Theodore Metochites: Patterns of Self-Representation in Fourteenth-Century Byzantium (New Directions in Byzantine Studies)

The statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites was one of the most important personalities of the fourteenth-century Byzantine Empire. A close advisor to the emperor Andronikos II and restorer of the famous monastery of Chora in Constantinople, Metochites left various writings including orations, poems, essays and commentaries on classical and religious texts, in which he discusses the numerous problems that troubled him and his contemporaries, such as the decline of the state and the tension between public life and that of the philosopher. In this book, Ioannis Polemis provides the first in-depth study of Metochites’ oeuvre, revealing the complex way he represented the authorial self to critique the politics and mores of his day, whilst at the same time shielding himself from potential criticism. Polemis details the way Metochites deftly manipulated figures and tropes from classical antiquity and early Christianity to justify his role in public life, which was traditionally shunned by scholars in the pursuit of ‘logos’. The book provides unique insights into one of the late Empire’s most important figures, as well as more widely deepening our understanding of classical reception in Byzantium and the social, political and intellectual climate of Constantinople in the fourteenth century. Cover 1 Halftitle page 2 New Directions in Byzantine Studies 3 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 CONTENTS 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 INTRODUCTION: LIFE AND WORK AT THE END OF EMPIRE 10 Part I METOCHITES ’ REPRESENTATIONS OF HIMSELF AND OTHERS 32 Chapter 1 METOCHITES ON HIMSELF: INNER AMBIGUITY 34 Chapter 2 METOCHITES ON OTHERS: MIRROR IMAGES OF HIMSELF 54 Chapter 3 CODADISPOSING OF ONESELF: A NEW WAY OF BEING ? 66 Part II THE QUEST FOR NOVELTY: INNOVATION VERSUS TRADITION IN METOCHITES’ REPRESENTATIONS 70 Chapter 4 NOT EVERYTHING OLD IS TO BE REVERED 72 Chapter 5 ORATION 6, ON GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: A RESPONSE TO MEN LIKE CHOUMNOS ? 82 Chapter 6 CODAMETOCHITES ON RHETORIC: VEILED CRITICISM OF LATE BYZANTIUM DISCURSIVE CULTURE 98 Part III VITA CONTEMPLATIVA VERSUS VITA ACTIVA: THEIR AMBIGUOUS RELATIONSHIP AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF METOCHITES’ SELFIMAGE AS AN INTELLECTUAL 102 Chapter 7 ‘THE GREEKS SEEK WISDOM’: POEM 6, FOR THE THREE GREAT PRELATES, AND POEM 5, FOR ST ATHANASIOS: THEOLOGY, GREEK LEARNING AND THE QUEST FOR A HUMANISTIC MONASTERY 104 Chapter 8 ORATION 11, BYZANTIOS: THE SECULAR BODY OF THE CITY AND A SECULAR WORLD CONTEMPLATED 140 Chapter 9 CODANATURE AND BEING: ELUSIVE CONCEPTS 156 CONCLUSION : METOCHITES, A PHILOSOPHER OF HIS TIME 162 APPENDIX: WORKS BY THEODORE METOCHITES 168 NOTES 174 BIBLIOGRAPHY 200 INDEX 210