198 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINfeelings, he advanced slowly towards it, and having prostrated himself
before it, remained for some time in that humble position, as if the
caliph was sitting on it. ,31 Even allowing for the rhetoric, the image
of Ordono IV before the empty throne of the caliph captures
something of the awe that must have struck those northerners, when
brought fully into contact with the sophistication of the civilisation
that had developed in tenth century Al-Andalus and to whose orbit,
as however reluctant satellites, they were attached.The Land of Three Religions
THE Umayyad caliphs shared the delight of their contemporaries the
Macedonian emperors of Constantinople in mechanical marvels, es-
pecially those which could be used to heighten regal mystique by the
display of apparently wondrous powers. Thus in the great audience
chamber of his palace at Medina Azahara, 'Abd al-Ral}.man III placed
a large marble bowl filled with mercury, so contrived that a light
touch could set it swaying in motion. Beams of light, aimed through
the controlled access of windows placed high up in the chamber,
were reflected off the rapidly moving mercury and sent flashing around
the hall like thunderbolts. This device, like the throne of the Byzan-
tine emperors that could be mechanically elevated into the air, was
intended to impress and intimidate those received in audience, espe-
cially the envoys of less sophisticated peoples.^32
The power of Umayyad Spain, which under 'Abd al-Ral}.man III and
Al-Man~ur also extended across the straits to encompass parts of North
Mrica, and its eminence as one of the great cultural centres of the
Islamic world, led its rulers and those of the foremost states of Chris-
tendom, notably Byzantium, into relations of mutual respect and
civility. The parvenu German empire of the Ottonians lacked the
expertise and savoir faire of the Byzantines in such diplomatic ex-
changes, and in 956 John of Gorze had to be persuaded not to present
Otto I's letter to the caliph, as it was couched in such offensively
Christian terms as to prejudice the end to which it had been sent and
to endanger the ambassadors and the Christian community of
C6rdoba.^33 On the other hand the Byzantines, with experience ofthe
cultural aspirations of Arab rulers stretching back to the early days of
the Syrian Umayyad Caliphate, knew the value of art and scholarship
as aids to diplomacy. In the tenth century an Emperor sent marble
columns to 'Abd al-Ral}.man III for use in the building of his palace