"The Sarantine Mosaic": Fiction and History Quiz

Answer: Greece

Trakesia represents Greece and the center of the Greek-speaking empire. After the division of the Roman empire in 395 C. E., Greek remained the main language spoken in Byzantium, with the influence of Latin, never strong in the East, slowly declining.

Answer: Yes

In his "Secret History", Procopius makes numerous derogatory comments concerning Justinian and his wife. One of them is the suggestion that the emperor is, in fact, Devil incarnated and that he never sleeps, conversing with demons during the sleepless nights.

Answer: the Helladikan faith

In his reworking of Christian controversies Kay used the model from Greek mythology, creating a Christ-like/Phaeton-like figure of Helladikos the Charioteer, son of God, whose very existence is a source of great controversy for Sarantine theologians. The Zubir is a pagan symbol of the Odin-like forest god; Perun is one of two main gods of Kay's Persia.

The Jaddite faith is the dominant religion of the Sarantine world and an equivalent of Christianity.

Answer: historical Theodoric the Great and fictional Shirvan

Theodoric the Great was the king of Visigoths, while Shirvan in the novel is a Great King of Persia. They both, actually, have their own equivalents: Theodoric is a model for Hildric, the king of the Antae and Gisel's father, while Shirvan is based on Khosrau I, the greatest of Sassanid rulers.

Answer: Kasia, the ex-slave and wife to a high-rank officer of the Legions

Leontes, with his legendary strategic talent, is most certainly based on the character of Belisarius, the greatest commander of his times. Valerius is the equivalent of emperor Justin, while the real-life model for his nephew and successor Petrus Valerius II was Justinian the Great.

Answer: False

The Hippodrome factions, with their own political and religious affiliations, were of extreme importance for the politics of Byzantium. More often than not they were a source of serious trouble. It was their rebellion called the Nika riots in 532 C. E. (also portrayed by Kay in his novel) that left the city sacked and destroyed, with hundreds of people dead.

Answer: The restitution of the former Roman/Rhodian empire

Justinian sent Belisarius to recapture Italy and tried to bring into life the project of the "renovatio imperii", the restitution of the empire. Despite partial success, however (like the recapture of Rome and a major part of Italy in 530s), his triumph turned out to be ephemeral and its effects short-lasting.

Answer: True

Even Procopius in "Secret History" states that the imperial couple were very close. And just like in the novel's Valerius, in real life Justinian had the law changed in order to marry ex-dancer Theodora. She maintained her influence over him as long as she lived.

Answer: All the answers are false

Theodora, in fact, died c. 20 years before Justinian, while in Kay's novel Alixana outlived her husband. Both characters were of low birth, both, in fact, daughters of the bear-keepers for the circus. Also in both cases they were sympathising with heresies (remember Alixana demanding forbidden dolphins on her mosaic?).

Answer: a) Justin II, b) Leontes

Belisarius, unlike his counterpart in the novel, never became emperor; Justinian was succeeded by his nephew, Justin II. Justin I was Justinian's uncle and predecessor, not heir. Gisel is a tricky suggestion: in the novel she becomes the wife of Leontes and the empress, but not direct heiress of Valerius II!