Baukje van den Berg | Central European University (original) (raw)
Books by Baukje van den Berg
Homer the Rhetorician is the first monograph study devoted to the monumental Commentary on the Il... more Homer the Rhetorician is the first monograph study devoted to the monumental Commentary on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, one of the most renowned orators and teachers of the Byzantine twelfth century. Homeric poetry was a fixture in the Byzantine educational curriculum and enjoyed special popularity under the Komnenian emperors. For Eustathios, Homer was the supreme paradigm of eloquence and wisdom. Writing for an audience of aspiring or practising prose writers, he explains in his commentary what it is that makes Homer's composition so successful in rhetorical terms. This study explores the exemplary qualities that Eustathios recognizes in the poet as author and the Iliad as rhetorical masterpiece. In this way, it advances our understanding of the rhetorical thought of a leading intellectual and the role of a cultural authority as respected as Homer in one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history.
The twelfth century was one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history and this vo... more The twelfth century was one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history and this volume is the first to focus exclusively on its abundant poetic production. It explores the broader sociocultural tendencies that shaped twelfth-century literature in both prose and verse by examining the school as an important venue for the composition and use of texts written in verse, by shedding new light on the relationship between poetry, patronage and power, and by offering the first editions and interpretive studies of hitherto neglected works. In this way, it enhances our knowledge of the history of Byzantine literature and enables us to situate Medieval Greek poetry in the broader literary world of the medieval Mediterranean.
This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in... more This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science. By discussing the exegetical literature of the Byzantines as embedded in the socio-cultural context of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the book analyses the frameworks and networks of knowledge transfer, patronage and identity building that motivated the Byzantine engagement with the ancient intellectual and literary tradition.
Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Il... more Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Iliad to the pangs of love of Virgil’s Dido. This volume applies a narratological approach to emotions in a wide range of texts and genres. It seeks to analyze ways in which emotions such as anger, fear, pity, joy, love and sadness are portrayed. Furthermore, using recent insights from affective narratology, it studies ways in which ancient narratives evoke emotions in their readers. The volume is dedicated to Irene de Jong for her groundbreaking research into the narratology of ancient literature.
Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Il... more Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Iliad to the pangs of love of Virgil’s Dido. This volume applies a narratological approach to emotions in a wide range of texts and genres. It seeks to analyze ways in which emotions such as anger, fear, pity, joy, love and sadness are portrayed. Furthermore, using recent insights from affective narratology, it studies ways in which ancient narratives evoke emotions in their readers. The volume is dedicated to Irene de Jong for her groundbreaking research into the narratology of ancient literature.
Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond focuses on the important question of how and why... more Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond focuses on the important question of how and why later authors employ Homeric poetry to reflect on various types and aspects of leadership. In a range of essays discussing generically diverse receptions of the epics of Homer in historically diverse contexts, this question is answered in various ways. Rather than considering Homer’s works as literary products, then, this volume discusses the pedagogic dimension of the Iliad and the Odyssey as perceived by later thinkers and writers interested in the parameters of good rule, such as Plato, Philodemus, Polybius, Vergil, and Eustathios.
Articles by Baukje van den Berg
Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 2024
Open access: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/bz-2024-1170310/html This article ... more Open access: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/bz-2024-1170310/html
This article explores reflections on literature, authorship, and language in the commentaries written by Gregory of Corinth, Theodore Prodromos, and Eustathios of Thessalonike on the canons of Kosmas of Jerusalem and John of Damascus. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which these twelfth-century commentators approach the canons as literary artefacts belonging to the long tradition of Greek poetry that began with Homer. This genealogical connection enabled them to approach both pagan and Christian poetry from the interpretive standpoint established in Byzantine literary education. By studying the commentators' notions of authorship, their practices of reading and strategies of interpreting, and their reflections on the relation between language and devotion, this article demonstrates how the study of ancient literature and language was brought to bear on the interpretation of the liturgical canons.
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2023
This article analyses the moral reading of ancient poetry in key texts of twelfth-century Byzanti... more This article analyses the moral reading of ancient poetry in key texts of twelfth-century Byzantine scholarship, in particular the monumental commentaries on Homer by Eustathios of Thessalonike and various works on ancient poetry by the grammarian John Tzetzes and the rhetorician Nikephoros Basilakes. In their works, intended to educate the future political and cultural elite of the empire, these scholars articulate the moral functions and literary strategies of exemplarity in ancient poetry, and reflect on the ways in which medieval readers could derive moral benefit from exemplary figures of the past. These exegetical works mediated the moral exemplarity of ancient paradigms by giving new meaning to ancient stories and heroes.
Lampas 54.3, 2021
This article studies the reception of the comedies of the Athenian playwright Aristophanes in 12t... more This article studies the reception of the comedies of the Athenian playwright Aristophanes in 12th-century Byzantium. It takes as its starting point various scholarly and didactic texts that facilitated this reception. These texts were written by Gregory of Corinth, John Tzetzes and Eustathius of Thessaloniki, who all used Aristophanes, and ancient literature more generally, in their teaching and scholarly practice. This article explores (1) what moral functions Byzantine scholars ascribe to ancient drama; (2) how they instruct Byzantine writers to weave elements of humour and ridicule into their own work by either imitating Aristophanes’ techniques or quoting his verses; (3) how they use the Athenian playwright as a model for correct atticizing language; (4) and how Tzetzes engages on a personal level with Aristophanes as a historical figure and with the comedies he wrote. This examination of the reception of Aristophanes in the work of Gregory, Tzetzes and Eustathius thus demonstrates the versatility of the Byzantine reception of ancient comedy.
Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, 2021
This paper presents the results of an architectural survey of the foundations of a Classical temp... more This paper presents the results of an architectural survey of the foundations of a Classical temple, presumably that of Demeter Chthonia, located inside the chief sanctuary of the ancient city of Hermione. It also studies ancient architectural members built into the walls of the Taxiarches
Church situated on top of the temple foundations. By analysing these
material remains and connecting them to the observations of 19th-century
travellers to Kastri (Hermione), the paper draws conclusions about
the original size and appearance of the Temple of Demeter Chthonia.
Spoliation as Translation: Medieval Worlds in the Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Ivana Jevtić and Ingela Nilsson, 2021
A combination of translation and spoliation defines the Homeric commentaries of Eustathios of The... more A combination of translation and spoliation defines the Homeric commentaries of Eustathios of Thessalonike. Eustathios' rhetorical translation of Homer seeks to assist contemporary rhetors in attaining polymathy, oratorical excellence, and linguistic competence. The first part of this article argues that the display of erudition is a key component of the rhetorical aesthetics appreciated and advocated by Eustathios; the combination of eloquence and erudition is central to both his definition of Homer's exemplarity and his reflections on authorship elsewhere. The second part explores how Eustathios' commentaries help rhetors navigate the differences between Homer's poetic language and the Atticizing Greek of Byzantine prose. The article's third part draws a parallel between Eustathios' use of ancient grammatical, rhetorical, and exegetical traditions in his translation of Homer and the use of ancient material as spolia in medieval architecture.
For a PDF of the article, please leave a message.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 74 , 2020
This article explores the role of the gods in the Iliad as analysed by Eustathius of Thessaloniki... more This article explores the role of the gods in the Iliad as analysed by Eustathius of Thessaloniki in his Commentary on the Iliad. Eustathius aims to identify the principles and techniques that underlie Homer’s successful composition and to reconstruct, as it were, Homer’s composition process. In this way, he intends to familiarise his target audience, twelfth-century authors of rhetorical prose, with Homer’s admirable methods so that they can imitate them in their own writings. Eustathius interprets the gods as devices in the hands of the poet to steer his composition in the desired direction, to imbue it with rhetorical plausibility, and to foreground his skilfulness. Homer uses the gods in four ways: 1) by means of divine interventions, Homer maintains plausibility whenever he takes risks for the sake of rhetorical virtuosity; 2) the poet employs divine plans to motivate the course of events; 3) as allegories of the poet’s intellectual capacities the gods reveal authorial deliberations about the course of the Iliad; 4) the composition of the Iliad is partly determined by the meaning of the gods in terms of natural and ethical allegory. Eustathius thus presents Homer as a self-conscious author and shapes him, we may assume, in the image of the ideal Byzantine author, or perhaps that of himself.
In this paper it is argued that the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessal... more In this paper it is argued that the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike gives a practical example of the use to which the lessons in his work are to be put. It explores how Eustathios advertises himself as a skilful rhetorician and how he perceives the relationship between poet, commentator, and readers by examining four images that embellish the proem: Homeric poetry as the song of the Sirens, Homer as the Ocean and as a host, and the commentator as a cook.
This article discusses the Parekbolai on the Iliad by the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eusta... more This article discusses the Parekbolai on the Iliad by the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eustathius of Thessalonike. It aims to give an impression of the various types of information included in the Parekbolai, for which it takes as its starting point Eustathius’ ‘table of contents’ as listed in the proem. Each of the items on the list is illustrated with examples from the Parekbolai and is interpreted within the context of the twelfth-century intellectual world. The examples demonstrate that Eustathius mainly composed his Parekbolai with writers of rhetorical prose in mind, offering them material for creative reuse in writings of their own and providing much additional information to expand the readers’ learning. Eustathius projects his own didactical program on the poet and shows how Homer teaches the same things as Eustathius intends to do: the poet, too, is a teacher of rhetoric and grammar, and provides information on manifold subjects to bring his audience to great learning. The didactic program of both commentator and poet reflects the way in which Homer was read and used in twelfth-century Byzantium. Moreover, the literary principles that are advocated in the Parekbolai can be helpful in understanding twelfth-century rhetorical writings.
Book Chapters by Baukje van den Berg
Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204): New Texts, New Approaches, 2024
This chapter explores the topics and didactic strategies involved in teaching grammar through poe... more This chapter explores the topics and didactic strategies involved in teaching grammar through poetry in twelfth-century Byzantium by taking the prolific grammarian John Tzetzes and his Homerizing Carmina Iliaca as its case study. Tzetzes furnished his poem with numerous explanatory scholia, which give us a glimpse into Tzetzes’ teaching practice and illustrate how works of poetry served as model texts in the classroom of a grammarian. The chapter studies Tzetzes’ scholia against the background of the Art of Grammar by Dionysius Thrax, which was central to the Byzantine study of grammar and as such provides a relevant framework for analysing the grammatical material in Tzetzes’ scholia. By considering Tzetzes’ grammar lessons in the context of the various technical resources at his disposal and placing his scholia into dialogue with the scholarly and didactic works of his contemporaries Eustathios of Thessalonike and Gregory of Corinth, the chapter augments our understanding of Byzantine linguistic and literary thought.
Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204): New Texts, New Approaches, 2024
This introduction sets the stage for the different chapters of the volume by offering general con... more This introduction sets the stage for the different chapters of the volume by offering general considerations about the production and consumption of poetry in twelfth-century Byzantium. It takes as its point of departure the period beginning from the moment that Alexios I Komnenos ascended the imperial throne in 1081 to the Latin sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. This period saw an unprecedented growth in the production of poetry, as well as various innovative literary developments, including the emergence of vernacular poetry, the extensive use of poetry for ceremonial and didactic purposes at the imperial court and beyond, and the mixing of poetry and prose in so-called schede. While many poets were active in Constantinople, a large amount of the surviving poetry was written in places far away from the Byzantine capital, particularly in southern Italy and Sicily. The introduction discusses the social and intellectual contexts of twelfth-century poetry, addresses issues of geographical distribution and material circulation, and introduces some of the key figures and texts of the Komnenian period.
Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Irene de Jong, 2022
This introduction briefly sketches ancient and current approaches towards emotions and explains w... more This introduction briefly sketches ancient and current approaches towards emotions and explains why it makes sense to apply narratological analysis to emotions as presented in the narratives of the ancient world. First, the introduction distinguishes between emotions on the level of narrators, focalizers, and characters. Next, it delves into cognitive and affective narratology, opening paths to explore the various ways in which narration may trigger emotion in the narratee, e.g. by immersion, empathy, or simulation.
Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th-15th Centuries, 2022
This chapter opens a perspective onto the more theoretical or conceptual side of humorous discour... more This chapter opens a perspective onto the more theoretical or conceptual side of humorous discourse in twelfth-century Byzantium by exploring the reflections on ridicule and comedy in Homeric poetry in the commentaries by Eustathios of Thessalonike. Eustathios addresses the social aspects of ridicule, as well as its rhetorical dynamics and its role in narrative. In his view, Homer uses comic elements to counterbalance the gloominess of the Iliad’s war narrative, as a good rhetor should do. Flyting has the same function: even if the addressees in the narrative are stung by such insults, Homer’s primary narratees are expected to be amused by the often humorous verbal abuse. Eustathios repeatedly points to the moral tensions inherent in ridicule and laughter; as the consummate orator, however, Homer always finds a way to keep his dignity intact. Throughout his commentaries, Eustathios offers his target audience of prose writers numerous examples of how to adopt and adapt Homer’s words in order to ridicule certain bodily defects, excessive behaviours or less-than-perfect intellectual skills. Such comments shed light on what was worthy of mockery in the mind of a Byzantine audience and show that it was expected of urbane rhetors to use ridicule in their writings.
Homer the Rhetorician is the first monograph study devoted to the monumental Commentary on the Il... more Homer the Rhetorician is the first monograph study devoted to the monumental Commentary on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, one of the most renowned orators and teachers of the Byzantine twelfth century. Homeric poetry was a fixture in the Byzantine educational curriculum and enjoyed special popularity under the Komnenian emperors. For Eustathios, Homer was the supreme paradigm of eloquence and wisdom. Writing for an audience of aspiring or practising prose writers, he explains in his commentary what it is that makes Homer's composition so successful in rhetorical terms. This study explores the exemplary qualities that Eustathios recognizes in the poet as author and the Iliad as rhetorical masterpiece. In this way, it advances our understanding of the rhetorical thought of a leading intellectual and the role of a cultural authority as respected as Homer in one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history.
The twelfth century was one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history and this vo... more The twelfth century was one of the most fertile periods in Byzantine literary history and this volume is the first to focus exclusively on its abundant poetic production. It explores the broader sociocultural tendencies that shaped twelfth-century literature in both prose and verse by examining the school as an important venue for the composition and use of texts written in verse, by shedding new light on the relationship between poetry, patronage and power, and by offering the first editions and interpretive studies of hitherto neglected works. In this way, it enhances our knowledge of the history of Byzantine literature and enables us to situate Medieval Greek poetry in the broader literary world of the medieval Mediterranean.
This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in... more This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science. By discussing the exegetical literature of the Byzantines as embedded in the socio-cultural context of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the book analyses the frameworks and networks of knowledge transfer, patronage and identity building that motivated the Byzantine engagement with the ancient intellectual and literary tradition.
Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Il... more Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Iliad to the pangs of love of Virgil’s Dido. This volume applies a narratological approach to emotions in a wide range of texts and genres. It seeks to analyze ways in which emotions such as anger, fear, pity, joy, love and sadness are portrayed. Furthermore, using recent insights from affective narratology, it studies ways in which ancient narratives evoke emotions in their readers. The volume is dedicated to Irene de Jong for her groundbreaking research into the narratology of ancient literature.
Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Il... more Emotions are at the core of much ancient literature, from Achilles’ heartfelt anger in Homer’s Iliad to the pangs of love of Virgil’s Dido. This volume applies a narratological approach to emotions in a wide range of texts and genres. It seeks to analyze ways in which emotions such as anger, fear, pity, joy, love and sadness are portrayed. Furthermore, using recent insights from affective narratology, it studies ways in which ancient narratives evoke emotions in their readers. The volume is dedicated to Irene de Jong for her groundbreaking research into the narratology of ancient literature.
Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond focuses on the important question of how and why... more Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond focuses on the important question of how and why later authors employ Homeric poetry to reflect on various types and aspects of leadership. In a range of essays discussing generically diverse receptions of the epics of Homer in historically diverse contexts, this question is answered in various ways. Rather than considering Homer’s works as literary products, then, this volume discusses the pedagogic dimension of the Iliad and the Odyssey as perceived by later thinkers and writers interested in the parameters of good rule, such as Plato, Philodemus, Polybius, Vergil, and Eustathios.
Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 2024
Open access: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/bz-2024-1170310/html This article ... more Open access: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/bz-2024-1170310/html
This article explores reflections on literature, authorship, and language in the commentaries written by Gregory of Corinth, Theodore Prodromos, and Eustathios of Thessalonike on the canons of Kosmas of Jerusalem and John of Damascus. In particular, it focuses on the ways in which these twelfth-century commentators approach the canons as literary artefacts belonging to the long tradition of Greek poetry that began with Homer. This genealogical connection enabled them to approach both pagan and Christian poetry from the interpretive standpoint established in Byzantine literary education. By studying the commentators' notions of authorship, their practices of reading and strategies of interpreting, and their reflections on the relation between language and devotion, this article demonstrates how the study of ancient literature and language was brought to bear on the interpretation of the liturgical canons.
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 2023
This article analyses the moral reading of ancient poetry in key texts of twelfth-century Byzanti... more This article analyses the moral reading of ancient poetry in key texts of twelfth-century Byzantine scholarship, in particular the monumental commentaries on Homer by Eustathios of Thessalonike and various works on ancient poetry by the grammarian John Tzetzes and the rhetorician Nikephoros Basilakes. In their works, intended to educate the future political and cultural elite of the empire, these scholars articulate the moral functions and literary strategies of exemplarity in ancient poetry, and reflect on the ways in which medieval readers could derive moral benefit from exemplary figures of the past. These exegetical works mediated the moral exemplarity of ancient paradigms by giving new meaning to ancient stories and heroes.
Lampas 54.3, 2021
This article studies the reception of the comedies of the Athenian playwright Aristophanes in 12t... more This article studies the reception of the comedies of the Athenian playwright Aristophanes in 12th-century Byzantium. It takes as its starting point various scholarly and didactic texts that facilitated this reception. These texts were written by Gregory of Corinth, John Tzetzes and Eustathius of Thessaloniki, who all used Aristophanes, and ancient literature more generally, in their teaching and scholarly practice. This article explores (1) what moral functions Byzantine scholars ascribe to ancient drama; (2) how they instruct Byzantine writers to weave elements of humour and ridicule into their own work by either imitating Aristophanes’ techniques or quoting his verses; (3) how they use the Athenian playwright as a model for correct atticizing language; (4) and how Tzetzes engages on a personal level with Aristophanes as a historical figure and with the comedies he wrote. This examination of the reception of Aristophanes in the work of Gregory, Tzetzes and Eustathius thus demonstrates the versatility of the Byzantine reception of ancient comedy.
Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, 2021
This paper presents the results of an architectural survey of the foundations of a Classical temp... more This paper presents the results of an architectural survey of the foundations of a Classical temple, presumably that of Demeter Chthonia, located inside the chief sanctuary of the ancient city of Hermione. It also studies ancient architectural members built into the walls of the Taxiarches
Church situated on top of the temple foundations. By analysing these
material remains and connecting them to the observations of 19th-century
travellers to Kastri (Hermione), the paper draws conclusions about
the original size and appearance of the Temple of Demeter Chthonia.
Spoliation as Translation: Medieval Worlds in the Eastern Mediterranean, edited by Ivana Jevtić and Ingela Nilsson, 2021
A combination of translation and spoliation defines the Homeric commentaries of Eustathios of The... more A combination of translation and spoliation defines the Homeric commentaries of Eustathios of Thessalonike. Eustathios' rhetorical translation of Homer seeks to assist contemporary rhetors in attaining polymathy, oratorical excellence, and linguistic competence. The first part of this article argues that the display of erudition is a key component of the rhetorical aesthetics appreciated and advocated by Eustathios; the combination of eloquence and erudition is central to both his definition of Homer's exemplarity and his reflections on authorship elsewhere. The second part explores how Eustathios' commentaries help rhetors navigate the differences between Homer's poetic language and the Atticizing Greek of Byzantine prose. The article's third part draws a parallel between Eustathios' use of ancient grammatical, rhetorical, and exegetical traditions in his translation of Homer and the use of ancient material as spolia in medieval architecture.
