ABSTRACT
Public opinion in the late twelfth century remembered John II as the best of the Komnenoi, and among the best emperors of all time. This was mainly, according to Choniates, because he refrained from administering capital punishment or corporal mutilation.1 But reading Choniates, one forms the impression that John’s reputation was based on a general appreciation that his was a regime of substance rather than style; here was an emperor who got things done and did all the right things without great fanfare, expense or extravagant display of authority. Notably, it was his tight financial management and disciplined organization of the armed forces that made possible the more flashy exploits of his successor, Manuel I.2 Yet in one respect, John II also anticipated the ceremonial magnificence for which Manuel’s reign was remembered: his government revived the ceremony of the imperial triumph in order to celebrate the emperor’s return from his victorious Anatolian campaign in 1133, which resulted in the temporary reconquest of Kastamon.
