POLIDORO

Studi offerti ad Antonio Carile

a cura di
GIORGIO VESPIGNANI

TOMO SECONDO

FONDAZIONE
CENTR O ITALIANO DI STUDI
SULL’ALTO MEDIOE VO
SPOLETO

2013
 INDICE

GIORGIO VESPIGNANI, Una premessa: alle « opere ed ai

giorni » .............................................................. pag. XI

I. TARDOANTICO CRISTIANO

CARMELO CRIMI, Nazianzenica XVII. Note al testo del

carme II,1,11 « de vita sua » ................................. » 3
MAR MARCOS, Portrait of a persecutor: the defeat and death
of Maximinus Daia in Christian Historiography ........... » 13
VALERIO NERI, L’imperatore e gli ebrei in età tardoantica:
la testimonianza della storiografia pagana e cristiana ....... » 37
JUANA TORRES, Christiani contra paganos: la retórica de
la persuasión en los discursos polémicos del s. IV ........... » 59
MARGARITA VALLEJO GIRVÉS, El patriarca Macedonio II y
la aristocracia femenina de Constantinopla ................. » 79
RAMÓN TEJA, El milagro como medio de conversión del hereje
en El prado espiritual de Juan Mosco ..................... » 105

II. IMMAGINI E MONUMENTI

JOSÉ M.A ÁLVAREZ MARTÍNEZ, El puente romano de Mérida:

consideraciones generales sobre la fábrica y sus restaura-
ciones ................................................................ » 119
VI INDICE

VINCENZO RUGGIERI, Quale Nicola? Un problematico ciclo

affrescato su Gemile Adasi (Licia) ........................... pag. 133
EUGENIO RUSSO, Due colonnette del ciborio giustinianeo di
S. Sofia di Costantinopoli? .................................... » 147
LETIZIA ERMINI PANI, Ancora sulle torri pentagonali: un
fossile guida per le fortificazioni in Italia nell’età di
transizione ......................................................... » 153
SILVIA PASI †, L’incontro fra Abramo e Melchisedech nella
pittura copta ....................................................... » 167
PAOLA PORTA, Immagini inedite di una pieve scomparsa del
bolognese: S. Giovanni di Monte S. Giovanni .......... » 181
ROBERTA BUDRIESI, Da Ravenna a Mosca. Alcune osser-
vazioni sui mosaici di Ravenna .............................. » 193
SILVANA CASARTELLI NOVELLI, I segni egizi ‘ka’ e ‘ba’; la
memoria ‘storiografica’ di Roma; la “solitudine dell’Occi-
dente”. Qualche riflessione in tema (a passo di gambero) .. » 235

III. LA ROMÀNIA

TOMMASO GNOLI, Metrokomiai e comunità di villaggio

nell’Oriente antico e tardoantico .............................. » 273
MARTIN WALLRAFF, Santa Sofia – Sofia dell’imperatore.
Note su Costantino e la sua nuova capitale sul Bosforo » 291
MARIA CRISTINA CARILE, Il Sacrum Palatium risplenden-
te di luce: immagine e realtà del palazzo imperiale di
Costantinopoli .................................................... » 305
GIORGIO VESPIGNANI, Appunti per lo studio della ideologia
imperiale nel secolo V. Il dittico di Halbertstadt .......... » 329
SALVATORE COSENTINO, La legislazione di Giustiniano sui
banchieri e la carriera di Triboniano ......................... » 347
ENRICO MORINI, « Gratuitamente hanno ricevuto, gratuita-
mente danno la guarigione ». I santi “anargiri” e Co-
stantinopoli ......................................................... » 363
 INDICE VII

ADRIANA PIGNANI, La Swfrosúnh e i giudizi della mente.

