Views of the Past (C.) Kelly, (R.) Flower, (M.S.) Williams (edd.) Unclassical Traditions. Volume I: Alternatives to the Classical Past in Late Antiquity. (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, Supplement 34.) Pp. viii + 156. Cambridge: The Cambridge Philological Society, 2010. Cased,... (original) (raw)
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Like most ancient authors, Procopius is mainly known to us through his own texts. 2 Somewhat paradoxically, this may be the reason why Procopian scholarship rarely heeds the advice of literary theory that text and author are two related but distinct entities. Indeed, in our perception, Procopius does not seem to have a life outside of his texts that could be contrasted with these very texts. We therefore try to infer his opinions from the Wars, Anecdota and Buildings, so as to construct a historical person Procopius behind the author Procopius. The approach is not without its difficulties: as the recent review article by Geoffrey Greatrex illustrates, we rarely succeed in agreeing on the views of Procopius.3 We try nevertheless, because Procopius is our main source for events of the first decades of the reign of Justinian: his words project worlds, worlds that we then need to construct our own 'age of Justinian'.4 A sound idea of his opinions and passions may help us, so we hope, to filter out facts from the narrative. Not only is scholarship faced with the problematic transition from Procopius' words to Justinian's world, but Procopius had to meet a similar challenge: how to turn Justinian's world into words, or, in more general terms: how to represent reality in a historiographical narrative. His choice to write in a classicising style and to imitate episodes from classical authors has often been considered to impinge upon the representational value of his narrative, either in a negative way by introducing mere tales into what should be a narrative of facts,5 or in a positive way by having historiography convey an esoteric message of deeper and dangerous truths that cannot be stated directly.6 In either case, classicism does not seem to be an apt choice to represent reality truthfully. Such judgements are based on a modern, positivist and empiricist, presupposition according to which the function of the language of a scientific text is to represent the world by simply stating 'what is the case'. Literary features are deemed to distract from that aim. As a consequence, the narrative of Procopius is devaluated, either because it is reduced to mere tales that owe allegiance to literature and not to reality, or because it is a sign referring to other texts, where the real message resides. So far, Procopius has been the object of these debates. This chapter proposes, by contrast, that the problematic transition from world to word is an explicit theme of his narrative. Limiting myself to the Wars, I shall argue that this work reflects upon its own use of language and what it means to represent a shifting world with words that are themselves subject to change. This reflection is entangled in an even more fundamental discussion about language as man's medium to connect with reality and to exercise control over it, whilst man is, at the same time, essentially unable to fully grasp reality. Indeed, the Wars constantly highlight man's inability to really grasp what has happened and to foresee what will happen. We shall see that Procopius does not passively conform to classicism simply because it is the cultural habitus of his class and his genre, but that his text shows awareness of the tensions its espousal generates. I shall conclude by suggesting that, by engaging in such a reflection, Procopius bears witness to a general cultural dynamic driven by the Christianisation of his world during Late Antiquity.
The present contribution provides an examination of the relationship between the emperor and the divine sphere in Latin panegyric poetry of the fifth and sixth centuries. Following the path magisterially set forth by Claudian, poets like Sidonius Apollinaris and, later on, Corippus employs the same literary genre to praise the newly-come Germanic kings or the Eastern Emperor. They have, however, to face a profoundly transformed historical and political realm, not to mention a different approach towards religion. Whereas Panegyrici Latini and Claudian could make wide use of mythological similes to celebrate Rome, her grandeur and the deeds of the emperor, his successors deal with the ancient gods in quite a clear-cut or, so to say, crystallized way. They show a conservative (and, to some extent, nostalgic) attitude and still believe in the endurance of Rome, which is fated to last eternally. The sacralization of Rome (with the concurring ideas of a Christian providence and the literary cliché of pagan aeternitas) is integrated within the frame of an empire that has become totally Christianized and, especially in the East, finds in political theology a privileged terrain to establish its roots. In particular the link between Christianity and the emperor as vicar of God is well outlined by the symbolism of court ceremonial and gesture, which panegyrics describe in great detail.
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 2020
The Byzantine rhetorical culture presupposed a practice of authorship that demanded the imitation and appropriation (μίμησις) of sanctioned literary models. A fine illustration of this cultural attitude is afforded by the surprising array of rhetorical models enclosed in Philagathos of Cerami’s Homilies. This paper uncovers Philagathos’ hitherto undocumented usage of Procopius of Gaza’s Description of the Image (Ἔκφρασις εἰκόνος) and examines other possible textual allusions to Procopius’ Monody I (op. 14 Amato).
2016
The present contribution provides an examination of the relationship between the emperor and the divine sphere in Latin panegyric poetry of the fifth and sixth centuries. Following the path magisterially set forth by Claudian, poets like Sidonius Apollinaris and, later on, Corippus employs the same literary genre to praise the newly-come Germanic kings or the Eastern Emperor. They have, however, to face a profoundly transformed historical and political realm, not to mention a different approach towards religion. Whereas Panegyrici Latini and Claudian could make wide use of mythological similes to celebrate Rome, her grandeur and the deeds of the emperor, his successors deal with the ancient gods in quite a clear-cut or, so to say, crystallized way. They show a conservative (and, to some extent, nostalgic) attitude and still believe in the endurance of Rome, which is fated to last eternally. The sacralization of Rome (with the concurring ideas of a Christian providence and the litera...