Book contents
- Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries
- Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts
- Chapter 1 The Politics and Practices of Commentary in Komnenian Byzantium
- Chapter 2 Forging Identities between Heaven and Earth
- Chapter 3 Cultural Appropriation and the Performance of Exegesis in John Tzetzes’ Scholia on Aristophanes
- Chapter 4 Uncovering the Literary Sources of John Tzetzes’ Theogony
- Chapter 5 Odysseus the Schedographer
- Chapter 6 Eustathios of Thessalonike on Comedy and Ridicule in Homeric Poetry
- Chapter 7 Geography at School
- Chapter 8 Painting and Polyphony
- Chapter 9 Parodying Antiquity for Pleasure and Learning
- Chapter 10 Teaching Poetry in the Early Palaiologan School
- Chapter 11 Late Byzantine Scholia on the Greek Classics
- Chapter 12 Theodora Raoulaina’s Autograph Codex Vat. gr. 1899 and Aelius Aristides
- Chapter 13 The Reception of Eustathios of Thessalonike’s Parekbolai in Arsenios Apostolis’ and Erasmus’ Paroemiographic Collections
- Index
- References
Chapter 4 - Uncovering the Literary Sources of John Tzetzes’ Theogony
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2023
Book contents
- Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries
- Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Introduction Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts
- Chapter 1 The Politics and Practices of Commentary in Komnenian Byzantium
- Chapter 2 Forging Identities between Heaven and Earth
- Chapter 3 Cultural Appropriation and the Performance of Exegesis in John Tzetzes’ Scholia on Aristophanes
- Chapter 4 Uncovering the Literary Sources of John Tzetzes’ Theogony
- Chapter 5 Odysseus the Schedographer
- Chapter 6 Eustathios of Thessalonike on Comedy and Ridicule in Homeric Poetry
- Chapter 7 Geography at School
- Chapter 8 Painting and Polyphony
- Chapter 9 Parodying Antiquity for Pleasure and Learning
- Chapter 10 Teaching Poetry in the Early Palaiologan School
- Chapter 11 Late Byzantine Scholia on the Greek Classics
- Chapter 12 Theodora Raoulaina’s Autograph Codex Vat. gr. 1899 and Aelius Aristides
- Chapter 13 The Reception of Eustathios of Thessalonike’s Parekbolai in Arsenios Apostolis’ and Erasmus’ Paroemiographic Collections
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter analyses John Tzetzes’ Theogony, a long poem in political verse that narrates genealogies of mythical gods and heroes following the example of Hesiod. The poem was dedicated to the sebastokratorissa Irene, a powerful patron of the Komnenian aristocracy, and is an important witness to the role of classical learning in twelfth-century Byzantium. The first part of the chapter examines the relation of Tzetzes’ poem to Hesiod’s Theogony, the Homeric epics and the Catalogue of Women, a fragmentary ancient work ascribed to Hesiod. It also provides a list of the main literary sources of the poem, which demonstrates Tzetzes’ dependence on other ancient poets. The second part analyses the narrative voice of Tzetzes, his linguistic style and the didactic character of the poem. The chapter concludes with an examination of the audience of the Theogony and its function as a didactic poem, which reflects patronage relationships in the Komnenian period. The chapter thus sheds light on Tzetzes’ attitude towards the ancient authors by situating the Theogony within his broad activity as a professional poet and commentator of ancient texts.
Keywords
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
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