Volume 105, Issue 2

The article deals with Maximus the Confessor’s polemics with Tritheism. It focuses on analysis of one place in his Centuries on Charity (Char. 2.29). Sources are identified and analyzed, together with Maximus’ “policy” of citation. Comparison is made between some key elements of Maximus’ and Philoponus’ Trinitarian teaching and the way Maximus appropriated the Trinitarian doctrine of the Cappadocians (mainly Gregory of Nazianzus) is analyzed. The article also demonstrates the importance of Maximus’ polemics against the Tritheists in the development of his Trinitarian teaching. It shows that Maximus’ “paradoxical” model of the Trinity was a kind of an answer to Philoponus’ rational model.

Scholarship has attributed to Eustratios of Nicaea (c. 1050-c. 1120) a treatise on thunder and lightning, which discussed other cosmological, geographical and meteorological matters as well. The text was edited by Paola Polesso- Schiavon in 1965-1966, on the basis of two manuscripts (Parisinus gr. 1612 and Marcianus gr. III-4). Two other manuscripts (Laurentianus Mediceus Plut. VII.35 and British Library Add. 34060) show that the bishop was the author of the section on thunder and lightning only. Whereas Eustratios focused on these phenomena exclusively, his explanations were considerably more thorough than suggested in the original edition. The resulting text, written at the request of a patron, probably Maria of Alania, is strongly grounded in the Aristotelian tradition and didactic. Aristotle’s meteorological theory behind thunder and lightning is explained simply, and illustrated with many examples, some of them also borrowed from John Lydos’ Liber de ostensis. Beside a discussion of the authorship and the manuscript tradition, a commentary and an edition of the text are provided.

The contributions to the LBG, the personal study of late antique and medieval Greek literature, as well as the editing of liturgical Christian hymns from Egypt, regularly lead to observations, corrections and emendations of texts from the Byzantine period; moreover, these sources prompt us to supplement current dictionaries like the LSJ, Lampe, and LBG. In our article we present some of these commentaries and proposals, noting in passing that sound changes can sometimes produce homonymy and paronymy, and thus a certain semantic confusion. The words analyzed and discussed are ἀείτιμος, ὁ βουλσός, ὁ βυρσοδεύτης, (τοὺς) γίτονας, ἡδύφθονος f. l. for ἡδύφθογγος, τὸ μαμιλλ(ι)άριον/μαμιλλ(ι)ώριον < mamillare instead of ὁ μαμυλίων, περιπτεύω f.l. for παριππεύω, ὁ πριμισκρίνιος, τὸ φοινικίδιον, τὸ χοιρωρεῖον, ὁ χρυσοτέχνης.

In the later Middle Ages, the Old Metropolis of Serres in Eastern Macedonia was home to a highly venerated icon of Saints Theodore Teron and Theodore Stratelates. This article uncovers the history of this lost image, explores aspects of its cult, and reconstructs its artistic form and the manner in which it was displayed by bringing together the available textual and visual evidence. The article draws primarily upon three sources: the ekphrasis of the Metropolis and the collection of miracles of Saints Theodores composed by a local scholar, Theodore Pediasimos (fl. early 14th century), and a previously neglected epigram on the icon penned by the South Italian writer and diplomat Nicholas-Nektarios of Otranto (ca. 1155/1160 -1235). In tracing the “social life” and transformations of the Serres icon, this study also addresses larger topics such as the formation of image cults and their relation to the cults of saints, the practice of offering precious- metal icon revetments as votive gifts, and the practice of composing liturgical hymns dedicated to icons.

Anselm of Havelberg’s Anticimenon has long intrigued both scholars and ecumenists for its apparent promotion of mutual Christian tolerance in the early twelfth century, a period of inter- and intra-ecclesial strife. Books II and III, which present a debate between learned representatives of the East (Nicetas of Nicomedia) and of the West (Anselm himself), offer an especially sanguine view of the prospects for mutual recognition between the Greek East and the Latin West. In recent decades, however, scholars have questioned the historicity of this record, especially because the sources that both speakers employ could never have been available to them at the meeting of 1136. This article studies these sources in Book II on the Filioque in order to argue that the author’s allocation of authorities is more sophisticated than scholars have previously noted: Anselm often depicts the Greek representative Nicetas speaking with a Latin voice even as he creates an “Eastern” persona for himself. At the same time, by invoking a source from a similar dialogue held only decades earlier, Anselm locates his work alongside contemporary depictions of East/West engagement.

