free to love each other outwith marriage
A rather liberal interpretation on Macedonia’s part, of one aspect of certain secret rites exclusive to unmarried women in the classical Greek period, in which Sapphic practices took place. (In her fascinating television series about ancient Sparta, Bettany Hughes refers, in this context, to ‘girl on girl’ liaisons.)
the two hundred and third from the Founding of New Rome
Events in the Eastern Empire were now increasingly being dated from the founding of Constantinople — anno regiae urbis conditae, rather than by the consuls (whose office anyway was soon to be abolished) for a particular year. The system of dating from the founding of Constantinople (AD 330) can be seen in the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes (not to be confused with the fourth century historian Ammianus Marcellinus) — an invaluable source of information for the early Justinianic period. The Chronicle ends in 534, but was continued in an Additamentum (covering the years 534 to 548) by an anonymous ‘Continuator’.
Chapter 11
appointed as quaesitor
The office was actually created by Justinian a few years later, in 535. But as its purpose was to deal with public order offences, it seemed appropriate to introduce it here.
Chapter 12
more civilized values than in Sulla’s time
Which made the executions of Sunday, 11 January all the more shocking, especially as the government was widely blamed for provoking the disturbance in the first place. In England, as recently as the early nineteenth century, there existed close on two hundred capital offences (mainly for crimes against property), some of them bizarrely harsh: ‘stealing anything whatsoever from a bleaching-field’, ‘cutting down young fruit-trees at night’ (my italics) etc. By comparison, Justinian’s Empire seems, in this context, a model of enlightened humanity — capital punishment, even for murder, being rarely carried out.
In Justinian’s tablinum. . were assembled
In addition to those persons mentioned in the text, Narses was also present. However, as his part in the ensuing events was peripheral, I have not included him. On the evidence available it seems unlikely that Procopius was actually present; Count Marcellinus, on the other hand, might well have been, especially as he is known to have been a loyal supporter of Justinian. The two agentes are conjectural. For the purposes of the plot, I have included Procopius at the meeting, portraying him as a sort of double agent — ‘an ear of Julianus planted in the Palace’. Artistic licence; but his private loathing of the royal couple (as clearly demonstrated in his Secret History) makes such a role entirely in character. The false rumour that Justinian had fled was actually started by one Thomas, an imperial secretary, due to a misunderstanding.
Chapter 13
based on the basilica
Notable examples of this type of church still standing are: S. Apollinare Nuovo, in Ravenna, Sta Sabina and S. Paolo fuori le Mura, in Rome, Constantine’s Church of the Holy Wisdom, in Bethlehem — to name but four.
marbles of every hue
A contemporary poet, Paul the Silentiary, describes in a poem, Descriptio Sanctae Sophiae, the various stones and marbles used to decorate the interior of the church: the Carystian — pale, with iron veins; the green marble of Laconia; the Carian — from Mount Iassis, with oblique veins, white and red; the Lydian — pale, with a red flower; etc.
Chapter 14
Some of us who love Rome
The tendency of people in modern times to see the citizens of the East Roman Empire as somehow not being ‘real’ Romans, was certainly not shared by those citizens themselves. As Antony Bridge in his brilliant book Theodora says of them, ‘They were. . intensely conscious of being an heir to the eternal world of Rome. . their pride in themselves as Romans became even greater than it had been before the barbarians began to encroach upon the Empire. . Their role as defenders of civilization often seemed a very lonely one’.
Emerging from the tunnel at the coast
In the seventh century, the Berber princess Al-Kahina was besieged in the amphitheatre by Muslim forces. A strong tradition has it that the building was connected by a tunnel to the coast, enabling Al-Kahina to taunt the besiegers by waving fresh fish from the topmost tier of seats. But could the tunnel story be just that — a story, perhaps deriving from the fact that an underground aqueduct leads to the amphitheatre? Whatever its origins, I felt that the legend was too good not to use.
Chapter 15
the long cavalry column
In the text, I have simplified the appearance of the units in the column, so as not to overload the reader with information. On the march, cataphracts would have stowed their armour in a case behind their saddles. In addition to spare horses, riders would have taken the following impedimenta: small tent or extra cloak (a heavy one) for bivouacking, 20–30 lbs. of hardtack, flour, or other provisions, water-bottle, cooking utensils, cloak, javelin cases, spare horseshoes or, if the horse was unshod, a hoof-cleaning tool. Strategikon — a sixth century military manual by one Mauricius — is a mine of information for such details.
stocky. . men with yellowish skins and flat Oriental faces
The Huns — who burst upon the scene in the late fourth century, forcing the Goths to take refuge in the Roman Empire (an event which set off a chain reaction resulting, a century later, in the Fall of the Western Empire) — were most likely of Mongol stock from Central Asia. Some scholars equate the Huns with the Hsiung-Nu who long terrorized China, and Gibbon, referring to Jordanes’ famous description of Attila, affirms that it corresponds in all details to that of ‘a modern Calmuck’. The Kalmucks, according to The New Penguin English Dictionary, are ‘a group of Mongolian peoples inhabiting a region stretching from W China to the Caspian Sea’.
Chapter 16
Theoderic. . had proved a model ruler
Given a Roman education in his youth as a hostage in Constantinople, Theoderic succeeded his father as king of the Ostrogoths, a Germanic tribe who had settled in the East Roman Empire. Emperor Zeno persuaded the Romanophile Theoderic to lead his people to Italy which he would take over as the emperor’s vicegerent (in reality to rid the Empire of a potentially dangerous threat). There was just one problem — Italy was already under the rule of another German monarch, Odovacar, who had seized control in AD 476 after sending the last Western emperor into exile. Nothing daunted however, Theoderic defeated Odovacar, to become for most of his long reign of thirty-three years (493–526) one of the best rulers Italy ever had, establishing a system of benevolent apartheid for Goths and Romans. Towards the end of his life he became justifiably suspicious that Italian senators were plotting with Justinian (eminence grise to his uncle, the emperor Justin) for Italy to be reintegrated into the Roman Empire. As a result, his final years were darkened by acts of savage retribution. (See John Moorhead’s excellent Theoderic in Italy.)