Byzantine romance represents a revival of the ancient Greek romance of Roman times. Works in this category were written by Byzantine Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire during the 12th century.
Under the Comnenian dynasty, Byzantine writers of twelfth century Constantinople reintroduced the ancient Greek romance literature, imitating its form and time but somewhat Christianizing its content. Hence the Byzantine stories are traditional in their plot structure and setting (featuring complex turns of events taking place in the ancient Mediterranean, complete with the ancient gods and beliefs) but are also medieval, clearly belonging to the era of the Crusades as they reflect customs and beliefs of that time. A break of eight centuries exists between the last surviving romance work of late antiquity and the first of this medieval revival.[1]
Only four of these works exist today, just one of which is written in prose: Hysimine and Hysimines by Eustathios Makrembolites. Two are in the dodecasyllable metre: Rodanthe and Dosikles by Theodore Prodromos and Drosilla and Charikles by Niketas Eugenianos. And one is in "political verse," Arístandros and Kallithéa by Constantine Manasses, but exists only in fragments.
Of these four romances, one had been translated into English before the twenty-first century: Ismene and Ismenias, a Novel by L.H. Le Moine, (London and Paris: 1788).[2] Le Moine, however, had made his translation from the 1756 French translation, Les amours d'Ismene et d'Ismenias, of Pierre-François Godart de Beauchamps,[3] which had in turn been made from a Latin rather than a Greek text.
More recently, however, interest in these works by English readers has increased, resulting in new translations directly from the Greek.
A Byzantine Novel: Drosilla and Charikles by Niketas Eugenianos translated by Joan Burton (Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., 2004).[4]
Four Byzantine Novels translated by Elizabeth Jeffreys (Liverpool University Press, 2012), which includes Rhodanthe and Dosikles by Theodore Prodromos, Hysmine and Hysminias by Eumathios Makrembolites, Aristandros and Kallithea by Constantine Manasses, and Drosilla and Charikles by Niketas Eugenianos [5]
Later medieval romance works from around the fourteenth century continued this literary tradition. These are the anonymous
Belthandros and Chrysantza
Kallimachos and Chrysorrhoe
Lybistros and Rhodamne
available in English translation as Three Medieval Greek Romances: Velthandros and Chrysandza, Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, Livistros and Rodamni, translated by Gavin Betts, Garland Library of Medieval Literature, 98 (B), (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1995). One of them is available in French: M Pichard, Le roman de Callimaque et de Chrysorrhoé: Texte établi et traduit, (Paris: 1956).[6] Some of them are available in Italian : C Cupane Romanzi Cavallereschi Bizantini (Torino:1995)
[7]
Other medieval romance works include the anonymous:
The Tale of Achilles
The Tale of Troy: a Byzantine Iliad
^The Medieval Greek Romance by Roderick Beaton, 1996, 2nd Revision, a work describing in detail all four twelfth century Byzantine romances, as well as those of later centuries, including complete plot summaries.
^Macrembolites, Eustathius. Ismene and Ismenias (1788 ed.). OL 16899576M.
^Unknown. Les amours d'Ismene et d'Ismenias : Eustathius, Pierre -Franรงois Godart de Beauchamps. Retrieved 2021-04-28 – via Archive.org.
^Eugeneianos), Nikētas (ho; Eugenianus, Nicétas (2004). Drosilla and Charikles: A Byzantine Novel - Nikētas (ho Eugeneianos), Nicétas Eugenianus. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 9780865165366.
^Prodrome, Théodore; Manassēs, Kōnstantinos (2012). Four Byzantine Novels: Theodore Prodromos, Rhodanthe and Dosikles; Eumathios Makrembolites, Hysmine and Hysminias; Constantine Manasses, Aristandros and Kallithea; Niketas Eugenianos, Drosilla and Charikles, Jeffreys. ISBN 9781846318252. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03.
^"Byzantine Sources in Translation". Fordham.edu. 1996-01-26. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
^"Romanzi cavallereschi bizantini / a cura di Carolina Cupane". 1995. Retrieved 2021-04-28 – via Explore.bl.uk.
Byzantineromance represents a revival of the ancient Greek romance of Roman times. Works in this category were written by Byzantine Greeks of the Eastern...
Byzantine literature is the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders. It forms...
The Byzantine Empire, is a modern term referring to the Eastern Roman Empire, whose proper name was Romania, and was the continuation of the Roman Empire...
that emerged in the 12th-century Byzantine Empire. It is the lengthiest and most famous of the acritic songs; Byzantine folk poems celebrating the lives...
Byzantine Greek, Arabic, Persian, Armenian, Syriac, and Hebrew. Owing to the great variety of distinct works derived from the original Greek romance,...
Roman usurpers List of Byzantine usurpers Succession to the Byzantine Empire List of Roman and Byzantine empresses List of Byzantine emperors of Armenian...
including the Vandal Kingdom, the Byzantine-administered Exarchate of Africa and the Berber Mauro-Roman Kingdom. African Romance is poorly attested as it was...
illuminated: important examples include the Alexander Romance and the history of John Skylitzes. The Byzantines inherited the Early Christian distrust of monumental...
The Byzantine Greeks were the Greek-speaking Eastern Romans throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They were the main inhabitants of the lands...
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established...
For most of its history, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire did not use heraldry in the Western European sense of permanent motifs transmitted through...
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the Eastern...
Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of the Empire, but was essentially conservative. Popularly, Byzantine dress remained attached...
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of high medieval and early modern...
in English and most other languages since the Crusades, but original Byzantine sources called the substance a variety of names, such as "sea fire" (Medieval...
(2018). "Intercultural Encounters in the Late Byzantine Vernacular Romance". Reading the Late ByzantineRomance. pp. 40–68. doi:10.1017/9781108163767.003...
καὶ Χρυσάντζαν or Διήγησις ἐξαίρετος Βελθάνδρου τοῦ Ῥωμαίου) is a Byzantineromance written by an anonymous author in vernacular Greek. The work describes...
Byzantine cuisine was the continuation of local ancient Greek cuisine, ancient Roman cuisine and Mediterranean cuisine. Byzantine trading with foreigners...
on earth and of his kingdom as an imitation of God's holy realm. The Byzantine Empire was a multi-ethnic monarchic theocracy adopting, following, and...
(străromână), or Proto-Romanian (protoromână), is a comparatively reconstructed Romance language evolved from Vulgar Latin and spoken by the ancestors of today's...
The Byzantine Empire experienced cycles of growth and decay over the course of nearly a thousand years, including major losses during the early Muslim...
The Southern Romance languages are a primary branch of the Romance languages. According to the classification of linguists such as Leonard (1980) and...
Five ancient Greek novels or ancient Greek romances survive complete from antiquity: Chariton's Callirhoe (mid 1st century), Achilles Tatius' Leucippe...
Byzantine Italy was those parts of the Italian peninsula under the control of the Byzantine empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476). The...
The Byzantine Iconoclasm (Ancient Greek: Εἰκονομαχία, romanized: Eikonomachía, lit. 'image struggle', 'war on icons') were two periods in the history...
The Byzantine economy was among the most robust economies in the Mediterranean for many centuries. Constantinople was a prime hub in a trading network...
Byzantine law was essentially a continuation of Roman law with increased Orthodox Christian and Hellenistic influence. Most sources define Byzantine law...
Byzantinism, or Byzantism, is the political system and culture of the Byzantine Empire, and its spiritual successors the Orthodox Christian Balkan countries...