Aspects of reception of classical heritage in biography of despot Stefan Lazarević of Constantine the Philosopher

Abstract

The reception of the classical book heritage in the Biography of Despot Stefan Lazarević of Constantine the Philosopher (of Kostenec) is noticed through the conspicuous reminiscences on classical antiquity, but it is also manifested through the use of artistic procedures of classical literature and the author’s high estimate of the accomplishment of pre-Christian Greek thought. In the first two types of classicism Constantine surpasses other medieval Serbian writers, while in the third he is unique among them, so his relying on classical tradition in this work is the result both of literary conventions caused by the choice of the genre of secular biography and of his belonging to the most liberal section of medieval Christian intellectuals.

Keywords

• Byzantine model of reception of classical heritage
• rhetorical classicism by inertia
• rhetorical classicism of tendentious archaizing
• ideological classicism