Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Transcription of Manuscript W
Transcription of Manuscrit V (Test Version)
Ταῦτα εἰσὶν τὰ διδασκαλεῖα καὶ τὰ θέατρα τῶν Ἀθηνῶν V 228r
(1) Πρῶτον ἡ ἀκαδδήμια εἰς χωρίον τῶν βασιλικῶν· δεύτερον ἡ Ἐλαιατικὴ εἰς τοὺς ἀμπελοκήπους· τρίτον τοῦ Πλάτωνος διδασκαλεῖον εἰς τὸ παραδίση· τέταρτον τὸ τοῦ Πολυζήλου ἐν ὄρη τὸ Εἰμιτίῳ· πέμπτον τὸ τοῦ Διοδώρου πλησίον τούτου· (2) ἐντὸς τῆς πολέως ἐστὶν τὸ διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Σωκράτους, (V 228v) ἐν ᾧ ἐστὶν κύκλῳ οἱ ἄνδρες καὶ οἱ ἄνεμοι ἱστορισμένοι· δυσικὰ δὲ τούτου ἵσταντο τὰ παλάτια τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους· καὶ πλησίον τούτων οἱ λαμπροὶ οἴκοι τοῦ πολεμάρχου· ἵσταται δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Διὸς· ἄντικρυς δὲ τούτων ἐστὶ βωμὸς εἰς ὅν ταφεὶς ἠξιοῦντο οἱ παγκρατιστοὶ καὶ οἱ Ὀλύμπιοι, ἐν ᾧ φοιτῶντες οἱ ῥήτορες τοὺς (V 229r) ἐπιταφίους ἐπιοῦντο λόγους· (3) βορρινὰ δὲ τούτου ὑπῆρχεν ἡ πρώτη ἀγορὰ τῆς πόλεως· εἰς οὖν ὁ ἀπόστολος Φίλιππος τὸν γραμματίαν ἐβύθισεν, ἔνθα ὑπῆρχον καὶ οἱ λάμπροὶ οἶκοι φυλῆς τῆς Πανδιόνιδος· κατὰ δὲ τὸ νώτιον μέρος ὑπῆρχεν διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ κινικῶν φιλοσόφων· καὶ πλησίον τούτου τῶν τραγικῶν· ἐκτὸς δὲ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ὀλῖγον πρὸς δύσιν (V 229v) κατῴκουν οἱ θαλαμπῖοι· καὶ πλησίον τούτων ὑπῆρχεν διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Σοφοκλέους· καὶ πρὸς νώτον τούτου ἵστατο ὁ Ἄρειος πάγος, ἔνθα ὁ τοῦ Ποσινδῶνος υἵος Λυρόθιος ὑπὸ Ἄρεως ἐθανατώθην· ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ὑπῆρχεν τὰ παλάτια Κλεονίδους καὶ Μελτιάδος· Καὶ πλησίον τούτου ἀκμὴ ἵστατο διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους· ὕπερθεν δὲ τούτου (V 230r) ἵσταντο δύο κίονες· καὶ εἰς μὲν τὸ ἀνατολικὸν ὑπῆρχεν τὸ τῆς Ἀθήνας ἄγαλμα, εἰς δὲ τὸ δυσικὸν τοῦ Ποσινδῶνος· μέσον δὲ τούτων λέγουσιν εἶναι ποτὲ γοργόνης κεφαλὴν ἔνδοθεν κουβουκλίου σιδηρροῦ· ἔστι καὶ ὠρολόγιον τῆς ἡμέρας μαρμάρινον· (5) ἄντικρυς δὲ τούτων πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ὑπῆρχεν (V 230v) διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Ἀριστοφάνους· καὶ ἀνατολικὰ ἀκμὴν ἵστατο ὁ λύχνος τοῦ Δημοσθένους· πλησίον τούτου ἦν τότε καὶ τοῦ Θουκίδους οἴκημα καὶ Σώλονος· ἀγορά τε δευτέρα καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Ἀλκμαίονος καὶ βαλανείον μέγιστον· καὶ πρὸς νῶτον τούτων ἡ μεγάλη ἀγορὰ τῆς πολέως καὶ τεμένη πλεῖστα καὶ ἀξιάγαστα· ἕως τῆς πύλης (V 231r) τῆς λεγομένης νοτίδος ἧς πρὸς τῆς φλιὰς ἱστόρηνται ἐννεακαίδεκα ἄνδρες τὸν ἕνα διώκοντες· Ἑκεῖ ὑπῆρχε καὶ τὸ βασιλικὸν λουτρὸν ἐν’ ᾧ τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον διὰ πατάγου φοβῆσαι ἠθέλησαν· καὶ ὁ τοῦ Μνηστάρχου οἶκος· (6) ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ἵσταται καμάρα μεγίστη καὶ ὡραῖα· ἐστὶν γεγραμμένα (V 231v) τὰ ὀνόματα Ἀδριάνου καὶ Θησέως· εὐρίσκεται δὲ ἔνδον ταύτης αὐλῆ μεγίστη καὶ οἶκος βασιλικὸς, πλείστοις δὲ κίωσιν ὑποκάτωθεν στηρίζομενος· ὅστις ὑπὸ δύο καὶ δέκα βασιλέων ἐλεπτουργήθη τῶν τὴν ἄκραν οἰκοδομησάντων· πρὸς δὲ νότον τούτου ἐστὶν οἶκος μικρὸς πλὴν ὡραῖος εἰς ὅν κατερχόμενος ὁ δοῦξ (V 232r) κατὰ καιρὸν εἰς εὐωχίαν ἐκινεῖτο· ἐκεῖ ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ Ἐννεάκρουνος πηγὴ ἡ Καλλιῤῥόη εἰς ἥν λουόμενος ἀνήρχετο εἰς τέμενος τὸ τῆς Ἧρας γενόμενος καὶ προσηύχετο· νῦν δὲ μετεποιήθη είς ναὸν τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου ὑπὸ τῶν εὐσεβῶν· ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ἐστὶν τὸ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν θέατρον (V 232v) κύκλῳ περιεχόμενον ὡσεὶ μηλίου διάστημα δύο εἰσόδους κεκτημένον· ἡ βορεινὴ εἴσοδος πλουτεῖ ἕτερον δέντι τιμαχαίτατον ἡ νοτινὴ ἐπικέκτηται· ἑκατὸν δὲ ζώναις κυκλωερῶς ἐκοσμεῖτο τὸ θέατρον ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένας λεύκου ἐν αἷς ὁ λαὸς καθεζόμενος (V 233r) ἐθεώρει τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων τὴν πάλην· ἐκ τούτου οὖν εἰσερχόμενοι τὴν ἀνατολικὴν πύλην εὐρίσκομεν ἄλλην ἀγορὰν καὶ ἀγωγοὺς ὑδάτων δύο οὕσπερ Ἰουλιος Καίσαρ Ἀθηναίος χαριζόμενος κατεσκεύασεν· καὶ ὕδωρ μήκοθεν τούτοις ἐκόμισεν· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἕτερος ἀγωγὸς κατὰ τὴν βόριον (V 233v) πύλην φερόμενος, ὅν ὁ Θυσεὺς ἐλεπτούργησεν καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν τῆς πολέως τῶν Ἀθηνῶν τυραννίδαν ὡς φησιν Ἅβαρις καὶ Ἠρώδοτος, ὑπὸ δύο καὶ δέκα βασιλέων ἐλεπτουργήθη· Κέκρωψ δὲ ὁ διφυὴς μέγαλως ἐφαίδρυνεν ἐν ποικίλῃ δόξῃ ταύτην ὡραίσας· τὰ μὲν τείχη πρὸς ὕψος ἐγεῖρας, τὸ δὲ ἔδαφος διαφόροις (V 234r) μαρμάροις καταστρώσας· καὶ τὰ τεμένη ἔνδοθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν καταχρυσώσας, διὰ τοῦτο χρύσας Ἀθήνας ταύτην ἐπονόμασαν· εἰς γοῦν τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἡμῶν εἰσερχομένων εὐρίσκομεν ἕνα μικρὸν διδασκαλεῖον ὅπερ ὑπῆρχεν τὸ τῶν Μουσικῶν ὅπερ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος συνεστήσατο· κατέναντι δὲ τοῦτου ἔστιν παλάτιον μέγιστον (V 234v) καὶ ὑποκάτωθεν τούτου κίονας φέρειν πλείονας· λευκῶν δὲ μαρμάρων πλουτεῖ σὺν τῇ ὀροφῇ καὶ τὰ τείχη· πρὸς δὲ τὸ βόρειον μέρος ὑπῆρχεν πᾶσα ἡ καγκελαρία ἐκ μαρμάρου καὶ κιόνων πεποιημένην λευκῶν· νοτινὰ δὲ ταύτης ὑπῆρχεν ἡ στοᾶ ἐν ποικίλῃ ὡραιοτήτι περιχρυσομένη γύρωθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν λίθοις (V 235r) τιμίοις κεκοσμένη· διὰ ταύτην καὶ στοικοὶ φιλοσόφοι ἐλέγοντο οἱ ἐν ταύτῃ μαθητευθέντες· ἄντικρυς δὲ ταύτης τὸ τῶν ἐπικουρίων ἤκμαζε διδασκαλεῖον· περὶ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς θεομήτορος ὅν ᾠκοδομησαν Ἀπολλὼς καὶ Εὐλόγιος ἐπ’ ὀνόματι ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ ἔχει οὕτως· ἔστιν ὁ ναὸς δρομικώτατος καὶ εὐρυχωρος εἰς μήκος πολὺ ἐπεκτεινόμενος καὶ τὰ (V 235v) τείχη τούτου ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένα λευκοῦ· τετράγωνος δὴ τούτου ἡ θέσις καθέστηκεν πηλοῦ καὶ ἀσβέστου χωρὶς, διὰ σιδηροῦ δὲ καὶ μολύβδου πᾶς τοῖχος εἰς ὕψος ἀνάγεται· ἐκτὸς δὲ τοῦ τoίχου πλουτεῖ κίωνας παμμεγέθεις κυκλικῶς τὸν ναὸν περιέχοντας· μεταξὺ δὲ τῶν δύο κιόνων περιέχει παγίωσιν· (V 236r) πρὸς δὲ τὴν ὡραίαν πύλην καὶ τὸ ἅγιον βῆμα, ἅπερ εἰσὶ κατὰ λίβαν καὶ θρασκιὰν διπλὴν τῶν κιόνων ἐπικέκτηνται στάσιν· μέχρι δὲ πολλοῦ προϊοῦσα εἰς ὕψος· κεφαλαὶ δὲ τῶν κιόνων κεκολυμέναι διὰ γλυφῆς σιδήρου εἰς σχῆμα φοίνικος μεταποιημέναι καὶ τούτου ὕπερθεν δοκοῖ ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένοι λευκοῦ τοῖς κίωσιν καὶ (V 236v) τῷ τοίχῳ προσκολλώμενοι πλάκας κεκολαυμένας ὑπεράνωθεν ἔχοντες καὶ εἰς ὀροφῆς ὁμοιῶμα τι· ἡ τούτων ἐπιφάνεται κίρτωσις· στηρίζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν κιόνων καὶ τοίχος ὡραιότατος.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
