This paper examines the iconography of a full-page frontispiece miniature inspired by Saint Gregory of Nazianzen’s Third Discourse on Peace (Oration 22), which forms part of a Greek manuscript of the twelfth century in the University Library of Basel (Ms. AN I 8). The codex contains the second part of a commentary on Gregory’s so-called “unread” orations composed by Elias the Metropolitan of Crete presumably around 1120. The most striking feature of the frontispiece is an unusual depiction of a personification of Peace that appears to be without parallels in Byzantine art: here Peace is a curious ‘hybrid’ of a female figure equipped with the cross-inscribed halo of Christ and in addition wearing a crown that is typical of male emperors. I argue that, along with other visual evidence in the same manuscript, it is the design of the personification of Peace in particular that reveals a connection of the Basel codex with the imperial court of Manuel I Komnenos, ruler of the Byzantine Empire between 1143 and 1180. I interpret the iconography of the personification in light of the proceedings of a Church council assembled by Manuel in 1166 at the Great Palace of Constantinople, which dealt with the interpretation of Christ’s phrase, “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Based on both textual and visual evidence, I demonstrate that this miniature must be viewed in connection with Emperor Manuel’s political propaganda, which was designed to present him as an imitator of Christ and arbiter of the orthodox faith. More concretely, it is my claim that the painting casts the ruler as a great peacemaker who, at a time of intense doctrinal debates, aimed at reuniting the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches after the “Great Schism” of 1054.
This paper examines the iconography of a miniature inspired by Gregory of Nazianzen’s Third Discourse on Peace, which forms part of a Byzantine manuscript of the twelfth century (Basel, University Library, Ms. AN I 8). The most striking feature of the painting is an unusual depiction of a personification of Peace, the iconography of which is without parallels in Byzantine art. I argue that the details of this visual allegory reveal a connection of the Basel codex with the imperial court of Manuel I Komnenos, ruler of the Byzantine Empire between 1143 and 1180. I maintain that the painter aimed to portray the emperor as a great peacemaker who was striving to reunite the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches at a time of intense doctrinal debate.