Digenis Acritas
Encyclopedia
Digenes Akrites known in folksongs as Digenes Akritas , is the most famous of the Acritic Songs
. The epic details the life of its eponymous hero, Basil, a man, as the epithet ("Two Blood Border Lord" or "Twain-born Borderer") signifies, of mixed Roman (Byzantine) and Syrian blood. The first part of the epic details the lives of his parents, how they met, and how his father, an Emir, converted to Christianity after abducting and marrying Digenes' mother. The remainder of the epic discusses, often from a first-person point of view, Basil's acts of heroism on the Byzantine border.
versions (or G, 3749 lines), from the names of the libraries in which the respective manuscripts are held. While the form (or forms) in which it has survived is not the product of oral composition, it has nevertheless retained a considerable number of features of its oral origins. The common core of the two versions preserved in the E and G manuscripts goes back to the twelfth century. The text of E appears to be closer to the original composition while G represents a version that is heavily marked by learned reworking. Both texts give enchanting descriptions of the life of the martial societies of the border regions of the empire, while in the figure of Digenes are concentrated the legends that had accumulated around local heroes. The Escorial version is the superior of the two in respect of the power and immediacy of the battle scenes and austerity of style. The epic descriptions of the mounted knights and battles are marked by drama, a swift pace and lively visual detail.
. The Akritai of the Byzantine Empire
of this period were a military class responsible for safeguarding the frontier regions of the imperial territory from external enemies and freebooting adventurers who operated on the fringes of the empire. The work comprises two parts.
In the first, the "Lay of the Emir", which bears more obviously the characteristics of epic poetry, an Arab
emir invades Cappadocia
and carries off the daughter of a Byzantine general. The emir agrees to convert to Christianity
for the sake of the daughter and resettle in Romania
(Ρωμανία, the lands of the Ρωμηοί or mediaeval and early modern Greeks) together with his people. The issue of their union is a son, Digenes Akrites.
The second part of the work relates the development of the young hero and his superhuman feats of bravery and strength. As a boy, he goes hunting with his father and kills two bears unarmed, strangling the first to death and breaking the second's spine. He also tears a hind
in half with his bare hands, and also slays a lion in the same manner. Like his father, he carries off the daughter of another Byzantine general and then marries her; he kills a dragon
; he takes on the so-called apelates (ἀπελάται), a group of bandits, and then defeats their three leaders in single combat. No one, not even the amazingly strong female warrior Maximu, with whom he commits the sin of adultery
, can match him. Having defeated all his enemies Digenes builds a luxurious palace by the Euphrates
, where he ends his days peacefully. Cypriot
legend has it that he grabbed hold of the Pentadaktylos ("Five Fingers") mountain range in occupied Cyprus in order to leap to Asia Minor
(present-day Turkey
). The mountain range, as the name suggests, resembles five knuckles sprouting from the ground.
The Digenis continued to be read and enjoyed in later centuries, as the text survives in various versions dating to as late as the 17th century. The epic tale of Digenes Akrites corresponds in many ways to a cycle of much shorter Acritic songs
, from especially Asia Minor
, Cyprus
and Crete
, some of which survived till today. In the later tradition Digenes is eventually defeated only by Death
, in the figure of Thanatos
/Charos, after fierce single combat on "the marble threshing floors". Thanatos had reportedly already wrestled with Heracles
.
. Rhyming occurs rarely.
The poem does not diverge from the standard political verse
of popular Byzantine literature. Each line holds its own and every hemistich is carefully balanced. The poem flows, is cadential, with no cacophonies with very scarce sound repetitions.
Below is an excerpt from the translation of the Escorial manuscript, lines 32-54, by E.M. Jeffreys
(pp. 241–2):
.
Acritic songs
The Acritic songs are the heroic or epic poetry that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably in the 9th century. The songs celebrated the exploits of the Akrites, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire. The historical background was the almost...
. The epic details the life of its eponymous hero, Basil, a man, as the epithet ("Two Blood Border Lord" or "Twain-born Borderer") signifies, of mixed Roman (Byzantine) and Syrian blood. The first part of the epic details the lives of his parents, how they met, and how his father, an Emir, converted to Christianity after abducting and marrying Digenes' mother. The remainder of the epic discusses, often from a first-person point of view, Basil's acts of heroism on the Byzantine border.
