Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,608
- 910
What can an epic poem from the the 12th century tells us about love and marriage in the Byzantine world?
The epic romance of Digenes Akritas is, perhaps, the most famous of the acritic songs by which term we mean the epic poems-songs that emerged in the Anatolian provinces of the Byzantine Empire around or after the 9th century. These poems-songs celebrated the exploits of the akritai, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire from the Muslim incursions. The epic poem of Digenes Akritas derives its material, primarily, from oral sources and was compiled, most likely, around the 12th century, but it is based on earlier material that reflects the socio-political reality in the Byzantine-Arab borders in the 10th century.
The poem falls into two parts, the ‘Lay of the Emir’ and the ‘Digeneid’. The first, which is epic in tone, is set in the Cappadocian frontier before the imperial expansion of the mid-10th century under the celebrated Byzantine generals John Curcuas and – the later emperor – Nicephorus Phocas had begun. Here, there is a vivid narrative of the bloody Byzantine-Arab wars, as the compiler preserves and exalts the memory of a frontier society that was vital to the empire’s existence for four hundred years, maintaining the defence against the Byzantines’ chief ideological enemy.
Love, marriage and abduction in Byzantium: the epic romance of Digenes Akritas - Medievalists.net
This is a bit lengthy but interesting and you can read the poem for free here:
Digenes Akrites : John Mavrogordato, translator : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
The epic romance of Digenes Akritas is, perhaps, the most famous of the acritic songs by which term we mean the epic poems-songs that emerged in the Anatolian provinces of the Byzantine Empire around or after the 9th century. These poems-songs celebrated the exploits of the akritai, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire from the Muslim incursions. The epic poem of Digenes Akritas derives its material, primarily, from oral sources and was compiled, most likely, around the 12th century, but it is based on earlier material that reflects the socio-political reality in the Byzantine-Arab borders in the 10th century.
The poem falls into two parts, the ‘Lay of the Emir’ and the ‘Digeneid’. The first, which is epic in tone, is set in the Cappadocian frontier before the imperial expansion of the mid-10th century under the celebrated Byzantine generals John Curcuas and – the later emperor – Nicephorus Phocas had begun. Here, there is a vivid narrative of the bloody Byzantine-Arab wars, as the compiler preserves and exalts the memory of a frontier society that was vital to the empire’s existence for four hundred years, maintaining the defence against the Byzantines’ chief ideological enemy.
Love, marriage and abduction in Byzantium: the epic romance of Digenes Akritas - Medievalists.net
This is a bit lengthy but interesting and you can read the poem for free here:
Digenes Akrites : John Mavrogordato, translator : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
