;cov -ITtV tUXTJV 'rOU E:1CAelCtOU ~a<JtA.ECOe; · onEvavn 'Iiie; <JJ(TJ

viie; autoD, Tbpllla 8WVbPlKOV 800IlEVOV lCa\. npo<JlCUVOVlleVOV int' av'rou.

EX<OV scOVTJV /liav' lCat 'r0 QVOlla alltOu yA.umov· </lEProv 're 'rOY nOA.ellOV lCat t(OV Sav8(ov 'rae; IlTJxavae;' 'rae; xWtte; 'rrov ailla'r(<Ov) ' tic; KUA.ilCtOV ev Vj Yii E<J'rPCOIl£VOV, EX<OV Ent 'rou vcO'rou 'rOY apxov'ra

90 'rrov 8TJpi,rov ' Kat Ent tOU <JTIJ8ouc; 'rOY tOU <Jt(au)pou 'rUnov' eUrovUIlOu bE

Il£POUC; 'rOU <JKTJVcOlla'tOe; alnou oooe; E:<J'reVOIl£VTJ' PUfli<JICTJ Kat Dba

'roe; nA.TJIlllVpa Kat ~8ela lCat nATJIlllUpOUvta lCat i!xoUvta lCat KUI.wtVO/leva ent 'r(itv) OlCPO'rOIlOV 8aA.a<J<Jav tf\e; E:maA.O</lOu·

Kat 7t:OtallOC; ~pUXO/leVOe; cmo 'Iiie; dioTJpoC; (l-K:POtOIlOU ovabi -95 OO'ral' oe; £<J'rtv EAanvoe; ne$U'reUflevll ev -rU au'rou 'Yevvij<Jet· EX<OV

napalCAOVOUC; £navco autrov 'rrov EAativ<ov, lCaA.la opv£OU En£ X<OV AeUlCOU' £XCOV ~A.a<JtO~ lCat ,;Mae; opv£COV Kat nepl<J'reproV' E:V (9 Kat nvpyoc; Il£Yl<JtOC;, lCat 8TJpHOb1le; <J'rUXTJ' btaKOVOUlleVOe; unO lle

'.avbhotr EA.e(OV te Kat EACOUlleVOe;' E<Jn OE bU<JcOvUflOC; lJ lCA.Tj 100 <Jle; au'rou 8TJpt6VUflOe; AUlCOC;' lCat autTj -rU 'raSet n£$UlCeV ';AOU

<J'rptOe;' <jlUAOnttv nO<Jav eEO<JE~etaV lCat npO</lTJ'reiav ' 6 npo$TJ -

'rapsae;, Kat Eie; IlTJbEV XPTJ<JtlleU<Jae;' ov £SOU8EVOUV Ot Qv(8p<on)ot roc; VelCpOV ovta, lCat IlTJbEV XPTJ<JtlleOOV'ta· CtnOlCaAU\jfTJ 6 8(eo)e; Kat Ev</lavi<J1llCat Xpi<Jel au'rov £AatOv tie; 'rO t£A.(TJ) 'rrov lJlleproV '

105 oe; e<Jttv lJAelllll£VOe; ono ya<JtpOC; eA.aiou <Xyiou autOu ' anOlCaA.U

<jlait<Je'rat bE OUt ... · </layiJO'Etat oO'-ITtP TtIl£Pac; 'rpele;' lCat VUlC'rOC; ropac; y' IlEO'OV 'Iiie; nOA.E<O<; E<oe; 'Iiie; Il(TJt)p(o)e; 'rOU U\jflO''rou' 6 (bE) CtO'-ITtP

OUlC eO'nv f:K t(rov) 108 nA.avij'[<Ov. oU' 11 roc; £</laiVel de; '[(itv) <J(<OTIJ)PtOv YEVVTJO'lV tOU X(plO'tO)U'

lCat K';PUS ~orov

F IF

82 ~E(H01K.; A: ~e$u~ La. 83IhlptooTl~A: Ihlpl/ooTl~La. 83/84 ot$pEM'tTl~ A: Ot$poM'tTl~ La. 841hlA.\JJ(l; A : 1hlA.\JK"; La. 86 '(OPtJ1ClA : '(OP\JIlCl La. 89 yij A : 'Yl1 La I vroto\J A: vO'to\J La. 90 O'tCl\JPO\i A: O'tPCl'tO\i La I eUCIlvUJlo\J A: EOOvUJlO\J La. 95 o~ EcrtlV A: o~ Emtv La I 1tE$mE\JJlEVTJ A: 1tE$mClJlEV1l La. 97 A.E\J1CO\i A: AClJlo\i La. 98 J.LEYto'to~ A: JlriA.to'to~ La. 99 EonA: EmiLa. 99/100 Ii KA.l;crt~A: 1C";A.TlOt~ La. 100 ClUtl; A: ClU'tU La. 10111020 1tpoqrrl'tripI;Cl~ A : ou 1tpO$I1'tOP~Cl~ La. 103 01t01CClA.U\jI11 A: U1t01CClAU\jIEt La. 104 EV$CXviOTl A: EIl$avit;Et La . 106 om .. . (spalium duo sell lrillm litlerarum vacal) A: OiJ'tffi~ La .

TEXT AND 1R.A.NSLATION

there is a wide. paved road with polished square stones.

The fourth column is snake-like and beast-like l. A

female charioteer stands before his tabernacle and holds

97

g5 a crown, loudly acclaiming the fortune of the chosen emperor. Before his tabernacle

there is a shrine2

of the God-man where he brings offerings and shows his reverence.

It has3

one frieze [on whichJ his name is carved: he brings the

war, the devices of the blond [peoples] and the sheddings of blood

in a cup toppled over on the ground4, and on his back he has the lord

90 of the beasts and on his chest the sign of the cross. On the left

side of his quarters there is a narrow' road, an alley

flooded with water and deep. [The waters] are flooding and roaring

and billowing towards the steep sea [side] of the City of seven hills

and a raging" river rushes down the iron cliff.

95 There' is a fir treeS which was planted at the moment of his birth. It has9

side-branches1o

above its fir-tree [branches]. which holdll the nese2 of a

white bird, and it haslJ

sprouts and [various] kinds l4 of birds and doves. At this spot

there is a mighty tower. and beast-like walls l5. He is ministered by a

man wearing blackl6

. He is merciful and is dealt with mercifully. His ill-omened

100 name is a beast-named I' wolf. He is illustriousl8 among his ownl9 class.

He observes piety and prophecy in all respects. He is the first among the

prophets, but he is useful for nothing. And the people despised him

as if he were dead, and useful for nothing. God will reveal20 him

and will show21

him and will anoint him with oil at the end of time -

105 and he is anointed from his belly [upward} with holy oil22• He will be

revealed as follows: a star will appear for three days. and at night

for tluee hours, throughout the city as far as [the church of) the Mother of the

Highest. The star is not one of the

108 planets. but it is as it appeared23 at the redemptive birth of Christ. A herald will shout

I Rea~ eIlPuiJo~~. ~,Read IopW~. .,.3 R~ad E~o~. • Read Y,n. , 5 Read EO'tEVffiJ.LEVTl. 6 Read pf)\JXW).l€vo~. For o~ read 011 or EV q>. For EA.Cl'ttVO~ read EA,O'tTl. 9 For EXffiV read EX01l0Cl. lOR d ' ' 11 F " d ' . 12 13 e~ 1tapClKJ\,ffi~\JS. "or E1tE~~V rea E1tE~OV't~., For KOAta r~ad KaA.taV. For EXffiV read EXO\JOCl. Read t&~. For IhlptffiOI1~ 01:\JXI1 read ellPtffiOEt~ 'tolxot. 16 Read JlEA.aVOU'tO\J. 17 Read Ihlptrov\JIlO~. 18 Read iA.A.oUO'tplO~. 19 Read Clm!}. 20 Read U1tOlCClA.U\jIet or U1t01CaAU'IfI:I. 21 Read EJl$avicret or EJl$ClviC11]. 22 For EAClio'U Cryi~\J read EA.cxlffi iryicp. 2l For E$CXivet read t$<iVT]. ' ,

98 TEX"T AND lRANSLA nON

'tpovro~' EV 'tOl~ 'tpLatv TlIlepat~, civ01COArov KOl. aVOKOA{J7t'trov 'tOY EA

1107tt1;0)l£vov' 'to't£ 0 oij)lO~ oprov KOl aKouo>v 't(ljv) 'tOU KllPVy)lO'tO~ ~pOV -1:0011 q,rovljv EK1tAcryTJaov'tat· KOl Es£a'tllKOm; a)lO TIj Xopa Kol 't<!> q,o~q) ~oTJaOuatv ayvo£tv 'tOY EA1ttl;0fl£vov' 1:0't£ oproV1:rov 1tav1:rov, KOl. 'to

