DOCSLIB.ORG

Reviving the Pagan Greek Novel in a Christian World Burton, Joan B Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1998; 39, 2; Proquest Pg

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reviving the Pagan Greek Novel in a Christian World Burton, Joan B Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1998; 39, 2; Proquest Pg Reviving the Pagan Greek novel in a Christian World Burton, Joan B Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1998; 39, 2; ProQuest pg. 179 Reviving the Pagan Greek Novel in a Christian World Joan B. Burton N THE CHRISTIAN WORLD of Constantinople, in the twelfth century A.D., there was a revival of the ancient Greek novel, I replete with pagan gods and pagan themes. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the crucial role of Christian themes such as the eucharist and the resurrection in the shaping and recreation of the ancient pagan Greek world in the Byzan­ tine Greek novels. Traditionally scholars have focused on similarities to the ancient Greek novels in basic plot elements, narrative tech­ niques, and the like. This has often resulted in a general dismissal of the twelfth-century Greek novels as imitative and unoriginal.1 Yet a revision of this judgment has begun to take place.2 Scholars have noted that there are themes and imagery in these novels that would sound contemporary to many of their Byzantine readers, for example, ceremonial throne scenes and 1 Thus B. E. Perry, The Ancient Romances: A Literary-Historical Account of Their Origins (Berkeley 1967) 103: "the slavish imitations of Achilles Tatius and Heliodorus which were written in the twelfth century by such miserable pedants as Eustathius Macrembolites, Theodorus Prodromus, and Nicetas Eugenianus, trying to write romance in what they thought was the ancient manner. Of these no account need be taken." 2See R. Beaton's important book, The Medieval Greek Romance 2 (London 1996) 52-88, 210-214; M. Alexiou, "A Critical Reappraisal of Eustathios Makrembolites' Hysmine and Hysminias," BMGS 3 (1977) 23-43. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 39 (1998) 179-216 © 2000 GRBS 179 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 180 REVIVING THE PAGAN GREEK NOVEL Byzantine "frogmen."3 Interest has extended also to the Chris­ tian context of the twelfth-century novels, particularly in regard to the topics of chastity and suicide.4 But the extent to which Christian rituals, themes, and motifs colored the thought and presentation of these novels has not yet been discussed and is sometimes even denied; thus, "none of the Byzantine romances alludes (except in the sly asides already mentioned) to the coming of Christianity."s Yet in the process of reviving the ancient Greek novels, the Byzantine novelists also rewrote them, which included infusing them with Christian themes and motifs. Four novels appear to have been written during the twelfth­ century revival of the ancient Greek novel: Theodore Pro­ dromos's Rhodanthe and Dosikles, Niketas Eugenianos's Drosilla and Charikles, Eustathios Makrembolitcs' Hysmine and Hys­ minias, and Konstantinos Manasses' Aristandros and Kallithea. Three of these novels are extant in their entirety, the fourth, by Manasses, only in fragments. All seem to have been written in the context of the Komnenian court in Constantinople, and at least two may well have been written during the 1140s under the patronage of the sebastokratorissa Eirene Komnene.6 The reign of the Komnenian dynasty (1081-1185) was a period of relative stability and economic security for the Byzan­ tine world. This was also the period when the crusaders came, 3 E.g. R. Macrides and P. Magdalino, "The Fourth Kingdom and the Rhetoric of Hellenism," in P. Magdalino, ed., The Perception of the Past in Twelfth-Century Europe (London 1992) esp. 149-152; H. Hunger, "Byzan­ tinische 'Froschmanner'?" in R. Hanslik, A. Lesky, and H. Schwabl, edd., Antidosis: Festschrift fur Walther Kraus zum 70. Geburtstag (Vienna 1972) 183-187, and his Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner (Munich 1978), esp. II 131-132. 4See S. MacAlister, Dreams and Suicides: The Greek Novel from Antiquity to the Byzantine Empire (London 1996) esp.133-135, 139, 162-164. 5 Beaton (supra n.2) 56-57; see also e.g., F. Meunier, "Theodore Prodrome: 'Rhodante et Dosikles'. Roman grec ou roman byzantin?" Rivista di bi­ zantinistica 1 (1991) 215, who comments on the absence" de toute trace de christianisme." 6See E. M. Jeffreys, "The Comnenian Background to the Romans d'AntiquiU," Byzantion 50 (1980) 455-486. