Scholars have recently begun to study collections of Byzantine historical excerpts as autonomous pieces of literature. This book focuses on a series of minor collec- tions that have received little or no scholarly attention, including the Epitome of the Seventh Century , the Excerpta Anonymi (tenth century), the Excerpta Salmasiana (eighth to eleventh centuries), and the Excerpta Planudea (thirteenth century). Three aspects of these texts are analysed in detail: their method of redaction, their literary structure, and their cultural and political function. Combining codicologi- cal, literary, and political analyses, this study contributes to a better understanding of the intertwining of knowledge and power, and suggests that these collections of historical excerpts should be seen as a Byzantine way of rewriting history. Panagiotis Manafis is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK. His research interests include middle Byzantine literature, with a particular focus on the manuscript transmission of texts. (Re)writing History in Byzantium (Re)writing History in Byzantium A Critical Study of Collections of Historical Excerpts Panagiotis Manafis First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Panagiotis Manafis The right of Panagiotis Manafis to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Manafis, Panagiotis, author. Title: (Re)writing history in Byzantium: a critical study of collections of historical excerpts / Panagiotis Manafis. Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020002344 (print) | LCCN 2020002345 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367367305 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429351020 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Byzantine literature–History and criticism. | Byzantine Empire–Historiography. | Byzantine Empire–Abstracts–History. Classification: LCC DF505 .M36 2020 (print) | LCC DF505 (ebook) | DDC 949.5/02072–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020002344 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020002345 ISBN: 978-0-367-36730-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-35102-0 (ebk) Typeset in Times by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To Eleni and Ioanna List of illustrations x List of manuscripts xii Acknowledgements xiv Abbreviations xv Introduction xviii 1 Greek compilation literature from Byzantium 1 1.1 Terminology 1 1.1.1 Byzantine terminology 1 1.1.2 Modern terminology 10 1.2 The culture of sylloge 12 1.2.1 Florilegia, Gnomologia, Catenae, Quaestiones et responsiones 14 1.2.2 Chronicles 17 1.2.3 Condensed ‘libraries’ 20 1.3 The working method of excerptors of historical texts 26 1.3.1 Selection 27 1.3.2 Editing 31 1.3.3 Composition 38 2 Excerpta Anonymi 43 2.1 Dating of the Parisinus suppl. gr. 607a 44 2.2 Content, structure and sources of the Excerpta Anonymi 46 2.2.1 Content 46 2.2.2 The structure of the Excerpta Anonymi 49 2.2.3 The sources of the Excerpta Anonymi 53 2.3 The working method in the Excerpta Anonymi 60 2.4 The EC and the Excerpta Anonymi 66 2.4.1 The EC 67 Contents viii Contents 2.4.2 The chapter Περὶ Ἴστρου τοῦ ποταμοῦ 72 2.4.3 Περὶ Κύρου and Περὶ Ῥώμου καὶ Ῥωμύλου 75 2.4.4 The passages on Roman history 77 2.4.5 The EC as a depository of knowledge 81 2.4.6 Conclusion 84 2.5 Historical and cultural context 84 2.5.1 Portrayals of emperors in the Excerpta Anonymi 85 2.5.2 Comparison of the Excerpta Anonymi and the Parastaseis 86 2.5.3 The politics of ethnography and geography in the Excerpta Anonymi 96 2.6 Conclusions 108 3 Excerpta Salamasiana 110 3.1 Manuscript transmission 110 3.1.1 Vaticanus graecus 96 110 3.1.2 Vaticanus Palatinus 93 112 3.1.3 Parisinus graecus 1763 113 3.2 Excerpta Salmasiana and John of Antioch 115 3.3 Structure and sources of the Excerpta Salmasiana 117 3.3.1 Excerpta Salmasiana I 117 3.3.2 Excerpta Salmasiana II 118 3.3.3 The Agathias part 135 3.4 The selective use of historical material in the Excerpta Salmasiana 135 3.4.1 Agathias on the others 135 3.4.2 The politics of ethnography in the Agathias part of the Excerpta Salmasiana 138 3.5 Towards the methodological principles of the Excerpta Salmasiana 140 3.6 General conclusions on the Excerpta Salmasiana 145 4 The Epitome of the Seventh Century 147 4.1 Manuscript transmission 148 4.1.1 Parisinus suppl. gr . 