The Occult Sciences in Byzantium

PaulMagdalino Maria Mavroudi

The Occult Sciences in Byzantium

La Pomme d'or Geneva

Copyright by La Pomme d'or, 2006 All rights reserved

Abbreviations

Cover: Biblioteca Univers'tari di B0 1 Graphic design: Miglena ~avo~a ogna, Bononiensis gr. 3632, fol. 361r. Production: Torovino Ltd, Sofia ISBN-10: 954-8446~2-2 ISBN-13: 978-954-8446~2~

AntCl Antiquite Classique AG Anthologia Graeca AG Les alchimistes grecs BHG Bibiotheca Hagiographica Graeca BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift CAB Corpus des astronomes byzantins CahCMCahiers de civilisation medievale, Xe-Xlle siecles CahHistM Cahiers d'histoire mondiale CollByz Collectanea Byzantina CCAG Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Graecorum, 12 vols. (Brussels, 1898-1953) CCCM Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCSG Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca CFHB Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae CMAG Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques grecs, 8 vols. (Brussels, 1924-32) CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium CSHB Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers ErJb Eranos Jahrbuch GCS Die griechischen christlicher Schriftsteller HAW Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft JOB Jahrbuch der osterreichischen Byzantinistik JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, 'Hellenistic, and Roman Period JRS Journal of Roman Studies ODB Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium PG Patrologia Cursus Completus. Series Graeca PLP Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaeologenzeit REB Revue des etudes byzantines RHR Revue de l'histoire des religions

SVF

Stoicorum veterumfragmenta, ed. H. von Arnim

Contents

(Leipzig, 1903) TM Travaux et Memoires

PmbZ PBE ZRVI

Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire Zhornik Radova Vizantoloskog Instituta

Preface

9

Introduction

11

Maria Mavroudi Occult Science and Society in Byzantium: Considerations for Future Research

39

Katerina Ierodiakonou The Greek Concept of Sympatheia and Its Byzantine Appropriation in Michael Psellos

97

Paul Magdalino Occult Science and Imperial Power in Byzantine History and Historiography (9th-12th Centuries) 119

Maria Papathanassiou Stephanos of Alexandria: A Famous Byzantine Scholar, Alchemist and Astrologer 163

Michele Mertens Graeco-Egyptian Alchemy in Byzantium

205

t David Pingree The Byzantine Translations of M!ish!i'allah on Interrogational Astrology

231

William Adler Did the Biblical Patriarchs Practice Astrology? Michael Glykas and Manuel Komnenos I on Seth and Abraham

245

-

AnneTihon Astrological Promenade in Byzantium in the Early Palaiologan Period ·

265!

Joshua Holo Hebrew Astrology in Byzantine Southern Italy

291

Charles Burnett Late Antique and Medieval Latin Translations of Greek 325, Texts on Astrology and Magic George Saliba Revisiting the Astronomical Contacts Between the World of Is~am and Renaissance Europe: The Byzantme connection Bibliography Indices

361 375 437

Preface

The present volume originated as a colloquium organised by the editors and held in November 2003 at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D. C. Earlier versions of all the papers published here were delivered at the colloquium, with the exception of a single one, which the author did not wish to submit for publication. The occasion was entirely financed by Dumbarton Oaks, thanks to the support of the Director, Professor Edward Keenan. The editors gratefully acknowledge the work of Dr Alice-Mary Talbot, Director of Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, and her then assistant, Caitlin McGurk, in making the practical arrangements for the colloquium. We are indebted to Dr Talbot for sending the manuscript submissions for external review, to the reviewers for their constructive comments, and to the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Publications Committee for releasing us from the obligation to publish in-house. We are deeply grateful to Krassimira Platchkov for accepting our volume to launch her new publication series, Les Editions de la Pomme d'or. Paul Magdalino would like to thank the British Academy for the award of a Research Readership which relieved him from teaching in 2002-4. Maria Mavroudi is indebted to the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley for a research fellowship that halved her teaching responsibilities during the academic year 200405. Finally, the editors and publisher gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help of Thalia Anagnostopoulos in copy editing the

10

Paul Magdalino Maria Mavroudi

volume and compiling the bibliography and copy editing, and of Mariya Spiridonova who compiled the indices. The volume is dedicated to the memory of David Pingree, who passed on 11 November 2005. The quantity, scholarly range, and quality of the work on the exact and occult sciences that he left behind is simply breathtaking. In almost forty books and well more than a hundred articles and book chapters he edited, translated, and studied texts in Akkadian, Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Hebrew covering chronologically from the earliest antiquity until th~ end of the Middle Ages and geographically from India to Gibraltar. He was devoted, generous, and kind to those who knew him as teacher, colleague, and friend. Those who never met him cannot but be grateful for the guidance and intellectual com~anionship that his abundant and pioneering publications will contmue to provide. He is sincerely and sorely missed.

Paul Magdalino and Maria Mavroudi

Introduction

This volume represents the first attempt to examine occult science as a distinct category of Byzantine intellectual culture. There have been studies of particular occult sciences, notably the two most intellectually pretentious, astrology and (to a lesser extent) alchemy, though until very recently far more effort has gone into the editing of texts than into evaluating their contents and contextualising their authors. 1 There have also been studies of occult practice, mainly concerned, in the nature of the evidence, with its repression by the authorities and criticism by orthodox religious opinion. But insofar as such discussions have conceived of the occult as a whole, they have defined it in terms of magic. Thus Spyros Troianos analysed the legislation on Byzantine magic; 2 Byzantine magic was the theme of a colloquium and a subsequent volume produced by Dumbarton Oaks; 3 and a table-ronde on Byzantine magic, involving both editors of this volume, took place in the 20th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, held at Paris in 2001. Each of these initiatives surveyed a variety of 1 The place of astrology in medieval Byzantine culture and religion has recently been studied by P. Magdalino, L 'orthodoxie des astrologues. La science entre le dogme et Ia divination il Byzance (VII' -XIV siecle ), Realites byzantines 12 (Paris,

2006). 1

S. Troianos, 'Zauberei und Giftmischerei in mittelbyzantinischer Zeit', in G. Prinzing and D. Simon, eds., Fest und Alltag in Byzanz (Munich, 1990), 37-51, 184-8. 3 H. Maguire, ed., Byzantine Magic (Washington, D. C., 1995).

12

Paul Magdalino Maria Mavroudi

practices, different in each case, not all of which could be strictly classified as magical. Yet magic seemed in all cases to offer the most convenient and comprehensive definition. This is equally true in the study of the civilizations most closely related to Byzantium, from Greco-Roman Antiquity to the Renaissance: discussions of magic abound, but discussions of the occult sciences are rare. Why so? (Most obviously, because magic, not being restricted to a learned tradition, is less elitist and more conducive to anthropological research; it has also left vastly more material evidence, in the form of charms, spells and amulets which when they use writing at all evince, for the most part, a low and formulaic level of literacy. The study of occult science requires some familiarity with specialised languages, methods and techniques, whereas the study of magic is freely available to historians and arthistorians. Moreover, defining the occult as science tends to deprive it of the religious quality inherent in the concept of magic. What then, apart from the need to avoid repetition, is the reason for preferring the occult sciences to magic as the theme and title of this collection?,Is occult science not just magic by another name? The answer lies principally in the corollary of the point made above: the concept of magic does not do justice to the learned, literate end of the spectrum. It puts the educated, sophisticated masters of occult knowledge, some of whom, in Byzantium, were leading social figures, in the same category as the drunken old women who were cari~atured, n_o~ inaccurately according to a recent authority, as the leadmg practltloners of magic in Late Antiquity. 4 It also implies that they offered an alternative religion, or a superstitious substitute for orthodox c_ult, which was demonstrably not the case. In any case, occult sctence cannot be regarded simply as the learned and non-superstitious side of magic. Magic entered the vocabulary of the Greco-Ro~an worl~ as a term of opprobrium, connoting the alt~n, ~uspect ntes of onental Magi.~ Although it came to denote an' obJe~ttve cultural reality, it never lost its negative connotatio~ · M~g~c w~s what the cultural Other practised as a substitute for true rehgwn; mstead of serving the true deity it sought to usurp d' . ' tvme powe b h · al r y mec amc or demonic means; its rituals mimicked M.W. Dickie Magic and M · · . New York, 200,1). aglclans m the Greco-Roman World (London and

