Leo III and the Anemodoulion
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Benjamin Anderson
Abstract
The Anemodoulion, a Constantinopolitan tetrapylon decorated with numerous figural reliefs and crowned by a weathervane, has traditionally been seen as an entirely late antique construction. A re-evaluation of the medieval sources shows that, while the tetrapylon itself was constructed in late antiquity, its figural decoration and conversion into a weathervane likely date to the reign of Leo III (717–741). Viewed in connection with other monuments of Leo's reign, in particular the gate of the Kontoskalion Harbor, and historical accounts of the end of the Arab siege of 717/18, the Anemodoulion may be interpreted as a triumphal monument celebrating the dispersal of the Arab fleet via a powerful storm. It thus provides new insight into the earliest efforts of the Isaurian emperors to rebuild Constantinople as a fitting capital for a medieval empire.
© 2011 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Siglenverzeichnis
- Die Argumentation des Patriarchen Gregorios II. Kyprios zur Widerlegung des Filioque-Ansatzes in der Schrift. De processione Spiritus sancti
- Leo III and the Anemodoulion
- A Poem of Philes to Makarios Chrysokephalos? The Case of Poem Florentinus 58
- Procopius De aedificiis 4.2.1–22 on the Thermopylae Frontier
- Theophanes Continuatus VI and De Cerimoniis
- The Term Kandaulos/Kandylos in the Lexicon of Photius and the Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem of Eustathius of Thessalonica
- A Rhetorical Declamation of Sophonias the Monk and Paraphrast
- Ein Griechischer Doppelvers Sulṭān Walads Neu Gelesen
- II. Abteilung
- Bibliographische Notizen und Mitteilungen
Articles in the same Issue
- Siglenverzeichnis
- Die Argumentation des Patriarchen Gregorios II. Kyprios zur Widerlegung des Filioque-Ansatzes in der Schrift. De processione Spiritus sancti
- Leo III and the Anemodoulion
- A Poem of Philes to Makarios Chrysokephalos? The Case of Poem Florentinus 58
- Procopius De aedificiis 4.2.1–22 on the Thermopylae Frontier
- Theophanes Continuatus VI and De Cerimoniis
- The Term Kandaulos/Kandylos in the Lexicon of Photius and the Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem of Eustathius of Thessalonica
- A Rhetorical Declamation of Sophonias the Monk and Paraphrast
- Ein Griechischer Doppelvers Sulṭān Walads Neu Gelesen
- II. Abteilung
- Bibliographische Notizen und Mitteilungen