1156 148 4.1.2 Oxford, Auctarium E.4.18 149 4.1.3 Parisinus graecus 1555 A 149 4.1.4 Athonensis Vatopedinus graecus 286 150 4.1.5 Baroccianus gr . 142 151 4.1.6 The ἀπὸ φωνῆς in Baroccianus gr . 142 153 4.2 The Epitome as an excerpt collection 154 Contents ix 4.3 The structure of the Epitome 159 4.4 The Epitome and the HE of Eusebius of Caesarea 161 4.4.1 The relationship between the manuscripts of the Epitome 163 4.4.2 Passages added to the selected Eusebian text 165 4.4.3 The redaction of the Eusebian part 173 4.5 General conclusions on the Epitome 180 5 Excerpta Planudea 181 5.1 Manuscript transmission 181 5.1.1 The codices 181 5.1.2 The relationship between the manuscripts of the Συναγωγὴ 185 5.1.3 Maximus Planudes 186 5.2 Content and structure of the Συναγωγή 188 5.3 The excerpts on Roman history in the Συναγωγή by Maximus Planudes 191 5.3.1 The origins of the passages on Roman history 191 5.3.2 The source of the Συναγωγή : an earlier corpus on Roman history? 196 5.3.3 Excerpting John of Antioch and Xiphilinus 198 5.3.4 Thematisation of history in the Excerpta Planudea 203 5.4 Conclusions 213 6 Collections of historical excerpts as a specific locus for (re)writing history 214 6.1 J. Signes Codoñer’s classification of Byzantine historical writing 215 6.2 Literary features in Byzantine collections of historical excerpts 218 6.2.1 Language, style, function 218 6.2.2 Period covered and use of sources 221 6.2.3 Structure 224 6.3 Other collections of historical excerpts 226 6.4 Conclusion 228 Appendix I: Texts 231 Appendix II: Tables 282 Bibliography 300 Names and subject index 338 Manuscripts index 345 Figures 3.1 The codex Parisinus gr . 1630 (B) and the Exc.Salm.II A 122 4.1 The relationship between the manuscripts of the Epitome 165 Tables 2.1 The contents of Parisinus suppl. gr . 607a 47 2.2 The chapter Περὶ τῶν ἐπτὰ φιλοσόφων in the Excerpta Anonymi 62 2.3 The chapter Περὶ τῶν βʹ σταυρῶν τῶν ληστῶν in the Excerpta Anonymi 64 2.4 The chapter Τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου περὶ παρατηρήσεως εἰκόνος in the Excerpta Anonymi 65 2.5 The sources of the passage On the Istros river , 42, 5–44, 21 73 2.6 Passages on Roman history excerpted in the Excerpta Anonymi 79 2.7 Peter the Patrician’s Historia in the Excerpta Salmasiana 80 3.1 Excerpts in the Exc.Salm.II A that do not derive from John Malalas 119 3.2 Malalas’ Chronographia in B and in the Exc.Salm.II 122 3.3 Τhe derivation of the Exc.Salm.II 8 123 3.4 Τhe Exc.Salm.II 18, B and the Suda 125 3.5 Τhe Exc.Salm.II 32, Malalas and the Suda 126 3.6 Passages in common between Malalas, the Exc.Salm.II 1–43, Symeon Logothetes’ Chronicon and Ps.