Petrides Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 49 (2009) 295–318 © 2009 GRBS Georgios Pachymeres between Ethnography and Narrative: Συγγραφικαὶ Ἱστορίαι 3.3–5 Antonis K. Petrides EORGIOS PACHYMERES’ Συγγραφικαὶ Ἱστορίαι re- cords the reigns of Michael VIII Palaiologos and his son Andronikos (i.e. the years 1260–1307).1 In Book 3, after the latest chapter in Michael VIII’s embarrassing transac- tions with Patriarch Arsenios, Pachymeres2 shifts his attention to the Emperor’s eastern policies (chapters 3–5), namely his diplomatic relations with the Τόχαροι (the Mongols) and the Αἰθίοπες (the Mameluks).3 Recounting the embassies of the 1 On the period, see D. J. Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaiologos and the West, 1258–1282 (Cambridge [Mass.] 1959); A. E. Laiou, Constantinople and the Latins: the Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282–1328 (Cambridge [Mass.] 1972); L. Mavromatis, Οἱ πρῶτοι Παλαιολόγοι. Προβλήματα πολιτικῆς πρακτικῆς καὶ ἰδεολογίας (Athens 1983); and D. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium: 1261–14532 (Cambridge 1993). On the chronology of Pa- chymeres’ History, see recently S. Efthymiadis and A. Mazarakis, “Questions de chronologie sur Ramon Muntaner (ch. 234) et Georges Pachymérès (XIII, 27–38): la prise de Phocée et de Thasos en 1307,” Nea Rhome 5 (2008), forthcoming. 2 For an evaluation of Pachymeres’ overall oeuvre, see S. Lampakis, Γεώργιος Παχυμέρης πρωτέκδικος καὶ δικαιοφύλαξ (Athens 2004). See also the Introduction in Failler’s edition (infra, n.4) and A. Failler, “Chronologie et composition dans l’Histoire de Georges Pachymère,” REByz 39 (1981) 145–249. Further bibliography in H. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner I (Munich 1978) 453. 3 Historical information on the treatment of these two peoples in Byzan- tine historiography is gathered in F. Uspensky, “Byzantine Historians on the Mongols and on the Egyptian Mamluks” [in Russian], Vizantiiski Vremmenik 24 (1923–1926) 1–16, esp. 7–8. On the Black Sea peoples in particular see A. E. Laiou, “On Political Geography: the Black Sea of Pachymeres,” in R. G 296 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE latter to Constantinople, Pachymeres tells the strange story of a Cuman slave who, though being himself supposedly ἀσύνετος, “devoid of intelligence,” rose to power and became the Sultan of his former masters, the ἄγαν συνετοί and sophisticated Ethiopians. Subsequently, this white, warlike Cuman, now paradoxically King of the dusky, languid Ethiopians, bam- boozles the Byzantine Emperor by sneaking Scythian slaves from the Euxine into Egypt. With his newfound army the ex- slave sweeps away with ruthless force τὰ κατὰ Συρίαν (ch. 5) and wreaks havoc in the empire. Midway through this en- grossing narrative, which towards the end breaks into pathetic and irate lamentation for Byzantine losses in the Near East (καὶ νῦν κεῖται μὲν ἡ περιφανὴς Ἀντιόχεια … θρηνεῖ Λαοδίκεια … τὰ μεγάλα τῶν Ἰταλῶν ἄστεα ὡς οὐδ’ ἂν ἦσαν λογίζονται, etc.), Pachymeres digresses on a pedestrian ethnographic com- parison of “Scythians” and “Ethiopians” (ch. 3). In this section, Pachymeres conceptualizes the differences between the two peoples in terms of binary oppositions, which relate physique (black/white, soft/hard, etc.) with character (vehement/in- dolent, brave/cowardly, etc.), thus venturing a physiological account of their natural and psychological traits. This digres- sion, itself quite strange, as we shall see, despite all its tra- ditional overtones, is followed by an even stranger chapter on a curiosum (ch. 4: περὶ καμηλοπαρδάλεως, ὁποῖόν ἐστιν), which at first sight rings like an intemperate afterthought. Chapters 3–5 of Book 3, therefore, constitute quite an as- sortment of historiographical elements, at least on the surface: they combine paradoxography with ethnography; “tragic,” rhetorically heightened and sentimental style with dry, “scien- tific” physiology; anecdotal gossip with consequential political discourse. In this paper, we shall try to make sense of this section of Pachymeres’ Συγγραφικαὶ Ἱστορίαι, to see how its disparate elements come together, by (a) restoring some of its cultural background, focusing mainly on Pachymeres’ de- partures from the classical tradition; and (b) attempting connections and associations between the various narrative ___ Beaton and C. Roueché (eds.), The Making of Byzantine History. Studies dedicated to Donald M. Nicol (London 1993) 94–121. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 297 components. The peculiarities of the ethnographic digression in ch. 3, we shall argue, the extent to which this passage evokes but also undermines classical patterns and motifs, are at the core of this section. The very elements in Pachymeres’ account which appear the most extraneous and digressive may well be the ones that encapsulate the political punch of his discourse. This paper, therefore, will connect Pachymeres’ ethnology with narrative, that is, the historian’s overall historiographical and political agenda. It is hoped that this analysis will contribute to our understanding of Pachymeres’ elaborate and “obscure” style of writing. The crucial passage reads:4 τὸν δέ γε τῶν Αἰθιόπων σουλτὰν ἄλλη τις χρεία τῷ βασιλεῖ σπέν- δεσθαι κατηνάγκαζεν· ἐκ Κομάνων γὰρ ὢν ἐκεῖνος, εἷς τῶν εἰς δουλείαν ἀποδεδομένων, τὸ γένος ἐζήτει κατ’ αἰτίαν συνετὴν ὅτι καὶ ἐπαίνων ἐγγύς. τὰ γὰρ ἀντικρὺ ἀλλήλων κλίματα τῆς γῆς, τό τε βόρειον καὶ τὸ νότιον, ἐμφύτοις τισὶ δυνάμεσιν ἐπί τε σωματικῇ καὶ ψυχικῇ διαθέσει ἀντιπεπόνθασιν, ὥσπερ δῆτα καὶ κράσεσιν, ἐν αἷς οὐ μόνον ζῴων ἀλόγων πρὸς ὅμοια ζῷα διαφορὰς εὕροι τις ἐμφανεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀνθρώπων· βορείοις γὰρ τὰ ζῷα λε- λεύκωται, νοτίοις δὲ μεμελάνωται· ἄνθρωποι δὲ ἐν μὲν βορείοις ἀσύνετοι, ἄλλως δὲ καὶ μόλις λογικοὶ καταλαμβανόμενοι, ἐν οἷς οὐ λογικαὶ ἐπιστῆμαι, οὐ μαθήματα φυσικά, οὐ γνῶσις, οὐ φρόνησις, οὐ περὶ τὸν βίον οἰκονομίαι καὶ τεχνῶν ἐργασίαι καὶ τἆλλα οἷς τῶν ἀλόγων ἄνθρωποι διαστέλλονται, ὁρμὰς μέντοι παραβόλους καὶ πρὸς μάχην ἐτοίμους ἔχοντες, ὡς ἐτοίμως ὁρμήσοντες, ἤν τις ἐπο- τρύνοι, παράβολόν τι καὶ βακχικὸν θύοντες ἐπ’ ἀλλήλοις καὶ τῷ Ἄρει σπένδοντες. ἐν δὲ νοτίοις τοὐναντίον ἅπαν· ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ εὐφυεῖς μὲν ἄλλως καὶ ἄγαν συνετοὶ καὶ ἄριστοι τὰ εἰς πολιτείαν καὶ τέχνας καὶ λογικὰ μαθήματα καὶ βουλὰς ἐφ’ ἑκάστῳ, νωθροὶ δὲ τὰ εἰς ὁρμὰς καὶ μαλακοὶ πρὸς μάχας καὶ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ μᾶλλον συζῶντες, ὀλίγα ἔχειν ἢ πολλὰ πολυπραγμονοῦντες αἱρούμενοι. τούτων δὲ τὸν ἥλιον αἰτι- άσαιτ’ ἄν τις φυσικευόμενος, τῷ μὲν ὁμιλεῖν ὀλίγα καὶ πρὸς ὀλίγον οὐ μετρίως θερμαίνοντα τὸν ἐγκέφαλον, ὅθεν καὶ ἡ εὐφυία προσ- γίγνεσθαι πέφυκε, τὸ δέρμα δὲ συμπιλοῦντα ἀπεργαζόμενον τοῖς μέλεσι τὴν στερρότητα, ἐπὶ δὲ θάτερα τῶν μερῶν τῷ ἐπὶ πλέον ὁμιλεῖν 4 Georges Pachymérès, Relations historiques I, edition, introduction, notes A. Failler, transl. V. Laurent (CFHB 24.1 [Paris 1984]) 237. All translations are mine, unless otherwise stated. 