The Language of Byzantine Learned Literature

The Language of Byzantine Learned Literature PDF Author: Martin Hinterberger
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503552378
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Built on a highly traditional educational system, the language of Byzantine literature was for the most part written in an idiom deeply influenced by ancient Greek texts and grammatical handbooks. The resulting overall archaizing impression of Byzantine Greek is largely why the language of learned literature - as compared with the relatively well researched vernacular literature - has seldom been taken seriously as an object of linguistic study. This volume combines the expertise of linguists and scholars of Byzantine literature to challenge the assumption that learned medieval Greek is merely the weary continuation of ancient Greek or, worse still, a poor imitation of it, while proposing that it needs to be treated as a literary idiom in its own right. The contribution that texts of this kind can offer to sub-fields of Greek historical linguistics is explored using specific examples. Sociolinguistic theory provides a particularly useful framework for a more accurate analysis of the relationship between the vernacular and classicizing varieties of Greek literary language. In addition, the impact of the educational system on the production of texts is examined. In another chapter it is shown that a number of far-reaching assumptions, which originated in the 15th century, about accentuation and the middle voice still tend to colour our understanding of Byzantine, as well as ancient, Greek. Other chapters focusing on particles, the dative and the synthetic perfect reveal that Byzantine authors, while of course influenced by the living spoken language, used their classical linguistic heritage in a creative and innovative way.

The Language of Byzantine Learned Literature

The Language of Byzantine Learned Literature PDF Author: Martin Hinterberger
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503552378
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Built on a highly traditional educational system, the language of Byzantine literature was for the most part written in an idiom deeply influenced by ancient Greek texts and grammatical handbooks. The resulting overall archaizing impression of Byzantine Greek is largely why the language of learned literature - as compared with the relatively well researched vernacular literature - has seldom been taken seriously as an object of linguistic study. This volume combines the expertise of linguists and scholars of Byzantine literature to challenge the assumption that learned medieval Greek is merely the weary continuation of ancient Greek or, worse still, a poor imitation of it, while proposing that it needs to be treated as a literary idiom in its own right. The contribution that texts of this kind can offer to sub-fields of Greek historical linguistics is explored using specific examples. Sociolinguistic theory provides a particularly useful framework for a more accurate analysis of the relationship between the vernacular and classicizing varieties of Greek literary language. In addition, the impact of the educational system on the production of texts is examined. In another chapter it is shown that a number of far-reaching assumptions, which originated in the 15th century, about accentuation and the middle voice still tend to colour our understanding of Byzantine, as well as ancient, Greek. Other chapters focusing on particles, the dative and the synthetic perfect reveal that Byzantine authors, while of course influenced by the living spoken language, used their classical linguistic heritage in a creative and innovative way.

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature PDF Author: Stratis Papaioannou
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199351767
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 785

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Book Description
In twenty-five chapters by leading scholars, this volume propagates a nuanced understanding of Byzantine "literature", highlighting key problems, and presenting basic research tools for an audience of specialists and non-specialists.

Metaphrasis in Byzantine Literature

Metaphrasis in Byzantine Literature PDF Author: Anne Alwis
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503593449
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
Throughout the centuries Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of literary registers for the reception of their texts. They deliberately made use of stylistic elements or refrained from using certain features in order to reach their target audience. There are certain groups of texts dating from various periods on which these stylistic elements can be tracked precisely by comparison of two or even more versions with their model text. Such examples of rewriting can be found particularly within genres with a broader audience appeal, namely hagiography and historiography. It is in both genres that we encounter metaphrastic processes, in terms of stylistic elaboration and in terms of stylistic simplification.0As well as stylistic reshaping, metaphrasis may also encompass the addition or removal of literary and/or thematic aspects. All these processes signify intent as well as authorial interpretation. Frequently, the ideological orientation of a text is refurbished through rewriting. Teasing out these strands for exploration helps to supply a potential wealth of information on the author (if known), cultural (social, religious, historical) context, and creative ability, as well as levels of education and literacy.

