Eustathios Makrembolites ( el, ; ''fl. c.'' 1150–1200), Latinized as Eustathius Macrembolites, was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

revivalist of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

romance, flourished in the second half of the 12th century CE. He is sometimes conflated/equated with his contemporary, the Eparch of the City Eumathios Makrembolites ( el, ). His title ''

Protonobilissimus ''Nobilissimus'' (Latin for "most noble"), in Byzantine Greek ''nōbelissimos'' (Greek: νωβελίσσιμος),. was one of the highest imperial titles in the late Roman and Byzantine empires. The feminine form of the title was ''nobilissima'' ...

'' shows him to have been a person of distinction and, if he is also correctly described in the manuscripts as chief keeper of the ecclesiastical archives, he must have been a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. He was the author of a

Byzantine novel Byzantine romance represents a revival of the ancient Greek romance of Roman times. Works in this category were written by Byzantine Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire during the 12th century. History Under the Comnenian dynasty, Byzantine writ ...

, ''The Story of Hysmine and Hysminias'', in eleven books. Although he borrowed from

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

and other

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

poets, the chief source of his phraseology was the rhetorician

Choricius of Gaza Choricius of Gaza ( el, Χορίκιος) was a Gaza-based Greek sophist and rhetorician of Late Antiquity. With writings dating to the early sixth century, he flourished in the time of Anastasius I (AD 491–518) as a scholar and public orator. H ...

. The style is remarkable for the absence of hiatus and a laboured use of

antithesis Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...

. The digressions on works of art, apparently the result of personal observation, are considered by some scholars the best part of the work. The novel enjoyed a later influence in connection with the story tradition of

Apollonius of Tyre Apollonius of Tyre is the subject of an ancient short novella, popular in the Middle Ages. Existing in numerous forms in many languages, the text is thought to be translated from an ancient Greek manuscript, now lost. Plot summary In most versi ...

—Eustathius' scene of the storm at sea and the heroine offered as a sacrifice being adapted in Book 8 of the

Confessio Amantis ''Confessio Amantis'' ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. Accord ...

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civ ...

and, by way of that, forming a portion of the plot of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was pu ...

'' (particularly in Act III). A collection of eleven ''Riddles'', of which solutions were written by the grammarian Manuel Holobolos, is also attributed to Eustathius.

Editions

* Isidor Hilberg (1876), edition of both romance and riddles, with critical apparatus and prolegomena, including the solutions. He fixes the date of Eustathius between 850 and 988. *M. Treu (1893), edition of the ''Riddles'' alone. *''Four Byzantine Novels'', translated with introductions and notes by Elizabeth Jeffreys, Liverpool University Press, 2012. Includes English translation of ''Hysmine and Hyminias''.

Notes

References

* This work in turn cites: ** J. C. Dunlop, ''History of Fiction'' (1888), new ed. in Bohn's Standard Library **

E. Rohde Erwin Rohde (; 9 October 1845 – 11 January 1898) was one of the great German classical scholars of the 19th century. Rohde was born in Hamburg and was the son of a doctor. Outside of antiquarian circles, Rohde is known today chiefly for h ...

, ''Der griechische Roman'' (1900) **

Karl Krumbacher Karl Krumbacher (23 September 1856 – 12 December 1909) was a German scholar who was an expert on Byzantine Greek language, literature, history and culture. He was one of the principal founders of Byzantine Studies as an independent academic ...

, ''Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur'' (1897) {{DEFAULTSORT:Makrembolites, Eustathios Riddles 12th-century Byzantine people 12th-century Byzantine writers Eustathios