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1 results

  • 15 - The Learned Bishop and the Unicorn: Michael Choniates, Poem 5 Lampros

  • from Part IV - New Texts, New Interpretations
  • Edited by Baukje van den Berg, Central European University, Vienna, Nikos Zagklas, Universität Wien, Austria
  • Book:
    Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204)
    Published online:
    17 October 2024
    Print publication:
    31 October 2024, pp 389-408

  • Summary

    The hexametric poem On the Unicorn by Michael Choniates is a poetic rewriting of the parable The Man in the Well. This chapter analyses the text in comparison to the versions of the story as preserved by Barlaam and Josaphat and Stephanites and Ichnelates, and other Byzantine and early modern poems on the same subject. Next, the Byzantine imagery of the tale is described on the basis of the preserved medieval depictions. Finally, the chapter offers some reflections on Choniates, his source (Barlaam and Josaphat) and the interconnections between this poem and another hexametric one by the same author entitled On the Ladder Described in John the Ascetic.