For a PDF of the article, please leave a message.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 74 , 2020
This article explores the role of the gods in the Iliad as analysed by Eustathius of Thessaloniki... more This article explores the role of the gods in the Iliad as analysed by Eustathius of Thessaloniki in his Commentary on the Iliad. Eustathius aims to identify the principles and techniques that underlie Homer’s successful composition and to reconstruct, as it were, Homer’s composition process. In this way, he intends to familiarise his target audience, twelfth-century authors of rhetorical prose, with Homer’s admirable methods so that they can imitate them in their own writings. Eustathius interprets the gods as devices in the hands of the poet to steer his composition in the desired direction, to imbue it with rhetorical plausibility, and to foreground his skilfulness. Homer uses the gods in four ways: 1) by means of divine interventions, Homer maintains plausibility whenever he takes risks for the sake of rhetorical virtuosity; 2) the poet employs divine plans to motivate the course of events; 3) as allegories of the poet’s intellectual capacities the gods reveal authorial deliberations about the course of the Iliad; 4) the composition of the Iliad is partly determined by the meaning of the gods in terms of natural and ethical allegory. Eustathius thus presents Homer as a self-conscious author and shapes him, we may assume, in the image of the ideal Byzantine author, or perhaps that of himself.
In this paper it is argued that the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessal... more In this paper it is argued that the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike gives a practical example of the use to which the lessons in his work are to be put. It explores how Eustathios advertises himself as a skilful rhetorician and how he perceives the relationship between poet, commentator, and readers by examining four images that embellish the proem: Homeric poetry as the song of the Sirens, Homer as the Ocean and as a host, and the commentator as a cook.
This article discusses the Parekbolai on the Iliad by the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eusta... more This article discusses the Parekbolai on the Iliad by the twelfth-century Byzantine scholar Eustathius of Thessalonike. It aims to give an impression of the various types of information included in the Parekbolai, for which it takes as its starting point Eustathius’ ‘table of contents’ as listed in the proem. Each of the items on the list is illustrated with examples from the Parekbolai and is interpreted within the context of the twelfth-century intellectual world. The examples demonstrate that Eustathius mainly composed his Parekbolai with writers of rhetorical prose in mind, offering them material for creative reuse in writings of their own and providing much additional information to expand the readers’ learning. Eustathius projects his own didactical program on the poet and shows how Homer teaches the same things as Eustathius intends to do: the poet, too, is a teacher of rhetoric and grammar, and provides information on manifold subjects to bring his audience to great learning. The didactic program of both commentator and poet reflects the way in which Homer was read and used in twelfth-century Byzantium. Moreover, the literary principles that are advocated in the Parekbolai can be helpful in understanding twelfth-century rhetorical writings.
Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204): New Texts, New Approaches, 2024
This chapter explores the topics and didactic strategies involved in teaching grammar through poe... more This chapter explores the topics and didactic strategies involved in teaching grammar through poetry in twelfth-century Byzantium by taking the prolific grammarian John Tzetzes and his Homerizing Carmina Iliaca as its case study. Tzetzes furnished his poem with numerous explanatory scholia, which give us a glimpse into Tzetzes’ teaching practice and illustrate how works of poetry served as model texts in the classroom of a grammarian. The chapter studies Tzetzes’ scholia against the background of the Art of Grammar by Dionysius Thrax, which was central to the Byzantine study of grammar and as such provides a relevant framework for analysing the grammatical material in Tzetzes’ scholia. By considering Tzetzes’ grammar lessons in the context of the various technical resources at his disposal and placing his scholia into dialogue with the scholarly and didactic works of his contemporaries Eustathios of Thessalonike and Gregory of Corinth, the chapter augments our understanding of Byzantine linguistic and literary thought.
Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204): New Texts, New Approaches, 2024
This introduction sets the stage for the different chapters of the volume by offering general con... more This introduction sets the stage for the different chapters of the volume by offering general considerations about the production and consumption of poetry in twelfth-century Byzantium. It takes as its point of departure the period beginning from the moment that Alexios I Komnenos ascended the imperial throne in 1081 to the Latin sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. This period saw an unprecedented growth in the production of poetry, as well as various innovative literary developments, including the emergence of vernacular poetry, the extensive use of poetry for ceremonial and didactic purposes at the imperial court and beyond, and the mixing of poetry and prose in so-called schede. While many poets were active in Constantinople, a large amount of the surviving poetry was written in places far away from the Byzantine capital, particularly in southern Italy and Sicily. The introduction discusses the social and intellectual contexts of twelfth-century poetry, addresses issues of geographical distribution and material circulation, and introduces some of the key figures and texts of the Komnenian period.
Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Irene de Jong, 2022
This introduction briefly sketches ancient and current approaches towards emotions and explains w... more This introduction briefly sketches ancient and current approaches towards emotions and explains why it makes sense to apply narratological analysis to emotions as presented in the narratives of the ancient world. First, the introduction distinguishes between emotions on the level of narrators, focalizers, and characters. Next, it delves into cognitive and affective narratology, opening paths to explore the various ways in which narration may trigger emotion in the narratee, e.g. by immersion, empathy, or simulation.
Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th-15th Centuries, 2022
This chapter opens a perspective onto the more theoretical or conceptual side of humorous discour... more This chapter opens a perspective onto the more theoretical or conceptual side of humorous discourse in twelfth-century Byzantium by exploring the reflections on ridicule and comedy in Homeric poetry in the commentaries by Eustathios of Thessalonike. Eustathios addresses the social aspects of ridicule, as well as its rhetorical dynamics and its role in narrative. In his view, Homer uses comic elements to counterbalance the gloominess of the Iliad’s war narrative, as a good rhetor should do. Flyting has the same function: even if the addressees in the narrative are stung by such insults, Homer’s primary narratees are expected to be amused by the often humorous verbal abuse. Eustathios repeatedly points to the moral tensions inherent in ridicule and laughter; as the consummate orator, however, Homer always finds a way to keep his dignity intact. Throughout his commentaries, Eustathios offers his target audience of prose writers numerous examples of how to adopt and adapt Homer’s words in order to ridicule certain bodily defects, excessive behaviours or less-than-perfect intellectual skills. Such comments shed light on what was worthy of mockery in the mind of a Byzantine audience and show that it was expected of urbane rhetors to use ridicule in their writings.
Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th-15th Centuries, 2022
This introduction sets forth the approach to Byzantine commentaries on ancient Greek texts taken ... more This introduction sets forth the approach to Byzantine commentaries on ancient Greek texts taken in this volume: it places the Komnenian and Palaiologan commentaries firmly within their intellectual and socio-cultural contexts and examines the process of commenting on ancient texts as a deliberate and culturally significant choice made by the commentators. We define commentary both in a narrow and a broad sense. In the narrowest sense, commentaries are concerned with explaining an ancient text and the knowledge related to it, often in a didactic context. Defined more broadly, commentaries include treatises on ancient literature and paraphrases of ancient authorities, which likewise demonstrate how these texts were read and taught. In the broadest sense, commentaries can be any literary texts that creatively engage with ancient texts and thus shed light on Byzantine attitudes towards their ancient heritage. The very practice of composing commentaries on ancient texts was a creative and targeted enterprise of identity building. The introduction discusses different kinds of Byzantine commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science, and introduces some of the key figures of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods.
Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Irene de Jong, 2022
Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Irene de Jong, 2022
by Foteini Spingou, Charles Barber, Nathan Leidholm, Thomas Carlson, Ivan Drpić, Alexandros (Alexander) Alexakis, elizabeth jeffreys, Theocharis Tsampouras, Mircea G . Duluș, Nikos Zagklas, Ida Toth, Alexander Riehle, Brad Hostetler, Michael Featherstone, Emmanuel C Bourbouhakis, Shannon Steiner, Efthymios Rizos, Divna Manolova, Robert Romanchuk, Maria Tomadaki, Kirsty Stewart, Baukje van den Berg, Katarzyna Warcaba, Florin Leonte, Vasileios Marinis, Ludovic Bender, Linda Safran, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Rachele Ricceri, Luisa Andriollo, Alex J Novikoff, Annemarie Carr, Marina Bazzani, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Renaat Meesters, Daphne (Dafni) / Δάφνη Penna / Πέννα, Annemarie Carr, Alexander Alexakis, Jeremy Johns, Maria Parani, Lisa Mahoney, Irena Spadijer, and Ilias Taxidis
ISBN: 9781108483056 Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3 In this book the beauty and m... more ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Satire in the Middle Byzantine Period: The Golden Age of Laughter? Edited by P. Marciniak and I. Nilsson, 2021
This paper explores the reception of Aristophanes in the scholarly-didactic works of John Tzetzes... more This paper explores the reception of Aristophanes in the scholarly-didactic works of John Tzetzes, Gregory Pardos, and Eustathios of Thessalonike as texts facilitating the literary reception of the comic poet. It studies the reception of Aristophanes as Atticist, playwright, and satirist and argues that the Byzantine reception of Aristophanes goes beyond his usefulness as a model of perfect Attic Greek. Tzetzes, Gregory, and Eustathios attribute an ethical-didactic function to ancient drama, including comedy and its ridicule. In terms of rhetoric, they analyze the figures and strategies underlying Aristophanes’ jests and ridicule in order to provide their readers with methods and techniques to implement in their own writings. The active and multifaceted engagement with Aristophanes in twelfth-century Byzantium is also evident in Tzetzes’ personal engagement with Aristophanes as historical person and his autobiographical remarks throughout the commentaries on Aristophanes’ comedies.
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The idea of Homeric poetry as providing rhetorical instruction had a rich history by the time Eus... more The idea of Homeric poetry as providing rhetorical instruction had a rich history by the time Eustathios of Thessalonike (c. 1115-1195) wrote his Commentary on the Iliad. In the proem of this commentary, Eustathios states that he composed the work especially for the sake of writers of rhetorical prose. Just as ancient critics projected their own didactical programme on Homer, so too does Eustathios see the rhetorical lessons he wishes to teach reflected in Homeric poetry. In other words, he presents Homer as a model orator for twelfth-century orators and Homeric poetry as displaying the qualities that were appreciated in twelfth-century rhetorical prose.
