Imitatio ‒ Aemulatio ‒ Variatio

The present volume is based on the papers given at the symposium “imitatio – aemulatio – variation”, held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in October 2008. The purpose of the symposium was to deepen what is known about mimetic processes in Byzantine literature and to examine new aspects concerning its inspiration and reception. The volume’s introduction attempts to define the termini mimesis, imitatio, aemulatio and variatio within the framework of Byzantine literature. It is followed by the written version of D.R. Reinsch’s opening lecture entitled “Der Autor ist tot – es lebe der Leser. Zur Neubewertung der imitatio in der byzantinischen Geschichtsschreibung” (“The author is dead – long live the reader. On the re-evaluation of imitatio in Byzantine historiography”). The other 23 articles (in German, English and French) deal with various aspects of literary examples in Byzantine literature. Most of the papers deal with Byzantine higher literature (prose and poetry), but a few are devoted to vernacular works. Two articles are interdisciplinary in nature: one on Mediaeval Latin lexicographers and their knowledge of Greek and another on metaphors of the Virgin Mary in Byzantine literature and art. The volume concludes with tables of illustrations and a general index.