Oxford Studies in Byzantium
- Provides the first modern critical edition, accompanied by translation and commentary, of a group of poems by Theodoros Prodromos (designated Miscellaneous Poems)
- Offers a philological analysis of these texts with a special focus on their metrical features and manuscript transmission
- Contributes to a better understanding of Theodoros Prodromos' poetic work and its place within the literary tradition of its time
- Explores the complex relationship between literary patronage and other aspects of intellectual activity in twelfth-century Byzantium
In twelfth-century Byzantium, poetry played a key part in various contexts of textual production and consumption. One of the leading poets of this period was Theodoros Prodromos, whose surviving corpus comprises approximately 17,000 verses. Even though most of his poetry has been presented in modern critical editions, a group of his works has been overlooked by modern philologists and literary scholars alike. The selected corpus—conventionally designated as Miscellaneous Poems—consists of texts on various themes and in a wide range of genres, ranging from cycles of religious and secular epigrams to riddles, ethopoiiai, and works of a self-referential and essayistic nature. This book includes the first critical edition and study of these poems, accompanied by English translations and commentaries. Their study contributes to a more nuanced picture of Prodromos' intellectual profile, expanding his image as the 'poet laureate' of the Komnenian court and providing entirely new insights into his activity in the different settings of Constantinopolitan intellectual life. The book also sheds new light on the complex relationship between patronage and other aspects of literary activity and the circulation of the same text in different performative contexts.
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Published: 25 May 2023 (Estimated)
336 Pages
234x156mm
ISBN: 9780192886927
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