This paper discusses some of these appreciated qualities and the techniques by means of which Homer, according to Eustathios, implements them in his poetry. It takes Eustathios’ praise of a contemporary ruler and orator, emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180), as its starting point. In his epitaphios or funeral oration for the late emperor, Eustathios celebrates Manuel’s rhetorical skill mainly for three reasons: firstly, the emperor successfully combines attractive style and profound content, thereby appealing to both educated and uneducated audiences; secondly, his orations never fail to display novelty; thirdly, he expresses the rich and dense content of his orations with remarkable clarity of style.
The paper explores how Eustathios recognises each of these three qualities of excellent oratory in the poetry of Homer and discusses these ideas in more concrete terms in his Commentary on the Iliad: How does Homer, the ideal orator, combine attractive style and profound content? What does it mean for an orator to be novel? And how does the Iliad serve as an example of density of content and clarity of expression?
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This is the first page of the Introduction to the edited Volume Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiq... more This is the first page of the Introduction to the edited Volume Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond. It treats the development of Princes' Mirrors and the Reception of Homeric Epic as text about good leadership. If you need a copy of the full version, leave a message.
Speculum, 2023
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/724262
The Byzantine Review, 2023
https://www.uni-muenster.de/Ejournals/index.php/byzrev/article/view/4708
Plekos, 2022
https://www.plekos.uni-muenchen.de/2022/r-moraw.pdf
Byzantinische Zeitschrift , 2020
http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2018/2018-11-14.html
Antigone Journal , 2024
https://antigonejournal.com/2024/03/homer-byzantine-eustathios-tzetzes/
• PhD in Late Antique, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (5 fully funded positions) • PhD in C... more • PhD in Late Antique, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (5 fully funded positions)
• PhD in Comparative History (5 fully funded positions)
• 1-year MA and 2-year MA in Historical Studies (History track and Late Antique & Medieval Studies track)
• 2-year MA in Museum Studies
• European Master in Women’s and Gender History – MATILDA (2 years)
Sources in Early Poetics, 2022
'Sources in Early Poetics' publishes primary sources in literary criticism from Greco-Roman antiq... more 'Sources in Early Poetics' publishes primary sources in literary criticism from Greco-Roman antiquity to the Enlightenment. Cutting across established period and disciplinary divides, the series emphasizes both the essential continuity and the inventive range of over two millennia of criticism in the West and its neighbouring traditions. From the Levant to the Americas, from Greek and Latin to Arabic, Hebrew, and the rising vernaculars, Sources in Early Poetics provides a forum for new materials and perspectives in the long, cosmopolitan history of literary thought.
The series publishes editions of single works as well as collections of shorter texts by one or more authors, with facing-page English translations provided for all non-English texts. We also publish English translations of works available in adequate editions elsewhere, but unavailable in authoritative and accessible English renderings. Special attention is given to unpublished, unedited, and untranslated sources, especially those remaining in manuscript.
The series has its origin in Poetics before Modernity, an international project founded by the General Editors in 2016. In addition to sponsoring Sources in Early Poetics and other publications, the project also organizes events and collaborates with affiliated institutions, and is backed by an extensive Advisory Board, featuring some of the most distinguished scholars in the field.
Authors are cordially invited to submit proposals and/or full manuscripts to the General Editors, Dr Vladimir Brljak and Dr Micha Lazarus, or the Publisher at Brill, Dr Kate Hammond. For further details, please refer to the Guidelines for Contributors and the Proposal Form.
ISSN: 2772-9079
General Editors
Vladimir Brljak, Durham University
Micha Lazarus, Warburg Institute
Editorial Board
Baukje van den Berg, Central European University
Elsa Bouchard, University of Montreal
Bryan Brazeau, University of Warwick
Andrew Kraebel, Trinity University
Advisory Board
Gavin Alexander, University of Cambridge
Jan Bloemendal, Huygens Institute
Rita Copeland, University of Pennsylvania
Anders Cullhed, Stockholm University
Pierre Destrée, Université catholique de Louvain
Kathy Eden, Columbia University
Roland Greene, Stanford University
Beatrice Gründler, Freie Universität Berlin
Stephen Halliwell, University of St Andrews
Lara Harb, Princeton University
Philip Hardie, University of Cambridge
Bernhard Huss, Freie Universität Berlin
Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews
Casper de Jonge, Universiteit Leiden
Pauline LeVen, Yale University
Martin McLaughlin, University of Oxford
Alastair Minnis, Yale University
Glenn W. Most, University of Chicago / Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
Stratis Papaioannou, University of Crete
Aglae Pizzone, University of Southern Denmark
Filippomaria Pontani, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
James Porter, University of California, Berkeley
Panagiotis Roilos, Harvard University
Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, King’s College London
Peter T. Struck, University of Pennsylvania
María José Vega, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Zhang Longxi, City University of Hong Kong
Jan Ziolkowski, Harvard University
![Research paper thumbnail of Sources in Early Poetics: Launch and Roundtable [online via Zoom, 16 March 2022]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/82057991/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Join us for the launch of _Sources in Early Poetics_, a new series with Brill, with addresses fro... more Join us for the launch of _Sources in Early Poetics_, a new series with Brill, with addresses from the editors and a roundtable discussion featuring Prof. Gavin Alexander (Cambridge), Prof. Rita Copeland (Penn), Dr Lara Harb (Princeton), Dr Aglae Pizzone (Southern Denmark), and Prof. Filippomaria Pontani (Venice)!
