STANDARDS AND INSIGNIA OF BYZANTIUM Studies on Byzantine flags, a relatively minor topic, are surprisingly extensive and qualified, little being left to be said on this subject from the point of view of written sources. Until the present century, Byzantine his- torical and literary texts, as well as tactical manuals, have been closely scrutinized by scholars usually interested in their philological rather than iconographical aspects ('). The aim of the present paper is to complement the extant literature with a selection of flag images ranging from the very beginnings to the last centuries of Byzantium. When we consider the vast number of portraits of soldiers and battle scenes that have survived in Byzantine art, the relative paucity of flag images is quite amazing. Besides the lack of iconographic evidence, one has to face the scarcity of contemporary texts in which attention is paid to the description of standards from a material point of view. As a matter of fact, Orthodox Christian Europe proves not to share the vivid interest (*) I should like to express my gratitude to Professors G. F. Fiaccadori for the many hours spent poring over my manuscript, and T. G. Kolias for his help and kindness, and to Doctors D. Wright and A. Pappas for their generous support while writing this article. (1) See R. Grosse, Die Fahnen in der rémisch-byzantinischen Armee des 4.- 10. Jahrhunderts, in BZ, 24 (1924), pp. 359-72 ; A. SoLoviev, Les emblémes héraldiques de Byzance et les Slaves, in Seminarium Kondakovianum, VIL (1935), pp. 119-164 (= Byzance et la. formation de |’état russe (CS, 92], London, 1979, no. xiv); D. Woop, Byzantine Military Standards in a Cappadocian Church, in Archaeology, 12 (1959), pp. 38-46 ; S. Durrenne, Aux Sources des Gonfanons, in Byz., 43 (1973), pp. 51-57 ; A. Pexrust, Insegne del potere sovra- no a Bisanzio e nei paesi di influenza bizantina, in Simboli e simbologia nell’Alto Medioevo (Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi sull’Alto Medioevo, XXIID, Spoleto, 1976, pp. 481-563 ; G. T. Dennis, Byzantine Battle Flags, in BF, 8 (1982), pp. 51-59 ; T.G. Koutas, Feldzeichen, in Lexikon des Mittelalters, 4 (1987), p. 338 ; JF. Hapon, Constantine Porphyrogenitus Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions (CFHB, XXVIII) Wien, 1990, notes on pp. 245- 247 and 270-274.6 A. BABUIN in heraldry that spread in the West from the beginning of the 11th centu- ry, and is reflected by countless images of flags of all shapes and patterns in painting and sculpture (*). Unfortunately, given the perishable nature of the material they were made of, only a few specimens of Byzantine flags seem to have survived so far, and our reconstruction hypotheses rest on conjectures and comparisons between literary and iconographic evi- dence (°). One of the main problems in analyzing written sources on Byzantine flags is the remarkable amount of terms used to style them — a variety of labels indeed difficult to match with the typologies handed down to us by visual tradition. Half a dozen of different models of insignia can be sin- gled out of the several representations appended at the end of this article : the eagle, a symbol carried at the top of a pole (figs. 1, 2, 14, 22) ; the draco, a wooden or metal hollow dragon head attached to a colored wind- sock (figs. 5, 10) ; a variety of lance pennons (figs. 19, 24, 25, 28, 52, 93) ; labara or vexilla, square banners which hung vertically from a bar fixed crosswise on a pole usually decorated with silver or golden studs (figs. 