Most Holy Place

Ramsay MacMullen describes the proper approach to a late Roman emperor: “Few saw him, for few were admitted to his presence. Properly searched first for weapons, one passed through rows of guards and rows of ponderous pillars to some more specially solemn portal, opening to a hall fifty, a hundred, or two hundred feet long. At the far end, an apse screened off by a curtain; everywhere, silence. The visitor was escorted to the screen, spoke through it, and received his reply; or, if more privileged, had the curtain parted for him and advanced to the throne, first to kneel, then, still kneeling, to preset a written petition held not in his contaminating hand but humbly covered in a fold of his garments. Certain ranks of officials were promoted through permissions to kiss the emperor’s robe, and might thereafter do so again whenever they were received in the palace.” Portrayals of the emperor had a message: “Here is your monarch, here is the gable above his head that sets off his divinity, here are his associates or sons, and to the sides stand his armored soldiers.”