PLANIFICACIÓN DEPARTAMENTAL

In a letter of Michael Choniates, addressed to Euthymios Tornikes, to Karystos,257 _the

Latins are connected to a special aspect of culture, poetry. Tornikes and his friends are praised for their capability of composing ἰαμβισμοί, σίλλοι and Italian φάμουσα.258 _{These praises}

suggest that Tornikes and his circle were familiar with the genres of Ancient Greek and Latin literature, and could compose in them, even if their knowledge did not surpass that familiarity to a great extent, and it is not very probable that they understood Classical Latin.

Ἰαμβισμόνrefers to the satirical genre of the ἴαμβος, tracing back its origins to Archaic Greek literature, its most consequent characteristic being its insulting voice.259 _{Σίλλον can be}

identified with Classical σίλλος, which, according to the Greek literary tradition, was a genre established by the Pyrrhonist philosopher, Timon of Phleios (ca. 320 BC – ca. 230 BC), who composed a collection of them which was divided into three books, under the title Σίλλοι, relying heavily on the tradition of the moralising diatribe cultivated by the Cynic school.260

Finally, φάμουσον, generally designating slanderous, libellous texts,261 _{in that case}

refers to the genre of φάμωσσα. Φάμωσσα has its roots in the Latin term ‘carmina famosa’,

257 _{Karystos was a town on the southern coast of the island of Euboia. KODER, Johannes: Karystos. In KODER,}

Johannes – HILD, Friedrich: Tabula Imperii Byzantini Bd. 1. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften. Bd. 125. Wien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1976, pp. 183-184, p. 183.

258 _{Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ὡς ἰαμβισμόν τινα παλαιὸν ἢ σίλλον ἄλλον ἢ ἰταλικὸν φάμουσον ἀποτριβόμενοι ἀλλήλοις οἷον}

ἐνεπλάσσετε, καὶ τὸ καλοῦν ὑμᾶς γράμμα, μέγαν ἐμὸν κόσμον ὃν ἐτορνεύσατο φιλία, πλατωνικῶς φάναι, τοῦ ἐμπεδοκλείου σφαίρου καινότερον, εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀκόσμως διαστάντες κατὰ νεῖκος σφαιρηδὸν ἠκοντίζετε, ὡς εἴθε γε καὶ προσαθύροντες. In KOLOVOU 2001, p. 185.

259_{WEST, Martin: Iambus.In WEST, Martin: Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus. In DÖRRIE, Heinrich – MORAUX, Paul}

(Eds.): Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte. Band 14. Berlin – New York, De Gruyter, 1974, pp. 22-39, p. 22.

260 _{BETT, Richard, "Timon of Phlius", In ZALTA, Edward N. (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter}

2018 Edition), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/timon-phlius/>. Last accessed 5 November 2019.

261 _{Cf. φάμουσον (φάμοσον) In LAMPE, G. W. H. (Ed.): A Patristic Greek Lexicon. Oxford, University Press, 1961,}

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that is, ‘infamous songs’ also known as ‘famosa libelli’, which were satirical and offensive verses composed to criticise the person chosen as their subject, whose group ranged from private citizens to emperors.262 _{The Suda, the most important Byzantine lexicon, identified it}

as a satirical genre,263 _{and mentioned the case of the emperor Iovianus (363–364), who}

became the subject of vitriolous φάμωσσα, because he handed over the strategically important Mesopotamian city of Nisibis to the Sasanian Empire, causing a public outrage within the Roman state.264

Relying upon these facts, the use of the ethnonym ‘Italian’ could evoke the knowledge of Tornikes and other educated members of the audience about the Classical Latin origins of the genre of φάμωσσα, the close connection between this culture and Italy, and the relationship between the Latin-speaking inhabitants of Italy in Late Antiquity and its contemporary populace, which spoke various Italian dialects. Moreover, given the use of the terms ‘Latin’ and ‘Italian’ as synonyms for Westerners in 13th_{-century Byzantine culture, this}

ethnonym can even be interpreted as a designation of all Western Christians, tying all of them to the cultural heritage of Ancient Latin culture.

