Dissertation committee:
Αθανάσιος Μαρκόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Πολέμης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Ταξιάρχης Κόλιας, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Θεοδώρα Αντωνοπούλου, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Βάσσης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Σοφία Κοτζάμπαση, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Μαρίνα Λουκάκη, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The name Theophanes Continuatus is conventionally used to refer to a group of 10th-century historiographic texts produced by the scholarly circle of the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus, who commissioned them, during his reign as sole emperor of Byzantium (945-959). That the historical work in question has long fascinated researchers can be attributed both to the singular context in which it was written coupled with the personality of the historical figure who inspired it, factors which make this a palace historiography with a clear political orientation, but also to its ground-breaking structure, the innovations it introduces into the historiographic genre, and to its literary features. The work has come down to us in a single byzantine manuscript, the Vat.gr 167, which dates from the early 11th c. The long-standing need for a new edition was recently met with the volume by Featherstone and Signes published in the CFHB series; however, it proved infeasible to deal fully with the innate difficulties presented by the text.
This thesis sets out to provide an overall study of this historical work which, while studying it from a literary perspective, simultaneously locates it in the historical, social and literary context of its era. Book V of Theophanes Continuatus, i.e. the Vita Basilii, has been excluded from this study since it provides ample material for a separate thesis in its own right, along with Book VI, which was not originally envisaged as part of the work. The first four books, meaning those that are of interest to us, are arranged as separate biographies, each dedicated, as is well known, to a different emperor: Leo V, Michael II, Theophilos and Michael III respectively.
More specifically, the thesis attempts to place Theophanes Continuatus in the broader context of the writings produced under Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus, discussing as well issues including the dating of the work, its manuscripts and editions, as well as examining its structure, content and narrative techniques. Literary theory is employed when judged appropriate to highlight the work's literary nature. Moreover, the thesis explores the way in which people are portrayed, with a particular focus on the depiction of the female gender and of foreign peoples. As might be expected, it also tackles both the issue of the work's sources, where a comparison with Genesios' historical work is unavoidable, and the question of its models and the influences it received from other literary texts and genres. The study also engages with the issue of the work's author and readership, and essays a brief comparison with the earlier work by Theophanes the Confessor and with the contemporaneous Logothetis' 'circle' in order to highlight the innovations it introduced into the writing of history.
Four appendices include, respectively, a table of sources and parallel passages, narratological elements, a Modern Greek rendering of the ekphraseis of Theophilos' buildings with related illustrative material, and a treatment of the models for the Vita Basilii.
Keywords:
Theophanes Continuatus, byzantine historiography, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, 10th century
