The House of Anastasius

HE FIRST THREE SECTIONS of this paper were originally drafted as prosopographical commentaries on a group of poetic texts that happened to concern the family of the emperor Anastasius. When put together they suggested certain conclusions about the role of that family in the social, political and religious life of sixth-century Byzantium that have not, I think, been previously drawn. The accompanying stemma (see infra p.274) is based on the arguments here presented, and differs in several respects from that to be pub­ lished in P LRE II.