Aglae Pizzone - Böcker

Author and authorship have become increasingly important concepts in Byzantine literary studies. This volume provides the first comprehensive survey on strategies of authorship in Middle Byzantine literature and investigates the interaction between self-presentation and cultural production in a wide array of genres, providing new insights into how Byzantine intellectuals conceived of their own work and pursuits.

This book gathers vital contributions examining rhetoric in the Middle Byzantine Period, focusing on the ‘corpus Hermogenianum.’ This much-read compendium of treatises and exercises was first consolidated in the fifth and sixth centuries CE, then successively copied and commented on until the end of the Empire in the East. A staple in the curriculum for the education of those entering service in the imperial administration, military, or the church, the corpus generated an array of commentaries that is still understudied. This volume examines the entangled, dialogic nature of these texts. With a focus on the period from the ninth to twelfth centuries, this book aims to provide a more integrated understanding of the exegetical work done around the corpus Hermogenianum. In doing so, it shows how generations of Byzantine scholars grappled with key political and philosophical issues of their time. It represents a significant advance in the study of Byzantine rhetoric and political culture.