Theologica Minora. The Minor Genres of Byzantine Theological Literature
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Book Series
Byzantioς. Studies in Byzantine History and Civilization, vol. 23
Τhe Byzantine Historiographical Prefaces (4th–15th Centuries)
A Study on Praxis and Culture of Writing History in Byzantium
Eirene-Sophia Kiapidou
- Pages: approx. 272 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:6 tables b/w.
- Language(s):English, Greek
- Publication Year:2024
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- ISBN: 978-2-503-61251-5
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- ISBN: 978-2-503-61252-2
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The present study focuses on the specific features of the genre of Byzantine historiographical proems as well as on their theoretical remarks about history–writing in Byzantium
Subject(s)
BIO
Eirene-Sophia Kiapidou is an Associate Professor of Byzantine Philology at the University of Patras (Greece). Her research concerns Byzantine Historiography, Epistolography and Critical Editions of Byzantine Texts. She is the author of two books in Greek: Ioannes Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion and its Sources (811-1057). Contribution to the Byzantine Historiography of the Eleventh Century, Athens 2010, and Theophylact of Ochrid, Martyrdom of the Fifteen Martyrs of Tiberiopolis, Athens 2015 (critical edition with translation and commentary).
Summary
Over the last few decades, a fruitful scholarly debate has developed concerning the specific features of the genre of Byzantine historiography, within which the tendency to treat historical texts mainly as pleasant literary narratives and less as organized recordings of Byzantine political and military history has been on the rise. The present study intends to contribute to this debate by returning to the voice of the Byzantine authors themselves; by focusing on the preserved historical prefaces of the Early, Middle and Late Byzantine era. This initiative seemed timely, more than a century after the publication of Ηeinrich Lieberich’s fundamental work on Byzantine historical proems . Obviously, the prefaces are not all of equal interest. Some are written to fulfil a purely conventional function, while others were apparently composed more thoughtfully and merit more careful attention. The book’s goal is twofold: firstly, to outline the details of the prefatory function and features of the Byzantine historiographical proems as micro–texts; secondly, to detect and evaluate the theoretical views expressed by their authors on the genre of Byzantine historiography. It is expected that this will expand our knowledge of how the Byzantines thought (culture) and wrote (praxis) about historiography.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Chronological list of proems of Byzantine Historiography discussed in this book with the location of their main presentation
Introduction
1. Current research in Byzantine historiography: a few necessary observations
2. The Byzantines and historiography
3. The proems of Byzantine historiography in modern bibliography
4. Significance and function of a proem
5. Why and How to treat proems of Byzantine historiography separately
6. The proems of classical Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman historical works: an introduction to the narrative patterns and ideas available to Byzantine authors
Chapter 1: The prefatory communication situation in Byzantine historiography
1a. Length: from zero to over hundreds words
1b. Location: preludial and sometimes internal
1c. Time of composition
1d. Person(s) addressed: educated friends and scholars, the emperor himself
1e. Authorship: the writer himself
1f. Form: title and boundaries
1g. Special generic features: metrical, epistolary and rhetorical proems
1h. Writing methods: originality and mimesis
Chapter 2: The content of the preserved proems of Byzantine historiography: eloquence in the service of the author’s specific expectations
2a. A few introductory remarks
2b. The elaborated proems of Byzantine historiography: a detailed overview
3c. The conventionally functional proems of Byzantine historiography: an overview
Chapter 3: Theoretical aspects of Byzantine historiography: the evidence of the proems
3a. The profile of the author
3b. The essence / value of history writing
3c. The practices of history–writing
3d. The profile of the reader/listener
3e. Conclusion: Final remarks and answers to current research questions
Bibliography
Index