introduction

13

religious cult, but in exclusive, private settings. 5 Few men, least of all the learned, were keen to refer to themselves as magoi,,.Oespite, or indeed because of, the natural elision between astrology and astral magic, between the charting of planetary influences and the incantation of planetary spirits, astrologers strenuously denied that their predictions were based on anything other than natural science, and compared their prognostications to the "expert guesswork" of the medical doctor, 'Alchemists, if put on the spot, would no doubt have taken a similar line. This was of course a defensive position, adopted in order to counter charges of sorcery and polytheism, and it does not mean that the practitioners of astrology and alchemy really saw no connection between their knowledge and other types of esoteric learning that were used to predict or to affect the course of nature. However, if pushed to define the connection, they would have done so not in terms of magic but in terms of philosophy. This may strike us as bizarre, and it would certainly be deeply misleading to treat philosophy and occult science as synonymous. Yet intellectual engagement with the occult was rooted in, or sought to cohere with, the philosophical systems of Greco-Roman antiquity, as will be further discussed in this introduction and in a later chapter of this volume. The learned practitioners of the occult had a basic general education including philosophy, and tended to combine their special expertise with a variety of intellectual interests, which made it appropriate to describe them as philosophoi. Philosophos was the generic label for an intellectual in Byzantium. 6 It was also a label strongly coloured by the Late Antique fusion of Pythagorean, Stoic and Neoplatonic traditions which identified philosophy with an ascetic lifestyle and the possession of extraordinary mental and spiritual powers that went far beyond the rational exposition of logic and metaphysics and had much in common with the charisma of Christian holy men7 themselves often referred to as philosophers by their apologists. It was the philosopher's capacity-or reputation-for learning and contriving paradoxa, extraordinary phenomena, which caught the public imagination in Late Antiquity and shaped the image of the 'See F. Graf, Magic in the Ancient World (Cambridge, Mass., 1997). See ODB, s.v. PHILOSOPHER. 7 E.g. Sozomenos, Kirchengeschichte, ed. J. Bidez and G.C Hansen, GCS 50 (Berlin, 1960), I 12. 8, 13.1, 14.1, lll 14, 38.

6

14

Paul Magdalino Maria Mavroudi;

philosopher in the formative period of Byzantine medieval culture (5th-9th c.). In the widely circulated sixth-century chronicle of John 8 Malalas~philosophtzl address secret prayers to the Moon, create 10 9 talismans, - and ~~nish into thin air in addition to predicting ' eclipses 11 and making astronomical discoveries; 12 the "most learned philosopher" Theon of Alexandria (late 4'h c.) is mentioned not only as an astronomer, but as a teacher of Hermetism and Orphism, 13 while Malalas' near-contemporary Proclus features not as the leading Neoplatonist of his generation, but as a dream interpreter for the emperor Anastasius I 14 and as the inventor of an incendiary substance which bums a rebel fleet. 15 In the late eighth-century collection of legends about the monuments of Constantinople, the Parastaseis, the city's large collection of ancient statues are full of hidden meanings and sinister powers, and the men who know how to interpret them are philosophers, not magicians. 16 For present-day purposes, however, 'philosophy' is hardly more appropriate than 'magic' as an identifying label for the scientific aspect of the occult. So should this not simply be considered under the heading of science tout court, or should not science and magic be included, without forced and arguably anachronistic separation, under the same broad umbrella? The merits of this approach, which was exactly the one adopted by Lynn Thorndike Jr. in his still valuable. History of Magic and Experimental Science, are expounded by Maria Mavroudi- in her essay in the present volume. Its disadvantage is that broad umbrellas can be unwieldy, and do 8

Ioannes Malalas, Chronographia, ed. H. Thurn, CFHB 35 (Berlin and New york, 2000),44. 9 Ibid., 81,201. 10 Ibid .• 202. II Ibid., 118 12 Ibid., 130. "Ibid., 265. 14 _Ibid., 335. He is ca~led PJ_Uclus from Asia, but is surely meant to be identical wtth the famous Atheman philosopher. " Ibid., 330-l. The rebel in question is Vitalian, whose revolt broke out in 512· note that the real Proclus died in 485. · 16 Parastaseis syntonwi chroniktJi, ed T Pre er . . . . ed g • Scrtptores ongmum Constantinopo/itanarum, I (Leipzig 1901 ) · 19 3 Herrin, Constantinople in the Earl E' ' • ·• tr., comm. A. Cameron, J. Chronikai (Leiden, I984); see furth:r ~ghth ~entu">;: The Pw:astaseis Syntomoi Power', below. agdalino, P, Occult Science and Imperial

_7

Introduction

15

not always cater adequately to special interests, In this case defining the occult as either magic or science, or -~s magic and '- science combined, risks not emphasizing enough the fact that the ·,--Late-Antique and medieval world did articulate a concept of occult -wliidom that deserves to be considered in its own right. Yet ·mapping out the stages in the development of the Byzantine understanding of the occult is made difficult by the relative dearth of theoretical texts on the topic that can be dated and attributed to known authors with certainty. Modem scholars must gather much of the Byzantine understanding of the occult by examining not so much direct statements by Byzantine authors but the Byzantine Nachleben (manuscript tradition, quotation by other writers, reception among professional and literary circles) of ancient "classics" of the genre such as the Hermetic corpus, the Chaldaean Oracles, the Testament of Solomon, and the Kestoi of Julius Mricanus, whose initial composition or subsequent usage (or both) can only by approximation be dated, localized, and attributed to an identifiable individual. A notable exception to this state of affairs is the work of Michael Psellos (1018-ca. 1081 or later), who emerges from the surviving written record as the most learned, prolific and respected authority who best understood and appreciated the philosophical legacy of antiquity. 17 Psellos occasionally uses the word an6xQu<j>oc; (apocryphal), the direct Greek equivalent of Latin occultus. Thus, discussing the demon Gillo, who was blamed in folk tradition for killing infants at birth, he says that he has not come across her in his usual ancient sources for demonic names, but only in "an apocryphal Hebrew book" ascribed to Solomon. 18 More often, however, Psellos refers to "hidden" meanings and forces by two almost synonymous words that are suggestive of speech rather than 17 The literature by and on Psellos is immense. For a comprehensive survey of the scene in 2005, see P. Moore, Iter Psel/ianum: A Detailed Listing of Manuscript Sources for all Works Attributed to Michael Psel/os, Including a Comprehensive Bibliography (Toronto, 2005); see also the recent collection of essays edited by C. Barber and D. Jenkins, Reading Michael Psel/os (Leiden, 2006). For the writings discussed in this introduction, see particularly J. Duffy, 'Hellenic Philosophy in Byzantium and the Lonely Mission of Michael Psellos', inK. Ierodiakonou, ed., f(,za.ntine Philosophy and its Ancient Sources (Oxfo~, 2002), 1_39:-56. Mtchael Psellos, Philosophica minora, I, ed. D. 0 Meara (Lelpztg, 1989), 164.

