Byzantine Commentaries on Ancient Greek Texts, 12th–15th Centuries

Addresses the importance of ancient literature for Byzantine society and explores various ways of recycling and understanding ancient works.

The first volume to explore the rich tradition of commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science.This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science. By discussing the exegetical literature of the Byzantines as embedded in the socio-cultural context of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the book analyses the frameworks and networks of knowledge transfer, patronage and identity building that motivated the Byzantine engagement with the ancient intellectual and literary tradition.