298 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE θερμαίνοντα μὲν εἰς εὐφυίαν, ἔκλυτον δ’ εἰς ἀνδρίαν ἀπεργαζόμενον τὴν ὁλομέλειαν τῶν σωμάτων· συμμετατίθεσθαι γὰρ τοῖς σώμασι τὰς ψυχὰς ὁ φυσικὸς λόγος δίδωσι. A different need forced the Sultan of the Ethiopians to come to terms with the Emperor. For being of Cuman descent he was one of those who had been given over into slavery and thus sought after his race for an understandable and well nigh laud- able reason. For the opposing climates of the globe, the north and the south, on account of certain innate qualities, are ranged in antithetical manner by the physical and mental disposition as well as by the temperaments they are conducive to, whereby one might mark significant differences not only amongst senseless animals of the same species, but also amongst men. In northern regions, animals have white hides, whereas in southern regions they are dark. Men in northern regions are devoid of intelli- gence, in some cases being found to be barely rational. Amongst them there are no intellectual sciences, no studies of nature, no knowledge, no thought, no organisation of everyday life or prac- tice of arts or other things whereby men distinguish themselves from irrational beasts. Rather, they have an uncontrollable and ever-ready inclination to battle, are keen to rush forward against one another, if anyone spurs them on, like reckless Bacchants in pursuit of sacrifice or libation-bearers of Ares. In southern re- gions, however, the case is the opposite. For the men there are noble and very wise, and excellent in political science and the arts and intellectual pursuits and deliberations on every matter. But they are slow of impulse and soft in battle, living in inertia and choosing to have less rather than plenty through exertion. Taking physical phenomena into consideration,5 one might name the sun as the cause of this. In the first case, the sun has little contact and only for a short time, not warming the brain in the right measure, whereby nobility of nature is wont to arise, but rather causing the skin to harden and producing rigidity in the body’s members. In the second case, however, through greater contact with the body’s members the sun warms the brain to nobility, but reduces virility in the body’s members overall. For natural law enjoins that souls share the changes undergone by bodies. 5 Literally “to speak in the language of natural philosophers,” cf. LSJ s.v. φυσικεύομαι. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 299 Let us begin by examining Pachymeres’ ethnic terminology. Such onomatological archaism as employed here by Pa- chymeres is common in Byzantine historians. By “Scythians” Pachymeres means peoples of the Eurasian steppe, mainly the Cumans.6 Of such Cuman origin were the slaves (mameluks), who originally formed the guard of the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt and later took control of the country to create the Mameluk sultanate of Egypt under Sultan Baybars (1260– 1277).7 By “Ethiopians” the historian refers to the dark-skinned races of northeastern Africa, now under Mameluk rule. In his generic usage of the terms—“Scythian” to encompass the nomadic tribes beyond the Sea of Azov and “Ethiopian” to include both the mixed Nilotic type and the Negroid living along the Nile and spreading from the μεσόγαια of Libya to the Arabian peninsula (Diod. 3.8.1–2)—Pachymeres is in line with the most authoritative ancient sources, for instance Strabo (1.2.27).8 For a Greek, the Ethiopians were a race of black skin, flat nose, thick lips, and curled, woolly hair.9 The curliness of their hair was caused by heat (Arr. Ind. 6.9). The same cause accounts for the shape of their legs: [Arist.] Probl. 909a; [Verg.] Moretum 35; Petr. Sat. 102.15. The image and character of the Scythians, too, as presented 6 On the Cumans, see A. Savvides, “Οι Κουμάνοι και το Βυζάντιο: 11ος– 13ος αιώνας μ.Χ.,” Byzantina 13 (1985) 937–955; I. Vasary, Cumans and Tatars. Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans (Cambridge 2005). 7 On the Mameluks (Μαμελοῦκοι), a people of Cuman origin, who ruled over Egypt from 1260–1517, see D. Ayalon and P. M. Holt, “Mamlūks,” Encycl. of Islam2 6 (1987) 314–331. On their diplomatic correspondences with Byzantium: P. Schreiner, “Byzanz und die Mameluken in der 2. Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts,” Der Islam 56 (1979) 296–304. 8 The evidence is carefully compiled in F. M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity. Ethiopians in Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge [Mass.] 1970) 1–21. Fragments of ancient “horographical” and ethnographical works on Egypt and Ethiopia are collected by Jacoby, FGrHist 608a–673, on Scythia 841– 844. 9 Diod. 3.8.2: χρόαις εἰσὶ μέλανες, ταῖς δὲ ἰδέαις σιμοί, τοῖς δὲ τριχώμασιν οὖλοι. Compare also Herodotus’ description of the Egyptians as μελάγχροες … καὶ οὐλότριχες (2.104). 300 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE by Pachymeres (especially their prowess in war and their pro- verbial virtuosity in horse riding and archery), as well as the unforgiving harshness of their land, are also traditional: see, e.g., the Σκυθικοὶ λόγοι in Herodotus (Book 4) and the Hip- pocratic De aëre aquis et locis 18–22, etc.10 Pachymeres, though, is more forthcoming on the Scythians’ ἦθος than their physical appearance: one major physical detail with bearing on char- acter, which prevails in accounts of Scythian peoples, but is curiously omitted in Pachymeres, is τὸ πυρρόν (Hippoc. Aër. 20), generally a sign of πανουργία.11 Another divergence may be noted between Pachymeres and the classical tradition: while Pachymeres stresses the thickened skin of the Scythians and the στερρότης of their limbs as natural products of the cold, the Hippocratic author (Aër. 19) emphasizes, on the contrary, for the same exact reason, their ὑγρότης, their πιμελή and ψιλή flesh and their παχέα and σαρκώδεα εἴδεα: the perceived dry- ness of the Scythians is the result not of nature, but of a custom, according to which the Scythians cauterize their bodies, to remove the excess of moisture and to render them better braced, nourished, and articulated (Aër. 20). In his interest to present the Scythians as warlike and fearsome as possible, Pachymeres disregards the fact that νόμος, after all, is just as decisive a determinant of φύσις and ἦθος as the climate, a central argument in the Hippocratic treatise. Generally, however, and despite small incongruities in mat- 10 See, amongst the vast bibliography on the Scythian nation, D. Braund (ed.), Scythians and Greeks. Cultural Interactions in Scythia, Athens and the Early Roman Empire (Exeter 2005), with references to earlier works. On Herodotus’ Σκυθικὸς λόγος specifically, see F. Hartog, Le miroir d’Hérodote. Essai sur la representation de l’autre (Paris 1980) 23–51; and S. West, “Scythians,” in E. J. Bakker et al. (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Herodotus (Leiden 2002) 437–456, with references to earlier literature. The Scythian segment in De aëre has also at- tracted much scholarly attention: see A. Ballabriga, “Les eunuques Scythes et leurs femmes,” Métis 1 (1986) 121–138; E. Lieber, “The Hippocratic Airs, Waters, Places on Cross-dressing Eunuchs: ‘Natural’ yet also ‘Divine’,” in R. Wittern and P. Pellegrin (eds.), Medizin der Antike I Hippokratische Medizin und antike Philosophie (Zurich/New York 1996) 451–476. 11 [Arist.] Phgn. 812a6: οἱ πυρροὶ ἄγαν πανοῦργοι· ἀναφέρεται ἐπὶ τὰς ἀλώπεκας. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 301 ters of detail, there is little doubt that Pachymeres aspires to register his narrative in the context of ancient physiological theory, more specifically in the adjoined fields of humoural ethnology12 and physiognomics: for τὸν ἥλιον αἰτιάσαιτ’ ἄν τις φυσικευόμενος cf. Galen’s φυσικευομένοις τοῖς φιλοσόφοις (Adv. ea quae a Juliano, XVIII 256.4 K.). Terms like δύναμις (“power, faculty”), διάθεσις (“disposition”), εὐφυία (“balanced disposition, good nature”) and, of course, κρᾶσις (“tempera- ment”) are keywords of a discipline that combines acute med- ical observation and ethnographical empiricism with ideology and prejudice,13 thus putting under systematic study the corre- lation between climate, topography, diet, and body chemistry, on the one hand, and human character and behaviour, on the other. What we are dealing with is a hodgepodge of such dis- parate elements as ethnography, astrology, biology, humoural theory, philosophy, even social engineering and politics, first amalgamated into a single coherent system by Aristotle and his school.14 Although physiognomics owed much to Hippocratic and other pioneers and did not reach its true apogee until Late 12 On the history of ancient ethnography, see K. E. Müller, Geschichte der antiken Ethnographie und ethnologischen Theoriebildung (Wiesbaden 1972–1980). 13 Physiognomical writings are collected in R. Foerster, Scriptores Physi- ognomonici Graeci et Latini (Leipzig 1893). The best comprehensive study of the evidence is E. C. Evans, Physiognomics in the Ancient World (Philadelphia 1969). Most fruitful has been the study of the interrelation between physiognomics and social engineering: see M. M. Sassi, The Science of Man in Ancient Greece (Chicago 2001); T. S. Barton, Power and Knowledge: Astrology, Physiognomics, and Medicine under the Roman Empire (Ann Arbor 1994); and M. W. Gleason, Making Men: Sophists and Self-presentation in Ancient Rome (Princeton 1995). 14 On Aristotle’s ethics and its associations with biology and medicine, see W. Jaeger, “Aristotle’s Use of Medicine as Model of Method in his Ethics,” JHS 77 (1957) 54–61; J. Longrigg, “Medicine and the Lyceum,” in P. J. van Eijk et al. (eds.), Ancient Medicine in its Socio-cultural Context II (Amsterdam/ Atlanta 1995) 431–445; M. López-Salvá, “Hippokratische Medizin und Aristotelische Handlungsphilosophie,” in Wittern and Pellegrin, Medizin 203–216; and R. Bolton, “The Material Cause: Matter and Explanation in Aristotle’s Natural Science,” and P. J. Van der Eijk, “The Matter of Mind: Aristotle on the Biology of ‘Psychic’ Processes and the Bodily Aspects of Thinking,” in W. Kullmann and S. Föllinger (eds.), Aristotelische Biologie (Stuttgart 1997) 97–124 and 231–258. 302 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE Antiquity—first with Galen15 and Polemon (II A.D.) and then with Adamantius (IV A.D.)16—it was the Peripatetics who first gave physiognomics a sound syllogistic foundation as inductive inference from signs (δεῖ γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀφανῶν τοῖς φανεροῖς μαρτυρίοις χρῆσθαι, Arist. Eth.Nic. 1104a13–14),17 an ἐνθύμη- μα ἐκ σημείων (An.pr. 70a2).18 The ethnological physiognomics practiced by Pachymeres in 3.3–5, that is, inferring ἦθος from racial type, was one of three main physiognomical meth- odologies in Antiquity (the others being zoological analogy and ἐκ τῶν ἠθῶν τῶν ἐπιφαινομένων, cf. [Arist.] Phgn. 805a18–32). Ethno-physiognomics was arguably less arbitrary than the other two (see the criticism of the author himself, Phgn. 805b1– 27), but no less schematic and biased. In the last sentence of the passage, Pachymeres clearly re- formulates the discipline’s basic axiom: συμμετατίθεσθαι γὰρ τοῖς σώμασι τὰς ψυχὰς ὁ φυσικὸς λόγος δίδωσι.19 Body and soul exist in harmony and “sympathy”; the movements of the first affect the second and vice versa. The fact that Pachymeres connects ἦθος with climate bespeaks also his grasp of the other foundational principle, that environmental and overall geo- graphical conditions determine both health and “character” 15 See G. E. R. Lloyd, “Scholarship, Authority and Argument in Galen’s Quod animi mores,” L. Garcia Ballester, “Soul and Body, Disease of the Soul and Disease of the Body in Galen’s Medical Thought,” and J. Pigeaud, “La psychopathie de Galien,” in P. Manuli and M. Vegetti (eds.), Le opere psico- logiche di Galeno. Atti del terzo colloquio galenico internazionale (Pavia 1988) 11–42, 117–152, 153–183. 16 On Polemon see S. Swain (ed.), Seeing the Face, Seeing the Soul: Polemon’s Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (Oxford/New York 2007). A study of physiognomics in Byzantium is, so far as I know, still a de- sideratum. 17 On ancient sign inference in general, see J. Allen, Inference from Signs. Ancient Debates on the Nature of Evidence (Oxford 2001). 18 For the genera likely to yield physiognomical information, see [Arist.] Phgn. 806a26 ff. 19 Compare, apart from Galen, Arist. An.pr. 70b6–8: τὸ δὲ φυσιογνω- μονεῖν δυνατόν ἐστιν, εἴ τις δίδωσιν ἅμα μεταβάλλειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὅσα φυσικά ἐστι παθήματα, and [Arist.] Phgn. 805a1–2: ὅτι αἱ διάνοιαι ἕπονται τοῖς σώμασι, καὶ οὐκ εἰσὶν αὐταὶ καθ’ ἑαυτὰς ἀπαθεῖς οὖσαι τῶν τοῦ σώματος κινήσεων. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 303 (ἦθος), because they bear directly on the humoural chemistry of the human body (Hippoc. Aër. 1). This chemistry, and thus health, relies on the balance of opposites (cf. Pachymeres’ ἀντι- πεπόνθασιν): first, the four elemental conditions (hot/cold, moist/dry), and then the four χυμοί (“humours”) phlegm, blood, yellow and black bile.20 This balance is secured by the temperate and timely change of seasons (Hippoc. Nat.hom. 7). Cold Warm Moist Dry Phlegm   Winter Blood   Spring Yellow bile   Summer Black bile   Autumn Table 1: The Hippocratic Theory of Humours, as expounded in Nature of Man Pachymeres’ discussion, therefore, reflects traditional ethno- logical principles. The historian adopts an absolute binary model of symmetrical opposition between North and South. He regards Scythia and Ethiopia as opposites in terms of both geography and people’s ethos. Northerners are strong and reckless in battle, but barely logical and not at all civilised. Southerners on the contrary are soft (μαλακοί may also mean “cowardly”21) but εὐφυεῖς; sluggish, but intelligent and en- dowed with the highest qualities of culture. Northerners may be veritable Bacchants, worshippers of Ares with no γνῶσις or φρόνησις, but should they have a leader, they are unstoppable in battle. Southerners may be masters of the political game, but given a choice, they will sit back and do nothing. In ancient geographical accounts, as in Pachymeres, Scythia and Ethiopia constitute the utmost boundaries of mankind in 20 Cf. Hippoc. Nat.hom. 4. Alcmaeon of Croton, fr. 4 D.-K., even used political terminology to denote balance (ἰσονομία) and imbalance (μοναρ- χία). On the theory of humours see P. Demont, “About Philosophy and Humoural Medicine,” in P. J. van der Eijk (ed.), Hippocrates in Context. Papers read at the XIth International Hippocrates Colloquium (Leiden 2005) 271–286. 