Overview

A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography introduces and contextualizes the culture of Byzantine letter-writing from various socio-historical, material and literary angles. While this culture was long regarded as an ivory-tower pastime of intellectual elites, the eighteen essays in this volume, authored by leading experts in the field, show that epistolography had a vital presence in many areas of Byzantine society, literature and art. The chapters offer discussions of different types of letters and intersections with non-epistolary genres, their social functions as media of communication and performance, their representations in visual and narrative genres, and their uses in modern scholarship. The volume thus contributes to a more nuanced understanding of letter-writing in the Byzantine Empire and beyond. Contributors are: Thomas Johann Bauer, Alexander Beihammer, Floris Bernard, Emmanuel C. Bourbouhakis, Carolina Cupane, Niels Gaul, Cecily J. Hilsdale, Sofia Kotzabassi, Florin Leonte, Divna Manolova, Stratis Papaioannou, Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Alexander Riehle, Jack Tannous, Lena Wahlgren-Smith.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alexander Riehle
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   7
Weight:   0.929kg
ISBN:  

9789004413696

ISBN 10:   9004413693
Pages:   432
Publication Date:   26 June 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: Byzantine Epistolography: a Historical and Historiographical Sketch  Alexander Riehle Part 1: Contexts for Byzantine Epistolography 1 Letter Writing in Antiquity and Early Christianity  Thomas Johann Bauer 2 Syriac Epistolography  Jack Tannous 3 Letter Collections in the Latin West  Lena Wahlgren-Smith Part 2: Byzantine Letter-Writers in Context 4 Michael Psellos  Floris Bernard 5 The Letters of Demetrios Kydones  Florin Leonte Part 3: Forms and Functions of Byzantine Epistolography 6 Epistolography and Rhetoric  Sofia Kotzabassi 7 Epistolography and Diplomatics  Alexander Beihammer 8 Didacticism in Byzantine Epistolography  Florin Leonte 9 Epistolography and Philosophy  Divna Manolova 10 Epistolary Culture and Friendship  Emmanuel C. Bourbouhakis 11 Epistolary Communication: Rituals and Codes  Floris Bernard 12 The Epistolographic Self  Stratis Papaioannou 13 The Letter in the Theatron: Epistolary Voice, Character, and Soul (and Their Audience)  Niels Gaul 14 Letters and Letter Exchange in Byzantine Art  Cecily J. Hilsdale 15 Letters in Narrative Literature  Carolina Cupane Part 4: Byzantine Epistolography and (Post-)Modern Theory 16 Letters and Network Analysis  Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 17 Letters and New Philology  Alexander Riehle General Bibliography Index

Reviews

This is an important Companion, a landmark . [...] Its authors are the obvious and the best. Some papers are more like handbook articles, some more like essays, but they connect well together perhaps because much of the group is in constant conversation.[...] There is no question that a student approaching the study of Byzantine letters in 2020 with this book in hand could possibly feel alone: it is a true Companion . Margaret Mullet, in The Byzantine Review, 2020.

Author Information

Alexander Riehle (Ph.D. 2011, University of Munich) is Assistant Professor of Classics at Harvard University. He has published on Byzantine epistolography and rhetoric, and is currently preparing an edition and translation of the letter-collections of Nikephoros Choumnos.

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