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Agapitos, Panagiotis A.

"These devices are the writer's own technique" : Eustathios of Thessalonike and the Redefinition of Rhetorical Genre

2023 - LYSA Publishers

P. 63-97

  • This paper begins by explaining why theories of genre applied by Classicists to Ancient Greek and Latin literature do not provide a satisfactory method for approaching Byzantine texts, even if these texts appear to have a strong connection to ancient literature. It then explores Eustathios' flexible concepts of genre based on an analysis of the headings of his rhetorical and non-philological works as preserved in the major manuscripts (mainly the Basileensis and the Scorialensis) and the theoretical prefaces he sometimes wrote for his longer works (e.g., the panegyrical and funeral orations on Emperor Manuel, On the correction of Monastic Life and the Capture of Thessalonike).
  • Emphasis is placed on various ancient technical terms and the new meanings or functions they acquired in the context of literary and educational practices in the last part of the 12th century. Eustathios' statements are tested against a selection of specific passages from the texts under consideration; comparisons to his remarks on “Homer the rhetorician” in the Parekbolai are adduced; and the paper concludes with a detailed comparative reading of the preface to the Capture of Thessalonike and a passage from the preface to the Iliadic Parekbolai. [Publisher's text]

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Virtute vir tutus : studi di letteratura greca, bizantina e umanistica, offerti a Enrico V. Maltese. - ( Colibri ; 4)