Manuscript
The Digenes Akrites is an extensive narrative text, although it is not in a pure epic-heroic style. No less than six manuscripts have been found dedicated to stories about him. The oldest two being the Escorial (or E, 1867 lines) and GrottaferrataGrottaferrata
Grottaferrata, Italy is a small town and comune in the province of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, 20 km south east of Rome. It is bounded by other communes, Frascati, Rocca di Papa, Marino, and Rome.-History:...
versions (or G, 3749 lines), from the names of the libraries in which the respective manuscripts are held. While the form (or forms) in which it has survived is not the product of oral composition, it has nevertheless retained a considerable number of features of its oral origins. The common core of the two versions preserved in the E and G manuscripts goes back to the twelfth century. The text of E appears to be closer to the original composition while G represents a version that is heavily marked by learned reworking. Both texts give enchanting descriptions of the life of the martial societies of the border regions of the empire, while in the figure of Digenes are concentrated the legends that had accumulated around local heroes. The Escorial version is the superior of the two in respect of the power and immediacy of the battle scenes and austerity of style. The epic descriptions of the mounted knights and battles are marked by drama, a swift pace and lively visual detail.
Storyline
The Byzantine - Arab conflicts that lasted from the 7th century to the early 11th century provide the context for Byzantine heroic poetry written in the vernacular Greek languageGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. The Akritai of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
of this period were a military class responsible for safeguarding the frontier regions of the imperial territory from external enemies and freebooting adventurers who operated on the fringes of the empire. The work comprises two parts.
In the first, the "Lay of the Emir", which bears more obviously the characteristics of epic poetry, an Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
emir invades Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
and carries off the daughter of a Byzantine general. The emir agrees to convert to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
for the sake of the daughter and resettle in Romania
Romania (disambiguation)
Romania is a modern nation-state, located in South-East Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula.Romania may also refer to:* Romania , currently represented by thirty-three MEPs...
(Ρωμανία, the lands of the Ρωμηοί or mediaeval and early modern Greeks) together with his people. The issue of their union is a son, Digenes Akrites.
The second part of the work relates the development of the young hero and his superhuman feats of bravery and strength. As a boy, he goes hunting with his father and kills two bears unarmed, strangling the first to death and breaking the second's spine. He also tears a hind
Hind
The word Hind may refer to:* A female red deer* al-Hind , also Hind - The people of India or Indian subcontinent...
in half with his bare hands, and also slays a lion in the same manner. Like his father, he carries off the daughter of another Byzantine general and then marries her; he kills a dragon
European dragon
European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
; he takes on the so-called apelates (ἀπελάται), a group of bandits, and then defeats their three leaders in single combat. No one, not even the amazingly strong female warrior Maximu, with whom he commits the sin of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, can match him. Having defeated all his enemies Digenes builds a luxurious palace by the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
, where he ends his days peacefully. Cypriot
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
legend has it that he grabbed hold of the Pentadaktylos ("Five Fingers") mountain range in occupied Cyprus in order to leap to Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
(present-day Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
). The mountain range, as the name suggests, resembles five knuckles sprouting from the ground.
The Digenis continued to be read and enjoyed in later centuries, as the text survives in various versions dating to as late as the 17th century. The epic tale of Digenes Akrites corresponds in many ways to a cycle of much shorter Acritic songs
Acritic songs
The Acritic songs are the heroic or epic poetry that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably in the 9th century. The songs celebrated the exploits of the Akrites, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire. The historical background was the almost...
, from especially Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
and Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, some of which survived till today. In the later tradition Digenes is eventually defeated only by Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
, in the figure of Thanatos
Thanatos
In Greek mythology, Thanatos was the daemon personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appearing in person...
/Charos, after fierce single combat on "the marble threshing floors". Thanatos had reportedly already wrestled with Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
.
Form
The Digenes Akrites is written in early Demotic Greek and is composed in fifteen syllable blank verseBlank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
. Rhyming occurs rarely.
The poem does not diverge from the standard political verse
Political verse
Political verse , also known as Decapentasyllabic verse is a metric form in Modern Greek poetry. It is an iambic verse of fifteen syllables and has been the main meter of traditional popular and folk poetry since the Byzantine period...
of popular Byzantine literature. Each line holds its own and every hemistich is carefully balanced. The poem flows, is cadential, with no cacophonies with very scarce sound repetitions.
Below is an excerpt from the translation of the Escorial manuscript, lines 32-54, by E.M. Jeffreys
Elizabeth Jeffreys
Elizabeth Jeffreys is the former Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Literature at the University of Oxford. She was a Professorial Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford from 1996 to 2006, and a Professor Emerita from 2006 to present....