K(Upt)£

113 f:AellaOv 8£Pflro~ EK't£V~ ~orov'trov' KOt 'ta )lE:'t01tO OU'trov £i.; 'tlJV yijv KpOOOOV'tEo; ' KOi. XOUV £i~ '[a~ KE</IOAa~ otnrov 1t(iO'ov't£~ KOi. o',[£VO

F 12r

115 SOV't£~ KOt OOKPUO xUcrov't£~. OUl 'tilv E7ttOUO'ov oU'tol~ 8Ai\jlW 1topa Kl.l18iJO'£'tat '[0 8Eiov KOl. EU)l£V~ 1tpoO'<5E:sat 't(ljv) <5E:llO'tV OU'trov' Kal iAeQ)

Ofl)lOn E7tt~Ae\jl£t E1tl 1:0Uo; KO'tOtKOUV'tO~ 'tilv yfjv ' OUl 'tOU~ KO'tO All$8f:v'tO~ '[(he EKAEK'tOU.; yvroo8iJO'£'tat 0 EKAEK10';' opa8iJO'£'tal

EV 't<!> ou(pa)v<!> v£q,roo£.; O''t£peroflo 'tOU TJAiou' exrov 'to )lE:YEeo.; OlO'1tEP 120 aArovo.; 8EPtvii~ IlAroroV 'troy ~cj)v £S, KCl'tro8£v De KpE)laO'8iJO'E'tOl

O'1:(ou)p0,;. £urovU)lco,; oe wu O''t(ou)pou 'tou 1tOpq,upou. EK't£'tO)lf:VOV 't()Sov. Otov

otE:8E'tO 'toi.; 1t(a't)paatv TJ)lrov d.; ow8iJKllv aicl)vtOv' ayvoouv'[rov oe 1tClv'tO>v 1:0V EA7ttl;o)lEvov, civaKAaO'8iJO'E'tat 'to 'tosov oto. 'tou VO) -

notou )lEPOU';, 0 EO'nv EV'tllAOU)lEVOV EV 't<!> UATJ)lan 'tou ou(po)vou KOl.

125 1tAllpro8iJO'£'tOt 'to 1tEPO'; 'tij.; OKllvfj~ £~ 'tOU aV£A1tlO''tOU' KOi. OEt X8iJO'E'tat TIj 8E:a£t 'tije; KOAtas 'tOU aA1181voU ~OotAeroe;' 'to'[£ Ot AOOl. DOV'tEe; OOSOV 't<!> 8(£)<!> OpO)loi.~ <J1tEUO'OUO'LV E1tt 'to aKpov 1:0U 'to

SOU' KOl. Aa~ov't£~ 'tOY 1tOAU'tl)ll1'tOV KOt YllPOtOV avoK1:ropiollv )l£'to. I..O)l1tOorov KOl. ~aT(,)v KOi. ro$poorov' on 1tOtKtAOA; q,EPOOOt

130 au'tov EV Tij )l£yal..ll alrov' KOt o'tOv (oe) £A9rj 0 o.A118LVO~ ~OotAEUe; ci1tE

vovn 'tijc; KaAtaC; oU'tOU aVOjlEO'rov QUO a\jltorov KOt ivMA)lo'to~ £ q,' U\jIou<; lO''tO)lEVOU. 0 q,OVE1.e; aO''tiJp a1tO 'tOU OEStOU )lEPOU<; 'tOU O''t(OU)pOU €KXU 8iJO'e'tOt KOt Oolcrel OU'tOV d<; 'tae; X£tpO<; KOt XpiO'£l OU'tOv q,~ vo£p(Ov)·

KOt 0 KTJpUS ~pOV'toq,rovrov KOt )lTJ q,atVO)l£VOC; a1tO WU Ou(po)VOU 1tPO(<;) 135 'tOY AOOV £1.1t1l. ap£O''toe; u)liv O\)'toe; EO''t1.; 'to.e ATJ\jI£'tat 1tav'toe; q,o -

~~ KOt 'tpO)lOe; KOt £KO''tOO't<; tie; 'tilv 'tOU KllPVy)lO'tOe; ~povnotav

109 'tpi:crtv A: 'tpi<nv La. 110/ 111 I3pov'tooT) A: /3pov'tOOOT) La. 111 Xapo A: xap(i La. 113 'Yiiv: -1]v (-ov?) anlea compelldi factum scriba solvil. 120 /3ociiv A: /3coii)v La. 121 ci'ta'U­po<;A: cr'tpa'to<;La I EUWWIlW<;A: aWvullw<;La I cr'ta'Upo;:) A: cr'tpo'to;:) La. 122 1ta'tp0crtv A: 1tPcryllocrtvLa I c!yvoouV'twvA: ayvovv'twvLa. 124o£cr'ttvA: 0 Ecr'ttvLa I eV'fT)AOVIlEVOvA: ElrrrJAoUIlEVOV La I UATtIlOn A: EiATtllan La. 125 1tAT)pw8itcrE'tat 'to 1tEpa<; 'ri'\<; crKT)V;;<; em<; 'to;:) aVeA1ticr'tO'U' Kat omitlit La. 126 aEcrEt A: EhicrEt La. 129 cpepo'U<n A: cpEpo'Ucrav La. 130 llE'YaAT) moov A : IlE'YaAT)<n roy La. 1311 132 tcp' u,!,o'U<; A: e4>i,!,o'U<; La qui ill almotatiol1ibus ecpt1t'to'U vel e4>' u'!'o'U<; suspicatur. 132 cr'to'Upo;:) A: cr1:P0'tOti La. 134 /3pov'tocpwvciiv A: /3pov'tocj>Ovii'lv La. 135 Ait,!,E1:at A: ATt,!,Ecr8at La.

F 12r 1EXT AND TR.-\NSLA nON 99

clearly in those three days. calling up and revealing the hoped one.

110 And then the people. when seeing and hearing the thunderous' voice of

the message, will be astonished. And in their astonishment both in joi and in fcar,

they will cry that they do not know the hoped one. Then.. while looking up and. crying out the 'Kyrie

113 eleison' fervently and assiduously. tbey will all beat their foreheadsJ

against the ground. sprinkle dust over their heads, heave

115 sighs and shed tears for the grief that is coming over them.

And then the deity will relent and hear' their prayer benevolently and He will

look upon the inhabitants of the earth with a merciful eye. Thanks to tile chosen

who have remained5

by then.. he will be recognized as the chosen one. In the sky

amidst clouds the celestial body of tile sun will appear, having' the size

120 of a sununer threshing floor (fit] for six threshing oxen'. Underneath it a cross

will be hanging and. to the left of the purple cross. [there will be] a vast rainbow.

as He agreed upon in the everlasting covenant with our fatherss. And as

they are all unaware of (the whereabouts of] the hoped-for. the minbow will bend backwards down

124 its spine, which is set in a curve" against the vault of heavenlO•

125 And tllen the entire tabernacle will fill itself as far as (the place where] the une:-.:pected olle [hides] - and

126 he will be shown at the place of the dwelling of the true emperor. Then tile masses.

praising God, will hasten hurriedly towards the end of tile rainbow

in order to receive the highJy respected and aged monarchll

with torches and palm branches and songs ofpraise'2. for they will bring him

130 with various kinds (of honour] to the great'3 Sion.. And when the true emperor

will appearl~ in front of his dwelling between two arches '5 and a statue standing

on a pedestal, the star that appeared on the right side of the cross will spread

out and will hand him over [to tile people] and anoint him with spiritual light.

And the herald, with a tllUnderous voice, but invisible, will sayl. to tile people

135 from heaven above: "Is this one to your liking?" Then they will all be overcome

by fear and terror and bewilderment upon hearing the thunderous voice of the

I Read ~pov'tu)OT) . 2 Read xop(i. J Read IlE'tW7tU. 4 For 1tpocrocl;at read 1tpocroc1;E'tat. 5 Read ICO'taAEtcp8£v'ta<;. 6 Read EXOV 7 Read a),ooiv'twv /3Ociiv. 8 Cf. Gen. 9, 12-17. 9 For eV'tTJAOUjlEVOV read aVtEtAoUjlEVOV. 10 Read £l"'Tt/lan. II Read avUlC'tOpUlllv. 12 We were not ~6ble to i~~terpret the word u)cppuOciiv. JJ Read j.lE'YaA1.1. 14 Read nGu. 15 Read alj!i.oCJlv.

