Excerpta Historica Constantiniana: An Encyclopaedia from Tenth-Century Byzantium?
Abstract When approaching Byzantine-Greek texts that organize knowledge in one way or another, Byzantinists encounter similar issues to those facing Arabists working on pre-modern Arabic literature. In this article, I discuss two of these more specifically: (1) The layout of the medieval manuscripts...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2020
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| In: |
Journal of Abbasid Studies
Year: 2020, Volume: 7, Issue: 2, Pages: 243-263 |
| Further subjects: | B
Macedonian Renaissance
B Byzantine encyclopaedism B navigation tools B manuscript layout B hierarchical structure of a text |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Abstract When approaching Byzantine-Greek texts that organize knowledge in one way or another, Byzantinists encounter similar issues to those facing Arabists working on pre-modern Arabic literature. In this article, I discuss two of these more specifically: (1) The layout of the medieval manuscripts has been hitherto systematically neglected, although many manuscripts contain chapter headings, lists of contents and other features that provide “reading aids” or “finding devices” and thus offer clues as to how the text they contain were conceived and designed to be read; and (2) The term “encyclopaedia” has been used in too vague a fashion with regard to Byzantine works of the tenth to twelfth centuries CE and has to be reconsidered. This article discusses both issues with reference to the example of the Excerpta historica Constantiniana (henceforth, Excerpta ), apparently a reference work, written in Ancient Greek in Constantinople in the tenth century CE . The goal is to make a description of the Excerpta available to Arabists, laying the ground for future study of the two traditions in comparative perspective. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-2371 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Abbasid Studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22142371-12340055 |