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 39, 40) ; standards or oriflammes with three or more streamers (figs. 31, 33, 35, 37, 43, 47, 50, 72, 84) ; and finally a few flags of Oriental shape (figs. 66, 67, 75). Zuetn, olyva, Pavda, AGPovga, PAdpovha, oxitea, atvxla, Sgaxdvtia are just a few of the names used for standards in Byzantium, often interchangeably — exactly like «flag», «banner», «emblem», «stan- (2) For an overall view on Western heraldry see M. Pastoureau, Traité d’héraldique, Paris, 1993 and G. Maetzke & L. G. Boccia, L’araldica, fonti e metodi, Atti del Convegno Internaz. di Campiglia Marittima (6-8 marzo 1987) Firenze, 1989 : in particular, F, Carpini, Araldica e crociata, pp. 21-25. : 3) On the rdle of artistic and literary sources as research tool on Byzantine military matters see T. G. Kouas, Byzantinische Waffen (Byzantina Vindobonen- sia, XVI1), Wien, 1988, pp. 25-35, with bibliography. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. Tim Dawson and Mr, Stephen Lowe I have been informed that a flag, labelled as ‘Tate Byzantine’ is preserved in Istanbul’s Askeri Miizesi. [ was Br able to examine it personally, but the standard is described as one meter square, with black orthogonal cross on a white field. On each side of the flag, in the centre t the cross is an image 200 mm x 300 mm approx. depicting respectivel i tary saint on a white horse and a saint holding a book and Tising his i a ina blessing. Judging from the photos of the flag in MY possessioy ‘h : ve field with the black cross is a much later addition sewn around th nat white that looks decidedly post-byzantine in style. ¢ central image,STANDARDS AND INSIGNIA OF BYZANTIUM 7 dard», and «colours» in the spoken language today. The employ of those names is loose in the sources, even the most ‘technical’ ones ; and trying to extricate oneself from the maze of terms used by the authors is often a losing battle. In the very same book a particular expression can be used both in a non-specific way and as an indication of a particular model of flag. As a result, every attempt made to trace terms found in written evi- dence to specific images is most conjectural and more often, as will be seen, unsatisfactory. Byzantine standards Roman-Byzantine armies used almost certainly Roman battle insignia from the 4th to the 6th century at least. We have an accurate description of the origin of the first Byzantine standard — largely based upon a Roman imperial model. Eusebius of Caesarea reports that Constantine, after the vision of the cross at Ponte Milvio, decided to incorporate into the traditional Roman vexillum the christogram, Chi-Rho, encircled by a crown encrusted with precious stones (figs. 8, 9, 13) (*). The fabric of the standard was decorated with stones as well, while the pole exhibited golden bust portraits of the imperial family. It is not clear if the latter were (4) Eusesios, Vita Constantini, 1 31, ed. I. A. Heiket & al., Werke, 1 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte, 7), Leipzig-Berlin, 1902, I, p. 21.31-3, p. 22.1-15: "Ex@gaots otaugoedoits onpetov, Sneg viv ol Pwuaior M6Bagov xaAovow. "Hv dé toupde oxhpate HoTaoxevaopévoy, VYMAdv S6Qv YOLIH uatpreopévov xégas elzev EyxdQ- Lov [otaVEod oxjwate TeToUNLEvov], diva dé mEd¢ dixEw tod Tavtos, oTé- qavos 8% AOwv TohUTEMdv nal yOvTOd OupTEMheypévos xaTEDTHQATO, xa0” od tig owrngiov éexnyogias 1d obuBohov, do oToLXEIa 16 XQuotod nagadnrotyta Svopa [ia THV TEdtwV Ureohawov yaQaxthowv], xLa- Couévov Tob O& xatd 1d pecattatov, 6 d1 xal xats tod xedvous péoew el mbe xv Tots peta Tadta yQdvotc 6 Pacers. Tod dé mhaylov xéows tod nota tO d6Qu menaguévov OObvn tis Exxoeniis axpdento, Paovkndv Baca rovuidia ovvmppévwv Tohvteh@v AMOwv gutds adyats EEaotoa- ATOVIWV KOAUTTOPEVOY OVV OAL te xABuPaopévoy Kovog, aduhyntov te {OFA Tots 6QdoI MaAQéXOV TOD x6OVG. Todto ev obv 16 PEQOS Tod xéQWS ZEnumévov obppetoov phous Te xai matous meQryoaphy dserAGupave, 1 8 Gobtov S6ov this nat coxfis éxt noAb unxvvopevov évw uetéweov tnd 1 Tod otavgod teotai~ m9d¢ adrois éxQots Tod diayQagévtos Hpdouatos thy tod Geoplhods Baovréws eixdva xovoiiv péxor otkovev, tav 1’ adtod ratSwv onotus Epegev.