Our modern understanding of ancient cultures depends greatly on what was deemed worthy of preserving from the past. In the last quarter of the thirteenth century, somewhere in Constantinople a scribe decided to copy Byzantine poetry in a book, which used to be his personal notebook, but nowadays bears the appellation “Marcianus Graecus 524” and is deposited in Venice. I discuss the compilation, formation and organization of the poetic anthology in the Marcianus. The identification of the scribe, his role in the compilation of the anthology, and the possible sources of his undertaking uncover the implications of this manuscript for recording, shaping, and interpreting the memory of the “Komnenian” Byzantium after the recovery of Constantinople from the Empire of Nicaea. After tracing cultural trends contemporaneous with the Anthologia Marciana, and relating the manuscript evidence to developments in literature, art, and architecture as well as to the imperial ceremonial, I argue that a shift in the Byzantine interest in the past occurred around the middle of the fourteenth century. This change – I suggest – affected our modern perception of Byzantium. Finally, after outlining the problematic modern editorial history of the anthology and finding parallels with the editions of Medieval Latin poetic anthologies, I pose questions relevant to the availability of the sources to us, the moderns, and present my vision for the future of Byzantine studies.
The handout is available at the bottom of the page.
Foteini Spingou is an Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (Toronto). After acquiring her basic training in Classics, with focus on Byzantine Philology, at the University of Athens, she continued her studies at the University of Oxford where she completed her DPhil in 2013. Following a fellowship in Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, she held the position of a postdoctoral associate at the Department of Art and Archaeology of Princeton University. Her first forthcoming book contains the critical edition of the anonymous poetry in MS Marcianus gr. 524. She is also the editor of a major reference volume, Byzantine Texts on Art and Aesthetics, vol. 3: From the Komnenoi to the Rise of Hesychasm (1081–ca. 1330).
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