{"id":167,"date":"2017-10-28T12:35:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-28T09:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/?p=167"},"modified":"2017-10-28T12:35:42","modified_gmt":"2017-10-28T09:35:42","slug":"byzantine-language-society-and-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/167\/byzantine-language-society-and-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"Byzantine language, society and creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can we really speak about Byzantine Greek as an artificial language? Let\u2019s read a sentence from the Alexiad:<\/em> \u201c\u1f45 \u03b3\u03b5 \u03bb\u1f79\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f41 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f31\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u1f77\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c1\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u1f7d\u03c4\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b3\u1f77\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c7\u03c1\u1f79\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u1fe5\u03b5\u1f7b\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f35\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c1\u1f79\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u1f00\u03ba\u1f71\u03b8\u03b5\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7b\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u1fe5\u03bf\u1f74\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f10\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7 \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u1f79\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c0\u1f71\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u0375 \u1f41\u03c0\u1f79\u03c3\u03b1 \u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u1f77\u03bb\u03b7\u03c6\u03b5\u0375 \u03be\u03c5\u03bd\u1f73\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c6\u1f77\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f10\u1fb7 \u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u1f77\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03bb\u1f75\u03b8\u03b7\u03c2 \u03b2\u03c5\u03b8\u03bf\u1f7b\u03c2.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then a sentence by Prodromos, a writer who used the popular language of the time: \u201c\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9 \u03b4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03be\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u1ff6\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03bc\u03bf\u03c7\u03b8\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03bd, \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03c6\u03bf\u03b2\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9, \u03b4\u03ad\u03c3\u03c0\u03bf\u03c4\u03b1, \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f30\u03c4\u03b1\u03bc\u03c9\u03b4\u03b5\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2, \u03bc\u03ae\u03c0\u03c9\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bc\u1f72 \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9, \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f51\u03c0\u03ac\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03bd \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u1f41\u03c3\u03c0\u03af\u03c4\u03b9\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u1f70 \u03bc\u1f72 \u03c0\u03b9\u03c4\u03c4\u03b1\u03ba\u03ce\u03c3\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b4\u03bf\u03ba\u03ae\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is there a great distance between these two forms?\u00a0Even if we wanted for the Byzantines not to have used the Attic dialect, it would have been incorrect to accuse them of speaking an artificial language, for two reasons; first, because Attic is not an artificial language, and second, because Attic (Byzantine or classical) and popular\/modern Greek, are different forms of the same<\/em> language.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In case that Byzantine popular was a different language, then, again, we should not speak about Byzantine Attic as an artificial, but as a foreign<\/em> language. When I speak English, being myself a Greek, I don\u2019t use an artificial language, but a foreign language. If I was a modern Englishman using Shakespeare\u2019s English, I would use a different form of English, not an artificial language. Since both are forms of the same language, Byzantine Attic is neither artificial nor foreign, but just a different form, which Byzantine authors preferred, admiring the classical authors and enjoying the very sense of tradition and continuity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was their sense of continuity servile? This is another important question we should ask, not only to understand them, but also to understand ourselves.\u00a0Byzantines\u2019 main priority was faith. I remind this, because priorities determine the ways of productivity: we should not judge the Byzantines (or the ancient Greeks) from their scientific or technological endeavors. Both Byzantium and Ancient Greece developed science and technology to a surprisingly small degree given their abilities for such a development, arrested as they were by ultimate metaphysical realities, victory over death and the passing to the other life. Their degree of progress and development should be estimated in the context of how they wanted to live, not of how we want.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is Byzantine Theology insignificant? Not only modern Orthodox thinkers, but also Catholic and Protestant recognise its significance, some of them (again, not only the Orthodox) considering it to be the most important theology Christianity ever arrived at. The same can also be said about their iconography. Can such a creativity be attributed to a servile and an artificial mind? If yes, shouldn\u2019t we envy them for their servility rather than condemn them? But creation is not a characteristic of spiritual servitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is there something here that we miss, something we need to understand, in order to approach the Byzantine world?\u00a0Many people, even post-liberation Greeks, admire the West for its creativity in science and technology, even in literature and arts. All-encompassing doubt, which is at the roots of science and of a literature that follows the most extreme and opposite ways, is impossible in a world of a concrete, revealed, personal and ascertained faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can see this even in the difference between Plato and Aristotle, where the first fixes his mind to the other life, uses the mythical dimension in order to initiate his pupils to the mysteries of deification, etc. while the second, a marginal thinker in the course of Greek thinking, explores and questions everything leveled by the same scientific and lowly manner. West developed as it did, not only when it knew the ancient Greeks, who were always the familiar and desirable education of Byzantines, but when it lost its faith. The more atheist it became, the more its science developed, along with a literature penetrated by agony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Therefore, compared with modern West, Byzantium presents the paradox of an immovable movement that lasted for over\u00a0 a millennium, because it lacked the existential agony which is present in meta-medieval atheist societies. Instead of that kind of creativity, Byzantium gave to its peoples a coherent society in a living meaning that they shared, explored, praised… This, on the other hand, did not permit an expanding-to-all-dimensions thinking, even to the dimension of quasi-thinking and quasi-literature of e.g. Marquis de Sade and the like, that the West produced and admires; it did not permit also totalitarian ideologies as is nazism and communism, ending to the present condition of raw consumerism and free-market cannibalism, started already in medieval West, not only in Genoa and Venice, but in all the Crusading countries which, instead of gaining the Holy Lands, ravaged the Byzantine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t have it all. We can\u2019t have, not only de Sade, but even Malte\u2019s notebook, in a society of real, living, personal and conscious faith. To prefer Malte from faith, is aesthetism, and when Vasilief and others speak about a supposed Byzantine stagnation, they are guided precisely by this aesthetism. We are absorbed by a world of creating Everything, the very reality which resembles a ghost and a fiction, a toy at the disposal of our Cartesian all-deciding Ego. This makes our thinking on Byzantium unfair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cf. A Short History of Greek Mathematics and Astronomy<\/a> * A History of the Byzantine Empire<\/a>\u00a0 * Constantinople Home Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can we really speak about Byzantine Greek as an artificial language? Let\u2019s read a sentence from the Alexiad: \u201c\u1f45 \u03b3\u03b5 \u03bb\u1f79\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f41 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f31\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u1f77\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c1\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u1f7d\u03c4\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03b3\u1f77\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03c7\u03c1\u1f79\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5 \u1fe5\u03b5\u1f7b\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f35\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c4\u03c1\u1f79\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03bd\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u1f00\u03ba\u1f71\u03b8\u03b5\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1f7b\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u1fe5\u03bf\u1f74\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f10\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7 \u03b3\u03b9\u03bd\u1f79\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b1 \u03c0\u1f71\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u0375 \u1f41\u03c0\u1f79\u03c3\u03b1 \u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u1f77\u03bb\u03b7\u03c6\u03b5\u0375 \u03be\u03c5\u03bd\u1f73\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c6\u1f77\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f10\u1fb7 \u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u1f77\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_disable_autopaging":false},"categories":[16,13,317,10],"tags":[1104,85,1103,678,551,118,89,1107,95,1106,1066,5683,1110,1109,1105,1108],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greek-art","category-greek-history","category-greek-language","category-orthodox-christianity","tag-alexiad","tag-aristotle","tag-attic-dialect","tag-byzantine-greek","tag-byzantines","tag-byzantium","tag-constantinople","tag-genoa","tag-greek","tag-marquis-de-sade","tag-modern-greek","tag-plato","tag-prodromos","tag-shakespeare","tag-speak-greek","tag-venice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ellopos.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}