Read Et1t1.1.

100 TSXT AND 1RANSLA TION F 12v

<jlCOVr,V' Kat d8' 01J1:COs 'tun1OV1:£s 'ta anl811!l£'ta oaKpucov Kat a't£vaYllrov.

'tas X£lpas £is ou(pa)vov opav't£s £LnCOat· vat K(Upt)£ on au MCOKas alJ'tov a

pca'tos TJ!llV eatl: Kat npoaK'UVTJaaVt£s alrrov ovosovaLV au'tov lOis

140 'LilY !l£,),OA1lY atOW Kat npoa£USO!l£VOs Kat a<jlpayiaas 'tas nUAas

aVOlx€hlaovtat, £ua'tp£!l£VCOV navnov Kat 6pcbvtcov' Ot o£ eKeta£ 0V'tcs

<jluyroat !l£ta noUou 'tou <jlopov' Kat npoa£USa/l£VOL oval3Ll3aaav

't£.:; e<\>' l)\jl11AOU 'tonov KaA.£aCOat v autov paatAEa exovta au'tov eK

YEVOU':;' d8' OU'tCOs U!lvijaaV1:£':; Unoa'tpE\jIav'tcs olKaoc' K(at) o'ihcos

1450sovaLv ev 't£9 naAa'tic~ V'UK'tO':;' Kat aUoLco8JlaOVtat ta <J11!l£la

0011YT,aOVat o£ al)'tOv, Kat OUO Oyy£A.ot £V Ollolro!lan ov(8pron)ov A£VKO -

<jlopov £UVOUXOU· Kat lOis ta rota au'tou AaA.r)aOVat 'tt !lEU£t

npatt£t V' noUot Of:: En' au'tov 8£A1laavt£r; E1ttl3aA.£lv tas X£l

pas, OUK £1ttl3oUovat. I3AEnoV1:£s 'ta <J11/lc1a Kat KpatOU/levot

150 Uno 'troY CtyY£ACOV £LnCOatv £v £aU101':;' OUW':; eattv OU TJKOUO

!l£v XP11a'tOV K(vpio)v' nav't£s Of:: OiKdats a£tpa1s a<jlt')'YO/l£VOl

'troY o!lapnrov Kai napavO/ltrov au'trov t£ £v80S(t)v QVO/la't(cov)

Kai 'troy tOUs <\>opour; 't£AOUV't(t)V auv tep£ualv oacl3eata'tOLr;' nOAAOt 8£

on08paaouaLv £is 'tous cppanro8elr; 'tonous Kai a'tpayyaAAlro8£tr;

155 TIls OIKOVJl£Vll':;' Kai nov'tes 80Saaav'tcs tOY 8(£o)v TJpe!l1laOUalv'

avr,p 8£ 'troy 'tijr; ava'toAij.:;· t4> Kat Tij 'tUX11n£pl<jlavTJs' ano

n£vias Kat au'tos roy Kat £K 8OS11r; tir; 80sav lle'tal3ai v(t)v tiis

£vap£'tov nOAl'tdar;' eis OKPOV !l£'tepxo!l£VOr; nOAus 't(t)Ovn

Kat ta1s 8Pl1St Aa/ln(t)v' Kat £Ani8a £X(t)v 'tou OOPOtOU 8(£0 )U'

160 nap' O/lOtOr; 't4> n'tcox4> Kat EKA.£K'tOS· Kat a1)'tOr; TIls OVCO KA1la(£CO)s

'tou cpCO'tor; 'tOU 8( eo)u £/lCPOP118£1.s:

t TJ 'tOWU't'll ypa<jlr, /l£'teypo<jl11 ano naAatrotatOv 13113A.iov ~ A£y(£tal)

dvat ypacpil Xpovcov U' Kai En£K£tva: t

137 'tU7t'tov't€~ A: 'tU7t1:ov'to~ La I !l€ta A: Ilryta La I ~vayllrov A: atpE\:ar~rov La: 145noA.a1:tro A: KOA.a1:tro La. 146i147 A.E'OKOcjlOPO'O A: A.OKOCPOp0'O La. 147 E'OVO'UXO'U A. avouxo'O L~. 150 ottO~ emtv A: omittit La. , 151 acptYY~Il€VOt A: acpiyy0J.l.€v o~ La. 153 aaE~Eat(i'tOt~ A: a<JE~atato~ La. 15~ CPPOYY<OOEt~ A: ~~t~ La I , mp,cry,'YOA.A.tOlOEt~ .4: mpayyoA.lCb&t~ La. 156 'tUX'll A: t'OXTJ La. 158 EVOPEtO'O, A: €V OPEtO'O, La I IlEtEPxoIlEVO~ A: IlEtPEXOIl€VO~ La I tmoVtl A: troOVtl La. 160 KI.,'ll<JEro~ A: KA.'llata~ La. 162/163 omittit La. qui addi! TEAOL.

F 12v TEXT AND 1R."NSLA TION 101

message. And theR beating their breasts [and weeping] ,,,ith tears and sighs,

their hands raised towards heaven. they will say: "Yes. Lord. since Thou hast given

him, he is to our liking". And they will worship him and then lead him

140 to the great Sion. He will say a prayer and make the sign of the cross before the gates

and then they ""ill open. while all gather together] and watch. Those who

are present there

142 will flee in great fear. and worshipping him and elevating him

to a high place, they will proclaim him emperor, him who has tIris place by reason

of birth. Afterwards they will sing hymns and return homewards. And thus

145 they will lead him by night into the palace. The signs will change and wiII

guide him. and [there will be] two angels resembling men dressed in wlrite. eunuchs.

and they will speak into Iris ears [telling lrim] what he must

do. Although many long to lay their hands upon lrim.

they [will] not do so. as they see the signs and as they are warded off

150 by the angels. and~ they wiII say to themselves: "He is the one about whom we heard

that he is the Lord's Anointed3". And they will all be caught in the cords

of their sins4 and tmnsgressions. both those who belong to the illustrious fanrilies

and those who pay taxes, as ,:vell as the most impious priests. Many

will flee to the earth's meandering5 places with many ravines6.

155 And all will praise the Lord and find peace.

And a man from the East. famous for Iris < ... > and his good fortune.

of humble birth as well. will climb up from obscurity 7

to the gloI}' of a virtuous

life. On his way to the top he is truIy8 fornlidable.

His hair is radiant. He places his hopes on tIle im'isible God.

160 He resembles Q the poor [emperor] and is the chosen one. He is full of the

heavenly vocation of the light of God.

[This writing was copied from an ancient book. It is said

to be at least four hundred years old.]

1 For EumpE!J,£vOlv read <J'UmpEcflO!J,£vrov. 2 For EV read 0' ev. 3 Read xptatov. 4 Cf. Provo 5, 12. 5 Read atpoyyol.,ub&t~. 6 Read cpapayy<OOct~. 7 Read EI; aoo~io~; cf Orac. XVI, 2. 8 Read 'to ov'tt 9 Read 7tapOIlOtO~ .