21 Thuc. 6.13: ὅπως μὴ δόξει, ἐὰν μὴ ψηφίζηται πολεμεῖν, μαλακὸς εἶναι. 304 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE North and South, just as India and Iberia determine East and West. In Strabo, Scythians and Ethiopians are ἀντίποδας ἀλλήλοις (1.1.13).22 The contrast between Scythians and Ethiopians, on the basis of pairs such as cold/hot, rough/soft, and fierce/spiritless, constitutes a κοινὸς τόπος trickling down the whole body of Greek literature from Hesiod on.23 F. M. Snowden identifies three different motives behind this τόπος:24 (a) to present the Ethiopians as examples of anthropological or geographical “others” with reference to Greeks; (b) to account for racial diversity; (c) to express the conviction that race is in- consequential, because all men have been created equal, κατ’ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. None of these seems to apply exactly in the case of Pachymeres. Unlike, for instance, Herodotus, he does not make explicit comparisons between “self” and “other”; although he does explicate the natural causes of the Scythian/Ethiopian antithesis, Pachymeres does not care to embark on a long-winded discussion of racial di- versity; and he is definitely not delivering a Sunday sermon. We need to follow the threads of the narrative and understand the divergence of his own account from the general norm, in order to fathom, to whatever extent this is feasible, Pachyme- res’ own motives. What, then, is peculiar in Pachymeres’ ethno-physiognomical digression? It is certainly not the sharp antithesis between Ethiopia and Scythia per se (that in itself is neither rare nor inexplicable). Neither is the image of Scythian fierceness. This last feature may not be painted in particularly bright hues by ancient sources, where Scythian traits are usually interpreted as 22 See also Ephorus FrGrHist 70 F 30a and 30b, especially the latter, quoted by Cosmas Indicopleustes, the most important Byzantine geogra- pher (the word ἀντίκειται here is particularly weighty). On the notion of the antipodes in Antiquity, see G. Moretti, Gli Antipodi. Avventure letterarie di un mito scientifico (Parma 1994) esp. 17–48. 23 For all the evidence, see Snowden, Blacks 171–177. Despite the fact that in the traditional book division a whole book separates the Αἰγυπτιακὸς from the Σκυθικὸς λόγος in Herodotus, it is clear that there also the two are symmetrical. See J. Redfield, “Herodotus the Tourist,” CP 80 (1985) 97– 118, esp. 106–109. 24 Snowden, Blacks 172. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 305 signs of σκαιότης, ἀγριότης, and κακότης,25 and, although respected, the Scythians are hardly ever “honoured,” as in Pachymeres (ἐτίμων τὸ Σκυθικὸν Αἰθίοπες, ch. 3 [p.237.25]); however, the Byzantine historian does not deviate much from the norm here. It is rather the Αἰθιοπικὸς λόγος that strikes us as odd: the warmth of praise Pachymeres bestows upon the Ethiopians, the vehemence of his endorsement, and of course the transfer to them of much that in other sources is reserved for peoples living in different geographical regions. All in all, Pachymeres’ earnest attempt to appreciate his North and South subjects, not as extremes with reference to a tertium comparationis, as in most ancient sources, but as symmetrical opposites, bal- ancing each other with their pros and cons, does not seem to have an exact ancient analogue. Let us examine these traits more closely. In the physiognomic corpus, intelligence is not a quality often ascribed to Ethiopians or Asians as a whole. The physiognomic characteristics attributed to them cannot be conducive to the development of a very sophisticated civilisation. In Ps.-Aristotle Physiognomonica (807a12–33), people like the Ethiopians, as ἄγαν μέλανες and τρίχας σφόδρα οὔλας ἔχοντες, are δειλοί;26 but, pace Pachymeres, being δειλοί such peoples are automatically disqualified from being εὐφυεῖς at the same time. In fact, the εὐφυής constitutes the mean between such extreme types as the Scythian and the Ethiopian, cf. [Arist.] Phgn. 807b12–19: εὐφυοῦς σημεῖα σὰρξ ὑγροτέρα καὶ ἁπαλωτέρα, οὐκ εὐεκτικὴ οὐδὲ πιμελώδης σφόδρα· τὰ περὶ τὰς ὠμοπλάτας καὶ τράχηλον ἰσχνότερα, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸ πρόσωπον, καὶ σύνδετα τὰ περὶ τὰς ὠμοπλάτας, καὶ τὰ κάτω ἀφειμένα· εὔλυτα τὰ περὶ τὰς πλευράς· καὶ τὸν νῶτον ἀσαρκότερος· τὸ σῶμα λευκέρυθρον καὶ καθα- ρόν· τὸ δερμάτιον λεπτόν, τριχωμάτιον μὴ λίαν σκληρὸν μηδὲ λίαν μέλαν, ὄμμα χαροπόν, ὑγρόν. The signs of a man with good natural disposition are flesh rather moist and soft, not overly conditioned or overly fat. Around the shoulder-blades and the neck, he is rather lean, as he is around the face, while around the shoulder-blades, again, he is well-set 25 [Polemon] Phgn. 8 (I 393 Foerster). 26 See also [Polemon] Phgn. 6, 8, 56 (386–388, 392–397, 410 F.). 306 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE and his lower parts are more relaxed. His loins are loose and his back is not too fleshy. His body is of a rosy complexion and clear. His skin is thin, with hair not excessively hard or black. His eyes are bright, moist.27 Indeed the communis opinio on Ethiopians is that they were savage rather than cultured. The account in Diodorus (3.8.1– 6), for example, is damning. Ethiopians are wild and beastly, not so much in their spirit as in their way of life. They live in squalor, usually naked, covering only their private parts or using makeshift garments. They have no sense of social solidar- ity; they display no signs of “civilised life” (βίος ἥμερος). The dissonance of this image with Pachymeres’ seasoned politicians, sensible governors, and excellent artists and thinkers is remark- able. In the end, Pachymeres’ Αἰθιοπικὸς λόγος is striking above all for one absolutely fundamental reason: in its rather over- enthusiastic reassessment of the Ethiopians and its strict binary structure (the tertium comparationis, we repeat, seems strangely absent), the passage seems to disregard the most essential prin- ciple underpinning Greek physiological theory, the Doctrine of the Mean.28 For a fairly well-informed commentator and teacher of Aristotle,29 this is certainly odd. Even if Pachymeres is not known to have been error-free in his Aristotelian read- 27 Compare [Polemon] Phgn. 57 (411–412 F.). 28 The best relevant study is T. Tracy, Physiological Theory and the Doctrine of the Mean in Plato and Aristotle (The Hague 1969). 29 Apart from a general synopsis of Aristotle’s philosophy, Pachymeres wrote commentaries on a fair number of Aristotelian works: see E. Pappa, “Die Kommentare des Georgios Pachymeres zum Organon,” in Lesarten. Festschrift für A. Kambylis (Berlin/New York 1998) 198–210, and Georgios Pachymeres. Philosophia. Buch 10. Kommentar zur Metaphysik des Aristoteles (Athens 2002); K. Oikonomakos, Γεώργιος Παχυμέρης Φιλοσοφία. Βιβλίον ἑν- δέκατον. Τὰ ἠθικά, ἤτοι τὰ Νικομάχεια (Athens 2005); and P. Golitsis, “Un commentaire perpétuel de Georges Pachymère à la Physique d’Aristote,” BZ 100 (2007) 637–676. For a speculative reconstruction of Pachymeres’ teachings on Aristotle, see P. Golitsis, “Georges Pachymère comme dida- scale. Essai pour une reconstitution de sa carrière et de son enseignement philosophique,” JOBG 58 (2008) 53–68. