This article examines On Correct Syntax , a grammatical treatise composed by Ioannes Glykys in the early fourteenth century. Although often regarded as a conventional grammatical handbook, the treatise places syntax at the centre of its linguistic theory. It argues that syntax provides the framework through which grammatical forms, case relations, and linguistic correctness are understood. By situating Glykys within the intellectual culture of the Palaiologan period and examining his engagement with Plato’s Cratylus , the article shows that his discussion of language in general and the cases in particular is organized around underlying social relations. On Correct Syntax thus emerges as an original contribution to Byzantine linguistic thought.
This article analyses selected hymns of Romanos the Melodist (c. 485-562) with a special focus on who speaks and who listens. Romanos uses apostrophes to address biblical characters, the triune God, the Mother of God, and saints. Did they listen? In rare cases, characters respond - for instance, the eternal villain Hades, whom Romanos interrogates about Christ's descent to the Underworld. At other times, the biblical characters seem to address the congregation from the storyworld. Examples such as these are analysed through the lens of modern narratology.
In the early seventeenth century, the Greek Jesuit Hermodorus Rhegius (1579-1655) compiled a collection of Greek proverbs which constitutes important evidence for early modern Greek language and culture. Little is known about Hermodorus aside from his pastoral and educational work across the Aegean islands, primarily on Chios. For over two centuries, his proverbs were known mainly through the work of Charles Du Cange, who cited twenty-seven of them. The early twentieth century, however, saw three additional proverbs uncovered in a manuscript in the National Library of France (Fran & ccedil;ais 9467), and a recent discovery in the M & eacute;diath & egrave;que d'Orl & eacute;ans (MS 0422) has added ninety more. This article revisits Hermodorus' legacy in light of this new evidence and presents an edition of all 120 proverbs attributed to his collection, thereby enlarging the corpus fourfold. Tracing the collection's textual history for the first time, this study also reveals a small network of scholars in early modern France with a keen interest in Greek proverbs.
This article presents the first sustained narratological analysis of the embedded stories in Nikephoros Bryennios' Material for History. It argues that pleasure in storytelling was a valued feature of Byzantine historiography and that Bryennios' anecdotes derive their appeal from four interrelated features: eventfulness, tellability, narrativity, and immersion. The article further contends that, by mimicking oral storytelling through rhetorical questions, direct speech, and vivid sensory detail, Bryennios crafts narratives suited to performative settings while preserving a sense of authenticity. It concludes by proposing narratological criteria for identifying and analysing anecdotes across Byzantine historiography and reassessing the role of pleasure in historical writing.
Contemporary historiography of philosophy addresses the philosophy produced in Greek after the Fall of Constantinople and until the Modern Greek Enlightenment through two frameworks: that of post-Byzantine philosophy and that of Corydallism, preceded by a 'pre-Corydallic' and followed by a 'post-Corydallic' period. Despite their differences, both frameworks posit a continuity of this philosophy with Byzantine philosophy. I argue that the structure and contents of the treatises and handbooks of logic produced in the Heptanese and in Ottoman Greece during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can by no means be accounted for with reference to Byzantine philosophy.
This article offers the first critical edition of and philological commentary on a previously unpublished prefatory text (Epsilon tau epsilon rho omicron nu pi rho omicron omicron iota mu iota omicron nu) transmitted under the name of Theophilos Korydalleus and found in over forty-five manuscripts of his Aristotelian Logic. It examines the status, content, and manuscript transmission of this brief philosophical treatise, which has hitherto been neglected in favour of the more extensive prologue printed in the 1729 edition. Drawing on new manuscript evidence, particularly a marginal scholion by Iakovos Argeios (Add MS 7143, British Library), the study argues that the Epsilon tau epsilon rho omicron nu pi rho omicron omicron iota mu iota omicron nu constitutes the authentic preface by Korydalleus himself, whereas the longer prologue should be attributed to his disciple and successor Ioannes Karyophylles. This attribution, if accepted, sheds light on the process of textual interpolation and ideological appropriation within the Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople during the late seventeenth century. The study situates the controversy over the two prologues within the broader intellectual and political conflict between the Korydallean tradition, represented by Karyophylles, and the faction aligned with Alexander Mavrokordatos. By highlighting the interplay between manuscript transmission, authorship, and institutional power, the article contributes to ongoing efforts to reassess the contours of post-Byzantine philosophical education and the editorial challenges posed by early modern Greek Aristotelianism.