INDEX OF GREEK WORDS

t altas £iPTU.l£VOV

t rare word

(?) conupt word

-N 67: 68; 68 01..A.11I..(()v OlX6 a

oya8oc; OJ I3; II8: XV 16 OU010(l) N 145

ayav o II 4; IX 4 aUo.; o I 19: IV 5: V 1;

o'Y'Y£l..la, it OXVIO XV5

cl"{'YEAOC;, 0 N 13; 146; 150 01..00(() N 120

oy£vtal..0'Y11tO.; N64 al..cov,it N 120

aylO'; N 49: 70; 105 t OI..COlt£KO,; OIX1

OYVOE(I) N 112; 122 a/la o I 24; N 65; 67;

ayv(OO'tOC; N2 74; 111

OYPOtTJ':;, 0 OXII3 Ct/laptia, it N 152

o.y(l) o XII 2; XIII 10; N O/liJ't(l)P N64

145 O/lq,L£VVUI-H N 52

ooaiJc; N 55 OVa~l~(i1;(O N 142

(lOll':;, 0 OVI 10 ovoyco o IV 8; N 139

OOLKia, iJ OX5;XII 6 oVa810(l)/l1 N94

a01KOC; o VIII 14 OVaKal..£(I) N J09

ooo;;ia, iJ o XVI 2: N 157 ovaKa,"Ult't(l) N 109

a8l..wc; 017 ovaKa'tO':; N 80

08poo.:; o XIII 4 OV aK 1..0 (I) N 123

at o VIII 2: 2 ovaKp<l1;(I) OXIll7

al/la, 'to 01 18; VIII 1: 5; t ovaK'topi.oll':;, 0 N 128

IX 8; XI 2; N 88 ovaK'tOpov, 'to OIV8

a'i.p(l) N 138 OVal..iOK(I) 0117; VI7

ai(J.(po,:; OJ 23 oval..ro'ta.:; v. avoA.imcro

airovlO':; N 122 ova/l£oo,:; N 131

OKOTt.iJ OIII4 aval;,6 o II 10; N 76; 76

OK01)(I) N 110; 150 ova'toAll, iJ N 156

aKpa,iJ N2 ava'tpoq,iJ, iJ N 59

aKpo,:; N 58; 127; 158 t o.vaq,al..av06c; N75

OKPOtO/lOC; N 93; 94 o.vaq,£l..av06.:; v. avo<jloA.OVOOC; OI..£1.q,(I) OXI 8; N 11; 42; ovq£ip(l) OVI8

49: 105 QV£l..ltl.a'tO':; N 125

01..118iJC; OXIV6 o.vlll..LOC; o XIV 4

QI..TJ8 LVO':; N 3; 126: 130 oyiJp, 6 o XIII 9; N 156

CtI..t£U(I) N5 avElpOOlto.:;, 6 o VII 3; XIV 2; N

QUa o I 5; 10; III 6; XV 4; 13: 39; 44; 48;

3; XVI 4; N 108 102; 146

104 INDEX INDE.X 105

avLO"Ta/J.at N 16 VII 9: 10: XV 13; paEh).; OXI 6;N 92 y£VO';. to 0123: III 3: XIV avol yco N 141 16 patov. to N 129 2: N 56; 60; 144

avo/J.£co OXI16 apXt£p£U';, () OXI7 pantco 0121 y£pcov. () OVI 9:XV2 aVTaKaTaVta v. clVOlCU'tOS apxo).tat OXIV5 paO"iA.£lO'; o XIII 10 Yii,it o XII 8: XIV 3; N

avt£tA£CO N 124 apxcov, () N 89 pa<JtA£u,;,{) N I; 3; 36; 57; 57: 24; 44: 46: 47: 89:

avuco OXVI3 aO"apKo,; o VIII 9 85; 126: 130: 143 113: 117

avco o XVI 6: N 160 aO"£p£ta, it N21 pa<JtAtKO'; N 57 Y118£CO 017

avco8£v OXV6 aO"£PTJ'; N 153 paO"tAi.;. it (nOAt.;) o XIII 5 Y11PatO'; N 75: 128

asLO'; N23 aO"£A YTJ'; o VIII 13 ptPAiov, to N 162 yi YVO/J.at 0129: XI 6

aopmo.; N 159 aO"TJ/J.o,; N 78 Pio.;, () o I 13; VI 9: XII 3; yt YV(OO"KCO N 118

anaUas£t v. cl1tEAE'YXO) aO"tTJP. () o II 13; XII 7: XV XIV 5: XVI 2 yAvmO.; N 87

amipX°/J.at o VII 11 8: N106; 107; 132 PMP11,11 o XVI 5 yvcopi 1;o).!at N 50

ana.; OXV14 aO"tOX£co o XVI 6 pAaO"tO';, () N97 yvcoO"to,; N1

anatcop N64 at£p Om5 pAampll/J.ia. it OX8 yoilv OVI2 an£t).!l (a1tt£vat) o XIII 8 au 0113 pA£nco o VII 8: XI 5: XIII ypa/J./J.a, to N 37; 62 an£lO"l v. U1tElI.lt auAi1;o/J.at N 48 3: N 50: 149 ypa)'!/J.1Ko,; 0126

a1t£A£'YXco 015 auto.; OVI17: II;X6; poaco N 45; 108: 112; ypaCPTJ. it N 162: 163

an£vavn N 84; 85: 130 XI 7; N 4: 4: 14: 113 ypacpco o V 5; VI 6: N 37;

a1t£p£uY°/J.at 0115 14: 15: 17: 20: 26: po ppo P<O011'; N78 42; 61

O,nAoco 018; IX 9 26; 27; 29; 32; 40; poil<;.it o IV 2: N 120 YWVO<; o XII 8; XIV 4; N am) o I 23; N 37; 58; 41: 41: 43: 44: 45: ppap£l.ov, to OIX 10 52

61; 61; 62; 68; 69; 47; 48; 49; 57; 59; ppaxicov, () N35 YVVatK£1.0<; N 27 94: 105; 132; 134; 60: 63: 69: 84: 86: ppaxu.; OIV 10 yvvTJ,it N 65; 67 156; 162 86; 87; 91; 95; 96; t ppovnal.o<; N 136

anoOlopaO"Kco N 154 100; 100; 104; t PPOvtocpcoveco N 134

anoKa8tO"tTj/J.l N24 105; 113; 114; PPOVtOOOll'; N110 ~ N67

anoKaAUntCO OXI8;N6;11; 115; 116; 130: ppuxao).!at N94 <>aKPOOV. 'to N 115: 137 12; 13; 103; 105 131; 133: 133; ppro/J.a. 'to 0129 <>aK'tVAO';,{) OX6;N25

anoO"'t£A/"CO N48 138: 139; 139: t Bu1;a, Tt o III 3 <>£ o I 3: 6: 28; II 3:

anOOA£ta, it OX4 143; 143; 146; Bvsavti.;, it N 2; 58 III 4; IV 2; V 6; VI

ap£O"'to,; N 135: 138 147: 148; 152: POO<JtVO<; N52 4; 7; 9; IX 5; XI 5;

ap£tTJ, Tt OIV 5; XVI 3 157; 160 XII 7; XIII 4; 9:

apt8/J.£co OIl 7 autoay£ o VII 6 XV 7; 10; 13; XVI -apw'to,; OXVl1;XVI4;N auto.; 019 y N 67 3; N 7; 19; 25; 31;

76 t autocpvo.; N 34 y' N 107 34; 35; 36; 37: 56:

apKtO<;, Tt 01 28; V 2; VII 2 aUXTJv,{) N34 yaAoux£co 017 60; 61; 62; 63; 64;

t apKtOtpOCPo<;. Tt OIV2 acpatp£co 0122 yap o I 11; 23; II 2; 65; 66; 68; 81; 90;

o'p).!o<;, 6 N"? ~- acpavTJ<; o XIII 7; N 55 11; III 8; IV 5; 10; 99; 106; 107; 120;

apnas o VIII 14 acp1.11/J.t OIX6;XV 11 V 5; VII 5; 9; VIII 121; 123; 130;

t app£vocp80po<; o VIII 14 acp0/J.OtOW N62 3; 5; XIII 6; XV 6; 141: 146; 148;

apP11v N66 aXP£tOW OXI7 16; XVI 5: N 17 150; 151; 153;

apnaKl<; OXIV8 aXPllO"'tO<; N 51 yaO"nlP, it N 105 156

aptto<; OXIV8;N 54 0'1'1.<;. it N 131 y£vnov, 'to N74 MOOtlca OXV5

apxaYY£Ao<;,6 N48 y£vval.o,; N32 <>£11O"l<;, it N 46; 116

apXTJ,it o II 5; 11; III 8; yevVTjO"t<;, it N 95; 108 O£i.KVU).!l N 125

106 INDEX INDEX 107

bEtVOC; 0122; 29 000 0116: VI IO: IX 7: EL<mKouro N 46 9; 10: VII 12: 13:

OEKOe;. 'ti OXV8 N 20: 32: 33: 81 : EicroEXO~at OXV](J VII! 5: IXIO: X 7:

OE~lOC; N 15; 25: 32; 69: 131: 146 EicrEPXO~at N 19 XIII 6; XV 13: 16:

69; 71: 72: 81: 01Jcr~lJ,'ti OX1ll8 Eiw N 137: 144 N 2: 3: 5; 7: 9: 9;

132 oooo)vwOe; N99 EK / ES o II 11: IV 8: VII 9; 20; 36; 38; 38:

oepvro OIX7 O'lnlKO':; N 59 2: XIII 4: XIV 2: 4: 43: 48: 49; 58; 62:

bEiipo o XII 2 orooeKUtOC; N61 XVI 2: 3: N 16; 17: 77; 78: 78: 89: 95:

bEU1:£P°':; o I 19: V 2: XIV 5; oropOV, 1:0 OXV2 19: 23: 56: 56: 60: 97: 109: 11 9; 124;

