https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/byzantine-literature, "Byzantine Literature The inspiration for this outburst of activity came from Emperor constantine vii porphyrogeni tus, who was in his own right a classicist and historian of note. However, if the boundaries between history and chronicle are blurred, as they probably should be, then the work of Symeon Logo-thetes (covering 842–948 and surviving in many versions) gives valuable insights. It is a brilliant audio journey that I continue to cherish. Like his contemporary, Theodore Prodromus, he overburdened his works with references to his poverty ("My head is my library, and I am too poor to buy books": Allegory on the Iliad, 15.87), with interminable complaints against the universe, which had failed to recognize his enormous talents, and with abject, servile flattery of the patrons who befriended him. There are, of course, important Byzantine treatises on this subject, but they are greatly outweighed in both bulk and number by the works of the theologians, who concerned themselves with all the major problems of theology, especially those involved in the Trinitarian and Christological controversies [see trini ty, holy, controversies on; christology, contro versies on (patristic)]. But inevitably in their hands the language underwent great changes, marked principally by the simplification of syntax that resulted from such phenomena as the disappearance of the dative case, the loss or misunderstanding of the optative and subjunctive moods of the verb, and the breaking down of the more complicated conjugations and declensions. He wrote in the popular language, avoided rhetorical excesses, and strove after accuracy. The Impact of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire . Before the Hellenistic Age, no writer (except Ion of Chios in the 5th century b.c., and possibly Plato, if the poems attributed to him are genuine) expressed himself in more than one literary genre. If Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis has been excluded from discussion on linguistic grounds, the same should not be done for the more amorphous collections of canon lay, and in particular their commentaries, all of which were written in Greek. This generalization is applicable only to the portions of each history upon which the historian concentrated as his own special province, not to the introductory sections in which he reviewed the events of preceding years by way of preface. These are the most significant works of genuine fiction in Byzantine literature. The most famous of the kanons is the Great Kanon of Andrew of Crete, which has 250 troparia divided into four sections. The chief defenders of the strictly Chalcedonian dyophysite Christology were hypatius of ephesus (fl.532) and leontius of byzantium (fl. An aberrant member of this learned circle, Cosmas Indicopleustes by name, repudiated the cosmological and astronomical notions of the ancient Greeks in favor of the Mosaic concept of the universe. 1), and from 284 to 410 (bks. On the other hand nine or ten hymns of Synesius (c. 370–c. In the early 13th century, however, as influences from the West permeated into the Byzantine empire, the judgment of popular literature gradually shifted. Romanus Melodus. The interest in ancient Greek literature was expressed in Constantinople at the end of the ninth century. He often managed to achieve poetic imagery of high order, but also displays the usual Byzantine addiction to plays on words and the ornate style. Besides their success in eliminating the non-Attic dialects, the Atticizers won another fundamental victory, for the influence of the imperial court and of the liturgy (which was always under the domination of the Atticizers), as well as the conservative instincts of the people, served to keep the Greek language as such alive, and prevented its disintegration into new linguistic creations like the Romance languages of the West (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French), which came into being during the Middle Ages. The customary verdict is that Byzantine literature is more significant for the information it contains than for its own sake. Anna Comnena. The stanzas of the kontakion are linked together by means of an acrostic or by the successive letters of the alphabet. Rather more overblown was theophylactus simocatta, whose eight books on the reign of Emperor maurice (582–602) are marred by fanciful language and excessive rhetorical extravagances. The chief defenders of the images were Patriarch germanus i of Constantinople (715–730; d. 733), John Damascene (the greatest theologian of his day; d. c. 753), Patriarchs tarasius (784–806) and nicephorus i (806–815) of Constantinople, and theodore the studite (759–826). Even some of the earlier questions had reverberations in the later centuries, and Photius, for example, near the end of the 9th century, still found it necessary to polemize against the iconoclasts. Byzantine