The Byzantine Alexander Poem

647 Pages·2014·5.035 MB·English

by  Willem J. Aerts

Willem J. Aerts
The Byzantine Alexander Poem
Byzantinisches Archiv
Begründet von Karl Krumbacher
Als Ergänzung zur Byzantinischen Zeitschrift
herausgegeben von
Albrecht Berger
Band 26
De Gruyter
The Byzantine
Alexander Poem
by
Willem J. Aerts
Volume 1:
Introduction and Text
De Gruyter
ISBN 978-1-61451-530-2
e-ISBN 978-1-61451-307-0
ISSN 1864-9785
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2014 Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin
Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH und Co. KG, Göttingen
∞ Printed on acid-free paper
Printed in Germany
www.degruyter.com
Dedication
To the memory of Laura Weertman, my beloved partner in life and scholar-
ship during nearly sixty years of marriage, who was a scholar herself in the
field of comparative philology.

Acknowledgments
This new edition of the Byzantine Alexander Poem (BAP) could not have been
accomplished without the assistance of several librarians, and the help and
support of many scholarly friends and colleagues. In 2001 I sent a request to
the librarian of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice to provide me
with a photocopy of the Byzantine Alexander Poem in Ms. 408. I received a
clear double-sized copy, which is the basis of my edition. In 2009 I also asked
for photocopies of all the smaller texts that accompany the BAP in Ms. 408.
Although the requested copies were not as clear as the BAP copy, they were
acceptable for my purpose. I thank the librarian of the Venice Library, dott. ssa
Susy Marcon, Ufficio manoscritti, for putting the copies at my disposal. I want
to thank as well the librarians of the University Library of Groningen for their
assistance with assembling the secondary literature relevant to my project.
Essential for my commentary in English was the help of Mr. Dale C. Carr,
who, being an attentive and competent listener, was able to translate my in-
tentions quite accurately. In the past he assisted me in the same way with
my edition of (Pseudo-)Psellos’ Historia Syntomos (CFHB 30, ser. Berolinensis,
1990). My colleague Prof. Dr. Arjo Vanderjagt was so kind to correct my Eng-
lish in the chapter ‘Contents’.
I am also greatly indebted to my colleague and friend Dr. G. A. A. Kortek aas,
with whom I previously realised the edition of Pseudo-Methodius (Gro ningen
1998). He most kindly assisted also with this manuscript while in statu nascen-
di, providing me with many useful comments, suggestions and corrections.
My special thanks go out to the anonymous reviewer of my manuscript
for the useful suggestions concerning the apparatus criticus and the text pre-
sentation in general. I am of course grateful to Prof. Dr. A. Berger, the supervi-
sor of the series Byzantinisches Archiv, for the acceptance of my book in this
renowned collection.
In particular I want to express my gratitude to my colleague and good
friend MA J. A. R. Kemper. In all stages of shaping the text and commentary,
he assisted me with my computer problems and was able to restore the proper
correspondence of text and related notes, which became disarranged every
time I made changes in the text. For any errors that remain, I am totally re-
sponsible.
VIII Acknowledgments
Last but not least I thank the staff of the editing house Walter de Gruyter,
under the management of M. Klein Swormink with special attendance of Ms.
Emily Hough, for their work and attention to the presentation of this highly
interesting example of genuine Byzantine literature. In particular I appreci-
ated the pleasant and effective cooperation with M. Florian Ruppenstein dur-
ing the process of printing the book.
“Habent sua fata libelli”. I hope that this edition of the Byzantine Alexander
Poem will be a useful tool for scholars interested in both the complicated tra-
dition of the Alexander (hi)stories and the Byzantine literary achievements of
the Comnenian and later periods.
Groningen, 15th August 2013 Willem Johan Aerts
Contents
Volume 1
Introduction ...................................................... 1
The Alexander Poem
Book I ....................................................... 33
Book II ..................................................... 114
Book III  .................................................... 179
Indexes
Index of names .............................................. 233
Index of neologisms or rare words .............................. 243
Volume 2
Commentary
Contents/Synopsis ........................................... 247
Commentary ................................................ 261
Indexes
Modern Authors ............................................. 607
References to Classical and Byzantine Literature  ................. 611
Bibliography.................................................... 617