N 8; 8: 17 65; 79; 81: 107; 130; 145: 146;

bEXO~at OXV2 143; 157 150

blJ OVI5 eap. 1:0 0125 EK01EpOe; OV6 EVO'YLOC; N 80

bii'Y 11 a, 1:0 0112 ea1JtOu N 56; 150 £K01KECO N20 eVapE1:0C; N 158

biiAo':; N68 E~OOlla1:tKOC; N5 £KOl(OKro N21 evoeKa1:0e; o VIII 6

bT1AOro 0126 £~!lO':; N 5; 37 EKElVO':; / KELVO':; O V3: N 43 evotKCO':; OXI6

oii~oc;,o N 110 E'Y'Yi/;CO X4 EK£tcr£ N 141 evo08Ev 012

btO + gen. N 12; 123 E'Y£i.pCO N 15 £KKOn1:ro () VII 7 £VOo~oe; N 152

btO + acc. N 3; 30; 73; 115: E'YK1JKAOro OXV7 £XA£1.nCO o VIII 6 £VbUCO N 30

117 E-yxapocrcrro N20 £KAEK1:0C; N 1: 85: I 18: 118; EVT1XEro N 12

bta8rlKT\,'ti N 122 E'Yo) o IV 4; XII 2; XV 2 160 EVOCO N 81

btaKOVE(J) N98 £eVllnOl iicrat v. EeVO~ & 1[OlEo) £KnATJcrcrro Nl11 EV'tTlAOU~£VOv v. avtE1AEo)

bwcr1:pecjl(J) 018 e9voe;. 1:0 N 21: 36 £Kcrwcrte;, i] N 136 £V1:0A';, -i] N20

btaT[911~t N 122 £100':;, TO o XIII 2: N 27 EK1:£lV(J) N 121 EV(J)e£i.C; v. <lvclyO)

bibCO~.lt N 4; 19: 44; 127; EtO(J)j,OV. TO OVI8 EK1:£vrlC; NIB es o VIII 12: N 120

133; 138 £LKOcr1:Oc; OX2 EK1p£cjl(J) 013 esoy(J) 019

bt icr1:U~at OVI5 £LK(OV, i] o XIV 6 EKX£(J) o IX 8: N 132 e~a~~AO(J) OV4

btnj,ouC; OII6 £lAT\~a, 1:0 N 124 £I .. aia, -i] N70 t e~£p1Jepai. V(J) N73

bl1l:AO(J) OXIV8 £i~i 01 28; X 7; N 7; eAatOV. TO N 4\: 104: 105 esepXOllat N 18; 19; 42; 79

blO"crO':; / bt noc; OIl 2; IX 5 31 ; 40; 53; 60; 62; EAO'tTl, -i] N95 EST1~~~eVT\ v. Ec,aJl~l..oO)

OlO"cro(J) OVI4 64: 64; 68; 69; £),onvoc; N96 ESi.cr1:a~at NIll

btcjlPEAa'tTlC;, 6 N83 95; 99; 103; 105; eAonvoc; v. EA.U'tTJ eS01J9Evero N 102

buinc(J) N 4: 23 107; 124; 135; eAE£co N 52; 52; 99; 99: esoooia, -i] OXI

OOKEro N39 139; 141: 150: 113 £sro N 81

O6Il°':;, (, oxm 10 157; 158; 163 eAET1~ocrUVT\ , 'ti N73 eSCOeEV 019

O61;a, i] OXV 12; N 58; £i~t OVI 10 EAni1;co N 109: 112; 123 enaeAOV, 1:0 o XII 6

127 EtP'Y(J) OVllI6 £),ni.:;, -i] o III 7; N 159 enavco N96

ooso1;co N 155 £i.e; 01 14; V 5; vn 3; e~~Evco o VIlIO e1tap<nc;, 'ti OVII

O6~lle; v.!looc,ia X 3; XII 8; XIII 10; £~oe; o XIII 9 enEt~t (emevat) NIlS

~01JK1K6e; N 56 XIV 3; N 6; 14; 23; £~ni.I.mAT\~t OXV14 E1teKEtva N 163

OPOK(J)V, (, OVllI8 24; 40; 41: 54; 71: £~1tVOUC; N 53 enexco N96

bPoro 0111 71; 89: 102; 104: £~cjlavi.1;(J) N 104 Eni. + gen. o XI 5; N 33; 34;

bpEnaVT\cjlopoe; OVI6 108; 113; 114: E~cjlepro OV7 35; 35; 44; 72; 89:

bpenavov, 1:0 o VI 3; VII 6: X 7 122; 133; 136; £~cjlope(J) N 161 90: 131; 143

t bpEnavro10e; OX6 138; 139; 147; £1l$1JAOe; o VIlI 10 eni. + acc. N 33; 34: 41 ; 45:

bpolla'ioe; N 127 154; 157: 158 EV 01 16; II 7; 9; 12; 47; 72: 77: 93:

b1JVocr'tTle;, 6 OX5 .,. o XV 8; N 66; 87 III 7; 8: IV 10; VI 117; 127; 148 £1(;

108 INDEX INDE.X

109

em.\3oUoo N 148: 149 95: 97; 11 9: 143; eepO~.10 0125: VII 3 K010 + gen. N 42

em. \3Ae1tOO N 117 159 ee<n.:;,T, N 126 K010y(l) N 57

em KpaTll(n~, i} OXl4 Ems N 107; 125 9r]A;UK6.:; N 84 K010'"cl 1t(l) N 117

em K{J1t'tOO N29 eiihJ':; N66 KowvoAlaKCr) 016

e1tnt 8TUll N40 9r]piov, ,[(J 0119: N 90 KOWnO(l) N80

£1tlCPOUaKOO N 16 ~ OXIV7 811P 1(08T\':; N 83: 98 K010a'tV'(voi;oo o XlI 4

E1tOj.1at OXVI2 1;111eoo N 18 9r]Pl<ovUJ.j.o,:; N 100 K01011(£(I) N 2; 3: 47; 58; 76;

E1t10 o VIII 12 1;00 o VI 9: XlI 4: N 53 eAi\3oo N 43 117

'E1t10AOq.OC;, i} OX 2: XlII 8; 13: t;COVT\, i} N 87 eAt \jfl~, TJ NIlS K010tK1.0. 11 OXV)]

N 93 8poaUc; o II 4: III 2 KOlOKV£(I) OXV2

t E1t'ta'to\3AO':; OIX5 8pi\vo.:;.6 o XlI 3 K(ltoo8ev N 120

E1tCOVUJ.j.O':; OXl9 - N 76; 76 8piS. it N 159 Koua'ttKO':; T\

N3

i!.p,¥OV. 10 N22 11 OX4:XVI3: N epuUeoo NI Ke11lat N 83

ep11j.1ooat.:;. it OX7 108 8uoo N 86 Keip(l) OXl7: N 30

i!.PX°j.1at OIX 5; N 130 i}oUc; N26 KeKTIlj.1£vo,:; v. lCAGiro

Eaj.10e;. 6 o VIII 11 T,Auclo. it N27 Kepa(l)O':; OIl 12

£axo'to,:; T]hoe;. o - Kepo.:;. to

OV 5; 5: N36 01 23: XIV 9; N 1 N68 OlliS

E1epo.:; N61 119 io£o. it N97 Kepaacpopo.:; OII3

£10lj.10':; o III 3 i}j.1el.:; N 122; 139 't8PWo, .0 N86 Kepoaiv(I) o III 6; XVI 4

euop£a'tl1aL':;, it N24 TJj.1£po,i} o II 12, 13; XV 13; i.epeu.:;,6 N 23: 153 Keq.olit,TJ N 45: 114

euelOlJe; N26 N 7; 9; 10: 37; 41 ; i.epOv. 10 N23 K11P\Y'fj.10, 'to N 110; 136

eu{)uj.1£OO o VII 13 43: 104; 106: 109 lA.e(l)':; N 116 KlJpuS,6 o XlII 7: N 108:

eu8uvoo OXV4 T]j.1epo.:; OIl8 lUo{xnpLOe; N 100 134

eUAo\3ew. it OXlV7 it!lo.:; OVIIl4 'iva o VIII 3 Klv£oo o VII 5

eUj.1evlJe; OI3; N116 11vio, 'to. OIIJ5 l V80Aj.10, 'to N 131 K i VT\ate;. i} OV4

