SCHOLARS OF BYZANTIUM BLANK PAGE SCHOLARS OF BYZANTIUM N.G. Wilson Revised Edition Published in the UKby Published in North America by Gerald Duckworth & Co Ltd. The Medieval Academy ofAmerica London Cambridge, Mass. First published in 1983 Revised edition 1996, published in the UKby Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. The Old Piano Factory 48 Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB @ 1983, 1996 by N.G. Wilson All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission ofthe publisher. ISBN O 7156 1741 9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Published in the USA by The Medieval Academy ofAmerica 1430 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge Massachusetts 02138 ISBN 0 915651 08 4 A Printed in Great Britain Contents Note on the revised edition, 1996 viii Preface ix Abbreviations x 1. Introduction (i) Literary culture in Byzantium A (ii) Atticism (iii) The ancient authors and the Christians (iv) Censorship (v) The ancient authors as school texts 1-*1--ACIDNJCD»-l>-1-K 2. The Schools ofLate Antiquity (i) Antioch 28 (ii) Gaza 30 (iii) Scholia 33 (iv) Athens 36 (v) Alexandria 42 (vi) Constantinople 49 3. Dark Ages and Iconoclasm (i) Interlude 61 (ii) Two changes in production: paper and a new script 63 (iii) Fresh signs ofactivity 68 4. A New Start (i) Leo the Philosopher 79 (ii) The evidence ofmanuscripts from c. 800 to c. 875 85 5. Photius (i) Introduction 1 89 (ii) The Lexicon 90 (iii) The Bibliotheca 93 111 (iv) The letters 114 (v) The Amphilochia vi Contents 6. Arethas (i) The extant manuscripts (ii) Other texts (iii) Arethas as a reader 7. From Arethas’ Contemporaries to the End of the Tenth Century (i) The activity ofcopyists (ii) Education and patronage (iii) The Sada The Eleventh Century (i) Introduction: the schools (ii) John Mauropous (iii) John Italos (iv) Michael Psellos (v) Some critical essays on Christian authors (vi) Response to the classics ofpagan literature (vii) The epitome ofDio Cassius 9. From Alexius Comnenus to the Fourth Crusade (i) The early years (ii) Gregory ofCorinth (iii) The brothers Tzetzes (iv) Eustathius (v) Michael Choniates (vi) A mysterious partnership 10. Greek in Italy and Sicily (i) From late antiquity to the eleventh century (ii) The twelfth century (iii) An essay on a Greek novel 11. Disaster and Recovery (i) Nicaea (ii) Gregory ofCyprus (iii) Other evidence (iv) A second glance westwards Contents 12. The Palaeologan Revival (i) Introduction (ii) Maximus Planudes (iii) Some lesser contemporaries (iv) Other students ofGreek poetry (v) Demetrius Triclinius (vi) Theodorus Metochites 13. The Epigoni Epilogue Addenda Index Note on the revised edition, 1996 Although this book was Well received when first published I am fully aware that it is capable ofimprovement, and there is a steady flow of fresh discoveries which needs to be taken into account. The need for a reprint has given me the opportunity to introduce a number ofcorrec- tions and additions. But as a whole the book remains the same. I hope it will continue to serve as a stimulus to debate about the nature and quality ofintellec- tual life in Byzantium. The coverage is admittedly not complete, and possibly ‘Classical Philology in Byzantium’ would have been a more precise title; I recognise the possibilitythat someone may show that the Byzantines reached a high level in theological scholarship. As it is, my conclusions are not entirely flattering to the Byzantines; but ifothers can demonstrate thatmyjudgement shouldhavebeenmorefavourable, I shall be delighted. Lincoln College N.G.W. Oxford Preface The style and arrangement ofthis book require a word of explanation. In the first place, since it describes a cultural process lasting for a millennium it may be thought to err on the side ofbrevity. A longer book could certainly have been written, but having collected material for nearly twenty years I knew that many more years would be needed for an exhaustive account, and decided that there was something to be said for a relatively brief synoptic treatment. The result will be more readable, and in view of theconclusions reached while writing it I do not think it very likely that a delayed longer version would have led to substantially different estimates of the value to be attached to the operations of Byzantine philologists. Secondly, the material in each chapter except the last, where the changing nature of the story to be told seemed to remove the need, has been divided into short sections. This is the method adopted in Scribes and Scholars (ed. 2, Oxford 1974), which seems to have found favour with readers, and I hope that its repetition here in a longer book will not lend too staccato a character to the narrative. My account depends on two types of evidence, the writings of known scholars and manuscripts transcribed for readers who usually remained anonymous. In order to emphasise the importance of the manuscripts as primary sources I give their shelf-marks in the main body of the text. A number of very minor scholarly productions receive no mention. Their exclusion is conscious, but I do not flatter myself that my decisions will seem correct in all cases to all readers. I am aware that I have not analysed the work of the lexicographers, many of whom are anonymous, and it may be thought that they receive less attention than is their due. For this shortcoming I offer the partial defence that progress in the preparation of editions of the lexica has been very slow, so that it is far from easy to give even a moderately reliable sketch ofthe position. I have been rather sparing with bibliographical references, believing that completeness in this regard is an academic habit greatly overvalued at present. (Up-to-date information of this kind is in any case available in Professor Hunger’s excellent reference work Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner.) Standard editions of texts are generally taken for granted. I have also saved space by not citing the catalogues which describe the manuscripts referred to. This has one admitted drawback; where my information differs in some way from what is published elsewhere, the reader must infer that I have examined the manuscript in question and silently corrected statements which no longer seem satisfactory in the light ofmodern knowledge. It is a pleasant duty to thank the publisher for his enthusiastic support and rapid production ofthe book. N.G.W.