The Theaters and Schools of Athens: A Digital Edition (Test Version)
After it flourished as a center of learning and culture in antiquity, the city of Athens gradually became a cultural backwater in the Byzantine era. Sites such as the Parthenon continued to draw visitors to the city ranging from emperors to regular pilgrims from throughout the Byzantine world, come to see the now Church of the Mother of God.1 However, our knowledge of the monuments of the city is quite spotty aside from a few monuments such as the so-called Lantern of Demosthenes (now correctly identified as the Lysicrates choragic monument).2 One curious text that testifies to how people thought about their city and the local myths of Athens during the medieval period is an anonymous text called On the theaters and schools of Athens. The text is essentially a tour guide to ancient Athens, taking the reader through the city and sometimes briefly discussing the monuments described. The text has long been believed to date from around 1460,3 when the Florentine dukedom of Athens was absorbed by the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II. As it speaks of a dux coming down to the lower city for banquets and then ascending to pray at the temple of Hera, which "has been converted into the temple of the most holy Mother of God by the pious" (7). This assumption is understandable, but problematic because we know so little about the lore of local Athenians. For example, the text implies that the dux in question prayed at the pagan temple of Hera, not the later church. From Nikephoros Gregoras, we learn that some locals invented complex genealogies explaining why the position of dux existed. Some alleged that Constantine the Great had nominated a grand dux who later became simply the dux of the city. Could locals have remembered a pagan phase in the ducate before it became fully Christian? Further, the text also mentions the city's first forum where Philip supposedly cast a pharisee come to debate him into the abyss (3). During the Middle Byzantine period, we know that there was a church of Saint Philip here. The fact that the guide to Athens does not mention the church is curious, as it does mention other churches connected with distant memories of the city.4 This webpage presents a digital edition of this tour guide. It is only a test edition designed to see what technological capabilities can be employed to create a digital edition of this text. As such, I do not attempt to include all the variants in the manuscript. Only a select few are noted below. The manuscripts consulted for this edition are the following: W Wien, Österreischische Nationalbibliothek, cod. gr. 252 f. 29v-32v (16-17th c.) V The Vatican Library vat. gr. 1896, ff. 228r-236v (16th c.) In reconstructing the text of the original tour guide, I have generally followed the text of V. V as any reader of the transcription will note is filled with errors and issues of orthography, but it overall offers a much superior copy of the text and fills in gaps in the previously studied manuscript W, as Mercati noted.5 W appears to be an improved copy of the original text. The reader of this text occasionally improved the grammar of the original in a number of instances, changing directions from the colloquial neuter plural to a preposition followed by the name of the direction (e.g., section 4 V Ἀνατολικὰ; W Κατὰ ἀνατολὰς). In addition, the person who modified their exemplar was cautious about contemporary identifications of the places in the text, often adding λεγόμενον to the text. For example, the school of Aristophanes in section 5 is the 'so called' school (W διδασκαλεῖον λεγόμενον τοῦ Ἀριστοφάνους; V διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Ἀριστοφάνους). As the text of the respective texts of these 2 versions may offer key insight into the Athenian dialect being used by the educated class during the Middle Ages, something for which we have little evidence, I offer transcriptions of V and W here, so that it is easier to perform future research on the dialect. Translation
(1) Πρῶτον2 ἡ ἀκαδημία3 εἰς χωρίον τῶν βασιλικῶν· δεύτερον ἡ Ἐλαιατικὴ εἰς τοὺς ἀμπελοκήπους· τρίτον τοῦ Πλάτωνος διδασκαλεῖον εἰς τὸ παραδείσιον4· τέταρτον τὸ τοῦ Πολυζήλου ἐν ὄρει τῷ Ὑμηττίῳ·5 πέμπτον τὸ τοῦ Διοδώρου πλησίον τούτου (2) Ἐντὸς δὲ6 τῆς πολέως ἐστὶν τὸ διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Σωκράτους, (V 228v) ἐν ᾧ εἰσὶ7 κύκλῳ οἱ ἄνδρες καὶ οἱ ἄνεμοι ἱστορισμένοι· κατὰ δύσιν8 δὲ τούτου ἵσταντο τὰ παλάτια τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους· (W 30r) καὶ πλησίον τούτων οἱ λαμπροὶ οἶκοι9 τοῦ πολεμάρχου· ἵσταται δὲ καὶ τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Διὸς·10 ἄντικρυς δὲ τούτων ἐστὶ βωμὸς εἰς ὅν ταφῆς ἠξιοῦντο οἱ παγκρατιστοὶ καὶ οἱ Ὀλύμπιοι, ἐν ᾧ φοιτῶντες οἱ ῥήτορες τοὺς (V 229r) ἐπιταφίους ἐποιοῦντο λόγους. (3) Κατὰ ἄρκτον δὲ τούτου ὑπῆρχεν ἡ πρώτη ἀγορὰ τῆς πόλεως· εἰς ἥν ὁ ἀπόστολος Φίλιππος τὸν γραμματέα ἐβύθισεν, ἔνθα ὑπῆρχον καὶ οἱ λάμπροὶ οἶκοι φυλῆς τῆς Πανδιόνιδος· κατὰ δὲ τὸ νότιον μέρος ὑπῆρχεν διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ κυνικῶν φιλοσόφων, καὶ πλησίον τούτου τῶν τραγικῶν· ἐκτὸς δὲ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως ὀλίγον πρὸς δύσιν (V 229v) κατῴκουν οἱ θαλαμίοι. Καὶ πλησίον τούτων ὑπῆρχεν διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Σοφοκλέους· καὶ πρὸς νώτον τούτου ἵστατο ὁ Ἄρειος πάγος, ἔνθα ὁ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος υἵος Λυρόθιος ὑπὸ Ἄρεως ἐθανατώθη. (4) Ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ὑπῆρχεν τὰ παλάτια Κλεονίδους καὶ Μελιτιάδος· Καὶ πλησίον τούτου ἀκμὴν ἵστατο διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους· ὕπερθεν δὲ (W 30v) τούτου (V 230r) ἵσταντο δύο κίονες· καὶ εἰς μὲν τὸ ἀνατολικὸν ὑπῆρχεν τὸ τῆς Ἀθήνας ἄγαλμα, εἰς δὲ τὸ δυσικὸν τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος· μέσον δὲ τούτων λέγουσιν