Narrative Strategies in the Poetry of George of Pisidia

George of Pisidia (ca. 580 to 630 AD) held the church office of deacon at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and also served as a secular official under Heraclius, who ruled the Byzantine Empire between 610 and 641 AD. In his Greek poetry, George combines traditions from classical antiquity with religious ideas from late antique Christianity. One of the main aims of his literary work is to promote Heraclius political programme and to portray the emperor as an ideal Christian ruler. The project deals with the use of different poetic forms and strategies in order to convince the audience. The poems will be read against the background of literary models of antiquity and their structure and function will be examined. The poems probably were recited orally before an audience that was present at the imperial court. Therefore, the project particularly deals with the question which audience the author was addressing. The aim of the project is to gain a deeper understanding of the forms of Greek poetry at the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. Despite the fact that George of Pisidia was active in this important transitional period in history, he has received little attention so far. Thus, the ultimate goal of the project is to promote his literary work within the scientific community as well as within a broader public.

What do more than 1,400-year-old Greek poems written about a Byzantine emperor tell us today? Quite a bit about the time and the political conditions of its place of origin. The completed research work dealt with the literary oeuvre of George of Pisidia, who lived from about 580 to 630 AD and was a writer at the court of emperor Heraclius in Constantinople at the beginning of the 7th century AD. Of the twelve surviving longer poetic works in Greek, some have survived in their entirety, others only in fragments. In total, George's poetic oeuvre comprises more than 5,600 verses, most of which are written in iambic metre. The focus of the literary analysis was on two works in particular: (1) the "Expeditio Persica", the "Persian Expedition", a poem written by George in 623 AD, in which he deals with the military campaign undertaken by emperor Heraclius in 622 and 623 against the Persians under the Sasanid rulers; (2) the poem "Bellum Avaricum", the "Avar War", which Pisides probably published in 626 AD and in which he addressed the topic of the siege of Constantinople by the Avars in the same year. It was the aim of the project to make the narrative strategies and literary themes of these Greek texts comprehensible. The use of various poetic forms of expression and rhetorical techniques was examined, with which the author expresses his praise of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. It is particularly striking that George of Pisidia incorporates elements of different ancient literary genres into his poems and interweaves them with numerous motifs from ancient myth and the Bible. Another characteristic feature of his style is his preference for vivid descriptions, which are intended to bring the narrative right before the eyes and minds of his audience. The fact that the poems are full of complex poetic imagery and learned allusions suggests that George wanted to appeal to an educated contemporary audience. Just like the poet himself, those who heard his poetic performances at the imperial court in Constantinople must have belonged to the circle of a well-educated court elite. The poems also prove to be highly revealing from a historical and political point of view. George of Pisidia aims to legitimize the rule of emperor Heraclius by promoting his military, political and religious agendas in his poems. The cultural and literary heritage of pagan antiquity and Christianity is thus used in a propagandistic manner for political purposes. As the works of George of Pisidia have hardly been dealt with in literary research so far, the project fills a gap and contributes to a better understanding of Greek literature in the transition period from late antiquity to the Middle Ages.