168 Part Two: Epigrams in Context
that derive their imagery from the original Paraklesis composition, such as the
well-known dedicatory representation of George of Antioch in the Martorana
in Palermo. There we see the Holy Virgin in a Paraklesis pose, George kneeling
at her feet and Christ in an aureole, extending His arm in blessing^50. The
Theotokos holds a scroll in her left hand, on which we do not read the usual
plea for salvation of mankind, but a dedicatory epigram asking for the protec-
tion and redemption of George of Antioch. Similarly, in the Patrician’s epi-
grams the Holy Virgin intercedes on behalf of an individual, the emperor,
whose private concerns she conveys to her Son, asking that he may be granted
a long and blessed life and be pardoned in the life hereafter. And just as Christ
in the Martorana shows His approval of His mother’s request by a gesture of
blessing, the above-mentioned epigram beginning with the standard phrase:
t5, m‰ter, aœte¦ß, ends with the comforting words: eœsako7sz, Parq6ne (“I will
grant your wish, Virgin”). The only difference between the mosaic in the
Martorana and the pictorial composition described by the Anonymous Patri-
cian is that, whereas George of Antioch kneels down to show his humility,
Constantine VII is depicted standing upright in front of the Theotokos (L. 48,
24: Šst0ta (...) 4ntikryß ta7thß). But these divergent poses, of course, corre-
spond to the hierarchical difference in status between the admiral of the
Norman fleet and the emperor of the Byzantine state. While I do not mean to
suggest that the Patrician’s epigrams necessarily describe a picture that had
more or less the same iconographic features as the one in the Martorana, I do
think that it showed the Virgin in a Paraklesis pose interceding on behalf of
Constantine VII. The epigrams do not disclose how Christ was depicted: in an
aureole as in the Martorana, or standing full-size to the left of the Theotokos or
possibly, on the opposite side of the bema or the narthex entrance, facing the
dedicatory picture of the Virgin Paraklesis and Constantine VII. It is not
entirely clear either, whether Constantine VII was depicted next to the The-
otokos (as I am inclined to think) or on a separate picture close to the Virgin
Paraklesis. These problems need to be addressed by art historians more
equipped in matters of iconography than I am; as a philologist, however, I
would like to emphasize that the Patrician’s epigrams leave no doubt that the
(^50) See LAVAGNINI 1987 and E. KITZINGER, The Mosaics of St. Mary’s of the Admiral in
Palermo. Washington, D.C., 1990, 197–206. See also the miniature in Laura A 103
(s. XII) depicting a kneeling donor, the Virgin Paraklesis and Christ in a medallion: I.
SPATHARAKIS, The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts. Leiden 1976, 78–79
and fig. 45. At St. Catherine’s on the Sinai there is an icon of St. Nicholas with two
monks, Klemos and Poimen (the donors); in the upper part of the icon we see a Deësis,
in which the Holy Virgin -again in a Paraklesis pose- holds a scroll with an epigram on
it, the first verse of which reads: t5 m‰ter aœte¦ß kaò t5noß d6ø, ór1son: see G. and M.
SOTIRIOU, Eœköneß t‰ß mon‰ß Sin@. Athens 1956–1958, I, fig. 173 and II, pp. 160–161.