-

16

Paul Magdalino Maria Mavrou~

sight: WtOQQfJ'tO~ ("forbidden", "secret") and clQQ1J'tOS) ("unspoken", "unutterable", and, by extension, "inexplicable"). He 1 sometimes uses these words to describe Biblical and Christian mysteries, 19 but usually, in his work, they denote the secrets of· profane learning. By lopking at the passages in question, we g~t a good idea of what a well-educated Byzantine considered to .. occult, and why. .....,.

be

In his funeral oration on his mother, Psellos says that he has read all the Hellenic and even barbarian books "on spoken and unspoken things (:n:EQL 'tE Qf)'t&v xal. UQQTJ'tWV) . . . and reading all their theology and their treatises and proofs on nature, I was delighted at their depth of thought and the enquiring nature (m::g(egyov) of their discussion".Z0 The content of the "unspoken" material is suggested by the list of authors; apart from Plato and Aristotle and the PreSocratics Empedocles and Parmenides, these include Orpheus, Zoroaster and Hermes Trismegistos. In other words this was largely mythical cosmology, concerned with revealing ~he origi~s and secrets of creation. In the same oration, Psellos writes "I have learned the secret. properties (01JVUJ.IEL£ ... UQQTJ'tOuc;) of stones and herbs, although I have given their experimental use (:rtEQLEQyov XQ'fiotv) a wide berth".Z 1 His treatise On the properties of precious stones ends by mentioni~g the classical authorities on the subject: "among the more ancient sages, Anaxagoras, Empedocles and Democritus, and among those not so long before our time, Alexander of Aphrodisias a man m_ost capable of discoursing on all matters and especially th~ secret thmgs of nature (:n:egl ... 't&v ~) to decide". 24 In the same vem, the hidden meamng has been revealed which contains secret philosophy (wv), such as magic, celestial phenomena, practical ~xpenmen~s, a~trology, wonder-working, augury, dreamInterpretatiOn, philosophy and the like". 58 Another, probably later

58

Manetho,:4JJotelesmatica, ed. A. Koechly (Leipzig,l858), IV. 206 ff 70

..... "':;~1':;'._~4rt':::i.-l-;~ Hbri ""• ol, D. Pm.;..,. 2""-

manual, identifies the mercurial characteristics as "a talent for. learning and predicting the future, and the rational science~ knowledge, intelligence and understanding [the causes otl existence, culture, philosophy and geometry, astronomy and the hieratic art, also augury and the hidden arts (ta(ouwva~Q~~ l1LEQ6Jv xut tv'?u<wv, XA1]boVIOIJ.OU£ xat ovetea, xat 6Qvtwv auvaV"tJ.uN~a ltl]ya~ A.uxvou£ Wt'tOV"tE£ xat a:n:oA.ou6J.lllVOL, xat 'I,_..• ltUQU"tl]QOuJ.lllVOI. ...

71

Qccult Science and Society in Byzantium: Considerations for Future Research 76

owerful ministers. The reaction of individual emperors to very P h . d. the occult sciences depended on t eir temperament an mte1lectual disposition, but also on the situation th~y .found themselves in. It is clearly no accident ~hat. the_ first. Ch~Istlan emper?r to _condem~ astrology and divination m h1s legislation (Constantms II m 357), attained the throne and reigned in the midst of civil strife, when an astrologically sanctioned rival could become even more dangerous to the reigning emperor. Justinian, another emperor inimical to astrologers (meteorologoi) 18 had to put down a serious revolt at the very beginning of his reign_ ~nd was also threatened a plot hatched by his powerful m1mster, John the Cappadoc1an, who, 79 encouraged by sorcerers and diviners, coveted the imperial office. On the flip side of the coin, the fourteenth-century interest in astronomy and astrology must be connected not only with the overall intensified intellectual activity of the period, but also with

?Y

Theophanes Continuatus, ed. I. Bekker (Bonn, 1838), 376, 8-19. See also Mavroudi, A Byzantine Book on Dream Interpretation, 61; C. Mango, 'The Lege~d of Leo the Wise', Zbornik Radova Vizantoloskog Instituta 6 (1960), 59-93, repr. m idem, Byzantium and Its Image (London, 1984), XVI , 68; Magdalino, 'Occult Science and Imperial Power' in the present volume. . n M.-T. Fagen, 'Balsamon on Magic: From Roman Secular Law to Byzantine Canon Law', in Maguire, ed. Byzantine Magic, 103-4. See also Tester, History of Western Astrology, 95. 18 Secret History XI.37; for the Greek text, see Procopius Caesariensis, Op~ra Omnia, ed. J. Haury and G. Wirth, III (=Historia quae dicitur Arcana) (Mumch and Leipzig, 2001), 76, 12-77, 2; Procopius, ed. W. Dindorf, III (Bonn, 1838), 76, 18-77,6. 19 Prokopios (Persian Wars 1.25) tells us that when John the Cappadocian learned of Theodora's detennination to destroy him, he turned to sorcerers and listened to oracles "that portended for him the imperial office". For Prokopios' t~xt, see Procopius, ed. Haury and Wirth, I, 135, 3-136, 2; Procopius, ed. W. Dmdorf, I (Bonn, 1833) 130, 10-134, 14; Procopius, History of the Wars, Books I and II, tr. H. B. Dewing (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), 240-43. However, Prokopio~ makes sure his readers realize that the signs were not wrong, only their interpretauon w~s. The Persian Wars (11.30) end with half a page otherwise disconnected wtth the immediately preceding narrative, infonning us how the prophecy to Jo~~ the Cappadocian that he was "bound to be clothed in the gannent of Augustus was fulfilled: he had to wear the garments of a priest named Augustus whe~ he was made a clergyman by force (ed. Haury and Wirth, I, 303, 13-304, 7; ed. Dmdo~. I, 300, 1-18; tr. Dewing, 554-57). On Prokopios and the supernatural (concentrating on the Secret History), see A. Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1985), 56-9. For prophecy and politics in the age of Justinian, seeP. Magdalino, 'The History of the Future', 3-34.

76

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,\ !\

:I ·:i \

,;

':

l '

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~

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ll

72

Maria Mavroudi

the astrological predictions sought by the parf . . . and the civil wars and civil strife th t ~~pants m the wan a number of Palaiologan dthe empire. mterested m astrology: in the year 1341 emonstrably while lying on his deathbed at th ' emperor Andronikos ill, e monastery of th H s~mm.oned the polymath Nikephoros Gregoras best k e odegoi, histonan, .theologian, philosopher, and astro;omer 8o nown as :W whether8,his predictions from the stars agreed with' th to enqurre doctors. At least two political horoscopes . ose by the Pal . I . survive from th aiO ogan penod: one cast for the proclamation of M e John V at noon of September 25 13 74. and anuel, son of Constantinople by Andronikos p I one for the entrance to August 1375 82 And 'k I a aw ogos on the twelfth of ' · rom os V seems to h · astrologer John Abra . 83 ave patromzed the successors com uted amio~. T~e same Abramios and his and 1408 84 An p . senes of eclipses between the years 1374 main pr . n~ Tihon has observed that eclipses is one of the two eoccupat1ons of By zantme · astronomers towards the end of the fourteenth impossible n ctenttury and the beginning of the fifteenth,8s and it is this (on th e f ace of It) . mnocent . astronomical 0 o · connect . empire, in w~~~~uit ~Ith the escalating political troubles of the politically prominenet~ Ipd~e~d were seen as signifying the fall of m IV! uals.

