“Master of Сeremonies” and His Manuscript: The New Edition of the Treatise “De Cerimoniis” (Book Review: Constantin VII Porphyrogénète. Le Livre des Cérémonies. In 5 vols. / éds. G. Dagron (†), B. Flusin, D. Feissel [et al.]. – Paris : ACHCByz, 2020. – VIII, 2892 p. – (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae ; vol. 52/1–5))

Introduction. The article analyzes the approaches and decisions of a group of scholars who prepared a new edition of the treatise “The Book of Ceremonies” (De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae). Despite the obvious merits of this edition, primarily in the field of philological study of the text and commentary on the realities of Byzantine diplomatic protocol, religious rituals, and bureaucratic practices, the general approach to the publication of the text raises serious doubts. Analysis. The publication is based on the idea that the main text of this compilation belongs to Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos and should be dated to the beginning of his real reign, i.e., 945–946. All other, at least no less, and in fact more substantiated hypotheses that the original treatise was created by parakoimomenos Basil Lekapenos the Nothos or an anonymous “Master of Ceremonies” around and after 963 are not even considered. Following their concept, the editors took the non-obvious path of excluding entire fragments of the text that didn’t fit into it chronologically. Moreover, some fragments of the compilation were simply omitted in the new edition, and some were enclosed in square brackets. The only codex in which the treatise survived in its complete form, Lipsiensis Rep. I 17, received only a formal description and not a full-fledged paleographic and codicological study. The given dating of the two codes of the treatise, Lipsiensis Rep. I 17 and the Palimpsest, are not substantiated in any way and therefore arbitrary. Results. As a result, it should be noted that in this edition the Lipsiensis, as a unique example of high court book culture of the 10th century, did not receive the necessary comprehensive study, and the text of this manuscript, the only complete text of the treatise “De cerimoniis,” would deserve a complete edition without omissions, no matter what their motivation.