Free registration via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sources-in-early-poetics-launch-and-roundtable-tickets-247177995037
'Sources in Early Poetics' publishes primary sources in literary criticism from Greco-Roman antiquity to the Enlightenment. Cutting across established period and disciplinary divides, the series emphasizes both the essential continuity and the inventive range of over two millennia of criticism in the West and its neighbouring traditions. From the Levant to the Americas, from Greek and Latin to Arabic, Hebrew, and the rising vernaculars, Sources in Early Poetics provides a forum for new materials and perspectives in the long, cosmopolitan history of literary thought.
The series publishes editions of single works as well as collections of shorter texts by one or more authors, with facing-page English translations provided for all non-English texts. We also publish English translations of works available in adequate editions elsewhere, but unavailable in authoritative and accessible English renderings. Special attention is given to unpublished, unedited, and untranslated sources, especially those remaining in manuscript.
The series has its origin in Poetics before Modernity, an international project founded by the General Editors in 2016. In addition to sponsoring _Sources in Early Poetics_ and other publications, the project also organizes events and collaborates with affiliated institutions, and is backed by an extensive Advisory Board, featuring some of the most distinguished scholars in the field.
General Editors
Vladimir Brljak (Durham) and Micha Lazarus (Warburg)
Editorial Board
Baukje van den Berg (CEU), Elsa Bouchard, (Montreal), Bryan Brazeau (Warwick), and Andrew Kraebel (Trinity)
Advisory Board
Gavin Alexander (Cambridge), Jan Bloemendal (Huygens), Rita Copeland (Pennsylvania), Anders Cullhed (Stockholm), Pierre Destrée (U catholique de Louvain), Kathy Eden (Columbia), Roland Greene (Stanford), Beatrice Gründler (Freie U Berlin), Stephen Halliwell (St Andrews), Lara Harb (Princeton), Philip Hardie (Cambridge), Bernhard Huss (Freie U Berlin), Ian Johnson (St Andrews), Casper de Jonge (Leiden), Pauline LeVen (Yale), Martin McLaughlin (Oxford), Alastair Minnis (Yale), Glenn W. Most (Chicago/MPWG Berlin), Stratis Papaioannou (Crete), Aglae Pizzone (Southern Denmark), Filippomaria Pontani (Venice), James Porter (UC Berkeley), Panagiotis Roilos (Harvard), Elizabeth Scott-Baumann (KCL), Peter T. Struck (Pennsylvania), María José Vega (U Autònoma de Barcelona), Zhang Longxi (City U of Hong Kong), and Jan Ziolkowski (Harvard)
Please direct all queries to poeticsbeforemodernity@gmail.com.
Conference Program: International workshop "Preserving, Commenting, Adapting: Commentaries on Anc... more Conference Program: International workshop "Preserving, Commenting, Adapting: Commentaries on Ancient Texts in Twelfth-Century Byzantium"
This workshop aims to explore the ways in which the Byzantines used—preserved, commented, adapted—ancient literature. We therefore invite abstracts that explore commentaries on ancient texts throughout the Byzantine period. We define ‘commentary’ in a broad sense, to include generically diverse texts that in one way or another comment on the ancient literary heritage. Questions that might be addressed include but are not limited to the following: What (contemporary) questions of meaning do Byzantine commentators seek to answer? What is their hermeneutic and/or didactic programme? How do commentators perceive their own role in preserving or defending the authority of the ancient text? What function do these commentaries fulfil within their intellectual and socio-cultural context? What is the relationship between commentaries on ancient texts and the transtextual use of ancient texts in Byzantine literary practice?
This thesis focuses on the rhetorical analysis of the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, a wide... more This thesis focuses on the rhetorical analysis of the Iliad by Eustathios of Thessalonike, a widely celebrated intellectual, teacher, and orator in twelfth-century Byzantium. More specifically, it explores Eustathios’ analysis of the composition of the Iliad, i.e. the way in which Homer has selected, arranged, and presented his subject matter. It aims to shed light on the rhetorical programme that Eustathios reads into the Iliad and to identify the rhetorical lessons that he wishes to teach his readers in his Parekbolai on the Iliad. What, in Eustathios’ view, defines a skilful composition such as the one constructed by Homer, the summus orator? It also examines Eustathios’ discussion of the gods as devices used by the poet to compose his poem as he wishes. By taking key texts that provided the Byzantines with concepts to speak about the composition of discourse as its starting points, the thesis explores Eustathios’ rhetorical analysis within the context of his own conceptual framework. The results can deepen our understanding of the principles underlying the many rhetorical discourses that survive from the Komnenian period.
The first chapter explores Eustathios’ statements on his own work as found in the proem of the Parekbolai on the Iliad. These programmatic statements form the background for the following three chapters, each addressing a theme concerning the composition of the Iliad. The second chapter examines Eustathios’ ideas on the principles and techniques underlying Homer’s skilful composition. The third chapter studies the techniques by means of which Homer, in Eustathios’ view, imbued his composition with plausibility, one of the most important virtues of discourse. The fourth chapter concentrates on the Homeric gods: how did Homer, according to Eustathios, employ the gods as devices to compose his poem in a plausible way?