εἶναι ποτὲ γοργόνης κεφαλὴν ἔνδοθεν κουβουκλίου σιδηροῦ· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ὡρολόγιον τῆς ἡμέρας μαρμαριτικόν. (5) Ἄντικρυς δὲ τούτων πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ὑπῆρχεν (V 230v) διδασκαλεῖον τοῦ Ἀριστοφάνους· καὶ ἀνατολικὰ ἀκμὴν ἵστατο ὁ λύχνος τοῦ Δημοσθένους· πλησίον τούτου ἦν τότε καὶ τοῦ Θουκυδίδους οἴκημα καὶ Σόλωνος· ἀγορά τε δευτέρα καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Ἀλκμαίονος καὶ βαλανείον μέγιστον· καὶ πρὸς νῶτον τούτων ἡ μεγάλη ἀγορὰ τῆς πολέως καὶ τεμένη πλεῖστα καὶ ἀξιάγαστα· ἕως τῆς πύλης (V 231r) τῆς λεγομένης νοτίδος ἧς πρὸς τῆς φλιὰς ἱστόρηνται ἐννεακαίδεκα ἄνδρες τὸν ἕνα διώκοντες· Ἑκεῖ ὑπῆρχε καὶ τὸ βασιλικὸν λουτρὸν ἐν’ ᾧ τὸν μέγαν Βασίλειον διὰ πατάγου φοβῆσαι ἠθέλησαν· καὶ ὁ τοῦ Μνηστάρχου οἶκος. (6) Ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ἵσταται καμάρα μεγίστη καὶ ὡραῖα· ἐστὶν γεγραμμένα (V 231v) τὰ ὀνόματα Ἀδριάνου καὶ Θησέως· εὐρίσκεται δὲ ἔνδον ταύτης αὐλῆ μεγίστη (W 31r) καὶ οἶκος βασιλικὸς, πλείστοις δὲ κίωσιν ὑποκάτωθεν στηρίζομενος· ὅστις ὑπὸ δύο καὶ δέκα βασιλέων ἐλεπτουργήθη τῶν τὴν ἄκραν οἰκοδομησάντων. (7) Πρὸς δὲ νότον τούτου ἐστὶν οἶκος μικρὸς πλὴν ὡραῖος εἰς ὅν κατερχόμενος ὁ δοῦξ (V 232r) κατὰ καιρὸν εἰς εὐωχίαν ἐκινεῖτο· ἐκεῖ ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ Ἐννεάκρουνος πηγὴ ἡ Καλλιῤῥόη εἰς ἥν λουόμενος ἀνήρχετο εἰς τέμενος τὸ τῆς Ἧρας γενόμενος καὶ προσηύχετο· νῦν δὲ μετεποιήθη είς ναὸν τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου ὑπὸ τῶν εὐσεβῶν. (8) Ἀνατολικὰ δὲ τούτου ἐστὶν τὸ τῶν Ἀθηνῶν θέατρον (V 232v) κύκλῳ περιεχόμενον ὡσεὶ μηλίου διάστημα δύο εἰσόδους κεκτημένον· ἡ βορεινὴ εἴσοδος πλουτεῖ ἕτερον δέντι τιμαχαίτατον ἡ νοτινὴ ἐπικέκτηται· ἑκατὸν δὲ ζώναις κυκλωερῶς ἐκοσμεῖτο τὸ θέατρον ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένας λεύκου ἐν αἷς ὁ λαὸς καθεζόμενος (V 233r) ἐθεώρει τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων τὴν πάλην. (9) Ἐκ τούτου οὖν εἰσερχόμενοι τὴν ἀνατολικὴν πύλην εὐρίσκομεν ἄλλην ἀγορὰν καὶ ἀγωγοὺς ὑδάτων δύο οὕσπερ Ἰουλιος Καίσαρ Ἀθηναίος (W 31v) χαριζόμενος κατεσκεύασεν· καὶ ὕδωρ μήκοθεν τούτοις ἐκόμισεν· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἕτερος ἀγωγὸς κατὰ τὴν βόριον (V 233v) πύλην φερόμενος, ὅν ὁ Θυσεὺς ἐλεπτούργησεν καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν τῆς πολέως τῶν Ἀθηνῶν τυραννίδαν ὡς φησιν Ἅβαρις καὶ Ἠρώδοτος, ὑπὸ δύο καὶ δέκα βασιλέων ἐλεπτουργήθη· Κέκρωψ δὲ ὁ διφυὴς μέγαλως ἐφαίδρυνεν ἐν ποικίλῃ δόξῃ ταύτην ὡραίσας· τὰ μὲν τείχη πρὸς ὕψος ἐγεῖρας, τὸ δὲ ἔδαφος διαφόροις (V 234r) μαρμάροις καταστρώσας· καὶ τὰ τεμένη ἔνδοθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν καταχρυσώσας, διὰ τοῦτο χρύσας Ἀθήνας ταύτην ἐπονόμασαν. (10) Εἰς γοῦν τὴν ἀκρόπολιν ἡμῶν εἰσερχομένων εὐρίσκομεν ἕνα μικρὸν διδασκαλεῖον ὅπερ ὑπῆρχεν τὸ τῶν Μουσικῶν ὅπερ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος συνεστήσατο· κατέναντι δὲ τοῦτου ἔστιν παλάτιον μέγιστον (V 234v) καὶ ὑποκάτωθεν τούτου κίονας φέρειν πλείονας· λευκῶν δὲ μαρμάρων πλουτεῖ σὺν τῇ ὀροφῇ καὶ τὰ τείχη· πρὸς δὲ τὸ βόρειον μέρος ὑπῆρχεν πᾶσα ἡ καγκελαρία ἐκ μαρμάρου (W 32r) καὶ κιόνων πεποιημένην λευκῶν· νοτινὰ δὲ ταύτης ὑπῆρχεν ἡ στοᾶ ἐν ποικίλῃ ὡραιοτήτι περιχρυσομένη γύρωθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν λίθοις (V 235r) τιμίοις κεκοσμένη· διὰ ταύτην καὶ στοικοὶ φιλοσόφοι ἐλέγοντο οἱ ἐν ταύτῃ μαθητευθέντες· ἄντικρυς δὲ ταύτης τὸ τῶν ἐπικουρίων ἤκμαζε διδασκαλεῖον. (11) Περὶ δὲ τοῦ ναοῦ τῆς θεομήτορος ὅν ᾠκοδομησαν Ἀπολλὼς καὶ Εὐλόγιος ἐπ’ ὀνόματι ἀγνώστῳ θεῷ ἔχει οὕτως· ἔστιν ὁ ναὸς δρομικώτατος καὶ εὐρυχωρος εἰς μήκος πολὺ ἐπεκτεινόμενος καὶ τὰ (V 235v) τείχη τούτου ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένα λευκοῦ· τετράγωνος δὴ τούτου ἡ θέσις καθέστηκεν πηλοῦ καὶ ἀσβέστου χωρὶς, διὰ σιδηροῦ δὲ καὶ μολύβδου πᾶς τοῖχος εἰς ὕψος ἀνάγεται· ἐκτὸς δὲ τοῦ τoίχου πλουτεῖ κίωνας παμμεγέθεις κυκλικῶς τὸν ναὸν περιέχοντας· μεταξὺ δὲ τῶν δύο κιόνων περιέχει παγίωσιν· (V 236r) πρὸς δὲ τὴν ὡραίαν πύλην καὶ τὸ ἅγιον βῆμα, ἅπερ εἰσὶ κατὰ λίβαν καὶ θρασκιὰν διπλὴν τῶν κιόνων ἐπικέκτηνται στάσιν· μέχρι δὲ πολλοῦ προϊοῦσα (W 32v) εἰς ὕψος· κεφαλαὶ δὲ τῶν κιόνων κεκολυμέναι διὰ γλυφῆς σιδήρου εἰς σχῆμα φοίνικος μεταποιημέναι καὶ τούτου ὕπερθεν δοκοῖ ἐκ μαρμάρου πεποιημένοι λευκοῦ τοῖς κίωσιν καὶ (V 236v) τῷ τοίχῳ προσκολλώμενοι πλάκας κεκολαυμένας ὑπεράνωθεν ἔχοντες καὶ εἰς ὀροφῆς ὁμοιῶμα τι· ἡ τούτων ἐπιφάνεται κίρτωσις· στηρίζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν κιόνων καὶ τοίχος ὡραιότατος.I have consulted the manuscript images via digital scans. For readers of this edition to easily access the edition, I have linked references to a facsimile of the manuscript in L. Laborde, Athènes aux XVe, XVIe et XVIIe siècles (Paris, 1854), pp. 16-17.
(1) First in the academy in the village of the imperial buildings. Second is the Elaeatic school in the vineyards. Third is the school of Plato in the park area. Fourth is the school of Polyzelus on Mount Hymettus. Fifth is the school of Diodorus next to it.
(2) Within the city is the school of Socrates on which men and the winds are depicted in a circle.1 To the west of it stood the mansions of Themistocles. Next to them are the resplendent homes of the Polemarch. There also stands the statue of Zeus.2 Close to them is the altar where boxers and Olympian victors were deemed worthy of burial. Orators used to come here and read their funeral orations.3 To the north of this, there once was the first agora of the city, where the apostle Philip plunged the scribe into the abyss.4
(3) There also were the resplendent homes of the Pandionis tribe. In the southern part of them, there was the school of Cynic philosophers and next to it that of the tragedians. A little to the west outside the acropolis, there lived the rowers.5 Nearby them was the school of Sophocles. To the south of it stood the Areopagus, where Lyrothios the son of Poseidon was killed by Ares.
(4) To the east of this, stood the mansions of Kleonides and Melitias. Near this also stood the school of Aristotle. Above this stood two columns. On the eastern one, there was a statue of Athena, while on the western one stood one of Poseidon. They say that between once was the head of a gorgon inside an iron enclosure. There was also a marble solar clock.
