【简译】拜占庭帝国的女性

2022-10-10 10:44 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

Women in the Byzantine Empire (4th to 15th century CE) were, amongst the upper classes, largely expected to supervise the family home and raise children while those who had to work for a living did so in most of the industries of the period, from manufacturing to hospitality. Although they were the minority, some women did manage to rise above the limitations imposed on them by the male-dominated culture and became hugely successful businesswomen, writers, philosophers and even empresses who ruled as regents or in their own right. Such figures include the empresses Theodora, Irene and Zoe, the biographer Anna Komnene, Hypatia the philosopher, and Kassia the poet.

在拜占庭帝国（公元4世纪至15世纪）的上层阶级中，妇女的主要工作是照顾家庭和抚养孩子，而那些必须为生计工作的女性则在当时的大多数行业中工作，从制造业到酒店业。虽然有工作的女性是少数，但一些女性确实设法超越了男性主导文化对她们的限制，成为非常成功的女商人、作家、哲学家，甚至是作为摄政者或以自己的权利进行统治的皇后。这些人物包括狄奥多拉皇后、艾琳和佐伊；传记作家安娜·科穆宁娜、哲学家希帕蒂亚和诗人卡西亚。

资料来源

Unlike in many other medieval cultures, Byzantine history, as written by the people of the period themselves, almost exclusively focuses on the exaggerated deeds and misdemeanours of emperors along with a separate and equally problematic literature on saints and squabbles over religious doctrine. Social history is almost entirely neglected and what remains for modern historians to study is, unfortunately, woefully insufficient to comprehensively reconstruct such features of Byzantine history as class relations, family life and economics. As the historian C. Mango regretfully summarises:

There is little hope that this meagre and haphazard body of material will ever be increased, nor can we remedy the near absence of inscriptions on stone, which for classical antiquity provide such a rich source of information for society, institutions, and religion. (8)

与其他中世纪文化不同，由当时的人们自己撰写的拜占庭历史，几乎只关注皇帝的夸张事迹和不端行为，以及关于圣人和宗教教义争吵的单独的、同样有问题的文献。社会史几乎完全被忽视了，不幸的是，留给现代历史学家研究的东西完全不足以全面重建拜占庭历史的特点，例如阶级关系、家庭生活和经济。正如历史学家西里尔·曼戈遗憾地总结：

我们几乎没有希望增加这些微不足道和杂乱无章的材料，也无法弥补几乎没有留存下来的石刻，而石刻为古典古代提供了如此丰富的社会、机构和宗教信息来源。(8)

Another difficulty, and a common one for ancient societies, is that sources are almost always written by men writing from their own perspectives and with their own prejudices. Still, we must make the best of what we have and it is possible to make many useful observations on the role of women in Byzantine society by piecing together indirect references, colourful biographies of famous women, sometimes the literary works of women themselves, depictions in art, and so on.

另一个困难，也是古代社会常见的困难，就是资料几乎都是由男性从他们自己的角度出发，带着自己的偏见撰写的。不过，我们必须充分利用我们所拥有的资料，通过拼凑间接参考资料、丰富多彩的著名女性传记、有时是女性自己的文学作品、艺术中的描述等，才有可能对女性在拜占庭社会中的作用进行有效观察。

贵族女性的角色

As in most ancient cultures, the women we know most about in Byzantium are those who belonged to the upper classes. One event which greatly affected the role of all women in Byzantine society, though, was the increasing prominence of Christianity through the centuries, as here summarised by the historian L. Garland:

…options for women evolved throughout the empire while still reflecting both the provisions of Roman law and longstanding customs. Christian values became more widely accepted and, with celibacy and virginity seen as an ideal lifestyle, women increasingly saw a life of chastity as an option. Many girls in the fourth and fifth centuries went into monastic institutions or, more usually, lived celibately at home, while the church instituted an “order” of virgins to support such girls as it did for widows. Marriage was, however, to remain the norm, and the majority of women in Byzantium were expected to concentrate on family duties as wives and mothers. (in Bagnall, 7117)

