Reading between the lines of a Byzantine ‘paraphrase’: (re)discovering Isaac Komnenos and the Letter of Aristeas
Autor(a) principal: | |
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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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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 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/63151 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/63151 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
https://doi.org/10.26262/par.v11i0.8075 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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1799137797060165632 |