Vitriolic Attacks in Twelfth-Century Byzantium: Poetry, Satirical Strands, and Intellectual Antagonism
5 February 17:00
Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, 66 St Giles’
Professor Nikos Zagklas, Assistant Professor of Byzantine Literature at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Vienna.
Byzantine works are not always flattering and pleasant to the ears of an addressee. They can abound with abusive and vitriolic assaults. This holds especially true for works written in verse. The lecture discusses some of the trends that emerge in satirical poetry written in the twelfth century as well as some of the models the poets use for the composition of their works.
Professor Zagklas is a scholar of Byzantine literary culture, with a particular interest in poetry and didactic literature. He has recently co-edited two volumes “Middle and Late Byzantine Poetry: Texts and Contexts” (Brepols 2018) and “Companion to Byzantine Poetry” (Brill 2019). He is currently working on a new edition of a group of poems by Theodore Prodromos.
