Dissertation committee:
Θεοδώρα Αντωνοπούλου Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Φώτιος Δημητακόπουλος Ομότιμος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Αντώνιος Παναγιώτου Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Βάσσης, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΑΠΘ
Μαρίνα Λουκάκη Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Διονύσιος Καλαμάκης Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντίνος Παΐδας Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Summary
The purpose of the dissertation is to study in depth and edit for the first time the extended text known as The Life of the Virgin Mary, the most important work in prose of John Geometres, the poet laureate of the tenth century. The work recounts, in chronological order, the entire life of the Virgin, beginning with her ancestry and ending with her death, along with the account of materials from the life of her son, Jesus Christ. The current edition is primarily based on the oldest manuscript Vat. gr. 504 of the early twelfth century, which is the principal textual witness, while taking into account the rest of the manuscript tradition. The dissertation is divided into two Parts. Part One focuses on a comprehensive analysis of various aspects of the text, while Part Two presents the edition.
In particular, Part One comprises six chapters and two appendices. The First Chapter encompasses the methods, purpose and structure of the dissertation. The Second Chapter discusses the life and work of John Geometres, especially the place of The Life of the Virgin Mary among his other works, which consist of poems and orations. Moreover, there is a discussion regarding the relationship of The Life with two orations of Geometres, those on the Annunciation and the Passion of Christ, the first of which is published in the PG (BHG 1158), while the other is unpublished (BHG 418z). The contents of The Life, its structure, its linguistic features as well as a possible dating of the work form the subject of the Third Chapter. The Fourth Chapter presents the four known manuscripts of The Life, their description and their stemma, which indicates their relations to each other. The editorial principles conclude this chapter. The Fifth Chapter comprises a comparative study of three interrelated Lives of the Virgin, those by Geometres and Symeon Metaphrastes, as well as the Georgian Translation of The Life of the Virgin, a lost Greek work falsely attributed to Maximos the Confessor and surviving in Georgian translation, possibly prepared by Euthymios the Athonite (Iberites). The three works are approached in terms of structure, content, characteristic features and the way they use their sources. Furthermore, the stemma of these orations is introduced. The Sixth Chapter gives the conclusions for each of the preceding chapters, which are followed by two supplementary appendices. The First Appendix presents the summary of The Life of Virgin Mary by Symeon Metapfrastes, while the Second Appendix contains the summary, chapter by chapter, of the Georgian Translation. The method of every chapter is based on the extensive exposition and the comparative approach of the passages of the texts which are arranged in tables throughout the dissertation.
Part Two of the dissertation contains the first edition of the Greek text, preceded by the sigla used, and accompanied by the apparatus criticus and the apparatus Sacrae Scripturae, which provides a plethora of biblical references.
