Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Lovato, Valeria Flavia
Data de Publicação: 2021
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/63151
Resumo: In a recent study on the illuminated Octateuchs, Lowden has defined this group of luxurious manuscripts as a typically ‘Byzantine phenomenon’. The present paper focuses on Isaac Komnenos’ paraphrase of the Letter of Aristeas, a unique feature of the Seraglio Octateuch. The few modern scholars who have dealt with it have been rather ungenerous in their assessments of Isaac’s literary enterprise. Through an analysis of the structure of the paraphrase and a systematic comparison with the Letter of Aristeas, I demonstrate that these appraisals do not do justice to Isaac’s work, in that they fail to see both the reasons for his interest in this text and the rationale inspiring his rewriting. As I argue, far from being the fruit of Isaac’s abstruse ‘phantasies’, the paraphrase opening the Seraglio Octateuch was carefully structured to fit his self-fashioning agenda, which, in turn, was deeply influenced by the sociopolitical and cultural climate of 12th-century Byzantium. In short, the Seraglio Octateuch will prove to be not just a ‘Byzantine phenomenon’ but a typically Komnenian one.
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spelling Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of AristeasIsaac KomnenosLetter of AristeasSeraglio OctateuchIn a recent study on the illuminated Octateuchs, Lowden has defined this group of luxurious manuscripts as a typically ‘Byzantine phenomenon’. The present paper focuses on Isaac Komnenos’ paraphrase of the Letter of Aristeas, a unique feature of the Seraglio Octateuch. The few modern scholars who have dealt with it have been rather ungenerous in their assessments of Isaac’s literary enterprise. Through an analysis of the structure of the paraphrase and a systematic comparison with the Letter of Aristeas, I demonstrate that these appraisals do not do justice to Isaac’s work, in that they fail to see both the reasons for his interest in this text and the rationale inspiring his rewriting. As I argue, far from being the fruit of Isaac’s abstruse ‘phantasies’, the paraphrase opening the Seraglio Octateuch was carefully structured to fit his self-fashioning agenda, which, in turn, was deeply influenced by the sociopolitical and cultural climate of 12th-century Byzantium. In short, the Seraglio Octateuch will prove to be not just a ‘Byzantine phenomenon’ but a typically Komnenian one.Aristotle University of ThessalonikiRepositório da Universidade de LisboaLovato, Valeria Flavia2024-03-04T16:02:14Z20212021-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/63151enghttps://doi.org/10.26262/par.v11i0.8075info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-03-11T01:19:09Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/63151Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T03:14:25.597240Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
title Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
spellingShingle Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
Lovato, Valeria Flavia
Isaac Komnenos
Letter of Aristeas
Seraglio Octateuch
title_short Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
title_full Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
title_fullStr Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
title_full_unstemmed Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
title_sort Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
author Lovato, Valeria Flavia
author_facet Lovato, Valeria Flavia
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Lovato, Valeria Flavia
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Isaac Komnenos
Letter of Aristeas
Seraglio Octateuch
topic Isaac Komnenos
Letter of Aristeas
Seraglio Octateuch
description In a recent study on the illuminated Octateuchs, Lowden has defined this group of luxurious manuscripts as a typically ‘Byzantine phenomenon’. The present paper focuses on Isaac Komnenos’ paraphrase of the Letter of Aristeas, a unique feature of the Seraglio Octateuch. The few modern scholars who have dealt with it have been rather ungenerous in their assessments of Isaac’s literary enterprise. Through an analysis of the structure of the paraphrase and a systematic comparison with the Letter of Aristeas, I demonstrate that these appraisals do not do justice to Isaac’s work, in that they fail to see both the reasons for his interest in this text and the rationale inspiring his rewriting. As I argue, far from being the fruit of Isaac’s abstruse ‘phantasies’, the paraphrase opening the Seraglio Octateuch was carefully structured to fit his self-fashioning agenda, which, in turn, was deeply influenced by the sociopolitical and cultural climate of 12th-century Byzantium. In short, the Seraglio Octateuch will prove to be not just a ‘Byzantine phenomenon’ but a typically Komnenian one.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z
2024-03-04T16:02:14Z
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dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.26262/par.v11i0.8075
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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