Text in context: eloquent monuments and the Byzantine beholder

Papalexandrou, Amy

doi:10.1080/02666286.2001.10435718

Cited by 25 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Inscriptions were devised to be seen and to be read aloud (as their arrangement very often suggests): in short, they were 'spoken texts', as recent research has fully shown. 49 As a consequence, we must always take into account the oral performance of epigraphic poems and emphasise the audience response. It would be fruitful for such an approach, I think, to examine firstly a peculiar phenomenon, namely the insertion of poetic tesserae into prose, from this point of view: it is the opposite (or the dark) side of the precious style in highbrow poetry.…”

Section: Bad Metrics Fragments Of Good Poetry or The Dark Side Of Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literariness and Levels of Style in Epigraphical Poetry of Late Antiquity

Agosti

2008

Ramus

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Nowadays, scholars usually speak of a ‘renaissance’ of poetry in the Greek literature of late antiquity, underlining at the same time the new relevance of poetic communication in late antique society and the renewal of our interest in this not so well-known production of late Greek literature. Renaissance and related terms are, of course, effective ways to describe the flowering of Greek poetry from the fourth to sixth centuries CE, so long as this does not undervalue the importance of continuity (which is not the same as tradition). Even the most significant innovation in late antique Greek poetry, namely the so-called ‘Nonnian manner’ or ‘modern style’, stems from a longtime sedimentation and perfectioning of linguistic and stylistic features which can be traced back to the Hellenistic age. Albert Wifstrand, in his seminal book of 1933, already pointed to this major fact, which Mary Whitby has systematically dealt with in an important article of 1994. Moreover, recent studies demonstrate that for a proper understanding of late antique poetry one must take into account Christian poetic production as well, which stands four-square within the traditions of Greek literature (in spite of the fact that classical = pagan is an equation which dies hard for some classicists). In the present paper both pagan and Christian epigrams will be considered to equally represent the aesthetics of late antiquity (or estetica antico-bizantina, to use Averincev's terminology).

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Section: Bad Metrics Fragments Of Good Poetry or The Dark Side Of Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Literariness and Levels of Style in Epigraphical Poetry of Late Antiquity

Agosti

2008

Ramus

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“…The inscribed word in Byzantium, as in antiquity, was a remarkably powerful medium of communication and commemoration. Its force was understood at the psychological as well as the intellectual level, and the symbolic import of its visual form was likely felt by all (Thomas 1992:80).The dedicatory inscriptions at Skripou provide one very good and pertinent example of the careful attention paid to the inscribed messages of contemporary founders (Papalexandrou 2001a). Although no comprehensive study has been devoted to the issue, the rich stock of surviving inscriptions and epigrams from the Byzantine period suggests the continued emphasis placed upon them as permanent articulations that were integral to communicative life at all periods and at all levels of society.…”

Section: Spolia and Their Readersmentioning

confidence: 99%