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JOAN B. BURTON 181 arousing Byzantine hostility. Despite the general flowering of intellectual life in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as shown by a revival of such Hellenic genres as the novel and satire, there were also heresy trials against Hellenizing philosphers/ which would have seemed threatening to Hellenizing writers at court. Further, in the eleventh century, Michael Psellus's essay on Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius implies that there was strong disapproval being voiced of the ancient novels, perhaps by church officials.8 Although in the twelfth century there also seems to have been a strong readership of the ancient novels, 9 still in this context of heresy trials and ecclesiastical doubt about the value of the ancient novel, the revival of the novel, with its pagan gods and pagan themes, is noteworthy. Perhaps the revival is in part due to the coming of the Crusaders and a desire among Byzantines to articulate their Greek identity against the West. Further, from the fourth century on, when the ancient novel seems to have ceased to be written, saints' lives had continued the themes and motifs of the novels, e.g., travel, trials, miracle escapes, and in the end salvation or reunion. The fading of the genre of saints' lives by the twelfth century provided an opening for the revival of the ancient novel. lO The continued popularity of the ancient novels, particularly those of Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius, but also Longus's, etc., in the Byzantine world would also have encouraged the revival of the genre. The continued readership of these novels in an increasingly orthodox Christian world was 7Por example, the condemnation in 1082 of John Halos, head of the school of philosophy in Constantinople, for paganism and heresy, and that in 1117 of Eustratios of Nicaea, who wrote commentaries on Aristotle. See L. Clucas, The Trial of John Italos and the Crisis of Intellectual Values in Byzantium in the Eleventh Century (Munich 1981). BSee A. R. Dyck, ed., Michael Psellus: The Essays on Euripides and George of Pisidia and on Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius (Vienna 1986) 83. 9See MacAlister (supra n.4) 118, 111-112. !OSee H.-G. Beck, "Marginalia on the Byzantine Novel," in Erotica Antiqua, Acta of the International Conference on the Ancient Novel, 1976, ed. B. P. Reardon (Bangor [Wales] 1977) 63. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 182 REVIVING THE PAGAN GREEK NOVEL perhaps eased by claims that Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius were Christian bishopsY Further factors may have included the emergence of women literary patrons among the Komnenian dynasty, who might have been receptive to stories that give equal focus to heroines and heroes, as well as the possible friendliness of the court of the amorous Manuel I Komnenos to a genre with amatory themes.12 This paper explores the underlying presence of Christian themes and motifs in the twelfth-century (pagan) Greek novels. It begins with themes of the eucharist, the resurrection, human sacrifice, and pagan gods in Theodore Prodromos's Rhodanthe and Dosikles. Next is a discussion of themes of consumption, the Song of Solomon, and pagan gods in Niketas Eugenianos's Dro­ silla and Charikles. The paper then focuses on footwashing and other Christian motifs in Eustathios Makrembolites' Hysmine and Hysminias, and brief mention is also made of the fragments of Konstantinos Manasses' Aristandros and Kallithea.13 The con­ clusion will include the suggestion that the revival of the novel in the twelfth century may have been in part motivated by a desire for a safe (distanced) forum for broaching sensitive theological subjects. Prodromos and the Eucharistic Theme Theodore Prodromos, one of the new professional writers at the twelfth-century Byzantine court, has traditionally been credited with being the first to revive the ancient Greek novel. He was a prolific writer, producing eulogies, philosophy, theol­ ogy, satires, and the novel. He was closely associated with a 11 Heliodorus: Socr. HE 5.22 (fifth century), Phot. Bibl. cod. 73 (ninth cen­ tury); Achilles Tatius: 5uda a 4695 (tenth century). For discussion see Hunger, Literatur (supra n.3) II 121-122; MacAlister (supra n.4) 109-112. 12See P. Magdalino, "Eros the King and the King of Amours: Some Obser­ vations on Hysmine and Hysminias," DOP 46 (1992) 197-204. 