(5) Near them to the east stood the school of Aristophanes. And further to the east stood the lamp of Demosthenes.6 Near to this was also the house of Thucydides and Solon as well as the second agora, the house of Alcmaeon, and a very large bathhouse. To the south of them is the main agora in the city and many, wondrous temples. Until the so-called Notis gate, by whose lintel are depicted nineteen men pursuing one. There also was the royal bath where they wanted to scare Saint Basil with clamor as well as the house of Mnestarchus.
(6) To the east of this stands a very large and beautiful vaulted building where the names of Hadrian and Theseus are written.7 Within it, there is a very large courtyard and a royal house, supported from below by many columns. It was adorned by twelve kings who also built the acropolis.
(7) To the south of this is a small but beautiful house to which the dux would come down sometimes and hold feasts. There also is the Henneacrunus spring, the Callirhoe, in which he would bathe and then go up to the so-called temple of Hera and pray. Now the temple has been converted into the temple of the most holy Mother of God by the pious.
(8) To the east of it is also the theater of Athens8 which encloses a space of nearly a mile and had two entrances. The northern entrance…the southern entrance possesses…in addition. The theater is adorned with one hundred rows of seats made out of white marble in which the people used to sit and watch the struggle of the competitors.9
(9) Going out from it and entering the eastern gate, we find another agora and two aqueducts, which Julius Caesar constructed as a gift for the Athenians. He brought water from faraway to them. There is also another aqueduct which goes by the northern gate which Theseus constructed. This is and all this was constructed by the twelve kings after the tyranny of Athens, as Abaris and Herodotus say. Cecrops the dual-natured10 was highly reputed and adorned Athens, building high walls, decking the base level with different marbles, and covering the temples within and without the city with gold. For this reason, they thereafter called it golden Athens.
(10) When we enter the acropolis, we find a small school, which was the school of the Muses, which Pythagoras the Samian established. Opposite of it is a large mansion and below it are many columns. Its walls as well as its roof are replete with white marbles. Toward the northern part of the building was the entire chancellery made out of white marble and columns. To the north of this was a stoa of varied beauty covered with gold all around with precious stones on the outside. Because of this, the people who took lessons here were called the stoic philosophers. Near to it also flourished the school of the Epicureans.
(11) Concerning the temple of the Mother of God, which Apollo and Eulogius built in the name of the unknown god, the following is the case. The temple and its marble walls stretch out for a great distance. Its structure is a rectangle and it rises up to a great height without any clay or lime, but with iron and lead. Outside the walls stand very large columns surrounding the temple. Between the columns, it has supports. Toward the beautiful gate and the chancel, which face the southwest and northwest, it also possess a double row of columns. It advances to a great height. The capitals of the columns are held in place with an iron sculpture in the form of a phoenix.11 Above this are the main beams made of white marble which hold together the columns and wall and have plates engraved on top of them giving off the appearance of a roof, as they appear convex. A most beautiful wall is also supported by the columns.
Notes to the Introduction
1 On Athens during this period, see Charalambos Bouras, Byzantine Athens, 10th - 12th Centuries (New York City: Routledge, 2018); Anthony Kaldellis, The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
2 On the Lantern of Demosthenes, see Kaldellis, The Christian Parthenon, 181–84; J. R. Mccredie, “The ‘Lantern of Demosthenes’ and Lysikrates, Son of Lysitheides, of Kikynna,” in Studies Presented to Sterling Dow on His Eightieth Birthday, ed. Alan L. Boegehold and Kent J. Rigsby (Durham, N.C: Duke University, 1984), 181–83; Lya Matton and Raymond Matton, Athènes et ses monuments du XVIIe siècle à nos jours (Athens: Institut français d’Athènes, 1963), 141–44.
3 For a convenient summary of previous arguments: Silvio Mercati, “Noterella sulla tradizione manoscritta dei ‘Mirabilia urbis Athenarum,’” in Mélanges Eugène Tisserant, vol. 3 (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1963), 77–78.
4 For Gregoras' account of the dux of Athens: Ludwig Schopen, Nicephori Gregorae Byzantina Historia, vol. 1 (Bonn: Weber, 1829), 239. On the date of the church of Saint Philip: Bouras, Byzantine Athens, 277-9.
5 Mercati, "Noterella", 82-3.
1W τὰ θέατρα καὶ διδασκαλεῖα τῶν Ἀθηνῶν
2W Πρῶτη
3V ἀκαδδήμια
4V παραδίση
5V ὄρη τὸ Εἰμιτίῳ; W ἐν ὄρει τῷ Ἠμιτίῳ
6V omits δὲ
7V ἐστὶν
8V δυσικὰ
9W οἶκοι
10W ἵσταντο δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα τοῦ Διὸς ἔγγυς τούτων
1 The so-called Tower of the Winds, the Horologion of Andronicus of Cyrrhus, in modern day Athens.
2 For this sentence, W has, “statues of Zeus stood next to them.”
3 W “Orators used to come here and read their funeral orations.”
4 According to the apocryphal Acts of Philip, Philip debated before an assembled group of philosophers with a Jewish archpriest come from Jerusalem. When the archpriest refused to concede, Philip caused the earth to open up and swallow the archpriest whole. See Acts of Philip 19. In the first century A.D., scribes were often figures vested with authority in the study of the Torah and held high public status so they could function as a knowledgeable figure such as an archpriest. After the ninth century, a church dedicated to Saint Philip was constructed in the agora
5 The θάλαμιος or θαλαμίτης was a rower seated on the lowest benches near the oar port.
6 The lamp or lantern of Demosthenes was the Byzantine name for choragic monument of Lysicrates, as its shape resembles a lantern. For an account of its possible origin in the minds of locals: Kaldellis, The Christian Parthenon, 181–84.
7This monument is the arch of Hadrian. According to the inscription on the monument, Theseus built the old city, while Hadrian built the new.
_02.JPG#/media/File:Hadrian_Arch_(Athens)_02.JPG)
10 Cecrops was the mythical founding king of Athens, who was believed to have been dual natured, that is half man and half snake. In addition to this text, we know from Michael Choniates that medieval Athenians claimed descent from him. In his epitaph for the archimandrite of the monasteries in Athens, Neophytos, Michael Choniates praised Neophytos for serving as an antidote to the arrogance of local elites, substituting “unadulterated integrity for their serpent-like wickedness, which they proudly boast about when they ought to conceal it, believing, as I know, that their race descends from ancient Athenian nobility, some autochthonous dragons and dual nature sons of Cecrops, a mix of man and serpent.” See Spyridon Lambros, Μιχαήλ Ακομινάτου του Χωνιάτου : τα σωζόμενα, vol. 1 (Athens: Parnassos, 1879), 268.
11 W adds “These were made later.”
Friday, July 26, 2013
Bessarion to Bessarion: The Cardinal's Disillusionment with the West
Imagine you thought you'd spent your entire life in the service of others trying to save your country from the threat of annihilation and slavery. Believing cooperation with an enemy you share religion with was preferable to the one you don't, you had labored to unite your coreligionists in the West to work together and crusade against your enemies before it was too late. However, all your efforts were for naught when the capital of your country and your adopted home was seized and enslaved by your enemies without hardly any of your coreligionists you've been cooperating with blinking an eye. Because of the strategic importance of your country's capital, the enemy can now spread quicker and quicker with fewer impediments. Like dominoes, successive kingdoms fall to your enemy and your attempts to warn your coreligionists in the West of the dangers have been mocked and ridiculed. Even though you once were a candidate for Pope, people call you crazy for your attempts to mobilize an army against your enemy and stem their spread. Now years later, in spite of your efforts your most prominent ally has suffered a major setback at the hands of the enemy in Greece leaving the door wide open for him to invade Italy. And yet few people seem to care.
This is the story of the cardinal Bessarion, a Greek scholar from Trebizond, who spent his life trying to save the decaying Byzantine Empire from the onslaught of the burgeoning Ottoman state. He was a key scholar and patron at the beginning of the Renaissance, who taught Greek to Westerners when that language was still seldom known in Western Europe, and assembled one of the world's largest collections of Greek manuscripts. The debt that Western society owes him intellectually is great because without his efforts and inspiration, a great number of the Greek works Western society loves and cherishes might otherwise have perished.
This letter that follows is a unique piece of Bessarion's correspondence with his friend Bessarion. Unlike much of the published Greek correspondence we have from the time, this is a relatively unpolished Latin piece detailing Bessarion's disillusionment with the Western world he came to live in to facilitate Greek and Western cooperation. In fact, Bessarion's Latin ghostwriter would not only improve the style and organization of the letter but also deleted its more questionable content before the letter was included in a collection meant to convince Westerners to join a Crusade against the Turks. The letter was published in John Monfasani, “Bessarion Latinus” Rinascimento 2.21 (1981) 196-201. Republished as item II in Byzantine Scholars in Renaissance Italy: Cardinal
Bessarion and Other Emigrés (Aldershot: Variorum Reprints, 1995).
Stylistically, I have tried to render idiomatic English above all. Because this letter was sent to a friend, I have also tried for a more familiar style. And now the letter!
