I.3.

2 Theodore Prodromos (c.1100–1160)

On an Icon Bearing a Depiction of Christ

nikos zagklas

Ed.: W. Hörandner, Theodore Prodromos, Historical Poems, 447–48, no. 53

MSS.: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Roe 18 (a. 1349), ff. 450r−v1
Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Graecus Z 524 (s. XIII), f. 103r2
Vatican City, BAV, Graecus 1126 (s. XIV), ff. 149v–150r3
Other Translations: None

Significance
An example of a dedicatory epigram written by a celebrated Komnenian poet for an icon
owned by a high-ranking official in the mid twelfth century. It is likely that the icon had
a depiction of Christ’s face.

The Author
See E. Jeffreys, I.7.6 in this volume.

Text and Context

This dedicatory epigram is written for an icon in the possession of Alexios Kontostephanos,
son of Stephen Kontostephanos4 and nephew of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos
(r. 1143–80). This is not the only work that was commissioned for this particular individual;
there is also a cycle of four epigrams on Kontostephanos’ sword.5 The exact date of

This chapter and all the other contributions by the author to the present volume were written as a part of the
research project UMO-2013/10/E/HS2/00170 funded by the National Science Centre of Poland.
1 For the manuscript see Coxe 1969: 471−79; Kubina 2013: 178−79. Consulted.
2 For the manuscript see Spingou 2014: 139–40; eadem 2015: 50−51. Consulted.
3 For the manuscript see Giannelli 1960: 351; Zagklas, Neglected Poems 137‒45, with recent bibliography.
­Consulted.
4 Stephen Kontostephanos is the addressee of a group of verse epitaphs; see Theodore Prodromos, Historical
Poems, 435–42.
5 For an analysis and translation of this cycle, see N. Zagklas, II.4.1 in this volume. In addition to these two
works, there is also a long verse epitaph commemorating the death of Alexios Kontostephanos preserved
in codex. Laur. Conv. Soppr. 627 (s. XIII) under the name of Prodromos; however, according to Hörandner
1974: 444, its attribution to Prodromos should be rejected due to its late date.

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 I.3.2  |  On an Icon Bearing a Depiction of Christ 237

composition for these two works cannot be determined, but it is likely that they were
written sometime after the year 1150, when Kontostephanos was at the apex of his career.6
Both title and text suggest that the epigram under consideration was written for an
icon of Christ, but they do not offer specific information regarding its iconography. How­
ever, given the reference to the story of the Holy Mandylion (vv. 7−8), it may have been
a depiction of Christ’s face. In order to enhance the significance of the icon and duly
celebrate the depiction of Christ’s shape on it, Prodromos makes use of a very elaborate
discourse replete with a variety of similes and images. In the opening verses of the epi­
gram, we are told that Christ himself is the painter of his own image. There follows the
use of rich imagery from the Old and New Testaments: whereas God previously took
the form of a burning bush in order to speak to Moses, he has now taken the form of a
wooden icon (vv. 5−6). He imprinted his shape upon the wood, just like in the story of
Abgar (vv. 7−8). Although he was crucified on a wooden cross for the sake of humanity,
he appears again on wood (vv. 7−8). As with Abraham, who entertained the Holy Trinity
in Mamre, Kontostephanos entertains God and offers him an ox (vv. 20−24). After devel­
oping all these images, the epigram concludes with a request to Christ to protect Alexios
on the battlefield and to watch over his children and wife.
The epigram consists of thirty dodecasyllabic verses, all of which are accented on the
antepenultimate syllable. In accordance with the metrical norms of other poetic works by
Prodromos,7 the B5 occurs more often than the B7: 22 verses of the poem have the caesura
after the fifth verse (73 percent), while the remaining eight have it after the seventh one
(27 percent). As for prosody, there is a deviation in the proper name Κοντοστέφανον
(the epsilon is counted as long), but also in two other places, where a syllable that would
otherwise be long by position is counted as short (v. 2: γράψασα and v. 3: ἔγραψεν).

6 Alexios Kontostephanos was doux of Thrakesion and participated in three councils (those of 1157, 1166, 
and 1170). PBW: Alexios 25004.
7 See, for instance, Theodore Prodromos, Historical Poems, 125−28; Zagklas, Neglected Poems, 88–89.