13The texts used are M. Marcovich, ed., Theodori Prodromi, de Rhodanthes et Dosiciis amoribus libri IX (Stuttgart 1992); F. Conca, ed., Nicetas Eugenianus, de Drosillae et Chariciis amoribus (Amsterdam 1990); O. Mazal, Der Roman des Konstantinos Manasses (Vienna 1967); I. Hilberg, ed., Eustathii Macrembolitae Protonobilissimi, de Hysmines et Hysminiae amoribus libri XI (Vienna 1876). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. JOAN B. BURTON 183 number of important persons at court: Eirene Doukaina, wife of Alexios I Komnenos, the sebastokratorissa Eirene Komnene, and John I Komnenos. After the death of John, he appears to have retired to a monastery, although he continued to write occasion­ ally for members of the court of Manuel I Komnenos.14 Prodromos's novel, nine books long and written in twelve-syl­ lable verse, starts in medias res, with pirates capturing the young lovers, Dosikles and Rhodanthe, among others, at a religious ceremony at Rhodes. After a series of misadventures, including the usual shipwrecks and threats of being sacrificed to the gods, the lovers are reunited and return home to Abydos to be wed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Processes of Byzantinisation and Serbian Archaeology Byzantine Heritage and Serbian Art I Byzantine Heritage and Serbian Art I–Iii
    I BYZANTINE HERITAGE AND SERBIAN ART I BYZANTINE HERITAGE AND SERBIAN ART AND SERBIAN BYZANTINE HERITAGE PROCESSES OF BYZANTINISATION AND SERBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY BYZANTINE HERITAGE AND SERBIAN ART I BYZANTINE HERITAGE AND SERBIAN ART I–III Editors-in-Chief LJUBOMIR MAKSIMOVIć JELENA TRIVAN Edited by DANICA POPOVić DraGAN VOJVODić Editorial Board VESNA BIKIć LIDIJA MERENIK DANICA POPOVić ZoraN raKIć MIODraG MARKOVić VlADIMIR SIMić IGOR BOROZAN DraGAN VOJVODić Editorial Secretaries MARka TOMić ĐURić MILOš ŽIVKOVIć Reviewed by VALENTINO PACE ElIZABETA DIMITROVA MARKO POPOVić MIROSLAV TIMOTIJEVIć VUJADIN IVANIšEVić The Serbian National Committee of Byzantine Studies P.E. Službeni glasnik Institute for Byzantine Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts PROCESSES OF BYZANTINISATION AND SERBIAN ARCHAEOLOGY Editor VESNA BIKIć BELGRADE, 2016 PUBLished ON THE OCCasiON OF THE 23RD InternatiOnaL COngress OF Byzantine STUdies This book has been published with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia CONTENTS PREFACE 11 I. BYZANTINISATION IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT THE DYNAMICS OF BYZANTINE–SERBIAN POLITICAL RELATIONS 17 Srđan Pirivatrić THE ‘MEDIEVAL SERBIAN OECUMENE’ – FICTION OR REALITY? 37 Mihailo St. Popović BYZANTINE INFLUENCE ON ADMINISTRATION IN THE TIME OF THE NEMANJIĆ DYNASTY 45 Stanoje Bojanin Bojana Krsmanović FROM THE ROMAN CASTEL TO THE SERBIAN MEDIEVAL CITY 53 Marko Popović THE BYZANTINE MODEL OF A SERBIAN MONASTERY: CONSTRUCTION AND ORGANISATIONAL CONCEPT 67 Gordana
    [Show full text]
  • Pleasure and Instruction in the Prologue of Longus
    SYMBOLAE PHILOLOGORUM POSNANIENSIUM GRAECAE ET LATINAE XIX• 2009 pp. 95-114. ISBN 978-83-232-2153-1. ISSN 0302-7384 ADAM MICKIEWICZUNIVERSITYPRESS, POZNAŃ BRUCE DUNCAN MACQUEEN Department of Comparative Literature, University of Silesia pl. Sejmu Śląskiego 1, 40-032 Katowice Poland PLEASURE AND INSTRUCTION IN THE PROLOGUE OF LONGUS’ DAPHNIS AND CHLOE ABSTRACT . Bruce Duncan MacQueen, Pleasure and instruction in the Prologue of Longus’ “Daphnis and Chloe”. The present study attempts to demonstrate that the ancient Greek novel Daphnis and Chloe system- atically explores the problem expressed by Horace in the phrase docere et delectare, and that this purpose is announced in the Prologue. The functions of prologues as such are briefly reviewed. After a consideration of the prologues of the remaining ancient Greek novels, the Prologue of Longus’s Daphnis and Chloe is analyzed line by line. Longus uses the Prologue, then, to establish a series of dialectical tensions that operate throughout the novel, allowing it to delight and instruct at the same time. Key words: ancient Greek novel, Eros, paradox, paideia, hunting. INTRODUCTION A paradox often repeated, like a metaphor, eventually loses the shock value that makes it useful as a figure of speech. To use the terminology of cognitive psychology, it comes to be “overlearned,” repeated without reflec- tion at particular moments when the requisite prompt occurs. Its very fa- miliarity makes it fade into the background, where it ceases to draw atten- tion to itself. We have been told since childhood, for example, to “turn the other cheek,” so we repeat the phrase automatically and almost entirely ignore it in practice, since it no longer demands our attention.
