From narrative historiography to historical biography. New trends in Byzantine historical writing in the 10th–11th centuries
-
A. Markopoulos
Abstract
It is well known that the historical texts composed under the Macedonian dynasty (Theophanes Continuatus, Genesios, but also Leo the Deacon, Manuel protospatharios, John Skylitzes or even Michael Psellos) display certain element, which can be seen as attempts to make a clean break with the past; the formalist style of unbroken historical narrative was largely rejected in favour of historical biography in which the influence of rhetorical methods is self-evident. It is not known which criteria tipped the balance in favour of such a development, though we would do well to consider both the influence of Antiquity, and the close ties that bound biography to hagiography, which from the empire's very beginnings (Vita Constantini) also served as a uniquely Byzantine mode of promoting the image of the emperor. It may be legitimate to speak of a new type of historical writing which is specifically designed for the extremely beautified career of its subject and constitutes a contemporary movement which manifested itself in various cultural contexts.
© 2010 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Siglenverzeichnis
- Autorenverzeichnis
- Die Ethnogenese der seldschukischen Türken im Urteil christlicher Geschichtsschreiber des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts
- La chronique familiale du Parisinus gr. 1601 et l'identité de son rédacteur
- A missing Vatican manuscript page at Oxford Holobolus' commentary on the Ara Ionica and the Securis
- Beiträge zur frühbyzantinischen Profanarchitektur aus Hadrianupolis – Blütezeit unter Kaiser Iustinian I
- Organization and modus operandi of the Byzantine salt monopoly
- From narrative historiography to historical biography. New trends in Byzantine historical writing in the 10th–11th centuries
- Hacia la identificación de la biblioteca y la mano de Demetrio Ducas
- Die Episode des Palamedes in den byzantinischen Progymnasmata
- Contribución al problema de la cronología y las fuentes de la Vita Basilii
- Abteilung
- Bibliographische Notizen und Mitteilungen
Articles in the same Issue
- Siglenverzeichnis
- Autorenverzeichnis
- Die Ethnogenese der seldschukischen Türken im Urteil christlicher Geschichtsschreiber des 11. und 12. Jahrhunderts
- La chronique familiale du Parisinus gr. 1601 et l'identité de son rédacteur
- A missing Vatican manuscript page at Oxford Holobolus' commentary on the Ara Ionica and the Securis
- Beiträge zur frühbyzantinischen Profanarchitektur aus Hadrianupolis – Blütezeit unter Kaiser Iustinian I
- Organization and modus operandi of the Byzantine salt monopoly
- From narrative historiography to historical biography. New trends in Byzantine historical writing in the 10th–11th centuries
- Hacia la identificación de la biblioteca y la mano de Demetrio Ducas
- Die Episode des Palamedes in den byzantinischen Progymnasmata
- Contribución al problema de la cronología y las fuentes de la Vita Basilii
- Abteilung
- Bibliographische Notizen und Mitteilungen