eUj.1e'taOO'toe; N 31 111t'taj.1evo.:; v. ~a1t'tro 't1t1tOe;. 0 o II 3; 12 KA.el(l) o III 4

eWlJKT\e; N74 i}mo'tT\<; v. t1t1to'tl]s i.1t1tOTlle;. 6 OIl2 KUOe;.10 OIVS

euvo-uxo.;,6 N 14; 147 itpej.1£OO N SO; 155 't1t'tOj.1at 0120 KAT\POUXio, it OXVI6

eupi.aK(I) o XlII 9; N49 TllOt N 38 'I aOaK to.:; OXI2 KAi\<n.:;, it o II 6; N 99; 160

eooe\3ew, TJ o XlI 1; X III 1 11X£OO N92 1.allaT\Ai TIl':;, 6 N6; 42 KAovi.t;oo 0124

eua'tpellevoov v. (J'lJa'tpecpro Law aLijaat v. ua'ta'tos & c:ni KAUO(l)v. 6 014

eu'tUxele; v. i1 & roXl] l.a"aj.1at N S4; 132 KAo)8oo OXll6

eU1:'lJxeoo OIV 10 8aAOaaO. lJ N 7S; 93 'I ro ('IooavVT\';) o XI 2; 3: 3; S KOj.1i.t;oo 0113

eUcpl1j.1it;oo OX3 8eo. it o XIII 2 KOVLe;. it OXl6

euxopLa'tia, 11 OIXl;XI3 8eav8pl.K6.; N86 KopoS,6 01 16: 22; 29

euX ap 1.<11:0'; OIX9 8eto.:; o Xl 5; 5; N 24; K OX9 KOPUCPlJ, 11 N 41

eurovUJ.j.o,; N 90: 121 63; 116 Ka8euooo N 14; 15 Kpat;oo N 85

eq.opaoo o VIII 3 8£AOO N 148 K081.epooo OXV9 KPO.;. i} N75

ex£cppoov OIX4 8eo.;.6 N 24; 46; 56; 63; KOKO':; N23 Kpo'teoo o II 9; VIII 4; XlII

Ex8p01tOLOe; 012 103; 127; 155; KaUoo OXV 12; N 143 5; N43; 84; 149

£Xoo o I 4; II 5; III 4; IV 159; 161 KOAla. it N 96; 126; 131 lCpa'tta'tOe; OIV9;XV3

5: vn 12; X 6; XIII 8eoa£\3e1O. 11 N 39; 101 KOWe; 01 11; XlI 5; XV KPO'tO':;,16 o IV 9; 10; V 7;

13; XV 3: XVI 3; N 8epit;(r) OVIIll 4; 9; 13; 14; XVI 2 XIII 13

25; 26; 33; 60; 70; 8eplVOe; N 120 KaV o XlII 3 lCpellavvUllt N 120

74; 81 ; 82; 87; 89; 8epj.10e; NIB K01t1tO, 'to o VIII 4 lCpi.vCll OX5

110 INDEX INDRX III

lCpOOO N 114 Aomor; o VII 13 /l£'tEXro N28 Vo£por; N 133

lCpulnro 01 2; XIV 3: N 18: Aol0"9to.; o VIII 15 /l£ 'tEmp or; N 30 vonoior; N 78

18: 36 ),UKO';. 0 N 100 /lE'tp£ro o VIII 12 VU~. it N 106; 145

lC'tLO"tr;. it OXVI4 )l£'tpov, 'to N 73 vrottaior; N 123

KUKAOr;,O o VI 9; VII 5; XIV /lE'tronov, 'to NII3 vohov, to N 89

3 - N 67 ).ni o XI 6: XV 2: 5; N /l

KUAIKlOV, 'to N 89 /lOKp09wor; OIX3 30; 51: 134

KuM.6r; N 54 /lOKP°C; o VIII 4 /IT]Oelr; o XIII 3; N 50; ~av90.; N 88

KU/la I vro N93 )laA.a N 28 102: 103 ~EVO'; o I 12: VI 2: XII 2

KuvroTCll';, 0 01 II /laAlO"'tQ o III 2 /lllK En NIX ~£(Jto,; N 82

lCUpto.;,O o I 10: N 12: 40; /laUov o XIII 12: N 71 /lTJAO'; v. 111'''''ov ~i.cpo.;. to o VI 7; VII 3: VIII

46; 46; 70: 112: /latTJv o VII 13 )l'iiA.OV, 'to N 73 1 1

138: 151 )laXT], 11 o III 3; VIII 10 /IT]voKpavo)llA.UXOV v. l1T]vOKpavos & 3UAOK£PKO';, Tj N79

KUroV.O 013 /l£"( 01.,0 'I''UX 0'; N 31 I1£tA1XOC; ~'U0")l0,;, 0 OIl 7

Kill (KrovO"'tavti vo.;) OXI4:4 )lE)'O'; o XI 7; XII 7: XIII t /lllVOKpavo.; o XIII 11

7: N 25; 98: 130: /IT]po,;,o N 35; 72 -

140 /l TJ'tl1P, 11 N 107 0 N 77: 77

A.a~£t v.A.a~t1 /l£)'£9o.;,'t0 N 119 /lllXOvTJ,iJ N 8X O)'OOljKOvta N60

A.a~lj," o III 6 /l£91l, it o XIII 4 /ltKPO'; o VI 8; N 27 00£ o XIII 5

Aa)'VO'; OII4 /lElAlX°'; o XIII II: N 75 /ltO"wUro o VIII 9 oOEUro o XII 8: XV 15

1.,01.,1(1, iJ N26 t )l£A.OVOUtTJ';, 0 N 98 /lixo.; v. 1100X0C; OOT])'Ero N 146

AaUro N 147 t /lEA.av9plS N 75 /lVTJ/l£lov, to N 16 000';, " N 82; 91

A.O/l~avro o II 11; VII 9: IX /lE),O'; o I 21: 21; XII 7 )lOlpa, iJ N 56 09EV OIV 4; 7

]0; XV 3: 6: N 15: /l£AlO"/lOC;, 0 OV] /lOtXO';,o o VIII 14 oloa o XIII 3: 12; N 28;

128; 135 /lEAIO"tayljC; N 75 /loUro OIV4 55

A.a/lna.;," N 129 /lEUOV, 'to o XIII 12 /lovapXta, " o III 1; VIII 7: XI OtKaoE N 144

A.a/lnro OXIV 5: N 159 /lEAA.ro NIL 147 10 oiK£lo.; N 151

A.av9avO/l0l. o XIII 2 /l€A.o,;,'tO o VIII 9 /lova.;," 011 5; 6 OtKEtTJ';, 0 OXI1I9

1.,00';, 0 N 17; 126; 135 /lEV N 66; 81 /lovlj,Tj OXVl5 OLKEro o XII 2

A.E)'ro N 14; 15; 18: 135: MEvaxEi)l OXI9 /lOVO'; o I 28: II 6; 10: IV otKia, " N4

138: 150; 162 )l£ptO/lOC;, 0 OV7 8; XV 6; N 19 OiKO'U/lEVll, iJ N 155

AEiTCro OIV 9: VI 10 /lEP0C;, 'to N 71: 77: 78; 91; /lv, 'to o VII 8 OtlC'tPO'; 01 24; VIII 3; 3

AE'UKOC; N97 124; 132 ..

