Goals

The following working hypothesis serves as the starting point for the literary analysis:

George of Pisidia aims at legitimating Emperor Heraclius' reign by merging the cultural and literary heritage of pagan antiquity with Christian traditions and contemporary political concepts.

The aim of the project is to shed light on the poetic techniques and rhetorical design of George of Pisidia’s poems in order to gain new insight into the function of poetry in the service of political agenda at a historical and cultural turning point such as the end of antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The literary case study promises a deeper understanding of the narrative techniques of Pisides’ poetry as well as the socio-cultural environment in early seventh-century Constantinople.