-Symeon’s Chronographia 128 3.7 Shared passages in the Exc.Salm.II and the Excerpta Anonymi 129 3.8 Exc.Salm.II B , 66–82 130 3.9 The Exc.Salm.II B, 66–82 and parallel passages 131 3.10 The Exc.Salm.II 66 and 67 131 3.11 The Exc.Salm.II 68 and 69 132 3.12 The Exc.Salm.II and the Leoquelle 133 3.13 Τhe source texts of the Exc.Salm.II 134 3.14 Τhe Agathias excerpt 3 of the Exc.Salm. 141 3.15 Τhe Agathias excerpt 6 of the Exc.Salm. 142 3.16 Agathias -excerpt 15 of the Exc.Salm. 143 3.17 Τhe Agathias excerpt 23 of the Exc.Salm. 144 List of illustrations List of illustrations xi 3.18 Τhe Agathias excerpt 37 of the Exc.Salm. 144 3.19 Τype of textual changes in the Agathias part 145 4.1 The headings in the manuscript transmission of the Epitome 156 4.2 The Epitome in the five extant manuscripts 159 4.3 Τhe Epitome in G. C. Hansen’s edition 162 4.4 Passages added to the selected Eusebian text 166 4.5 Τhe origin of 5 E 170 4.6 Τhe origin of 113 E 172 4.7 Τhe redaction of the Eusebian part 174 4.8 7 E and Eusebius’ HE 176 4.9 64 E and Eusebius’ HE 178 5.1 Content and structure of the Συναγωγή 192 5.2 The EPL and Manasses’ chronicle 194 5.3 The EPL and Paeanius 195 5.4 Excerpts 45–328 in Laurentianus Plut. 59, 30 195 5.5 The EPL in the Athonensis Iviron 812, the Suda , and the EC 200 5.6 Xiphilinus’ Epitome in the EPL 202 5.7 The selection of excerpts on the Roman Republic by Maximus Planudes 212 Excerpta Anonymi Codex Parisinus suppl graecus 607a, mid-10th c. Excerpta Salmasiana Codex Vaticanus graecus 96, mid-12th c. Codex Vaticanus Palatinus 93, mid-12th c. Codex Parisinus graecus 1763, ca 1606. Codex Parisinus graecus 1630, 14th c. Epitome Codex Auctarium E.4.18, 10th c. Codex Parisinus suppl. graecus 1156, 10/11th c. Codex Athonensis Vatopedinus graecus 286, 13th c. Codex Parisinus graecus 1555a, 13/14th c. Codex Baroccianus graecus 142, 14th c. EC Excerpta de virtutibus et vitiis Codex Turonensis 980, 11th c. Excerpta de insidiis Codex Parisinus gr. 1666, 15th/16th c. Codex Scorialensis Ω I ii, 16th c. Excerpta de legationibus Codex Scorialensis R III 14, 1574. Codex Bruxellensis 11031-16, 16th c. Codex Monacensis 267, 16th c. Codex Parisinus graecus 2463, 16th c. Codex Vaticanus graecus 1418, 16th c. Codex Vaticanus Palatinus 413, 16th c. List of manuscripts List of manuscripts xiii Excerpta Planudea Codex Laurentianus Plut. 59,30, 13th/14th c. Codex Vaticanus graecus 951, 15th c. Codex Athonensis Iviron 812, 14th c. Codex Neapolitanus graecus 165, 14th c. Codex Parisinus graecus 1409, 14th/15th c. Codex Vaticanus Palatinus 141, 14/15th c. This book originates in my doctoral dissertation at the Department of Ancient History in Ghent University. I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Prof. Dr. Peter Van Nuffelen and Prof. Dr. Marc De Groote, my research advis - ers, for their continuous support, immense knowledge, encouragement, and useful critiques of my research work. I would like to express my very great appreciation to Prof. Dr. Lieve Van Hoof, for her clear-sightedness and her numerous sugges - tions and remarks on the contents of this book. My deep gratitude also goes to Prof. Paolo Odorico (EHESS, Paris) who generously read earlier versions of chapters in this book and offered insightful comments and constructive suggestions on my research. My sincere and warm thanks go to Prof. Catherine Holmes (University College Oxford), for giving me the opportunity to spend three months in Oxford (February–May 2016) and for taking an interest in my work. I also wish to thank the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) which funded my research stay at Oxford (15 February–15 May 2016). I would like to thank Prof. Paul Magdalino, who read closely my last draft of the article “Political margins. Geography and history in the Excerpta Anonymi ” and offered extremely helpful suggestions. I would also like to offer my special thanks to Prof. Panagiotis Sotiroudis (Thessaloniki) for his pal - aeographical assistance. I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by the hieromonk Palamas from the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos as well as Dr. Ilaria Ciolli from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. My grateful thanks are also extended to my colleagues at the Department of Ancient History: to Dr. Maria Conterno, Dr. Emerance