EDUCATION AND POLITICS IN IAKOVOS ARGEIOS’S ORATION ADDRESSED TO CONSTANTINE BASSARABA (1708)
| Autor: | Vasileios Tsiotras |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Icoana Credintei. 7:61-91 |
| ISSN: | 2393-137X 2501-3386 |
| DOI: | 10.26520/icoana.2021.13.7.61-91 |
| Popis: | Iakovos Argeios (ca 1660-1736), dean of the Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople, authored in 1708 a lengthy encomiastic oration in honor of John Constantine Bassaraba Brancoveanu, the prince of Wallachia. This oration remained almost totally unknown to researchers. The main purpose of the present article is to edit this interesting text, in order to give the opportunity to study not only its content but also its connection with the political situation and the educational program of the Patriarchal Academy. It is delivered by three manuscripts, but only one is accessible: cod. Beinecke ms 295 (XVIII ce.), which was cautiously and diligently copied by the Phanariot Scholar Nikolaos Karatzas (1705-1787). Iakovos Argeios taught rhetoric theory and practice, a course that was introductory to the upper course of philosophical studies. As it emerged through the text analysis, the speech is written in the context of the rhetorical lecture and therefore had to implement all the principles of the literary genre of encomium, as mentioned in the handbooks of ancient and contemporary rhetoricians (Hermogenes, Aphthonius and Korydalleus). Yet, there is a basic difference: the present oration is a royal oration, which means that Iakovos had to use additional sources (Menander the Rhetor and Synesius). Furthermore, the existence and the content of the speech allows us to draw conclusions about Bassarava’s involvement in the administration and financial support of the Patriarchal Academy and Iakovos’s political ideas on the ideal ruler, the skills and qualities he must possess in order to exercise effective administration. This oration is not a slavish praise, full of flattery; it is an excellent example of the rhetorical eloquence of the famous Aristotelian professor. Iakovos gives us an ideal picture of Wallachia, as seen through the eyes of Constantinopolitan Greeks: the country of Constantine Bassaraba was the refuge for all the Orthodox. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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