One must remember that the terms Byzantine and Byzantium are not entirely descriptive of what existed in southeastern Europe and western Asia during the first and second millennia c. e. (Although these terms are misnomers, they are commonly accepted.) This area was actually the continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It still considered itself to be of the Roman Empire, inhabited by Romans, and controlled by the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople (the city was founded on the site of the Greek colony of Byzantion, hence its original name, Byzantium). Even the newly established
Germanic kingdoms of western Europe recognized the authority of the Roman emperor in Constantinople until the coronation of Charlemagne as emperor in 800 c. e. (the Germans apparently were not willing to recognize the suzerainty of the Byzantine empress Irene). So although Greek studies did go into decline in the West after the fall of Rome in 476 c. e., the classical culture persevered in the East, with a particular emphasis on Hellenism. By the sixth century c. e., Greek had replaced Latin as the primary language of this vestigial Roman Empire.
It was only during the Iconoclasm Controversy (eighth to ninth centuries c. e.) that there was a minor dark age in classical studies: During this time, intellectual focus shifted from the literature of the past to theological debates about the use of icons in Christian ritual and devotion (Neoplatonic philosophy did ultimately aid the cause of the iconophiles). Nevertheless, while the Byzantine "Romans" debated their religious beliefs, Asian scholars worked assiduously at translating the Greek and Roman classics into Syriac, Armenian, and Arabic. Many medical and scientific texts were so translated, leading to their eventual circulation in the Muslim empires and reintroduction into western Europe by way of Sicily and Spain (see below).
The Iconoclasm Controversy came to an end in 843 c. e., ushering in a minor renaissance in classical studies in the leftover Rome/Byzantium. At the vanguard of this renaissance was Leo the Mathematician (c. 790-869), who was a high church official of Thessalonica (northern Greece) until the end of the icon-oclasm issue and then was head of the philosophy department at the University of Magnaura. Here he taught and edited the works of Plato as well as studying Aristotle, Epicurus, Euclid, Ptolemy, Homer, and Hesiod (Karlin-Hayter 2000b, 944).
The most famous classical scholars of this time were Photius (810-893), a civil servant and, eventually, Byzantine patriarch, and Arethas (860-935), archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (modern Turkey). Photius is most famous for his Lexicon, which provides both definitions and commentary on the Greek language, and for his Bibliotheka (Library), which is one of our earliest and most extensive commentaries on ancient Greek literature, consisting of 280 chapters of commentary about 386 books (Littlewood 2000, 1314). Although Photius was a brilliant scholar, Arethas was most famous as a book collector. Within his personal library were annotated versions of works by Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Marcus Aurelius, Pausanias, Pindar, Aelius Aristides, and Lucian (the last two were Roman-age authors who wrote in Attic style), among others (Karlin-Hayter 2000a, 150).
Two practical inventions aided this ninth-century renaissance. The first was paper, a new medium for writing that the Byzantines learned from the Arabs (who, in turn, had learned about it from the Chinese). Being much less costly to produce and prepare than animal-skin-based parchment and vellum, paper greatly reduced the cost of publications. The second development was a new style of writing known as miniscule, which used the existing letters written smaller but also included new characters. This miniscule text replaced the much larger uncial scripts of the Roman period, which was used for both
Greek and Latin. The small script not only allowed more text to fit on any given page, it also prompted the Byzantine scribes to "translate" as many of the classical texts as possible into the new hand. Many of our surviving manuscripts of classical Greek texts derive from the great "translating" effort of the ninth century (Wilson 1983, 63-68).
One of the most important aids in the study of ancient Greece was created in the tenth century, probably during the reign of John Tzimisces (969-976 c. e.). This was the Suda, an encyclopedia of classical knowledge, texts, and scholia (commentaries on the classical texts). This work provides biographical information, textual criticism, and many sources and fragments whose original texts are now lost from the classical repertoire (Reynolds and Wilson 1991, 66).
The eleventh and twelfth centuries saw important strides in the field of ancient Greek philosophy, particularly under the auspices of Michael Psellus (1018-1078) and Anna Komnena (1083-1153). The former was director of the school of philosophy at the university in Constantinople. Although much of Psellus's scholarship was directed toward Christian themes, he was also particularly interested in the ancient Greek novel, and his work dealt with commentaries on such authors as Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius. Most importantly, his energetic teaching at the university led to a renewed interest in Plato and Aristotle. This interest was taken up by Anna Komnena, daughter of the emperor Alexius I and patron of the scholars Eustratius of Nicaea and Michael of Ephesus. Although Anna wrote the history of her father's reign (Alexius I, 1081-1118), a work that itself is replete with classical references and allusions, Eustratius and Michael wrote commentaries on Aristotle's work. It is significant that they not only focused on Aristotle's works in the humanities, but on his scientific treatises as well (Reynolds and Wilson 1991, 69).
It is commonly assumed that all classical learning was "lost" during the Dark Ages, only to be rediscovered when Crusaders coming home from the "Orient" brought back with them the great works of the classical authors— presumably as wrapping paper for the loot and booty brought back as gifts for their loved ones back home. Very little could be further from the truth. Although it is true that Greek studies were in severe decline in the West during this period (see below), it was actually the arrival of Crusaders from the West that devastated the study of classical texts in the East: In 1204, the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade, apparently deciding that the Holy Land was too far away for their efforts, decided instead simply to attack the Byzantine Empire. The year 1204 marks the greatest single devastation of Greece since the fall of the Bronze Age more than 2,000 years previously (see chapter 4). Great works of art were looted (usually finding their way to Venice), and many classical texts were destroyed and lost forever. From this date until 1261, Constantinople was under the rule of the Latin West, with only a small Byzantine aristocracy holding out in Nicaea. During this period, there were virtually no classical studies in the East.
Once the Byzantines regained power (c. 1261), there was a new, if final, surge in the study of ancient Greece, led by the two great scholars of the day— Maximus Planudes (1255-1305) of Constantinople and Demetrius Triclinius (1280-1340) of Thessalonica. The former was active in every possible branch of Greek studies, from grammar to the collation of literary texts (he is responsible for the preservation of many plays by Euripides) to the emendation of mathematical and astronomical texts. He is perhaps most unusual in the field of classics for his efforts in translating Latin texts into Greek (usually, as we shall see, translations went the other way around). His collection and comparison of many texts provided materials for the classical scholars of the Renaissance in the West (Fisher 2000, 1330-1331).
Triclinius's greatest achievement was the reconstruction of Greek poetic meter, which accompanied his vast study of ancient Greek lyric poetry, especially that of Pindar. He then studied great works in Greek drama, in terms of both meter and overall literary criticism (Nesselrath 2000, 1672). Both he and Planudes are considered to be the last great Byzantine scholars of any note, and the works of Triclinius are still considered relevant to the study of ancient poetry.
World History
