Mercurii Grammatici Opera iambica / edidit Theodora Antonopoulou.

Introduction -- 1. Merkourios the Grammarian -- 2. Contents, models, and structure of the works -- 3. Genres, functions, and reasons of composition -- 4. Metre -- 5. Vocabulary -- 6. Manuscript and editions -- 7. The present edition -- Mercurii Grammatici opera iambica -- 1. Carmen iambicum in S. Theodorum Stratelatem (BHG 1753k) -- 2. Carmen iambicum in S. Theodorum Tironem (BHG 1763m) -- 3. Carmen iambicum in Annuntiationem (BHG 1049b) -- 4. Canon iambicus in S. Iohannem Chrysostomum -- Indices

This is the first critical edition of the literary corpus of a minor Byzantine poet, the formerly little-known Merkourios the Grammarian (Mercurius Grammaticus). He wrote after AD 1100 and can probably be identified with the homonymous student of Maximos Planoudes. A dating of his dossier to the so-called “early Palaeologan renaissance“ is, thus, plausible. Merkourios composed four dodecasyllabic poems with a total of ca. 2,190 verses. The two longer ones, which are published here for the first time, are hagiographical rewritings (metaphrases) concerning Sts Theodore Teron and Theodore Stratelates. The third poem is a rewriting of a pseudo-Chrysostomic homily on the Annunciation, whereas the fourth, hymnographic work is an iambic canon on St John Chrysostom. The latter two works were previously published in obscure and inadequate editions.

These texts are particularly noteworthy on account of their literary forms and help acquiring a more precise picture of the extent of Byzantine hagiographical and homiletic literature in verse on the one hand, and iambic hymnography on the other. The edition also contributes towards the completion of the Greek hagiographical, hymnographic, and homiletic dossiers of Sts Theodores, St John Chrysostom and the Annunciation respectively.

The present edition is preceded by an original introduction on the poet and the poems, focussing on their contents, models, structure, genres, possible functions and reasons of composition, metre, vocabulary, manuscript tradition and, where applicable, previous editions. The final chapter presents the editorial principles. The establishment of the text is accompanied by detailed apparatuses, mainly the critical apparatus as well as the apparatus of sources and significant parallel passages. A series of indices completes the work.

Texto original en griego, introducción en inglés.