Architecture: Its Characteristics and Stunning Examples. Moreover, Basil was the founder of Byzantine monasticism, his regulations for which exerted influence also in the West. Byzantine literature is the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders. Some of the most attractive and readable examples come from the Cappadocian Fathers in the 4th century while the growing numbers of the educated elite in the 11th through the 12th centuries saw an increased interest in the genre. In contrast with this straightforward method, the historians gave lengthy and detailed accounts of the eras with which they were primarily concerned. The chroniclers are here listed by name, with a brief note on the extent of each chronicle: The meters of classical poetry had been based upon quantity, i.e., upon the length of vowels and of syllables. Thus the War of Troy (over 14,000 lines of political verse), which perhaps comes from the same environment as the Chronicle of the Morea, is a close translation of Benoit de Ste Maure's Roman de Troie (c. 1170). For this reason, they usually avoided contemporary nomenclature and have confused modern students by insisting upon the geographical designations current in the ancient writers. The origins of the political verse remain a matter of debate. Still, the 7th century was for the Byzantine Empire a period of tragedy, frustration, and defeat. The latter, in ten books, which is no less monumental in significance, preserves in excerpt a mass of historical records that otherwise would have perished. This origin can be traced back to Alexandria and the areas within Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor where many Greek cities were founded. Later on, he found her and discovered that she was the girl to whom in the Castle of Love he had presented the prize for beauty. The philosophical tradition also was ably represented by john italus, Psellus's successor as dean of the School of Philosophy (ὕπατος τ[symbol omitted]ν φιλοσόφων), who, however, in 1082 was removed from his post because, his enemies charged, he had lapsed into paganism. She made only minimal changes, but, nevertheless, out of the Homeric lines she had stored in her head, she wove together an impeccably orthodox treatise on theology. beck, Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur (Munich 1971). Kaldellis gives examples throughout of the many selective and incidental details about barbarians in diplomatic and military handbooks, as well as numerous asides in Byzantine literature more broadly. Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. Moreover, on the evidence of the New Testament, in which Christ is represented both as a divine being (i.e., one who performed miracles, conquered death, and rose to heaven) and as a true man (who ate, drank, slept, wept, etc., like other men), the theological definitions contained in these creeds are logically inevitable. Most astounding of all are his Chiliades, a poem of 12,674 political verses, which he wrote as a commentary on his own letters, and then reissued with marginal annotations in prose and verse, dedicatory letters, and supplementary poems of abuse directed against his enemies. a. ehrhard, Überlieferung und Bestand der hagiographischen und homiletischen Literatur, 3 v. (Leipzig 1936–39). In the course of its history, this Atticizing language had to make concessions on a large scale to modernisms of many sorts (originating in the speech of the people, the army, imperial chancery, etc.). r.m. Zosimus did not fail to touch upon the great Greek victories over the Persians at Marathon (490 b.c.) p. lemerle, Le premier humanisme byzantin (Paris 1971; English trans. This was a most unusual approach for a Byzantine, as was also his conclusion that the Turks took Constantinople to avenge themselves for the fall of Troy. Some Byzantine poets followed the ancient prosody, mostly in iambic trimeters, less commonly in hexameters, elegiac distichs, or anacreontic verse. Hence, even when they fail to cite the authors whom they copy or follow, Byzantine writers had no intention to deceive. It was written in Alexandria and describes the mythical journey of the god Dionysus to India. John Stobaeus. p. waltz et al., 6 v. (Paris 1928–60). Procopius was followed by two historians of importance, Agathias, who put out five books on the years 552 to 558, and Menander Protector, of whose history on the period from 558 to 582 only fragments have been preserved. Many of the major Byzantine writers can be found in Paulys Realenzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, ed. Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus (1347–54) was a partisan of Palamism and the Hesychasts against Gregoras, for whose defeat and discomfiture he was responsible. it was compelled to live in the shadow of its better-loved and better-researched sibling, ancient Greek literature. Another imitation of Lucian, the Timarion, which is also anonymous, dates from the early years of the 12th century. On the other hand, the three above-named romantic tales, though apparently at several points influenced by the French Chansons de geste, have points of contact with Oriental poetry; and there are many features that are obviously Greek in origin. RENAISSANCE. In 1430, however, the Byzantines were less fortunate, and lost Thessalonica. John Tzetzes wrote a verse commentary (discussed below) to elucidate the classical allusions in his carefully arranged and edited correspondence. It is coarser and less elegant than the Timarion, but nevertheless a useful source for the early years of the 15th century. see greek language, early chris tian and byzantine. This same blend of culture is illustrated by the Chronicle of the Morea, especially in the Greek version, which was composed in the popular, nonliterary idiom, and indicates that by c. 1388 or so, the date of its composition, many Latins in the Morea had become Hellenophones. He wrote some 400 poems and, among other things, a bitter treatise against Emperor Julian. severus of antioch (512–538), who devoted his considerable talents to the defense and exposition of the Cyrillian position. The unknown author wrote c. 969, and was so successful in imitating the ancient satirist Lucian that the Philopatriswas once included among the latter's works. But these defects arise in part from the convention that required the poet to stretch his poetic fancy over 24 or more strophes, all of which dealt essentially with the same subject. Scope of Byzantine Literature. Byzantine literature may be broadly defined as the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders. A phenomenon that is intriguingly parallel to that of the West, though initially independent, is the writing of romances. More immediately comprehensible are the romances of the later period. His history was continued in the following century by socrates the historian, sozomen, and Theodoret, who dealt with the periods 305 to 439, 324 to 439, and 325 to 428, respectively. His chief aim was to vindicate the theology of Cyril against its critics. The Byzantines found this type of scholarly activity particularly congenial, and many theologians had devoted a great deal of energy to encyclopedic résumés or analyses of various kinds. At the beginning of each kontakion stands a separate troparion, which is metrically and melodically independent of the heirmos (and thus of all the other troparia of the kontakion). Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Nothing i…, The revival of monasticism in the 19th century by Dom P. gueranger of solesmes abbey and the concomitant revival in liturgical studies brought about…, https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/byzantine-literature, John of Antioch (in fragments): Creation to 610, george syncellus (d. 810/811); Creation to 284, Constantine Manasses (in political verse): Creation to 1081, Michael Panaretus of Trebizond: 1204 to 1426. In addition, Byzantine poets created a number of new vehicles of their own. His style, though dominated by the customary classicizing tendencies, is forceful and clear. This new variety of literature encompassed everything from ecclesiastical and theological references to religious and non sensical tales. e. wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography (2nd ed. The philosophical and scientific production of the school of Alexandria had continued into the 7th century under Stephen, the astronomer and polymath. Byzantine architects were eclectic, at first drawing heavily on Roman temple features. Apart from his commentaries on Euclid's Elements and Diophantus's Arithmetica, his Psephophoria (a mathematical treatise in which he makes use of zero and the nine so-called Arabic numbers, which had occurred in Byzantium for the first time about 50 years previously), and his poems on Ptolemy's Geography, his major contribution was as scholiast, editor, and translator. Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, apologist, Biblical exegete, and the earliest Church historian; b. c. 260; d. c. 339. John Damascene is celebrated not only for his Three Orations Against the Iconoclasts, a number of Biblical commentaries, and some liturgical poems of high merit, but above all for his great theological encyclopedia, the Fountain of Knowledge (Πηγὴ γνώσεως). Gregory of Nyssa carried on the attack against the Eunomians and the Macedonians (see sabellianism; monarchianism), continued his brother's study of cosmology with a treatise On the Creation of Man (De Opificio hominis ), and produced a host of works on other subjects. In general, however, the intelligentsia clung to the traditional language of antiquity, so far as it was possible for them to do so. ), letters, and the historical works of non-Byzantine writers (Arabic, Syriac, Armenian, Latin, and others). Zigabenus is known also for his commentaries on the Psalms and the Gospels. For example, the Byzantine Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus, a