Delacenserie, Dr. Marianna Mazzola, Dr. Lorenzo Focanti, Dr. Matthew O'Farrell, Dr. Andy Hilkens, Dr. Raf Praet, and Dr. Maria Tomadaki. In researching and writing this book, I have benefitted greatly from the knowledge and suggestions by Prof. Hugh Houghton, the principal investigator of the CATENA and Codex Zacynthius projects, in which I had the privilege of being a member as a research fellow at the Department of Theology and Religion in the University of Birmingham (UK) from 2018 to 2020. Part of the research was undertaken as part of the CATENA project, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 770816). I would also like to thank my parents and my friends for their encouragement. And lastly, I would like to thank my wife, for her support and patience over the past years. This volume is dedicated to her and to our daughter, Ioanna. Acknowledgements AMI Archaeologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan. Berlin: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut. Ann.Univ.Tosc. Annali delle Università Toscane. Pisa: Università Toscane. BBGG Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata. Grottaferrata: Congregazione d’Italia dei Monaci Basiliani. BHG Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca , 3rd ed., ed. F Halkin, 3 vols. Brussels, 1957. BMGS Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies: University of Birmingham, Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek Studies. BollClass Bollettino dei Classici. Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. Byz Byzantion: revue internationale des études byzantines. Leuven: Peeters. BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift. Berlin: de Gruyter. CCSG Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca. Leuven: Brepols. CD Cassius Dio. CFHB Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae. CPG Clavis Patrum Graecorum. Turnhout: Brepols CQ Classical Quarterly. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CSHB Corpus Scriptorium Historiae Byzantinae. Bonn. DAI De Administrando Imperio DC De Cerimoniis DOP Dumbarton Oaks Papers. Washington (D.C.): Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. DT De Thematibus EC Excerpta Constantiniana Epitome The Epitome of the Seventh Century EI Excerpta de Insidiis EL Excerpta de Legationibus EPL Excerpta Planudea ES Excerpta de Sententiis Abbreviations xvi Abbreviations Eus.-Hier. Chron. Die Chronik des Hieronymus , ed. Rudolf Helm, Berlin, 1956. EV1 Excerpta de Virtutibus et Vitiis , ed. Theodor Büttner- Wobst, Berlin, 1906. EV2 Excerpta de Virtutibus et Vitiis , ed. Antoon Gerard Roos, Berlin, 1910. Excerpta Anonymi Excerpta Anonymi Byzantini ex Codice Parisino suppl. Gr. 607 A Exc.Salm. Anecdota Graeca e codd. Manuscripts Bibliothecae regiae Parisiensis, II GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies. Durham (N.C.): Duke University, Department of Classics. HE Historia Ecclesiastica HT Historia Tripartita JMEMS Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies . Duke University Press. JÖB Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik. Wien: Verl. der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Pet. Patr. Peter the Patrician. PG Patrologiae cursus completus, Series graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne, 161 vols. Paris, 1857–1866. PLRE The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, edd. A. H. M. Jones, J. R. Martindale, and J. Morris, 1–2. Cambridge, 1971–1980. Ps.