Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:22:37.834Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 1 - The Politics and Practices of Commentary in Komnenian Byzantium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2023

Baukje van den Berg
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
Divna Manolova
Affiliation:
University of York
Przemysław Marciniak
Affiliation:
University of Silesia, Katowice
Get access

Summary

By using a broad selection of ‘commentary discourse’, this chapter looks at the practice of reading, teaching and composing texts whose purpose is (partly) to explain older texts. Such commentaries, which can take various and sometimes unexpected forms, are of paramount importance for understanding the Byzantine intellectual and cultural framework of literary production, not only as a system of ‘authoritative mimesis’ but also as a system of ‘subversive anti-mimesis’. Thus, the chapter examines paraphrases of the Iliad, grammatical exercises such as the schede of Theodore Prodromos, lives of saints with integrated gnomologia, laudatory orations and novels, poetical treatises of political admonition (e.g. the anonymous Spaneas), scholia on ancient authors (like those produced by John Tzetzes on Aristophanes and Lycophron or by Eustathios on the Homeric poems), but also large-scale commentaries on Byzantine hymnongraphy (e.g. by John Zonaras on John of Damascus), philosophical and theological commentaries (Michael of Ephesos on Aristotle or Niketas of Herakleia on the Psalms). These texts represent different and yet interrelated discourses that highlight the key role of ‘commentary’ as a hermeneutic tool of and testimony to a broad spectrum of sociocultural and literary tensions within the longue durée of the Komnenian era.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Afentoulidou, E. (2007) ‘Die Dioptra des Philippos Monotropos und ihr Kontext: Ein Beitrag zur Rezeptionsgeschichte’, Byzantion 77: 931.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (1993) Review of Marcovich (1992), Hellenika 43: 229–36.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (1998a) ‘Teachers, Pupils and Imperial Power in Eleventh-Century Byzantium’, in Pedagogy and Power: Rhetorics of Classical Learning, ed. Too, Y. L. and Livingstone, N., 170–91. Ideas in Context 50. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (1998b) ‘Mischung der Gattungen und Überschreitung der Gesetze: Die Grabrede des Eustathios von Thessalonike auf Nikolaos Hagiotheodorites’, JÖByz 48: 119–46.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2000) ‘Poets and Painters: Theodoros Prodromos’ Dedicatory Verses of His Novel to an Anonymous Caesar’, JÖByz 50: 173–85.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2002) ‘Ἡ θέση τῆς αἰσθητικῆς ἀποτίμησης σὲ μιὰ “νέα” ἱστορία τῆς βυζαντινῆς λογοτεχνίας’, in Pour une ‘nouvelle’ histoire de la littérature byzantine: problèmes, méthodes, approches, propositions. Actes du colloque international philologique (Nicosie, mai 2000), ed. Odorico, P. and Agapitos, P. A., 185232. Dossiers Byzantins 1. Paris.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2003) ‘Ancient Models and Novel Mixtures: The Concept of Genre in Byzantine Funerary Literature from Patriarch Photios to Eustathios of Thessalonike’, in Modern Greek Literature: Critical Essays, ed. Nagy, G. and Stavrakopoulou, A., 523. New York–London.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2006) ‘Writing, Reading and Reciting (in) Byzantine Erotic Fiction’, in Lire et écrire à Byzance, ed. Mondrain, B., 125–76. Centre de recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance: Monographies 19. Paris.