Project "Narrative Strategies in the Poetry of George of Pisidia"

Research goals

The research project Narrative Strategies in the Poetry of George of Pisidia (Elise Richter Project V-803) addresses the use of different poetic text forms and rhetorical strategies that George of Pisidia (approximately 580 to 630 AD) applies in his panegyric poems on the Byzantine emperor Heraclius (reigned 610 to 641 AD).

The poems will be read against the background of the literary models of antiquity and examined in their structure and function. The aim of the project is to gain a deeper understanding of the language, style and composition of Greek poetry at the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Since George of Pisidia has, so far, received rather little attention in both classical and Byzantine studies, the project aims to fill a gap in this field of research.

 Beginning of the iambic poem "In Heraclium ex Africa redeuntem" by George of Pisidia.

Codex Suppl. grec 690 f. 56v, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.