Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081–1204)
- Part I Poetry and Twelfth-Century Literary Culture
- Part II Poetry and the School
- Part III Poetry, Patronage and Power
- 9 ‘Receiving Rich Gifts’: Negotiating Power in the Metrical Paratexts of the Vossianus Gr. Q1
- 10 The Poetics of Patronage: Constructing the Image of the Patron in Dedicatory Epigrams in Monumental Painting of the Komnenian Period in Greece
- 11 David as Model for the Emperor and his Poet: Theodore Prodromos and John II Komnenos
- Part IV New Texts, New Interpretations
- Index
11 - David as Model for the Emperor and his Poet: Theodore Prodromos and John II Komnenos
from Part III - Poetry, Patronage and Power
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 October 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081–1204)
- Part I Poetry and Twelfth-Century Literary Culture
- Part II Poetry and the School
- Part III Poetry, Patronage and Power
- 9 ‘Receiving Rich Gifts’: Negotiating Power in the Metrical Paratexts of the Vossianus Gr. Q1
- 10 The Poetics of Patronage: Constructing the Image of the Patron in Dedicatory Epigrams in Monumental Painting of the Komnenian Period in Greece
- 11 David as Model for the Emperor and his Poet: Theodore Prodromos and John II Komnenos
- Part IV New Texts, New Interpretations
- Index
Summary
This chapter proposes an assessment of the biblical figure of David as presented by Theodore Prodromos in some of his Historical Poems. David was often considered in Byzantine culture as the first and most important example of a Christian poet. The poet of the Psalms is depicted by Prodromos both as a source of inspiration for the persona loquens and as a role model for the emperor. This twofold representation is crucial to shed light on some of the poetic strategies used by Prodromos when dealing with Psalmic material in poems addressed to emperors. The chapter includes a close-reading of Prodromos’ Historical Poem 17, where a military victory of John II Komnenos is celebrated. In this long text, Prodromos systematically borrows verses from the text of the Psalms and adapts them in order to fit the occasional character of the poem. The analysis of the biblical hypotext as a literary source presented in the chapter provides new insight into the role that the biblical heritage could play within Byzantine authors’ canonical reference system.
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- Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204)New Texts, New Approaches, pp. 283 - 302Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024