与大多数古代文化一样，我们对拜占庭女性了解最多的是那些属于上层社会的妇女。不过，有一件事对所有女性在拜占庭社会中的角色产生了很大影响，那就是几个世纪以来基督教的地位日益突出，历史学家琳达·加兰在此总结道。

......女性的选择在整个帝国中不断发展，同时仍然反映了罗马法律的规定和长期的习俗。基督教的价值观得到了更广泛的接受，由于独身和贞女被视为一种理想的生活方式，拜占庭女性越来越多地将贞洁的生活视为一种选择。第四和第五世纪的许多女孩进入修道院，或更多地在家里过着独身生活，而教会则建立了一个贞女的“秩序”，以支持这些女孩，就像它对寡妇一样。然而，婚姻仍然是一种规范，拜占庭的大多数妇女被期望作为妻子和母亲专注于家庭。(在巴格诺尔，7117）。

To better ensure a girl remained a virgin until marriage, some attempt at segregating boys and girls was made with the latter expected to largely remain in the confines of the family home and only come into direct contact with males who were close members of the family. For more well-off families, there was even a segregated part of the home reserved only for the women of the household, the gynaikonitis, but this seems to have been a private space to keep men out rather than a restricted place from which women could not leave. In practice, it is clear that women could and did enter the wider world. Women spent time in public places: among others, shopping in the market squares, attending the public baths, visiting relatives, attending church (where they sat apart from the men), and participating in festivals.

为了更好地确保女孩在婚前保持处女之身，人们试图对男孩和女孩进行隔离，希望后者在很大程度上留在家庭的范围内，只与家庭的亲密成员的男性直接接触。对于更富裕的家庭来说，家里甚至有一个只为家庭妇女保留的区域，即女眷内室，但这似乎是一个不让男人进入的私人空间，而不是一个女性不能离开的限制场所。在实践中，很明显，女性可以自由外出。妇女在公共场所度过的时间包括：在市场广场购物、去公共浴室、探亲、去教堂（在那里她们与男人分开坐）和参加节日活动。

Aristocratic women in the Byzantine Empire, then, like in the earlier Western Roman Empire, were largely expected to marry, produce children and then look after them. Women also cared for the family home - specifically its property and servants. Girls, if they received education at all, were educated in the family home. They were taught spinning and weaving, and they studied the Bible and the lives of the saints. Reading was much more common than the skill of writing and, as the historian J. Herrin points out:

Studies of literacy based on later documents suggest that the ability to read, if not to write, was more widespread among women in Byzantium than in medieval Europe. (122)

那么，在拜占庭帝国的贵族妇女，就像在早期的西罗马帝国一样，主要任务是结婚、生孩子，然后照顾他们。妇女还负责照顾家庭，特别是其财产和仆人。女孩，如果她们接受教育的话，也是在家庭中接受教育。她们学习纺纱和织布，学习圣经和圣人的生活。阅读比写作技能要普遍得多，正如历史学家朱迪斯·赫林指出：

基于后期文献的识字研究表明，在拜占庭的女性中，即使没有写作能力，她们的阅读能力也比中世纪欧洲的妇女更普遍。(122)

The earliest a girl married was around the age of 12 (for boys it was 14). The involvement and consent of the parents was expected and, consequently, a betrothal was usually regarded as binding. Re-marriage was possible as long as a suitable period of mourning was observed by the widow but a third marriage was rare and only permitted under special circumstances which included being without children. Divorce was difficult to achieve, although if a wife committed adultery she could be put aside. Following the reforms of Constantine I (r. 306-337 CE), the only grounds for a woman to divorce her husband was if he was found guilty of murder or witchcraft. The laws of Justinian I (r. 527-565 CE) went even further and prohibited divorce altogether except if both parties consented to retire to a monastic life.