small Istanbul experiment from the year 530, influenced the final design of the most famous Byzantine Church, the grand Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), which itself inspired the … Nevertheless it is doubtful whether any of his medieval successors ever attained the high standard of historical research that he set. Besides his polemical writings in favor of images, he is known for two collections of Catechetical Precepts (on the duties of monks), an extensive correspondence, homilies, panegyrics, his epigrams (see below), and a notable group of liturgical poems. File:LondonCanonTables4.JPG This appeared due primarily to the educational system that employed and resulted in literary values similar to those of the ancient Greeks, and this was reflected within the genres of literature that came out of authors within the empire: prominently within lyric poetry and drama. The verses themselves, in iambic trimeter, are far inferior to the poetic ekphrasis of Paulus Silentiarius. In addition to visual art and architecture, Byzantine poetry and literature flourished. Their religion, their art and architecture, and their literature all derive from various cultural origins, notably the Greeks and Romans upon whom much of their civilization is founded. But his brand of the Atticizing style is not easy to read, and his memoirs of life at the court, though scintillating and in their way unexampled, need to be supplemented at many points by other sources. Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, ed. He himself was possibly the author of the Life of Basil I (867–886), which forms Book 5 of the collection known as Theophanes Continuatus. Moreover, new vocabulary and usages, which are always associated with a living language, turned up regularly not only in the nonliterary texts of the years following upon the death of Alexander, but also with even greater frequency in the Christian period as a result of the birth and growth of the Christian Church. Encyclopedias almanacs transcripts and maps. But the church historian Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus wrote a liturgy for the Virgin that was admitted into the Pentekostarion. Priscus of Panion (on c. 411–472), the Christian sophist Malchus from Philadelphia in Palestine (on the period 306 to 480), and the Christian Candidus from Isauria (on 457–491). h. beckby, ed. The source keeps track of the number of recent losses (acks not received over a window of recent packets). The nine odes of every kanon were patterned upon the Nine Canticles from the Scriptures, and were intended as hymns of praise or exaltation. In the 10th century, however, formal historical research flourished as never before in the Byzantine Empire. major reference. In Byzantine literature, three different cultural elements are recognised: the Greek, the Christian, and the Oriental. t. klauser (Stuttgart 1941 [1950]). A great part of his narrative depends on his own personal observation as a general and high imperial official. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. The period is studied above all for the history of the struggle over icons. 1096), to whom we are indebted for a fascinating portrait of the emperors and the court from 976 to 1077. It would even later become known by many as the Eastern Roman Empire. The greatest of the students of classical literature in this period were George Gemistus Plethon, an indefatigable excerpter, teacher of many of the leading scholars of his day, and Bessarion, his disciple, who became a partisan of union with Rome and was made a cardinal (1439). Within those eleven centuries, many sacred and secular poems were composed by a variety of authors. At the time of the second iconoclastic controversy flourished Joseph the Hymnographer (c. 816–886), who was born in Sicily and was then driven by circumstances all over the Mediterranean world. He made occasional concessions to the popular language of his day, without abandoning altogether the traditional Atticizing manner of the historians. For example, in the Philopatris, a satire cast in the form of a dialogue, there is an exchange of views between a Christian and a pagan. Even spanning over several centuries, often regarded between the 6th and 12th centuries, pervaded several distinct genres of secular poetry. [Scythians, rather than the current name, Rosoi (οἱ Ῥ[symbol omitted]ς or Ῥ[symbol omitted]σοι) for Russians]. In addition, he was, together with a certain Oecumenius (6th century) and Andrew (an earlier archbishop of Caesarea, c. 563–614), one of the few Byzantine exegetes to write a commentary on the Revelation attributed to St. John. However, the date of retrieval is often important. His defeat was attributed to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, as we learn from John Cananus, who left an account of the siege and the repulse of the Turks in this year. 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