BYZANTIUM AFTER BYZANTIUM

MULTILATERAL PROJECT (2008-2010)

Realized with financial support of

“LLP Comenius Multilateral Programme"

“Virgil Madgearu” High School (coordinator) Iasi, Romania

“Stenio” High School (partner) Termini Imerese, Italy

“Fevzi Cakmak” High School (partner) Adiyaman, Turkey

The byzantine influence in the Italian literature

Historians date the beginning of the Byzantine literature to the Kingdom of Constantine the Great and the end of it to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. However, the Byzantine cultural tradition did not come to an end in 1453, but it influenced all the Western culture.

The early period, known as Proto-Byzantine ( 4th – 7th centuries ), is linked to the models of the Greek pagan literature but it also includes elements of the Christian culture. Of this period let us mention Romanos the Melodist, poet, composer and theologian who transformed theology into poetry. He was one of the main authors of liturgical hymns and in his kontakions he used the simple Greek language, close to the language of the people.

Procopius of Caesarea, Palestine, the founder of Byzantine historiography, belongs to this period, too. His works are an indispensable source for his period and contain much geographical information.

The second period goes from half 7th century to the first half of the 9th century. It was a period of decay and lowering of the cultural standard. St. John of Damascus

( Damascene), theologian and poet, was the main figure and started a new genre of ecclesiastical poetry

( canons).

The third period covers about three centuries and half, from the restoration of Orthodoxy (843) to the Latin conquest of Constantinople

( 1204).It is the richest and most fruitful period of the Byzantine culture and the most important manuscripts, written by the old authors and then copied and handed down to posterity, date back to this period. In the second half of the 9th century Photius, patriarch of Constantinople and leading figure of the 9th-century Byzantine renascence, composed his “Myriobiblon” or “Bibliotheca”, by which he handed down to us precious fragments of old Greek authors.

Under the Comneni and Angelus dynasties the literary output continued to be lively. Of this period let us mention the philologist ,didactic poet and scholar John Tzetzes who preserved much valuable information from the ancient Greek literature and revised the legends of the Trojan cycle in his “Carmina Iliaca”.

The fourth period includes the decline of the Lascaris family from Nicaea and the Palaeologi from Constantinople. Of this period let us mention John Cantacuzenus, whose autobiography is a valuable source for the history of the period from 1320 to 1357, and the letters written by Manuel Palaeologus.

After the fall of Constantinople some Byzantine scholars moved to the West and influenced the Western culture but they also studied the Latin literature. Maximus Planudes was the first Byzantine learned man who translated into Greek a lot of classical works and publicized them throughout the Greek Byzantine cultural world. But the Byzantine literature had permeated the Italian culture since the first centuries of the Middle Ages.

Monasteries had been centres of culture where amanuenses copied old classical texts and decorated them with coloured illuminations. Amanuenses decorated the initial letter of each chapter or of each page with gildings or with bright colours such as red, green and sky-blue; they inserted in the text small depictions of angels, saints and scenes of daily life. The margins of each page were often adorned with garlands of flowers or leaves and sometimes small animals, such as bees, beetles, dragonflies and butterflies, were painted (depicted) in the middle of the edges adorned with flowers. When the pages were over, monks bound them and embellished the volume with clips, wrought silver, ivory boards and gold leaves. Among the main literary manuscripts let us mention two copies of Virgil’s works in the Vatican Library in Rome, a version of Homer’s Iliad in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, a Gospel book by Rossano that, in the 6th century,was transcribed into purple-painted parchment after the Byzantine fashion and known as “Codex purpureus”.

The byzantine influence in the manuscripts

The Byzantine culture in Southern Italy continued to spread, even after the Norman conquest. In fact, the Normans built new monasteries which became important centres of culture. Some manuscripts containing texts by Aristotle and other old authors have been found in St. Nicola’s Abbey in Casole. The abbey was the centre of a literary movement which had Emperor Frederick II as a patron.

During Humanism Italy stood out for the production of refined works, linked to the courts of the various regions; let us mention the Estensi in Ferrara for whom many masterpieces were composed such as the “ Bible” of Duke Borso with the illuminations of Taddeo Crivelli or the “Breviario Erculeo” by Matteo from Milan, Tommaso from Modena and Cesare delle Vieze.

The byzantine influence in the humanistic literary production

In the second half of the 16th century illumination lost importance but the Greek texts were printed and spread all over Europe. In Italy, however, the study of Greek was already widespread in the 14th century, when Manuele Crisolora got the chair of Greek at the Studio in Florence. But it was after the fall of Constantinople that many Byzantine cultured men came to Italy. Among them there were Cardinal Bessarion, Giovanni Argiropulo, Giorgio Gemisto Pletone. The contact with the classical Greek culture was very important for our Humanists as it permitted a direct reading of Plato’s and Aristotle’s works from which Renaissance philosophers drew their inspiration.

The main centres of Humanistic and Renaissance culture in Italy were Florence, Rome and Naples. In Florence the Medicis promoted the cultural development, under the influence of the Greek humanistic philosopher Giorgio Gemisto Pletone. Cosimo of the Medici family gave Marsilio Ficino the task of translating from Greek all Plato’s works. Ficino’s work was very important as it contributed not only to the diffusion but also to the discussion of Plato’s works and to a comparison with Aristotle’s ones, in the attempt to reconcile the two philosophies.

Ficino’s Platonism helped in spreading the idea of Beauty as Light or Splendour, Emanation of the Supreme Being. In the same way the Humanistic and Renaissance poetry was inspired by the ideal of Platonic love and poetic fervour as part of cosmic eros that leads man to peace which is identified with Beauty and Supreme Good. Classicism represented a world of serene and balanced vital joy. In the works of this period the feeling of the world’s beauty, the trust in life, in nature and in man prevail.

Classicism was the leit-motif of Italian literary taste until the 19th century. In the 15th century the spread of philology was a decisive factor. Latin and Greek texts, in fact, had reached Humanists uncorrect for the defective interpretations that the Middle-Age copyists had made. Philology helped in the reconstruction of the original form of literary texts through the critical and comparative analysis of the sources. One of the main representatives of Florentine humanistic culture was Angelo Ambrogini called Poliziano who had Argiropulo among his masters.

He was supporter of Latin and Greek classical culture and in his works he left the image of a refined world, far from the cares of everyday life, entirely aimed at reaching balance and perfection. He translated many works from Greek to Latin and interpreted Aristotle’s texts correctly. These studies put him away from Ficino’s idealizing Platonism.

Poliziano accepted the Aristotelian conception of poetry imitating nature and provided with cognitive value. These ideas are evident in Sylvae but they inspired above all his philological researches. In the reflection on poetry it was essential the rediscovery of Aristotle’s Poetics, from which Humanists got some rules that they applied to the different literary genres. These rules were followed until the 19th century but continued to affect all the Italian literary output of the following decades.