The Politics and Poetics of Paul the ...
Document type :
Autre communication scientifique (congrès sans actes - poster - séminaire...): Communication dans un congrès avec actes: Conférence invitée
Title :
The Politics and Poetics of Paul the Silentiary’s Ekphrasis of Hagia Sophia
Author(s) :
Conference title :
Ekphrasis and the Visual Imagination in Antiquity
City :
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Country :
Etats-Unis d'Amérique
Start date of the conference :
2019-05
English keyword(s) :
Ekphrasis, Hagia Sophia
English abstract : [en]
My paper focuses on what is said and, more importantly, on what is not said by Paul the Silentiary in his monumental poetic ekphrasis of Hagia Sophia. I will consider the poem as a political act with an implicit argumentative ...
Show more >My paper focuses on what is said and, more importantly, on what is not said by Paul the Silentiary in his monumental poetic ekphrasis of Hagia Sophia. I will consider the poem as a political act with an implicit argumentative strategy that seeks to attribute agency to the Emperor Justinian, to Constantinople and to Hagia Sophia herself, by systematically downplaying or ignoring the contributions of other actors. Given what we know about the regime of Justinian and of the role and nature of panegyric in Late Antiquity, this is not surprising. What I would like to suggest is that this is an intrinsic function of ekphrasis as it was understood in Antiquity and particularly of ekphraseis that describe the manner in which something was done or constructed.Show less >
Show more >My paper focuses on what is said and, more importantly, on what is not said by Paul the Silentiary in his monumental poetic ekphrasis of Hagia Sophia. I will consider the poem as a political act with an implicit argumentative strategy that seeks to attribute agency to the Emperor Justinian, to Constantinople and to Hagia Sophia herself, by systematically downplaying or ignoring the contributions of other actors. Given what we know about the regime of Justinian and of the role and nature of panegyric in Late Antiquity, this is not surprising. What I would like to suggest is that this is an intrinsic function of ekphrasis as it was understood in Antiquity and particularly of ekphraseis that describe the manner in which something was done or constructed.Show less >
Language :
Anglais
Peer reviewed article :
Non
Audience :
Internationale
Popular science :
Non
Collections :
Source :