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Luigi Silvano
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  • luigi.silvano@uniroma1.it
In early July of 1453, some six weeks after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, having escaped from Turkish captivity, managed to find shelter in Crete. From there he wrote letters (in Latin) to the Pope... more
In early July of 1453, some six weeks after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans, Cardinal Isidore of Kiev, having escaped from Turkish captivity, managed to find shelter in Crete. From there he wrote letters (in Latin) to the Pope and to the Western principalities, urging them to form a Christian coalition against Mehmet II. One of these was addressed to the Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari. This paper contains a new edition of this epistle, based on two previously disregarded manuscripts that allow for the correction of several mistakes in existing editions. The text is equipped with an Italian translation and a historical and philological commentary
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Les conciles œcuméniques de Nicée, Constantinople et Chalcédoine ont fixé et promulgué des professions de foi chrétiennes valables universellement. Pourtant, l’évolution de l’Église latine a conduit à modifier, avec le Filioque, un... more
Les conciles œcuméniques de Nicée, Constantinople et Chalcédoine ont fixé et promulgué des professions de foi chrétiennes valables universellement. Pourtant, l’évolution de l’Église latine a conduit à modifier, avec le Filioque, un Symbole qui était tenu pour sacré et invariable par les Églises orientales. Dès lors, l’instrument même de la communion devient objet de discorde et de polémique, surtout quand il s’agit de formaliser l’Union des Églises. De la fin de la période byzantine jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle, les controverses qui en découlent donnent lieu à diverses professions de foi qui sont ici analysées. Certains chapitres proposent une approche collective des implications de l’Union sur l’expression du Credo, tant à Byzance, Kiev, Rome ou Paris, que chez les chrétiens arabes. D’autre part, une attention particulière a été portée à des cas individuels, ceux d’empereurs ou d’impératrices comme Jean V Paléologue et Théodora Paléologina, ou de patriarches comme Jean Bekkos, Cyrille Loukaris et Dosithée de Jérusalem. De nouvelles éditions critiques de ces textes figurent en annexe de plusieurs chapitres.
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LUnion__couv.pdf
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Union__sommaire.pdf
Reviews: F. Ciccolella, «Renaissance Quarterly» 64/2, 2011, pp. 548-49; C. Kallendorf, «Neo-Latin News» 59/1-2, 2011, pp. 95-96; L. A. Sanchi, «Scriptorium» 65/1, 2011, nr. 225; C. Rammelt, «The Classical Review» 62/1, 2012, pp. 17-20;... more
Reviews: F. Ciccolella, «Renaissance Quarterly» 64/2, 2011, pp. 548-49; C. Kallendorf, «Neo-Latin News» 59/1-2, 2011, pp. 95-96; L. A. Sanchi, «Scriptorium» 65/1, 2011, nr. 225; C. Rammelt, «The Classical Review» 62/1, 2012, pp. 17-20; [s.a.] «Revue des Études Byzantines», 70, 2012, p. 348; C. Bevegni, «Maia» 2012; Ph. Ford, «Medioevo greco» 2012, 348-350
In: HENOCH 38 (2016/2) This paper provides a survey of the presence of female figures in some Byzantine visions of the other world. In describing the torments of sinners in hell, these tales present several women being punished for their... more
In: HENOCH 38 (2016/2)

This paper provides a survey of the presence of female figures in some Byzantine visions of the other world. In describing the torments of sinners in hell, these tales present several women being punished for their sexual misconduct. The same attitude can be observed in the life of st basil the Younger (10th century), where even a woman ultimately destined to heaven is shown guilty of sexual misdemeanors. The anonymous authors of these works (be they male or female) apparently share the mysoginist prejudices commonly found in Byzantine literature, where women are often depicted as naturally lecherous and lascivious temptresses.
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In HISTORIKA 6 (2016) The present study focuses on the Renaissance reception of a collection of four short orations in Latin purported to be translations from the Greek. Of these, the first three pretend to be assembly speeches by... more
In HISTORIKA 6 (2016)

The present study focuses on the Renaissance reception of a collection of four short orations in Latin purported to be translations from the Greek. Of these, the first three pretend to be assembly speeches by Aeschines, Demades and Demosthenes respectively, while the fourth one is a peroration allegedly addressed by Demosthenes to Alexander the Great. These four disocurses were indeed extrapolated from the medieval Supplement to Curtius Rufus (11 th -early 12 th century) by an anonymous scholar around the very beginning of the 15 th century and started circulating as self-standing pieces of Attic oratory. This paper investigates the reasons of the popularity these speeches enjoyed up to the Early Modern period, and try to determine whether and up to which extent were humanists and Renaissance readers unable to detect this forgery.
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In: BYZANTION 86 (2016) , pp. 367-418 ABSTRACT The ‘spiritually beneficial tale’ De Philentolo fornicatore, as it was termed by the Bollandist fathers, contains quite an original vision of the otherworld, in which a man is shown trapped... more
In: BYZANTION 86 (2016) , pp. 367-418

