CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Milenkovic, Dunja |
|---|---|
| Title | Competence and Competitivity of the Byzantine Intellectual: The Case of Theodore Prodromos |
| Summary | Competence and competitiveness are mutually intertwined. While competence provides individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to be superior in competitive situations, competitiveness is a motivational force that urges individuals to strive for competence. Thus, in the highly competitive intellectual environment of twelfth-century Byzantium, in which learned people without an aristocratic background struggled to acquire salaried posts in the bureaucracy, private or state-funded teaching positions, wealthy patrons who would finance their literary or artistic production, or the support of other private individuals who could hire them for their proficiency in their respective skills and disciplines, the display of one’s competence was crucial. One of these learned men was Theodore Prodromos (ca. 1100 - ca. 1158), renowned court poet and an important public figure. The Byzantine polymath procured his fame not only through his poetic endeavors but also as a teacher, rhetorician, and philosopher. Prodromos’s intellectual and literary versatility is attested in the enormous corpus of his works, which includes poetry, panegyric orations, monodies, theological writings, letters, and satirical, philosophical, astrological, and grammatical works. This thesis examines some of Prodromos's satirical, polemical, and philosophical works in which he, by fighting on behalf of the truth, conducts an examination that serves to expose either social follies, errors in knowledge and expertise, or both. By assuming the superior position of an examiner in these works, Prodromos not only expresses his criticisms in a competitive spirit but also displays his authoritative intellectual presence and competence. The thesis sheds light on Prodromos’s expertise in logic and philosophy not only as a teacher, but also as an independent thinker and philosopher. Additionally, the thesis provides deeper insight into the anxieties and struggles, as well as the ethical and intellectual criteria, of a Byzantine teacher, rhetor, and philosopher in twelfth-century Byzantium. |
| Supervisor | van den Berg, Baukje; Gereby, György |
| Department | Medieval Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/milenkovic_dunja.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University