OIV4;N 121 OLO';

AEUlCOcp6pO'; N 14; 146 t /lEO"TjAtOO/lat N74 OlC'troKatoElCatOC; N 38; 62

AEOOO"ro o VIII 15 /lEO"Tj/l~PLO,,, 0120; 1111 va)'ta v. EVc1ylOC; OA.Etl]p, <> 0128

AErocpOPO'; N9 /l£O"o,; 01 4; 16; II 9; VI vat N 138 OAo'; o I 22; V 7; IX 6;

MO"tta v. AoicrelOC; 10: N 9: 27; 107; vao.;,o OVI8 XVI 4

t A.t~OlC'tOVOC; o VIII 8 /l£O"oro OIIJ3 V£lCPO';,O o IV 9; XII 4; XIII ollIla. 'to o VIII 15; N 117

A.WtVO'; N20 /lE'ta + gen. N 129; 137; 142 2; N53; 103 O/lO to ro N36

A.Hlo.;, 6 N82 /l£'ta + acc. N8 VEO'; 013 o/loiro/la, 'to N 146

A.t80O"'tpro'W.; N82 ).I.E'ta~aivro N 157 v ECProOT]'; N 119 OVE100';, 'to OXI6

A.i'll, 0 N7 /l£'taypacpro N 162 vTJpt9/lo,; OVIllll OVO/la, 'to o XI 8: N 35; 60;

UtyotJc; (?) 014 /lE'taOi. oro/l t N29 vijO"O,;, " OIX 5:N5;49 63; 67; 87; 152

),0), to"/lO';, 0 or 5 /lE'tavOla, " o III VilCT], " OIX9 ov'trot; OVI2

AO-yO';, 6 o III 4: 6 /l£'t€PXO/lOt N 158 VtlCT]tl].;, 0 N76 ovu~, 0 N 25; 68

li2 INDE.X I!'IDE.X 113

o~~ o II 4: XIII 12 nO'canov, 1:0 N 145 nAmu~ N 82 npo(jJ(oA.tco N 16

opaco o IV 4: Vl 2: VII naAl v o Vl 2: XII 8; XIII nA£Upa,l] N34 np0(jJ(uv£co N 86: 139

II: XII 7: XIII 6; 13: XIV 2 nA£CO N5 npooconov. TO N44

XIV 2; N13: 110: nOALv!;co'fo, TJ OXlV6 n'cTl!J.!l upo. l] N92 np01:i.!l TlOLs, TJ OXIVI

112: 118; 141 nOIlIlE'Yto1:0C; OIl 10 nATlIl!l'Up£CO N92 t 1tpOIj!Tl1:apxco N 54; 101

OP'Y taco o VIII ]() 1tav1:o1:' v. 1tile; & oe; nATtv o V 3: VlI 4: XIV 8 npOlj!l1T£i.O. iJ N 28; 39; 101

OPllaco o VII 3 nopa + gen. N 13; 50; 50 nAllPOCO OXV8;NI25 1tPOX£i.ptOtC;. iJ OXVI

Opv£ov.1:0 N 96; 97 nopa + acc. o III 7; V 6; VlI 10 nAllo iov N 59 npoxuOLC;, iJ o VIII 5: IX 8

OPVL<;. o o II 2: 3: 10 nopOKOAECO NIlS 1tV£UIlO. 1:0 N 53 np(J)To',£ta, 1:a o Vl7; VlII 7

OC; 014; 14; 27: li 9; t nOpaKACilVOC;. 0 N 96 nOtECil N 8: 21; 22: 22: 65 npcihos o IJ 6: IV 5: Vl 4;

V 3; X 6: 7; VII 10: nopoKoAoU8ECil N6 nouclAo,; N 129 VII 7; IX 7; XIV 2:

13; XI8: N 3: 3: napovollio, TJ N 152 nOtlloi VCil N 17 N 2; 7; 8: 1 I: 37;

20: 39: 42: 63: 69: napOoK£UTt,l] NJO nOA£lloc;,O N88 38; 62

95: 97: 102: 105: nOP£Ka1:0PO v. 1tapa + acc. & nOALOC; OIX4: N 28 n1:rootC;, it OX4

124: 150 h(X-rEpOe; nOAt~.l] 0115; 24: VlII 2; 1{1:CilX°C; OXI 4; N 1; 51:

OO1tEP OVl3 napTtAto,; OV6 X 2; N 9; 59; 107 160

o1:av OX 2; Xli 7; N 130 1tOpollotOC; N 160 nOAt Tela, l] N 158 1tu8!lTtv.o OXll8

on N 43; 129: 138 no.; 016: V 3; VI 7: no,coc;,o o II 13; XIII 6 nUATl,'Ii N 59: 79; 81: 140

OU:K) o VII 10: VlII 6; VlI 12; VlII 13; XII no AU"L01:COP N28 1tUp'YOC;. 0 N98

XVI6; N 107: 149 5; XV 5: N 19; 55: nOAU<; o IV 5; XIII 3: XVl n'Up i KOUOWC; N22

ouoi OX2 80; 101; 112; 123: 3; N 18: 55: 142; nro'Y(J)v, 0 OXl6

0\>0£ OXVl4 135; 141: 151; 148: 153: 158 mOl; 01 13; 15; 29

ouod.; N 39; 40; 50; 54 155 nOAUTiIlTl1:0s N 128

oupOvto.; OXV15 1tOOOCil N 45; 114 nopvelo. it N70

oupavoc;.o N 24; 46; 119: 1tOLlJP, 0 N 63: 122 noplj!upoc; N 121 (KOt) POEt v. lCEpa(t)Oe;

124; 134138 n01:ptaPXTls, 6 OXl5 nOP4lupoiic; N33 paKtOV,1:0 N 30

o-i\.1:0 N 14; 47; 72; 147 n01:pLKoC; 0127 n01:01l0c;.O N94 PiiIlO, 1:0 0115 .,. o VlJ 2; 8; VIII 9; nou(J) o IJ 12 nouc;.6 018; N 25; 69 pis, 'Ii N29

omoc; XII13; 10; XV 6; N nEACil o I 23: III 2; 8; VlI npo'YJlo, .0 019 POOOV,1:0 o Vl 3; VlI 3; 4; 4:

7; 8; 66; 68; 135; 2 npaTICil N 148 7; 12

150 1tElln1:0s OIV2 npoD<; o XIII II: N 31 t PWi(jJ(ll. iJ N 91

omroc; o II II: N 25; 106; nEVTlC; N 30 np£opu.; OIX4

137; 144; 144 nEvio, 'Ii N 157 npo o VIII 15

OIj!8046c;,6 N 29; 69; 70 1tEV1:£ o VlII 7 npo£Lllt (npOtEvat) OXIV4 L o XIV 10

Olj!tC;,6 016;21;28 1tEPOC;, .0 N 125 npOK01:0p~as v. npO$,,'tapxOl ooivco 017

Olj!troOllC; N83 1t£pi + gen. NI npOK£tllat OXVl2 OOU1:0V 0124

oq,PTh;,iJ N72 1t£P to 00 toc; N17 npOlcpivCil OXVl5 oetpa, 'Ii N 32; 34: 151

O\jlts, 'Ii N26 n£pt01:£pa, 'Ii N97 np0AeinCil o XII 3 O1lIl£tOv, .0 N 12: 25; 68; 145;

n£ptcpovTtC; N 156 npooponKOs N28 149

TI o XVI 3: 3 1t£1:PO, 'Ii o XIJ 2; XIV 4; 9 npoc; + acc. 01 20; III 3: VI 8; Li'YIlO, 'to N 59; 77

nO'Yaic; v.nay" 1ttn'tCil 01II7 10; VlJI 4; 10; 12; otOllP°Vc; N94

nOn, 'Ii OXV7 TIAOKCil'tOV, 'to N9 XIII 8; XV 4: 12; Ltrov, 'Ii N 130; 140

nai~, 6 N 65; 67 nAOVTl.'Ii 012 15; N 45; 134 OKllvTt,'Ii N 84; 85: 125

naAat OVl5 1tAaVTlC;, 6 (aoLlJP) N 108 npoOO£XOllat N 116 OKTtVCilIlO, TO N 81; 91

nOAat6c; N 162 nAa~,'Ii N20 1tPOO£Uxollat N 140: 142 OKTl1t'tO'UXio, 'Ii OXV4

114 INDEX INDEX

115

mcfj1t'tpOV, 'to o IX 10: XIII 5 ()\)ppirYvu~ t o VlIl8 .01;ov, .0 N 12: 121; 123: lXJ1ep£ro 0127; N 51

crKW'YPO<\l£ro OV3 croo'tPE<PO) N 141 127 \XJ'tePOC; OIl7

mcop1tisro o XII 5 cr<\lo-yit, Tj o VlIl5 .01tO';,o o III 7; IV 3; N 3: U'VT\~ N 143

mcO'te t vo.; N 55 cr<\li '¥'YO) NISI 78: 143: 154 u'V1VO'U'; o XIII II ; N64

~ crK'U~ VO.pOq>O';. Tj OV'2 cr<\lp O'Y 1 SO) N 140 .0'tE o X 4; N 46: I 10: V'Vtcr'tO'; o X 8: N 63; 107

crOOO~l'tl1(O'; N 22 crxfj~o, 'to 0126; IV 3: N 48 112: 118: 126: u\jIo,;, .0 N 132

cr1tEUOro N 127 O"C:O~O, 'to N 53 135

cr1to'Uoit,iJ OXIIIB crro.r,p to.; N lOS 'tpovit.; N 109

crW'UptKO.; 0119 (HO<\lPOVE:ro OIV6 .paXTJAO';, 0 N 35 <\loi vro o I 10: II 8: IV 3:

crWvpO~,O N 33: 90; 121: crro.ppovi Sro OIV6 'tpEl.; o VI 9: N 10; 106; XIII 4; N 12; 106;

