Register a SNAP EBT card with Amazon


Register a SNAP EBT card with Amazon



Menologion of Basil II, Byzantine, c.1000AD, Vaticano Griego 1613
Detail from page 383 - St Theodore Stratilates.



The full image of St Theodore Stratilates, Menologion of Basil II, Byzantine, c.1000AD. p.383, Vaticano Griego 1613


Title: Menologium Basilii II
Date: late 10th century
Shelfmark: Vat.gr.1613
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana



Referenced on p.14, Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen 925-1025: The Tághmata and Imperial Guard by Timothy Dawson
St Theodore Stratilates was the patron saint of the Athanatoi Tághma, whose appearance may have been the model for this representation of the saint. (This image was probably carried on the regiment’s main flag.) The little omega on the shield, recalling God’s words ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, reflects the conception of the ‘eternal’ life – another possible association with a regiment named ‘the Immortals’. The sleeved roukhon is in purple, decorated with small gold-embroidered circlets and quadrates on its surface and with gold-thread cuffs and borders. (Menologion of Basil II, folio 383, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome)




by Giuseppe Rava
Plate E IMPERIAL LION-HUNT, SYRIA, c. 975
E3: Cavalryman of the Athanatoi
This member of the èlite Taghmatic regiment, 'the Immortals', is from the Menologion of Basil II. The gilded klivanion is of typical banded lamellar construction with central rivets, and the kremasmata lappets of the lower border are silvered. The white command-rank sash (loros) is probably of silk. The light blue chlamys has a splendid ornamented tablion in gold thread
(see also 2). The richly decorated dark red trousers (anaxyrida) show a pattern of gold circlets between gold vertical stripes, and are tucked inside white and cerulean kampotouvia. The spear has a silvered head and a globular terminal. The light blue shield (cheiroskoutarion) has a gilded rim and is decorated with white dots, in imitation of pearls. The spathion is carried in a black scabbard with light blue fittings.
Source: pp.42-43, Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen 925-1025: The Tághmata and Imperial Guard by Timothy Dawson


Previous: p.354 Bulgars Killing Byzantines.      Next: p.422
Back to the Menologion of Basil II, Byzantine, c.1000AD, Vaticano Griego 1613



See also Horsemen hunting lion, front of the Troyes Casket, Byzantine, 10th Century