Medieval and Manuscripts

Byzantine romance

Byzantine romance represents a revival of the ancient Greek romance of Roman times. Works in this category were written by Byzantine Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire during the 12th century. Under the Comnenian dynasty, Byzantine writers of twelfth century Constantinople reintroduced the ancient Greek romance literature, imitating its form and time but somewhat Christianizing its content. Hence the Byzantine stories are traditional in their plot structure and setting (featuring complex turns of events taking place in the ancient Mediterranean, complete with the ancient gods and beliefs) but are also medieval, clearly belonging to the era of the Crusades as they reflect customs and beliefs of that time. A break of eight centuries exists between the last surviving romance work of late antiquity and the first of this medieval revival. Only four of these works exist today, just one of which is written in prose: Hysimine and Hysimines by Eustathios Makrembolites. Two are in the dodecasyllable metre: Rodanthe and Dosikles by Theodore Prodromos and Drosilla and Charikles by Niketas Eugenianos. And one is in "political verse," Arístandros and Kallithéa by Constantine Manasses, but exists only in fragments. Within these Romance novels, the erotic kiss was a delicate ritual phenomenon for characters. Besides the relationship with the Orthodox religion, the erotic kiss was also an important catalyst in the characters' loving affairs. Of these four romances, one had been translated into English before the twenty-first century: Ismene and Ismenias, a Novel by L.H. Le Moine, (London and Paris: 1788).

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See also

• ▸Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism
• ▸Arctic Cordillera
• ▸Busbridge Church

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