~ccording~y,

empe~orss :e~~

iv I .

~ On his intellectual profile

. (;/ee R. GUilland, Essai sur Nicephore Gregoras: 192 ikephoros Gregoras B ·. . . J,J-560, 3 (XI.II). ' yzantma HIStona, ed. L. Schopen, I (Bonn, 1829), 559,

;,h~?•me, I'oeuvre (Paris,

MS Paris. Suppl gr 20 ~ !ulletin de Ia societf n~tion~lo~. ll8r:-v; ~ee CCAG, Vlll.4, 76 and F. Cumonl, On Abramios see PLP e es antlqumres de France (1919) 181 Ab · ' 57· D p· · Ti ramJ~s:. DOP 25 (197!,), ~ngree, ·:he Astrological' School of John hon •. L asironomie byzanti a ,15 • for a disagreement with Pingree, see A. 7Ve sJecle' Byzanrion 66 ;:) ~;ube de Ia Renaissance (de !352 a Ia fm du 09 :•~g pendant l'epoque des Pal; -? 4 ; see also Mergiali, L'enseignemenl etles 1 " Bs.v.ECLIPSE. oogues(l261-1453), 161-2. A. Tihon R M . (Louv run. Ia-Neuve, • . 199S) ercier, Georges G ~mwe < • Plethon, Manuel d'astronomie connected • 13 ·ofThe · conjunctions (syzygieS) · about b thw1·th th e calculation East othe r .Pro bl em •s Union ~f e close encounter with the .Thts preoccupation is evidently brought present vo~hurches at the time. See alatms and.the theological debates about the ume. so the dtscussion by Anne Tihon in the

l9l-i

2

t·

occult Science and Society in Byzantium: considerations for Future Research

73

The ability to control nature was evidently what made the occult sciences an appropriate pursuit for the emperors themselves. Byzantine sources contain abundant references to legendary and pseudo-historical examples of royalty thus occupied, and I will limit myself to only a small random sample: we know of the existence of alchemical writings attributed to the emperors Justinian and Heraclius (though only fragments of those attributed to 86 Heraclius survive, and only in Arabic); and to Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. We are explicitly told about the appropriateness of alchemy for kings and emperors in a fifteenth-century commentary to Dionysius of Halicamassus addressed to the Byzantine governor of Ainos and Samothraki. 87 In the twelfth century, John Tzetzes (Chiliades 11.36) emphatically praised Zeus as king and astrologer (three times on the same page!), 88 making it impossible not to think of Tzetzes' patron, emperor Manuel Komnenos, who was actively interested in astrology .89 A fifteenth-century Greek manuscript, now They do not survive, but definitely existed in MS Marc. gr. 299. See its description by H. Saffrey, 'Historique et description. du manuscrit alchimique de Venise Marcianus graecus 299', in D. Kahn and S. Matton, eds. Alchimie: Art, histoire et mythes (Paris, 2001), l-10. Alchemical excerpts attributed to Heraclius survive in the Arabic alchemical corpus. See M. Ullmann, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Jslam. Handbuch der Orientalistik, Erganzungsband Vl.2 (Leiden and Cologne, 1972), 189-90. For a discussion of the attribution of alchemical texts to the patronage or pen of kings and emperors, see M. Berthelot, Les origines de l'alchimie (Paris, 1885), 139-40. For a discussion on the false attribution of alchemical texts to various authors (without, however, reference to kings), see R. Halleux, Les textes alchimiques. Typologie des sources du Moyen Age occidental 32 (Tumhout, \979), 97-9. Halleux rejects the possibility that alchemical treatises were falsely attributed to authors in order to avoid persecution by the church: "[La pseudepigraphiel ne parait pas avoir pour objectif d'eviter h !'auteur les poursuites de l'Eglise, qui ont ete rares" (ibid., 98). 81 See J. Letrouit, 'Chronologie des alchimistes grecs', in Kahn. Matton, eds.

86

Alchimie: Art, histoire, et mythes, 69-70. 88 Ioannes Tzetzes, Historiarum Variarum Chiliades, ed. Th. Kiessling (Leipzig,

astrolog~r

1826),47. I was unable to identify a literary precedent for Zeus as in the surviving Byzantine world chronicles (Zeus as king is usual), though thts clearly does not mean that there was none either in chronography or in other genres. The chronicle that comes the closest ;0 connecting Zeus with occult science is the Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorf, I (Bonn, 1832), 69, 20-22, stating that (identified with Pikos) taught his son Perseus nQ6.l'tELV xat lE1..EiV UJV J.lUYE~av 'tOll J.LUO1]£, J.WXQUV). In addition, the only phrase that provides a clue regarding Chryselios' profession, is Gl.27, 51-56: AQ10ft1]tiXOV j.t£v ouv autov (=tOV XQUOljAI.OV) fl&ew, a<jl. ou t01l£ BaQ&aQIWta Mynv· f.yw xa8t'll&w xat lt xaQII(a 1101l ayQu:n:vet· xat ael 6E tL i]XQl~ol-oyetto xat OJTW£ n)v J.I.OVUOa Ei£ J1€Qll tBJITI xal Ctf!U8Eil; &e(l;n 'tOU£ Ctf.!£1:Qi'] Myov'ta£. The meaning of the verb 3rQclttoo is multiple and therefore the information it can convey to us about Chryselios' profession is vague. Combined with Theophylakt's mention of Chryselios' occupation with arithmetic in the same passage, it might reveal that Chryselios was indeed, as Gautier suggested, a praktor, i.e. a tax collector (see ODB, s.v. PRAKTOR). The term Vardariotai is also problematic because it is unclear whether it refers to an ethnic group or a territorial unit (see 008, s.v. :ARDA~DIOTAI). M. Mullett, Theophylact of Ochrid: Reading the Letters of a ~~ntm~ Archbishop (Aldershot, 1997), 100 and 343, accepts that Chryselios was unpenal official in Macedonia. I wish to thank Paul Magdalino for bringing the f,:>blem ofChryselios' exact profession to my attention . Ioannes Tzetzes, Epistulae, ed. P. A.M. Leone (Leipzig, 1972), 84-8.

a

78

I:

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and interpreted by Tzetzes in the letter. 109 Tzetzes provides detail about the time, place, and condition of his body while he had th s dream. He insists that he went to bed without having eaten or dru~ much but was clear-headed and almost not asleep, especially since an attack of flees more n~merous than the army of Xerxes kept him awake throughout the mght; he managed to relax in the earl morning, at which time he had the dream he goes on to relat: ~ontrary. to .wha~ may at first sight appear to be the case, this mformat10n IS neither gratuitous nor meant for comical effect, but carefully calculated to suggest to the emperor that Tzetzes' dream · t~th~ul and its message ought to be heeded since, according to th~ pnnc1ples of ancient and medieval dream interpretation, dreams are most truthfu~ ~hen dreamt on a light stomach and in an alert mental state; m additiOn, the closer to morning they are dreamt the sooner 110 they will. be realized. Since Tzetzes only states the conditions und~r .which he had the dream and does not provide explanations or exphc1t references to manuals of dream interpretation, we may concl~de. that not only he, but also the emperor was well versed in the pnnc1ples of this art. 111