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 307 ings,30 disregarding the Doctrine of the Mean is too serious an omission to have been made entirely by accident. Ancient ethnology and ethno-physiognomics are without exception predicated on the Doctrine of the Mean:31 ἔλλειψις and ὑπερβολή balance each other around a μεσότης.32 Wheth- er they recognized three (Aristotle), five (Parmenides, Posi- donius), or six (Polybius) geographical zones, all major Greek geographers and ethnologists accepted the notion of εὐκρασία. Significantly, this notion is also implied in the ancient geog- rapher whose work, along with Strabo’s, had perhaps the most currency in Pachymeres’ cultural environment,33 Claudius Ptolemy.34 All ethnology founded on the theory of humours regards the North and the South (the ἀρκτικὴ ζώνη and the τροπικὴ ζώνη) as extremes surrounding a μεσότης, the εὔκρα- τος ζώνη of the Mediterranean. Aristotle located all positive traits of character around this basin; the locus classicus is in Pol. 1327b20–36:35 σχεδὸν δὴ κατανοήσειεν ἄν τις τοῦτό γε, βλέψας ἐπί τε τὰς πόλεις τὰς εὐδοκιμούσας τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὡς διείληπται τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ψυχροῖς τόποις ἔθνη καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην θυμοῦ μέν ἐστι πλήρη, διανοίας δὲ ἐνδεέστερα καὶ τέχνης, διόπερ ἐλεύθερα μὲν διατελεῖ μᾶλλον, ἀπολίτευτα δὲ καὶ τῶν πλησίον ἄρχειν οὐ 30 See for instance the review of Oikonomakos by B. Bydén, JOBG 58 (2008) 261–263. 31 Most important here is [Polemon] Phgn. 5–6 and Adamantius Phgn. 2.31–32 (382–388 F.). Galen, too, applying the notion of κρᾶσις to eth- nology, believes that the best-tempered (or blended) person is one who represents the absolute mean between extremes—thinness and fatness, softness and hardness, warmth and cold. See Evans, Physiognomics 25–26. 32 See the discussion in Posidonius fr.49 Edelstein-Kidd, preserved by Strabo. 33 See Laiou, in The Making of Byzantine History 95. 34 See W. Hübner, “The Ptolemaic View of the Universe,” GRBS 41 (2000) 59–93, esp. 71 ff. 35 Some discussion of this passage in reference to Pachymeres is at- tempted in S. Lampakis, “Ὑπερφυσικὲς δυνάμεις, φυσικὰ φαινόμενα καὶ δεισιδαιμονίες στὴν ἱστορία τοῦ Γεωργίου Παχυμέρη,” Symmeikta 7 (1987) 77–100, at 92. 308 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE δυνάμενα· τὰ δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν διανοητικὰ μὲν καὶ τεχνικὰ τὴν ψυχήν, ἄθυμα δέ, διόπερ ἀρχόμενα καὶ δουλεύοντα διατελεῖ· τὸ δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων γένος, ὥσπερ μεσεύει κατὰ τοὺς τόπους, οὕτως ἀμφοῖν μετέχει. καὶ γὰρ ἔνθυμον καὶ διανοητικόν ἐστιν· διόπερ ἐλεύθερόν τε διατελεῖ καὶ βέλτιστα πολιτευόμενον καὶ δυνά- μενον ἄρχειν πάντων, μιᾶς τυγχάνον πολιτείας. τὴν αὐτὴν δ’ ἔχει διαφορὰν καὶ τὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἔθνη πρὸς ἄλληλα· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὴν φύσιν μονόκωλον, τὰ δὲ εὖ κέκραται πρὸς ἀμφοτέρας τὰς δυνάμεις ταύτας. Now this [the natural character of the ideal citizen] one might almost discern by looking at the famous cities of Greece and by observing how the whole inhabited world is divided up among the nations. The nations inhabiting the cold places and those of Europe are full of spirit but somewhat deficient of intelligence and skill, so that they continue comparatively free, but lacking in political organization and capacity to rule their neighbours. The peoples of Asia on the other hand are intelligent and skilful in temperament, but lack spirit, so that they are in continuous subjection and slavery. But the Greek race participates in both characters, just as it occupies the middle position geographically, for it is both spirited and intelligent; hence it continues to be free and to have very good political institutions, and to be capable of ruling all mankind, if it attains constitutional unity. The same diversity also exists among the Greek races compared with one another: some have a one-sided nature, others are happily blended in regard to both capacities. (transl. Rackham) Examined closely, Pachymeres’ discourse does not seem compatible with Aristotle’s tripartite model. Aristotle’s διανο- ητικὰ καὶ τεχνικὰ τὴν ψυχήν may seem analogous to Pa- chymeres’ formulations, but in fact it allows for much less than the Byzantine historian’s immoderate superlatives do (ἄριστοι, ἄλλως καὶ ἄγαν συνετοί). Moreover, although Pachymeres does openly recognize that the Scythians constitute an ἔλλειψις regarding the degree of sunshine warming their brains (ch. 3 [p.237.19–20]: οὐ μετρίως θερμαίνοντα τὸν ἐγκέφαλον), it is by no means obvious whether the prepositional ἐπὶ πλέον used of the Ethiopians means “more than the Mean” (thus being an ὑπερβολή) or simply “more than the Scythians,” thus in effect constituting a Mean. Finally, and most tellingly, Pachymeres uses a catchword εὐφυεῖς, which, as we saw above, is taboo in ethno-physiognomical theory for any nation that ἔχει τὴν ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 309 φύσιν μονόκωλον and is used only for those that εὖ κέκραται. One wonders whether what we have here is simply a case of sloppy verbal overcompensation or whether one can read more into it. Aristotle’s Politics is an attempt to conceptualize the marking differences between Greeks and other nations. As such it is naturally biased. It seems conceivable that Pachymeres’ binary pattern represents an attempt for an objective, non-self- referential discussion along the lines of the second part of Airs Waters Places.36 Indeed, the Hippocratic author, dividing the globe in two continents in lieu of the usual three, compares “Europe” and “Asia” (Ethiopia being part of the latter) in a manner quite reminiscent of Pachymeres and seemingly with the same approving tone as regards Asia. His comparison is underscored by a double conviction, which seems to ap- proximate that of Pachymeres fairly closely: (a) that the two continents are opposites; and (b) that everything in Asia is superior to anything in Europe, because of the balanced cycle of the seasons (12.1–3): βούλομαι δὲ περὶ τῆς Ἀσίης καὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης δεῖξαι ὁκόσον διαφέρουσιν ἀλλήλοις ἐς τὰ πάντα καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐθνέων τῆς μορφῆς, τί διαλλάσσει καὶ μηδὲν ἕοικεν ἀλλήλοισι … τὴν Ἀσίην πλεῖστον διαφέρειν φημὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης ἐς τὰς φύσιας τῶν ξυμ- πάντων τῶν τε ἐκ τῆς γῆς φυομένων καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. πολὺ γὰρ καλλίονα καὶ μείζονα πάντα γίνεται ἐν τῇ Ἀσίῃ ἥ τε χώρη τῆς χώρης ἡμερωτέρη καὶ τὰ ἤθεα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡμερότερα καὶ εὐοργητότερα. τὸ δὲ αἴτιον τοῦτων ἡ κρῆσις τῶν ὡρέων, ὅτι τοῦ ἡλίου ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀνατολέων κεῖται πρὸς τὴν ἠῶ, τοῦ τε ψυχροῦ πορρωτέρω· τὴν δὲ αὔξησιν καὶ ἡμερότητα παρέχει πλεῖστον ἁπάντων, ὁκόταν μηδὲν ᾖ ἐπικρατέον βιαίως, ἀλλὰ παντὸς ἰσομοιρίη δυναστεύῃ.37 36 For a full discussion of the work see J. Jouanna, Hippocrate II.2 Airs, Eaux, Lieux (Paris 1996) 7–82 ; and his Hippocrates (Baltimore/London 1999): on the Hippocratic corpus, 56–71, 373–416; on health, sickness, and nature, 323–347; on the influence of the environment on human nature, 210–242; on ethnography, 217–224. 