The Excerpta Constantiniana and the Byzantine Appropriation of the Past

ISBN-13: 9781108423632 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 352 str.

Andras Nemeth

Opis

Presents the first comprehensive study of the 'Byzantine Google' and how it reshaped Byzantine court culture in the tenth century.

Recenzje

'During a period of external threats and internal disunity, Constantine VII (913–59), the dilettante emperor of the Byzantine empire, supervised the compilation of the multivolume Excerpta. The volumes were chiefly unaltered texts from pre-Christian era authors. The emperor and his staff organized the material in a set of 53 topics. … Németh argues that instructive examples, many of which were biographical, were aimed at stimulating creative and critical thinking, improving the morality of Constantine’s circle, and providing pragmatic answers to contemporary problems. But there is no concrete proof that the Excerpta produced any military successes or enlightened legislation, or led to fruitful diplomatic maneuverings. The Excerpta may have had more aesthetic than practical value. This immense work of scholarship is strictly for the pinpoint specialist. Recommended.' A. J. Papalas, Choice

Spis treści

1. Imperial court and knowledge production; 2. Appropriation of the past: theory and practice of excerpting historiography; 3. Constructing a research engine of the past; 4. Information management in Constantine VII's treatises; 5. Renewal of historiography under Constantine VII; 6. Distorsion and expansion of the past in the Excerpta; 7. Classification of the past in the Excerpta; 8. The reading of the Excerpta; 9. The Suda: the lexicographer and the excerptor; Conclusions; Appendices A. Edition of the proem and the poem; B. The imperial manuscripts of the Excerpta.