女孩最早的结婚年龄是12岁左右（男孩是14岁）。人们期待父母的参与和同意，因此，订婚通常具有约束力。只要寡妇遵守适当的服丧期，就可以再婚，但第三次婚姻的情况很少，只有在特殊情况下才允许——包括没有孩子的情况。离婚是很难实现的，尽管如果妻子有通奸行为，她在家庭中可以被丈夫忽视。在君士坦丁一世（公元306-337年）的改革之后，妇女与丈夫离婚的唯一理由是丈夫被发现犯有谋杀或巫术罪。查士丁尼一世（公元527-565年）的法律甚至更进一步，完全禁止离婚，除非双方都同意退休后过修道生活。

The role and influence of the women of the higher classes are here summarised by the historian A. Laiou:

Aristocratic women played an important role in politics and society. They were the medium through which alliances between aristocratic families were made and since they had property of their own, in the form of both dowry and patrimonial property, they had considerable economic power. Names, lineage, property, and family connections were transmitted along the female as well as the male line; and aristocratic women were as acutely conscious and proud of their lineage as their male relatives. (Shepard, 814)

历史学家A.Laiou在此总结了上层阶级妇女的作用和影响：

贵族妇女在政治和社会中发挥着重要作用。她们是贵族家庭之间结成联盟的媒介，由于她们拥有自己的财产，以嫁妆和世袭财产的形式存在，她们拥有相当大的经济实力。姓名、血统、财产和家庭关系是沿着女性和男性的血统传递的；贵族妇女和她们的男性亲属一样，对自己的血统有着强烈的意识和骄傲。(Shepard, 814)

职场女性

Women who had to earn a living worked in the agricultural, retail, manufacturing (especially textiles and silk) and hospitality industries. Some of the known jobs which could be performed by women included those of the weavers, bakers, cooks, innkeepers, washerwomen, midwives, medical practitioners, money-lenders and bath keepers. Many of these jobs and the knowledge connected to them would have been passed down from generation to generation. Some of the more unusual female professions were sorcerers and matchmakers. There was nothing to prevent women from owning their own businesses such as inns and shops.

需要谋生的女性在农业、零售业、制造业（特别是纺织业和丝绸业）和酒店业工作。一些已知的可由女性从事的工作包括纺织工、面包师、厨师、旅馆老板、洗衣妇、助产士、医生、放债人和浴室管理员。其中许多工作以及与之相关的知识都是代代相传的。一些比较特殊的女性职业是巫师和媒人。没有什么可以阻止女性拥有自己的企业，如旅馆和商店。

Illustrating that women could own their own business and do very well indeed is the case of the well-connected aristocrat Anicia Juliana (c. 461 - c. 527 CE), who became perhaps the richest woman in the empire. Anicia did not simply save her fortune but was a celebrated sponsor of church buildings and art, notably building and furnishing the Saint Polyeuktos and Saint Euphemia churches in Constantinople with fine artworks. The former was probably the largest church in the capital until the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia by Justinian I.

人缘关系良好的贵族安妮西亚·朱莉安娜（约461-约527年）的例子说明，妇女可以拥有自己的事业，而且确实做得很好，她可能成为帝国最富有的女人。安妮西亚并不是简单地积攒财富，而是著名的教堂建筑和艺术赞助商，特别是在君士坦丁堡建造了圣保利尤克图斯教堂和圣尤菲米亚教堂，并为其配备了精美的艺术作品。前者可能是首都最大的教堂，直到查士丁尼一世重建圣索菲亚大教堂。

The lowest class of women were the prostitutes and actresses, who were considered to be pretty much the same thing in Byzantine society, at least in the eyes of the upper classes. Brothels were present, especially in the busy ports of the empire such as the capital and Ephesus. Actresses were usually expected to deliver pornographic singing and dancing routines in theatres or public arenas like the Hippodrome of Constantinople - hence their dubious reputation.

