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This book gathers vital contributions examining rhetoric in the Middle Byzantine Period, focusing on the corpus Hermogenianum. This much-read compendium of treatises and exercises was first consolidated in the fifth and sixth centuries CE, then successively copied and commented on until the end of the Empire in the East. A staple in the curriculum for the education of those entering service in the imperial administration, military, or the church, the corpus generated an array of commentaries that is still understudied. This volume examines the entangled, dialogic nature of these texts. With a focus on the period from the ninth to twelfth centuries, this book aims to provide a more integrated understanding of the exegetical work done around the corpus Hermogenianum. In doing so, it shows how generations of Byzantine scholars grappled with key political and philosophical issues of their time. It represents a significant advance in the study of Byzantine rhetoric and political culture.
List of contents
Part I. Conceptual Nodes.- 1. The Organon of Rhetoric: An Anonymous Byzantine Discussion on Porphyry s Isagoge, the Corpus of Hermogenes, and the Rhetorical Curriculum (Byron MacDougall).- 2. Guided by Method. Spatial and Temporal Negotiations of techne in the Byzantine Hermogenian Tradition (Aglae Pizzone).- 3. Visualization Strategies in the corpus Hermogenianum: Preliminary Remarks on Byzantine Rhetorical Diagrams (Chiara D Agostini).- 4. Diagrams and the Visual-Oral Nexus in Argumentation Training (Vessela Valiavitcharska). Part II. Exegetical Networks.- 5. Christian Rhetoric in John of Sardis Commentary on Pseudo-Hermogenes On Invention (Daria Resh).- 6. John Geometres Commentary on Gregory of Nazianzus Oration 45 (Maria Mushinskaya).- 7. John Tzetzes and Minucianus: Polemic and Self-Representation in the Commentary on Hermogenes (Elisabetta Barili).- 8. In the Footsteps of John Geometres: A Comparative Study of Four Byzantine Commentaries on Pseudo-Hermogenes "On the Method of Forceful Speaking" (Anna Bistaffa).- 9. Interpretive Strategies and Exegetical Polyphony in the Commentary on Pseudo-Hermogenes On the Method of Forceful Speaking by Gregory of Corinth (Baukje van den Berg).
About the author
Aglae Pizzone
is Professor of Ancient and Medieval Greek in the Department of Language, Culture, History and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark and Chair of Humanities at the Danish Institute for Advanced Study at that university.
Summary
This book gathers vital contributions examining rhetoric in the Middle Byzantine Period, focusing on the ‘corpus Hermogenianum.’ This much-read compendium of treatises and exercises was first consolidated in the fifth and sixth centuries CE, then successively copied and commented on until the end of the Empire in the East. A staple in the curriculum for the education of those entering service in the imperial administration, military, or the church, the corpus generated an array of commentaries that is still understudied. This volume examines the entangled, dialogic nature of these texts. With a focus on the period from the ninth to twelfth centuries, this book aims to provide a more integrated understanding of the exegetical work done around the corpus Hermogenianum. In doing so, it shows how generations of Byzantine scholars grappled with key political and philosophical issues of their time. It represents a significant advance in the study of Byzantine rhetoric and political culture.
