ABSTRACT
In this contribution to the FestschriĞ for Leslie Brubaker, who has done so much to illuminate questions of meaning in Byzantine imperial art, I shall be concentrating on an unusual, but nevertheless significant, iconographic motif, namely the emperor playing the part of a falconer. I shall aĴempt to show that this iconographic type was especially well suited to the manner in which the Byzantine emperors of the eleventh and twelĞh centuries aĴempted to exert influence over foreign nations, both allies and foes.