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2012) ‘In Rhomaian, Frankish and Persian Lands: Fiction and Fictionality in Byzantium and Beyond’, in Medieval Narratives between History and Fiction: From the Center to the Periphery of Europe (c. 1100–1400), ed. Agapitos, P. A. and Mortensen, L. B., 235367. Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2014) ‘Grammar, Genre and Patronage in the Twelfth Century: Redefining a Scientific Paradigm in the History of Byzantine Literature’, JÖByz 64: 122.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2015a) ‘Learning to Read and Write a Schedos: The Verse Dictionary of Par. Gr. 400’, in Pour une poétique de Byzance: hommage à Vassilis Katsaros, ed. Efthymiadis, S., Messis, C., Odorico, P. and Polemis, I. D., 1124. Dossiers Byzantins 16. Paris.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2015b) ‘New Genres in the Twelfth Century: The Schedourgia of Theodore Prodromos’, MEG 15: 141.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2015c) ‘Literary Haute Cuisine and Its Dangers: Eustathios of Thessalonike on Schedography and Everyday Language’, DOP 69: 225–41.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2017a) ‘John Tzetzes and the Blemish Examiners: A Byzantine Teacher on Schedography, Everyday Language and Writerly Disposition’, MEG 17: 157.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (2017b) ‘Dangerous Literary Liaisons: Byzantium and Neohellenism’, Byzantina 35: 33196.Google Scholar
Agapitos, P. A. (forthcoming) ‘“Middle-class” Ideology of Education and Language, and the “Bookish” Identity of John Tzetzes’, in Ideologies and Identities in the Medieval Byzantine World, ed. Stouraitis, I.. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Angelou, A. D. (ed.) (1984) Nicholas of Methone, Refutation of Proclus’ Elements of Theology: A Critical Edition with an Introduction on Nicholas’ Life and Works. Corpus Philosophorum Medii Aevi: Philosophi Byzantini 1. Athens–Leiden.Google Scholar
Angold, M. (1996) The Byzantine Empire 1025–1204: A Political History, second edition. London.Google Scholar
Beck, H.-G. (1959) Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft xii.2.1. Munich.Google Scholar
Beck, H.-G. (1971) Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft xii.2.3. Munich.Google Scholar
van den Berg, B. (2020) ‘John Tzetzes as Didactic Poet and Learned Grammarian’, DOP 74: 285302.Google Scholar
Bourbouhakis, E. C. (2017) ‘Byzantine Literary Criticism and the Classical Heritage’, in Kaldellis and Siniossoglou, 113–28.Google Scholar
Browning, R. (ed.) (1977) ‘A New Source on Byzantine-Hungarian Relations in the Twelfth Century: The Inaugural Lecture of Michael ὁ τοῦ Ἀγχιάλου as ὕπατος τῶν φιλοσόφων’, in Studies on Byzantine History, Literature and Education, 173214. London (originally published in 1961).Google Scholar
Bucossi, A. (ed.) (2014) Andronici Camateri Sacrum Armamentarium, Pars Prima. Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca 75. Turnhout.Google Scholar
Cacouros, M. (1992) ‘Le commentaire de Théodore Prodrome au second livre des analytiques postérieurs d’Aristote: le texte (editio princeps et tradition manuscrite) suivi de l’étude logique du commentaire de Prodrome’, PhD thesis, Paris-Sorbonne University.Google Scholar
Cesaretti, P. and Ronchey, S. (eds.) (2014) Eustathii Thessalonicensis exegesis in canonem iambicum pentecostalem. Supplementa Byzantina 10. Berlin–Boston.Google Scholar
Chiron, P. (ed.) (1993) Démetrios, Du style. Paris.Google Scholar
Conca, F. (1994) Il romanzo bizantino del XII secolo: Teodoro Prodromo, Niceta Eugeniano, Eustazio Macrembolita, Constantino Manasse. Turin.Google Scholar
Cullhed, E. (ed. and trans.) (2014) ‘Eustathios of Thessalonike, Parekbolai on Homer’s Odyssey 1–2: Proekdosis’, PhD thesis, Uppsala University.Google Scholar
