ポスト・ビザンツ期の人物のエクフラシス : 「ディゲニス・アクリティスO版」等を素材として <論文>

The Ekphrasis of Human Physical Beauty in the Post-Byzantine Period : Based on the Analysis of The Oxford Version of Digenis Akritis and Other Vernacular Poems in the 16-17 th Centuries <ARTICLES>

Tachibana Takashi

プロピレア

ΠΡΟΠΥΛΑΙΑ

[ISSN] 0915-7425

[NCID] AN10424929

It is widely documented that ancient rhetorical techniques were transmitted to Byzantine literature from the classical period. Among them one finds the Ekphrasis "detailed description", which grew in popularity, eventually forming an indispensable part of the heroic poem and the cavalier romance. In this short study, we attempt to trace the changing role of the Ekphrasis during the post-Byzantine period (the 16th — 17th centuries), concentrating on the description of human physical beauty. Can we observe a continuity between Byzantine and post-Byzantine usage of Ekphrasis in the popular romance ? Or, does it disappear out of the popular literature, losing its former popularity ? Otherwise, does it continue to exist in altered form ? These are the questions which we attempt to address below.

We wish to explore to what extent authors trusted the effectiveness of the Ekphrasis, and how it is incorporated in different ways in their works. We wiIl see that the place that the Ekphrasis occupies and the role that it plays within the post-Byzantine period varies from poem to poem and from author to author. For example, in the Oxford version of Digenis Akritis, the author is indifferent to describing human beauty; in its place he describes in detail the splendid equipment of a female warrior taking the field. In the 17th century rhymed version of Imberios and Margarona, however, the author has preserved approximately the same description of the hero as that of the Byzantine version. That the popularity of the Ekphrasis was not entirely lost can be demonstrated also by the romance of the Jewess Marcada, which has an extremely detailed description of the heroine' s beautiful appearance as well as the hero' s outfit. When examining the role of the Ekphrasis in the post-Byzantine period, it is also important to look at the love ballad. Short love poems collected in the Erotopaignia or those written in the Codex Vindob. theol. Gr. 244 indicate to us that the Ekphrasis of human physical beauty continued to survive into the next periods, albeit in a simplified form.

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jpn

日本ギリシア語ギリシア文学会

Copyright (c) 1999 日本ギリシア語ギリシア文学会

[ISSN] 0915-7425

[NCID] AN10424929