Niketas Eugenianos
Niketas Eugenianos (Νικήτας Εὐγενειανός; fl. 12th century) was a Byzantine rhetor and writer.
His life is almost entirely unknown to us. The main sources are his own works. He was a pupil of Theodore Prodromos and a preceptor of Stephen Komnenos, the son of Constantine Komnenos.[1]
Niketas wrote several works both in prose and in verse, including three monodies for the death of his teacher Theodore Prodromos (one in prose, two in verse), two epithalamia, a collection of epigrams — including one on the heroine of the Aethiopica by Heliodorus, whose attribution is however debated between Niketas and Theodore Prodromos — and a monody for Stephen Komnenos.[2]
His best known work is a Greek novel in dodecasyllables (three sections are in hexameters: III 263–288 and 197–320, songs, and VI 205–235, a lament), titled Drosillas and Charikles,[3] which was written "in imitation of the most blessed philosopher Prodromos".[4] Prodromos composed a novel in nine books, titled Rhodantes and Dosikles, which Niketas used as a source of inspiration.[5] The novel is also inspired by Achilles Tatius and Heliodorus[6] and possibly by Eustathios Makrembolites.[7]
Editions
[edit]- Eugenianos, Niketas (1819). Boissonade, J. F. (ed.). Narratio amatoria. Vol. I–II. Paris: S. & J. Luchtmans.
- Boissonade, J. F. (1856). "Romanciers Byzantins: Nικήτου τοῦ Εὐγενειανοῦ τῶν κατὰ Δροσίλλαν καὶ Χαρικλέα βιβλίων θʹ". In Hirschig, W. A. (ed.). Erotici scriptores. Paris: A. F. Didot: reprint of Boissonade 1819.
- Hercher, R., ed. (1859). Erotici scriptores Graeci. Vol. II. Lipsiae: B. G. Teubner. pp. 437–552.
- Eugenianos, Niketas (1990). Conca, F.; Giusti, A. (eds.). De Drosillae et Chariclis amoribus. London Studies in Classical Philology, 24. Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben. ISBN 978-90-70-26595-3: reference ed. for the novel.
- Conca, F., ed. (1994). Il romanzo bizantino del XII secolo. Classici greci. Turin: UTET. pp. 305–497. ISBN 88-02-04826-6: Italian translation based on Conca & Giusti 1990.
- Jeffreys, E., ed. (2012). Four Byzantine Novels. Translated Texts for Byzantinists, 1. Liverpool: University Press. pp. 339–458. ISBN 978-1-84631-825-2: English translation based on Conca & Giusti 1990.
References
[edit]- ^ Conca 1994, p. 21.
- ^ Jeffreys 2012, pp. 341–342.
- ^ Jeffreys 2012, p. 344.
- ^ According to the title in MS. Par. gr. 2908 (P): ποίησις κὺρ Νικήτου τοῦ Εὐγενειανοῦ [Poem by sir Niketas Eugenianos] κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ μακαρίτου φιλοσόφου τοῦ Προδρόμου. Conca 1994, p. 21 argues that this inscription is not particularly revealing as to the date of composition.
- ^ Jeffreys 2012, pp. 342–343.
- ^ Conca 1994, pp. 23–39.
- ^ Jeffreys 2012, pp. 348–350.
