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Emperor and God
Passion Relics and the Divinisation of Byzantine Rulers, 944–1204
This study explores how the understanding of the Byzantine emperor as a sacred or divine figure changed in the Middle Byzantine period. It is based on close readings and studies of three medieval Passion relics held in Constantinople: the Mandylion, the relic-reliquary ensemble of the Limburg Staurotheke; and the Holy Stone. Accompanied by English-language translations of medieval Greek source texts pertaining to these relics, Sprecher demonstrates that the Passion relics in this period served to focus and narrow an understanding of the emperor not only as divinely appointed and anointed ruler, but also in surprising ways as being somehow divine himself.
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„Sprecher’s book is an important contribution to the study of relics and the ways in which they were used to promote the sacrality of the emperor and his office. It makes ample use of textual, visual, and material sources – an interdisciplinary approach that will benefit historians of all fields.“
Brad Hostetler, in: The Byzantine Review 6 (2024), 467–472.
