Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici (DSU)

The ironical processes and the allusions to contemporary events in Herodotus' Histories have recently aroused a growing interest among scholars, with a special focus on his concern about «Athenian imperialism». Specifically, the importance of herodotean irony per analogiam has been recently recognized in the first section of Socles' speech (V 92 βε) about Cypselus' deeds. The aim of this paper is to point out -drawing on the distinction between the intradiegetic and extradiegetic levels of the discoursethe remarkable allusions to contemporary Athens also in the second section of the same speech (V 92 ζη), devoted to Periander's carrier, and to show Herodotus' interest in «rise and fall» pattern.

Couvenhes -Plutarco e la guerra: ragioni e bilancio di un seminario / Plutarque et la guerre : raisons et bilan d'un séminaire Réalité et idéal de la guerre chez Plutarque Pascal Payen -La tradition critique sur la guerre dans les Vies Parallèles : problèmes de narration et dénonciation Luisa Prandi -Plutarco, gli storici e la guerra: per un commento ad Alex., 1, 2 (μᾶλλον ἢ μάχαι μυριόνεκροι καὶ παρατάξεις αἱ μέγισται καὶ πολιορκίαι πόλεων) Roberto Nicolai -I discorsi militari nelle Vite parallele di Plutarco Lia Raffaella Cresci -La τόλμα del comandante nelle Vite plutarchee: virtù o vizio? Maria Teresa Schettino -Les vertus militaires de l'homme d'État dans les Vies romaines de Plutarque Jean-Marie Kowalski -Blessures physiques, blessures psychiques chez Plutarque Tactique et stratégie militaire chez Plutarque Jean-Nicolas Corvisier -Les risques du métier de général dans le monde de Plutarque Matteo Zaccarini -"La più grande e bella tra le gesta". Plutarco e la monomachia

References to Greek mythology and history are quite frequent in George of Pisidia's epic panegyric poems. However, such references are adapted to a Christian perspective, a fact which is evident in the representation of the Persians and especially in the use of the exemplum of Xerxes.

Based on the analysis of Decl. mai. 16 and Decl. min. 274, this contribution focuses on the political theories of tyranny and tyrannical power and analyses the legitimacy of tyrannicide according to [Quintilian]’s Major and Minor Declamations. The potential connections between the themes on tyrants developed in these collections and the contemporary historical context of Greece and Rome are also explored.

This is a philological research on a primary source about the life of Symeon the New Theologian, written by his disciple Nicetas Stethatos. We analyze two short texts inserted in the Capita theologica et pratica et gnostica of Symeon and by a study on manuscripts tradition and Philokalia we note a familiarity with the life of the saint written by Nicetas, assuming that our texts are a survival from the lost Vita in extenso.

For Byzantium the relationship and the cohabitation with the Islamic-Turkish world are inexorable necessity to know and to understand the last centuries of the Greek Empire. Nevertheless at the beginning of 14 th Century the process of formation of Turkish emirates in the Western lands of Asia Minor meant an absolute novelty for the political and religious scene of Byzantium. Necessary and constant exchanges, the aggressive policy of the numerous emirates, the need to rely on them to work out the institutional muddle of the civil wars have been reasons of acceleration of the phenomenon which have finally led to the end of the Empire. Obviously other elements – seemingly unrelated – have contributed: the convulsive development of the palamitic debate, the social changes and the troubled relationship with the Latin World are only the main factors. To be interested to the perception of the Turkish danger is a necessary engagement to fully understand the 14 th Century. We must consider that the main figures who debated about the Islamic-Turkish matters are the same who played an important role in the religious and political life at that time (John VI Cantacuzenus, Gregory Palamas, Callistus I patriarch). But there are some other factors for the urgency of the study we offer. First of all the renewed interest that it finds in the scientific literature. Then we have to consider the lack of comprehensive studies available on the matter. The Khoury's works, for now the summa for everyone who likes to approach the byzantine antislamic controversy, don't deal with 14 th Century authors or writings. The convergence of these three elements (relevance of the matter, renewed interest and lack of comprehensive studies) have persuaded us to take up this matter. Our work is divided into five parts: the presentation of four dossiers and a conclusion that revalues and upgrades the materials we gathered. Indeed other sources have allowed us to enlarge the objective of our observations. So we have been able to define a significant overview. First of all we have selected four areas of research according to the importance and dimension of the available works. So we have focused our attention on authors and documents relating to the middle of 14 th Century: documents from the archives of the

Adel Theodor Khoury critiqued the anti-Islamic literature of the Palaiologan
era as lacking in originality, arguing that it deviated from earlier Byzantine models by
incorporating Western influences. Concurrently, studies on the processes of Islamisation
and Turkification in Anatolia have variously emphasised episodes of coexistence and
the mutual exchange of religious practices. In this paper, the Author aims to reassess
Khoury’s assumptions by analysing several case studies in which the direct encounter
by the Byzantines with Turkish and Islamic practices enabled Palaiologan writers to
introduce novel polemical arguments
–
arguments that were neither rooted in earlier
traditions nor derived from Western sources.