Epistolography forms an increasing field of interest in studies of Late Antique and Byzantine intellectual cultures. Letters add to the knowledge and understanding of social and educational history in the Latin- and Greek-speaking world. In addition to the primary function of communication, aesthetic components and the exchange of courtesies are the most important functions of letters. Since there exist only a few instruction manuals for letter writing, collections with sample and ideal letters form the basis of composing or imitating pleasant texts. That habit is often reflected in the arrangement and selection of letter pieces: Their quality of style and their connection to an authority supported the transmission. But letters show us more than rhetorical refinedness. Their authors, male or female, are able to act self-confidently presenting their ego and (potentially) crossing the border of conventions. By emphasizing the unity of Greek letter production from Late Antiquity to the 15th century and beyond, the RT will address the following questions: Why are letters preserved? Does the arrangement of letters in manuscripts tell us anything about their intention? How are letters and their collections connected to the learned community of a certain period? Do they create an authorial image or does a letter writer produce a confident self-image? Which traces of self-presentation can be found (also leaving the borders of epistolography)?
While research on ancient letters is increasing, one area remains under-explored: epistolary fiction. Collections of letters belonging to this literary genre are rarely studied (and rarely edited or translated), and their number is underestimated. This is due to an inadequate conceptual framework: too often, these letters are still considered “authentic” documents that can serve as…
The relationship between Maximus the Confessor and the Emperor Heraclius and his successors is a complicated one. Maximus is famous for his opposition to the imperially endorsed religious policies of monoenergism and monotheletism. His opposition to these policies led to his active participation in the Lateran Synod of 649 which condemned both positions as heresy…
Letters from Gaza in late antiquity are exceptionally rich: large collections of monastic letters from Barsanuphius and John, as well as the sizeable corpus of the sophist Procopius and the smaller collection of Aeneas of Gaza (see Watts, Westberg, and Hevelone-Harper in Sogno, Storin, and Watts 2017). The collections are closely connected to different educational…
This project offers a new approach to Greek epistolography by examining how literary letters were transmitted and arranged in manuscripts from antiquity to the late Byzantine period. Rather than focusing on historical content or prosopography, it explores the principles behind the compilation, organization, and purpose of letter collections. The study investigates how letters, originally tools…
As we draw near the centenary of Ioannes Sykoutris’ paeans to Byzantine epistolography’s neglected lyricism, and following more than three decades of diligently “redeeming Byzantine epistolography,” we seem no closer to a convincing account of Byzantine epistolary culture. The accumulation of insights afforded by recent scholarship remain disparate in focus, incommensurate in evidence, and divergent…
A rare epistolary exchange between a female teacher and a male disciple of philosophy is that between Synesius, reluctant bishop of Ptolemais (c. 410-c. 414) and his former teacher, the mathematician and philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria. There are no extant replies from Hypatia or any other letters by her, except for one forgery found in…
I am currently completing a translation of the collection of 50 letters by Nikephoros Ouranos, who was an important associate of emperor Basil II. I agree with Darrouzès that the letters are not the place to go for full-dress biography, but ‘ils suffisent pour nous dévoiler le cœur noble et l’espirit cultivé de Nicéphore Ouranos’…