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This paper aims to analyze the reception and rephrasing of illustrious Classical literary quotes and five references in Gregory of Nyssa’s παραμυθητικὸς λόγος for the Princess Pulcheria (Pulch. 461.3–472.18). Composed specifically for the firstborn daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great, this speech represents a significant case study, as it offers the opportunity to investigate how the Cappadocian bishop, in the rhetorical construction of this oratio consolatoria, incorporated nine passages from Classical literature to enhance both his theological content and political message. Since this is the first study of this kind on Gregory’s Εἰς Πουλχερίαν, it will go through a philological analysis and a careful examination of intertextual references, casting light upon literary allusions and rhetorical strategies within the text, which reveal Gregory’s familiarity with Classical authors, both Latin (e.g., Catullus, Ovid, Seneca) and Greek (e.g., Herodotus, Thucydides).

Unrivalled Influence explores the exceptional roles that women played in the vibrant cultural and political life of medieval Byzantium. Written by one of the world's foremost historians of the Byzantine millennium, this landmark book evokes the complex and exotic world of Byzantium's women, from empresses and saints to uneducated rural widows. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, Judith Herrin sheds light on the importance of marriage in imperial statecraft, the tense coexistence of empresses in the imperial court, and the critical relationships of mothers and daughters. She looks at women's interactions with eunuchs, the in-between gender in Byzantine society, and shows how women defended their rights to hold land. Herrin describes how they controlled their inheritances, participated in urban crowds demanding the dismissal of corrupt officials, followed the processions of holy icons and relics, and marked religious feasts with liturgical celebrations, market activity, and holiday pleasures. The vivid portraits that emerge here reveal how women exerted an unrivalled influence on the patriarchal society of Byzantium, and remained active participants in the many changes that occurred throughout the empire's millennial history. Unrivalled Influence brings together Herrin's finest essays on women and gender written throughout the long span of her esteemed career. This volume includes three new essays published here for the very first time and a new general introduction by Herrin. She also provides a concise introduction to each essay that describes how it came to be written and how it fits into her broader views about women and Byzantium.

Introduction. The article analyzes the contents of the monograph “Byzantine Empress Athenais-Eudocia. Life and Works in the Context of the Reign of Emperor Theodosius II (401–450)” by Tatyana Aleksandrova. It is devoted to the personality of Empress Eudocia (ca. 405–460) and her poetical heritage in the context of the period. Discussion. Over the recent decades academic interest in personalities has grown significantly. And it is not only within the framework of historical science. The genre of historical research has become very popular among many Russian and Western academic researchers. Because of such attention to personalities one of the urgent tasks of modern Byzantine studies is studying works of little-known or “secondary” Byzantine authors. These ones include the personality of royal poetess Aelia Eudocia Augusta (ca. 405–460). The scale of her activity and influence on the Byzantine culture is still poorly understood. Analysis. As a historical figure and poetess Eudocia attracted attention of researchers of Byzantine history and literature more than once. Historiography is mostly characterized by a certain duality of the approach to studying the personality and works of Eudocia. It often happens that researchers consider Eudocia the author and Eudocia the Empress as two different persons. Tatyana Alexandrova tries to combine both of these approaches and explore the poetic legacy of Eudocia in the historical and literary context of the 5th century. The author of the monograph reconstructs the biography of Eudocia, analyzes and verifies various research hypotheses of the predecessors (A. Cameron, B. Sowers, K. Holum, T. Graumann, C. Bevegni, E. Livrea, etc.). The author of the monograph comes to the conclusion that legends and myths around Eudocia’s name only remotely reflect the reality and their appearance was politically motivated. At the same time, the author studies all attributable poems and works by Eudocia and focuses attention on such ones as the Martyrdom of St. Cyprian and the Homeric centos. Results. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the monograph is an important step in understanding and representing the role of Eudocia in the Byzantine history and culture of the 5th century.

The present research addresses matters concerning the relationship between Church and state during the reign of Theodosius II of Rome, analyzing especially the case of legitimization of the imperial authority found in the first half of the fifth century when the Empress Pulcheria tried to identify herself with the Virgin Mary before her subjects in order to further maintain control of the state alongside her brother, Theodosius II. This paper also attempts to connect the problem of the political experiment with the development of a Marian devotion in Constantinople as a solution for pagan cults’ inculturation, reassessing Nestorius’ reaction in parallel with the position of Epiphanius of Salamina.

The dynamic conversation between emperors, empresses, and Christian bishops about imperial authority affected all parties. Just as the discourse of imperial founding bent to accommodate Christian beliefs, so Christian writings and art absorbed salient aspects of the imperial discourse of founding. Evolving Christian doctrine and the discourse of founding, both pagan and Christian, ultimately shaped the sixth-century iconography and attributes of the Virgin Mary. Relatively obscure in the Gospels and in the earliest Christian iconography, by the sixth century, Mary had been transformed into a resplendent Queen of Heaven. This queen was unlike any other before her, yet she recalled

Like Rome, Constantinople was a city shaped and adorned by emperors, who commissioned the city’s most famous churches and sanctuaries, including the sublime Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom of Christ. Yet in one respect Constantinople differed from the old capital: whereas emperors built pre-Christian Rome, fifth- and sixth-century imperial women had a vital role in developing Constantinople. Their patronage left its mark on the names of the city’s neighborhoods, its baths and cisterns, its churches and hospices, and its palaces (map 1). That founding, far from haphazard, exhibited priorities. These remain opaque in a study of imperial