Epigrams on Works of Art 161The first category is regrettably small in number, the second extremely popu-
lar. Epigrams and verse inscriptions on public buildings mention the donor
(usually the emperor, occasionally a high-powered official) and the public
building or construction that he had made: a city-wall, a bathhouse, a bridge,
a fortress, and so forth^30. The recipient of the donation is usually not men-
tioned, but in the rare cases that an epigram does mention the beneficiary, it
invariably turns out to be the city population at large. For instance, in the
elegant verse inscription that commemorates the construction of the walls of
Ankyra by Michael III in 859, the city itself is directly addressed and urged to
cooperate with the emperor in his efforts to restore it to its former beauty^31.
Likewise, in epigrams that omit to mention who exactly benefits from the
imperial donation, there can be little doubt that the public building or con-
struction is presented to the people for the common good. The real absentee in
inscriptions on public buildings is God Almighty. Whereas dedicatory epi-
grams on churches and icons invariably invoke God or one of His divine
representatives, the donor of public buildings does not require His help. God is
mentioned only rarely, and then in a rather casual and perfunctory manner, as
a reminder that the public building the emperor presents to the population at
large has God’s blessing.
In all other Byzantine dedications, however, God is omnipresent as the
ultimate authority in matters of the soul. To make his voice heard, the donor
needs a divine intermediary who will intercede on his behalf. As he cannot
approach God directly, the donor makes use of a middleman (or a ‘middle-
woman’: the popular Theotokos or one of the many female saints) to ensure
that his plea will be heard at the divine court^32. In the epigram treated above,
for instance, Geometres addresses the Holy Virgin in the hope that she will
present his plea for salvation up above, where the real decisions are made. In
fact, in most dedicatory epigrams God is not mentioned by name, but is only
implicitly referred to. God is the supreme judge presiding in heaven, far from
ordinary people. Fortunately, however, He is inclined to listen to the pleas of
those who are closest to Him: His immaculate Mother above all, but also the
celestial host of angels, apostles, martyrs and saints. Thus the patronage of the
arts paradoxically entails another sort of patronage: a divine clientele system
in which the donor needs patron saints to intervene on his behalf.
Portraits in Thirteenth-Century Churches of Greece. Vienna 1992; and G. SUBOTIS and I.
TOT, ZRVI 36 (1997) 99–108.(^30) For verse inscriptions on public buildings, see Appendix VIII, nos. 20–42.
(^31) Ed. GRÉGOIRE 1927–28: 439.
(^32) See N. PATTERSON ŠEVCENKO, in: Byzance et les images, ed. A. GUILLOU & J. DURAND.
Paris 1994, 255–285.