Byzantine Authors: Literary Activities and Preoccupations: Texts and Translations Dedicated to the Memory of Nicolas Oikonomides

295 Pages·2003·1.338 MB·English

by  John W. Nesbitt

BYZANTINE AUTHORS.
LITERARY ACTIVITIES AND PREOCCUPATIONS
THE
MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN
PEOPLES, ECONOMIES AND CULTURES, 400-1500
EDITORS
HughKennedy(St. Andrews)
PaulMagdalino(St. Andrews)
DavidAbulafia(Cambridge)
BenjaminArbel(Tel Aviv)
MarkMeyerson(Toronto)
LarryJ. Simon(Western Michigan University)
VOLUME 49
BYZANTINE AUTHORS:
LITERARY ACTIVITIES
AND PREOCCUPATIONS
Texts and Translations dedicated to the Memory
of Nicolas Oikonomides
EDITED BY
JOHN W. NESBITT
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2003
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Byzanthine authors : texts and translations dedicated to the memory of Nicolas
Oikonomides / edited by John W. Nesbitt.
p. cm. – (The Medieval Mediterranean ; v. 49)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-12975-8
1. Byzantine prose literature–Translations into English. I. Oikonomides, Nicolas. II.
Nesbitt, John W. III. Series.
PA5196.E54B98 2003
888’.020808–dc21
2003045164
ISSN 0928–5520
ISBN 90 04 12975 8
© Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
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printed in the netherlands
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Chapter One—Cosmological Confectionary and Equal opportunity in
the Eleventh Century. An Ekphrasis by Christopher of Mitylene
(Poem 42). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Paul Magdalino
Chapter Two—Two Teaching Texts from the Twelfth-Century
Orphanotropheion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Timothy S. Miller
Chapter Three—Alexander the Monk’s Text of Helena’s Discovery of
the Cross (BHG 410) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
John W. Nesbitt
Chapter Four—Elias the Monk. Friend of Psellos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
George T. Dennis
Chapter Five—Five Miracles of St. Menas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
John Duffy/Emmanuel Bourbouhakis
Chapter Six—Elias of Heliopolis. The Life of an Eighth-Century
Syrian Christian Saint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Stamatina McGrath
Chapter Seven—Two Military Orations of Constantine VII. . . . . . 111
Eric McGeer
Chapter Eight—AByzantine Instructional Manual on Siege Defense:
The De Obsidione toleranda. Introduction, English Translation and
Annotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Denis Sullivan
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
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PREFACE
This volume was born from a wish to honor the memory of a man who
was for many of the contributors both a mentor and a friend. From this
wish evolved the idea of publishing a group of texts and translations. The
authors were free to choose their texts and as a result the contributions
are of varying length and content. The longest, the De obsidione toleran-
da (chapter eight), is a military manual, an instruction booklet on tech-
niques of countering the investment of a town or fort. The publication of
Prof. Sullivan’s translation provides the opportunity to reprint the (Brill)
Greek text of 1947. In contrast with defensive tactics, the two orations
(chapter seven) which Dr. McGeer has translated reflect on imperial mil-
itary policy and the outward expansion of Byzantium into Moslem terri-
tories. Dr. McGrath (chapter 6) has translated a text which offers a
glimpse of the precarious nature of the practice of Christianity within the
borders of Islam. In a much lighter vein are Prof. Magdalino’s translation
of an ekphrasis (chapter one) celebrating the merits of a cake decorated
with signs of the zodiac and Prof. Dennis’s translations of letters of
Psellos (chapter 4) describing the ribald doings of a monk named Elias.
Dr. Nesbitt’s text (chapter 3) on Helena’s discovery of the cross is offered
as a contribution to the history of pilgrimage. Prof. Miller’s texts (chap-
ter 2) provide a valuable insight into the educational activities of the
Orphanotropheion of St. Paul and the teaching techniques in vogue
among instructors at this orphanage. Prof. Duffy and his student have
contributed a hagiographical text relating some five miracles of the pop-
ular Egyptian saint, St. Menas.
The volume presents a wide spectrum of literary genres and topics
which claimed the attention of Byzantine writers and their reading public.
The editor gratefully acknowledges the help of Dr. McGrath in resolv-
ing computer-related problems. He also wishes to thank Dr. McGrath,
and his wife Carla, for help with proofreading. Thanks are also expressed
to Dr. Karen Rasmussen for her patience in formatting this book and
preparing the Adobe Acrobat version from which it is printed.
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CHAPTER ONE