Byzantine News

New texts have been added recently to the TLG. Here is the list: 0087 Aelius HERODIANUS et Pseudo-HERODIANUS Rhet. et Gramm. (2 works) 1312 DIDYMUS Gramm. (1 work) 2006 SYNESIUS Phil. (1 work) 2602 TIMAEUS Sophista Gramm. (1 work) 2705 NICETAS DAVID Phil., Scr. Eccl. et Gramm. (11 works) 2709 Joannes MAUROPUS Poeta et Rhet. (2 works) 2718 Manuel PHILES Scr. Eccl., Scr. Rerum Nat. et Poeta (1 work) 2742 APOPHTHEGMATA Gnom. et Eccl. (1 work) 2815 JOANNES Scholasticus Theol. (1 work) 2892 MAXIMUS CONFESSOR Theol. (1 work) 3003 Alexius I COMNENUS Imperator Poeta (3 works) 3005 ANDREAS Cretensis Poeta et Scr. Eccl. (3 works) 3024 Constantinus STILBES Poeta et Rhet. (1 work) 3074 Constantinus MANASSES Poeta et Hist. (2 works) 3076 METROPHANES Scr. Eccl. et Poeta (1 work) 3086 NICEPHORUS I Theol., Scr. Eccl. et Hist. (3 works) 3092 Nicephorus BLEMMYDES Phil. et Theol. (5 works) 3099 Nicetas STETHATUS Theol. et Hagiogr. (1 work) 3141 Georgius ACROPOLITES Hist. (1 work) 3159 BARLAAM Ca...

A very interesting lecture by Stratis Papaioannou (Brown) at the American School of Classical Studies, Athens (October 2014). Byzantine literature remains relatively exotic for modern readers, unlike its predecessor, Classical literature, or commensurate aspects of Byzantine culture, such as visual art.This lecture ventures a comprehensive view of Byzantine literature by examining notions and practices of authorship. Though neither classical nor medieval Greek have a single word that corresponds exactly to our “authorship,” Byzantine rhetoric and manuscript book culture reveal an intricate web of meanings for what an author is. Vacillating between authenticity and creative impersonation, Byzantine authors signal modernity. You can watch the lecture here.

The venerable collection of classical authors will have a digital version in a few months. Founded by James Loeb in 1911, the mission of Loeb Classical Library® has always been to make Classical Greek and Latin literature accessible to the broadest range of readers. The Digital Loeb Classical Library extends this mission into the twenty-first century. Harvard University Press is honored to renew James Loeb’s vision of accessibility, and presents an interconnected, fully searchable, perpetually growing, virtual library of all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. Epic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians; those Church Fathers who made particular use of pagan culture—in short, our entire Greek and Latin Classical heritage is represented here with up-to-date texts and accurate English translations. More than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts are available in a modern and el...

Theodore Studites,  (born 759, Constantinople [now Istanbul, Tur.]—died Nov. 11, 826, Prinkipo, island in the Sea of Marmara; feast day November 11), abbot and leading opponent of iconoclasm, the doctrine opposing the veneration of religious images, which severely disturbed relations between the Byzantine and Roman churches. Under the influence of his uncle, Abbot Plato of Symbola, later a saint, Theodore became a monk and, later, abbot of a monastery near Mount Olympus in Bithynia (northwestern Turkey). For opposing as adulterous the second marriage of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI to his mistress Theodote in 795, Theodore was exiled to Thessalonica, Greece. After Constantine’s overthrow in 797, Theodore was recalled by the empress Irene. Thereafter, his religious community moved to the monastery of Studios in Constantinople. In 806 he clashed with the emperor Nicephorus I (who asserted authority over the Eastern church) about the appointment of Patriarch Nicephorus of Co...

John the Lydian or John Lydus (Latin: Joannes Laurentius Lydus; Greek: Ἰωάννης Λαυρέντιος ὁ Λυδός) was a 6th century Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects. His works are of interest for specific data about classical events. He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognomen "Lydus". At an early age he set out to seek his fortune in Constantinople, and held high court and state offices in the praetorian prefecture of the East under Anastasius and Justinian. In 552 he lost favour, and was dismissed. The date of his death is not known, but he was probably alive during the early years of Justin II (reigned 565-578). During his retirement he occupied himself in the compilation of works on the antiquities of Rome, three of which have been preserved: De Ostentis (Gr. Περὶ Διοσημείων), on the origin and progress of the art of divination De Magistratibus reipublicae Romanae (Gr. Περὶ ἀρχῶν τῆς Ῥωμαίων πολιτείας), especially valuable for the ad...