    [Show full text]
  • Bakhtin's Theory of the Literary Chronotope: Reflections, Applications, Perspectives
    literary.chronotope.book Page 3 Tuesday, May 4, 2010 5:47 PM BAKHTIN'S THEORY OF THE LITERARY CHRONOTOPE: REFLECTIONS, APPLICATIONS, PERSPECTIVES Nele Bemong, Pieter Borghart, Michel De Dobbeleer, Kristoffel Demoen, Koen De Temmerman & Bart Keunen (eds.) literary.chronotope.book Page 4 Tuesday, May 4, 2010 5:47 PM © Academia Press Eekhout 2 9000 Gent T. (+32) (0)9 233 80 88 F. (+32) (0)9 233 14 09 [email protected] www.academiapress.be The publications of Academia Press are distributed by: Belgium: J. Story-Scientia nv Wetenschappelijke Boekhandel Sint-Kwintensberg 87 B-9000 Gent T. 09 255 57 57 F. 09 233 14 09 [email protected] www.story.be The Netherlands: Ef & Ef Eind 36 NL-6017 BH Thorn T. 0475 561501 F. 0475 561660 Rest of the world: UPNE, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA (www.upne.com) Nele Bemong, Pieter Borghart, Michel De Dobbeleer, Kristoffel Demoen, Koen De Temmerman & Bart Keunen (eds.) Bakhtin's Theory of the Literary Chronotope: Reflections, Applications, Perspectives Proceedings of the workshop entitled “Bakhtin’s Theory of the Literary Chronotope: Reflections, Applications, Perspectives” (27-28 June 2008) supported by the Royal Flemish Academy for Sciences and the Arts. Gent, Academia Press, 2010, v + 213 pp. ISBN 978 90 382 1563 1 D/2010/4804/84 U 1414 Layout: proxess.be Cover: Steebz/KHUAN No part of this publication may be reproduced in print, by photocopy, microfilm or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. literary.chronotope.book Page i Tuesday, May 4, 2010 5:47 PM I CONTENTS Preface .
