Maria Tomadaki

This paper offers an editio princeps, an English translation and a commentary of an interesting epigram on Porphyry, the commentator of Aristotle. The epigram was transcribed in Vat. Reg. 166 by Ioannes Malaxos (16th c.) and is ascribed to Petros Servilos, a poet unknown from other sources. The paper discusses the poem’s manuscript context, as well as its authorship, genre, content and function. Further, it attempts to shed light on the poem’s relation to Porphyry’s philosophy and his reception in Byzantine poetry.

John Tzetzes’ Theogony is a long didactic poem in political verses, which is dedicated to Sevastokratorissa Eirene and narrates genealogies of mythological Gods and heroes. This poem is an important witness of the classical learning in the 12th-century Byzantium and can be considered as a creative paraphrase of Hesiod’s Theogony. Although Tzetzes’s narration is based on Hesiod, he also uses a lot of quotations and mythological material from several other ancient authors (e.g. Homer, Aeschylus, Lycophron), in order to demonstrate his knowledge and present himself as an authority of the subject. My analysis will address, among others, the following questions: How closely does Tzetzes follow the Hesiodic narration and how does he reformulate it? What quotations and motifs from other ancient authors can be found in the Theogony and how do they function? Which are the didactic and exegetical aspects of the text? How the Theogony relates to the broader ideology and socio-cultural developments of the Komnenian period? By answering these questions, I will attempt to shed light on Tzetzes’ attitude towards the ancient authors, as well as to situate the Theogony in his broad activity as a professional poet and commentator of ancient texts.