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Throughout the centuries Byzantium's ambitious authors were conscious of the significance of literary registers for the reception of their texts. They deliberately made use of stylistic elements or refrained from using certain features in order to reach their target audience. There are certain groups of texts dating from various periods where these stylistic elements can be tracked precisely by comparison of two or even more versions with their model text. Such examples of rewriting can be found particularly within genres with a broader audience appeal, namely hagiography and historiography. It is in both genres that we encounter metaphrastic processes, in terms of stylistic elaboration and in terms of stylistic simplification. As well as stylistic reshaping, metaphrasis may also encompass the addition or removal of literary and/or thematic aspects. All these processes signify intent as well as authorial interpretation. Frequently, the ideological orientation of a text is refurbished through rewriting. Teasing out these strands for exploration helps to supply a potential wealth of information on the author (if known), cultural (social, religious, historical) context, and creative ability, as well as levels of education and literacy.

Byzantine literature --- History and criticism --- Symeon Metaphrastes --- Réécriture --- Littérature byzantine

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Metaphrasis: A Byzantine Concept of Rewriting and Its Hagiographical Products represents a first and authoritative discussion of rewriting in Byzantium. It brings together a rich variety of articles that treat the topic of hagiographical rewriting from various angles.The contributors discuss and comment on different kinds of texts in Greek and other languages, including Apophthegmata Patrum , Passions, Saints' Lives, Enkomia, Miracle Collections, Synaxaria , and Menologia which date from late antiquity to late Byzantium. The volume offers a series of case studies examining how the same legends evolved through time by the process of rewriting. It is shown that the main driving force behind such rewriting was adaptation to different audiences and contexts. This work argues that rewriting is central to Christian cultures in the Middle Ages.

Christian hagiography --- Christian literature, Byzantine --- History and criticism --- Criticism, Textual --- Byzantine literature --- Hagiography, Christian --- Hagiography --- 235.3 "04/14" --- 235.3*32 --- 235.3*32 Oosterse hagiografische bronnen --- Oosterse hagiografische bronnen --- 235.3 "04/14" Hagiografie--Middeleeuwen --- 235.3 "04/14" Hagiographie--Middeleeuwen --- Hagiografie--Middeleeuwen --- Hagiographie--Middeleeuwen --- History and criticism. --- Christian hagiography - History and criticism --- Christian literature, Byzantine - Criticism, Textual --- Symeon Metaphrastes --- Réécriture --- Christian hagiography. --- Christian literature, Byzantine. --- Hagiographie chrétienne --- Criticism, Textual. --- Histoire et critique.