    [Show full text]
  • Bourbouhakis Curriculum Vitae
    Curriculum Vitae Emmanuel C. Bourbouhakis Assistant Professor Department of Classics Princeton University 141 East Pyne Princeton, NJ 08544 Tel: 609-258-3951 Email: [email protected] Current Position 2011- Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Princeton University Previous Employment 2008-2010 DFG Teaching–Research Fellow, Department of History, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg 2007-2008 Lecturer, Department of the Classics, Harvard University Education 09/1999-10/2006 PhD in Classical and Byzantine Philology, Harvard University 09/1997-06/1999 MA in Classical Philology, University of Western Ontario 09/1989-06/1993 BA in History, McGill University; Liberal Arts College, Concordia University Ancient Languages Latin, Greek (classical & medieval) Modern Languages Greek (modern), English, French, German, Italian Awards, Honours, Fellowships 2010 Gerda Henkel Stiftung Fellowship 2008 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Forschungsstipendium (German National Research Foundation Fellowship) at the Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg 2005 Harvard University Humanities Dissertation Fellowship 2004 Dumbarton Oaks Junior Fellowship 2003 DAAD Doctoral Fellowship at the Byzantinisch-Neugriechisches Institut, Freie Universität Berlin 2 2002 Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Grant Academic Service Princeton University 2011-2012 Search Committee, Byzantine Art and Archaeology 2012-2013 Forbes College Academic Advisor 2012-2013 Department of Classics Seniors Adviser 2012-2013 Department of Classics Undergraduate
    [Show full text]
  • S1003186 Supervisor: John Bintlif Specialization: Classical and Mediterranean A
    Name: Eleni Christidou Stylianou Student number: s1003186 Supervisor: John Bintlif Specialization: Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology (Second Specialization: Archaeology of the Near East) University of Leiden Faculty of Archaeology Leiden 2012 1 To my father 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................6 1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................7 2. Historical Introduction......................................................................................................10 2.1 The Byzantine Empire................................................................................................10 2.1.1 The Emerging of the Byzantine Empire. Chronology......................................10 2.1.2 General Remarks..............................................................................................13 2.2 The Arab – Islamic World..........................................................................................14 3. Arab-Byzantine Literary Exchanges..................................................................................19 3.1 Conclusion.................................................................................................................24 4. Maritime Activities, Hostilities and Reconciliation in the Mediterranean......................27 4.1 Advanced Arab-Byzantine Trade Relations at the end of the tenth
    [Show full text]
  • 14 Cikan.Pdf
    2017 ACTA UNIVERSITATIS CAROLINAE PAG. 225–249 PHILOLOGICA 2 / GRAECOLATINA PRAGENSIA BARBAROS BASILEUS. PARODIE UND LOB IN DER DARSTELLUNG DER BARBARENFÜRSTEN IM ROMAN RHODANTHE UND DOSIKLES VON THEODOROS PRODROMOS* ONDŘEJ CIKÁN ABSTRACT Barbaros Basileus. Parody and Praise in the Depiction of Barbarian Rulers in the Novel Rhodanthe and Dosikles by Theodoros Prodromos The Heidelberg manuscript of the novel contains a dedication poem for a Kαῖσαρ, who was identified with Nikephoros Bryennios, the husband of Anna Komnene. At first glance, we see that the names of the characters Gobryas, Bryaxes and Brya contain strong assonances to the name of the addressee. After a closer consideration we recognize 1) that especially the two barbarians Gobryas and Bryaxes offer for Bryennios a certain poten- tial of identification, 2) that there may be some humorous allusions on the attended coup from 1118/1119, 3) that the author tries to satisfy also his patronesses Eirene Doukaina and Anna Komnene and 4) that despite every parody of the court, the author takes care not to insult the acting Emperor, but to honour him. The considerations have influence on the dating of the novel. Keywords: Theodoros Prodromos; Rhodanthe & Dosikles; Nikephoros Bryennios; Anna Komnene; Byzantine novel; Komnenian novel; Ancient novel; barbarians; women; patronage 1. Nikephoros Bryennios und die Entstehungsumstände des Romans Das Heidelberger Manuskript des Romans Rhodanthe und Dosikles von Theodoros Prodromos enthält ein Widmungsgedicht für einen Καῖσαρ, wobei dieser Titel dem Ehe- mann der ältesten Kaisertochter verliehen wurde.1 Seit spätestens 1111 bis zu seinem Tod * Der Artikel entstand im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts VISCOM (Visions of Community) der Uni- versität Wien.