Danezis, G. (1987) Spaneas: Vorlage, Quellen, Versionen. Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia 31. Munich.Google Scholar
Darrouzès, J. (ed.) (1970) Georges et Dèmètrios Tornikès, lettres et discours: introduction, texte, analyses, traduction et notes. Paris.Google Scholar
Dickey, E. (2007) Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises from Their Beginnings to the Byzantine Period. Oxford–New York.Google Scholar
Dickey, E. (2017) ‘Classical Scholarship: The Byzantine Contribution’, in Kaldellis and Siniossoglou, 63–78.Google Scholar
van Dieten, J. L. (1970) Zur Überlieferung und Veröffentlichung der Panoplia Dogmatike des Niketas Choniates. Zetemeta Byzantina 3. Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Eideneier, H. (1991) Ptochoprodromos: Einführung, kritische Ausgabe, deutsche Übersetzung, Glossar. Neograeca Medii Aevi 5. Cologne.Google Scholar
Garzya, A. (1973) ‘Literarische und rhetorische Polemiken der Komnenenzeit’, ByzSlav 34: 114.Google Scholar
Giannouli, A. (2007) Die beiden byzantinischen Kommentare zum Großen Kanon des Andreas von Kreta: Eine quellenkritische und literarhistorische Studie. Wiener Byzantinistische Studien 26. Vienna.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giannouli, A. (2011) ‘Leon Balianites, Exegetische Didaskalien: Zur Interpunktion im Codex Escorialensis Υ-ii-10’, in From Manuscripts to Books: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Textual Criticism and Editorial Practice for Byzantine Texts (Vienna, 10–11 December 2009), ed. Giannouli, A. and Schiffer, E., 7984. Vienna.Google Scholar
Holwerda, D. (ed.) (1960a) Johannis Tzetzae Commentarii in Aristophanem, fasciculus II continens Commentarium in Nubes. Groningen.Google Scholar
Holwerda, D. (1960b) ‘De Tzetza in Eustathii reprehensiones incurrenti’, Mnemosyne 13: 323–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hörandner, W. (1974) Theodoros Prodromos, Historische Gedichte. Wiener Byzantinistische Studien 11. Vienna.Google Scholar
Hunger, H. (1978) Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, 2 vols. Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft xii.5.1–2. Munich.Google Scholar
Isaac, D. (1978) Proclus: Trois études sur la providence, Tome 1: Dix questions concernant la providence, 1re étude. Paris.Google Scholar
Isaac, D. (1979) Proclus: Trois études, Tome 2: Providence – Fatalité – Liberté, 2e étude. Paris.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, E. M. (2009) ‘Why Produce Verse in Twelfth-Century Constantinople?’, in ‘Doux remède …’: poésie et poétique à Byzance. Actes du IVe colloque international philologique ΕΡΜΗΝΕΙΑ, Paris, 23–25 février 2006, ed. Odorico, P., Agapitos, P. A. and Hinterberger, M., 219–28. Dossier Byzantins 9. Paris.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, E. M. (2012) Four Byzantine Novels: Theodore Prodromos, Rhodanthe and Dosikles; Eumathios Makrembolites, Hysmine and Hysminias; Constantine Manasses, Aristandros and Kallithea; Niketas Eugenianos, Drosilla and Charikles . Translated Texts for Byzantinists 1. Liverpool.Google Scholar
Jeffreys, M. J. and Smith, O. L. (1991) ‘Political Verse for Queen Atossa’, C&M 42: 301–4.Google Scholar
Kaldellis, A. and Siniossoglou, N. (eds.) (2017) The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katsaros, V. (1988) Ἰωάννης Κασταμονίτης: Συμβολὴ στὴ μελέτη τοῦ βίου, τοῦ ἔργου καὶ τῆς ἐποχῆς του. Βυζαντινὰ Κείμενα καὶ Μελέται 22. Thessalonike.Google Scholar
Kindstrand, J. F. (ed.) (1979) Praefatio in Homerum. Uppsala.Google Scholar
Koster, W. J. W. (ed.) (1962) Johannis Tzetzae Commentarii in Aristophanem, fasciculus iii continens Commentarium in Ranas et in Aves, argumentum Equitum. Groningen.Google Scholar