121: 132 109 108: 132: 134

t cr1QVPOUXO~ OIl3 'tPE:Xro o VII 2 <POA.OKPO~ N27

cr'teVOWO';, 0 0125: N 137 'taAO'; 0128: VIII 2 .plOKOcrLOcr.O,; N 38 <\lovEP°'; N 56

cr.EvasCO N 114 '~ , N 100 ~ 'tPtKOVO'UAO'; N65 <POp Orr roOT\'; N 154

W~t.;. T\

cr'teVOro N91 Wp anco o VIII 11: N IO .pi.; o VI 9: XIII 7 <\lEiOO~at o VII 10

cr'tEPE:CO~O, 'to N 119 .opoXicroOOt v. 'lapclU~) t 'tptcrovapt9~0~ OXIV3 .pE:pCO o VI 3: VII 12; XI

cr'tE:<\lOvo,;, 0 NBS 'taxo.;, 'tu 016 TpiTO'; o II 2: VI 4: VII 5: 5; N 87: 129

crT£<jlO';, TO OV6 'tOXUs Oll2 IX 7; N 10: 11: 19 <PE\) OIX8

cr'tfj9o.;, TO N 34: 90; 137 TE 01 '20; II 4; 5; 10; TptnO'; OXV7 <\lEV-Yro N 142

cr'tOtX£'i.ov, 'to o VI 4; VII 6: 7; 8; IV 8: VII 3; XV 5; 'tp61l0,;,O N 136 <p80vco OXVI5

X3 N61 N 71: 7'1. ; 87; 99: 'tP°1tOtoUxo.; N76 $90vo.;,0 o XVI 5

cr'tO~O, 'to 0114 152 TpU1tO';,O OIV3: VI 2 qnAclv9pco1to,; N 31

t cr'tPCl"{'YOAtroOT\'; N 154 'tE:9TJ1tO OXVIO TPO<jlit, it N60 <\llAtO, 11 o III 5: IX '2

cr'tpe~A6.; N69 'tElxo.;,1:0 OX3 1:1.Y)'X ov co OIV 7; XVI 2 .p1Ao,; o IV 4; 6; XIII 9

cr1:Proll vit. iJ N4 't£KVOV, 'to 0119 ~ 1:UACOIlO. 1:0 N26 <\lO~EPO'; N ~') J.

cr1:Prow'Ull t N 89 TEAe'U1:aCO OXV9 1:u1to<.;,6 orr 9; N 90 $O~o,;. 6 N 112: 135; 142

cr'tUAO<';.O OXIn 6; N 83 1:eA.E:ro N 153 W1t1:CO N 137 t $OVE'U't:itptoV, 1:0 N8

(JJ.lJ) cr1:UAoOOO v. Jlta'1{)U~) 1:£1..0';, 'to o I 27; II 5; III 8; 1:UXT\.Tj o XVI 3; N 85: 156 </Iovo.;,6 o VIII 13: XI 2

crU 0111; 13; 25; III IV 7; VII 12; IX t <jlovocrull~'UAO<';, 6 OXI7

6; 8; VI 6; VII 10; 10; XV 3; 14; 16; q>opo.;.6 N 153 -

VIII 3; 5; IX 9; X N 6; 41 ; 104 'U N 163 q>pOnroOEt .; v. cpapaYYcOOT\<;

2; 3: 5; XIS; 6: 1:£~VCO o VII 4; 9 u-ypo.; o III 7; N 3 </IPTtV,Tj OIX3

XII 7: XV 16: XVI 1:E:'toP1:o,; o VII 2; N 83 vorop, 1:0 N91 $POV£CO OXI5

5;N 16; 17; 18: t 1:e1:pOOWl.o<; N82 ui.O,;, 0 N 57 q>u).OU(I) N 38; 101

19: 138 1:E'tpO~T\VO'; OVI6 u~£'i.<; 135 $VOllat N 100

cr1.Y)'K epOW'U1l t 0112 TE1:p01tUAO';. iJ N77 Ullv£CO N 144 qnxn.;, iJ OV4

cr1.Y)'KOnit,iJ OXI2 ('to) 1:EUm v. 'tV)'Xclvro V1tEt1-n (U1tt£vat) OXIV9 q>'U1:EU(I) N95

crU"(XOOt.;, iJ o VII 1 1:i9TJ1l1 N 47 UnTtvT\,Tj N74 q>U't:ov. 1:0 OXVll

crUv N 153 1:i<; o I 11; V 2; XV 10: U1tO + gen. N 86; 98; 150 </ICOvTt,iJ N Ill; 137

cr'UVO-Y(l) o VI 5; Xli 5 N 147 U1tOKp ivOllat OIX2 </lei)<.; I </100';, 1:0 o I 22; 0 VlIl 3;

crUVe,,{OAO'UXei.; v. aat VOl & 'YaA.o'l)- 't:tI; 0113 U1tOKP1crt.;, it 0110 15; N 133: 161

XE(O 'tAT\1tOeit.; o VIII 2 ~ U1tOIlOStoV. 1:0 N71

cruv9A,OCO OIX6 'to W\l'tO<'; N 162 1m07ttePO<; 0114; 17

cr'Uvoooio,Tj N65 'Wl.xo<;,6 N98 U1tocr1:P£<\l(l) N 144 XOAtVO(1) OIX3

crvpi1;oOO1 v. <nJPPiJ'YVUl-ll 1:0IlTt, iJ OIVI WTQ't:O'; OID6 XapO.iJ N III

116

xapiEu; N73 xapt~, it o XVI 4 xacnero 0114 Xeip, it o I 8: VII 6; IX 9;

N 40; 133; 138;

148

XIAla~. it o VIII 12 XAOT].it OVII9 xo~,6 N 45. 114 xpai.vro o VIII 13 XPEIl£'tii;ro OlliS XPT]O"lIlEUro N 31: 40; 54; 102;

103 XPT)(Y'tO':; 01 15; IV7;N2I;

51 Xpl<Y't6~ N 16; 108 Xplo"'t6~. 6 NISI Xpiro N 41, 104. 133 xpOVO.:;,O o I 5; 26; I1 7; 8;

V 4; VIII 4; XV 5;

7;N6; 163 Xpoo£a, it (nu/"T) N79

INDEX

xuvro XUO"t~, it

'Irii</lo~,it 'l'UXpO~ 'l'UxCO

cO t cOIlOnAa'tTJ~, 0 roIlO~,6 ropa,it ~

cOO"au'tro.; OOn£p (r)qlpabOOv (?)

NIlS

N 88

N 60

N77 o VII 4

o I 11: 29; III 3 N 33: 71 OXI5 N 10; 107

o I 3; 4; 9; II 4; 4;

8: III 2; IV 10; VII

4; 9; 13: IX 4; XIII

4; N 13: 39; 103; 108; 162

N 22

N 119

N 12

Van der Aa. Biogr. wdbk

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ll8

Dousa. Th .. Acropolita

Foerster, Commentatio

De la Fontaine. City LibraI)'

Heesakkers, Scriverius

Horrocks, Greek

Hunger, Profanliteratur

Janin, Constantinople

Knos, Oracles

Komines, l1oPOt1lPTJ<J£t<;

Koster. Hellen's land

Kyriakou, XpTJfJJ10i

Lambecius, Oracula 1655

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Lambecius.Oracuia 1863

Lampe

LBG

Legrand, Bib!. helteniqlle

LS

LSSup

Lycophron.. Alexandra

Mango, Legend

Mango, Triumphal Way

Meletius, Epistola

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H.G. Liddell, Robert Scott, H. Stuart Jones, Roderick AJcKenzie, Greek-English Lexicon, Revised Supplement. Edited by P.G.W. Glare with the assis­tance of A.A. Thompson. Oxford 1996.

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TGL

ll1cophancs. Chronicle

ll1cophanes, Chronographia

Thcophanes Continuatus

Treadgold. B.-vzantine Revival

Tuymnan. Scrivcrius

r 'aticinia pontijicum

Vereecken. Orakels

Vereecken. Oracles

Weinberger. Cod. Vulc.

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Yerasimos, f'oyageurs

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