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Verzen uit de marge (gehaald): Een introductie op Byzantijnse boekepigrammen

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Abstract

Byzantine manuscripts abound in metrical texts that comment on the content of the book or on several aspects of its production. These poems are also known as book epigrams. In this article, we offer an introduction on the genre and situate it within the context of Byzantine manuscript production and epigrammatic poetry. We explore what book epigrams may tell us about the Byzantines who are connected to the books: its scribes, patrons and readers. While these people usually remain in the shadows, book epigrams offer us an insight into their motivation for writing books, the challenges they meet, and their reading experiences. Analysing the metre of book epigrams, which in many cases deviates from the “norm”, can help us to understand how Byzantine dodecasyllabic verses were produced and perceived. These poems, in short, shed light on aspects of manuscript production and transmission that are otherwise inaccessible to us.

How to Cite:

Boeten, J. & De Groot, S., (2021) “Verzen uit de marge (gehaald): Een introductie op Byzantijnse boekepigrammen”, Tetradio 30(1): 1, 11–34. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tetradio.91892