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SUMMARY

Vassilios P. Vertoudakis, The Eighth Book of Anthologia

Palatina. A Study on the Epigrams of Gregory of Nazianzus, Athens: Institut du

livre A. Kardamitsa, 2011, pp. 285.

The subject of this monograph is the 8th book of Anthologia Palatina (AP), which

includes 254 epigrams of Gregory of Nazianzus. The Cappadocian poet and Church

Father as an epigrammatist of the AP is connected with two peculiarities. The first

one is that he participates in this poetic collection with the largest, by far, number of

epigrams. So, a paradox appears: in a mostly secular anthology the quantitative

predominance belongs to a Christian poet. The second singularity lies in the fact that

Gregorys epigrams in a very unique way do not diffuse into various books of AP, as

is the usual practice in this collection, but exclusively compose a continuous and

massive block, the 8th book.

The object of this study is the systematic examination of form and content of

these epigrams. Gregorys emotional background, topics, language, style, and

intertextuality in his epigrammatic poetry are analyzed. The incorporation process of

the epigrams into a mainly secular poetical collection, such as AP, is thoroughly

explored, as well.

Epigrams constitute a distinctive section of Gregorys poetry which can be

looked through in relevant autonomy from the rest of his immense poetical

production. This Christian poet composes hexametric and iambic

autobiographical, theological, and moral poems, namely literary genres without any

classical tradition. In fact, only in his epigrams does Gregory strictly follow a purely

traditional Greek poetical genre.

The recent bibliography has not especially dealt with Gregorys epigrams. One

could assume that a pagan epigrammatist of equal literary quality to Gregory would

have generated a much larger body of scholarly studies. On the other hand, the

biggest problem in the study of the whole Gregorian poetry, namely the lack of

critical editions, is not valid for the epigrams, as they have been repeatedly pu-

blished in the critical editions of AP. The only book-length study de-dicated to

Gregorys epigrams belongs to A. Salvatore, Tradizione e originalit negli epigrammi di

Gregorio Nazianzeno (Naples 1960). It is not, however, a comprehensive and

systematical oeuvre. In fact, the most valuable contribution so far remains the short

introduction of P. Waltz in the 8th book of AP in Bud Collection (Paris 1944, second

edition 1960, pp. 3-28). During the last decades Italian scholarship has shown a

special interest. From this scholarship the articles of F.E. Consolino (1987), F. Conca

(2000), and U. Criscuolo (2007) are of major significance.

The present study is divided into four parts. The first one starts with a short

review of the history of Greek epigram down to 4th century A.D. and the ancient

epigrammatic collections. Next, the genesis of AP from the previous collection of

Constantine Cephalas and the fortune of the Gregorian epigrams are examined in

details. Research has demonstrated that these epigrams had not been included in

Cephalas mother anthology. They are supposed to have been added later in the

enlarged collection of the famous codex Palatinus Graecus 23. The presentation of the

rest of the manuscript tradition, the editions, and the translations close the first part

of the book.

The second part is dedicated to the examination of the themes of the epigrams.

Initially, the biographical and emotional background is given. Most of the epigrams

are inspired by the death of all the members of his family in a very short time. Next,

the thematic circles are analytically set out, as Gregory paradoxically composed for

one person or theme more than one epigram, not rarely some dozens of epigrams.

Gregorys epigrams are formally classified as epitaphs and divided into two large

categories. The first one includes the epigrams dedicated to a relative or friend of the

poet, mentioned by name. The epigrams of the second category are anonymously

directed at two groups of people detested by the poet: those who organized dissolute

feasts inside the temples, and the grave robbers.

In the third part the relation of the Gregorian epigrams to the literary past is

analyzed: language, intertextuality, examples, style, and metre. Gregorys strong

classicism is explored by analyzing his influences in vocabulary, formulae, and

motifs from an extremely wide spectrum of Greek poets: Homer, Hesiod, early lyric

poetry, tragic works of the classical period, Hellenistic poets (mainly Callimachus

and Theocritus), epigrammatists, minor poetry of Late Antiquity (two Oppians,

Sibylline Oracles, pseudo-Manetho, Orphica). Special chapter are devoted to the style

and rhetorical figures (tropi et figurae), to the metre and prosody, as well. Moreover,

interesting conclusions are drawn from the use of exempla from both Classical Greece

and the Bible.

In the last part, by way of epilogue, it is attempted to set out the whole literary

background of the era in which Gregorys poetry in general and epigrams in

particular are created. It focuses on the determining role of the rhetoric in this period.

The Church Fathers adopted the art of rhetoric and Atticism in order for Christianity

to gain social elevation and institutional consolidation.

Gregory Nazianzen belongs to the first generation of Christians who could

experience their religious faith and cult in a status of freedom in both a legal and

social aspect. His epigrams, as well as his whole poetical work, are to be considered

as a part of the wider initiative taken over by Christian scholars of this age

(Apollinarius in the East, Prudentius, Ausonius, Paulinus of Nola, Juvencus in the

West) to create a body of literature of high language quality and strong rhetorical art.

So, Christian people would have their own literature, equal to that of pagans, based

on the spirit of the new religion instead of on the mythology and history of the

Greco-Roman world. In general, the characteristics of these literary products are the

followings: complicated language, familiarity with the Greek and Roman patterns,

command of the rhetorical art.

Gregory writes Christian poetry in the Greek language and prosodic metres but

not in the mind of Apollinarius metabolai (namely the adaptation of biblical passages

to ancient metres). He wants to overcome this technique and create some new ones.

Gregory uses abundant material from the Greek literature to compose a variety of

poetic genres which more or less break the classical tradition. Nevertheless, in his

epigrams he indeed follows the tradition.

Epigram, as a poetic genre, is known for its long tradition. It is often said, and

indeed it is true that it constitutes the only genre of antiquity in which the post-

classical period, mostly the Hellenistic one, has given more than the Classical age.

However, after the Garland of Philip, in the second and third centuries, it falls into

decline. Gregorys choice to receive this old genre, secular par excellence, and to enrich

it with the spirit of Christianity, undoubtedly constitutes a literary innovation.

Nevertheless, the established and extremely strong tradition of the epigram attracts

Gregory even more to the Greek literary past in the fields of language, motifs, and

examples. From this study the following conclusion is drawn: Given that Gregorys

two largest sources of inspiration are Greek literature and the Bible, it can be

observed, especially in his epigrams, that the classicizing portion is noticeably larger

than in the rest of his poetical work.

Gregory holds a special position in the history of the Greek epigram, as he is the

first Christian poet to use this genre and actually remains the only one down to the

7th century when George Pisides marks a new start for the Byzantine epigram

regarding metre, content, and function. The chronologically interim epigrammatists

of the age of Justinian, mainly Agathias Scholasticus and Paul the Silentiary, albeit

Christians, returned to the profane epigrammatical poetry imitating the motifs of the

Hellenistic and Imperial period. Gregory of Nazianzus, especially concerning his

epigrammatical poetry, appears as a uniquely transitional figure between the

expiring ancient Greek literature and the rising medieval one.