ABSTRACT
The ‘spiritually beneficial tale’ De Philentolo fornicatore, as it was termed by the Bollandist fathers, contains quite an original vision of the otherworld, in which a man is shown trapped between Hell and Heaven due to the perfect balance of his good and evil deeds – that is, on the one hand, his numerous charitable actions, and on the other, his repeated sexual sins. This paper aims to provide new insight into the origins and the reception of this tale, together with an edition of four Greek redactions (BHG 1322w, 1322xd, 1322x and 1322xc, the latter two previously unpublished).
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IN: L’Union à l’épreuve du formulaire. Professions de foi entre Églises d’Orient et d’Occident (XIIIe-XVIIIe siècle), eds. M.-H. Blanchet et F. Gabriel, Leuven 2016 (Collège de France – CNRS, Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation... more
IN: L’Union à l’épreuve du formulaire. Professions de foi entre Églises d’Orient et d’Occident (XIIIe-XVIIIe siècle), eds. M.-H. Blanchet et F. Gabriel, Leuven 2016 (Collège de France – CNRS, Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance. Monographies), pp. 29-38

ABSTRACT
An overview of the main features of professions of faith (confessiones fidei) written in Greek in the Byzantine-orthodox world in the 13th and 14th century
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Creators and Custodians of Religious Worship. Women in search of a special existence A brief documentation of the history of the little known Arabic nuns: the Mariamettes, tracing their origins and evolution in the nineteenth century... more
Creators and Custodians of Religious Worship. Women in search of a special existence

A brief documentation of the history of the little known Arabic nuns: the Mariamettes, tracing their origins and evolution in the nineteenth century through the words of R.P. Paolo M. Riccadonna SJ to the Jesuit Father General, Jan P. Rothaan. Father Riccadonna assisted a group of Arabic women who had been completely abandoned by their society assuring them shelter and spiritual guidance.  The description of this event was a marginal part of his history of the Jesuit's severe difficulties in their encounter with a local reality which had strong archaic traits, the Near East, and in which education was a luxury reserved to an elite, yet the cultural and linguistic mediation provided by these pious women was of vital importance to the Jesuit's first contacts with the local community. At the same time, in an Orient characterized by wide spread poverty, the convent provided women with an alternative to the only two possibilities offered them by their own society: the Harem or the street.
Marisa Patulli Trythall
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It is here provided the first edition of Bartolomeo Della Fontes’ translation into Tuscan vulgar of the Oratio ad Alexandrum. This short speech, which was quite popular during the Quattrocento in both Italy and the rest of Europe, is... more
It is here provided the first edition of Bartolomeo Della Fontes’ translation into Tuscan vulgar of the Oratio ad Alexandrum. This short speech, which was quite popular during the Quattrocento in both Italy and the rest of Europe, is purported to be the Latin translation of a Demosthenic work, but is indeed a medieval forgery. Yet Della Fonte, such as many of his contempora- ries, did not question at all the attribution of the text.
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In: Circolazione di testi e scambi culturali in Terra d'Otranto tra Tardoantico e Medioevo, a cura di A. Capone, con la collaborazione di F. G. Giannachi e S. Voicu, Città del Vaticano 2015 (Studi e Testi 489), pp. 121-167.
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A honorable man commits fornication with a woman, than kills her in order to obliterate the living proof of his sin. This motif is found in at least a couple of Byzantine saints’ lives (the Life of Jacob the monk and the Life of Lazaros... more
A honorable man commits fornication with a woman, than kills her in order to obliterate the living proof of his sin. This motif is found in at least a couple of Byzantine saints’ lives (the Life of Jacob the monk and the Life of Lazaros of Mount Galesion) and occurs also in the famous episode of Digenis and Maximò in the Grottaferrata version (G) of the Digenis Akritas.
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Observations on the topography of Byzantine Hell according to some  visions of the other world dating from the Late-Antiquity to the Mid-Byzantine period
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This article attempts to provide a classification of the manuscripts of the Dispute between an orthodox and a latinophron and supporter of Bekkos on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, a dialogue written by George Moschampar in 1278 A.D.... more
This article attempts to provide a classification of the manuscripts of the Dispute between an orthodox and a latinophron and supporter of Bekkos on the Procession of the Holy Spirit, a dialogue written by George Moschampar in 1278 A.D. In the appendices I offer a list of the titles of the treatise’s chapters (I), two specimina of edition of the Greek text (II-III), and the text of a so far unpublished fragment of Latin translation of the initial portion of the dialogue by Bonaventura Vulcanius, transcribed from the autograph MS Vulcanianus 9 of the University Library of Leiden (IV).
On July 6, 1453, Cardinal Isidoros of Kiev (ca. 1385-1463) wrote a letter to Pope Nicholas V from Crete, where he had had taken refuge after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. In this epistle, Isidoros describes the atrocities... more
On July 6, 1453, Cardinal Isidoros of Kiev (ca. 1385-1463) wrote a letter to Pope Nicholas V from Crete, where he had had taken refuge after the fall of Constantinople to the
Ottomans. In this epistle, Isidoros describes the atrocities perpetrated by the Turks within the city and asks the Pope to proclaim a crusade aimed at recovering the capital of the
Byzantine empire and at rescuing the Eastern christians. A partial transcription of this letter was published with an Italian translation by Agostino Pertusi in 1976 from the
codex unicus ms. Venice, Marc. lat. 496 (1688). The first edition of the complete text is provided here, together with a new Italian translation and a commentary.
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Un fil rouge traverse les siècles chrétiens depuis l’origine : la condamnation du schisme. Parallèlement à la différenciation lente et souterraine entre la chrétienté latine et les Églises d’Orient, l’Union continue d’être présentée comme... more
Un fil rouge traverse les siècles chrétiens depuis l’origine : la condamnation du schisme. Parallèlement à la différenciation lente et souterraine entre la chrétienté latine et les Églises d’Orient, l’Union continue d’être présentée comme une nécessité ecclésiologique et politique. Mais cette situation apparemment binaire n’offre-t-elle pas un face-à-face trompeur ? Si, de part et d’autre, une même doctrine présente l’unité de l’Église universelle comme un idéal à retrouver, c’est bien souvent la papauté qui est à l’origine des modalités imposées à cette « communion ». Du XIIIe au XVIIIe siècle, choisissant des moments clefs des diverses tentatives de réconciliation des Églises, effectives ou avortées, cet ouvrage se concentre sur les manières de pratiquer et de théoriser la « réduction » du parti avec lequel on est censé dialoguer. De l’Union de Lyon (1274) aux stratégies de conversion élaborées par la Congrégation romaine de la Propagande de la foi à l’époque moderne, avec quels outils chaque confession construit-elle son orthodoxie exclusive et autorisée ? Les auteurs de ce volume replacent dans son historicité particulière l’universalité revendiquée par les acteurs et examinent les dynamiques de la confrontation : tout en s’arc-boutant sur des thématiques bien déterminées (le Filioque, le pouvoir du pape, etc.), ces débats donnent lieu à des évolutions riches qui participent pleinement de l’histoire sociale et intellectuelle des rapports entre Orient et Occident dans la longue durée.