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature PDF Author: Stratis Papaioannou
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199351775
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what "literature" was in Byzantium. This volume is structured in four sections. The first, "Materials, Norms, Codes," presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, "Forms," deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and "text"; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section ("Agents") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled "Translation, Transmission, Edition," surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.

A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography

A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900442461X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 543

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Book Description
A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography offers the first comprehensive introduction and scholarly guide to the cultural practice and literary genre of letter-writing in the Byzantine Empire.

Toward a Historical Sociolinguistic Poetics of Medieval Greek

Toward a Historical Sociolinguistic Poetics of Medieval Greek PDF Author: Andrea Massimo Cuomo
Publisher: Brepols Publishers
ISBN: 9782503577135
Category : Byzantine literature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How can historical sociolinguistic analyses of Medieval Greek aid the interpretation of Medieval Greek texts? This is the main question that the papers collected in this volume aim to address. The term historical sociolinguistics (HSL), a discipline that combines linguistic, social, historical, and philological sciences, suggests that a language cannot be studied without its social dimension. Similarly, the study of a language in its social dimension is nothing else than the study of the communication which takes place between members of a given speech community by the means of written texts. These are seen as sets of shared signs used by authors to communicate to their audiences. This volume is divided into two distinct parts. In the first, Cuomo's and Bentein's papers aim to offer an overview on the discipline and examples of applied HSL. Valente's, Bianconi's, and Perez-Martin's papers will then show how to study the context of production and reception of Byzantine texts. These are followed by Horrocks' study on some features of Atticized Medieval Greek. In the second part, the contributions by Telelis, Odorico, and Manolova focus on the context of reception of the texts by Georgios Pachymeres, Theodoros Pediasimos, and Nikephoros Gregoras respectively.

Bibliophilos

Bibliophilos PDF Author: Charalambos Dendrinos
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110718545
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 663

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Book Description
The present volume is a Festschrift in honour of the distinguished Byzantinist Costas N. Constantinides. The title of the volume, Bibliophilos: Books and Learning in the Byzantine World, reflects Professor Constantinides’ major contribution to the fields of Greek palaeography, editions of Byzantine texts, Byzantine history, scholarship and education, and Cypriot manuscripts and culture. The volume is introduced by a preface and a tabula gratulatoria dedicated to the honorand, followed by twenty articles, written by seasoned and younger scholars, who are former colleagues and students of Professor Constantinides. These articles, which appear in alphabetical order, offer new material and shed fresh light to the study of Greek manuscripts, binders and scribes, and the life, works and activities of Byzantine scholars, teachers and students, providing editions of unpublished texts, including letters and poems, and exploring various aspects of Byzantine and Cypriot history, literature, art, science and culture. In the process the authors often challenge earlier views and offer new interpretations and insights. Bibliophilos is a book for the student, teacher and scholar of Byzantium in particular, and for every bibliophile in general.

The language of Byzantine literature

The language of Byzantine literature PDF Author: Robert Browning (philologist.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies PDF Author: Elizabeth Jeffreys
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199252467
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1053

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies presents discussions by leading experts on all significant aspects of this diverse and fast-growing field. Byzantine Studies deals with the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire, the eastern half of the Late Roman Empire, from the fourth to the fourteenth century. Its centre was the city formerly known as Byzantium, refounded as Constantinople in 324 CE, the present-day Istanbul. Under its emperors, patriarchs, and all-pervasive bureaucracy Byzantium developed a distinctive society: Greek in language, Roman in legal system, and Christian in religion. Byzantium's impact in the European Middle Ages is hard to over-estimate, as a bulwark against invaders, as a meeting-point for trade from Asia and the Mediterranean, as a guardian of the classical literary and artistic heritage, and as a creator of its own magnificent artistic style.

History as Literature in Byzantium

History as Literature in Byzantium PDF Author: R. J. Macrides
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9781409412069
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Although perceived since the 16th century as the most impressive literary achievement of Byzantine culture, historical writing nevertheless remains little studied as literature. This book, devoted to literary interpretations of Byzantine historical writing and analyses of pictorial narratives, illustrates how analyses of texts and images from the 6th to the 14th century work hand in hand with an evaluation of the work as a document of historical value.