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The Bronze Horseman of Justinian in Constantinople Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 April 2021
The bronze horseman issued an ominous warning in 1317. The fall of the horseman’s orb caused grave concerns for the emperor Andronikos II (r. 1282–1328). Andronikos II had this renowned imperial monument restored in 1317. He ensured that the bronze horseman would remain standing as an embodiment of Palaiologan imperial renewal. Yet Byzantine sources are silent about this important event. A range of evidence suggests that the Byzantine historian Nikephoros Gregoras intentionally underplayed the incident. By protectively demurring about the actual object that had fallen – the symbol of sovereignty and dominion – he concealed contemporary anxieties behind a rhetorical façade of successful restoration. The horseman’s insecure grasp of the orb and the orb’s inexplicable mobility became a flash point for international concerns about the future of Byzantium. Audiences as far away from Constantinople as London, Cordoba, and Moscow became preoccupied with the orb. This chapter reveals that the presence or absence of the orb became a key element in the reception of the monument and the evaluation of Constantinople’s future. Palaiologan rulers repeatedly spent enormous sums of money to ensure that the orb remained in the bronze horseman's hand.
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