The
cardinal Bessarion
sends his greetings to the venerable father, the
master Bessarion of the Benedictine order, the company of Saint Justina, and
abbot of San
Severino in Naples .
1. I was in the middle of lamenting the
misfortune of Christianity and the cruel rout at Negropont
, when your
letter was delivered. Reading what his Royal Majesty says about his favorable
disposition toward maintaining the Christian faith, as you write, I breathed a
sigh of relief for a little bit. I sincerely hope he does what he says. However,
I’m afraid that if we are left to our own vices, we will suffer even worse and
crueler things by delaying, waiting on each other, and casting the blame on
other until we face the final onslaught. Wretched Christians! Blind Italians!
Come on, Bessarion, let’s get out of this time,[1]
God willing, or let’s fly away from this area to another. Let’s not just wait
for the Turk to invade Italy .
He has it in sight, believe me. He’s doing it. He’s striving after it. He
desires it. How I wish I was a false prophet! But, as painful as it is, he will
take Italy unless the Italians get their act together >sometime soon, unless
they join together and bravely resist him with all their forces under one
banner and put aside all their fictions and excuses that they claim are just
along with all the inane banter, to be honest, and attack the enemies of the
Cross with their forces.
2. Some time ago, Byzantium
stood upon the edge of a knife.[2]
None of the Italians sent aid.[3]
They thought it was somebody else’s problem. They wrongly believed that it did
not pose any danger to themselves. But there were those who realized after suffering
so many misfortunes because Christian dominions were reduced to Turkish
domination, such as the people of Trebizond, Sinope,
Mitylene,
the Peloponnese,
Mysia, lower Pannonia, Epirus, and the best part of Illyria. And now even the
dominion of Euboea [4]
and the Karamanids.
Why? Because they didn’t want to help Constantinople
out with fifty thousand gold pieces and keep it safe. Because it was lost, all
of these places have been lost, which are worth one hundred million of them,
though the real number is infinite.
3. What do we care about the Greeks? What do we care about
the Mysians, the Illyrians, or the Pannonians? Let them die, they say. What do
they have to do with us? It’s fine with us if other people die. Thus, good man,
can your liberty be saved. But don’t you see, I say, how when your forces are
exhausted (all Christians are your forces) the more feeble and weaker you are,
the stronger your enemy will be? And when you finally at some point fight them,
it will be a poor person versus the richest, a weak person versus the
strongest, an incapacitated person versus the most robust, so that you succumb
to them and suffer disgusting slavery.
4. Chalcis in Euboea was besieged, and was taken by force, thrown into
upheaval, and wasted by the sword and fire. A massive Turkish fleet wanders the
whole Hellespont [5]
freely. A Venetian naval force was defeated. It is fleeing, hiding, and giving
way. The Turks are ravaging all of the islands there in a frenzy over their
victory. They are plundering everything. They are wasting it. They are
devastating it. What do they have to do with us? That’s the Venetians’ problem.
That’s good what happened to them. It’d be advantageous if they have even worse
things happen to them. The rest of us ought to live more peacefully and
securely. If anybody is upset over these misfortunes, it’s a Venetian. If
anybody favor’s the Venetians, he isn’t anywhere to be heard. Nobody cares at
all about it. What disgusting human ignorance! What stupid enmities, which are
eating away at their innards, although they seem to be doing that to someone
else.
5. Come on, Bessarion, let’s both run away. You are closest
to the danger and I am closest. In just a bit, the Turkish navy will be at Brindisi close to Naples
and close to Rome .
With the Venetians defeated, any land whatsoever can be dominated by sea. They
can transport over into Apulia many thousands
of soldiers, which they have lots of. They will make incursions into the
Neapolitan and Roman countryside. Let’s get out of here, I say, before they seize
you and me both. They hate my name and yours because of me, even though I have
been responsible for no injury to them (not that I don’t want to, but I haven’t
had been able to). I’ve said a lot against them. I’ve explained the danger they
pose to us. I’ve foretold it, I’ve begged them, I’ve predicted it, but my words
have fallen on deaf ears. It’s not like they lacked the desire to, since they
are very much their enemies. They ought to make good on it. Come on, let’s go
somewhere else.
6. Wow. Bessarion’s delirious. He’s going crazy. He’s a
frigid, cowardly old man. Of course, Bessarion’s not going crazy, Bessarion. You
are my witness. You were there with me at Bologna
during Easter when that most unlucky messenger brought word of the fall of Byzantium . Everything that
followed subsequently I predicted not because of any great intelligence of mine
or art of divination, but because it all was obvious to anyone free from
private cares and concerns. However, they thought I was crazy and given to
flights of fancy. I was the butt of a good number of jokes at that point, as
you know. But nevertheless, as painful as it was, everything I predicted
happened. Let the people who hear these words beware so the same thing doesn’t
happen in the future.
7. But Bessarion is not as cowardly, as some people would
like to think. In spite of his lack of weapons, status as monk, and age, he
could still exhibit and show greater sprit than some people would believe. Christian
princes just have to want to do what they can, what they ought to. Bessarion himself
would take the field without arms along with soldiers and well armed fighters
for the Cross to seek out hostile forces, and he would take you along with him,
Bessarion. But why are they all asleep and fighting among themselves, each
wishing for the other’s destruction, laboring for it, and meditating it? Should
one Bessarion with another, both physically infirm old men whose strength is
broken, resist the Turk, whose power and fury are great, and who hungers for
Christian blood?[6] That
would be pointless, stupid, and useless.
8. Come on, let’s go somewhere else. Let’s let the princes
of Italy
take care of it. They have both abandoned us and don’t listen to us at all,
even though it’s as if we’re screaming, predicting, and reporting the dangers
in front of our eyes from a lookout post. Let’s let the Pope
take care of his
affairs and the defense of temporal affairs (The faith is after all something Christ,
as its founder and propagator, promised he would preserve, which would not be
lacking until the end of times). Let’s let the most serene king of Sicily care for and
defend his realm. Their affair will be with a nearby, most powerful enemy. Let
the people of Tuscany , Liguria ,
Milan , and Venice
see how they are taken care of. There is no love between sheep and wolves.
There is no law of friendship between wicked men and Christians. This is not an
enemy who can be pacified with gifts, presents, or treaties. He desires to
dominate, rule, and command. He desires to subjugate everyone to himself. The
enemy will overrun every kingdom. He will easily come to Rome . Blast Italy , blast all you Christians,
blast you blind men!
9. Come on, Bessarion, let’s seek out solitude and deserted places.
We’ve seen enough of this world. You and I have little time left to live as I’m
the older one and you’re the more handicapped. If there way any way whatsoever
we could still be of service to the Christian commonwealth, we should obviously
stay and keep working for it. But as for me, I have done no good in spite of
all the years I’ve spent trying the best I could and my position as cardinal.
Although you profit from the sanctity of the regulated life[7], you
would profit more from the contemplative life with me in some deserted place, if
Christians persist in their fighting. Come on, let’s only live for God and
ourselves. He who satisfies the winged creatures of the sky and the beasts of
the countryside with his clemency will feed us. It wouldn’t be hard or
difficult for divine liberality to satisfy two men for the short time that we
have left.
10. Godspeed and pray for the salvation of Christians and
myself. Rome ,
August 5, 1470.
11. The Cardinal Bessarion, bishop of Nicaea with his own hand.[8]
[1] The
point isn’t clear in this version of the letter, but in his revised official
version this phrase was clarified to say “Accelerandum est, Bessario, ut vel ex
hoc saeculo Deo volente migremus in aevum illud sempiternum… [Bessarion, let’s
hurry up and either get out of this time, God willing, to that eternal time…]
[2] The
Byzantine capital in Constantinople was seized
in May 1453 as one of the initial conquests of the Turkish sultan Mehmed II.
[3] This is
actually not true. The Venetians were sending aid, but the city fell before the
aid could arrive.
[4] Euboea was the island Negropont was located on before it
was seized by the Turks from the Venetians as described in section 1 as well as
section 4.
[5] The
straight between Europe and Asia near Gallipolli and what is believed to be the
ancient site of Troy .
[6] The
Latin has sanguinem Christianorum anhelanti, lit. ‘panting for Christian
blood.’ The metaphor I believe is recalling how a dog pants for food.
[7] That is,
living in a monastery and following the rule of the monastery.
[8]
Bessarion signs signifying he wrote this himself and didn’t have some
transcribe his words.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
John Tzetzes and Dream Interpretation
For this post, I decided to publish an old translation and commentary of mine, which I made while working on a project on the reception of the historian Dexippus in Byzantium. The letter is one of a series of letters that the twelfth century
logophile John Tzetzes wrote to real and fictional characters. This one is to the emperor Manuel Komnenos (1154-1180A.D.) about his visions and prophecies for the emperor. In this
letter, Tzetzes reports and interprets one of his dreams saying that the
emperor must hire Scythian (Cuman) mercenaries to gain victory.
