Throughout the centuries, Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of lit... more Throughout the centuries, Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of literary registers for the reception of their texts. They deliberately made use of stylistic elements or refrained from using certain features in order to reach their target audience. There are certain groups of texts dating from various periods where these stylistic elements can be tracked precisely by comparison of two or even more versions with their model texts. Such examples of rewriting can be found particularly within genres with a broader audience appeal, namely hagiography and historiography. It is in both genres that we encounter metaphrastic processes, in terms of stylistic elaboration and in terms of stylistic simplification. As well as stylistic reshaping, metaphrasis may also encompass the addition or removal of literary and/ or thematic aspects. All these processes signify intent as well as authorial interpretation. Frequently, the ideological orientation of a text is refurbished through rewriting. Teasing out these strands for exploration helps to supply a potential wealth of information on the author (if known), cultural (social, religious, historical) content, and creative ability, as well as levels of education and literacy.
Narrating Martyrdom: Rewriting Late-Antique Virgin Martyrs in Byzantium, 2020
Using the narratological tool of focalisation, this book examines the narrator’s voice to show ho... more Using the narratological tool of focalisation, this book examines the narrator’s voice to show how three men - Makarios (late c. C13th–C14th), a monk; Constantine Akropolites (d.c. 1324), a statesman; and an Anonymous educated wordsmith (c. C9th) - knowingly tailored their compositions to influence an audience and to foster their individual interests. Each opted to rewrite the martyrdom of a female virgin saint who suffered and died centuries earlier. Their adaptations, respectively, were of St Ia of Persia, St Horaiozele of Constantinople, and St Tatiana of Rome.
Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 CE); Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 CE); and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 CE).
The book provides the first translations and commentaries of the passions of these virgin martyrs as well as literary and historical backgrounds for each text. The implications of the analysis are far-reaching: the monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer; the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience; and hagiography as a layered discourse.
This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of celibate marriage as depicted in the lives of three... more This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of celibate marriage as depicted in the lives of three couples who achieved sainthood. Marriage without intercourse appears to have no purpose, especially in Christian antiquity, yet these three tales were copied for centuries. What messages were they promoting? What did it mean to be a virgin husband and a virgin wife? Including full translations, this volume sets each life in its historical context, and by examining their individual and shared themes, the book shows that the tension raised by pitting marriage against celibacy is constantly debated. It also highlights the ingenuity of Byzantine hagiographers as they attempted to reconcile this curious paradox. The book addresses a gap in late Antique and Byzantine hagiographic studies where primary sources and interpretative material are very rarely presented in the same volume. By providing a variety of contexts to the material a much more comprehensive, revealing and holistic picture of celibate marriage emerges.
Constructing Saints in Greek and Latin Hagiography. Heroes and Heroines in Late Antique and Medieval Narrative, eds Koen de Temmerman, Julie van Pelt, and Klazina Staat (Brepols, 2023), 2023
The virgin martyr is a familiar heroine in Late-Antique hagiography, whose body and/or beauty is ... more The virgin martyr is a familiar heroine in Late-Antique hagiography, whose body and/or beauty is the catalyst for her martyrdom. For Byzantium, scholarship has tended to assume that she occupies a more subdued role since, given historical circumstances, no new virgin martyrs appeared. Those passions that were revised have mainly been analysed for information on the women’s resurrected cult or for linguistic interest. Examination of the rewritten Greek passions of the late-antique martyrs, St Tatiana of Rome (C8th-9th), a deaconess, and Ia of Persia (C13th), reveal women who were transformed into public orators. Technically, the stories follow a ‘standard’ plot whereby a beautiful, virginal girl is subjected to horrific tortures by a male aggressor. Tatiana’s antagonist is Emperor Alexander Severus whilst Ia’s is Shapur II. However, their revisers (an anonymous and Makarios the monk, respectively) deliberately transformed their chosen martyrs partially by employing rhetorical and philosophical terminology. Each woman now becomes a new type of heroine, whose virtue is linked to, and expressed by, her facility with language. Her body and her beauty are now of little importance. Ia, in particular, has been transformed into an elderly woman. This paper will thus explore the notion of rewriting in tandem with these revisions to see how and why virginity and heroism have been reconceptualised.
