The Afterlife of Some Late Byzantine Anti-Islamic Polemics: Copyists, Readers and Book-Collectors

The “Dialogue on the Faith of the Monk Euthymios with a Saracen Philosopher” and the “Confutatio Agareni” attributed to a certain Bartholomew of Edessa are among the few known examples of Byzantine anti-Islamic polemical controversies likely produced in the 12th century. Beyond their content and the insights they may offer into Byzantine knowledge of contemporary Islamic theology and Muslim popular beliefs, their textual history and reception are of particular interest and raise challenging questions. These texts appear indeed to have circulated across the Near East and Byzantine territories between the 13th and the 15th centuries, undergoing a transformative reception already at an early stage of their transmission. As pseudo-epigraphic works or texts of uncertain attribution, they were early subjected to rephrasing, rewriting and selective transmission, so much so that the notion of ‘distributive authorship’ may aptly describe their formation. Thus, their textual (re)arrangement and inclusion in miscellaneous codices reflect the evolving needs and interests of copyists and readers in shifting geographical, historical, and social contexts. In later centuries, the circulation of these polemical texts in the post-Byzantine world and beyond – reaching as far as Russia and Western Europe – further led to reshaping their meanings and functions for new audiences, ensuring their continued transmission and adaptation. This paper will trace the trajectories of these writings from their initial dissemination to their later manuscript transmission. By examining the structure and history of selected manuscripts, it will explore the role of copyists, readers, and collectors in shaping their reception and afterlife across time and space.