ABSTRACT
This chapter studies two court poems written in Greek by Eugenius of Sicily in order to examine the construction of power discourses at the multi-cultural Sicilian court (12th c.). Transculturality in the field of the expression of political ideas and the act of communication, i.e. the language comprehensibility, constitute the research questions. The chapter argues that Eugenius creatively combined the poetic language of the Byzantine court, ancient Greek and Roman political ideas, and Western medieval political imagery and formed political discourses capable of legitimising and consolidating the established power relations. The Greek language became part of the ritualised performance, shaping the political imagery of the Sicilian kings.
