On Lamentations
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Book Series
Corpus Christianorum in Translation, vol. 26
- Pages: 377 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2017
- € 55,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-57039-6
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- € 55,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-57040-2
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Review(s)
"The Corpus Christianorum in Translation series identifies itself as a tool of accessibility, to aid scholars in their approach of often linguistically complex Latin and Greek texts (...) It is encouraging to see translations of texts like this which help modern scholarship understand the way that the medieval mind would have approached literature and theology. By providing a touchstone, or standard accepted reference, for interpreting these Latin texts in accessible modern vernacular languages, we can invite more people to grapple with the cruces of early medieval theology and its persistent ripples through the cultures it touched." (Emerson Richards-Hoppe, in The Medieval Review, 22.09.02)
BIO
Ioannis Polemis is full Professor of Byzantine Literature at the University of Athens, Department of Philology. He specializes in Byzantine philosophical and theological literature of the 14th century.
Summary
Theodore Metochites (c.1270-1332), an important writer of Late Byzantium, composed twenty long Poems in dactylic verse, which constitute an unicum in Byzantine Literature. Some of them are clearly autobiographic, offering important details about their author’s career, while others are devoted to some saints of the Byzantine church (St Athanasius of Alexandria and the three prelates Basil of Caesarea, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom). Some of them are addressed to close friends of Metochites (like the polymath Nikephoros Gregoras, or the church historian Nikephoros Xanthopoulos), asking for their advice or complaining about his own difficulties. Three of them are funerary Poems, extolling the virtues and mourning the death of persons close to the emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, who was the protector and benefactor of Metochites. The last seven Poems are written in a more reflective mood, discussing the precariousness of human happiness and the inevitability of man’s fall due to the adverse circumstances of his life. All those Poems are preserved in MS. Parisinus graecus 1776, which was written in all probability under Metochites’ supervision. The translation is accompanied by notes clarifying the sense of difficult passages and giving references to the texts that inspired Metochites directly or to parallel passages in the works of Metochites himself, or other Greek and Byzantine authors.
The source text of this volume appeared in Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca as Theodorus Metochita, Carmina (CC SG, 83). References to the corresponding pages of the Corpus Christianorum edition are provided in the margins of this translation.
La collection Corpus Christianorum in Translation (CCT) offre des traductions modernes des textes patristiques et médiévaux grecs et latins qui ont été édités dans l’une des collections Corpus Christianorum (Series Graeca, Series Latina et Continuatio Mediaevalis). Les langues cibles sont l'allemand, l'anglais, l'espagnol, le français et l'italien. Ces traductions, qui sont publiées indépendamment des éditions critiques, se proposent de rendre accessibles les textes édités dans le Corpus Christianorum à ceux qui n'ont pas l'occasion de les lire dans la langue originale. Pour ceux qui sont familiers de la langue originale, les traductions pourront servir d'un instrument de référence commode et d'aide pour l'interprétation des textes grecs ou latins.
