Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies

Room 201 - 1879 Hall

Sponsored by the Program in Classical Philosophy the Program in Hellenic Studies and the Department of Classics.

Abstract
Romanos the Melodist (sixth century), the greatest Byzantine poet, was bornin Emesa in Syria and before he moved to Constantinople, where he flourished under Justinian, he had spent time in Beirut. Though he composed his hymns in Greek, it has been suggested that he was familiar with Syriac literary tradition. If established firmly, his familiarity with Syriac sources may have far-reaching implications for the study of the interaction between Greek and Syriac literary traditions in Late Antiquity.

Bio
Emmanuel Papoutsakis (D.Phil. Syriac, University Oxford; BA Hebrew, University of London; BA Classics, University of Athens) is currently Mary Seeger O'Boyle Post-Doctoral Fellow in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. He specializes in Syriac poetry and homiletics of the golden age (fourth-sixth centuries) and his research interests include: the interaction between Greek and Syriac in Late Antiquity, early Church history, Biblical versions (Greek, Jewish Aramaic,Syriac, Armenian), Biblical interpretation, transmission of Greek texts into Syriac and Armenian. [Last Updated 2001]

Abstract
When we talk about forgery in the Byzantine East between the fifth and seventh centuries we are not talking about forgery as the criminal and civil laws of Western nations construe and punish it. Literary forgery was neither a criminal nor a civil offense during this period of early Byzantium. Perhaps for those reasons it occurred so frequently that our examples of it are almost too numerous to count. My talk focuses on only a few examples of literary forgery in early Byzantium: those that have had far-reaching consequences for Byzantine religious belief not just during these two centuries but even up till today. The usefulness of deception (which can differ from its morality) is beyond dispute. But that deception can be used even by the most upright of persons in defense of their deeply held beliefs is a far more complex topic, the theme my talk pursues.

Bio
Susaw Wessel is Mary Seeger O'Boyle Post-Doctoral fellow in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, academic year 2001-2002. She received her PhD from Columbia University (2000) in the field of Late Antique Christianity. Her dissertation, "Cyril of Alexandria and the Nestorian Controversy" examined the historical and cultural processes by which Cyril of Alexandria was elevated to canonical status among the church fathers. She is currently working on the relationship between Church and State in Late Antiquity. Her research interests (4th - 8th centuries) include: the History of the Church Councils; Intellectual and Political History; and Byzantine Hagiography. [Last Updated 2001]