(pp. 241–2):
| Line | Original | Translation |
| [32] | Ευθύς εκαβαλίκευσαν, 'ς τόν κάμπον κατεβαίνουν. | They mounted at once and they came to the battlefield. |
| [33] | Ώς δράκοντες εσύριζαν και ως λέοντες εβρύχουντα | They hissed like serpents, they roared like lions, |
| [34] | και ώς αετοί επέτουντα και εσμίξαν οι δύο. | They soared like eagles, and the two clashed. |
| [35] | Και τότε να ειδής πόλεμον καλών παλληκαρίων | And then you could see a fight between fine brave youths. |
| [36] | και από της μάχης της πολλής κρούσιν διασυντόμως | In the heat of the battle they struck continuously, |
| [37] | και από τον κρύπον τον πολύν και από το δός και λάβε | and from the great clashing and the cut and thrust |
| [38] | οι κάμποι φόβον είχασιν και τα βουνά αηδονούσαν, | trees were uprooted and the sun was darkened, |
| [39] | το αίμαν εκατέρεεν εις τα σκαλόλουρά των | Blood flowed down over their horse-trappings |
| [40] | και ο ίδρος τους εξέβαινε απάνω απ'τα λουρίκια. | and their sweat ran out over their breastplates. |
| [41] | Ήτον γάρ του Κωνσταντή γοργότερος ο μαύρος, | Constantine’s black horse was speedier, |
| [42] | και θαυμαστός νεώτερος ήτον ο καβαλάρης. | and its rider was a marvellous young man. |
| [43] | κατέβηκε εις τον αμιράν και κρούει του ραβδέα | He charged at the emir and struck him a blow with his stick, |
| [44] | και εχέρισεν ο αμιράς να τρέμη και να φεύγη. | and then the emir began to tremble and flee. |
| [45] | Σαρακηνός ελάλησεν τον αμιράν της γλώσσης: | A Saracen addressed the emir in his own tongue: |
| [46] | "Πιάσε, μούλε, τον άγουρον, ταχέως να τον νικήσης, | "Seize the youngster, my lord, and grab a quick victory, |
| [47] | μή εις σύντομόν του γύρισμα πάρτη κεφαλήν σου. | so that he doesn’t take your head off with his sudden turn. |
| [48] | Αυτός καλά σ'εσέβηκεν τώρα να σε γκρεμνήση. | He has made a fine attack on you and now he might finish you off. |
| [49] | Εγώ ουδέ τον εγνοιάζομαι να τον καταπονέσης, | I don’t think, my lord, you are going to do him much harm, |
| [50] | αλλά μή το καυχάσεται ότι έτρεψε φουσάτα." | but don’t let him boast that he routed an army." |
| [51] | Και ο αμιράς ως το ήκουσεν, μακρέα τον αποξέβην, | When the emir heard this, he withdrew some way from the youth, |
| [52] | έριψεν το κοντάριν του και δάκτυλόν του δείχνει | he threw away his spear and showed him his finger, |
| [53] | και μετά του δακτύλου του τοιούτον λόγον λέγει: | and with this gesture said these words: |
| [54] | "Να ζής, καλέ νεώτερε, εδικόν σου είναι το νίκος." | "May you live and rejoice, young man, for victory is yours." |
Sources
- Mavrogordato, John. Digenes Akrites. Oxford, 1956. The Grottaferrata version with parallel English translation.
- Beaton, Roderick and David Ricks (edd.). Digenes Akrites: New Approaches to Byzantine Heroic Poetry. Aldershot: King's College LondonKing's College LondonKing's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, 1993. ISBN 0860783952. Articles by Magdalino, Alexiou, JeffreysElizabeth JeffreysElizabeth Jeffreys is the former Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Literature at the University of Oxford. She was a Professorial Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford from 1996 to 2006, and a Professor Emerita from 2006 to present....
, Mackridge and others. - Beaton, Roderick. The Medieval Greek Romance. London: CUPCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1996. ISBN 0-415-12032-2 (hardback), 0415120330 (paperback). Much improved 2nd ed. Good discussion of the Digenes Acrites. - Jeffreys, Elizabeth. Digenis Akritis. Cambridge: CUPCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1998. ISBN 0-521-39472-4 (hardback). Escorial & Grottaferrata versions with parallel English translation. - Bartikyan, Hrach. "Armenia and Armenians in the Byzantine Epic," in Digenes Akrites: New Approaches to Byzantine Heroic Poetry (Centre for Hellenic Studies, Kings College London). David Ricks (ed.) Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum, 1993 ISBN 0-8607-8395-2.
Further reading
- Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire - The Macedonian epoch (867-1081) Includes an extensive discussion of the Digenis Acrites
- Hesseling, D. C. Le roman de Digenis Akritas d'après le manuscrit de Madrid, 1911–1912, 537pp. Bartikyan, HrachHrach BartikyanHrach Mikayeli Bartikyan is an Armenian academician and specialist on Byzantine and Armenian studies. The author of over 200 books, articles and monographs, he is a full member of the Armenian Academy of Sciences and heads its Department of the Middle Ages...
. "Замeтки o Византийскoм эпoce o Дигeнce Aкpитe." Византийский временник, т. 25, 1964. - Legrand, Émilie. Recueil de chansons populaires Grecques, Paris, 1904, 23pp.