Die kulturhistorische Bedeutung byzantinischer Epigramme

The present volume is the written result of a workshop with the title "Die kulturhistorische Bedeutung byzantinischer Epigramme" ["the role of Byzantine epigrams for cultural history"] held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna on December 1-2, 2006. It was the purpose of this event (organised by W. Hörandner and A. Rhoby) to deepen the research on the Byzantine epigram. Besides, the present volume is a parergon of the Vienna based project "Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung" ["Byzantine epigrams on objects"]. The volume starts with an introduction in which a definition of the terminus "epigram" and an overview of the current state of research are given. The following articles deal not only with philological questions but also with the omnipresent interaction of word and image in Byzantium. Well established opinions, e.g. regarding the epigram on the staurotheke of Limburg, are questioned. Moreover, the question is discussed why several Byzantine artefacts kept in Venice and their inscriptions were copied and imitated at the beginning of the 16th century. A concluding article deals with literary and non-literary medieval Latin epigrams. At the end of the volume tables of images and a general index are provided.