This article analyses the most dominant ways of describing the Pechenegs and their mentality reflected in the Byzantine tradition of the “Scythian War” of Alexius I Comnenus (1081–1118). The first part examines the excursus on the Pechenegs (“Scythians”) in oratio of Theophylact of Ochrid compared with a similar description of "Mysians" of his teacher Michael Psellus. Despite these contemporary accounts there is nor significant information on the Pechenegs. Only the literary topos of the "invasion of the nomads" is used to describe their character and way of life. This image corresponds to the adversarial behaviour in byzantine culture and the Kaiseridee. To typify pagan nomads as enemies of the Christian Roman Empire was conventional in propaganda and rhetoric. The second and third parts of this article focus on Anna Comnena, who describes the military tactics in 1080 with a view on a previous “Scythian War” John II Comnenus (1118–1143).
Rules and Violence: On the Cultural History of Collective Violence from Late Antiquity to the Confessional Age / Ed. by C. Dietl, T. Knäpper. Berlin; Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014. P. 83–99 (WOS:000343724100005).