Abstract

The stamp of Orthodox Christianity on the urban development of medieval Constantinople is well studied. This paper, however, posits that along with Christian churches and monuments, the Byzantine capital contained an alternate and profoundly significant urban landscape consisting of pagan statues. Through a close reading of late antique and medieval texts, the paper will show that in the 8^th and 9^th centuries, specifically, Constantinople needed to display its ancient heritage, especially its statues of pagan divinities and oracles. This was for two major reasons: first, to anchor its history in the ancient era, and secondly, to allow for the existence of a category of images that could resist imperial authority during an era (Iconoclasm) in which several emperors were engaged in banning and destroying Christian icons. In this cultural climate, the narratives of pagan statues bearing secret prophecies regarding imperial rule and succession were a means of challenging the emperor through images that pre-dated Christian ones, and which were conspicuously embedded in the topography of Constantinople.