"Imperial Power, Political Elites and Provincial Culture in Byzantine Court Poetry (10-11 centuries). Literary Expressions of an Evolving Relationship", Princeton University, Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, October 21, 2015 (original) (raw)

It is generally admitted that between the second half of the tenth century and the mid-eleventh century, the Byzantine Empire underwent a progressive but relentless evolution toward military, administrative and political centralization. This tendency affected not only the structures of the army and the civil administration, but also the profile of Byzantine political élite, leading to a significant reorientation of its careers, strategies of social advancement and networks of personal relationships. As a result, the sources of social and political influence moved from the provincial territories, which had previously been at the center of the imperial military and diplomatic action and had played an important role in the building of aristocratic power, especially in the East, to the capital. In this lecture I will discuss the possible impact of such changes on the ideology and self-representation of the Byzantine political and social élite and on the imperial ideal, as seen through the mirror of highbrow constantinopolitan literature. By considering some examples of contemporary court poetry and by putting them into their broader historical and cultural context, I will study how literary choices adapted to the evolving profile of the Byzantine ruling group, and indirectly reflected the mutations occurred in the relations between the center and the provinces of the Empire.