Scott Kennedy | Bilkent University (original) (raw)

Papers by Scott Kennedy

Drafts by Scott Kennedy

Thucydides was very popular among late antique rhetors. His Histories was widely read in rhetoric... more Thucydides was very popular among late antique rhetors. His Histories was widely read in rhetorical schools. Since this was the first time many ancients would have encountered Thucydides, how he was studied in schools can influence his overall reception. This paper examines how he was read in schools and suggests how the habits of ancient rhetors may have influenced ancient reading habits.

Articles by Scott Kennedy

Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2024

In this paper, I reexamine the textual history of Bessarion's In Calumniatorem Platonis (ICP), sh... more In this paper, I reexamine the textual history of Bessarion's In Calumniatorem Platonis (ICP), showing that all the surviving drafts of the text date to 1467 and after. This date is not inconsequential, as it shows us that Bessarion's real reason to finish the work and create the work such as we have it was George of Trebizond's attempt to send his criticisms of Plato to the Turks in 1466. After he tried to squash George with accusations of treason in 1466, George's criticisms had gained a wider audience. Bessarion would find himself forced to defend his often political Platonism to the West, recasting his earlier text in a more acceptable form for Western audiences (e.g., silencing his anti-Aristotelianism, adding more citations from Latin texts). From a textual and philosophical point of view, this study's conclusions are also not unimportant. While it was possible to previously assume that we had one of, if not, the earliest versions of the text, now scholars will need to reconstruct Bessarion's earlier thought from two still unpublished texts by members of his circle.

Cambridge Companion to Thucydides, 2023

This is an overview of all the different ways in which Byzantine authors read and appropriated th... more This is an overview of all the different ways in which Byzantine authors read and appropriated the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. The pdf includes only the first few pages. The rest is available through Cambridge Core or by purchasing the volume.

Byzantinoslavica, 2021

Recent years have witnessed a profusion of scholarship on Prokopios and his History of the Wars, ... more Recent years have witnessed a profusion of scholarship on Prokopios and his History of the Wars, as he has gradually been recognized as one of the greatest historians of all antiquity and scholars have begun to debate what makes him great. This piece explores the reception of Prokopios in Byzantium, demonstrating the vitality of the text among Byzantine readers, without whom there might be no Prokopios to debate. Through an examination of scholia, allusions, retellings, and imitations of Prokopios, it shows how Byzantine readers appreciated Prokopios as a rhetorical text, a model for plague and reconquest, and a memorial of the past glories of Justinian. It also argues that Byzantine readers of Prokopios were often astute and their readings of Prokopios offer interesting observations on hotly debated questions among modern scholars such as Prokopios’ subversiveness and his Orthodoxy. Through a better understanding of Byzantine Prokopios, modern scholars can better understand Prokopios today

Byzantinishe Zeitschrift, 2021

The body of almost every Roman or Byzantine emperor has been lost. This piece draws attention to ... more The body of almost every Roman or Byzantine emperor has been lost.
This piece draws attention to two skeletons, recovered from a Muslim türbe at
Trabzon during World War I by the Russian excavator Feodor Uspensky. Using
local oral tradition, Uspensky identified the two bodies he recovered as the By-
zantine emperor of Trebizond Alexios IV (1417–1429) and a local Turkish hero
Hoşoğlan. Since Uspensky, his identifications have not been challenged nor sci-
entifically examined. This paper argues that Uspensky did not recover just one
but two imperial skeletons. It first dissects his identifications, showing how com-
petition for sacred space between Greeks and Turks in the Ottoman period led
each community to identify the tomb’s occupants with foundational figures in
their communities. After dissecting Uspensky’s identifications, this paper then
makes the case that both occupants of this tomb were unidentified members
of the Grand Komnenoi family, urging for scientific examination of what may
be the only bones of a Byzantine emperor.

Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 2019

It has often been said it would be impossible to write the history of the empire of Trebizond (12... more It has often been said it would be impossible to write the history of the empire of Trebizond (1204-1461) without the terse and often frustratingly laconic chronicle of the Grand Komnenoi by the protonotarios of Alexios III (1349-1390), Michael Panaretos. While recent scholarship has infinitely enhanced our knowledge of the world in which Panaretos lived, it has been approximately seventy years since a scholar dedicated a historiographical study to the text. This study examines the world that Panaretos wanted posterity to see, examining how his post as imperial secretary and his use of sources shaped his representation of reality, whether that reality was Trebizond’s experience of foreigners, the reign of Alexios III, or a narrative that showed the superiority of Trebizond on the international stage. Finally by scrutinizing Panaretos in this way, this paper also illuminates how modern historians of Trebizond have been led astray by the chronicler, unaware of how Panaretos selected material for inclusion for the narratives of his chronicle.

