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.