Page 282 - Envoys and Political Communication in the Late Antique West 411 - 533

Envoys and Political Communication,411–533

a blunter demonstration of strength. One group of Suevic envoys to
Toulouse in 467–8 was present at a muster of the Gothic army, while a
second Suevic legation witnessed the arrival at Rome of the massive fleet
assembled againstVandal Carthage. 162 Senatorial envoys to Roman em-
perors had been similarly treated to demonstrations of military strength
and the spectacle of foreign suppliants. 163 Such displays required strict
stage management, for whatever their benefits, they had the potential
to be disastrous if proceedings went out of control. In 555, a Persian
envoy accompanied Justinian to races held in commemoration of the
anniversary of the foundation of Constantinople. But the emperor was
embarrassed in frontof the envoy when the crowd in the hippodrome
chanted in protest at a current bread shortage; Justinian inflicted harsh
punishments. 164 By the same token, manipulation of what the envoy saw
included restrictions on what he should not see or learn; it was desirable,
from the host’s point of view, for the envoy to witness parades of mili-
tary might, but not to learn exact details of the actual strength of army
resources. 165
Just as diplomatic correspondence observed the forms of letters of
friendship, so many aspects of the reception of embassies followed the
outward conventions of hospitality. This included not only invitations to
convivia and the provision, in certain cases, of accommodation, but also
the exchange of gifts, ritualised as part of the ceremonial of the reception
of embassies. Gift-exchange between rulers via embassies had an ancient
tradition throughout the Mediterranean region and Iran; sources tend
particularly to record exotica. The eastern emperors continued this traffic
with the Persian shahs and lesser rulers. 166 The exchange of presents was
such a regular element of the reception of Persian embassies that officials
of the imperial vestry had the duty of assessing the gifts brought by Persian
envoys to ensure that presents of similar worth were offered in return,
and additional doors into the consistorium were available to accommodate
the delivery of horses. 167 Western rulers, too, exchanged gifts through
embassies. Cassiodorus’ letters show a regular commerce of gifts among

162
Hydatius, Chron., 243, 247 [238, 241]; Gillett, ‘Accession of Euric’, 20–2; Gillett, ‘Rome,
Ravenna’, 132, 152. See also Procopius, Wars ii, 21.1–14; iii, 7.9. On Envoys in Lee and Shepard,
‘Peri Presbeon’, 30 = Anon. Byz. Treatise on Strategy xliii.
163 164
Matthews, Western Aristocracies, 32–3. Malalas, Chron. xviii, 121.
165
E.g. ‘Peri Presbeon’, 30 = Anon. Byz. Treatise on Strategy xliii; Nikephorus, Short History,ed.
and trans. Mango, il.Lee, Information and Frontiers, 166–70.
166
E.g. Marcellinus comes,Chron., s.aa. 448.1, 496.2 (gifts of a tiger, an elephant, and two giraffes
to the eastern emperor from provincia India (Axum? cf. Croke, Chronicle of Marcellinus, 109));
Malalas, Chron. xviii, 36 (embassy to the shah Cavades announcing Justinian’s accession bears
gifts, 529).
167
De cer. i, 89 (Reiske 405 (doors), 407 (assessment)).
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