Eine byzantinische Invektive gegen die Verfasser von Grabreden

The core of the present study is the first edition of a hitherto unedited text of the Byzantine period. The text is the only existing example of its type in Byzantine literary tradition, and therefore of utmost importance to research in this field. It is a fictitious funeral oration on the authors of epitaphs, a literary invective against the writers of epitaphs and their excessive laments for the deceased. The book begins with a detailed introduction in which all the philological problems associated with the text are discussed (present condition and date of the manuscript, question of authorship, literary genre, views of sorrow). The Greek text is accompanied by its German translation as well as a commentary that provides a detailed discussion of all the questions relevant to the full comprehension of the text, with a special focus on the ironic allusions to the style of the Byzantine funeral orators. The book also includes an appendix in which the author of the book investigates the sentence rhythm of the invective, providing detailed illustration in tabular form. The approach goes far beyond the framework of current research in this field and provides a precise and complete description of the sentence rhythm. The study is completed by indices that facilitate access to the complete contents of the book.