Ancora in margine alla Catechesi – Epitafio per la
madre di Teodoro Studita ..................................... pag. 387
CONSTANTINOS G. PITSAKIS †, Megas kritès? ............... » 403
TIZIANA CREAZZO, Exempla di taxiv e meritocrazia a Bi-
sanzio fra XI e XII secolo ..................................... » 409
MARIA DORA SPADARO, Giovanni l’Orfanotrofo dominus
della basileia del fratello? ...................................... » 425
GIOACCHINO STRANO, Ideologia, retorica e prassi di governo
nelle Muse di Alessio I ........................................ » 443
RENATA GENTILE MESSINA, Manuele Comneno e l’Italia
(1157-1158) ........................................................ » 461
MARGHERITA ELENA POMERO, Santità militare e rivendica-
zione della « basileia » nel Despotato di Tessalonica
(prima metà del secolo XIII): nuove letture ................ » 493
JOHANNES KODER, Zur unterscheidung von Alter und neuer
zeit aus Byzantinischer sicht .................................. » 507
CHRYSSA MALTEZOU, Il riuso di testi militari bizantini nel
XVI secolo ......................................................... » 523
PEDRO BÁDENAS, De Bagdad a Toledo. Traducción y tran-
sferencia del saber en la edad media ......................... » 537
MIGUEL CORTÉS ARRESE, La primera impresión de Con-
stantinopla ......................................................... » 549

IV. LE ROMÀNIE: VENEZIA, GENOVA

EVANGELOS CHRYSOS, Venice, Byzantium and the Franks.
A note on DAI, chapter 28, 37-43 .......................... » 565
SERGEJ P. KARPOV, Perché Tana? Motivazioni ufficiali per
proteggere e mantenere un lontanissimo insediamento ve-
neziano ............................................................. » 569
SANDRA ORIGONE, Il pregio e la rarità dell’esotismo: le
gemme d’Oriente e il mondo mercantile .................... » 577
M. MARCELLA FERRACCIOLI - GIANFRANCO GIRAUDO,
Un documento veneziano ducentesco chiose secentesche il
mito perenne ....................................................... » 597
VIII INDICE

ANDREA NANETTI, Modern Greek national identity and la-

te Byzantium: new evidence for the ‘Frankish’ tower on
the Acropolis of Athens as a case study .................... pag. 611

V. CAUCASO, IRAN, EUROASIA

GHERARDO GNOLI †, Aspetti antroposofici dello zoroastri-

smo .................................................................. » 629
ANTONIO PANAINO, Il Basileúv stella dei Magi ed altre
nugae bizantino-iraniche ....................................... » 651
ANDREA GARIBOLDI, Un solido bizantino da Pendžikent
(Tagikistan) ........................................................ » 665
ANDREA PIRAS, Fromo Kēsaro. Echi del prestigio di Bisan-
zio in Asia centrale .............................................. » 671
PAOLO OGNIBENE, La battaglia sul fiume Kalka ............. » 691
RUSTAM SHUKUROV, Churches in the citadels of Ispir and
Bayburt: an evidence of ‘Harem Christianity’? .......... » 713
ISABELLE AUGÉ, Le catholicos arménien au regard d’un en-
semble documentaire de la première moitié du XIVe siè-
cle .................................................................... » 725
GAGA SHURGAIA, Antimoz d’Iberia (Antim Ivireanul) e la
cultura letteraria dell’Oriente cristiano tra la fine del
XVII e l’inizio del XVIII secolo ............................ » 741

VI. MEDIOEVO OCCIDENTALE

ROBERTO BERNACCHIA, La Bulgaria del basso Cesano tra

tarda antichità e alto medioevo ................................ » 773
FRANCESCA BOCCHI, Mutamenti e ricomposizione nelle città
sarde ................................................................. » 797
MARIO MARCENARO, La cristianizzazione della maritima
ed i metropliti milanesi a Genova ............................ » 811
LUIGI CANETTI, Dai Templari a Bisanzio o la falsa preisto-
ria della Sindone di Torino .................................... » 827
RAFFAELE SAVIGNI, L’Impero carolingio e i popoli del Nord » 849
 INDICE IX

ANNA FALCIONI, La crociata di Sigismondo Pandolfo Mala-

testi in Morea dal carteggio sforzesco ........................ pag. 871
MAURO PERANI, La stele funeraria di Rivqah da Verona e
quella di Yehi’el Otolengo (1517-1567) da Lodi: un
poema ebraico˙perduto e il più antico epitaffio di un Ot-
tolenghi ............................................................. » 893