37 Cf. also Aër. 16.1: περὶ δὲ τῆς ἀθυμίης τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῆς ἀναν- δρείης, ὅτι ἀπολεμώτατοί εἰσι τῶν Εὐρωπαίων οἱ Ἀσιηνοὶ καὶ ἡμερώτεροι τὰ ἤθεα. 310 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE Now I intend to compare Asia and Europe, and to show how they differ in every respect, and how the nations of the one differ entirely in physique from those of the other. I hold that Asia differs very widely from Europe in the nature of all its inhab- itants and of all its vegetation. For everything in Asia grows to far greater beauty and size; the one region is less wild than the other, the character of the inhabitants is milder and more gentle. The cause of this is the temperate climate, because it lies towards the east midway between the risings of the sun, and farther away than is Europe from the cold. Growth and freedom from wildness are more fostered, when nothing is forcibly pre- dominant, but equality in every respect prevails. (transl. Jones) Pachymeres’ insistence on the effects of sunshine on the brain and his apparent neglect of the role of the cardiovascular system is evidence that he may be choosing to follow the en- cephalocentric tradition of Alcmaeon of Croton, Anaxagoras, and the Hippocratic doctors, rather than the cardio-haemo- centrism encountered in Plato and in Aristotle’s biological works.38 This increases the possibility that Pachymeres repro- duces Hippocratic models, but we should not be precipitous. For only on the face of it does the Hippocratic author operate on the notion of an absolute opposition between Europe and Asia; consequently, it cannot be argued that Pachymeres found in Hippocrates an ethnographic model that circumvents the Doctrine of the Mean. The Hippocratic author’s discourse, too, is clearly governed by the principle of proper mixture, κρῆσις, which of course re- quires tripartite structures, hence the Mean. He may recognize only two continents, apparently going against the grain; he may be working on a binary pattern comprising two sets of op- posites (north/south, east/west); but he can never be oblivious to that sense of symmetry and balance that produces the op- timum result. The Hippocratic author’s general work pattern is 38 Gal. De usu partium (I p.15.2–5 Helmreich): ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὴν καρδίαν, ὁ δὲ τὰς μήνιγγας, ὁ δὲ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ φησιν ἔχειν τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡγεμονοῦν. See P. Manuli and M. Vegetti, Cuore, sangue e cervello. Biologia e antropologia nel pensiero antico (Milan 1977) 9–27, 29–44; J. Rocca, Galen on the Brain. Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century A.D. (Leiden 2003) 17–48. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 311 to set out general rules, only to qualify them in due course with the necessary nuances and exceptions. The universal law of difference between Europe and Asia is multiply compromised in what follows; in fact, in some cases, to the point of total con- tradiction. “Europe” and “Asia” are multifarious in climate and environment. Seven different regional varieties with wide variations between them render the postulation of a single, homogenous “Europe” rather strained (Aër. 24). Asia, too, may be less heterogeneous, but it is not uniform. We should be observant enough to see that the privileged characteristics mentioned above do not apply in an undifferentiated and unqualified manner to the whole of Asia, but to the region situated midway between the heat and the cold (so 12.19–45). This is a part which, as far as its moderate nature is concerned, has all the qualities of spring season, the yearly cycle’s μεσότης. The language here is emblematic of the Doctrine of the Mean. It is unfortunate that, while the paradosis preserved four whole chapters on Scythia, the Egyptian part of De aëre, at the beginning of ch. 13, has been lost. However, there are clear indications in what remains that the Egyptians must have been treated as the foil of the Scythians. This symmetry between the two peoples can only mean that as the Scythians represent the ὑπερβολή of North, the Egyptians stand for the ὑπερβολή of South. The overall affinity between Egyptians and Scythians, an affinity in extremis, relies on the lack of seasonal variation in both regions, one of which is “oppressed” by extreme cold, the other by heat (18.1–5): περὶ δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν Σκυθέων τῆς μορφῆς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἑωυτοῖσιν ἐοίκασι, καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἄλλοισιν, ὠυτὸς λόγος καὶ περὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, πλὴν, ὅτι οἱ μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θερμοῦ εἰσι βεβιασμένοι, οἱ δ’ ὑπὸ τοῦ ψυχροῦ. As to the physique of the other Scythians, in that they are like one another and not at all like others, the same remark applies to them as to the Egyptians, only the latter are distressed by the heat, the former by the cold. Homogeneity of appearance among Scythians and Egyptians is proof that these peoples are not subjected to tempered seasonal change; hence they do not live in the most εὔκρατοι regions of Asia and Europe. In places where violent seasonal change occurs, great diversity of physical appearance is usually 312 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE the result (24). Uniformity of seasons does not allow proper κρᾶσις, whereas a correct cycle establishes equilibrium, with one season balancing the other.39 Any deviation from this cycle would have unhealthy repercussions: seasonal uniformity fos- ters corporal humidity, which leads to reduced physical fitness. So much for European vehemence! In fact, judging by the example of the Σαυρομάται (17), we may suspect that the Hip- pocratic author regards the warlike character of Scythians, just as much as τὸ ἄναλκες of Asians, as more the result of νόμος than of φύσις (see the famous discussion at 16 on the effect of despotism on Asian ἦθος). As we said, νόμος as determinant is something that Pachymeres chooses to ignore. The Hippocratic author’s insistence on the extremes of each continent corresponds to the polarised geographical schematic by which he organizes the globe and which he puts in effect in the first part of the treatise (North/South, East/West). This schematic serves him best in order to show the defining role played by both climate and νόμος on the ἦθος of men. Finally, it allows him to locate the best possible condition, which is that part of Asia that is exposed to the eastern currents and whose climate is moderate and well-mixed. “Excellence” can only be fostered ἐν μεσότητι. If Pachymeres’ model is un-Aristotelian, it is ultimately un-Hippocratic as well. One may suggest a number of explanations for Pachymeres’ “unorthodoxly” positive ethnological evaluation of the Ethi- opians, at the extreme of southern heat, which contradicts most ancient authorities. One certainly is the conceptual and discur- sive merger of “Ethiopian” and “Egyptian,” which transposes onto the former the general admiration enjoyed by the latter among the Greeks. Much of what Pachymeres has to com- mend regarding the Ethiopians definitely comes from the tradi- tion of Αἰγυπτιακοί, not Αἰθιοπικοὶ λόγοι. Just as “Ethiopian” is used as a generic ethnological term to include all the people of the Mameluk sultanate, similarly the information on the culture of Ethiopians is perhaps reprocessed in a scrambled fashion to comprise the cultural glamour of the Egyptians. 