最底层的女性是妓女和女演员，她们在拜占庭社会中被认为是“物品一样”的存在，至少在上层社会的眼中是如此。妓院是存在的，尤其是在帝国的繁忙港口，如首都和以弗所。女演员通常要在剧院或公共场所（如君士坦丁堡赛马场）表演色情的歌舞节目——因此她们的名声很不好。

There was likely very little movement between classes in Byzantine society but there was one quick route that could be taken from the very bottom to the very top of the social ladder. This was the imperial bride show organised for an emperor to find himself an empress. Naturally, a girl from an important family, even a foreign one, might have had an advantage as she provided a means to strengthen diplomatic relations at home or abroad but a common girl might just get chosen if she were pretty and bright enough. Empress Irene became one such case when she was plucked from the obscurity of a modest Athenian family and chosen to be the wife of Emperor Leo IV (r. 775-780 CE). A less ambitious target for mothers was to send their daughters to the imperial court where they might gain employment as ladies-in-waiting.

在拜占庭社会中，各阶层之间的流动可能非常少，但有一条快速通道可以从社会的最底层走到最顶层。这就是为皇帝寻找皇后而举办的皇室新娘秀。自然，一个来自重要家庭的女孩，甚至是一个外国家庭的女孩，可能会有优势，因为她提供了一个加强国内外外交关系的手段，但如果一个普通女孩足够漂亮和聪明，她也可能会被选中。艾琳皇后就是这样一个例子，她从一个不起眼的雅典家庭中被选中，成为利奥四世皇帝（公元775-780年）的妻子。拜占庭的母亲们或多或少都怀有的雄心勃勃的目标，是将她们的女儿送到皇宫，在那里她们可能会被聘为女官。

女性的权利

Women had certain rights regarding property. A wife could not be separated from her dowry and daughters could inherit an equal portion of the family estate with their brothers if no specific will was made. If a husband died, his wife became the official guardian of the children. Women could, then, become landowners in their own right, head a household and be subject to taxes like any landowning male.

女性在财产方面拥有某些权利。妻子不能与她的嫁妆分离，如果没有具体的遗嘱，女儿可以与她们的兄弟平等地继承家庭财产。如果丈夫去世，他的妻子成为孩子的正式监护人。因此，女性可以成为有自己权利的土地所有者，成为一家之主，并像任何拥有土地的男性一样纳税。

A woman could not perform any judicial duties or any significant religious function in the Church with the exception of widows over 40 years of age who could act as deaconesses or be involved with services specifically aimed at women such as female baptisms. There were many monasteries devoted to women and at these they held all posts, including that of the abbess. Such nunneries attracted not only those wishing to devote their lives to Christ but also women who had become widows or lacked the means to live independently in the outside world. They were also a place of refuge and help for female victims of crime, illness and general misfortune.

除了40岁以上的寡妇可以担任女执事或参与专门针对妇女的服务（如女性洗礼）外，女性不能履行任何司法职责或教会中的任何重要宗教职能。有许多专门为妇女服务的修道院，在这些修道院中，女性担任所有职务，包括女修道院院长。这样的女修道院不仅吸引了那些希望将自己的生命奉献给基督的人，而且也吸引了那些成为寡妇或缺乏在外部世界独立生活的手段的妇女。这也是犯罪、疾病和一般不幸的女性受害者的避难所和帮助场所。

A Byzantine woman may not have enjoyed exactly the same rights and privileges as a male but in one area they were regarded as equal: that of the Christian faith. There was spiritual equality and many of the most revered saints and martyrs were women. Mary Theotokos (the Mother of God) holding the infant Christ was one of the most common images in icons of the Byzantine Church.

拜占庭女性可能没有享有与男性完全相同的权利和特权，但在一个领域，她们被认为是平等的：基督教信仰。精神上是平等的，许多最受尊敬的圣人和殉道者都是女性。抱着婴儿基督的圣母玛利亚是拜占庭教会的圣像中最常见的图像之一。

Women may not have had much opportunity in the formal church hierarchy but they could make their mark as individual holy persons who inspired others to follow them. Byzantine ascetics achieved celebrity for their great feats of endurance and personal sacrifice in order to be closer to God and a small number of these were women. The most famous is perhaps the 5th-6th century CE Saint Matrona of Perge who, following a vision, cut off her hair, disguised herself as a eunuch and entered a male-only monastery in Constantinople, calling herself Babylas. There she outdid the male monks in her fasting and ascetic lifestyle but, when discovered by the abbot, she was forced to move out to a female monastery in Emesa, Syria. Performing miracles, her reputation grew so that she could return to Constantinople where she established her own famous monastery which included clientele who were members of the imperial family. Her ascetic life did her no harm physically and she lived to the ripe old age of 100.