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 238 1.3 | Eikon and Iconography in Art and Literature

Text
Εἰς εἰκόνα ἔχουσαν τὸν Χριστὸν ἱστορημένον

Ἂν ἡ Θεοῦ χεὶρ οἶδε καὶ τύπους γράφειν 

ἡ πρὶν βροτοὺς γράψασα πλαστικοῖς νόμοις,
ἡ σή σε χεὶρ ἔγραψεν ὧδε, παντάναξ,
ἐξ αὐτοβαφῶν καὶ θεϊκῶν χρωμάτων.
5 ἦ μὴν προφήτην Μωυσῆν εὑρὼν νέον 
τὸ ξύλον εἰσδὺς ὡς βάτον λαλεῖν θέλεις·
ἦ μὴν δι’ ἡμᾶς ὡς δι’ Αὔγαρον πάλαι
τὸ ξύλον εὑρὼν ἀπομάττῃ τὸν τύπον,
ὡς ἂν τρίτον μόρφωμα τῆς σῆς ἰδέας
10 λινοῦν, κεραμοῦν καὶ ξύλινον τυγχάνῃ. 
ἔδει γὰρ ἴσως τὸν ταθέντα σε ξύλῳ
κἀν τῷ ξύλῳ νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι πάλιν.
χθὲς εὑρὼν εὐτύχημα τὴν σὴν μητέρα
νῦν καὶ τὸν υἱὸν καὶ θεόν σε λαμβάνω·
15 ἴσως γάρ, ἴσως υἱικοῦ πόθου βίαις 
τῆς μητρὸς ἐκτὸς οὐκ ἐκαρτέρεις μένειν
κἀντεῦθεν αὐτὴν ἦλθες εὑρήσων πάλιν.
καὶ δόξα τῇ σῇ χρηστότητι, Χριστέ μου,
ὅτι πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀξιοῖς καταλύειν.
20 κἂν οὐκ ἐγὼ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ τύπον φέρω, 
Μαμβρῆ τέως δρῦν τὴν κατοικίαν βλέπω,
ἐν ᾗ ξενίζω δουλικῶς τὸν δεσπότην
καὶ τοῦ πόθου τὸν μόσχον ἄσμενος θύω,
ἐξ οὗ φαγὼν μέμνησο τῆς σῆς ἑστίας.
25 Ἀλέξιόν με τὸν ξενίσαντα σκέπε 
Κοντοστέφανον Κομνηνὸν τὸ μητρόθεν
στομῶν κατ’ ἐχθρῶν ἐν μάχαις μοι τὴν σπάθην,
φρουρῶν τὰ τέκνα, τὴν τεκοῦσαν συσκέπων
τὴν ἀπὸ Δουκῶν ἱκέτιν σου Μαρίαν
30 καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ἀξιῶν κληρουχίας.

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 I.3.2  |  On an Icon Bearing a Depiction of Christ 239

Translation
On an Icon Bearing a Depiction of Christ

If God’s hand can also paint forms, that hand that earlier formed mortals from clay,1 your
own hand painted you here, o Lord of all, from divine colors of your own creation.2 [5]
Indeed, having found a new prophet Moses, you want to speak by entering into the wood
as you once did with the thorn bush;3 indeed, for our sake, just as for Abgar long ago,
having found the wood, you imprint [your] form,4 so that a third shape could receive your
image, [10] namely linen, clay, and <now> wood. For having been crucified on wood, it
was perhaps fitting that you should again appear in wood now. Yesterday, I found your
mother by a stroke of good fortune, now I also receive you, the Son and God; [15] perhaps
due to [your] affection as her Son, you could not wait to be without your mother; for
this reason you came to find her again.6 And it is an honour, my Christ, that out of your
kindness7 you deign to stay with us as our guest. [20] For even if I do not have the shape
of Abraham, I consider [my] dwelling the Oak of Mamre, where like a slave, I entertain
my Lord as a guest, and gladly sacrifice the calf of your desire,8 and when you eat of it,
remember the house that hosts you. [25] Protect me, your host, Alexios Kontostephanos,
Komnenos on my mother’s side, by hardening my sword in battles against my enemies,9
guarding my children, and protecting the woman who bore them, your suppliant, Maria
of the Doucas family, [30] and deem me worthy of the inheritance there [i.e. heaven].

