Rewriting, defined as “the inter- and intralingual reworking of a previous text” (Constantinou 2021), is a defining element of Byzantine literary culture and has attracted scholarly attention since the beginning of Byzantine studies. Over time, scholars have approached the practice of rewriting, known to the Byzantines as ‘metaphrazein’, through various perspectives, developing nuanced typologies of Byzantine rewriting strategies (Signes Codoñer 2014, Constantinou 2021) and revealing its pervasive role across the history of Byzantine literature and textual forms (Alwis, Hinterberger, Schiffer 2021). Yet, tracking changes between source and output texts does not serve only technical purposes. Beyond revealing the rationale behind the metaphrastic process, shifts in register, style, and textual form open a window onto the cultural dimension of rewriting, namely, how the source text was adapted to respond to different and evolving cultural needs. This cultural dimension of rewriting becomes evident whenever texts cross interlingual (when foreign sources are rendered into Greek, or Greek texts are translated into other languages) or intralingual borders (when Medieval texts are vernacularised into Early Modern Greek after Byzantium). Our group proposal, developed by pre- and post-doctoral researchers, aims to investigate the cultural dimension of rewriting across (Byzantine) Greek and its neighbouring cultures. Through case studies spanning Late Antiquity to the Early Modern period, our panel explores how rewriting operates not only as a textual practice but also as a mode of cultural negotiation. Discussed topics include the transformation of theological discourse and hagiographies through translation, the narratological reshaping of liturgical poetry, and the recasting of epic verse into Vernacular narrative prose. Together, our papers illuminate how rewriting, through multiple ways, serves as a means of adapting texts to new audiences, contexts, and cultural climates. The panel thus foregrounds the role of rewriting in moving texts “beyond” the Byzantine context, across linguistic and temporal borders.
This paper explores how biblical texts were creatively engaged in the service of storytelling in Late Antiquity. To this end, it offers two case studies: a kontakion by Romanos the Melodist (c. 485–560 CE) and a mimro by Jacob of Serugh (451–521 CE), both centered on the Annunciation. By considering not only the biblical narratives…
Gregory the Great’s Dialogues (590–604), a four-book collection of stories on the lives and miracles of holy men known to the author during his experience as deacon, monk, and pope, constitute a key work for understanding the dynamics of Late Antique spirituality. Although rooted in Western tradition, the text draws extensively on Eastern hagiographical models,…
Rewriting, which involves formal, stylistic, narrative, and quantitative transformations of a previous text (Constantinou 2021), plays a significant role in the Church Slavonic literary system, rooted in Byzantine literature (Bogdanović 1980). Old Serbian literature, meant here as a branch of the Church Slavonic literature (Picchio 1991), offers clear examples of rewriting, as the Athonite hieromonk…
In the fourteenth century, Manuel Kalekas translated Cur Deus homo, Saint Anselm’s influential treatise on the necessity of Christ’s incarnation for human salvation. This translation forms part of the broader movement of the so-called Latinophrones: Byzantine scholars devoted to the study of Latin and Catholic theology. Within this context, an extensive corpus of Latin theological…
Among the six versions of the Digenis Akritis poem, the Andros-Thessaloniki version offers fascinating insights into the practices of rewriting and vernacularisation of Byzantine texts during the Early Modern period. This version, transmitted in a 17th-century manuscript, is the only one in prose and belongs to the Z-family, the late branch of the poem’s tradition….