Construindo uma imagem imperial em Bizâncio: narrativa sobre a Basílica de Santa Sofia em "Das Construções", de Procópio de Cesareia - século VI

Abstract

The present study performs a look on the stories about the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia contained in the Book I of the work On Buildings, wrote by Procopius of Caesarea in the VI Century at the request of Emperor Justinian. We are willing, therefore, to comprehend how the narratives are used in favor of imperial power, since the description created an historiographic image of Justinian which, thereafter, consolidated and strenghtened his government. In order to do that, in the first chapter we aimed to comprehend the author and his work, introducing some paths that lead us to reflections on Procopius de Cesarea and his book On Buildings. In the second chapter, we approach how the union between Empire and Church, that was already consolidated in the VI Century and worked as a basis for the political representation created for Justinian, has happened. Thereby, we take a look on how Procopius has appropriated this representation to create his narratives. In the same chapter, we try to observe the function that the Hagia Sophia has previously exercised in this relation, demonstrating the junction of these two powers. That allows us to observe the historic relevance of a reconstruction that took place in the VI Century and to leave a written legacy of these events. Thus, in the third chapter, we have analyzed the historic role of the stories about the basilica, stories in which an historiographic image of the imperial power was created as a consequence of the way they were developed by Procopius. It was made possible, then, to realize that Justinian and Procopius made use of tradicional Byzantine heritages, being them the relation with Christianity and the space of religiosity and memory present in the basilica, to consolidate the power of governor not only by the reconstruction of the Hagia Sofia, but also through the creation of an historiographic image in a narrative that appropriats all these aspects.