    [Show full text]
  • Silencing the Female Voice in Longus and Achilles Tatius
    Silencing the female voice in Longus and Achilles Tatius Word Count: 12,904 Exam Number: B052116 Classical Studies MA (Hons) School of History, Classics and Archaeology University of Edinburgh B052116 Acknowledgments I am indebted to the brilliant Dr Calum Maciver, whose passion for these novels is continually inspiring. Thank you for your incredible supervision and patience. I’d also like to thank Dr Donncha O’Rourke for his advice and boundless encouragement. My warmest thanks to Sekheena and Emily for their assistance in proofreading this paper. To my fantastic circle of Classics girls, thank you for your companionship and humour. Thanks to my parents for their love and support. To Ben, for giving me strength and light. And finally, to the Edinburgh University Classics Department, for a truly rewarding four years. 1 B052116 Table of Contents Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………….1 List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………3 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….4 Chapter 1: Through the Male Lens………………………………………………………6 The Aftertaste of Sophrosune……………………………………………………………….6 Male Viewers and Voyeuristic Fantasy.…………………………………………………....8 Narratorial Manipulation of Perspective………………………………………………….11 Chapter 2: The Mythic Hush…………………………………………………………….15 Echoing Violence in Longus……………………………………………………………….16 Making a myth out of Chloe………………………………………………………………..19 Leucippe and Europa: introducing the mythic parallel……………………………………21 Andromeda, Philomela and Procne: shifting perspectives………………………………...22 Chapter 3: Rupturing the
    [Show full text]
  • Calasiris the Pseudo-Greek Hero: Odyssean Allusions in Heliodorus' Aethiopica
    Calasiris the Pseudo-Greek Hero: Odyssean Allusions in Heliodorus' Aethiopica Christina Marie Bartley A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master’s degree in Classical Studies Department of Classics and Religious Studies Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Christina Marie Bartley, Ottawa, Canada, 2021 Table of Contents Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..................................................................................................................... viii 1. The Structural Markers of the Aethiopica .......................................................................1 1.1.Homeric Strategies of Narration ..........................................................................................2 1.1.1. In Medias Res .................................................................................................................3 1.2. Narrative Voices .................................................................................................................8 1.2.1. The Anonymous Primary Narrator ................................................................................9 1.2.2. Calasiris........................................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • Seeing Gods: Epiphany and Narrative in the Greek Novels
    Seeing Gods: Epiphany and Narrative in the Greek Novels ROBERT L. CIOFFI Bard College The Greek world was full of the divine, and the imagined world of the ancient novels was no different.1 Divinity and its worship pervade the novels’ narra- tives, helping to unite, drive apart, and then reunite their protagonists. In this paper, I explore the relationship between ancient religion and literature, the transformation of literary tradition, and the place of the marvelous in the nov- els’ narratives by examining the role that one aspect of the human experience of the gods, epiphany, plays in the genre. Although the novelists describe very few scenes of actual epiphany,2 they make abundant use of the epiphanic met- aphor in what I will call “epiphanic situations,” when an internal audience reacts to the hero or, most often, the heroine of the novel as if he or she were a god or goddess. These epiphanic situations transform the common metaphor of divine beauty into a reality, at least as experienced by the internal audience,3 and they offer the novelists an alternative to ekphrasis for expressing ineffable beauty. ————— 1 Zeitlin 2008, 91 writes: “The novels are full of: temples, shrines, altars, priests, rituals and offerings, dreams (or oracles), prophecies, divine epiphanies, aretalogies, mystic language and other metaphors of the sacred (not forgetting, in addition, exotic barbarian rites).” 2 In the novels, mortals are most frequently visited by divinities during dreams: e.g., Chari- ton 2,3; X. Eph. 1,12; Longus 1,7-8, 2,23, 2,26-27, 3,27, 4,34; Ach.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 INTRODUCTION Achilles Tatius Despite the Explosion of Interest In
    Cambridge University Press 0521642647 - Vision and Narrative in Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe and Clitophon Helen Morales Excerpt More information 1 INTRODUCTION Achilles Tatius Despite the explosion of interest in ancient fiction over the last few decades, Leucippe and Clitophon remains the least studied of the five major Greek novels. To my knowledge, this is the first published monograph on Achilles; so far Leucippe has been left on the shelf. ‘Most moderns,’ explains Ewen Bowie in his entry on Achilles Tatius in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, ‘uncertain how to evaluate him, prefer Longus and Heliodorus.’1 Graham Anderson concurs: ‘Even at the lowest level of literary criticism, at which writers receive one-word adjectives, one can do something for the rest of the extant novelists: Xenophon of Ephesus is na¨ıve, Heliodorus cleverly convoluted, Longus artfully simple: yet what is one to say about Achilles?’2 Scholarship on the novel is moving forward so quickly that these comments will soon seem dated. Nevertheless, they are symptomatic of a fundamental difficulty: there is no consensus about what to make of Achilles Tatius; at the most basic level, about how to read him. Parody? Pastiche? Pornography? It is, as John Morgan puts it, a ‘hyper-enigmatic’ novel.3 Part of the problem is that Achilles Tatius is frequently eval- uated against the norms of the genre (often as the Joker in the pack: ‘[Achilles Tatius] inverse syst´ematiquementles conventions du genre’;4 ‘He conducts a prolonged guerrilla war against the conventions of his own genre’5), and the norms and the genre are themselves problematic to define.6 It is important to note that recent approaches to the genre have been driven by the last few decades’ 1 OCD, 3rd edn (1996), 7.