Tzetzes, John. Epistolae. ed. Theodore Pressel. Letter
52
To our mighty and holy emperor Manuel the
pophyrogennetos
As your unworthy servant, I salute your holy and
mighty Imperial Highness, mighty emperor, and I will become a herald of victorious
good news for you using well sent dreams if you will accept a Scythian horse as
an ally of your Majesty. I, your Majesty’s unworthy servant, am “neither a
diviner, nor a reader of omens” nor am I a holy father, priest, or any other
position of virtue, but I sometimes have dreams almost like divinations and
prophecies whose endings I know. I don’t get my dreams when I’ve eaten a lot,
gotten drunk, or when I’m deep in sleep, but when I haven’t touched anything
and I remain sober hardly asleep. As many people are aware of our mode of life
and condition, I will proceed to explain what happened to on this present bright
and shining Sunday. [Saturday nights] I usually keep to myself and don’t go
walking through the forums or the highways, I fell upon my bed to go to sleep,
but like always I was not permitted to fall asleep because I was being attacked
and under siege from a hoard of fleas outnumbering the immeasurable army of
Xerxes. Trapped in the net of such an evil, I rolled around all night long more
than Ixion’s wheel until daybreak, hardly shutting my eyes due to the pain and
aggravation remaining almost still without sleep, when I had a vision I was
walking to the Forum of Leomacellum where I met Basil, a goldsmith, reading a
book near the workshop of perfumer named Victor Short, reading a book. At first
I thought the book was none other than a cheap copy of the Holy Scripture, but
since I heard him reading, I said, “Basil, is that not The Scythian
Wars by Dexippus?”
He told me, “Yes”
And I said, “Who gave you it?”
He told me, “The keeper of the seal.”
There are two keepers of the seal, a father named
Theodore and his son the deacon Constantine. I decided it must have been his
son who gave him the book. I was thrice surprised that a person with so little
education like Basil, who had only learned his rudimentary letters, would be
reading such a book as well as by the fact that it appeared to me that he lives
close to Victor’s workshop when he lives much further south, and I was also
surprised that the book I wanted to read, the keeper of the seal had given to
the gold smith to read. The book’s binding is coming undone and it has been
shriveled up by fire. And yet, although it is in such a state, there is a good
work inside and the pages and binding don’t really matter. So I decided that
the goldsmith Basil was Your Imperial Majesty who lived farther to the south of
Victor’s workshop than he seemed to. I also thought the fact that he would come
into the workshop of Short Victor worked with gold and received the Scythian
horse to his aid by means of the seal keeper and general Theodore or
Constantine his elder, ordained son, who seal and bind what opposes, meant that
with the aid God and the saints by those names as well as with Scythian
horsemen as your ally paid with gold, you shall shortly and concisely win
victory and its spoils. I wrote this as your unworthy servant, but also as
someone who loves his emperor and his country.
Commentary to the Letter
To the emperor
Manuel: This is none other than Manuel I Komnenos (1154-1180) who had a
penchant for prophecies and dream interpretation something Tzetzes could
provide him. Manuel was so superstitious that at one point that if his dynasty
followed the order of the letters of the Greek word for blood AIMA (Alexios,
Ioannes (John), Manuel), it would rule forever. That was why he named his son
and successor Alexios in opposition to the traditional Greek practice of naming
a son after his grandfather.
A Scythian horse: This
is the first of the many ways that Tzetzes uses the term. In this context, he
is referring to his ancestry. Tzetzes was half Georgian on his mother’s side.
Neither…omens: This
is quoted from Homer’s Odyssey line 203.
Ixion’s wheel: Ixion
was a mythical figure who was expelled from Olympus
by Zeus after trying to have sex with Hera. In punishment for this, he was
bound to an ever turning wheel of fire.
Had a vision: The use of ἐδόκησα
for ‘I had a vision’ is not a standard use of the word which usually would mean
‘I decided’, but the use makes sense when one considers that the noun δόκησις can mean ‘vision.’ Tzetzes simply has altered the
verbs meaning based on a noun.
The forum of Leomacellum: This was the forum built by the emperor
Leo Macellus ‘the Butcher’ (457-474A.D.), which was located on the northern
side of the city.
The Scythian Wars: This was a work by Publius Herennius
Dexippus written in the late third century A.D describing the wars of the Roman
Emperors with the Goths, the Scythians in the classicizing language of
Dexippus. The work does not survive in full.
To be your Imperial
Majesty: From here on the interpretation of the dream becomes clear. Basil
the goldsmith is the basileus (emperor) Manuel who will have to use gold
to hire the Scythian horsemen i.e. foreign mercenaries so that in the
near future he will come to Short Victor’s place which we have used instead of
the Greek name Kontos Stratonikos meaning ‘short victory of the army.’ Theodore
the keeper of the seal represents the martial saint, the general Theodore,
while his elder son Constantine represents the saint and emperor Constantine
the Great.
Monday, October 29, 2012
The Proclamation of Theodore Komnenos Doukas
What follows below is the proclamation of the emperor Thedore Komnenos Doukas to the high rank of emperor of the Romans by a synod of bishops further in 1224. This event caused there now to be two major claimants for the imperial throne after 1204: John Vatatzes at Nikaia and now Theodore based out of Thessalonike. The document is very much of interest for how it makes the argument of what makes a person worthy of imperial rule after 1204. Driving out the Latins and restoring the Church is the main reason for these churchmen to see fit to proclaim Theodore emperor in addition to his royal background, though that would be more slim than the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond.
It's an interesting letter! Enjoy!
It's an interesting letter! Enjoy!
Apokaukos, John. In Noctes
Petropolitanae. Ed. Athanasios Papadopoulos-Kerameus. St. Petersburg , 1913. pp. 258-9
Translation by Scott Kennedy
[Action of the synod regarding the coronation of the despot
Theodore as emperor]
The divine apostle when discussing belief in Christ says “with
the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation.” We the bishops over this western part, who
occupy higher and lower seats, embrace this apostolic maxim, which we believe
resulting in righteousness of the heart, that is to say the proclamation,
crowning, and anointment of our mighty and holy lord emperor, lord [for kyr]
Theodore Doukas, while we confess this with our mouths and write this with our
hands. This is because he has become our deliverer behind God, our savior, and
salvation in and of itself. He has borne many labors for the Christians here.
He has perspired sweat many times on our behalf. It is appropriate to quote the
poet [Homer] here, “passing sleepless nights and blood-filled days” he divvied
them up with contests of war and conflicts for the extinction of the godless
Latins who fought against us and furthermore the Scythians from Aimos. Common
usage call him the “Yolk.” On account of this exertion, this sweat, this
struggle, and he has restored all at once all western areas pertaining to us,
which were held captive and destroyed, by his boundless sweat and excessive
labor to their ancient Christian manner of life and state, and he has cleared
them completely of the hard-to-number Latin and Scythian mobs, and he has won
back many bishoprics of God and holy monasteries from Latin and Scythian pollution
taking care to adorn the former refugee bishops of God with their own bishoprics
and restoring the latter abbots again [to their monasteries], such that the
former and latter again lead their own flocks of sheep. Better yet and and what
is agreed upon by everyone is that he is the descendant of diverse emperors and
justified in being elevated to the imperial honor as a fiery soldier and as a
sleepless guardian. He has assumed the throne as recompense on agreement with
bishops and judgment of priests, monks, soldiers, and the rest of all the
Christians here. Thus he has assumed the rank of emperor and we confess that he
alone is emperor and we crown him and anoint him and certify with our
signatures below what is believed and confessed by us resulting in
righteousness and salvation. In the month… [No month is given in the text]
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Cyriacus of Ancona to Sparta
Below follows a short poem by Cyriacus of Ancona who was a visitor to Greece and Byzantium in the first half of the fifteenth century. Cyriacus was a famous Renaissance scholar of Ancient Greece and part of the effort to revive the Greek classics in Italy. It is very interesting to note in this poem, a Greek translation of the original, his passion for Sparta, which he had the opportunity of visiting while staying at the court of Byzantine despot of Morea, Constantine Palaiologos, in Mystras, which overlooks ancient Sparta
Like many subsequent visitors to Greece fascinated by visions of Ancient Greece, Cyriacus's disdain is evident for the Byzantines, whom he views as responsible for the devolution of Sparta into the city of Mystras because of their 'cowardice and laziness.' Particularly disdainfully, Cyriacus distances himself from the Byzantines by stating that it was their generations who were responsible for the disappearance of all the great virtues and figures of Sparta.
However, what is particularly interesting about this poem is that it was translated into Greek at all because of its condescending tone towards the Greeks. It certainly warrants further investigation (I have not been able to consult Peloponnesiaka by Spyridon Lampros where the text is printed) into why this took place. Certainly, the 'he said' interjected into the poem would imply that this is a translation to report to the Greeks what Cyriacus was disdainfully saying about them after he had stayed with them.
Cyriacus of Ancona
Epigram to Sparta
in plain Greek translation
O famous Laconian city of Sparta, glory of Greece, model for the entire world, gymnasium and sacred precinct of arms
and temperance, and mirror and source of all other divine virtue. If I examine
your state, ethics, human law, with your other ethical virtues, and then I look
at you, I suddenly cry out to Eurotes, to the chorus of your most glorious
Artemis. Where is your good Lykourgos, where are the Dioskouroi, the twin gods
Kastor and Polydeukes, where is Anaxandridas, Orthryadas, and Gylippos. O
Eurysthenes and Leonidas, where are you staying? Where are you, Atreides and
Pausanias, o most excellent ruler Lysander, o Ariston, Agesilaos and
Xanthippos. Not Rome , Not Phillip, said, but time, as
well as the unmanliness and laziness of your generations made the city change into
Mysithra under Constantine .
