Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Christian Identity

The Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886–912), was not a general or even a soldier, like his predecessors, but a scholar, and it was the religious education he gained under the tutelage of the patriarch Photios that was to distinguish him as an unusual ruler. This book analyses Leo's literary output, focusing on his deployment of ideological principles and religious obligations to distinguish the characteristics of the Christian oikoumene from the Islamic caliphate, primarily in his military manual known as the Taktika. It also examines in depth his 113 legislative Novels, with particular attention to their theological prolegomena, showing how the emperor's religious sensibilities find expression in his reshaping of the legal code to bring it into closer accord with Byzantine canon law. Meredith L. D. Riedel argues that the impact of his religious faith transformed Byzantine cultural identity and influenced his successors, establishing the Macedonian dynasty as a 'golden age' in Byzantium.

• Explores important developments for the middle Byzantine period with respect to the increasing focus on Christianity and religion as key identifiers of East Roman imperial rule and society
• Shows the increasing emphasis placed on the differences between Christianity and Islam, and the deployment of Christian identity by the Byzantine emperor
• Highlights the political and ideological strategies employed by Leo VI in his literary output, with discussions of his most important works