Byzantine News

The European Acritic Heritage Network or “ACRINET” has embarked on a comprehensive, interdisciplinary study of the acritic tradition and the symbolism conveyed by such notions as “frontier guard-acritan”, “edge”, “boundary”, “otherness”, “identity” or “diversity”, in older and contemporary societies. The present edition is the result of an initiative taken by ACRINET, whose various activities have been co-funded by the European Commission. The ambition of ACRINET is to demonstrate to the general European public the virtues of peaceful coexistence in a multicultural environment, as well as to emphasise the continuing legacy of the themes to be found in acritic songs and t exts. Within this context, the ACRINET partners investigate the evolution, transformation, and surviving documents of the acritic tradition in Europe. Researchers from the participating institutions apply a wide range of methodologies, including historical, literary and ethnographic ones. At the same time, they observ...

THIS INVESTIGATION is an attempt to substantiate a flash of recognition between a passage in Xenophon’s Hellenica and a corresponding passage in Procopius of Caesarea’s Wars—a place where one ought not to expect it. Although Procopius has long been acknowledged to have been a reader and imitator of Thucydides and Herodotus, among other canonical authors, so far as the works of Xenophon are concerned he has been believed until recently to have used only the Cyropaedia.It comes as a bolt from the blue, therefore, to be reading the Hellenica and to be reminded of the Wars. Yet recovery of the intertextual dimension of Procopius’ work in this instance is vital because it enables that historian to speak, in a work intended for public consumption at a time when the principals were still alive and therefore in a manner that is necessarily oblique, to the allegiances and motivations of a prominent person at a moment of high political intrigue. Read the rest here.

“We’ve entered the land of books”, - reported the invaders in surprise after the first Arab invasion of Armenia. Far away from Armenia – “the land of books”, in Venice in the year of 1512 Hakob Meghapart, who worshipped manuscripts, printed the first Armenian book; this was altogether only six decades after Gutenberg’s invention of printing. Typography held a vital role and was a turning point in the lives of the Armenian people: after the invention of writing, a new life was given to the literature and writing in translation that were established independently over ten centuries, and a new perspective for development arose. Knowledge was secured, indeed by its eternal presence. The book written with the letters of the Armenian alphabet became brilliant evidence of the Armenian rebirth. The first printed books (Urbatagirq, Parzatumar, Saghmosaran) were styled like Armenian manuscripts, prompting the continuation of this tradition. Armenian typography began its journey in Venice an...