    [Show full text]
  • Conference Booklet
    O nd O X F O R D U 22 C E N T R E f o r B Y Z A N T I N E B International R E S E A R C H G r a d u a t e Oxford Centre for S C o n f e re n c e Late Antiquity H I S T O R Y FACULTY The State Between OXFORD Liminality, Transition 2 8 - 2 9 & Transformation FEBRUARY 2 0 2 0 in Late Antiquity & Byzantium The Oxford University Byzantine Society’s XXII International Graduate Conference The State Between: Liminality, Transition and Transformation in Late Antiquity and Byzantium 28th -29th February 2020 History Faculty, Oxford Was conceived and organised by Daniel Gallaher (President) Lorenzo Saccon (Secretary) Josh Hitt (Treasurer) In collaboration with Aikaterini Vavaliou And made possible through the generous support of The Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research (OCBR) www.ocbr.ox.ac.uk The Oxford Centre for Late Antiquity (OCLA) www.ocla.ox.ac.uk Oxford Medieval Studies (OMS) https://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/oxford-medieval-studies The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) https://ahrc.ukri.org/ The Oxford Research Centre for Humanities (TORCH) www.torch.ox.ac.uk History Faculty, Oxford www.history.ox.ac.uk/home With thanks to the organising committee Cover Image Credit: Chloé Agar Cory Johnson Alberto Ravani Background Photo: Mosaic of Theodora - Basilica of San Vitale (Ravenna, Italy) Philip Atkins John-Francis Martin Sofia Simões Coelho © Petar Milošević / CC BY-SA James Cogbill Callan Meynell Rebekah Wahnon-Pym Graphic Design: Aikaterini Vavaliou for the OUBS Miranda Gronow Raymond Ngoh Julian Wood 2 3 Welcome The conference committee wishes you all a very warm welcome to the Oxford University Byzantine Society’s 22nd International Graduate Conference.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
    READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF A BYZANTINE ‘PARAPHRASE’: (RE)DISCOVERING ISAAC KOMNENOS AND THE LETTER OF ARISTEAS Valeria Flavia Lovato Introduction: the illustrated Octateuchs and Isaac Komnenos In a recent study on the illuminated Octateuchs, Lowden has defined this group of luxurious manuscripts as a typically ‘Byzantine phenomenon’.1 The present paper focuses on one such manuscript, namely the Seraglio Octateuch, generally attributed to the patronage of the sebastokratōr Isaac Komnenos Porphyrogen- netos, son of emperor Alexios I and brother of John II.2 More specifically, in what follows I will focus on the so-called paraphrase of the Letter of Aristeas,3 a unique feature of the Seraglio manuscript. This short text, meant as a sort of introduction to the whole codex, was most likely penned by Isaac Komnenos himself.4 The This article is part of a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PostDoc. Mobility Grant number P400PH_180700). I would like to thank Tommaso Braccini and Aglae Pizzone for their comments on previous drafts. Special thanks are owed to Nancy Patterson Ševčenko and Michiel Op de Coul for allowing me to read their unpublished work. 1 J. Lowden, Illustrated Octateuch Manuscripts: A Byzantine Phenomenon, in: P. Mag- dalino – R. S. Nelson (eds), The Old Testament in Byzantium. Washington D.C. 2010, 107-152. 2 On Isaac Komnenos as the most likely commissioner of the Seraglio Octateuch see, most recently, K. Linardou, Imperial Impersonations: Disguised Portraits of a Komnenian Prince and his Father, in: A. Bucossi – A. Rodriguez Suarez (eds), John II Komnenos, Emperor of Byzantium. In the Shadow of Father and Son.
    [Show full text]