Marinos Phalieros

Marinos Phalieros , also Marinos Falieros ( Greek Μαρίνος Φαλιέρος ) is a previously not clearly identified Venetian- Cretan poet of the 15th or 16th century, the time of the Venetocracy , the Venetian rule over Crete during the Renaissance and early modern times .

Five poems are ascribed to him:

1. Ερωτικόν ενύπνιον (“Erotic Dream”): A short poem of 124 verses about a dream of the speaker in which Eros enlightened him about the secrets of love and the relationship between love and fate; when he tries to embrace his lover, Fortuna appears ; at that moment he is woken up by the crowing of a rooster and can no longer fall asleep.
2. Ιστορία και όνειρο ("History and Dream"): A dramatic dialogue of 758 verses, whose characters are the speaker, the goddess Fortuna, the beloved Athousa and her servant Pothoula. Again in the dream Fortuna appears to the speaker and after a lecture on the Trinity of Fate leads him to the house of Athousa. Fortuna, the speaker and Pothoula try to convince them of the sincerity of the speaker's love, and even swear an oath on it. When the speaker thought all problems had been resolved, he woke up stung by a flea.
3. Θρήνος εις τα πάθη και την σταύρωσιν του Κυρίου και Θεού και Σωτήρος ημών Ιησού Χριστού ( "complaint about the suffering and crucifixion of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ"): A mystery play of 402 verses about the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus; the Jew Tzadok explains the Hebrew letters to the speaker in a pictorial representation of the crucifixion, an explanation that is interrupted by a short dialogue between a Christophilos and Tzadok. The lamentations of Mary take up about two thirds of the work, other biblical and fictional characters appear. It is one of the rare religious dramas in Byzantine literature .
4. Ρίμα παρηγορητική ("consolation poem in rhymes"): A consolatory letter (consolation letter) to a certain Benedetto da Molin from Crete, the only example of this genre in Byzantine literature.
5. Λόγοι διδακτικοί (" Discourses "): Religious "discourses" addressed to the son Marco on the path of virtue and the human choice of life in a volume of 322 verses. Probably from the period between September 1521 and June 1523.

Influence of Italian literature can be assumed for all poems , in a number of cases it can be proven precisely.

The poet probably belonged to the Cretan branch of the noble Falier family and thus probably descended from one of the four members of the Venetian family who were among the first colonists who came to Crete in 1211. The 55th Doge Marino Faliero (1274–1355), who was executed and of the same name, came from the Venetian branch of the family , but he has no other relation to the poet. However, the sources offer two people of this name for identification with the poet:

1. Marinos, son of Marco (* before 1397 - † June 1474), married to Fiorenza Zeno, daughter of the Lord of Andros , Pietro Zeno;
2. Marinos, son of Francesco and grandson of the aforementioned (* around 1470; † probably in the second half of 1527), married to Zizilia Abramo.

Earlier research had taken the younger of the two to be the poet. The newer editors of the poems, Willem F. Bakker and Arnold F. van Gemert , cannot assign them with certainty either, but now assume that the older of these two men wrote all the poems mentioned.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On Judaism in Crete at that time, see Joshua Starr: Jewish Life in Crete Under the Rule of Venice . In: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 12, 1942, pp. 59-114.

literature

• Lexicon of the Middle Ages , Vol. IV, Col. 239.
• Willem F. Bakker , Arnold F. van Gemert (ed.): Θρήνος εις τα πάθη και την σταύρωσιν του Κυρίου και Θεού και Σωτήρος ημών Ιησού Χριστού , ποιηθείς παρά του ευγενεστάτου άρχοντος κυρού Μαρίνου του Φαλιέρου . Κριτική έκδοση. Hērakleio: Panepistēmiakes ekdoseis Krētēs, 2002, ISBN 960-524-149-8 . Review by: Walter Puchner , in: Südost-Forschungen 64–65 (2004–2005) 667–669.
• Arnold F. van Gemert (Ed.): Μαρίνου Φαλιέρου Ερωτικά όνειρα . Με εισαγωγή, σχόλια και λεξιλόγιο. Thessalonikē, 1980 (Βυζαντινή και Νεοελληνική Βιβλιοθήκη, 4).
• Willem F. Bakker, Arnold F. van Gemert (eds.): The Λόγοι διδακτικοί of Marinos Phalieros. A critical edition with introduction, notes, and index verborum . Leiden: Brill, 1977 (Byzantina Neerlandica, 7), ISBN 90-04-04856-1 . Google Books: [1]
• Arnold F. van Gemert: Marinos Falieros en zijn both randesdromen . Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1973 (Academisch proefschrift 1973)
• Willem F. Bakker, Arnold F. van Gemert (eds.): The Ρίμα παρηγορητική of Marinos Phalieros. A critical edition with introduction, notes, and index verborum , in: WF Bakker, AF van Gemert, WJ Aerts (eds.): Studia Byzantina et Neohellenica Neerlandica. Leiden: Brill, 1972 (Byzantina Neerlandica, 3), ISBN 90-04-03552-4 , pp. 74-198. Google Books: [2]
• Γεώργιος Θ. Ζώρας : Ο ποιητής Μαρίνος Φαλιέρος . In: Κρητικά Χρονικά 2 (1948).
• Γεώργιος Θ. Ζώρας (Ed.): Μαρίνου Φαλιέρου Ρίμα παρηγοριτική (κατά τον κώδικα 1549 της Λαυρλεντιακής Βιτλιθε ητίς της). Athens, 1956.