-Symeon Anonymi opus ineditum apud cod. Parisinum B.N. Gr. 1712 , ff. 18v–272r. PTS Patristische Texte und Studien. Berlin: de Gruyter. REA Revue des études anciennes. Pessac: Université Michel de Montaigne, Maison de l’archéologie. REB Revue des études byzantines. Paris: de Boccard. Res.Publ.Litt. Res Publica Litterarum: Studies in the Classical Tradition. Roma: Salerno. RE Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, edd. G. Wissowa et al., Stuttgart, 1894–1963. RhM Rheinisches Museum für Philologie. Frankfurt am Main: Sauerländer. SO Symbolae Osloenses. Norwegian Journal of Greek and Latin Studies . Oslo: University of Oslo, Norway. St. Class. Or. Studi Classici e Orientali. Pisa: Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali. Sym. Log. Symeonis Magistri et Logothetae Chronicon I , ed. Stephanus Wahlgren ( CGHB 44,1), Berlin, 2006. Abbreviations xvii Symm Symmeikta. Athens: Institute of Historical Research. TAPhA Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. Baltimore (Md.): Johns Hopkins University Press. Teubner Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana. TM Travaux et Mémoires du Centre de recherche d’histoire et civilisation byzantines. Paris: de Boccard. TU Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur ZNW Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche. Berlin: de Gruyter. The purpose of this book, besides bringing hitherto unstudied material to the attention of scholars, is to contribute to a better understanding of the literary phe- nomenon of Byzantine compilation literature and, in particular, collections of his- torical excerpts. The following is a working definition of a collection of historical excerpts: a text consisting of passages extracted from a single or different histori - cal texts of the same or of different authors and put together under a principle, that is, thematically. For a long time, such collections only received attention as sources for the works they rely on and not as works of literature in their own right. Studies of historical works produced through processes of compilation, on the other hand, have always been in dialogue with the concept of encyclopaedism . This concept was presented by the French philologist Paul Lemerle in his famous book on Byzantine written culture entitled Le Premier Humanisme Byzantin published in 1971. More than half the book was devoted to the cultural revival of the ninth– tenth centuries and the book closed with a chapter on what Lemerle called encyclo- paedism in the tenth century. 1 Lemerle introduced the concept of encyclopaedism to demarcate the resurgence in literary production under the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus 2 and used the term encyclopaedia to refer to works produced under the auspices of this emperor by processes of compilation. 3 According to 1 Lemerle (1971), 266–300. Earlier than in this book, Lemerle had already referred to the existence of encyclopaedias in Byzantium; cf. Lemerle (1965), 596–616. 2 Constantine was only 7 years old when his father, the emperor Leo VI, died and a number of regents were appointed in his place. From 919–944 Constantine shared the throne with Romanus I Lecapenus, a Byzantine naval commander of Armenian descent. Constantine’s sole reign began in 945 and lasted until his death. On Constantine Porphyrogenitus, see Grierson and Jenkins (1962), 133–138, Lemerle (1971), 266–300; Toynbee (1973), esp. 1–25 and 575–605; Tartaglia (1982), 197–206; Wilson (1996), 140–145; Ševčenko (1992a), 167–195; Karpozilos (2002), 281–296; Németh (2018), 20–53. 