女性在正式的教会等级制度中可能没有什么机会，但她们可以作为个人的圣徒，激励他人追随她们，从而打响自己的名声。拜占庭禁欲主义者因其伟大的忍耐力和个人牺牲以接近上帝而闻名于世，其中有一小部分是女性。最著名的可能是公元5-6世纪佩尔格的圣玛特罗娜，她在看到异象后，剪掉了头发，伪装成一个太监，进入君士坦丁堡一个只有男性的修道院，自称巴比拉斯。在那里，她的禁食和苦行生活方式超过了男修士，但被院长发现后，她被迫搬到了叙利亚埃梅萨的一个女修院。她创造了奇迹，名声越来越大，以至于她可以回到君士坦丁堡，在那里她建立了自己著名的修道院，其成员包括皇室成员。她的苦行生活对她的身体没有任何伤害，所以她活到了100岁的高龄。

著名的拜占庭女性

Byzantium has a long history and it involves many women of note. Perhaps the first Byzantine woman to achieve lasting fame is Helena (born c. 250 CE), the mother of Constantine I, who famously embarked on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where she built several churches, notably the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and gave out money to the worthy and needy. According to legend Helena discovered the True Cross on her travels and brought it back to Constantinople.

拜占庭有着悠久的历史，它涉及到许多著名的女性。也许第一个获得持久声誉的拜占庭妇女是海伦娜（约生于公元250年），她是君士坦丁一世的母亲，她开始了对耶路撒冷的朝圣之旅，在那里她建造了几座教堂，特别是伯利恒的耶稣诞生教堂，并向有价值的人和需要的人发放钱财。据传说，海伦娜在旅行中发现了真十字架，并把它带回了君士坦丁堡。

Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 370-415 CE) was a celebrated philosopher, scientist and mathematician who also tutored at the famous university of her home city. Hypatia met a violent end for her pagan views: she was stabbed to death with quill pens (or hit with tiles in another version of events) by a group of pro-Christian hospital attendants.

亚历山大的希帕提娅（约公元370-415年）是一位著名的哲学家、科学家和数学家，她还在家乡的大学担任导师。希帕提娅（因其异教观点而遭遇暴力对待：她被一群亲基督教的医院服务人员用鹅毛笔刺死（或在另一个版本中用瓷砖砸死）。

Empress Theodora (r. 527-548 CE), the wife of Justinian I, is perhaps the most famous of all the Byzantine empresses today. Overcoming the stigma of her early career as an actress in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, she would become an invaluable support for her husband, famously convincing him to face and put down the dangerous Nika Revolt of 532 CE. She is also the subject of one of the most celebrated Byzantine artworks, the mosaics of the San Vitale church in Ravenna, Italy. One glittering panel shows Theodora resplendent with a large halo and wearing a great deal of jewellery and a Tyrian purple robe. It is an iconic image of Byzantine womanhood that has coloured how empresses and aristocratic women of the period are viewed ever since it was made.

查士丁尼一世的妻子狄奥多拉皇后（公元527-548年）可能是所有拜占庭皇后中最著名的一位。她克服了早年在君士坦丁堡赛马场当演员的耻辱，成为她丈夫的宝贵支持者。最著名的事件是说服丈夫面对并平息了公元532年危险的尼卡叛乱。她也是最著名的拜占庭艺术作品之一的主角，即意大利拉文纳的圣维塔莱教堂的马赛克画。其中一块闪亮的板块显示，狄奥多拉头戴大光环，佩戴大量珠宝，身穿提亚纳紫袍，光彩夺目。这是拜占庭女性的一个标志性形象，自此，人们一直在关注这个时期的皇后和贵族妇女。

Irene was the only female Byzantine ruler to assume the male title of basileus or “emperor” (as opposed to empress). The wife of Leo IV (r. 775-780 CE), when he died Irene assumed the role of regent for her son Constantine VI from 780 to 790 CE. From 797 to 802 CE she ruled as emperor in her own right, the first woman to do so in Byzantine history. Her troubled reign, scheming plots to keep her throne and the infamous blinding of her son, have led to her gaining the darkest of reputations - and this is not helped by such conceits as Irene being the only Byzantine ruler to ever put her face on both sides of her gold coins.