39 See Tracy, Physiological Theory 57. ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 313 Another plausible reason may also be the differing attitudes of certain Byzantine sources towards the Ethiopians. The jour- neys of Cosmas Indicopleustes in the kingdoms of Axum and Nadulis, and the fact that the Ethiopians were allies of the Byzantines in controlling the eastern routes, led to a favourable image of the Ethiopians in early Byzantium and beyond, de- spite the occasional imputation of Ethiopian demonology. The “blameless Ethiopians” of Homer (Il. 1.423), with their dignity, continence, wisdom, and astrological learning, became symbols of Christianity’s ecumenical mission.40 But a third, more nuanced process may be in play, which need not exclude the previous two, a process which touches upon the workings of Pachymeres’ own historical narrative. At first glance, one may be misled into believing that the praise of the Cuman-descended Ethiopian Sultan’s σύνεσις and the εὐφυία of the people he now rules may constitute implicit praise of the Emperor’s policies and the Empire’s new friends. The Sultan acts συνετῶς by seeking the Emperor’s alliance. The Ethiopian embassy to Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, whose main objective is to obtain permission for imports of slaves from Scythia, is the direct result of Byzantium’s renewed prestige after the recapture of Constantinople. The Byzantines control the Hellespont once again: anybody who wants to do business with the Euxine has to procure for himself “New Constantine’s” consent (τοῦτο δὲ ποιεῖν μὴ ἀξιοῦντας τὸν βα- σιλέα ἀμήχανον, p.237.30; hence κατηνάγκαζεν at 237.2). Much of this is of course true, but all in all Pachymeres is far from praising Michael VIII’s policies towards the barbarians. Failing to foresee the ramifications of his decision—in fact, failing to display the necessary φρόνησις on this particular βου- λή (recall the terms of Pachymeres’ Ethiopian encomium)—the 40 ODB II 733 s.v. “Ethiopians.” On the importance of the Ethiopians in the early Byzantine view of the world see G. Fowden, Empire to Common- wealth. Consequences of Monotheism in Late Antiquity (Princeton 1993), esp. 109– 116. On Cosmas’ Christian Topography, a seminal work for Byzantine geography, see W. Wolska-Conus, Recherches sur la Topographie Chrétienne de Cosmas Indicopleustès (Paris 1962). For the text: W. Wolska-Conus, Cosmas Indicopleustés. Topographie chrétienne I–III (Paris 1968–1973). 314 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE Emperor allowed the Ethiopians to import Scythian mercen- aries through the Euxine. Egyptian intelligence was supple- mented with Scythian valour. What has this generated? Not peace, as the Emperor had hoped, but disaster, as the Ethi- opians turned against their Byzantine allies. As we hinted at the beginning, Pachymeres treats the an- tithesis between Ethiopians and Scythians with a view to a paradox, whose consequences for the Empire were grievous. How could it have come about in the first place that brawn overcame brains? A warlike, brute Cuman was first enslaved to the sluggish Egyptians (brains overcome brawn) and then became their Sultan because the Egyptians appreciated his valour: brains offset their shortcomings by accepting brawn in power. It seems reason- able to suggest that Pachymeres’ ethnological model eschews traditional tripartite structures, in order to underscore even more emphatically the constructive outcome of the merger— the κρᾶσις, for that matter—between two barbarian nations, otherwise imperfect on their own. Sultan Baybars’ acquired σύνεσις is the supreme exemplar of this novel, ominous bal- ance: from two diametrical opposites stems the most beautiful harmony (ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν: Heraclitus fr.8 D.-K., quoted by Aristotle Eth.Nic. 1155b4, a work which Pachymeres commented upon, cf. n.29). Bipolarity, therefore, is essential rhetorically and narratologically; that it may con- tradict classical ethnology is immaterial. Pachymeres directs pungent criticism at Michael VIII’s policies towards the barbarians, inasmuch as they have failed to anticipate the potentially explosive effects of merging brains with brawn. This is where the so-far-absent “we,” the elusive tertium comparationis of traditional ethnological models, comes into play, belatedly but all the more forcefully because of that. The positive attributes of North and South have come into perfect counterpoise and by so doing they have created a new formidable enemy—essentially, a new μεσότης, to displace the old one from its traditionally controlled territories. “We,” the Greeks, who should, supposedly, have possessed superiority over both extremes, allowed this to take place ταῖς ἡμετέραις ἀβουλίαις ἢ κακονοίαις ἢ αὐτονόμοις ὁρμαῖς καὶ ὀρέξεσιν. The language is resonant of caustic and excruciating reversal: if the Ethiopians have intelligently infused themselves with the ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 315 positive qualities of the Scythians (ch. 5, p.241.8–9: θαρροῦν- τας, ἀνδρίζεσθαι), the Greeks, it appears, have been infected by their shortcomings: ἀβουλία (absence of correct political de- liberation), κακόνοια (malice), and above all ὁρμή and ὄρεξις, selfish, irrational impulse and desire. This is the yardstick whereby the detailed description of the giraffe (ch. 4) inserted between the historical parts proper (ch. 3 and 5), should be read. Such indulgent attention to a gift donated by the Ethiopian Sultan to the Emperor, and that in the midst of a fairly grim account of territories lost, may seem like vintage historiographical ἀκρισία, lack of judgment, (or ἀκρασία, intemperance!), on the part of Pachymeres,41 who arguably cannot resist the attractions of a curiosum. Nonetheless, in the face of what follows, the digression on the giraffe reeks of bitter sarcasm: ὃ δὴ καὶ πολλάκις γεγονὸς ἔγνωμεν, ἐκεῖθεν μὲν τῶν χαρισμάτων πρὸς βασιλέα διαπεμπομένων, ἐντεῦθεν δ’ ἀνοιγομένης σφίσι τῆς πρὸς ἐκείνους κελεύθου … τοῦτο [ἡ καμηλοπάρδαλις], ὡσεί τι τέρας, ἐκεῖθεν πρὸς βασιλέα διακομισθέν, ἑκάστης θέαμα ἦν καὶ τρυφὴ τοῖς ὁρῶσι δι’ ἀγορᾶς ἑλκόμενον (ch. 3, p.239.3–5, 26–28). We have learned that this in fact has also happened a number of times, from there the gifts sent to the Emperor, from here the way opened for them towards the Scythians … And this giraffe, like a sort of monster, sent over to the Emperor from there, was a spectacle and a delight to onlookers every single day, as it was being dragged through the market place. In its own way, this assorted beast may symbolise the very kingdom of the Mameluks, a curious blend of nations and idiosyncrasies, a τέρας in its own right.42 If so, such use of zoological allegory here would be extremely interesting. 