Thursday, November 1, 2012

Liudprand of Cremona's view on Constantinople

Liudprand clearly has a very negative view on Constantinople.  He describes the poor way in which he was treated by the emperor upon his arrival to the city, "On the fourth of June, as I said above, we arrived at Constantinople and waited with our horses in heavy rain outside the Carian gate until five o'clock in the afternoon." He also describes the emperor as being disgusting. He is shown to be hideous in appearance and as treating his subjects with inferiority while exalting himself, "No one except Nicephorus wore any jewels or golden ornaments, and the emperor looked more disgusting than ever in the regalia that had been designed to suit the persons of his ancestors….".

I don't think I can trust this description as being accurate. Liuprand was from Rome and the Romans do not generally like the people of Constantinople. That could have been a big reason for him to hate Constantinople and express it in such a negative way. Therefore, this is most likely extremely biased and cannot be trusted.

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