Theodore Prodromos
Theodore Prodromos | |
|---|---|
| Born | Theodore Prodromos |
| Died | 1170? Eastern Roman Empire |
| Nationality | Byzantine Greek |
| Alma mater | University of Constantinople |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Constantinople |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael Italikos |
| Doctoral students | Nikephoros Blemmydes |
Theodore Prodromos or Prodromus (Greek: Θεόδωρος Πρόδρομος; c. 1100 – c. 1165/70), probably also the same person as the so-called Ptochoprodromos (Πτωχοπρόδρομος "Poor Prodromos"), was a Byzantine Greek writer, well known for his prose and poetry.
Biography
Very little is known about his life. Further developing a genre begun by
Works in literary language
The literary activity of Theodore Prodromos was vast and versatile, and there survive many of his writings in the literary Byzantine Greek language. Taking example by
and many other writings.Ptochoprodromos
One collection of four poems, written in the vernacular, has passed down to us under the name of "Ptōchopródromos", however it has still not been established with certainty whether these poems were written by him or by someone who was imitating, or possibly even parodying, the true Theodore Prodromos. An attempt was made at resolving the problem of authorship by putting forward a hypothesis that there had actually been two poets of the same name. The evidence was found in one verse among the Ptochoprodromic writings, where the author praises the "famous writer, harmonious swallow", who was his "friend and predecessor". However, in distinguishing which poems belong to whom of the two poets, one comes across the unsurpassable obstacles. It was also suggested, without much evidence, that one Prodromos died in 1152, and the other in 1166.
The basic part of the Ptochoprodromic writings consists of five laments and begging poems, which are marked as ABCDE. The poem A laments over the poet's garrulous wife and calls for help from emperor John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143). The poem B is addressed to a sebastokrator and begs for charity to improve the menu. The poem C, addressed to emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), relates a young monk's complaint over scandalous living circumstances in his monastery. The poem D is only a parallel of the poem C. The poem E describes a Byzantine writer.
The
