1st Edition
Epistolary Poetry in Byzantium and Beyond An Anthology with Critical Essays
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
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Notes on Texts and Translations
Abbreviations
Introduction
Krystina Kubina and Alexander Riehle
PART 1: ESSAYS
1 Epigrams and Verse Letters in Palladas and Gregory of Nazianzos
Christos Simelidis
2 Epigrammata epistulam faciunt? Christopher of Mitylene to His Friends
Emilie van Opstall
3 Epistolarity in Twelfth-century Byzantine Poetry: Singing Praises and Asking Favors in absentia
Nikolaos Zagklas
4 Functions of Letters in Verse and Prose: A Comparison of Manuel Philes and Theodore Hyrtakenos
Krystina Kubina
5 Francesco Filelfo’s Verse Letters: Form, Content, and Function
Andreas Rhoby
PART 2: ANTHOLOGY
Texts
Palladas (1–2)
Christos Simelidis
Gregory of Nazianzos (3–5)
Christos Simelidis
Agathias — Paul the Silentiary (6–7)
Delphine Lauritzen
Dioskoros of Aphrodito (8)
Alexander Riehle
Theodore the Stoudite (9)
Alexander Riehle
Theodore and Theophanes Graptos — Methodios (10)
Alexander Riehle
Anonymous of Sola (11)
Floris Bernard
John Mauropous (12)
Floris Bernard
Michael Psellos (13)
Floris Bernard
Christopher of Mitylene (14–20)
Emilie van Opstall (14–19)
Przemysław Marciniak and Katarzyna Warcaba (20)
Theophylaktos of Ohrid (21–22)
Nikos Zagklas
Theodore Prodromos (23–25)
Nikos Zagklas
Manganeios Prodromos (26–29)
Elizabeth and Michael Jeffreys
Michael Hagiotheodorites (30)
Przemysław Marciniak and Katarzyna Warcaba
Pseudo-Psellos (31)
Floris Bernard
Euthymios Tornikes (32)
Nikos Zagklas
Libistros and Rhodamne (33–34)
Panagiotis A. Agapitos
Manuel Philes (35–45)
Krystina Kubina
Stephanos Sgouropoulos (46)
Krystina Kubina
Erotopaignia (47)
Alexander Riehle
Gerardos (48)
Alexander Riehle
Francesco Filelfo (49)
Andreas Rhoby
Angelo Poliziano (50–55)
Andreas Rhoby
John Clajus (56)
Andreas Rhoby
Commentary
Figures
Bibliography
General Index
Index of Manuscripts and Papyri
Biography
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).
