Among Byzantine writers of the so-called Renaissance of the Palaeologoi, George Pachymeres is, without doubt, the least studied, and, even more importantly, the least appreciated as an author. Pachymeres' affected Atticism, and complex syntax that burden his voluminous History, impeded for long time scholars of Byzantine history and literature from researching this significant work in more detail. The lecture will offer an assessment of George Pachymeres' History from a literary perspective, and an analysis of his literary techniques. The emphasis will be given to the structure of Pachymeres' narration, his division of the material, and to the correlation between the external form of narration and its content, in attempt to understand better Pachymeres as a writer.
Vlada Stanković is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. He was a fellow of the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies in Vienna (2004), Alexander Onassis fellow in Athens (2005), Visiting Professor at the University of Ioannina, Greece (2008), organizer and professor of the First International Summer school of Byzantine history, Belgrade (2009). He is the founder and director of the Centre for Cypriot Studies at the University of Belgrade and a member of the Editorial Board of the Byzantinische Zeitschrift. From 2011 he is heading the project Christian culture in the Balkans in the Middle Ages: Byzantine Empire, the Serbs and the Bulgarians from the 9th to the 15th century, funded by the Serbian Ministry of Science. His main scientific interests at present include: historical and literary analysis of Byzantine texts from the middle and late Byzantine period; research of the development of the Byzantine capital, its perception and functioning from the 10th century until 1204; Byzantium and Serbia 9th-15th centuries; Byzantine Law Books from 9th to 12th century and their ideology, and a broad research of death as a phenomenon in Byzantine society. Published books: The Patriarchs of Constantinople and the Emperors of the Macedonian Dynasty, 2003; The Komnenoi in Constantinople (1057-1185). The Evolution of a Ruling Family, 2006; Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor (1143 - 1180) - A Biography, Belgrade 2008. He is the chief editor of two collective volumes: Patriarch Photios (858-867; 877-886) and Prosopography of Constantinopolitan church 843-1204, due to be published in 2013 and 2014, respectively.