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January Conference 1996

THE RECEPTION OF CLASSICAL TEXTS AND IMAGES

Michael Psellus on Euripides and George of Pisidia[1]

Mary Whitby, Royal Holloway, University of London

Contents      Full Paper

In the eleventh century, the learned Byzantine court official and scholar Michael Psellus wrote an essay responding to the question: 'Who was the better poet, Euripides or George of Pisidia?' This paper first sketches Psellus' cultural background and literary output, paying particular attention to links with the ninth-century patriarch and polymath Photius. The second section considers what circumstances might have generated this work and the educational use of a question-and-answer technique, before outlining the content and arrangement of the essay. In discussing Euripides, Psellus' own poetic aspirations lead him to focus on metre and music, but inclusion of inherited material engenders digression. Precise allusion is limited to two passages: discussion of Orestes is based on Dionysius of Halicarnassus, but comment on the Hecuba may be more original. Psellus does not, however, demonstrate extensive knowledge of the tragic texts.

Psellus' interest in the seventh-century panegyrical and religious poet George of Pisidia is also metrical in the first instance, since, like Euripides, George wrote in iambic trimeters, and was a model for later composers. But the majority of this section is devoted to discussion of style, where allusion to identifiable passages from George's surviving poetry forms a pretext for demonstration of Psellus' own rhetorical virtuosity. Although the final verdict is lost, this exploitation of George is one of several factors which suggest that Psellus favoured him above Euripides.

Psellus' comparison invites examination of George's own reception of Euripides, but limitations of available evidence inhibit detailed analysis. George is, however, more closely allied with Euripides than with the other two tragedians. But Psellus' reception of the two poets is illuminating: apart from demonstration of his erudition, his interest focuses on aspects which are of practical utility for his own scholarly and literary interests.