Lamberz, E. (2003) ‘Vermißt und gefunden: Zwei Texte des Sophronios von Alexandria zur Bilderverehrung, die Akten des VII. Ökumenischen Konzils und eine Patriarchatsurkunde des 11. Jh. in einem griechischen Codex aus dem Besitz des Nikolaus von Kues (Harleianus 5665)’, Römische Historische Mitteilungen 45: 159–80.Google Scholar
Lambros, S. P. (ed.) (1917–20) ‘Ὁ Σπανέας τοῦ Βατικανοῦ Παλατίνου κώδικος 367’, Nέος Ἑλληνομνήμων 14: 353–80.Google Scholar
Leone, P. L. M. (ed.) (1995) Ioannis Tzetzae Carmina Iliaca. Catania.Google Scholar
Leone, P. L. M. (ed.) (2007) Ioannis Tzetzae Historiae, second edition. Galatina.Google Scholar
Lavriotes, S. (1920) Ἡ Διόπτρα: ‘Ἔμμετρον ψυχοθεραπευτικόν’, Ὁ Ἄθως 1: 1264.Google Scholar
Linardou, K. (2016) ‘Imperial Impersonations: Disguised Portraits of a Komnenian Prince and His Father’, in John II Komnenos, Emperor of Byzantium: In the Shadow of Father and Son, ed. Bucossi, A. and Rodriguez Suarez, A., 155–82. London–New York.Google Scholar
Littlewood, A. R. (ed.) (1995) Originality in Byzantine Literature, Art and Music: A Collection of Essays. Oxbow Monographs 50. Oxford.Google Scholar
Loukaki, M. (2000) ‘Les didascalies de Léon Balianitès: note sur le contenu et la date’, REByz 59: 245–52.Google Scholar
Loukaki, M. (2005) ‘Le samedi du Lazare et les éloges annuels du patriarche de Constantinople’, in Κλητόριον εἰς μνήμην Νίκου Οἰκονομίδη, ed. Evangelatou-Notara, F. and Maniati-Kokkini, T., 327–45. Athens.Google Scholar
Loukaki, M. (2007) ‘Questions de dates à propos de trois discours d’Eustathe de Thessalonique’, in Byzantinische Sprachkunst: Studien zur byzantinischen Literatur gewidmet Wolfram Hörandner zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Hinterberger, M. and Schiffer, E., 210‒17. Byzantinisches Archiv 20. Berlin–New York.Google Scholar
Maas, P. (ed.) (1913) ‘Die Musen des Kaisers Alexios’, ByzZ 22: 348‒69.Google Scholar
MacAlister, S. (1990) ‘Aristotle on the Dream: A Twelfth-Century Romantic Revival’, Byzantion 60: 195‒212.Google Scholar
Magdalino, P. (1993) The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143‒1180. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magdalino, P. (2008) ‘The Empire of the Komnenoi, 1118‒1204’, in The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, c. 500‒1492, ed. Shepard, J.. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Maiuri, A. (1914‒19) ‘Una nova poesia di Teodoro Prodromo in greco volgare’, ByzZ 23: 397‒407.Google Scholar
Manaphes, K. A. (1974), ‘Θεοδώρου τοῦ Προδρόμου λόγος εἰς τὸν Πατριάρχην Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Ἰωάννην Θ΄ τὸν Ἀγαπητόν’, Ἐπετηρὶς Ἑταιρείας Βυζαντινῶν Σπουδῶν 41: 223‒42.Google Scholar
Marcovich, M. (1992) Theodori Prodromi De Rhodanthis et Dosiclis amoribus libri ix. Stuttgart‒Leipzig.Google Scholar
Massa Positano, L. (ed.) (1960) Johannis Tzetzae Commentarii in Aristophanem, fasciculus i continens Prolegomena et Commentarium in Plutum. Groningen.Google Scholar
Migne, J.-P. (1865) Panoplia dogmatica ad Alexium Comnenum. Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca 130. Paris.Google Scholar
Mullett, M. (2004) ‘Literary Biography and Historical Genre in the Life of Cyril Phileotes by Nicholas Kataskepenos’, in La vie des saints à Byzance: genre littéraire ou biographie historique? Actes du ΙΙe colloque international philologique HERMENEIA (Paris, juin 2002), ed. Odorico, P. and Agapitos, P. A., 387‒409. Dossiers Byzantins 4. Paris.Google Scholar
Mullett, M. (2012) ‘Whose Muses? Two Advice Poems Attributed to Alexios I Komnenos’, in La face cachée de la littérature byzantine: le texte en tant que message immédiat. Actes du colloque international (Paris, juin 2008), ed. Odorico, P., 195‒220. Dossiers Byzantins 11. Paris.Google Scholar
Nilsson, I. (2014) Raconter Byzance: la littérature au XIIe siècle. Paris.Google Scholar
