List of Imperial tombs in the treatise De Cerimoniis of 963: From local knowledge to documentary recording

The article analyses the political and ideological context of the compilation of the first list of sarcophagi containing the remains of Byzantine emperors in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Like all other central churches, the Church of the Holy Apostles was not simply a place of worship but also the venue for a wide range of “extra-liturgical” activities. It was a significant institutional setting not only for regular political and church rites but also for the most pressing spontaneous political actions. It served as a kind of special palace for the Basileuses of the Byzantine Empire who had passed away, and their remains became relics and often functioned as “participants” in political theatre. The presence or absence of a particular emperor in the Church of the Holy Apostles itself had significant political and ideological significance. The treatise De Cerimoniis of 963 was the first attempt to record the locations of which emperors were buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. The author and compiler of the treatise, an anonymous “master of ceremonies” thus transformed the local knowledge of its clergy and officials responsible for conducting rites in this church into a written document that now had performative and ideological significance. This “master of ceremonies” was close to the imperial family, descendants of Basil I the Macedonian, who used the Holy Apostles as their family tomb, which was intended to emphasise the legitimacy and historical and teleological foundations of their power.

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