Gender Issues and Female Imperial Images in Skylitzes Matritensis

This paper explores the visual construction of the feminine ideal in Byzantium through the Skylitzes Matritensis, an eleventh-century illuminated chronicle preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional de España. Out of its 574 miniatures, 110 depict women, revealing their symbolic significance within the manuscript’s visual narrative of imperial authority. Far from being mere illustrations of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historiarum, these images articulate complex archetypes that reflect the intersection of gender, class, and religion in Byzantine society. Building upon previous studies focused mainly on empresses—such as those by Emma Strugnell and Lynda White—this research expands the scope to include women from diverse social backgrounds. Three primary categories of female representation are identified: prophetic, maternal, and diplomatic. By analyzing these visual typologies, the paper argues that the Skylitzes Matritensis both reproduces and questions Byzantine patriarchal ideology. The manuscript reveals how women, though constrained by gendered norms, participated in the construction of imperial legitimacy through symbolic, religious, and political agency.