Metaphrasis: A Byzantine Concept of Rewriting and Its Hagiographical Products , 2020
This chapter has two hypotheses: I first focus on a text's vulnerability to interpretation by des... more This chapter has two hypotheses: I first focus on a text's vulnerability to interpretation by describing the various responses an audience might have to a saint's 'passio', focusing on the metaphrasis of Tatiana of Rome (BHG 1699). Despite the anonymous author's potential motives in composing the text, it is important to examine what various audiences may have thought or felt as they read or listened to the text over centuries. Each audience, individually or collectively, may have found their own meanings in the text; in this case, reading the 'passio' as an iconophile text, an iconoclast text, or as a response to Arab invasions. Secondly, and consequently, the chapter illustrates that in the case of rewritten texts, we do not require knowledge of the model. They possess value in their own right. Using Deleuze, I thus postulate that some rewritten texts may be termed 'simulacra'.
The Hagiographical Experiment Developing Discourses of Sainthood , 2020
This article redefines the craft of Byzantine hagiographers by using the narratological tools of ... more This article redefines the craft of Byzantine hagiographers by using the narratological tools of voice and focalisation. Narratology theorises the human capacity to generate and process narratives in a variety of communicative practices and forms. By recognising and articulating the bonds narratology, communication, and hagiography share, we further our understanding of hagiographic discourse. I examine the metaphrasis of Tatiana of Rome and the 'vita' of Mary of Egypt to show how each author communicates with his audience.
The Miracles of St Artemios, which reveal a catalogue of men who are in severe pain and who expre... more The Miracles of St Artemios, which reveal a catalogue of men who are in severe pain and who express their anguish volubly, are analysed to provide two methodological frameworks (anthropological and medical), within which to investigate the masculinity of these ‘ordinary’ Byzantine men.
Here is the registration link for the 55th Spring Symposium in Byzantine Studies, which will be h... more Here is the registration link for the 55th Spring Symposium in Byzantine Studies, which will be held at the University of Kent from the 13th-15th April.
We're hugely grateful for sponsorship from the Leventis Foundation, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
Throughout the centuries, Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of lit... more Throughout the centuries, Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of literary registers for the reception of their texts. They deliberately made use of stylistic elements or refrained from using certain features in order to reach their target audience. There are certain groups of texts dating from various periods where these stylistic elements can be tracked precisely by comparison of two or even more versions with their model texts. Such examples of rewriting can be found particularly within genres with a broader audience appeal, namely hagiography and historiography. It is in both genres that we encounter metaphrastic processes, in terms of stylistic elaboration and in terms of stylistic simplification. As well as stylistic reshaping, metaphrasis may also encompass the addition or removal of literary and/ or thematic aspects. All these processes signify intent as well as authorial interpretation. Frequently, the ideological orientation of a text is refurbished through rewriting. Teasing out these strands for exploration helps to supply a potential wealth of information on the author (if known), cultural (social, religious, historical) content, and creative ability, as well as levels of education and literacy.
Narrating Martyrdom: Rewriting Late-Antique Virgin Martyrs in Byzantium, 2020
Using the narratological tool of focalisation, this book examines the narrator’s voice to show ho... more Using the narratological tool of focalisation, this book examines the narrator’s voice to show how three men - Makarios (late c. C13th–C14th), a monk; Constantine Akropolites (d.c. 1324), a statesman; and an Anonymous educated wordsmith (c. C9th) - knowingly tailored their compositions to influence an audience and to foster their individual interests. Each opted to rewrite the martyrdom of a female virgin saint who suffered and died centuries earlier. Their adaptations, respectively, were of St Ia of Persia, St Horaiozele of Constantinople, and St Tatiana of Rome.
Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 CE); Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 CE); and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 CE).
The book provides the first translations and commentaries of the passions of these virgin martyrs as well as literary and historical backgrounds for each text. The implications of the analysis are far-reaching: the monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer; the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience; and hagiography as a layered discourse.
This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of celibate marriage as depicted in the lives of three... more This book explores the puzzling phenomenon of celibate marriage as depicted in the lives of three couples who achieved sainthood. Marriage without intercourse appears to have no purpose, especially in Christian antiquity, yet these three tales were copied for centuries. What messages were they promoting? What did it mean to be a virgin husband and a virgin wife? Including full translations, this volume sets each life in its historical context, and by examining their individual and shared themes, the book shows that the tension raised by pitting marriage against celibacy is constantly debated. It also highlights the ingenuity of Byzantine hagiographers as they attempted to reconcile this curious paradox. The book addresses a gap in late Antique and Byzantine hagiographic studies where primary sources and interpretative material are very rarely presented in the same volume. By providing a variety of contexts to the material a much more comprehensive, revealing and holistic picture of celibate marriage emerges.