'"' The appellation "Scythians" in th 12~ the Pechenegs, while the Turks a e . c. was us~ally app~:ed to t~e Cu~ans or 1dentify with certainty the d re destgnated as Perstans . It ts tmposstble to possible that Tzetzes is . a~e. and event that prompted Tzetzes' letter, but it is requested in the incident ~f~~~~;g d~~uel to off~r the Cumans the wages they was the political fall of AI . scnbed by Kmnamos, the outcome of which ab loanne et A/exio C ext~s Axouch. See Ioannes Kinnamos, Epitome rerum 168-{i9; Deeds of Joh~m::::;''ugestarum, ed. A. Meineke, CSHB (Bonn, 1836), 1976), 201-2. anue/ Comnenus, tr. C. M. Brand (New York,

11o E . : g. Artemtdoros, Oneirocriticon ed p k Onerrocriticon ed F 0 ' · ac 16, 10-17, 2 · Achmet Achmetis ' · · rex 1 (Leipzi 1925) ' ' Mavroudt,. A Byzantine g, • 240-41; further analysis in 8 00k truthfulness ofmoming d on Dream Interpretation, 151-3 and 451-2. The a bne · f d'tscusston · of thireams · m · anctent · llmes· · ·de was. a very wideIY held behef for T . s 1 a m Ho 0 · ' ertu1tan, see D. s Cervigni D , race, vtd, Moschus, Philostratus and 59. · ' antes Poetry of Dreams (Florence 1986) n Ill

F

'

'

JO '

.

. or a detailed reading of this let . ctrcumstances in which it was d ter, agreemg that the details offered about the see G T Cal ' reamt serve to h . . . . : · O•onos, 'Byzantine On . ~mp astze tts prophellc accuracy, 8 lrmtngham, 1994), 126. Calofonos elfQ~ancy · (M. Phil. Thesis, University of 10 the Kmg of Hungary's Russian all~nstders that the "Scythians" of the letter are tes whom Manuel managed to win over while

occult Science and Society in Byzantium: Considerations for Future Research

79

The second letter where Tzetzes mentions dream interpretation (no. 59) is addressed to the wife of the Grand Hetaireiarches (a highranking military official). It was written in May 1147, when the menacing Germans of Konrad III arrived in Constantinople in the course of the second Crusade. The letter seeks to comfort the addressee by offering a positive interpretation of a dream that she dreamt and apparently already interpreted (either on her own or with somebody else's help) as signifying Constantinople's imminent destruction, a disaster apparently also advertised in oracles circulating at the time. 112 Though Tzetzes' interpretations seem improvised and unpersuasive, this is a bona fide effort to articulate an optimistic understanding of an ominous reality. Significantly, the gift requested at the end of the letter, ambergris incense, was supposed to improve the ability to divine through dreams. Yet a third piece of evidence suggests that Tzetzes might have volunteered his services as diviner to aristocratic and royal circles by interpreting not only dreams but also celestial omens. In a fourteenth-century manuscript containing his Allegories to the Iliad, a note informs the reader that a comet indicates future wars, but also a series of other events, including marriages, and that Tzetzes was able to foretell the marriage of the emperor seven months in 113 11dvance by correctly interpreting the appearance of a comet.

on campaign in June 1165. I am grateful to Mr. Calofonos for his generosity in sharing his unpublished work. 1" See Magdalino, 'History of the Future', 27, notes 106 and 110. . 113 This is MS Paris. gr. 2644; this particular note does not appear m any other manuscript of Tzetzes' Allegories, though other notes are shared wtth the older. but less tidy MS Baroccianus 131. See J. A. Cramer, Anecdota Graeca e codrcrbus manuscriptis bibliothecarum oxoniensium, III (Oxford, 1836), IV, where Cramer expresses the view that the notes of MS Paris. gr. 2644 go back to Tzetzes himself. The note in question comments on verses 66-67 of Tzetzes' alleg?rica\ commentary of Odyssey, 4: tew~ llf. t6tE yeyovE xa( t~ uot1]Q XOJ.l~'tl\~. ootL-~ 01]tJ£lov neuxE y(vEOOm xatnoMJ.lOlv; the text of the note re~ds .a~ fol!ows. x~kou £., 127 H 0 ' o xav 6VUl1t£Ql O£LUIJiilv. · mont, Le Typtcon . N"tcolas dt. Casale pres d'Otrante', Revue des etudes grecques ) du Srunt3 0890 390 128 See MS Paris. gr. 2so ·i .. omnia III 1 ed W H 9' n Ptolemy, C/audu Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant .' Ill ' 'Manasse · · ( Ubner(Stutt · h . Maxtmus gart, 1998), XIV. This must be Patnarc 1 Church in Captivity (da~b~dted 10 1477), on whom see S. Runciman, The Great n ge, 1968), 194.

Occult Science and Society in Byzantium: Considerations for Future Research

83

ardinal Bessarion before it passed in the collection of the

~arciana; among our post eleventh-century Greek alchemical uthors figures Kosmas the hieromonachus (an ordained priest and ~onk);t29 a fifteenth/sixteenth-century manuscript volume brings together texts on Greek alchemy and theological treatises relating to nl30 the question of t h e "f"l" 1 10que. 1 would like to focus on one more problem within my vast topic: the transmission of the occult sciences and what it implies about the overlap or separateness of 'high' and 'low' registers of culture. There is no doubt that a grasp of the philosophical background of the occult sciences requires an elite education that not all their practitioners could have. However, thei~ practi_cal application do~s not require this background, and their social relevance, their importance for the larger world outside the ivory tower, an~ ultimately the reason to become interested in them, would be lost, tf they could not be exported beyond the rarefied circles of the philosophers. Further, what we recognize as 'high' and 'low' might not have been exactly labelled as such within its Byzantine context. 131 This lesson has already become clear from the study of Byzantine vernacular literature, and can be applied to the occult sciences. 132 Theophylakt of Ochrid (Gill) is aware"b of. the 133 therapeutic efficacy ascribed to viper's flesh by Galen, 0 n as10s, 135 Dioscorides, 134 and Alexander of Tralles (authors qualifying for

' 29

CMAG, II, 125: hieromonachos Kosmas. See also Letrouit, 'Chronologie des

alchimistes grecs', 69, no. 20. 110 CMAG, V, 39-42; MS Escoriallll.Y.18. 131 The problem of 'high' and 'low' production by one and the same au~or has been discussed, in connection with dream interpretation, by G. Calofonos, Drea~ Interpretation: A Byzantinist Superstition?', BMGS 9 (198_4-8:), 215-20;. m connection with Symeon Seth's literary production, by Magdahno, The Byzantme Reception of Classical Astrology', 46--9. , )..0. 1 "' For a recent general discussion, see M. Lauxtennann, '6.T!fLW6T!V 1 "..- "'' e manner of referring to VIper · ' s flesh m . this text ' suggests thai use of this medication w I 0 .ng and well-established in Greek medicine. 136 Kyranides II , . D' K as 1976), 136. · 2 ' •e yramden, ed. D. Kaimakes (Meisenheim am Glan ID

'