ISBN : 978-2-916716-40-4
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Notes on some humanist translations of the problemata of the Pseudo-Alexaned of Aphrodisias
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Innsbruck, LBI Neo-Latin Studies, Wednesday, 15.02.2017, 18:00
Zentrum für Alte Kulturen („Atrium“)
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Journées d'études "Cahiers d'écoliers de la Renaissance : bilan, enjeux, perspectives", Tours, 26-27 octobre 2015
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International conference "Il latino a Bisanzio / Latin in Byzantium ca. 400-800 AD", Roma, 6-7 maggio 2015
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Seminario «Falsi e falsari tra antichità e rinascimento”, Dottorato in Scienze Archeologiche, Storiche e Storico Artistiche, Università di Torino, 18 febbraio 2015
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«Donne d'Oriente Prima giornata di studi sulla donna nel mondo vicino-orientale e mediterraneo antico», Sapienza Università di
Roma, 6 dicembre 2013.
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Giornata di studio «Circolazione di testi e scambi culturali in Terra d'Otranto tra Tardoantico e Medioevo», Università del Salento, Lecce, 24 maggio 2013
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International Conference “Falsifications and Authority in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance”, Leuven, 6-7 December 2012
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Rencontre internationale «L’Union à l’épreuve du formulaire. Professions de foi entre Églises d’Orient et d’Occident (XIIIe-XVIIIe s.)» (Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, Collège de France / Institut d’Histoire de la Pensée... more
Rencontre internationale «L’Union à l’épreuve du formulaire. Professions de foi entre Églises d’Orient et d’Occident
(XIIIe-XVIIIe s.)» (Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, Collège de France / Institut d’Histoire de la
Pensée Classique, ENS Lyon), Paris, Faculté de théologie protestante, 21-23 February 2013
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International Conference «The Place of Hell. Topographies, Structures, Genealogies», King’s College, London and The Warburg Institute, London, 31 May-1 June 2013 AN EXPANDED VERSION OF THIS PAPER HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION WITHIN... more
International Conference «The Place of Hell. Topographies, Structures, Genealogies», King’s College, London and The Warburg Institute, London, 31 May-1 June 2013

AN EXPANDED VERSION OF THIS PAPER HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION WITHIN THE 2017 ISSUE OF Byzantion
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La Summer school ‘Cipro: un’isola nel tempo’ per l’edizione 2019 presenta una formula rinnovata e itinerante. Gli studenti alloggeranno a Larnaca e da qui ogni giorno partiranno alla volta di siti e parchi storico-archeologici, musei e... more
La Summer school ‘Cipro: un’isola nel tempo’ per
l’edizione 2019 presenta una formula rinnovata e
itinerante. Gli studenti alloggeranno a Larnaca e da qui
ogni giorno partiranno alla volta di siti e parchi storico-archeologici,
musei e luoghi di interesse paesaggistico.
Durante le escursioni verranno illustrati dallo staff
docente argomenti connessi con la storia e la
letteratura dell’isola, temi di cultura e lingua greca
antica, medievale e moderna, iconografia, archeologia
e storia dell’arte dalla preistoria al medioevo
bizantino, spiritualità ortodossa, antropologia e
folklore greco.
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