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Zusatztext This is the first comprehensive study on Theodore Metochites’ self-representation, authored by the world’s most experienced scholar with Metochites’ work and thought. It plugs an important gap in current scholarship by casting new light on Metochites’ multifaceted image of himself and the way it is transformed or adjusted to meet the needs of his audience on different occasions. This study also offers a fresh understanding of the political, intellectual and social climate in Constantinople in the 13th and 14th c., and it is a significant contribution to the field of the reception of the classical tradition in late Byzantium. Informationen zum Autor Ioannis Polemis is Professor of Byzantine literature at the University of Athens, Greece. Klappentext The statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites was one of the most important personalities of the fourteenth-century Byzantine Empire. A close advisor to the emperor Andronikos II and restorer of the famous monastery of Chora in Constantinople, Metochites left various writings including orations, poems, essays and commentaries on classical and religious texts, in which he discusses the numerous problems that troubled him and his contemporaries, such as the decline of the state and the tension between public life and that of the philosopher. In this book, Ioannis Polemis provides the first in-depth study of Metochites' oeuvre, revealing the complex way he represented the authorial self to critique the politics and mores of his day, whilst at the same time shielding himself from potential criticism. Polemis details the way Metochites deftly manipulated figures and tropes from classical antiquity and early Christianity to justify his role in public life, which was traditionally shunned by scholars in the pursuit of 'logos'. The book provides unique insights into one of the late Empire's most important figures, as well as more widely deepening our understanding of classical reception in Byzantium and the social, political and intellectual climate of Constantinople in the fourteenth century. Vorwort An in-depth study of the literary and rhetorical concerns and strategies of self representation in the works of late Byzantine philosopher and statesman Theodore Metochites Zusammenfassung The statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites was one of the most important personalities of the fourteenth-century Byzantine Empire. A close advisor to the emperor Andronikos II and restorer of the famous monastery of Chora in Constantinople, Metochites left various writings including orations, poems, essays and commentaries on classical and religious texts, in which he discusses the numerous problems that troubled him and his contemporaries, such as the decline of the state and the tension between public life and that of the philosopher.In this book, Ioannis Polemis provides the first in-depth study of Metochites’ oeuvre, revealing the complex way he represented the authorial self to critique the politics and mores of his day, whilst at the same time shielding himself from potential criticism. Polemis details the way Metochites deftly manipulated figures and tropes from classical antiquity and early Christianity to justify his role in public life, which was traditionally shunned by scholars in the pursuit of ‘logos’. The book provides unique insights into one of the late Empire’s most important figures, as well as more widely deepening our understanding of classical reception in Byzantium and the social, political and intellectual climate of Constantinople in the fourteenth century. Inhaltsverzeichnis TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION: LIFE AND WORK AT THE END OF EMPIRE PART I: METOCHITES’ REPRESENTATIONS OF HIMSELF AND OTHERS 1. Metochites on Himself: Inner Ambiguity 2. Metochites on Others: Mirror Images of Himself 3. Coda—Disposing of Oneself: A New Way of Being? PART II. THE QUEST...
