Processions in Byzantine Constantinople: the evidence from the Dresden A104

Abstract

This paper discusses supplicatory liturgical processions (litae) and their routes in eleventh-century Constantinople by examining a hitherto neglected source; the eleventh-century Praxapostolos Dresden A104. References to supplicatory processions found in this source are examined in comparison with one of the most important sources on Byzantine ceremonial: the tenth-century kanonarion-synaxarion known as the Typikon of the Great Church. By comparing the evidence relating to the use of sites within the city during commemorations that included a procession in these two sources it is possible to draw some conclusions in terms of the way the litanic landscape changed between the tenth and eleventh centuries. The paper aims to present new evidence relating to the way annually commemorative processions were performed in Byzantine Constantinople.