School education in grammar and rhetoric was the backbone of formal writing in the Middle Ages. Both Greek and Syriac textual production were profoundly shaped by the late antique Greco-Roman tradition. In Byzantium, late antique technical texts formed the basis of the school curriculum, whereas Syriac Christians employed parts of the Greco-Roman paideia system to shape their teaching model, alongside translations of Greek philosophical and scientifical texts and some orations. Conversely, “inherently Syriac” grammatical and rhetorical manuals were produced in the medieval period, while the Byzantines updated their heritage mainly through commentaries and scholia. These ‘originally medieval’ contributions to the theory of grammar and rhetoric remain understudied. This round table aims to elucidate how this common Greco-Roman heritage was appropriated and tailored to the needs of medieval Greek and Syriac audiences. Greek was the dominant language in the Byzantine Empire and influenced Syriac from its early history (2nd c.) and later, when Syrian and Mesopotamian regions belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. Later, Syriac flourished as a literary and liturgical language and a means of identity under changing regimes but was always the voice of minorities, ruled by Greek and Persian-speaking authorities first and later by Arabic-speaking dynasties. This session springs from the following questions: is it possible to spot common threads and attitudes towards late antique rhetorical and grammatical teaching in both traditions? How did these teachings influence their medieval counterparts? Are there parallels between the Byzantine and Syriac traditions during the selected timeframe?
This communication focuses on the examples that are found in ancient Syriac grammars, from the 6th to the 11th century. It will attempt to sketch an outline of their provenance, of their connection to other branches of language sciences (especially logic and rhetoric) and of their evolution in time, from the first adaptation to Syriac…
According to the written sources available to us, knowledge of rhetorical devices and rules was common among intellectuals from the early days of the Syriac Christian history, as beautifully exemplified by the works of Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) or Jacob of Serugh (ca. 451-521). And yet, a testimony of the emergence of a proper,…
The renewal of bonds with the past – especially with the most recent one – and the effort to preserve and continue tradition, both on political and cultural level, constitute a key tendency of the early Palaiologan period, particularly in the decades immediately after the recapture of Constantinople in 1261. This tendency is evident, among…
Mimēsis, as a rhetorical and literary concept, has enjoyed a long presence in rhetorical treatises, but has also seen shifts in meaning. In its archaic sense, mimēsis represents an “enactment,” by a choral leader, of a divinity in a given role; in archaic poetry, it was used to mean a rhapsode impersonating the composer-poet as…
Within the Hexameral literature, Basil of Caesarea takes a position of honor. His work was profoundly influential both in Greek and Syriac literature, as it was also translated into this language, the same language in which Emmanuel bar Shahhare wrote his commentary to the Hexaemeron in the Upper Monastery of Mosul in the tenth century….
The Byzantines drew upon a rich corpus of rhetorical theory—most notably the Corpus Hermogenianum—which provided them with both methodological guidance and conceptual frameworks for effective literary composition. Rhetoric thus formed the backbone of Byzantine literature and permeated nearly every aspect of textual production. Consequently, Byzantine authors frequently employed rhetorical terminology when engaging in literary criticism…