TeTra | Ugo Mondini "The Poet John Mauropous: Poetry and literature in eleventh-century Byzantium"

TeTra Research Seminar | November 16th
Ugo Mondini (University of Oxford)
"The Poet John Mauropous: Reflections on poetry and literature in eleventh-century Byzantium"
Epistles, speeches, poems, hymns. John Mauropous, one of the most prominent Greek authors of the eleventh century, covered every major form of Byzantine production. Therefore, he is a perfect case study for deeper considerations of Byzantine literature. This talk focuses on Mauropous’ poetry. As happens also to another eleventh-century author, Christophoros Mitylenaios, Mauropous’ poetic works are traditionally categorised into two distinct macro-groups: ‘secular’ and ‘ecclesiastical’. This binary distinction has deep roots in Byzantine Studies as a discipline, in the role attributed to secular and non-secular literature - whatever it means in medieval Greek production. Consequently, Mauropous’ secular poetry, for instance, enjoys extensive scholarly attention, while his hymns remain understudied despite some praiseworthy scholarly contributions which stand as exceptions. This imbalance can be observed in any other case similar to Mauropous. Drawing from my ongoing research on Mauropous and other Byzantine authors and focusing on language and literary forms, I aim to share insights that, I hope, may prompt a broader re-evaluation of hymnography within Byzantine poetry.
www.researchgate.net/profile/Ugo-Mondini-2