The paper deals with the presence of some metrical scholia to Pindar’s Olimpian odes (O. 2-5) in two late 13th/early 14th century manuscripts, Laur. Plut. LXXII, 14 and Vat. gr. 1019, both written in the Land of Otranto, Southern Apulia - Italy. The Vatican codex has never been considered in the manuscript tradition of the metrical scholia to Pindar’s victory odes. It is collated here for the first time and located in the stemma codicum. The paper concludes with a treatment of metrics in the Greek-speaking area of Apulia during the Middle Ages.

The article examines the composition of the oldest manuscript of Andronikos Kamateros’ Sacred Arsenal, codex Monac. gr. 229. The manuscript also contains two dogmatical treatises by Gregory of Cyprus and one by Nicetas Byzantios, written by different scribes. Two of them (scribes A and B) are found as scribes of Gregory’s treatises in codex Paris. gr. 1301 and as his collaborators in his Florilegium of classical authors preserved in codex Escor. X.I.13. According to a note written by scribe C on f. 355v, codex Monac. gr. 229 belonged to an opponent of the patriarch John Bekkos, who may be the same as the receiver of Constantine Acropolites’ letter no. 61, or even Acropolites himself.

The Archeological Institute of the University of Erlangen in Germany owns, among other items, a small bronze pendant consisting of two parts, i. e. a very simple bull protome with a compact Maltese cross on top, and a lower part with a lunula which encircles a second cross with rounded ends. These features show a mixture of pagan and Christian belief. No details are known about this pendant, as it has been bought on an auction in 1992. A comparison with similar bull protomes gave no results, as they also lacked their context, so the dating had to be established from the specific features of the pendant, i. e. a Greek inscription with small characters and its wording „ΚΕ ΒΟΗΘΙ ΤΟΙC ΑΛΟΓΟΙC“, the shape of the bull protome and the shape of the crosses.The inscription was not explicit for a specific time and the shape of the bull protomes evaluated by Sande led to an approximate dating of some bull protomes to the 6th century AD. But comparing the cross forms with coins and other well dated objects proved that their specific shape was only in use between the mid-6th and mid-7th centuries. As the inscription asks God to help the animals, the pendant was probably intended to protect horses as the most valuable animals against accidents and the bad eye. For this purpose the artist or owner didn’t rely on Christian symbols alone, but resorted to the long tradition of pagan symbols, thus demonstrating that, at least in the provinces, the official religion still did not cover all aspects of life.

This article provides a brief overview of early Syriac sources useful for researchers in Byzantine history and late antiquity. As a guide for finding relevant material, it seeks to introduce the non-Syriacist to the contribution of Syriac literature in the transmission of Greek texts, preserved only in extant Syriac translations. It explains the characteristics of the Syriac language, including various alphabets and doctrinal terminologies, and offers an annotated bibliography of reference materials, along with a brief survey of Syriac literature up to the seventh century CE.

The Digenis Akritis is preserved in two important manuscripts: Escorial and Grottaferrata. Whereas the language of the former is traditionally considered vernacular or even vulgar, the scribe of the Grottaferrata manuscript is said to employ an archaizing style. The frequent occurrence of clitic particles like δέ, γάρ, μέν and οὖν is one of the more prominent archaizing features. In Ancient Greek, clitic particles and clitic pronouns tend to cluster together in second position in accordance with Wackernagel’s Law. In this note, we examine the various distributional patterns of clitic particles co-occurring with clitic pronouns in the Grottaferrata manuscript.We argue that despite the occurrence of some apparently classical clusterings, the distribution of clitic pronouns and particles is clearly governed by contemporary rules.

The present article deals with the recently discovered original of an argyrobullos horismos previously known only through a copy of the 17th century. A short description of this document, issued in 1433 by the despotes Theodoros Palaiologos on behalf of the sons of Georgios Gemistos (Plethon), is offered along with a new critical text and a short commentary.

The purpose of this article is twofold: a) to re-examine the role and functions of Attaleiates as krites tou stratopedou on the military campaigns of Romanos Diogenes; and b) to re-evaluate Attaleiates’ account of the battle of Mantzikert. A detailed analysis shows that there is another angle through which the relative passage can be read. Though there is no concrete evidence to disprove his claim that he was present at the battle itself, there are indications, nonetheless, that he might have stayed in the camp. From this point of view, we may infer that his information about the events of concern to us here is based on reports of certain people who did witness the development of the battle.