Cheerleaders in Late Antiquity

The text [of the Akta dia Kalopodion] does not tell us how many partisans were present. We may perhaps take the figure of about 1500 formally enrolled Green stasiotai at the start of the seventh century as an upper bound. In this period, these partisans sat in the upper cavea directly opposite the kathisma, the imperial box, shaded slightly to the left from the emperor’s vantage point but prominent in his line of sight. Obviously a crowd of such a size required some coordination in their chants; in its lone stage direction, the text reveals that this was provided by an individual named Antlas.

It had never occurred to me that the Byzantine Greens and Blues would have or need cheerleaders, but it does seem obvious in retrospect.