The Caliphate of Cordoba and the Suggestions of Byzantium

A Case of ‘Protocol Symphonies’

Abstract

This research deepens the diplomatic relations between Cordoba, the capital of caliphate, and Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Roman Empire. The protocol, practiced in Constantinople at the court of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, had an incisive impact in the representation strategies of caliph of Cordoba and in particularly on the local ceremonial. The byzantine ceremonial of the ambassadorial receptions influences the Umayyad delegation and acts as a “catalyst” for new self-representation strategies. As a point of view, that stigmatizes the “protocol symphonies” between the two courts.