This volume, the first ever of its kind in English, introduces and surveys Greek literature in Byzantium (330 - 1453 CE). In twenty-five chapters composed by leading specialists, The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Literature surveys the immense body of Greek literature produced from the fourth to the fifteenth century CE and advances a nuanced understanding of what "literature" was in Byzantium. This volume is structured in four sections. The first, "Materials, Norms, Codes," presents basic structures for understanding the history of Byzantine literature like language, manuscript book culture, theories of literature, and systems of textual memory. The second, "Forms," deals with the how Byzantine literature works: oral discourse and "text"; storytelling; rhetoric; re-writing; verse; and song. The third section ("Agents") focuses on the creators of Byzantine literature, both its producers and its recipients. The final section, entitled "Translation, Transmission, Edition," surveys the three main ways by which we access Byzantine Greek literature today: translations into other Byzantine languages during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts; and modern printed editions. The volume concludes with an essay that offers a view of the recent past--as well as the likely future--of Byzantine literary studies.

Stratis Papaioannou is Professor of Byzantine Philology at the University of Crete. His previous publications include Michael Psellos: Rhetoric and Authorship in Byzantium and, as editor and translator, Christian Novels from the Menologion of Symeon Metaphrastes.

List of Contributors Acknowledgments Abbreviations List of Figures 1) What is Byzantine Literature? An Introduction Stratis Papaioannou I. Materials, Norms, Codes 2) Language Martin Hinterberger 3) Book Culture Filippo Ronconi and Stratis Papaioannou 4) Theory of Literature Stratis Papaioannou 5) Biblical Hermeneutics Fr. Maximos Constas 6) Memory: Selection, Citation, Commonplace Charis Messis and Stratis Papaioannou 7) The Reception of Classical Literature and Ancient Myth Anthony Kaldellis 8) Translations I: From Other Languages into Greek I. Latin Réka Forrai II. Syriac Pablo Ubierna III. Arabic Charis Messis and Stratis Papaioannou IV. Georgian Nikoloz Aleksidze V. Neo-Latin Languages Carolina Cupane II. Forms 9) Orality and Textuality (With an Appendix on the Byzantine Conceptions) Charis Messis and Stratis Papaioannou 10) Narrative: Theory and Practice Ingela Nilsson 11) Rhetorical Practice Alexander Riehle 12) Rhetorical Figures Vessela Valiavitcharska 13) A Rhetorical Genre(?): The Invective (9th - 15th c.) Ioannis Polemis 14) Rewriting Stephanos Efthymiadis 15) Poetry? Floris Bernard and Kristoffel Demoen 16) Inscriptions Ivan Drpi? 17) Metrics and Prose Rhythm Wolfram Hörandner and Andreas Rhoby 18) Sacred Song Stratis Papaioannou 19) Recitation and Chant: Types of Notation, Modes of Expression Sandra Martani III. Agents 20) Authors (With an Excursus on Symeon Metaphrastes) Stratis Papaioannou 21) Readers and their Pleasures Stratis Papaioannou IV. Translation, Transmission, Edition 22) Translations II: Greek Texts into Other Languages (4th - 15th c.) I. Latin Réka Forrai II. Coptic Arietta Papaconstantinou III. Syriac Pablo Ubierna IV. Armenian Theo Maarten van Lint V. Georgian Nikoloz Aleksidze VI. Arabic Alexander Treiger VII. Slavic Sergey Ivanov and Anatolii Turilov 23) Modes of Manuscript Transmission (9th - 15th c.) Inmaculada Pérez Martín 24) Textual Criticism Caroline Macé Postscript 25) Thoughts on the Recent Past and the Future of Byzantine Literary Studies Margaret Mullett Glossary of Rhetorical Figures [Vessela Valiavitcharska] Index of Personal Names and Titles of Anonymous Texts