The aim of this paper is to highlight some characteristic features in the use of poetical figures and puns in three corpora of Byzantine begging poems (Theodoros Prodromos, Manganeios Prodromos and Ptochoprodromos, mid-12th century) and to examine whether their analysis would shed light on the question of the authorship of these texts. At the beginning the two types of parallelism (antithesis) are presented - binary and triple -, characteristic not only for begging poetry but for the Byzantine "political verse", a fifteen-syllable accentual iambic verse in general. The paper continues with the analysis of the differences and similarities in the use of figures among the three collections. In Manganeios Prodromos the very frequent occurrences of paronomasia, figura etymologica and other (pseudo)etymological puns can be observed. Many similarities in the use of figures can be found between the poems of Ptochoprodromika and Manganeios Prodromos. On the other hand, Theodoros Prodromos' literary techniques are more varied and often without parallels in the other two collections. The paper also briefly discusses some hitherto unrecognized lexical and motific parallels between Manganeios Prodromos and the Ptochoprodromika collection.
The aim of this paper is to present the principles of our translation of the Byzantine epic poem Digenis Akritis (Grottaferrata version) in preparation (forthcoming in 2018) and to discuss some partial problems. After a short introduction containing general remarks on translating the piece into modern languages, we explain our ways of transposing the Greek metre and style into Czech. Further, we discuss our approach to translating proper names and the ways we try to transfer intra- and intertextual signals as well as epic repetition. We provide some examples, such as the name of the hero, the concept of love and the terms used for it, the use of selected topoi of ancient and Byzantine novels, and the role of formulas.
This paper focuses on the folly of old age as a literary motif. It aims to demonstrate that the first appearance of the motif in Greek literature is not in the early 16th century vernacular poem Peri gerondos na mi pari koritsi, as is generally believed. To the contrary, the motif of foolish old people, oft en treated satirically, emerges in Byzantine literature from the twelfth century onwards. Th e paper places its initial focus on the theme of unequal marriage and then presents other ways of mocking older people in poetry and in satire. It also discusses the use of the same motif in Byzantine historiography. Th e overall conclusion is that the emergence of this motif, typical for European literature of the Renaissance and afterwards, does not constitute a rare exception, but plays a major part in the innovative tendencies of the Komnenian period.