This study is an attempt to understand and analyze the role of Byzantine empresses from the perspective of gender proposed by Joan W. Scott. It focuses on the “secular” ceremonies such as promotions, audiences, and acclamations, and its main source is Constantine Ⅶ Porphyrogennetos’s Book of Ceremonies (De ceremoniis aulae by-zantinae).
This study confirms the general scholarly opinion that the power and authority of Byzantine empresses depended on those of emperors, but that they ruled as co-rulers with emperors. The ceremony of the corona-tion of the augusta clearly demonstrates this fact. The case of Ariadne who played a significant role in the coronation of the emperor Anastasius also shows that Byzantine empresses as co-rulers could exert their power and authority on the basis of the dynastic principle. They were believed to be a crucial factor in guaranteeing a legitimate and smooth transfer of imperial authority. In this sense it is not surprising that Byzantine em-presses claimed themselves as the sole ruler in special circumstances.
According to the Book of Ceremonies, the roles of empresses in real politics, however, showed some ambiguities. In promotions to various offices, they had great limitation. The emperor possessed the sole authority of conferring the offices and titles, and the empress did not procure any significant ceremonial role. Even in the description of the promotion to the zoste patrikia, the highest female dignity the empress is not attested. The empress was only involved in some low ranking courtiers such as promotions in silentarioi and koubikoulariai, but only after completion of the promotion ceremony by the emperor.
The acclamations can be seen as a vehicle through which imperial ideology can be rooted and consolidated in Byzantine society. They shows that the empress, although subordinate to the emperor, was continually acclaimed with the emperor and her children and was a constituent of imperial ideology.
In audiences, especially reception of foreign envoys, the empress seem to have assumed an active role. The reception of Olga, the princess of Russia depicted in the Book of Ceremonies exemplifies significant activities of the empress in imperial ceremonies, which was not exceptional, but customary.
In conclusion, Byzantine society was a gender-stratified society, which may be confirmed in the role of the empress in imperial ceremonies. Rituals and symbols expressed both the power and limitation of the fe-male sovereignty, which can also be applied to the Byzantine empress.