Research Catalog

Title

The rhetorical exercises of Nikephoros Basilakes : progymnasmata from twelfth-century Byzantium / edited and translated by Jeffrey Beneker and Craig A. Gibson.

Author

Nikēphoros, ho Vasilakēs, active 12th century

Publication

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2016.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Beneker, Jeffrey
• Gibson, Craig A., 1968-
• Nikēphoros, ho Vasilakēs, active 12th century.

Description

xxi, 394 pages; 21 cm.

Summary

"Progymnasmata, preliminary exercises in the study of declamation, were the cornerstone of elite education from Hellenistic through Byzantine times. Using material from Greek literary, mythological, and historical traditions, students and writers composed examples ranging from simple fables to complex arguments about fictional laws. In the Byzantine period, the spectrum of source material expanded to include the Bible and Christian hagiography and theology. This collection was written by Nikephoros Basilakes, imperial notary and teacher at the prestigious Patriarchal School in Constantinople during the twelfth century. In his texts, Basilakes made significant use of biblical themes, especially in character studies—known as ethopoeiae—featuring King David, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Peter. The Greek exercises presented here, translated into English for the first time, shed light on education under the Komnenian emperors and illuminate literary culture during one of the most important epochs in the long history of the Byzantine Empire."--

Series Statement

Dumbarton Oaks medieval library ; 43

Uniform Title

Dumbarton Oaks medieval library ; 43.

Alternative Title

Progymnasmata from twelfth-century Byzantium

Subject

• Nikēphoros, ho Vasilakēs, active 12th century
• Greek language > Composition and exercises > Early works to 1800
• Rhetoric, Ancient > Early works to 1800
• Greek language > Composition and exercises
• Rhetoric, Ancient
• Byzantine Empire > Intellectual life

Genre/Form

• Early works
• Bilingual books.
• Early works.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-388) and index.

Language (note)

• Greek text with English translation on facing pages; introduction in English.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Fables -- Narrations -- Maxims -- Refutation -- Confirmation -- Encomium -- Ethopoeiae.

ISBN

• 9780674660243
• 0674660242

LCCN

^^2016011699

OCLC

• 946788062
• SCSB-10983963

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library