~yranides II.l; Die Kyraniden ed K . , , llVEUIJ.am novnna xu' '_ · rumakes, 113: at liE 'tQLXEeo1:6xou di Epifanio nella versione latina medievale di Pasquale Romano'. in idem, Studi e note difilologia latina medieva/e (Milan, 1938), 111-24; Greek text in PG 120, cols. 185-216); and the Disputatio contra Judaeos attributed to Anastasios of Sinai; see G. Dahan, 'Paschalis Romanus Disputatio contra Judeos', Recherches augustiniennes II (1976), 161-213, edition ibid., 192-210; Greek text in PG 89, cols. 1203-82. Though the Dispuratio is written in the form of a dialogue and does not present complicated grammar or syntax, its content does not allow one to dismiss this text as low-brow because it discusses the trinitarian nature of God on the basis of scriptural exegesis. The author of the treatise seems to be well-informed about Byzantium's Muslim neighbors: he gives a Greek translation for the Arabic name Raitho (PG 89, col. 1204C), and seems to be aware of the assassination of caliph al-Mutawakkil by members of the Turkish military elite in 861, or at least of the destabilization of Abbasid power brought about by the Turkish military elite around the same period (col. 1212B-C: ouxl 1v Ba~u),wv(wv, xal ouxl 'tWV Mi]liwv, ouxl 'tWV llEQOliJV ~UOL),e(a xutf1t001j uno 'tV ~UQ~UQWV 'tOU'tWV 1:cilv TouQxcilv;); see H. Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, 2"" ed. (Harlow, 2004), 156-73. Further (cols. 1237BC), the text suggests that it was written in the second half of the 9'" century, as it mentions that more than eight hundred years have elapsed since the capture of Jerusalem by Titus (70 A.D.). This is incompatible with the generally accepted dates for Anastasios of Sinai; on the problem of Anastasios' date, see Franceschmt, 'II llEQt 1:0\J ~(ou ti]avou AA.e;avi\QEOl£ <j>!Aoo6<jlou (Stephanos the Alexandrian philosopher), ~'te<jlavou <jl!Aoo6<j>ou (Stephanos !he philosopher), ~'te<jlavou AA.e;avbQEOl£ (Stephanos the Alexandrian), ~'te<jlavou (Stephanos), 6 ffiuni]J.WJV ~'te<jlaVO£ (Stephanos the scientist), ~'tE<jlCtVOU <j>!Aoo6<j>ou xal f!EYCtA.ou bt.liaoxaA.ou (Stephanos philosopher and great master), ~'te<j>avou <jl1Aoo6<jlou AA.e;avbQEOl£ (Stephanos the Alexandrian philosopher), ~'te<j>avou f!EYCtA.ou <jl!Aoo6<jlou 'tou AA.e;avbQEOl£ xat xaeoA.Lx~il Ot.liaoxaA.ou (Stephanos the great Alexandrian philosopher and general master) [tn MSS Laurent. Plut. 28, 13, fol. 240; Laurent. Plut. 28, 14, fol. 169v. Laurent. Plut. 28, 33, fol. 105; Marc. gr. 324, fol. 147v, 231; Marc. gr. 336, fol. 266v; Marc. gr. 335, fol. 25; Mediol. B 38 sup., fol. 49v; Taurin. C, VII, 10 (B, VI, 12), fol. 29; Vat. gr. 1056, fols. 193v, 203v, 206; Vat. gr. 1059, fols. 123, 524, 529v; Angelicus 29 [C. 4,8], fols. 54v, 236v; Vindob. phil. gr. 108, fol. 292v; Vindob. phil. gr. 262, fol. 15lv; Monacensis 105, fol. 223; Paris. gr. 2419, fol. 72]. On the meaning of these titles attributed to Stephanos, see F. Fuchs, Die hOheren Schulen von Konstantinopel im Mille/alter (Amsterdam, 1964), 12-16; ODB, s. v. PATRIARCHAL SCHOOL, PHILOSOPHER.

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Stephanos. Moreover, modern criteria used to differentiate between 'science' and 'occult science' (our "scientific principles") are largely based on quantitative (and therefore measurable) relations between things or substances and are sharply distinguished from philosophical ideas. On the contrary, in Antiquity the Stoic doctrine of "sympathy" implied unity of the world and interaction between its parts; further, it offered a basis for understanding the world both as a whole and as a composite entity made up of various parts with specific functions that continuously interact with each other. The role and influence of alchemy and astrology on both state and individual affairs during the Late Antique and Byzantine period can be properly understood only by taking into consideration their wider philosophical context. Even so, the attitude of Roman and Byzantine emperors towards alchemy and astrology was ambivalent: for example, the emperor Diocletian decreed the burning of "books on making gold and silver" in Egypt. 4 Despite such episodes of deliberate destruction, a great number of Greek alchemical and astrological manuscripts dating from the Byzantine period do survive.5

AsTROLOGY AND ALCHEMY IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND THE BYZANTINE PERIOD

Among all divinatory arts invented by man in order to foretell the future, astrology was the most sophisticated in terms of the philosophical background and astronomical techniques required for casting a horoscope. These techniques were particularly refined in Alexandria, an important and flourishing centre of Greek science'See !he Suda, s. v. ~LOxA.!Jnavo£ and Xr]J.te(a in Suidae Lexicon, ed. A. Adler, 5 vols. (Leipzig, 1928-38), II, 104-5; IV, 804. This information refers to the occup~tion of Alexandria by Diocletian in the year 296/297, brought about by his campwgn to put down the revolt of Lucius Domitius Domitianus. As a result of his Presence in Egypt, Diocletian instituted a number of changes in the local system of administration and taxation, including monetary and calendrical reforms; he also ~~pressed Egypt's privileges (Kieines Pauly, II, s. v. DIOCLETIANUS). ~taloguedes Ma~uscrits Alchimiques Grecs (= CMAG), 8 vols. (Brussels, 192432 )9,8Catalogus Codtcum Astrologicorum Graecorum (= CCAG), 12 vols. (Brussels, 18 -1953).

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Stephanos of Alexandria: A Famous Byzantine Scholar, Alchemist and Astrologer

especially mathematics and astronomy-and a crossroads of various cultures and religions. A considerable number of surviving horoscopes6 provide excellent primary source material for researching the connection between astrology and medicine; indeed, already in antiquity the combination of the two led to the creation of a special discipline, "iatromathematica" (i.e. medical astrology),7 a fact that enhanced astrology's prestige, widened its influence, and may partially explain its survival during the Late Antique and Byzantine periods in spite of the strong polemics against it. 8 We also know that throughout the Roman imperial period astrology was considered the most reliable method of divination. Any emperor, therefore, would feel obliged or at least tempted to use it in order to uncover future dangers to himself or the empire and to pacify the excited minds of his opponents by withholding from them the stimulus of astrological predictions, while reserving for himself the counsel of his court astrologers. It seems quiet likely that astronomy and astrology were taught at the Athenaeum (an institution that in modem terms could be understood as the Roman state university) from its beginnings in 134 because its founder, the emperor Hadrian (117-138), was a firm believer in astrology as well as a practicing expert. On the other hand, from the death of Ceasar (44 B.C.) until that of Marcus Aurelius (180 A.D.) at least eight expulsion decrees were issued against astrologers, all meant as temporary measures. For this reason astrologers were allowed to stay in Rome as long as they did not practice their art. In the year 294, the emperor Diocletian (284-305) was the first to replace the usual regional ban on astrology with one valid throughout the empire and including all divinatory activities considered dangerous for the government. His edict had the same temporary character as

6

0

·

~eugeb.auer

and H. B. Van Hoesen, Greek Horoscopes. Memoirs of the

~mencan Phtloso~hical Society 48 (Philadelphia, 1959).

Ptolemy, Tetrabtblos, 1.3, ed. and tr. W. G. Waddell (Cambridge, Mass., 1940; ~pr. !964), esp. 30, 32 (text), 31, 33 (translation). M. Papa~anass~ou, 'latromathematica (medical astrology) in Late Antiquity and the Byzantme pertod' .Medicina nei seco/i 11.2 (1999), 357-76.