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 240 1.3 | Eikon and Iconography in Art and Literature

Commentary
1. Though the first two verses were printed in Miller’s edition of Manuel Philes’ poet­
ic works,8 Prodromos’ authorship is out of question.9 As to the word combination
πλαστικοῖς νόμοις, (“the laws of the plastic arts”) attested only in Prodromos’ poetic
corpus, it should be construed as a reference to the creation of Adam from dust de­
scribed in Gen. 2:7.
2. Αὐτοβαφής10 is a rare word throughout Late Antiquity and the Byzantine peri­
od (cf. TLG). Before Prodromos, it occurs in works of Nonnus of Panopolis, John
Chrysostom, John of Gaza, and Michael Attaleiates. After Prodromos, it is attested
only in the works of Gregorios Antiochos and Manuel Holobolos.
3. A reference to Ex. 3:1−6, which describes Moses’ encounter with God on Mount
Horeb and the appearance of the latter in the form of a burning bush. The story is
also included in Prodromos’ iambic and hexametric cycle of tetrastichs on the Old
and New Testaments.11
4. Though many Byzantine texts discuss the story of the holy Mandylion,12 this is the
single allusion to this story within Prodromos’ poetic corpus.
5. A very interesting reference to the materials that receive the image of God: linen
stands for the Mandylion of Abgar, clay for the man who was formed in the likeness
of God, and wood for the icon that depicts Christ.
6. Vv. 13‒17 offer insight into the twelfth-century practice of icon veneration. Here we
are told that the icon of Christ was placed together with an icon of the Theotokos,
which had been purchased by Kontostephanos the day before.
7. The wording of the verse bears conspicuous resemblance to a verse (Τῇ σῇ ἀφάτῳ
δόξα χρηστότητι, ὦ Ἰησοῦ) from a Canon, possibly written by Joseph the Studite.13
8. Alexios’ hospitality of the icon of Christ is compared with that of Abraham as de­
scribed in Gen 18:1−16. The philoxenia of Abraham is not only a recurrent motif in the
poetic corpus of Prodromos, but also the subject matter of various Prodromic poems
written for depictions of this event.14
9. Interestingly, Prodromos wrote a cycle of four epigrams which were meant to be in­
scribed on the sword of Alexios Kontostephanos.15

8 Manuel Philes, Poems, 270.

9 Hörandner 1974: 447.
10 “self-dipped,” LSJ, s.v.
11 Papagiannis 1997: 57−58 no. 43.
12 For the story see Ševčenko, “Mandyas,” ODB 2:1282–83; for texts dealing with this story see Guscin 2009.
13 Nicas and Schirò 1970: 53; this has not been noted in Hörandner’s edition.
14 For more details on this issue see Zagklas, Neglected Poems, 225−30.
15 For a discussion of these epigrams see N. Zagklas, II.4.1 in this volume; as already noted by Hörandner, the
similarity in the wording between this verse and the first two verses of the first poem from the cycle is very
striking.

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 I.3.2  |  On an Icon Bearing a Depiction of Christ 241

Bibliography
Primary Sources
Manuel Philes, Poems.
Theodore Prodromos, Historical Poems.
Secondary Literature
Coxe, H. O., 1969 (repr. with corrections from the ed. of 1853, with handwritten notes by Nigel
Wilson), Bodleian Library Quarto Catalogues, I: Greek Manuscripts (Οxford).
Giannelli, C., 1960, “Epigrammi di Teodoro Prodromo in onore dei senti megalomartiri Teo­
doro, Giorgio e Demetrio,” in Studi in onore di Luigi Castiglioni (Florence), 333−71 = SBN
10 (1963), 349−78.
Guscin, M., 2009, The Image of Edessa (Leiden and Boston, Mass.).
Hörandner, W., 1974, Theodoros Prodromos, Historische Gedichte (Vienna).
Kubina, K., 2013, “Manuel Philes and the Asan Family: Two Inedited Poems and Their Context
in Philes’ Oeuvre (including editio princeps),” JÖB 63, 177−98.
Nicas, C., and G. Schirò, 1970, Analecta hymnica graeca, vol. no. 8 (Rome).
Papagiannis, G., 1997, Iambische und Hexametrische Tetrasticha auf die Haupterzählungen des
Alten und Neuen Testaments (Wiesbaden).
Spingou, F., 2015, “Snapshots from the Eleventh Century: The Lombards from Bari, a Chartou­
larios from ‘Petra’, and the Complex of Mangana,” BMGS 39, 50−65.
Spingou, F., 2014, “The Anonymous Poets of the Anthologia Marciana: Questions of Collection
and Authorship,” in The Author in Middle Byzantine Literature: Modes, Functions, and
Identities, ed. A. Pizzone (Berlin and Boston, Mass.), 139–53.
Zagklas, Neglected Poems.

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