Dialogues and Debates from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium

Dialogues and Debates from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium offers the first overall discussion of the literary and philosophical dialogue tradition in Greek from imperial Rome to the end of the Byzantine empire and beyond. Sixteen case studies combine theoretical approaches with in-depth analysis and include comparisons with the neighbouring Syriac, Georgian, Armenian and Latin traditions. Following an introduction and a discussion of Plutarch as a writer of dialogues, other chapters consider the__Erostrophus__, a philosophical dialogue in Syriac, John Chrysostom's__On Priesthood__, issues of literariness and complexity in the Greek__Adversus Iudaeos__dialogues, the__Trophies of Damascus__, Maximus Confessor's__Liber Asceticus__and the middle Byzantine apocryphal revelation dialogues. The volume demonstrates a new frequency in middle and late Byzantium of rhetorical, theological and literary dialogues, concomitant with the increasing rhetoricisation of Byzantine literature, and argues for a move towards new and exciting experiments. Individual chapters examine the Platonising and anti-Latin dialogues written in the context of Anselm of Havelberg's visits to Constantinople, the theological dialogue by Soterichos Panteugenos, the dialogues of Niketas 'of Maroneia' and the literary dialogues by Theodore Prodromos, all from the twelfth century. The final chapters explore dialogues from the empire's Georgian periphery and discuss late Byzantine philosophical, satirical and verse dialogues by Nikephoros Gregoras, Manuel II Palaiologos and George Scholarios, with special attention to issues of form, dramatisation and performance. "This is the first book to deal with the writing of literary and philosophical dialogues in Greek from the Roman empire to the end of Byzantium and beyond. Arranged in chronological order, 16 case studies combining theoretical approaches and in-depth analysis introduce a wide array of such dialogues, including consideration of the neighbouring Syriac, Georgian, and Armenian, as well as Latin traditions"--Provided by publisher. "Dialogues and Debates from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium offers the first overall discussion of the literary and philosophical dialogue tradition in Greek from imperial Rome to the end of the Byzantine empire and beyond. Sixteen case studies combine theoretical approaches with in-depth analysis and include comparisons with the neighbouring Syriac, Georgian, Armenian and Latin traditions. Following an introduction and a discussion of Plutarch as a writer of dialogues, other chapters consider the Erostrophus, a philosophical dialogue in Syriac, John Chrysostom’s On Priesthood, issues of literariness and complexity in the Greek Adversus Iudaeos dialogues, the Trophies of Damascus, Maximus Confessor’s Liber Asceticus and the middle Byzantine apocryphal revelation dialogues. The volume demonstrates a new frequency in middle and late Byzantium of rhetorical, theological and literary dialogues, concomitant with the increasing rhetoricisation of Byzantine literature, and argues for a move towards new and exciting experiments. Individual chapters examine the Platonising and anti-Latin dialogues written in the context of Anselm of Havelberg’s visits to Constantinople, the theological dialogue by Soterichos Panteugenos, the dialogues of Niketas ‘of Maroneia’ and the literary dialogues by Theodore Prodromos, all from the twelfth century. The final chapters explore dialogues from the empire’s Georgian periphery and discuss late Byzantine philosophical, satirical and verse dialogues by Nikephoros Gregoras, Manuel II Palaiologos and George Scholarios, with special attention to issues of form, dramatisation and performance."-- Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of contributors......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1 Plutarch’s dialogues: beyond the Platonic example?......Page 21 2 Erostrophus, a Syriac dialogue with Socrates on the soul......Page 33 3 The rhetorical mechanisms of John Chrysostom’s On Priesthood......Page 45 4 Literary distance and complexity in late antique and early Byzantine Greek dialogues Adversus Iudaeos......Page 56 5 Prepared for all occasions: the Trophies of Damascus and the Bonwetsch Dialogue......Page 78 6 New wine in old wineskin: Byzantine reuses of the apocryphal revelation dialogue......Page 90 7 Dialogical pedagogy and the structuring of emotions in Liber Asceticus......Page 107 8 Anselm of Havelberg’s controversies with the Greeks: a moment in the scholastic culture of disputation......Page 118 9 A Platonising dialogue from the twelfth century: the logos of Soterichos Panteugenos......Page 136 10 The six dialogues by Niketas ‘of Maroneia’: a contextualising introduction......Page 150 11 Theodore Prodromos in the Garden of Epicurus......Page 166 12 ‘Let us not obstruct the possible’: dialoguing in medieval Georgia......Page 180 13 Embedded dialogues and dialogical voices in Palaiologan prose and verse......Page 197 14 Nikephoros Gregoras’s Philomathes and Phlorentios......Page 216 15 Dramatisation and narrative in late Byzantine dialogues: Manuel II Palaiologos’s On Marriage and Mazaris’ Journey to Hades......Page 233 16 Form and content in the dialogues of Gennadios Scholarios......Page 250 Bibliography......Page 265 Index......Page 289