VII. BIBLIOTECONOMIA, CODICOLOGIA, CRONACHISTICA

DONATELLA RESTANI, Ricerche sulle immagini musicali nel-

le prime edizioni del Commento al sogno di Scipio-
ne di Macrobio ................................................... » 915
ANTONELLA PARMEGGIANI, La Cronica di Venexia della
Famiglia B e la costruzione di un’identità civica nel
XIV secolo. Fra contaminazioni, stereotipi letterari ed
originalità stilistica ............................................... » 929
PAOLA DEGNI, Il ms. 126 della istituzione Biblioteca Clas-
sense: uno Zibaldone del XV secolo ......................... » 945
LORENZO BALDACCHINI, Divagazioni bibliografiche su un
viaggio da Venezia a Gerusalemme ......................... » 959
JOSÉ M. FLORISTÁN, Privilegio de nobleza Otorgado a Ma-
nuel Accidas por Felipe II de España (4.VI.1574) ...... » 965

VIII. STORIA, STORIOGRAFIA, MEMORIA STORICA

ELEONORA CAVALLINI, La ‘spoglia immemore’ dell’eroe: da

Achille a Garibaldi .............................................. » 977
NICOLA CUSUMANO, La morale della storia. Osservazioni
sul terzo libro di Diodoro ...................................... » 987
ENRICO MENESTÒ, « Rileggere e riscrivere il Lanzoni ». Se-
conda puntata: la Colonia Iulia Fida Tuder (Todi) ..... » 1005
ALESSANDRO IANNUCCI, I letterati e il management. Ar-
chetipi, etimologie e tradimenti ................................ » 1047
 EVANGELOS CHRYSOS

VENICE, BYZANTIUM AND THE FRANKS.

A NOTE ON DAI, CHAPTER 28, 37-43

In an article of some length devoted to the memory of Nicolas

Panayotakis I have tried to analyze how the historic event of the
coronation of Chalremagne in 800 and the Byzantine approval of his
imperial title in 812 was closely connected to the fate of Venice and
how Venice and its formal return to Byzantine political dependence
were actually the prize Chalemagne was asked and agreed to pay for
obtaining this recognition 1. The article fell of course under the verdict
Graeca sunt non leguntur and remained unnoticed to scholars. In that
article I merely hinted to a piece of information provided by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus which however deserves our further attention. This
note, albeit short, is offered to Antonio Carile who has contributed
more than anyone else in our generation to Byzantine-Venetian studies.
In chapter 28 with a « Story of the settlement of what is now called
Venice » of his De administrando imperio the crowned author refers to a
peace treaty the Venetians allegedly concluded in 810 with Pippin, the
son of Charlemagne, at that time rex Italiae (actually Langobardorum)
according to which they had committed themselves to pay an annual
tribute:
When they had for long been straitened by the trouble that had come upon them, the
Venetians made a treaty of peace with king Pippin, agreeing to pay him a very
considerable tribute. But since that time the tribute has gone on diminishing year by
year, though it is paid even to this day. For the Venetians pay to him who rules over

1. Karlomágnov, Buzántio kai Benetía, in Enqúmisiv Nikoláou M. Panagiwtákh,

ed. ST. KAKLAMANIS, ATH. MARKOPOULOS and Y. MAVROMATIS, Herakleio, 2000, pp. 813-842.
566 EVANGELOS CHRYSOS

the kingdom of Italy, that is, Papia, a twopenny fee of 36 pounds of uncoined silver
annually. So ended the war between Franks and Venetians 2

This information has been taken at face value by Byzantine scholars

and therefore it remained unchallenged 3. Medieval scholars, however,
are usually better informed on internal Italian developments. As early as
1888 Sigurd Abel had raised doubts on the validity of this evidence 4.
He pointed out that the first testified tribute paid by Venice to the rulers

