Paul Silentiarius

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Paulus Silentiarius ( Paulos ; † before 581) was a Byzantine poet of the 6th century.

Through his friend, the historian and poet Agathias , some dates of his life have come down to us. Accordingly, he was a son of Cyrus and grandson of Floros and under Emperor Justinian the supreme ( primicerius ) of the 30 Silentiarii (hence the nickname), thus one of the highest officials of the imperial household.

His descriptive award poem for the inauguration of the restored Hagia Sophia at Epiphany in 563, the Ekphrasis ( Greek  Ἔκφρασις ) is well known. The poem consists of 1029 verses, of which the first 134 are iambic trimeters (prefaces to emperors and patriarchs), the rest are dactylic hexameters in the style of Nonnos .

Although Paul was certainly not a pagan, his work is based on the classical models. This applies to both the Ekphrasis and his epigrams , of which around 80 have come down to us in the Anthologia Palatina . Similar to Agathias, the epigrams also deal with erotic topics and are characterized by a certain heartiness:

Your wrinkles, Philinna, make me look more beautiful than all of them
Smoothness of youth, and more it attracts me, with a playing hand
to kiss your apples, which are already hard to lower their buds,
than the swelling breast of a blooming maiden.
Your autumn seems to me more delicious than the other's spring, and warmer
as their summer your winter seems to me to be.

literature

Editions and translations

  • Peter N. Bell (Ed.): Three Political Voices from the Age of Justinian: Agapetus - Advice to the Emperor; Dialogue on Political Science; Paul the Silentiary - Description of Hagia Sophia . Translated Texts for Historians . Liverpool 2010 (annotated English translation).
  • Paul Friedländer : Johannes von Gaza, Paulus Silentiarius and Prokopios von Gaza: Descriptions of the Justinian time. G. Olms, Hildesheim & New York 1969 (contains the text of the Ekphrasis).
  • Paolo Silenziario: Epigrammi. Edited by Giovanni Viansino. Loescher, Turin 1963 (Greek text and Italian translation).

Secondary literature

  • Maria Luigia Fobelli: Un tempio per Giustiniano. Santa Sofia di Costantinopoli e la Descrizione di Paolo Silenziario . Presentazione di Maria Andaloro. Viella, Rome 2005, ISBN 978-88-8334-162-5 (also contains the Greek text with Italian translation)
  • Rudolf Keydell : Paul (9). In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 567.
  • Mary Whitby: The Occasion of Paul the Silentiary's Ekphrasis of S. Sophia. In: The Classical Quarterly , New Series 35 (1). Pp. 215-228.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historiae 5.9.7 and Anthologia Palatina V 292f.
  2. ↑ In older research, January 6, 563 was often derived as the date of the lecture, but cf. however, the deliberate discussion in Mischa Meier : The other age of Justinian . Göttingen 2003, p. 271, according to which December 31, 562 can also be considered. Fobelli also dates from 562.
  3. ^ Herbert Hunger : The high-level profane literature of the Byzantines . Vol. 2, Munich 1978, pp. 166f.
  4. ^ Anthologia graeca V, 258. Quoted from: Hans-Georg Beck : Byzantinisches Erotikon. Beck, Munich 1986, ISBN 3-406-31309-4 , p. 89. Incidentally, this epigram inspired the Italian singer Angelo Branduardi to write his song La donna della sera .
personal data
SURNAME Paul Silentiarius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine poet
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century or 6th century
DATE OF DEATH before 581