Epistolary Poetry in Byzantium and Beyond: An Anthology with Critical Essays

by Krystina Kubina (Editor), Alexander Riehle (Editor)

Overview

Letters were an important medium of everyday communication in the ancient Mediterranean. Soon after its emergence, the epistolary form was adopted by educated elites and transformed into a literary genre, which developed distinctive markers and was used, for instance, to give political advice, to convey philosophical ideas, or to establish and foster ties with peers. A particular type of this genre is the letter cast in verse, or epistolary poem, which merges the form and function of the letter with stylistic elements of poetry. In Greek literature, epistolary poetry is first safely attested in the fourth century AD and would enjoy a lasting presence throughout the Byzantine and early modern periods.
The present volume introduces the reader to this hitherto unexplored chapter of post-classical Greek literature through an anthology of exemplary epistolary poems in the original Greek with facing English translation. This collection, which covers a broad chronological range from late antique epigrams of the Greek Anthology to the poetry of western humanists, is accompanied by exegetical commentaries on the anthologized texts and by critical essays discussing questions of genre, literary composition, and historical and social contexts of selected epistolary poems.

Chapters 3 and 4 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/10.4324/9780429288296

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367759971
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/05/2021
Pages:	452
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Krystina Kubina is a research associate at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She specializes in late Byzantine poetry and has published a monograph on the fourteenth century poet Manuel Philes (Die enkomiastische Dichtung des Manuel Philes. Form und Funktion des literarischen Lobes in der frühen Palaiologenzeit, Berlin 2020).

Alexander Riehle is Assistant Professor of the Classics at Harvard University. He specializes in the rhetorical and epistolary literature of late Byzantium. He is the editor of A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography (Leiden 2020) and is currently preparing an edition and translation of the letter-collections of Nikephoros Choumnos (anticipated 2021).

Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

Acknowledgements x

Notes on Contributors xi

Note on Texts and Translations xiv

List of Abbreviations xv

Introduction Krystina Kubina Alexander Richle 1

Part I Essays 31

1 Epigrams and Verse Letters in Palladas and Gregory of Nazianzos Christos Simelidis 33

2 Epigrammata Epistulam Faciunt? Christopher of Mitylene to His Friends Emilie van Opstall 45

3 Epistolarity in Twelfth-Century Byzantine Poetry: Singing Praises and Asking Favors in Absentia Nikos Zagklas 64

4 Functions of Letters in Verse and Prose: A Comparison of Manuel Philes and Theodore Hyrtakenos Krystina Kubina 78

5 Francesco Filelfo's Verse Letters: Form, Content, and Function Andreas Rhoby 91

Part II Anthology 105

Texts 107

Palladas (1-2) Christos Simelidis 108

Gregory of Nazianzos (3-5) Christos Simelidis 110

Agathias-Paul the Silentiary (6-7) Delphine Lauritzen 120

Dioskoros of Aphrodito (8) Alexander Riehle 122

Theodore the Stoudite (9) Alexander Riehle 124

Theodore and Theophanes Graptos-Methodios (10) Alexander Riehle 126

Anonymous of Sola (11) Floris Bernard 128

John Mauropous (12) Floris Bernard 132

Michael Psellos (13) Floris Bernard 136

Christopher of Mitylene (14-20) Emilie van Opstall (14-19) Przemyslaw Marciniak Katarzyna Warcaba (20) 138

Theophylaktos of Ohrid (21-22) Nikos Zagklas 150

Theodore Prodromos (23-25) Nikos Zagklas 154

Manganeios Prodromos (26-29) Elizabeth Jeffreys Michael Jeffreys 160

Michael Hagiotheodorites (30) Przemyslaw Marciniak Katarzyna Warcaba 184

Pseudo-Psellos (31) Floris Bernard 192

Euthymios Tornikes (32) Nikos Zagklas 198

Libistros and Rhodamne (33-34) Panagiotis A. Agapitos 200

Manuel Philes (35-45) Krystina Kubina 216

Stephanos Sgouropoulos (46) Krystina Kubina 236

Erotopaignia (47) Alexander Richle 252

Gerardos (48) Alexander Riehle 254

Francesco Filelfo (49) Andreas Rhoby 258

Angelo Poliziano (50-55) Andreas Rhoby 264

John Clajus (56) Andreas Rhoby 268

Commentary 273

Figures 379

Bibliography 396

General Index 426

Index of Manuscripts, Papyri, and Early Printed Books 435