The devil in disguise: the end of George of Pisidia's: Hexaemeron reconsidered

Abstract

In a recent article which does much to enhance understanding of an important but neglected work, David M. Olster has drawn attention to the historical and political background against which George of Pisidia, panegyrist of the Emperor Heraclius (AD 610–641), composed his major surviving poem, the Hexaemeron. Olster rightly casts doubt on the validity of the distinct categories of ‘panegyrical’ and ‘theological’ into which George's poetry has traditionally been classified, and illuminates the significance of the Creation theme as a metaphor for political renewal at a time when the Byzantines achieved great victories against Persia after a prolonged period of disaster in the first decades of the seventh century. These observations lead him to the view that all of George's poetry should be interpreted in political and panegyrical rather than theological or religious terms.