ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the complex interactions between the two courts, material and spiritual, especially as revealed in art. Of course, the heavenly capital was more splendid than the one on earth; the Life of Basil the Younger specified that it was one hundred times larger than Constantinople. However, there are also significant differences between the enamels on the two faces of the crown. Occasionally in Byzantine panegyrics heavenly beings are found assisting at the court on earth. Either the companions of the emperor are metaphorically described as angels, who escort the ruler as if he were Christ, or, more daringly, the angels themselves take up residence at the imperial palace, no longer being impersonated by courtiers. The imagery of the ivory, with its mixture of heavenly and earthly beings, and its setting in a real building in Constantinople, has parallels in some texts of the ninth century which describe visions of the heavenly court sitting in judgment.