艾琳是拜占庭唯一一位使用男性头衔“巴西琉斯”或 “皇帝”（相对于皇后）的女性统治者。她是利奥四世（公元775-780年）的妻子，在丈夫去世后，艾琳于公元780-790年期间担任了她儿子君士坦丁六世的摄政。从公元797年到802年，她以自己的权利统治着皇帝，是拜占庭历史上第一个这样做的女性。她混乱的统治，为保住她的王位而进行的阴谋诡计，以及她儿子臭名昭著的致盲事件，使她获得了最黑暗的声誉——而这并没有因为艾琳是唯一一个将她的现象印在金币两面的拜占庭统治者这样的自负而得到帮助。

Another famous Byzantine woman was Zoe, the daughter of Constantine VIII (r. 1025-1028 CE), who had no sons, and so she became empress in 1028 CE, ruling until 1050 CE with also a brief spell as co-ruler with her sister Theodora in 1042 CE. Zoe had a hand in the succession of five different emperors, three of whom were her husband: Romanos III (r. 1028-1034 CE), Michael IV the Paphlagonian (r. 1034-1041 CE) and Constantine IX (r. 1042-1055 CE). Accused of murdering her first husband, she was banished to a monastery before returning once more to the throne in 1041 CE after her second husband's death. She is the subject of a colourful biography by the 11th century CE Byzantine historian Michael Psellos.

另一位著名的拜占庭妇女是佐伊，她是君士坦丁八世（Constantine VIII，公元1025-1028年）的女儿，她没有儿子，所以在公元1028年成为皇后，一直统治到公元1050年，还曾在公元1042年与她的妹妹狄奥多拉女皇短暂地共同执政。佐伊参与了五个不同皇帝的继任，其中三个是她的丈夫。罗曼努斯三世（公元1028-1034年）、帕夫拉戈尼亚的米海尔四世（公元1034-1041年）和君士坦丁九世（公元1042-1055年）。她被指控谋杀了第一任丈夫，被放逐到一个修道院，然后在第二任丈夫死后于公元1041年再次回到王位。她是公元11世纪拜占庭历史学家米海尔·普塞洛斯（Michael Psellos）丰富多彩传记的主角。

There were several Byzantine women writers of note who wrote hymns, verses and biographies of saints but none were more famous than Anna Komnene, who wrote her Alexiad on the life and reign of her father Alexios Komnenos (r. 1081-1118 CE). Besides her own work, Anna sponsored that of other scholars such as Eustratius of Nicaea.

拜占庭有几位著名的女作家，她们写赞美诗、诗歌和圣人传记，但没有人比安娜·科穆宁娜更有名，她写了关于她父亲阿历克塞一世（公元1081-1118年）的生活和统治的《阿历克塞传》。除了她自己的作品，安娜还赞助了其他学者的作品，如尼西亚的尤斯特拉修斯。

Finally, in this brief summary of only a few of the notable Byzantine women, there is Kassia the poet. Living in the 9th century CE, she was not selected in a bride show for the emperor Theophilos (r. 829-842 CE) despite her great beauty and retired thereafter to a monastery. There she wrote religious poems and the music to accompany them, several of which are still used in Orthodox church services today.

最后，在这个仅有几位著名的拜占庭妇女的简短总结中，还有诗人卡西亚。她生活在公元9世纪，尽管她非常美丽，但在狄奥斐卢斯皇帝（r. 829-842 CE）的新娘秀中没有被选中，此后她隐居在一个修道院。她在那里写了一些宗教诗歌和配乐，其中有几首至今仍在东正教教堂仪式中使用。