Social and Ritual Function(s) of the Byzantine Epigrams on Works of Art: A Case Study from the Twelfth Century, lecture by Foteini Spingou (Princeton University), Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University, April 7, 2015,  at 4:30pm

Respondent:  Michael Koortbojian, Art and Archaeology

The vicissitudes of the Byzantine Empire allowed only a small fraction of the artistic production to survive. Medieval texts are inexhaustible sources of information on the existence and function of objects. Epigrams on works of art in particular were directly connected to objects either as verse inscriptions or texts accompanying their presentation to an earthly or divine high power. This paper explores questions of social aggrandizement and private devotion in the twelfth-century Constantinople. It takes impetus from the gifts of one family (father, mother, and their deceased son) to the monastery of St John the Baptist by the River Jordan to discuss broader questions regarding the function of Byzantine dedicatory epigrams. It suggests that the production of the texts itself was a means of self-promotion in the “Constantinopolitan Society”. Subsequently, it argues against the distinction between inscriptional and performative epigrams, defending their role in a private ceremony accompanying an act of devotion. Overall, it aims to invite reactions from modern readers to Byzantine texts and parallels from other pre-modern societies.

Foteini Spingou completed her D.Phil. thesis at the University of Oxford in 2013. After spending a year at Dumbarton Oaks, she is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Art and Archaeology. Together with Professor Charles Barber, she is preparing an edited volume of Byzantine Texts on Art and Aesthetics (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press), while concluding her own book on a vast anthology of Byzantine poetry from the thirteenth century (forthcoming Oxford University Press).