Nilsson, I. (2021) Writer and Occasion in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: The Authorial Voice of Constantine Manasses. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Nousia, F. (2016) Byzantine Textbooks of the Palaeologan Period. Studi e Testi 505. Vatican City.Google Scholar
Papaioannou, S. (2013) Michael Psellos: Rhetoric and Authorship in Byzantium. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Papaioannou, S. (2017) ‘Rhetoric and Rhetorical Theory’, in Kaldellis and Siniossoglou, 101‒12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papathomopoulos, M. (ed.) (2007) Ἐξήγησις Ἰωάννου γραμματικοῦ τοῦ Τζέτζου εἰς τὴν Ὁμήρου Ἰλιάδα. Athens.Google Scholar
Pizzone, A. (2017a) ‘The Historiai of John Tzetzes: A Byzantine “Book of Memory”?’, BMGS 41.2: 182‒207.Google Scholar
Pizzone, A. (2017b) ‘History Has No End: Originality and Human Progress in Eustathios’ Second Oration for Michael III o tou Anchialou’, in Pontani, Katsaros and Sarris, 331‒55.Google Scholar
Pizzone, A. (2020) ‘Self-authorization and Strategies of Autography in John Tzetzes: The Logismoi Rediscovered’, GRBS 60: 652‒90.Google Scholar
Polemis, I. D. (2011) ‘Notes on the Inaugural Orations of the Patriarch Michael of Anchialos’, ByzSlav 59: 162‒72.Google Scholar
Pontani, F. (2015) ‘Scholarship in the Byzantine Empire (529–1453)’, in Brill’s Companion to Ancient Greek Scholarship, vol. 1: History; Disciplinary Profiles, ed. Montanari, F., Matthaios, S. and Rengakos, A., 297‒455. Leiden‒Boston.Google Scholar
Pontani, F., Katsaros, V. and Sarris, V. (eds.) (2017) Reading Eustathios of Thessalonike. Trends in Classics Supplementary Volumes 46. Berlin‒Boston.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rizzo, J. J. (ed.) (1971) Isaak Sebastokrator’s Περὶ τῆς τῶν κακῶν ὑποστάσεως. Meisenheim am Glan.Google Scholar
Roilos, P. (2005) Amphoteroglossia: A Poetics of the Twelfth-Century Medieval Greek Novel. Washington, dc.Google Scholar
Ronchey, S. (2017) ‘Eustathios at Prodromos Petra? Some Remarks on the Manuscript Tradition of the Exegesis in Canonem Iambicum Pentecostalem’, in Pontani, Katsaros and Sarris, 181‒97.Google Scholar
Sargologos, E. (ed.) (1964) La vie de Saint Cyrille le Philéote moine byzantin (†1110): introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes. Subsidia Hagiographica Graeca 39. Brussels.Google Scholar
Scheer, E. (ed.) (1958) Lycophronis Alexandra, vol. 2: Scholia continens. Berlin (reprint of the 1908 edition).Google Scholar
Trizio, M. (2016) Il neoplatonismo di Eustrazio di Nicea. Biblioteca filosofica di Quaestio 23. Bari.Google Scholar
Trizio, M. (2017) ‘Reading and Commenting on Aristotle’, in Kaldellis and Siniossoglou, 397‒412.Google Scholar
Troianos, S. (2017) Die Quellen des byzantinischen Rechts, trans. D. Simon and S. Neye. Berlin‒Boston (revised translation of the Greek third edition of 2011).Google Scholar
Turyn, A. (1972) Dated Greek Manuscripts of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries in the Libraries of Italy, 2 vols. Urbana, il.Google Scholar
van der Valk, M. (ed.) (1971‒87) Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes ad fidem codicis Laurentiani editi, 4 vols. Leiden.Google Scholar
Vassis, I. (1991a) Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der sogenannten Psellos-Paraphrase der Ilias. Meletemata 2. Hamburg.Google Scholar
Vassis, I. (1991b) ‘Iliadis paraphrasis metrica: Eine unbekannte byzantinische Paraphrase der Ilias (Γ 71–186)’, JÖByz 41: 207‒36.Google Scholar
Wirth, P. (2000) Eustathii Thessalonicensis οpera minora. Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 32. Berlin.Google Scholar
Zagklas, N. (2014) ‘Theodore Prodromos, The Neglected Poems and Epigrams: Edition, Translation and Commentary’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Vienna.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×