3 Lemerle was not the first to speak of Byzantine encyclopaedism . Büttner-Wobst (1906b) had put forward the term historiche Encyclopädie and Alphonse Dain had already supported in 1953 that until, and mainly in the ninth century, the interest in the classical past was expressed through the transliteration of ancient texts into minuscule script and that the habit of selecting and reordering of various passages of various works in the manner of sylloge appears only in the tenth century. A phe- nomenon, which Dain integrated in the encyclopaedism of the tenth century; Dain (1953), 64–81. Introduction Introduction xix Lemerle, the phenomenon of encyclopaedism covers the compilation of works like the Theophanes Continuatus , 4 the De Cerimoniis (Περὶ Βασιλείου τάξεως), 5 the De Thematibus (Περὶ Θεμάτων), 6 and the De Administrando Imperio (Πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν Ῥωμανὸν) 7 as well as the Excerpta Constantiniana (Ἐκλογαὶ) 8 and an anonymous veterinary work, the Hippiatrica (Ἱππιατρκὸν βιβλίον). 9 As regards the Geoponica (Γεωπονικά), 10 the authorship and dating of which is still debated, Lemerle argued that the function of the work was to transmit knowledge, but he simply characterises it as a sylloge , that is a collection of passages, related to the court of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. 11 Lemerle’s concept has since dominated scholars’ approaches to the Byzantine literary culture during the Macedonian dynasty and the term encyclopaedism con- tinues to be employed by Byzantinists. For instance, A. P. Kazhdan, C. Hannick, J. Shephard, and M. McCormick also consider the tenth century the age of 4 The text survives in a single manuscript, Vaticanus gr . 167 (eleventh c.). On the date of the codex, see Serventi (2001). The Greek title is: Χρονογραφία συγραφεῖσα ἐκ προστάξεως Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ φιλοχρίστου καὶ πορφυρογεννήτου δεσπότου ἡμῶν, υἱοῦ Λέοντος τοῦ σοφωτάτου δεσπότου καὶ ἀοιδίμου ἡμῶν βασιλέως, ἀρχομένη ἔνθεν κατέληξεν ὁ κατὰ γένος προσήκων τῷ βασιλεῖ μακαρίτης Θεοφάνης ὁ τῆς Σιγριανῆς, ἤγουν ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλείας Λέοντος τοῦ ἐξ Ἀρμενίας· ἧς τάς τε καθ’ ἕκαστα ὑποθέσεις ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος φιλοπόνως συνέλεξε καὶ εὐσυνόπτως ἐξέθετο, πρὸς εὐκρινῆ τοῖς μετέπειτα δήλωσιν; cf. Featherstone and Signes Codoñer (edd.) (2015). On books I–IV, see also Ševčenko (1998); Featherstone (2011), (2012); Treadgold (2013), 188– 196. On the so-called Vita Basilii , the fifth book of the Theophanes Continuatus , see Ševčenko (ed.) (2011); Treadgold (2013), 165–180. Book VI was probably a later addition to the original corpus of the first five books of Theopahnes Continuatus by Basil the Nothos; Featherstone (2014), 353–372. In Vaticanus gr . 167, book VI comes immediately after the Vita Basilii , but without any heading or numeration whatsoever; Németh (2018), 155. J. Signes Codoñer and I. Ševčenko showed that the first five books were composed by a team of writers working under the supervi - sion of Constantine Porphyrogenitus; Signes Codoñer (1989), 17–28; Ševčenko (1992), 184–187; Signes Codoñer (2017), 17–21. W. Treadgold attributed the Vita Basilii to Theodore Daphnopates; Treadgold (2013), 166–180. W. Treadgold’s hypothesis had been examined and refuted in Marko- poulos (1985), 171–182. 5 Reiske (ed.) (1829); Vogt (ed.) (1967); Moffatt and Tall (transl.) (2012). 6 Pertusi (ed.) (1952). Treadgold (2013), 154 dates the text around the year 934. On the date of the DT , see also Pertusi (ed.) (1952), 43–47 and Oikonomidès (1972), 242–243. Lounges (1973), 299–305 suggests a later date. 7 Moravcsik and Jenkins (edd.) (1967). On the date of the DAI , see Bury (1906b), 522–524; Jenkins (1962), 1–8; Moravcsik and Jenkins (edd.) (1967), 32–33; Howard-Johnston (2000), 301–336. 8 de Boor (ed.) (1903–1910). 9 The Recensio B in the textual transmission of the text appears to be related with the scriptorium of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In particular, it has been supported that the codex Phillippicus 1538 (Berlin) was made for Constantine Porphyrogenitus; McCabe (2007), 269–275. On this scrip- torium and on manuscripts produced in it, see Section 2.4.5 of this book. The title Ἱππιατρικὸν βιβλίον is transmitted in the Suda 4739 and Suda 267, as well as in the codex Emmanuel College 251 (Cambridge); cf. McCabe (2007), 1. 