Porphyrius - the charioteer

de Alan Cameron

"Porphyrius Calliopas was the greatest of all the heroes of the sixth century Byzantine hippodrome, celebrated in the Anthology and in monumental reliefs. Only two bases of monuments to Porphyrius survive, the second found in 1963. This book, first published in 1973, presented the first published study of this second base, elucidating the iconography and explaining the inscriptions, and also reassessing the first base in the light of the new evidence. Matching the epigrams of the bases to those in the anthology, Cameron infers that there were a further five monuments to Porphyrius and contemporary charioteers, now lost, and reconstructs the careers of the charioteers, their fame and material rewards. He also discusses the changing fortunes of the hippodrome under the emperors Anastasius and Justinian, the vexed issue of faction violence, and the important way in which the victorious charioteer was seen as a reflection of the victorious Emperor." -- Book jacket