[Update: I recently came across the original Italian poem Cyriacus wrote in D’Ancona, Cyriaco (2003) Later Travels. Ed. and trans. Edward W. Bognar.Cambridge , MA
Alma città laconica spartana,
gloria de Grecia, già del mondo exemplo
d'arme e de castità, gymnasio e templo
e d'ogni alma virtù specchio e fontana
se politia, costumi, e legge humana
con l'altre tue moral virtù contemplo
poi te remiro in Eurota, extemplo
exclamo al chor del'alma tua Diana
Dove è 'l tuo bon Lycurgo, ove Dioscori,
diri gemelli, Castore e Polluce?
Anaxandrida, Orythyada, e Gylippo,
Euriste e Leonida? Ove demori
Atride e Pausania? O chiaro duce
Lysandro, Aristo, Agesilao e Xanthippo?
Non Roma, non Phillipo
dixe: "Ma è 'l saecol vil vostro. Adconfino
la volta in Mysithra sub Constantino
Translated that is:
Great Laconian city of Sparta,
glory of Greece, once example to the world
of arms, chastity, gymnasium and temple
and mirror and font of every noble virtue
If I contemplate your constitution, customs, and human law
with your other moral virtues
then I marvel again at Eurotas; suddenly
I exclaim to the chorus of your great Diana
Where is your good Lycurgus, where are the Dioscori,
the dire twins, Castor and Pollux?
Anaxandrides, Orythyades, and Gylippus,
Eurystus and Leonidas? Where do you dwell
son of Atreas and Pausanias? O famous leader
Lysander, Aristo, Agesilaus, and Xanthippus?
Not Rome, not Phillip
said, "This is your wretched age. I assign
the turn to Mistra under Constantine.]
[Update: I recently came across the original Italian poem Cyriacus wrote in D’Ancona, Cyriaco (2003) Later Travels. Ed. and trans. Edward W. Bognar.
Alma città laconica spartana,
gloria de Grecia, già del mondo exemplo
d'arme e de castità, gymnasio e templo
e d'ogni alma virtù specchio e fontana
se politia, costumi, e legge humana
con l'altre tue moral virtù contemplo
poi te remiro in Eurota, extemplo
exclamo al chor del'alma tua Diana
Dove è 'l tuo bon Lycurgo, ove Dioscori,
diri gemelli, Castore e Polluce?
Anaxandrida, Orythyada, e Gylippo,
Euriste e Leonida? Ove demori
Atride e Pausania? O chiaro duce
Lysandro, Aristo, Agesilao e Xanthippo?
Non Roma, non Phillipo
dixe: "Ma è 'l saecol vil vostro. Adconfino
la volta in Mysithra sub Constantino
Translated that is:
Great Laconian city of Sparta,
glory of Greece, once example to the world
of arms, chastity, gymnasium and temple
and mirror and font of every noble virtue
If I contemplate your constitution, customs, and human law
with your other moral virtues
then I marvel again at Eurotas; suddenly
I exclaim to the chorus of your great Diana
Where is your good Lycurgus, where are the Dioscori,
the dire twins, Castor and Pollux?
Anaxandrides, Orythyades, and Gylippus,
Eurystus and Leonidas? Where do you dwell
son of Atreas and Pausanias? O famous leader
Lysander, Aristo, Agesilaus, and Xanthippus?
Not Rome, not Phillip
said, "This is your wretched age. I assign
the turn to Mistra under Constantine.]
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Katakalon Kekaumenos: Admonition to the Emperor
[This post has variously been delayed by a mix of factors such as grad school applications, the computer-restarting horrors of Microsoft update, and the Christmas season. However, in spite of these travails, here is presented a most interesting text in the genre of kingly instruction literature. This work by the Byzantine general and official Katakalon Kekaumenos seeks to spell out for Byzantine emperor of the eleventh century how he should rule over his subjects and administer the empire. While unfortunately time precludes me from examining the text in greater detail than this preliminary summary, I would hope to return to this text in a future post on the relationship between the Byzantine fiscal system and imperial military policy discussed to some extent in the text. Until then...]
ADMONITION TO THE EMPEROR
by Katakalon Kekaumenos
When some say that the emperor is not below the law, but is the law, I agree with them. However, As long as he acts and makes laws justly, we obey him. Were he to say, "Drink poison", then absolutely don't do it. If he says, "Get in the sea and swim across it", you do not have to do this. Recognize that the emperor is a man who is below divine law. On this account, we are creating this writing for our pious and Christ-loving emperors who come after.
Holy lord, God has raised you on high to the imperial throne and made you by his favor, as it is said, into God on earth to do and act as he wills. Hence, let your deeds and doings be filled with wisdom and truth and let righteousness be in your heat. Look and act eye to eye with everyone, those in office and those otherwise, and do not abuse some freely and show favor to some contrary to what is right, but treat everyone equally. Let he who errs be compensated measurably for his errors even if you sympathize with him and forgive him his failing as it befits God and an emperor. Don't get angry at someone who has done you no wrong, but rather you should be glad, since he who does not wrong you is better above all than he who has. And if you show favor to he who has wronged you...and you should do good to bad and bad to good.
Don't pay attention to false accusers. I'm not saying you should completely ignore them; there are some tattle-tales who do tell the truth. Put both's story to the test and send away the false accuser empty-handed, but not in an insulting manner, while you do good for the person telling the truth. If you hear people accuse an official of yours of plotting against you, don't let evil get the better of your soul and try to kill him, but conduct a thorough investigation first secretly, then if you find there's some truth to it put him on trial openly, freely...hence you'll make an enemy out of him and many other people on account of him.
Let your benefactions be accounted and let the people you deemed worthy attend to them...benefactions by the emperors to the people not worthy. If you want to help out mimes and the people they call ‘politicians’, help them out with a few coins and not with honors, since by definition an honor goes to someone honorable. If you honor a mime as protospatharios or a dishonorable man, likewise if you honor your notary or secretary as patrician, then your soldier who wants to spill his blood for you will think the honor is worthless. I have seen much of this. I have seen judges worthy of ridicule prosper while the wisest and the best of men are held in contempt by the emperors including even good soldiers for the gain of liars and fortune-hunters to my utter despair unable to bear it in my heart.
Take care especially of your soldiers. Do not reduce their pay, since when a soldier receives this from you, he is selling his blood. Give them honors, but not all of them, just those who have distinguished themselves. Foreign forces in imperial service and Roman reserves [Ῥωμαῖοι οἱ φυλάσσοντες] should not be denied, but should receive their grain each month without hassle as well as their fodder and pay for upkeep [τὰς ρόγας αὐτῶν σώας]. Honor them and they will not conspire against you. If they are denied these items, they will naturally want to leave for where they can get them and become your implacable enemies, and from that day forward they will not come back over to your side remembering that nothing good was done to them by you, rather that they were taken advantage of and will separate people favorable to you from you. And then without any aid, you will truly regret it.
For you foreign forces, if they not are not of the royal line of their country, do not elevate them to high honors or entrust them with high offices, since you will so be diminishing your own importance and that of your Roman officials. When you honor a foreign soldier from
Ask and learn, your Lordship, how [foreigners] came in many circumstance to prior emperors such as the Lord Basil the Porphyrogennetos (976-1025), his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and even further back. And why am I even talking about emperors back then. Neither the lord Romanos Argyropolos (1025-1034), nor any of those blessed emperors appointed a Frank or Varangian to the honor of patrician or would even make him a consul or a commander of soldiers and would just barely make them a spatharios. Yet all of them worked for food and clothes while Romans received high offices and did great deeds with
I cite for your Imperial Majesty the example of my grandfather Nikoulitzes, who after many labors for
I cite for you another example, my holy lord. Senachyreim, as you know, was the descendant of ancient kings who wanted to give his lands to the emperor lord Basil the porphrogennetos and become his servant. The emperor receiving his show of affection honored him as magister and nothing more, even when he was the descendant of ancient kings and a king himself.
I have one last example for your Imperial Majesty before I stop in this vein. Harald was the son of the king of the Varangia, who had a brother Olaf, who after the death of their father took their father’s throne appointing his brother Harald his successor to the throne.[4] As he was young, he wanted to come and pay homage to the emperor Michael the Paphlagonian (1034-1041), which he did coming in sight of the Roman state. He brought with him also a group of five hundred noble men. When he came, the emperor received as it was possible and sent him with his people to
And do not overburden your city, the countries under you, or the army, but always be a father to everyone and they will serve you conscientiously. Some time ago, a mischievous man gave different advice to the porphyrogennetos Lord Basil desiring for Basil’s destruction. He said, “Make poor your people.” Do that, and they will hate you and especially rise up against you. Don’t treat horses like that and don’t treat like that sentient people who consider and think about whether they are treated well or badly. Your Majesty must do and act according to your fear of god. And as for your soldiers, do not deny them their pay or likewise the senators and citizens, and each of them according to their duty, as it was first noted, will serve you and will not mutter. And as for the countries under your rule, do not put upon them daily increases, appearances, and foreign and new fangled notions, and they will not revolt from you, but they will serve you whole-heartedly if they provide according to their ability yearly taxes to the treasury.