10 Beckh (ed.) (1895). On the Geoponica , see Koder (1993); Koutrava-Delivoria (2002), 365–380; Lefort (2008), 231–310. 11 Lemerle (1971), 266–300. xx Introduction encyclopaedism 12 Lemerle’s view was challenged by Paolo Odorico, first in an article published in 1990, in which he introduced the concept of the culture of sylloge 13 The term characterises the phenomenon of selecting, recopying, synthe- sising, and presenting older textual material. 14 P. Odorico in a series of surveys on the subject, convincingly showed that encyclopaedism is an inaccurate and misleading term to expound what were in fact collections or syllogae 15 In fact, encyclopaedia is a modern term pointing to artefacts with literary functions dif- ferent from Byzantine collections. Moreover, P. Odorico showed that there was nothing innovative about the collections executed on imperial commission in the tenth century. 16 They excerpt older texts employing a method similar to that applied by florilegia , gnomologia , military and historical compositions that were compiled centuries earlier than the tenth century. Nevertheless, Lemerle’s term of encyclopaedism continued to make its way into scholarship. In June 2007, a conference on encyclopaedism before the Enlightenment was held at St Andrews, the proceedings of which were edited by Jason König and Greg Woolf in 2013 under the title Encyclopaedism from Antiquity to the Renaissance . The title of the book as well as the papers presented in it showed that the term Byzantine ency- clopaedism continued to be elaborated amongst Byzantinists and that a number of scholars were disposed to recognise the uniqueness of collections executed during the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus in terms of methods and goals. 17 In May 2009, a conference was held in Leuven on works consisting of excerpts and on the validity of Lemerle’s concept of encyclopaedism . The proceeds of the conference are collected in a book entitled Encyclopedic Trends in Byzantium? edited by Peter Van Deun and Caroline Macé and published in 2011. Though many of the participants kept repeating the term encyclopaedism , it was during this congress that P. Odorico established his own concept of the culture of sylloge tackling Lemerle’s term. 18 In the same book, though, Paul Magdalino’s article acknowledges the distinctiveness of the tenth-century collections. Magdalino sees the fact that these collections were designed or commissioned by emperors as a key feature that differentiates them from earlier or later collections. 19 It should 12 Hunger (1978), 244, 360–367; Kazhdan and Wharton Epstein (1985), 14–15; Kazhdan (1991), 696–697; Hannick (1986), 2031–2039; Shepard (2008), 87, 403; Karpozilos (2002), 696–697; Kazhdan and Angelidi (2006), 311–336. 13 Odorico (1990), 1–21. On Lemerle’s view, see n. 1. 14 Odorico (1990). 15 The concept of culture of sylloge was further developed in: Odorico (2011a); Odorico (2014a); Odorico (2014b); Odorico (2017). See also the review of the book: Van Deun and Macé (2011) by A. Kaldellis; cf. Kaldellis, in The Medieval Review 12.10.30 (http s://s chola rwork s.iu. edu/journa ls/ in dex.p hp/tmr/art icle/view/ 17693 /23811). 16 Odorico (2014a); Odorico (2014b); Odorico (2017). 17 Németh (2013), 232–258. 18 Odorico (2011a). 19 Moreover, P. Magdalino associated the designation of the imperial collections of the tenth century with the triumph of orthodoxy over iconoclasm. In his view, the Orthodox concept of law and good order ( εὐταξία ) dominates collections produced under the reigns of Leo VI and Constantine