Constructing Saints in Greek and Latin Hagiography. Heroes and Heroines in Late Antique and Medieval Narrative, eds Koen de Temmerman, Julie van Pelt, and Klazina Staat (Brepols, 2023), 2023
The virgin martyr is a familiar heroine in Late-Antique hagiography, whose body and/or beauty is ... more The virgin martyr is a familiar heroine in Late-Antique hagiography, whose body and/or beauty is the catalyst for her martyrdom. For Byzantium, scholarship has tended to assume that she occupies a more subdued role since, given historical circumstances, no new virgin martyrs appeared. Those passions that were revised have mainly been analysed for information on the women’s resurrected cult or for linguistic interest. Examination of the rewritten Greek passions of the late-antique martyrs, St Tatiana of Rome (C8th-9th), a deaconess, and Ia of Persia (C13th), reveal women who were transformed into public orators. Technically, the stories follow a ‘standard’ plot whereby a beautiful, virginal girl is subjected to horrific tortures by a male aggressor. Tatiana’s antagonist is Emperor Alexander Severus whilst Ia’s is Shapur II. However, their revisers (an anonymous and Makarios the monk, respectively) deliberately transformed their chosen martyrs partially by employing rhetorical and philosophical terminology. Each woman now becomes a new type of heroine, whose virtue is linked to, and expressed by, her facility with language. Her body and her beauty are now of little importance. Ia, in particular, has been transformed into an elderly woman. This paper will thus explore the notion of rewriting in tandem with these revisions to see how and why virginity and heroism have been reconceptualised.
Metaphrasis: A Byzantine Concept of Rewriting and Its Hagiographical Products , 2020
This chapter has two hypotheses: I first focus on a text's vulnerability to interpretation by des... more This chapter has two hypotheses: I first focus on a text's vulnerability to interpretation by describing the various responses an audience might have to a saint's 'passio', focusing on the metaphrasis of Tatiana of Rome (BHG 1699). Despite the anonymous author's potential motives in composing the text, it is important to examine what various audiences may have thought or felt as they read or listened to the text over centuries. Each audience, individually or collectively, may have found their own meanings in the text; in this case, reading the 'passio' as an iconophile text, an iconoclast text, or as a response to Arab invasions. Secondly, and consequently, the chapter illustrates that in the case of rewritten texts, we do not require knowledge of the model. They possess value in their own right. Using Deleuze, I thus postulate that some rewritten texts may be termed 'simulacra'.
The Hagiographical Experiment Developing Discourses of Sainthood , 2020
This article redefines the craft of Byzantine hagiographers by using the narratological tools of ... more This article redefines the craft of Byzantine hagiographers by using the narratological tools of voice and focalisation. Narratology theorises the human capacity to generate and process narratives in a variety of communicative practices and forms. By recognising and articulating the bonds narratology, communication, and hagiography share, we further our understanding of hagiographic discourse. I examine the metaphrasis of Tatiana of Rome and the 'vita' of Mary of Egypt to show how each author communicates with his audience.
The Miracles of St Artemios, which reveal a catalogue of men who are in severe pain and who expre... more The Miracles of St Artemios, which reveal a catalogue of men who are in severe pain and who express their anguish volubly, are analysed to provide two methodological frameworks (anthropological and medical), within which to investigate the masculinity of these ‘ordinary’ Byzantine men.
Here is the registration link for the 55th Spring Symposium in Byzantine Studies, which will be h... more Here is the registration link for the 55th Spring Symposium in Byzantine Studies, which will be held at the University of Kent from the 13th-15th April.
We're hugely grateful for sponsorship from the Leventis Foundation, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
Uploads
Books by Anne P Alwis
Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 CE); Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 CE); and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 CE).
The book provides the first translations and commentaries of the passions of these virgin martyrs as well as literary and historical backgrounds for each text. The implications of the analysis are far-reaching: the monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer; the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience; and hagiography as a layered discourse.
Papers by Anne P Alwis
Talks by Anne P Alwis
We're hugely grateful for sponsorship from the Leventis Foundation, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
https://kx-web.kent.ac.uk/KxRegistration/Registration/Welcome.aspx?e=D016C7487566B5EEE19461B8ABD4B065
Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 CE); Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 CE); and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 CE).
The book provides the first translations and commentaries of the passions of these virgin martyrs as well as literary and historical backgrounds for each text. The implications of the analysis are far-reaching: the monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer; the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience; and hagiography as a layered discourse.
We're hugely grateful for sponsorship from the Leventis Foundation, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, and the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
https://kx-web.kent.ac.uk/KxRegistration/Registration/Welcome.aspx?e=D016C7487566B5EEE19461B8ABD4B065