167

former regional edicts. ?~ly later did Christian emperors make these edicts permanent for rehg1ous reasons. 9 Many well-known astrologers were active during Late Antiquity'o and a large number of horoscopes cast during this period are preserved in papyri and later Byzantine manuscripts. L. G. Westerink's detailed study of an ancient commentary on Paul of Alexandria's astrological work (ca. 378) 11 reveals favorable conditions for teaching astrology in sixth-century Alexandria. Westerink showed that the materials of the commentary come from a series of lectures delivered in Alexandria during May-June of the year 564 ~ither by Olympiodorus ~r one of his disciples who taught ma~ematJc~ or astrology. Accordmgly, ~esterink thought it likely that m the s1xth century astrology could still be an important part of the quadrivium and therefore of the whole teaching philosophy 12 curriculum. Based on this evidence, Stephanos of Alexandria (who lived in the late sixth/early seventh century, was invited by emperor Heraclius to Constantinople, and cast both a personal horoscope for the emperor, as well as a horoscope to predict the future of Islam) must have studied astrology in Alexandria. Christian emperors were interested in consulting astrologers for both their personal and state affairs. Modifications of the relevant legislation were always possible depending on the circumstances. For example, a comparison of laws issued from the eighth to the 9

F: H. Cramer, Astrology in Roman Law and Politics (Philadelphia, 1954; repr. . ~htcago, 1996), 232ff., 247ff., 281. E..g. Vettms Valens, Critodemus, Antigonus of Nicaea, Palchus, Rhetorius, Eutocms, and above all Paul of Alexandria; see Paul of Alexandria, Eisagogika; :emen;~ Ap~telest~a:ica, ed. Ae. Boer (Leipzig, 1958); also Heliodoros [attributed 1.. H~ todort ut dtcttur m Paulum Alexandrinum commentarium, ed. Ae. Boer ~lpZig, 1962). The famous astrologer Hephaestio of Thebes (born on 26 ovember 380) refers to and cites whole passages from the work of earlier ~trologers, ~specially Ptolemy and Dorotheos of Sidon: see Hephaestio of Thebes, 11 {'elesmattca •. ed. ?·Pingree, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1973 and 1974). 6- · ~: Westermk, Em astrologtsches Kolleg aus dem Jahre 564', BZ 64 (1971), 2 Ve~' tde~, The Greek Commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, 1: 0/ympiodorus, esp. ~~;t,ngen der Koninklijke Nederlandese Akademie 92 (Amsterdam, 1976),

2

'

2

Westenn · k • 'Bin astrologisches Kolleg aus dern Jahre 564', 6, 18-21.

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; tl

II

tenth century shows that legislators of the Macedonian dynasty were more actively against magic than the !saurian emperors had been. In its tum, !saurian legislation was more forgiving, when compared with the corresponding laws of the sixth-century Codex Justinianus. 13 Consequently, it seems possible that the religious politics of the !saurian dynasty did not destroy astrology and therefore no restoration of it was necessary in later centuries.

expectation of an answer but, knowing by observation their nature and hence their temperament, as well as the configuration [of the planets] which reveals all this, we infer present and future events 17 from there". The emperor distinguishes between astrologers and those who invoke and talk with the stars and explains that the latter are the reason why astrology is misunderstood and astrologers are named magicians. 18

The survival and continuity of astrology in the Byzantine Empire is evident in a long letter of emperor Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180) addressed to a monk of the Pantokrator monastery, in which Manuel defends astrology. 14 One of the emperor's arguments was that Constantine the Great (307-337) after consulting the best astrologer of his time, Valens, waited fourteen years for the most favorable date for the inauguration ('dedicatio') of ConstantinopleY He concludes: "If Constantine and other pious emperors and prelates had considered astrology as heretical knowledge, they would not have used it." He also points out that, contrary to what his correspondent had claimed, the use of astrology on appropriate occasions is not an expression of impiety because astrology "simply foretells by taking into account the powers, temperaments, and qualities of the stars as bestowed on them by God". 16 He further explains that "the stars are not a creative cause because their bodies are irrational and insensitive. Therefore, we do not ask them in

Consequently, the flourishing of astrology during the reign of later Byzantine dynasties (the Komnenoi, 19 Angeloi, and Palaiologoi 21) and the considerable number of astrological manuscripts belonging to the private libraries of state and church figures suggests that many Byzantine scholars and intellectuals had reconciled their Christian faith with astrology.

13

S. Troianos, 'Zauberei und Giftmischerei in mitte1byzantinischer Zeit', Fest und Alltag in Byzanz, in G. Prinzing and D. Simon, eds. (Munich, 1991), 37-51, 18488, esp. 38: "Aber wie sich aus dem Verg1eich der Gesetzblicher des 8. und 9./!0. Jh. ergibt, hat sich der Gesetzgeber unter den Makedonen vie! intensiver mit der Bekilmpfung der Zauberei befaBt, a1s unter den Isauriern, deren (Isaurier) Gesetzbuch eine Verbesserung des Cod. Justinianus im Sinne griiBerer Milde ausgibt." 14

lmperatoris Manuel Comneni et Michael Glycae disputatio, ed. F. Cumont and F. Boll, CCAG, V.1, 108-25 (Manuel's letter) and 125-40 (reply by Michael ~lykas)]. On this dispute see also W. Adler, below, and works cited. Manuel crtes the mformation, which appears in Byzantine chronicles from the 10~ c., that on the fourth day of the "dedicatio" of Constantinople, Constantine the Great ordered Valens, ~<jl ~oov fUlSl]fUl~Lxoov ~6~e 1tQW'teuovn, to cast th.e horoscope. of the c1ty and to predict its future (CCAG, V.l, 118, 14--119, 22). ThiS was done m the year 5838 from the beginning of the world (330 A. o.), on Monday II May, in the second hour [of the day] and 26 minutes (MS Vat. gr. 191, fol. 397). 16 CCAG, V.l, 112,2-6.

The case of alchemy is considerably different because its 'techniques, closely related to those of the goldsmiths, had many applications to the art of jewelry-making and the luxurious decoration of palaces and churches. We are told that Byzantine emperors and Arab caliphs competed with each other in displaying the wealth of their respective states. The report of 'Umara ibnl:lamza (d. 814/815), the ambassador of caliph al-Man~iir (754-775) to the Byzantine court, evokes the alchemical interests of emperor Constanti~e V ~opronymos (741-775). He reportedly conducted ~o expenments m the ambassador's presence and transmuted lead mto Silver and copper into gold. 21 According to G. E. von Grunebaum, these experiments would have excited the caliph's 11

CCAG, V.l, 112,22-31

::CCAG, V.!, 112,6-9. . P. Magdalino 'Th p h · Alexiad VI. 7. 1 e orp Y~gemta and the Astrologers: A Commentary on History and L. ' m C. Dendrm~s et al., eds., Porphyrogenita. Essays on the

_7, .

