After the Text by Liz James;Oliver Nicholson;Roger Scott;

Author:Liz James;Oliver Nicholson;Roger Scott;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Unlimited)
Published: 2021-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Karl Schenkl has, however, noted the similarity between Basilakes’ version and that from the gnomological collection from Marc. gr. 507.16 Schenkl has speculated that Basilakes might have used this very manuscript but this remains a matter of conjecture. What is, however, even more interesting, is that Basilakes chose a line that is part of the gnomological collection. In fact the material for the previous exercise, line 522 from the Ajax (χάρις χάριν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τίκτουσ’ ἀεί), is also to be found in the same manuscript.17 This raises an interesting but perhaps unanswerable question – to what extent did the Byzantines in the 12th century rely more on the gnomologia and the summaries of the plays rather than on the complete works? John Tzetzes, Basilakes’ contemporary, explains the origins of a well-known saying, ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα τε καὶ πύλας ἀφεὶς σκότου, by summarizing Hekabe’s beginning (Histories,10.14), as the phrase is the opening line of the play. Before quoting the line from the Hekabe, he addsοὕτω κατ’ ἔπος λέγει δε διὰ τοῦ Εὐριπίδου (“In this manner, word by word, he speaks owing to Euripides”). Perhaps this does not disprove Hekabe’s popularity but it is somewhat surprising that Tzetzes chose to discuss a very famous quotation from the first play that Byzantine students were supposed to read. What would be the point of doing so if this was the most popular Euripidean drama, which presumably constituted “a first step in the school curriculum”?18 Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle – the number of those familiar with the entire plays was much lower than those who knew, or were taught, only fragments.

Be that as it may, there are other indications, scattered throughout various texts mostly of didactic character, which seem to suggest that in the 11th and 12th centuries popularity, and perhaps most importantly usefulness,19 of Euripides was matched, if not even surpassed, by that of Sophocles.

Nigel Wilson has drawn the attention to the letter of John Mauropous addressed to an anonymous schoolboy.20 The letter opens with the following question:

Ποταπὸς ἡμῖν ἄρα καὶ τίς ὁ γραμματικός; πότερον Σοφόκλειος ἢ Ἀριστοφάνειος ἤδη; (ep. 74 ed. Karpozilos)

What sort of grammarian do we now have among us, and of what style? Is he Sophoclean? Or by now Aristophanic? (transl. N.Wilson)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.