41 Pachymeres’ account does not seem dependent on Cosmas Indico- pleustes 11.4. On animals as gifts exchanged between the Byzantines and their neighbours, see N. Drocourt, “Les animaux comme cadeaux d’ambas- sade entre Byzance et ses voisins,” in B. Doumerc and Chr. Picard (eds.), Byzance et ses péripheries, Hommage à Alain Ducellier (Toulouse 2004) 67–93, esp. 70. 42 I owe this point to Professor Kaldellis. 316 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE Pachymeres does try to be fair: the Emperor may have con- sented to the Ethiopian alliance out of geopolitical consid- erations (δοκήσει τοῦ συνοίσειν τοῖς ἡμετέροις: ch. 4, p.241.1– 2), but cheap, childish ploys like donating τέρατα (amidst many other χαρίσματα, which reached the capital not once but πολ- λάκις) were no mean bait, apparently. Michael’s lack of both foresight and a strong hand in dealing with the barbarians (apparently because he underestimated the threat they posed, compared with enemies in the West), for all his intent to foster peace, proved “immensely disastrous” (ἐς μέγιστον ἐλυμήνατο: p.241.3). Τhe Tochars (Mongols) and, of course, the Seljuks are ante portas. The Emperor is employing towards them a policy of condescending appeasement, arranging marriages and dis- patching splendid gifts (δουλικαῖς ὑπελεύσεσι κήδη ποιοῦντες καὶ δωροφοροῦντες συχνάκις τὰ κάλλιστά τε καὶ μέγιστα)— including a daughter ἐκ σκοτίων σπερμάτων. The result of this appeasement policy is that the Tochars managed through “friendship” to get their hands on what προσταλαιπωροῦντες πολέμῳ μόλις ἂν ἐκτῶντο (ch. 5, p.243.4–10). Further along in the narrative (ch. 22) Pachymeres will elaborate on Michael VIII’s blameworthiness for the loss of Asia Minor: pernicious social policies (heavy taxation as a means to subdue the border population’s rebellious tendencies); bad choices of imperial dignitaries to be sent to the eastern border; above all, however, the erroneous conviction that Asia Minor, being “just around the corner” (ὡς ἐπὶ θύρας οὖσαν) would be readily recoverable ὅτε δὴ καὶ θελήσοι (“whenever he would feel like it”). Evi- dently, the more Pachymeres foregrounds the marshaled strength of Michael’s enemies, the more catastrophic appears the Emperor’s supercilious attitude towards those enemies and those who could foil them. After all, patronizingly, Michael VIII ἐπὶ τοῖς δυσικοῖς πᾶσαν εἶχεν τὴν ἀσχολίαν τὰ ἐν ποσὶ καταπροϊέμενος (“was completely occupied with the West, utterly neglecting what was right at his feet”). Scholars have long noted Pachymeres’ interest in Asia Minor and the Black Sea, as well as his overall ethnographic curiosity. They have also remarked that for all of his impressively ac- curate observations on these regions, his interest in the West was rather perfunctory and generally limited to the nexus of Byzantine-Western relations. The most useful insight to bear in ANTONIS K. PETRIDES 317 mind, however, is that for Pachymeres geography, hence eth- nography as well, was political.43 Pachymeres had an eye for ethnographic detail, but also, certainly, the uncanny ability to weave such observation into an intricate and sophisticated fabric of internal and international complexities. That Byzan- tine historiography tended to reserve ethnographic observa- tions mainly for relatively unknown “barbarian” nations; or that Pachymeres, born and raised in Nicaea, identified the Empire exclusively with the East44 and granted rather limited scope to the West45—these go only half way toward explaining the measure of respect Pachymeres bestows upon the Empire’s enemies in the East. Pachymeres’ eastward gaze derived from his reading of the historical tides, a reading which gainsaid that of the Emperor: whereas Michael VIII still considered the West as the major threat to the integrity of the Empire and mustered his political efforts around thwarting Charles of Anjou or the Greek sovereigns of Epirus, Pachymeres realised that the grow- ing power of the Mongols and the Seljuks would sooner rather than later have to be reckoned with and that alliances with those and other eastern nations were short-sighted, extem- poraneous solutions likely to cause more mayhem than they could possibly avert. This realisation is given programmatic significance in the proem of Pachymeres’ work, a passage which Ruth Macrides recently called “the finest piece of his- torical analysis by any Byzantine writer.”46 Pachymeres cannot be more explicit: the reason for the gradual decline of the Em- pire was nothing other than the abandonment of the Eastern border. Pachymeres’ narrative in 3.3–5 is ultimately a cautionary tale, a warning of worse things to come and a desperate call for 43 See Laiou, in The Making of Byzantine History 94–121, and her “Italy and the Italians in the Political Geography of the Byzantines,” DOP 49 (1995) 73–98. 44 Laiou, DOP 49 (1995) 80. 45 Laiou, in The Making of Byzantine History 96. 46 R. Macrides, “The Historian in the History,” in C. N. Constantinides et al. (eds.), Φιλέλλην. Studies in Honour of Robert Browning (Venice 1996) 205– 224, at 210. 318 BETWEEN ETHNOGRAPHY AND NARRATIVE a stronger hand:47 “we are still holding back the audacity of the Tochars, but not with audacious force (Τοχάρων δὲ τοῦ θρά- σους καὶ ἔτι ἀνέχομεν, οὐ δυνάμεσιν οὐμενοῦν θαρσαλέαις, ch. 5, p.243.3–4). The ethnological digression provides the perspective, which the Emperor should have had but did not have in his dealings with those nations: awareness of the historical momentum created by a series of dangerous alliances and a mutual empowerment between barbarian nations enclos- ing the Empire into an ever-tightening grip. Pachymeres was not interested to observe every last shred of ethno-physiognom- ical accuracy in his account: he did not hesitate to deviate from standard ethnological models, because narrative, not ethnology was his main concern. I believe that for all the inaccuracies, for instance, in Pachymeres’ Aristotelian works, the departures from the classical tradition in this passage are neither ignorant nor accidental. Pachymeres manipulates his sources with “surgical” readjustments mainly of phrasing—consequential enough to make a difference but not brash enough to be im- mediately spotted. Overemphasising Ethiopian sophistication, investing the Ethiopians with traits pertaining to the Mean, may have been ethnologically inaccurate, but it was narrato- logically expedient. In the light of the historical end result, it made perfect sense.48 December, 2008 The Open University of Cyprus Nicosia, Cyprus apetrides@ouc.ac.cy 47 For the viewpoint of modern historians on the issue, see Nicol, Last Centuries 80–81; and A. Ducellier, “L’abandon de l’Asie par Byzance: de sens des mots à la realité des choses,” BF 25 (1999) 15–45. For the different, more positive appraisal of Michael VIII in Nikephoros Gregoras’ work, see V. Georgiadou, Ἡ εἰκόνα τῆς αὐτοκρατορικῆς ἐξουσίας καὶ ἡ ἰδεολογία τῆς Βυζαντινῆς ἱστοριογραφίας (diss. Univ. Athens 1997). 48 I am indebted to Professors Stephanos Efthymiadis, Anthony Kaldellis, and Dr. Christos Simelidis, for their helpful comments and encouragement. The suggestions, bibliographical and other, by the editorial board and the anonymous referee of GRBS were also invaluable. Special gratitude is due to Professor Efthymiadis for his help with Uspensky’s Russian among so many other things.