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lle~(ure

of Byzantium and

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Latin East in Honour of Julian

4 an;s5.( dershot, 2003), 15-31; 1dem, L'Orthodoxie des astrologues, ..cbapters F. JUrss, 'Johannes K t ·

Astrologie', BZ 59 (I 966) 2a ranos und der Dialog ~e~ppos oder iiber die G Stroh . ' 75-84, esp. 282; A. Tthon, m thts volume · mruer "U ar · . · elixir' Grneco A' b' m a rbn l:lamza, Constantme V, and the invention of the ' '" - ra 1ca 4 (1991) 21 · de~ griecbischen Alchemie' : tdem, 'AI-~an~or und die fnlhe Rezeption W!isenschaften 5 (! 989 ) ' Zeuschrift fUr Gesch1chre der arabisch-islamischen • 167-77,esp. 172-3, 21

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Maria Papathanassiou

22

interest in alchemy. The survival of alchemy in the Byzantine 23 Empire in the eighth and later centuries argues against Usener's opinion that alchemy was "forbidden" and that emperor Heraclius would not have been interested in it for this reason. Owing to its philosophical background, alchemy was consistently related to philosophical ideas on the composition and structure of matter and was understood as "practical philosophy" whereby "practical philosophers" could achieve the transmutation of matter.

THE ALCHEMICAL WORK

Authorship and significance of the work According to tradition, Stephanos of Alexandria is the author of the work On the Great and Sacred Art of Making Gold/4 originally organized as a series of lectures· (:n:ga!;eLc;). 25 First H. Usener (1880) 22

G. E. von Grunebaum, Der Islam im Mittelalter (ZUrich, 1963), 453, note 76. See Michael Psellos, Letter on chrysopoeia, ed. J. Bidez, CMAG, VI, 1-47, text 26--42. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, IT, 281. D. Pingree, 'Michael Psellus', Dictionary of Scientific Biography, XI, 182-86. Also Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs, ed. M. Berthelot and Chr. Ruelle, 3 vols. (Pari~, 1888), esp. II, 452-9: llegl. "tfJ£ oxguoorcotia£ ~£ fJZtii)..Sev 6 oo<j>m"tU"tO£ tv <j>IAoo6<j>otl; XUQLO£ NLXlJ<j>OQO£ 6 BAEj.Lj.LUiil]£ xat l]Uj.LO(elll£ "to\J oxorcou "tfl ouvegye(.(;t "to\J rcav"ta €~ oux oV"tmv el£ 1:6 elvm rca~ayay6vto£ XQLO"to\J 1:0\J UAl]8Lvou E>eou i)tuiJv, rcgrneL M~a ei. yi'Js, ~youv 'ti\~ OXWQ(a~, WOJ'tEQ 'tO aLfl.Cl tvoii'taL 'tQl $AE'ffl.Cl'tL Olit 'ti\> )Uia(Vl]s xo>.fJ~. ~·~ EO'tl J'tQW'tl] XAEL> xal XWQlOfLOS 'tWV U'(QWV ex 'tWV !;~QOlv, lOU'tEO'tt XWQlOfLO£ 'tWV 1JIUXWV 'tOil XaAxoil ex lWV oW!-Il'ltWV, i\'(OUV tfJs XQUOaQ'(liQOU (corresponds to Ideler 220, 28-33). "Ed. Papathanassiou, 3:6-7: Kal i] yfJ, ~youv fJ oxwQCa, tvoil'taL 'tQl UEQL XQ~Ocp ~lit toil J't0Qo~ UOQUQYUQOU, i\'(OU i] OXWQ(a tvou'tm 'tQl uoau XQU<J 1-\E'tU 'tfJS 'lfJ>, ~'fOUV l.uo~s olit 'ti\> o'i]1jJEW> ~at Elp~oew,, 'tOU'tton 1:0>v El'tn't avax6.~t1JIEWV, xat ywoi-\EVlJ> UOWQ xat , OUIJ£vwv J'tUV'tWV tv 'tQl UJ.Ul, ~youv yevo~wv tv 'tfl XLvvaP6.QEL ,corresponds to ldeler 221, 2-12).

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and signs-towers Aries, Taurus, and Gemini ~orrespond to air; mer solstice and signs Cancer, Leo and V1rgo correspond to ~~~ fall equinox and signs _Libra, ~corpio ~nd Sagitt~us spond to water; winter solstice and s1gns Capncom, Aquanus corre 49 and Pisces correspond to earth. St phanos explains that the bodies and colours of the seven planets precisely the seven bodies and colours of this composition, the tetrasomia. In the same manner that the seven planets pass through the signs of the Zodiac, the seven bodies and colors pass through (i.e. appear in) the composition made up of the four elements. According to Stephanos, the "mysterion of the philosophers" (where mysterion is a multi-valent word meaning "mystery, secret", but also "mystic rite", "an object used in magic rites, talisman" and "symbol") is carried out by means of the sev_en _planets;_ the philosophers call it the "Egg of the philosophers wh1ch IS not bud by 50 a bird" (<jJov t&v <j>LA.oa6<j>wv, O:lt£Q OQVL~ oux EYEVV'Il0£). By

ar:

49 Ed. Papathanassiou, 3:9: ~~vay6J.LEVa ouv rra;·w y(vovrm. 1)~1\EKa e.: lEOOaQOL lQICtliUIWa:l.ou ~o toll Mara
189

The Ostro ?hanes Contin~atus, ed. I. Bekker, CSHB (Bonn, 1838), 338,10-12. G. g rsky,· Gesch1chte des byzantinischen Staates ' Handbuch der AItenum 61 Nike ~WJssensch.aften XII, 1-2, 3rd ed. (Munich, 1963), 77-93. comm ~ :s, Patriarch of Constantinople, Short History, §§24-25, ed., tr., and · · ango, CFHB l3 (Washington, D. C., 1990), 72-5.

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Maria Papathanassiou

Ma'shar. 66 Whether the astrological book (apotelesmatikon) by Stephanos of Alexandria listed in this catalogue is the surviving Apotelesmatike Pragmateia or a different one can only remain an open question. However, by the tenth century, "Stephanos the Astrologer" (~1:e<j>avo; 6 f1U8ru..ta'ttx.o;) was recognized as the authority who had cast a horoscope pertinent to the early Islamic conquest, as is explicitly mentioned in the De administrando imperio (Chapter 16).67 The Apotelesmatike Pragmateia by Stephanos of Alexandria is also mentioned by the eleventh-twelfthcentury Byzantine historian Georgios Kedrenos; 68 both passages have already been identified and discussed by H. Usener. In addition to these cursory references in Byzantine historiography, we also have the well-known and much-debated text of the Apotelesmatike Pragmateia, an astrological treatise that includes a horoscope of Islam. It has been edited by H. Usener as part of his article entitled 'De Stephana Alexandrino'. 69 Usener's edition is CCAG, I, 83ff.: IleQl t
~ ~oucrav ~~ veo<j>avf) xat ii8eov VOJ..1.08ecr(av toil MW6.J.LEO, n:o~M lie xat al.ka t6.vou cp1Aocr6<j>ou i\~e!;avoeeoo\; WtotE~(JJ.!UtLXij l'tQUYJ.UltECa l'tQO\; TLf168eov tov autoil J.LUSI']~V. n:g6
"Usen~r •

107-17

tou IcrMJ.L • Ot E1t!aT1'/J!EI; OTOV EAA1'/VIXO xweo (Athens, 1997),

' De Stephano Alexandrino', 266, 5-271, 22.

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Maria Papathanassiou

and the accuracy of our predictions through the position of the stars 73 are always restricted and subject to failure. But Stephanos' lectures On making gold prove his great piety as they begin and end with prayers greatly influenced by the works of the early Christian fathers. In the second part74 the author explains for what reason and when he cast the horoscope of Islam and proceeds in a general analysis of it according to known astrological principles. He says that he was iti the school's small garden with his students when he was visited by Epiphanios, a merchant who had just arrived from Arabia Felix (euoa(j.WJV AQa~(a). Upon entering, Epiphanios requested that Stephanos order one of his students to suspend the astrolabe and find the ascending degree of the ecliptic (