Digenis Akritis The Grottaferrata and Escorial Versions [Hardcover]

Two newly edited and translated versions of the Byzantium epic, Digenis Akritis: one from the Grottaferrata monastery near Rome, the other from the Escorial library in Spain.Digenis Akritis is Byzantium's only epic poem, telling of the exploits of a heroic warrior of 'double descent' on the frontiers between Byzantine and Arab territory in Asia Minor in the ninth and tenth centuries. It survives partially in six versions, of which the two oldest are edited here. This edition and translation aims to highlight the nature of the lost poem, and to provide a guide through the maze of recent discussions about the epic and its background.Digenis Akritis is Byzantium's only epic poem, telling of the exploits of a heroic warrior of 'double descent' on the frontiers between Byzantine and Arab territory in Asia Minor in the ninth and tenth centuries. It survives partially in six versions, of which the two oldest are edited here. This edition and translation aims to highlight the nature of the lost poem, and to provide a guide through the maze of recent discussions about the epic and its background. Digenis Akritis is Byzantium's only epic poem, telling of the exploits of a heroic warrior of double descent on the frontiers between Byzantine and Arab territory in Asia Minor in the ninth and tenth centuries. It survives partially in six versions, of which the two oldest are edited here. This edition and translation aims to highlight the nature of the lost poem, and to provide a guide through the maze of recent discussions about the epic and its background.Acknowledgements; Introduction; Sigla; Grottaferrata text and translation; Books 18; Escorial text and translation; Bibliography; Name index. This edition for the first time makes this challenging medieval text fully accessible to medievalists beyond te specialisms of Byzantine or modern Greek studies and will surely remain standard for many years to come. Speculum