Knowra Byzantine literature Byzantine literature Byzantine literature is the predominantly Greek writing produced in the Byzantine Empire, spanning religious, historical, philosophical, rhetorical, and secular works from late antiquity to 1453.
Medieval Greek : The historical form of Greek used from the medieval period through the early modern era. Most Byzantine writing was composed in Greek as the language changed from its ancient forms.
Procopius : A sixth-century Byzantine historian whose works include the Wars and the Secret History. His contrasting official and private accounts exemplify the possibilities of imperial history writing.
Eastern Roman Empire : The eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, centered on Constantinople and lasting until 1453. Its political and administrative world supplied the institutions in which Byzantine literature was produced.
Transmission of ancient Greek texts : The copying and circulation of ancient Greek works through successive historical periods. Byzantine scribes and scholars preserved many works that later entered western European and modern scholarship.
Byzantine rhetoric : The theory and practice of persuasive, ornamental prose in the Byzantine world. Classical rhetorical training shaped the style and social purpose of many literary works.
Anna Komnene : A Byzantine princess and historian who wrote the Alexiad, an account of Alexios I Komnenos’s reign. Her first-person account combines dynastic history, classical learning, and political judgment.
Christianization of the Roman Empire : The gradual adoption of Christianity by Roman emperors, institutions, and society. Christianity changed the subjects, audiences, and purposes of Greek writing inherited by Byzantium.
Greek literature : Literary works written in Greek from antiquity to the present. Byzantine writing forms a long medieval phase within the broader history of Greek literature.
Hagiography : Writing about the lives, virtues, miracles, and deaths of saints. Saints’ lives were among the most widely read and copied Byzantine genres.
Michael Psellos : An eleventh-century Byzantine scholar, courtier, and author of the Chronographia. His histories and philosophical writings display the range of an influential Constantinopolitan intellectual.
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