Classical Quarterly, 2019

The panegyric of an emperor or general offered an ideal opportunity to propagate a desired image ... more The panegyric of an emperor or general offered an ideal opportunity to propagate a desired image of leadership to the western court. Often delivered before members of the imperial court, Senate, army and foederati, such discourse was a vehicle for broadcasting the honorand’s merits as a leader and proving that he had the mettle to command Rome’s armies. Writing in a formulaic genre, panegyrists had to work with existing Roman topoi of leadership, but they could also rework them. It was a genre full of stereotypes and racial assumptions, as a leader had to represent his Romanness properly in terms of existing constructs of barbarity and non-Romanness. Through a close examination of Sidonius and Merobaudes in the light of earlier panegyrical topoi, this article argues that Roman propagandists in the mid fifth century redefined traditional constructs of Roman military leadership, casting their leaders in ways that were traditionally associated with ‘northern’ barbarians. For the full article, visit: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-quarterly/article/winter-is-coming-the-barbarization-of-roman-leaders-in-imperial-panegyric-from-ad-44668/B3375411B95B7C99D34397B05F1B61F5

The cardinal Bessarion was a foremost figure of the Italian Renaissance and late Byzantium. Howev... more The cardinal Bessarion was a foremost figure of the Italian Renaissance and late Byzantium. However, some of the details of his life are not yet securely established, especially his date of birth. Over the last century, scholars have proposed dates ranging from 1400 to 1408. In this study, I critically interrogate the two most commonly accepted dates (1400 and 1408). In the past, scholars have relied on the age requirements of canon law or the testimony of Italian observers to determine Bessarion’s age. By critically examining the validity of these two assumptions, I reprioritize the evidence, approximating the cardinal’s year of birth
as 1403.

Eikasmos, 2016

This article on Callimachus' reception during Byzantium challenges how scholars have constructed ... more This article on Callimachus' reception during Byzantium challenges how scholars have constructed Callimachus from Byzantine sources by highlighting the difficulty of extracting Callimachus from his Byzantine context. In this article, I focus on the uses made of him by the twelfth scholar and metropolitan of Athens, Michael Choniates, the last known person to have possessed a copy of Callimachus' Aetia and Hecale.

Books by Scott Kennedy

Two months after my volume Two Works on Trebizond appeared, Sergei Karpov, Rustam Shukurov, and A... more Two months after my volume Two Works on Trebizond appeared, Sergei Karpov, Rustam Shukurov, and A. M. Kryukov published a new critical edition of Michael Panaretos’s chronicle. As they published a facsimile of Marcianus gr. 608/coll. 306, the only surviving copy of the chronicle, as well as an improved text of the chronicle, I wanted to take advantage of the possibilities of the internet to offer both corrections to my translation based on their emendations and also responses to some of the problematic changes they made to the text. My special thanks to Alice Mary Talbot, Nicole Eddy, Dumbarton Oaks medieval library summer intern Louie Zweig for reading this document and helping me vastly improve the style. All errors are my own.

This book length translation of Bessarion's encomium of Trebizond (mod. Trabzon) makes available ... more This book length translation of Bessarion's encomium of Trebizond (mod. Trabzon) makes available for the first time in English this crucial source for the history of the empire of Trebizond and the Greek Pontos. Conforming to the genre of late antique encomia of cities, this text draws heavily on Isocrates, Aelius Aristides, and Libanios to retell the history of Trebizond from Xenophon's Anabasis to the present day. It examines issues such as Byzantine identity and alterity during the fifteenth century, while also providing a valuable descriptions of the Komnenoi and their palace. As such, it is a valuable source not only for late Byzantine history, but also rhetoric and the construction of the past.

I also translate Michael Panaretos' chronicle of Trebizond, our only surviving history of Trebizond. It provides the backbone of what we know about the empire of Trebizond, while also offering the historian key information on Trebizond's relations with its Turkish and Turkmen neighbors. Panaretos's chronicle is notoriously obscure and laconic. This translation provides detailed historical and topographical commentary.

General Editor, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library by Scott Kennedy

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Volume 52 In 1204, brothers Alexios and David Komnenos became t... more Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Volume 52

In 1204, brothers Alexios and David Komnenos became the unwitting founders of the Empire of Trebizond, a successor state to the Byzantine Empire that emerged after Crusaders sacked Constantinople. Trebizond, which stretched along the coast of the Black Sea, outlasted numerous rivals and invaders until its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1461. Though this empire has fascinated writers from Cervantes to Dorothy Dunnett, few Trapezuntine writings survive.

This volume presents translations from the Greek of two crucial primary sources published together for the first time: On the Emperors of Trebizond and Encomium on Trebizond. In the fourteenth century, Michael Panaretos, the emperor’s personal secretary, penned the only extant history of the ruling dynasty, including key details about foreign relations. The encomium by Bessarion (1403–1472), here in English for the first time, praises the author’s native city and retells Trapezuntine history from antiquity to his own moment. It provides enlightening perspectives on Byzantine identity and illuminating views of this major trading hub along the Silk Road.

Book Reviews by Scott Kennedy

Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2024

I wrote this review last summer after a new edition of Panaretos' chronicle of Trebizond was publ... more I wrote this review last summer after a new edition of Panaretos' chronicle of Trebizond was published. It offers an overview and critical review of the Russian edition. It is intended to provide a useful guide to navigating the Russian edition for scholars who have may not have the best grasp of Russian. As it seems that editors of journals already have their preferred reviewers for the volume, I've decided to self publish it, as the internet gives me more space to write a lengthier and frankly more thoughtful review than is permissible in the average journal.