MASARYK UNIVERSITY
Faculty of arts
HABILITATION THESIS
Florin Leonte (Palacky University Olomouc)
2021
Ethos, Logos, and Perspective: Studies in Late
Byzantine Encomiastic Rhetoric
Florin Leonte
2021
Masaryk University
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Table of Contents
Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4
Chapter One. Ethos in late Byzantine court rhetoric (c. 1350-1453) ............ 23
In search of ethos: the personal perspective................................................ 33
In search of ethos: the impersonal perspective........................................... 54
A comparative typology of ethos in late Byzantine rhetoric .................... 67
Functions of ethos ........................................................................................... 82
Conclusion: ethos, persuasion, and authority in Late Byzantine
encomiastic rhetoric................................................................................................... 92
Chapter Two. Epideictic Logos: Between Idealism and Pragmatism.......... 96
Devices and styles of praise........................................................................ 105
Conclusion: use and distribution of formal devices in praise............... 139
Composition and Layers of Meaning in the Late Byzantine Epideictic
Discourse................................................................................................................... 144
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 196
Chapter Three. Visions of Empire: Gaze, Space, and Territory in Isidore’s
Encomium for John VIII Palaiologos .............................................................................. 200
Introduction .................................................................................................. 200
The Text ......................................................................................................... 204
The Spatial Turn and Rhetoric ................................................................... 210
Experiencing Space: Visualization, Ethos, and Gaze............................... 216
Dividing the Byzantine Realm: Types of Space....................................... 223
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Functions of Spatial Representations: Rhetoric and Symbols ............... 243
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 251
Chapter Four. Beyond Praise. Didacticism and Epideictic Discourse in
Joseph Bryennios’ Forty-Nine Chapters (c. 1402).................................................... 254
Introduction .................................................................................................. 254
The Forty-Nine Chapters: purpose, composition, models........................ 259
The didactic content of the Forty-Nine Chapters: virtues and sins......... 267
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 288
Afterword.......................................................................................................... 290
Appendix: A list of late Byzantine encomiastic texts ................................. 295
Demetrios Kydones ..................................................................................... 295
Bessarion........................................................................................................ 296
Manuel II ....................................................................................................... 298
Makarios Makres.......................................................................................... 300
John Chortasmenos...................................................................................... 301
John Eugenikos............................................................................................. 303
Mark Eugenikos ........................................................................................... 304
Demetrios Chrysoloras................................................................................ 305
Manuel Chrysoloras .................................................................................... 307
Anonymous................................................................................................... 309
Isidore, Metropolitan of Kiev ..................................................................... 309
Michael Apostoles........................................................................................ 311