Christopher of Mytilene
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Christopher of Mytilene (Greek: Χριστοφόρος Μιτυληναῖος or Christophoros Mitylenaios), Byzantine poet living in the first half of the 11th century. His works include poems on various subjects, and four calendars.
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[edit] Biography
As Christopher states himself in one of his calendars, he was born in Constantinople, and lived in the neighbourhood Sphorakiou, supposedly during most of his lifetime. The manuscript tradition and his seal[1] ascertain that he was an important official, holding high ranks such as patrician, protospatharios, and kritès (judge) of the themes Armeniakon and Paphlagonia.
The events described in his poems allow us to suppose he started writing in the reign of Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034), but most poems are to be dated in the reign of Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), an emperor who favoured culture and literature.
[edit] Works
Various verses (στίχοι διάφοροι) is the title given in the only surviving manuscript to a collection of 145 poems, which covers indeed a wide range of genres and topics. The collection seems to have been arranged chronologically, and is at many points severely damaged.
The metre of most poems is the Byzantine dodecasyllable, but for some poems Christopher uses the dactylic hexameter. These poems are also written in a highly artificial Homeric language. Elegiac couplets and anacreontics occur as well.
The content of these poems is very heterogeneous. The most remarkable among them are satirical. In these poems Christopher makes fun of unsuccessful chariot drivers, cheated husbands, hypocritical monks, pseudo-intellectuals, etc. Other poems are directed against the mice devouring his books, and an owl that prevents him from sleeping. Many poems are epigrams with a religious content, dealing with biblical figures or religious feasts. Some of the more lengthy poems are funeral orations for his mother and his sister, or deal with historical events, such as the death of Romanos III, or a popular riot. The longest poem is an encomium on the spider. The rest of the collection is filled with epitaphs, riddles, dedicatory epigrams, and the like.
Christopher composed also four calendars in four different metres (hexameter, dodecasyllables, stichera, and canones), commemorating all the saints and feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year.
Christopher's poetry is characterized by a witty tone, seldom found in Byzantine poetry. The mix of Christian and classical elements and the self-asserting intellectual elitarism are distinguishing features which link him with other notable poets from the same period, like John Mauropous and Michael Psellos, who were also temporarily profiting from the favourable cultural climate under Constantine IX Monomachos.
[edit] References
- E. Kurtz, Die Gedichte des Christophoros Mitylenaios, Leipzig 1903.
- E. Follieri, I calendari in metro innografico di Cristoforo Mitileneo, I. Introduzione, testo e traduzione, II. Commentario e indici, Bruxelles 1980.
- A. Kazhdan e.a., The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, New York/Oxford 1991.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Cheynet J.C., Morrison C., Seibt W., Sceaux byzantins de la collection Henri Seyrig, Paris 1991, p. 138
