Department of Literary Studies

This article aims to examine the structure of seven short poems by Gregory of Nazianzus (carm. 2.1.54-60), focused on a complaint against the devil. These poems are articulated
in three parts: an incipit, in which the poet evokes the demon and condemns his presence; a central part, which depicts the disrupting effects of the demoniac assaults; an epilogue, centred on the exorcism, in order to throw the devil out. The second part of the article is devoted to a comparison between carm.2.1.54-60 and the form of classical hymns: Gregory’s deprecationes seem to follow the same scheme adopted to compose prayers. An appendix shows how this approach can be useful also to prove that carm. 2.1.55 and 2.1.60 are likely to be respectively the conflation of two
shorter poems.

This paper attempts to reconstruct the meaning of the adjective δολοπλόκος (“weaver of wiles”) from the archaic poetry to Gregory of Nazianzus. Gregory uses the vocative δολοπλόκε in the incipit of poem 2, 1, 50 to address the devil, whereas this adjective was traditionally referred to Aphrodite (e.g. Theogn. 1386; Sapph. fr. 1, 2 V.; Simon. 541, 9-10). Therefore, the Greek goddess and the Christian demon implicitly coincide. This identification is confirmed by a wider analysis, that shows an interesting connection between the complex feelings aroused by Eros and the illness provoked by the assaults of the devil.

Texts, paratexts, manuscripts: the reception of the Psalms in the Metaphrasis Psalmorum Rachele Ricceri, Universiteit Gent (Belgium) As Byzantine literature is mainly centred on religious topics, the reception and the re-reading of the Bible has extensively influenced also Byzantine poetical production, to various extents and in different periods. In my paper I shall focus on the book of Psalms from the viewpoint of its reception in the Byzantine transmission of the Metaphrasis Psalmorum, traditionally (and very probably erroneously) ascended to Apollinaris of Laodicea (IV cent.). The Metaphrasis makes use of the highbrow Greek metre par excellance, the dactylic hexameter, and shows off a proud knowledge of Homeric stylistic and linguistic features (Golega 1960). Originally written in Hebrew as poetic texts, the Psalms were translated into Greek (in the Septuagint edition) without any specific metre, and represent an important group of texts whose influence crosses the entire history of Western literary culture. Significantly, early Christian and Byzantine readers continued to recognize the lyric features of the Psalms, since psalmody (i.e. the practice of singing the Psalms in divine worship) was a typical exercise of monastic life (Wegman 1990; Parpulov 2010). Moreover, memorizing the book of Psalms was a common base of Byzantine education. I intend to illustrate how the Psalms are reflected in the concrete way of writing poetry and in the material production of a specific kind of poetical texts, namely the metaphrases. My enquiry will mainly be manuscript-based. The core of my investigation is the examination of two aspects of how some manuscripts present the Metaphrasis: the relationship with the Psalms, from the point of view of the layout of the manuscripts, and the analysis of the paratexts that accompany this metrical psalter. Unfortunately, the manuscript tradition of the Metaphrasis is contaminated and generally late (De Stefani 2008), but it reflects an interesting way of dealing with a canonic model and some intriguing considerations can arise from the extant witnesses to the metrical psalter. Aiming at underline the close connection of the metaphrastic text with the biblical one, many scribes who dealt with these hexameters used to copy the Psalms along to the Metaphrasis. Moreover, the visual representation of the two sets of texts plays an important role, since it is to be considered as a trace of how respectively the 'Homeric psalter' and the original one were treated and offered to the readers by Byzantine copyists. The paratexts, finally, are a rich source of information on the tradition of the Metaphrasis. Each of the metrical psalm is preceded in the manuscripts by at least one metrical title. Although they are already published in the only complete critical edition so far available (Ludwich 1912), the metrical titles have only incidentally been the object of a study (Gonnelli 1989) and definitely deserve more attention, for more than one reason. As titles, these verses occupy a prominent and visible position in the codices, they are often written in different ink and could not be ignored by whoever read the book. Despite their quality as poetic texts is not always satisfactory, the metrical titles provide an interesting evidence of how Byzantine readers like to play with meters and to adapt even basic information to a higher style.

This paper aims to provide a preliminary insight into the reception of the Psalms from the point of view of two Greek paraphrases. The first text I take into account is the so-called Metaphrasis Psalmorum, written in dactylic hexametres and dating to the fifth century. This text is anonymous, although traditionally attributed to Apollinaris of Laodicea (IV century). The latter is a rewriting of the Psalms in political verses (decapentasyllables) carried out by a well-known Byzantine poet, Manuel Philes (XIII-XIV century). A comparative analysis of the above-mentioned paraphrases can shed light on the appreciation of the Psalms in two different historical contexts. These two texts, whose investigation still lacks some philological work, share remarkable affinities, as they are both versified rewritings of the same literary source and they are both faithful to the original text. However, some major dissimilarities cannot be overlooked. On the one hand, the hexametric metaphrasis conveys some typical elements of late antique Christian poetry. It contributes to the establishment of a highbrow poetry with Christian content, which can benefit from the use of the Homeric metre and the Homeric language. On the other hand, Manuel Philes' Metaphrasis of the Psalms is situated in Later Byzantium and is grounded in a well-established, thousand-year old tradition of Christian poetry. Moreover, it is connected with the characteristic Byzantine taste for (prose) rewritings. The texts resulting from the process of rewriting are profoundly influenced by the cultural role that they perform in their own historical context. The author of the Homeric Psalter strives to reshape the Psalms by means of an unmistakably epic language. Conversely, Manuel Philes is more cautious when dealing with the biblical text. He adopts the political verse as the main poetic mark of his paraphrase and slightly alters the source text, following the path of Byzantine rhetoricians and hagiographers.

Job opening Ghent (Belgium): PhD fellowship in (Byzantine) Greek literature

The Greek Section of the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University (Belgium) is seeking a PhD candidate (full-time, fully-funded), to work on a research project investigating the reception of the Psalms as poetry in Byzantine literature. The successful candidate will prepare a dissertation under the supervision of prof. Floris Bernard and dr. Rachele Ricceri (Ghent) and prof. Reinhart Ceulemans (Leuven).

A full version of the job description is to be found here: http://www.letterkunde.ugent.be/en/PhDByzantineGreek

Applications should include a curriculum vitae (including accurate information on grades and study results) and a cover letter. Two reference letters. Applications must be sent electronically (preferably as one pdf) to to prof. Floris Bernard (floris.bernard@ugent.be), prof. Reinhart Ceulemans (reinhart.ceulemans@kuleuven.be), and dr. Rachele Ricceri (rachele.ricceri@ugent.be), no later than June 10, 2018. Referees must send their letter directly to the same addresses (letters are not to be sent by the applicant); the same deadline applies.