2. Constantine Porphyrogenitus de administrando Imperio, ed. GY. MORAVCSIK, trans. R. J. H.

JEMNKINS, Washington (DC), 1967, p. 120, 37-43. For the historical circumstances see D. NICOL,
Byzantium and Venice. A Study of diplomatic and cultural Relations, Cambridge, 1988, pp. 1-19.
3. F. DÖLGER, Europas Gestaltung im Spiegel der fränkisch-byzantinischen Auseinandersetzung des
9. Jahrhunderts, in Der Vertrag von Verdun 843. Neun Aufsätze zur Begründung der europäischen
Völker- und Staatenwelt, ed. TH. MAYER, Leipzig, 1943, pp. 203-273, at p. 236 [republished in F.
DÖLGER, Byzanz und die europäische Staatenwelt, Darmstadt, 1964, p. 326: « Es wurde (Venezien)
von diesem 810 zu einem jährlichen Tribut an den Frankenkönig verpflichtet »; D. NICOL,
Byzantium and Venice (as in note 2) , p. 16: « Pepin withdrew, but not before he had imposed the
payment of an annual tribute on the wretched Doges Obelerio and Beato, who were now
virtually his prisoners »; A. CARILE, Venezia e Bisanzio, in Le relazioni internazionali nell’alto
Medioevo, Spoleto, 2011, pp. 629-690, at p. 650: « ad una trattativa per cui peraltro il ducato
corrispondeva ai Franchi un tributo »; T. LOUNGHIS, Les ambassades byzantines en Occident depuis la
formation des états barbares jusqu’ aux Croisades (407-1096), Athens, 1980, p. 160, n. 1: « Pour le
tribute payé par Venice aux Francs, cf. DAI 28, 37-43 »; cfr. ID., Kwnstantínou Z’
Porfurogennätou De administrando imperio (Prov ton ídion uión Rwmanón, Athens, 1990, pp.
74 sq. with a different construction of assumptions; K. BELKE, P. SOUSTAL, Die Byzantiner und
ihre Nachbarn, Wien, 1995, p. 140 produced a German translation: « Da die Venezianer jedo-
ch durch die ihnen lange Zeit widerfahrenen Schwierigkeiten in Bedrängnis geraten waren,
schlossen sie mit König Pippin Friedensverträge (mit dem Inhalt), dass sie ihm sehr große
Tribute zahlen würden. Seitdem wurde aber der Tribut jedes Jahr vermindert, obwohl er
sich bis heute gehalten hat. Die Venezianer zahlen nämlich dem, der über das Königreich
Italien, d.h. Papia, herrscht, jedes Jahr 36 Pfund Silberdenare ». Although in p. 139, note
258, the authors refer to anachronisms and misunderstandings in Constantine’s narration they
do not doubt on the validity of the peace treaty.
4. S. ABEL, B. SIMSON, Jahrbücher des fränkischen Reichs unter Karl dem Großen Leipzig, 1888,
p. 445: « Sehr zweifelhaft erscheint, ob den Venetianern gleichzeitig auch ein Tribut an die
italienische Krone auferlegt wurde. Constantinus Porphyrogenitus berichtet zwar, die
Venetianer hätten dem König Pippin in dem Friedensvertrage, den sie nach seiner Darstellung
im demselben schloßen, einen großen Tribut versprochen; dieser sei dann von Jahr zu Jahr
herabgesetzt worden und gegenwärtig (im neunten Jahrhundert) zahlten sie an den Hof von
Pavia jährlich 36 Pfund ungrprägten Silbers. Allein in jenen Staatsverträgen der Herrscher
Italiens mit Venedig ist von einem Tribut erst seit Berengar I. (888) die Rede, dem die
Venetianer einen jährlichen Zins von 25 Pfund Poveser Denare versprachen ».
 VENICE, BYZANTIUM AND THE FRANKS 567

of Italy was included in a pactum concluded with Berengar I in 888 5.

Abel’s doubts were further corroborated by Heinrich Kretschmayr 6.
In his commentary to chapter 28 R. J. H. Jenkns has made the
crucial observation that « Venice was at that time in no position to make
a peace-treaty on her own account: Pippin took her from Byzantium in
810, and his father handed her back in 812 » 7. Indeed, Venice as « the
Byzantine province » (D. Nicol) could be the object, but was definitely
not the subject of an international treaty when in 810 Pippin suppressed
its resistance and “annexed” it to the regnum Italicum. Already in 806
Charles had decided in a programmatic way to claim the possession of
the area with his ordinatio de ducibus et populis tam Venetiae quam
Dalmatiae 8 and this decision seems to have prompted the arrival of the
Byzantine navy under the patrician Nicetas who successfully restored
the Byzantine control over Dalmatia and Venice. The one year
armistice that Pippin thereupon agreed with Nicetas (and of course not
with the Venetians!) 9 brought no lasting results. Nevertheless Pippin’s
successful return to the lagoons in the following year with all its political
implications can not have lad to a treaty agreement of the Franks directly
with the subjected Venetians 10. Thus definite end of the Frankish

