Preserving, Commenting, Adapting: Commentaries on Ancient Texts in Twelfth-Century Byzantium, University of Silesia, Centre for Studies on Byzantine Literature and Reception, Katowice, October 20–22, 2017
This workshop aims to explore the ways in which the Byzantines used—preserved, commented, adapted—ancient literature. Questions that be addressed include: What (contemporary) questions of meaning do Byzantine commentators seek to answer? What is their hermeneutic and/or didactic programme? How do commentators perceive their own role in preserving or defending the authority of the ancient text? What function do these commentaries fulfill within their intellectual and socio-cultural context? What is the relationship between commentaries on ancient texts and the transtextual use of ancient texts in Byzantine literary practice?