Hunting descriptions in Theodore Daphnopates’ letters: some observations on the development of hunting motifs in Byzantine literature

Abstract

Theodore Daphnopates is an outstanding Byzantine author of the 10th c. Two Daphnopates’ letters contain detailed descriptions of hunting: one of these describes hare chace, another extolls the emperor Romanos II, who presented Theodoros the game, which he had hunted. Both ekphraseis, completely untypical for the 10th c., represent the beginning of new literary trends, which will achieve their full development during the subsequent period. Daphnopates’ innovation can be perceived in two aspects: for the first time, since the Late Antiquity, hunting becomes an object of a full-scale ekphrasis; for the first time in centuries the encomiastic image of an emperor as skillful hunter is revived in the court rhetoric. Later, in the 12th c. ekphrasis of hunting will become a specific rhetorical subgenre, and the image of emperor as warrior and hunter will be the cornerstone of the official ideology.

Keywords

• феодор дафнопат, константин vii багрянородный, македонский ренессанс, византийская литература, эпистолография, историография, экфрасис, охота