Texts and Contexts (FWF project: P28959 01.10.2016–30.09.2020)

Byzantine poetry up to the year 1081 has been comprehensively studied over the last ten years thanks to the studies “Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres” and “Writing and Reading Byzantine Secular Poetry, 1025–1081” by Marc Lauxtermann and Floris Bernard, respectively. By contrast, the poetry produced in the Komnenian period has received less scholarly attention. The project “Byzantine Poetry in the ‘Long’ Twelfth Century (1081–1204): Texts and Contexts” aims to take the first steps towards filling this gap in the study and appreciation of poetry written during this period.

Court poetry, didactic poetry, satire and schedography in verse, and poems concerned with the “rhetoric of poverty” are some popular twelfth-century genres which represent the use of verse for heterogeneous purposes and various addressees or commissioners during the twelfth century. Although many of these genres were not new, their production during this period is significantly larger in comparison with that of the immediately preceding and following centuries.

The main aim of the project is to investigate Komnenian poetry in conjunction with its various contexts of production and delivery (court, classroom, theatron, church etc.) and on the basis of heterogeneous discursive forms and genres (e.g., epos, satire, and didactic, occasional and epistolary poetry). It examines various aspects associated with Komnenian poetry (e.g. patronage, authorship, circulation and mobility of texts, education system, and performance) and describes its prominent place in the literary production and socio-cultural context of the entire twelfth-century. It also takes into consideration the poetic production in the periphery of the empire (e.g. Sicily and Athens) and the works of lesser known or anonymous poets.

PROGRAMME OF THE CONFERENCE "BYZANTINE POETRY IN THE 'LONG' TWELFTH CENTURY (1081-1204)", JUNE 13-15, 2018

Images of the conference, June 13-15, 2018 ((c) A. Rhoby)

PROGRAMME OF THE EVENING LECTURE, JUNE 17, 2019

PROGRAMME OF THE CONFERENCE "Poetry in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 11th to the 15th Century Transcultural Perspectives", 24 January 2020

Cooperation partners


• Dr. Eirini Afentoulidou-Leitgeb–Austrian Academy of Sciences (project “The Dioptra of Philippos Monotropos”) • Prof. Theodora Antonopoulou–Athens University (Byzantine literature and philology) • Prof. Floris Bernard–Ghent University (11th-century poetry) • Prof. Kristoffel Demoen–Ghent University (project “Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams”) • Prof. Ivan Drpić–University of Washington (Art History and epigrams) • Prof. Wolfram Hörandner–Austrian Academy of Sciences (Byzantine literature and philology) • Prof. Elizabeth Jeffreys–University of Oxford (project “Manganeios Prodromos”) • Prof. Michael Jeffreys–University of Oxford (project “Manganeios Prodromos”) • Prof. Marc Lauxtermann–University of Oxford (Byzantine Poetry 'Text and Context') • Prof. Przemyslaw Marciniak–University of Silesia, Katowice (project “An Intellectual History of Twelfth-Century Byzantium–Appropriation and Transformation of Ancient Literature”) • Dr. Georgi Parpulov–University of Birmingham (Art History and manuscripts) • Prof. Claudia Rapp–University of Vienna/Austrian Academy of Sciences (Social History) • Prof. Juan Signes Codoñer–University of Valladolid (project “El autor bizantino”) • Dr. Foteini Spingou–University of Edinburgh (project “Anthologizing the Occasion: Medieval Poetic Anthologies and Cultural Memory”) • Prof. Dr. Alexandra Wassiliou-Seibt–University of Thessalonica (project “Metrical Legends on Byzantine Lead Seals”)

Publications


W. Hörandner - A. Rhoby - N. Zagklas (eds.), A Companion to Byzantine Poetry (Brill's Companions to the Byzantine World 4). Leiden - Boston 2019

I. Nilsson - N. Zagklas, “Hurry up, reap every flower of the logoi!” The Use of Greek Novels in Byzantium. Greek, Roman & Byzantine Studies 57 (2017) 1120-1148

G. Paoletti, 'Like a speechless fish'. Poetry and Toothache in Twelfth-century Byzantium (submitted to a peer review journal)

G. Paoletti, The δευτέρα φύσις of a Lost Romance: how Manasses' AK survived through other sources (in preparation)

A. Paul - A. Rhoby, Konstantinos Manasses. Verschronik. Übersetzt, kommentiert und mit einer Einleitung versehen (Bibliothek der griechischen Literatur 87). Stuttgart 2019

A. Rhoby - N. Zagklas (eds.), Middle and Late Byzantine Poetry. Texts and Contexts (Byzantios 14). Turnhout 2018

A. Rhoby, The Poetry of Theodore Balsamon. Form and Function, in: A. Rhoby - N. Zagklas (eds.), Middle and Late Byzantine Poetry. Texts and Contexts. Turnhout 2018, 111-145

B. van den Berg, John Tzetzes as Didactic Poet and Learned Grammarian. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 74 (2020) 285-302

B. van den Berg - N. Zagklas (eds.), Byzantine Poetry in the 'Long' Twelfth Century (in preparation)

N. Zagklas, Experimenting with Prose and Verse in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: A Preliminary Study. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 71 (2017) 229-248

N. Zagklas, Metrical Polyeideia and Generic Innovation in the Twelfth Century: The Multimetric Cycles of Occasional Poetry, in: A. Rhoby - N. Zagklas (eds.), Middle and Late Byzantine Poetry. Texts and Contexts. Turnhout 2018, 43-70

N. Zagklas, Epistolarity in Twelfth-Century Byzantine Poetry. Singing Praises and Asking Favors in Absentia, in: K. Kubina - A. Riehle (eds.), Epistolary Poetry in Byzantium and Beyond. An Anthology with Critical Essays. New York - London 2021, 64-77

Contact


Andreas Rhoby (project leader)

Giulia Paoletti (post-doc researcher, 01.08.2019-31.01.2020)

Baukje van den Berg (post-doc researcher, 01.01.2018-31.07.2019)

Nikolaos Zagklas (co-applicant, national cooperation partner, Univ. of Vienna)

Links