5. For the pactum see L. SCHAPARELLI, I diplomi di Berengario I, Roma, 1903 [repr. Torino,
1960] pp. 13-25. J. F. BÖHMER, H. ZIELINSKI, Regesta Imperii, I,3, 2, Munich, 1998, pp. 31 sq., nr.
867. Cfr. C. BRÜHL, C. VIOLANTE, Die Honorantie civitatis Papie, Cologne, 1983, pp. 39 sq. H.
BREßLAU, Venezianische Studien, in Festgabe für G. Mayer von Kronau, 1913, pp. 69-92, at p. 86 sq.
has made probable, that the tribute was agreed already with Charles III in 883. Cfr. BRÜHL,
VIOLANTE, Die Honorantie civitatis Papie (see above), pp. 39 sq. (I owe this reference to Rudolf
Schieffer, Munich). On the 888 regulation see further H. KRAHWINKLER, Friaul im Frühmittelalter,
Wien, 1992, p. 281.
6. H. KRETSCHMAYR, Geschichte von Venedig, I, Bis zum Tode Enrico Dandolos, Gotha, 1905,
p. 59: « Daß die Venezianer einen Eigenvertrag mit Kaiser Karl geschlossen hätten, ist völlig von
der Hand zu weisen. Die Stimmen der glaubwürdigen Quellen, der ganze Lauf der Dinge
widerspräche dem völlig ». Cfr. L. M. HARTMANN, Geschichte Italiens im Mittelalter, III/1, Gotha,
1903, p. 64.
7. Constantine Porphyrogenitus De Administrando Imperio, II, Commentary, ed. R. J. H.
JENKINS, London, 1962, p. 93.
8. Annales regni Francorum (a. 806).
9. Annales regni Francorum (a. 807): Niceta patricius, qui cum classe Constantinopolitana
sedebat in Venetia, pace facta cum Pippino rege et indutiis usque ad mensem Augustum
constitutis statione soluta Constantinopolim regressus est.
10. It is interesting to note that according to the Annales regni Francorum (a. 809) Paul, the
commander of the Byzantine fleet had come to the Adriatic « to negotiate with Pippin about
the terms of a peace treaty between Franks and Greeks », but was prevented to do so by the
dukes of Venice: Autem, qui classi praeerat, nomine Paulus, cum de pace inter Francos et
568 EVANGELOS CHRYSOS

claims over Venice (and Dalmatia) came with the conclusion of the
Byzantine-Frankish in connection to the recognition of Charles’
imperial title 11. It goes without saying, that if in the time before any
obligations were made by the Venetians towards the regnm Italicum, as
alleged in DAI 28, they would have not remained valid after 812, when
Venice was again a Byzantine province.
Scholars have tried to identify the unknown sources 12 for DAI 28
and they suppose that local Venetian information had reached Constan-
tinople by the middle of the tenth century 13. Thus Constantine VII
knew of the Venetian tribute that had been paid in his time to Pavia and
was mistaken to connect it not with the reges Italiae of the late ninth
century, as he should, but with Charlemagne’s son Pippin.

How can we explain Constantine’s misplacement of the information

about the tribute? Any attempt to identify a personal ideological agenda
behind his error is deemed to failure. The work of the Emperor’s team
in searching, in selecting and in composing the historical material had its
limits and we have no way to unveil their method and procedures 14.

Grecos constituenda, quasi sibi hoc esset iniunctum, apud domnum Pippinum Italiae regem
agere moliretur, Wilhareno et Beato Venetiae ducibus omnes inchoatus eius impedientibus
atque ipsi etiam insidias parantibus, cognita illorum fraude discessit. Such a role the dukes may
have played later too, but this has nothing to do with the signing of a treaty with the inclusion of
an annual tribute arrangement.
11. D. NERLICH, Diplomatische Gesandtschaften zwischen Ost- und Westkasiern 756-1002, Bern,
1999, pp. 38-40, 266 sq. According to the Annales regni Francorum already in 810 during the
drafting of the peace treaty Charles Niceforo Venetiam reddidit.
12. JENKINS, Commentary (as in note 7), p. 91.
13. BELKE, SOUSTAL, Die Byzantiner und ihre Nachbarn (as in note 3).
14. See the remarks Ihor Sevcenko made to this issue in his brilliant Re-reading Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, in Byzantine Diplomacy, ed. J. SHEPARD and S. FRANKLIN, Aldershot, 1992, pp.
167-195, especially at p. 189 sq.