Arabo-Byzantine relations in the 9th and 10th centuries as an area of cultural rivalry

International audienceNinth century is conceived a period of important cultural changes in Byz- antium. At that time, written culture of the empire emerges from the "Dark Age" in which literary production was in decline. The most important participants of these changes are few larger-than-life and easy to pick out figures. Interestingly, all of the most important Byzantine 9th-century men of letters were sent as emissaries to the Abbasid capital: John the Grammarian, Photius, Constantine/st. Cyril, Leon Choirosphaktes. The only one who was not - Leon the mathematician, was actually said to have been invited avidly to Baghdad by the caliph. It cannot be just a coinci- dence. In my opinion it is connected with the growing consciousness in Byzantium of the cultural prowess of the Arabs. In 9th century the Byzantines were starting to consider the caliphate as not only a temporary phenomenon at its eastern bor- der, but as a permanent rival. This recognition was not only political. The Byzan- tines seemingly became aware of the cultural excellence of the caliphate, in which the impressive, large-scale Graeco-Arabic translation movement was taking place at that time. At the same point, the Byzantines constituted the main axis of ideo- logical rhetoric of the Abbasids of the Graeco-Arabic translation movement. They were presented in the sources of the period as not worthy the ancient Greek culture which they accidentally fell heirs to, and the Arabs as the true, worthy inheritors. The big embassies provided an opportunity to this kind of interaction. That being the case, they gained particular cultural character. They appear to have been re- garded by both parties as a way to get political affairs resolved, but furthermore as an occasion to display the supremacy over the rival empire. Consequently, the lead- ers of the embassies between Byzantium and the Abbasids seem to be on a centre stage of the supposedly conscious cultural rivalry