And as for the foreign countries beneath you, do not weigh them down. Command your generals to practice moderation and piety and to not act rashly or bear a grudge against anyone, but to protect judges so that they can judge with fear of God and justice. And what is the sight which we see now? It is the drawing of soldiers in battle lines more than necessary not only in demanded debts, but also in pointless marches.
Command the familiars of Your Majesty not to anyone, nor to put in power bad men and enemies of the truth, but rather if someone comes to them who has been wronged, to put him in power. And give them permission to remind Your Imperial Majesty of the people who are wronged. Your relatives should fear you and not have the go-ahead to wrong people.
I cite for you, my lord, the disaster that happened in the Paphlagonian's reign. This blessed emperor did not have noteworthy parents, but and obscure and utterly base parents, though he still had great virtues. Some without learning say that he was well-born and from a great race, but really he was ill-born and base. I say that all men are children of one man, Adam, whether they are emperors, nobles, or beggars. I have seen those of great descent fall on deceit, divination, and magic, and I say that it is them who are ill-born. For a sentient man can, if he wants, become divine by the grace of God. [5] The emperor lord Michael, as it was said, had great virtues though he had legitimate kinsmen who were many and poor, who were looked after by the orphanotrophos. He was the emperor's brother who was in charge of the palace. He wanted to enrich them and gave them permission to steal from other people, of which the emperor knew nothing. Message-bearers and imperial men sent in his service wherever they met a man on horseback whether in a hotel or on an abandoned road, they threw him from his horse or mule, took possession of it, and departed. On this account, this wonderful and conspicuous emperor became hated for the most part because of the injustices of his kinsmen and everyone was ready to be rid of his family. Not much later he died. Having died in peace and repentance, his nephew became emperor only to be risen up against by the entire city and those from outside found within using as a pretext against him his exiling of the empress. He and entire family were expelled in a single day. In his place, Monomachos became emperor who wasted and destroyed the
Your Majesty should remember this. The chief man of your Imperial Majesty who handles everything should remind you of every subject and things should come to your attention, of which you have knowledge. If you follow my meager and humble words, you end your life in utter peace. If you give yourself up to frivolous pleasures, then many things in life shall impede you.
Indeed, the emperor is the pattern and model of conduct for everyone who look to him and imitate his conduct. If it is good, they are eager to adopt and imitate it. If it is bad and condemnable, they do likewise. Hold and keep the four virtues: courage, justice, restraint, and prudence. There is prudence for the good and prudence for the bad. It is the same with courage, restraint, and justice where one would not find action for the bad. Possessing these virtues, as it was said, raises you up from earth to the heavens with your praise being great and the Lord bestowing on you many days as justice and truth flowers both on your face and in your heart.
Let many products be deposited at your disposal for you, the imperial court, and your capital. Let arrows, many arms, spears, breast plates, helmets, shields, swords, and anything else needed for war be at your side. Let siege machinery and caltrops be at your side. You do not know what bad people want. I have seen something of the following sort and life altered.
I have seen the former emperor Michael who was Caesar (1041-1042) being the mighty emperor with the sun's rising and at the third hour of the day have become piteous, alone, and blind. You should not become arrogant, my Lord, of the glory of your Imperial Majesty, but rather take pride in your power and say, “What is able to bring me down from the height of my glory? A single change of fate says the greatly wise theologian Gregory and a change of many matters. Let your hope be in God and security. As God made us capable of thinking, we must keep ourselves in his favor looking ahead and after our salvation trusting in him.
You should not accept flattery from anyone, but rather keep friends who embarrass you. I cite for your Imperial Majesty this example. Augustus, Caesar's son, was arrogant, cruel, and immoral with contempt-worthy and evil purposes yet with natural intelligence, he said, “I’m no good without an instructor.” And so he sent for in Alexandria Athenodoros a poor man lacking in much honor, but prudent and very wise nonetheless as attested to by some of those in the palace who said he was very prudent and wise. To him, Augustus said, "Do you know why Athenodoros I have brought you here with such honor?" He replied that he did not know. Caesar said, "I have habits that go against my office, so having heard that you are a good man in counsel and action, I wanted to have you as my friend and counselor so that when you see me doing things and saying things that are not good and are contemptible in nature you might tell me I am wrong in private. And if I do not accept your correction, openly do it to me." Athenodoros replied, “Okay, but as for you, my lord, do not turn you face away when you are rebuked or belittled me, and I will be a doctor for you in this way." He did not cease to tell him what he was doing wrong every day until finally he made him virtuous. When he asked permission to return to him homeland, he was not given permission by Caesar, who said to him, "My dearest friend, I am yet incomplete.”
Then he wanted to meet Abgar, the king of
You should have a man like this who you give permission to tell you what you are saying and doing wrong every day. You should not say that, "I am wise and I know everything." To this I say to you, "There are many things you know, but greater still is what you don't know. God alone does not forget, while man, whoever he is, is fallible. As the angel said to Zosimas, "No man is everything."
As for your army, you should not disband it and make it poor, since you are really only making yourself poor and weaken yourself, since the army is the glory of the emperor and the strength of the palace. Indeed, without an army, your public servants do not stand by you, but anyone will oppose you.
Endeavor likewise to always keep the fleet in top shape and without any shortages as the fleet is the glory of
Just as an eagle flying in the air, if it is missing a wing, does not fly well, so the long boats, if they are missing oars, do not sail well. Naval commanders also do further damage when accept gifts from soldiers. By letting them go unarmed, the soldiers henceforth turn in flight when confronted by the enemy. Even then ‘confronted’ might be too much. They don’t even come into their sight before they flee bring dishonor to the Romans.
When the long boats head for the islands on the pretext of patrolling, they do nothing else except collect grain, barley, pulses, cheese, wine, meat, olives, much money, and whatever else the islands have from the
Follow this same injunction for the officials of the fleet and let them be without deficiencies in the things they need. And if they are corrupt, teach them a lesson through flogging, tonsure, and monetary punishment. Naval officials after having stayed in the fleet for many years are in the habit of possessing laziness, rest, and luxury, in which total complacency emerges. You must keep the fleet on its toes and if you see them carrying on and acting as such, you must expel them from the fleet and put others in charge in their place.
If I might say something to your pious Majesty, there is something which if you do it, will not be harmful, but will bring you much security. If you see naval officials disposed as it was said above, do not replace them in their rank with other naval officials, but find old counts and droungarioi, who you ought to expel from the ranks because of their lack of activity or whom you have already expelled, and make them commanders of the fleet. Address them as such, “You know that you are old, inactive, and fit to rest in your homes, but My Imperial Majesty realizing that, returning home you would be deprived of necessities for which you have labored, cannot tolerate to deprive you of them. For this reason, I have appointed you commanders of the fleet so that you will be self sufficient and not be neglected, but dedicated so to speak you will be able to win victories God willing. Recognize that if you do this, you will not fall short of your aim, but your fleet will be in perfect condition. Also keep archers on board your long boats. Let the droungarios and the protonotarios of the fleet be pious, active, capable, wise, fearing God and your Imperial Majesty. They should pay attention to and search for with precision the slightest thing which is done in the fleet. If the fleet falls into nothingness, you will fall.
I am aware, Your Majesty, that it is human nature to be inclined to laziness. This tendency above is made even more harmful should the emperor not visit the lands subject to him in the east and west, but instead remain bound as though in prison in Constantinople. Indeed if someone restrained you to one city, you would not put up with it and depart, but it is you have done this to yourself. What need be said? Go, visit the lands under you and go to the themes and see the wrongs that the poor suffer and what the agents sent by you have done. And if the poor have been wronged, fix it. Then the Roman themes and the lands under you will know that they have a emperor and lord who is looking after them and you will make known in every theme, city, and land your might and how things are to be done, what is to be punished, and what must be done, and there will be no insurrections, no revolts against you. Your lands will be in peace.
I know that those you serve you will advise you that this is not good because of the expense and that you will weary the lands and themes by passing through them with your retinue and the imperial bodyguard. They will say as well that if you leave
[1] That is to say,
[2] The title of domestic of excubites is something of a mystery as to how this military function worked. For discussion of the title and its various holders, see Hans Joachim Kühn, Die byzantinishe Armee im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert, (
[3] A major hall used for audiences, etc.
[4] The Harald referred to here is Harald III of
[5] The text here may require some emendation. The word used for what a man might become is θεός ‘god.’ While it is possible for that to be the meaning in Kekaumenos (it is reminiscent of the Modern Greek expression θεός είναι), I prefer an emendation here to θείος, which fits nicely in opposition to the unsacred acts being perpetrated by nobles.
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About Me
- Scott Kennedy
- Right now, I'm a grad student at Ohio State University where I am studying Byzantine history and literature. This blog features translations and outtakes from my work that I have accumulated over the years. For those that are wondering, the title of my blog is Speculum Linguarum et Litterarum, which means in Latin 'A Mirror of Letters and Languages' because the act of studying letters and languages is very much an act of looking in the mirror and reflecting upon it .