Whether the term refers to only Italians or Westerners in general, such a solution enhances the cultural standing of the group in question through tying it to a respected literary genre to one of these communities, both usually portrayed as culturally backward groups compared to the Byzantines in mainstream Byzantine culture and also in the epistolographic corpus of Choniates himself. Furthermore, it also establishes a connection between the Byzantines, regarding themselves as the Greek-speaking inheritors of the Ancient Latin- speaking Romans and the Italians/Westerners, who also appear as connected to the latter group.

Although Choniates makes these concessions, he still obviously sees great differences between the Byzantines and the ‘Italians’. Even if both communities have their respective ties to the Ancient Romans, they are still understood as different ethnocultural groups and the Byzantine relationship to Ancient Rome is definitely much stronger, given the contexts of

262 _{AGOSTI, Gianfranco: Late Antique Iambics and Iambikè Idea. In CAVARZERE, Alberto – ALONI, Antonio –}

BARCHIESI, Alessandro (Eds.): Iambic Ideas. Essays on a Poetic Tradition from Archaic Greece to the Late Roman Empire. Lanham – Boulder – New York – Oxford, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001, pp. 219-255, p. 240.

263 _{Φάμωσσα. ἀπέσκωπτον δὲ εἰς Ἰοβιανὸν ᾠδαῖς καὶ παρῳδίαις καὶ τοῖς λεγομένοις φαμώσσοις In ADLER, Ada:}

Suidae lexicon, 4 vols. [Lexicographi Graeci 1.1-1.4. Leipzig: Teubner, 1.1:1928; 1.2:1931; 1.3:1933; 1.4:1935]: 1.1:1-549; 1.2:1-740; 1.3:1-632; 1.4:1-854. Vol. 4. p. 696, Φ 64. Henceforth ADLER 1928–1935.

264 _{οὗτος μετὰ Ἰουλιανόν, ὡς εἴρηται, τῆς Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας ἐγκρατὴς γενόμενος, πάντων καταφρονήσας}

ἐσπούδαζε τοῦ συμβάντος αὐτῷ ἀξιώματος ἀπολαῦσαι, καὶ φεύγων ἐκ Περσίδος ἔσπευδε γενέσθαι τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἐθῶν ἐντὸς εἰς ἐπίδειξιν τῆς τύχης, καὶ τὴν Νίσιβιν πόλιν τοῖς Πέρσαις, πάλαι Ῥωμαίοις οὖσαν κατήκοον, ἐκδίδωσιν. ἀπέσκωπτον οὖν αὐτὸν ᾠδαῖς καὶ παρῳδίαις καὶ τοῖς καλουμένοις φαμώσσοις, διὰ τὴν τῆς Νισίβιδος προδοσίαν In ADLER 1928–1935, pp. 638-639, Ι 401, p. 638.

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Byzantine elite culture and the letter corpus of Choniates. Similarly, the perceived gap in cultural niveau narrows down but it does not close, as it is supported by the same contexts and the fact that Choniates mentions two, definitely Ancient Greek genres before the φάμωσσα.

In another letter of him, Choniates describes an unclear monetary transaction between an unnamed Latin and a certain Peter the Monk, a person otherwise unknown. The letter was written to a grammatikos in Thebes and displays numerous wordplays on copper. Two details of this letter are of interest for this study. First, Choniates states that small copper coins are known as noummi by the Italians and as oboloi by the Atticans.265 _{Second, he states that the}

Latin taking part in the business gave the noummi to Peter the Monk for certain products.266

Choniates here displays his classical erudition once again. The reference to oboloi as a denomination made of copper in Attica describes the currency system of Classical and Hellenistic Athens, while the reference to noummoi in Italy has to mean the Italikos noummos, which became the smallest denomination of the Roman monetary system by the reforms of Diocletianus (284–305).267

Later, the noummos lost its role as an extant denomination, but the Greek language preserved its memory, as noummos leptos and simply noummos served as synonyms for small change in Byzantium.268 _{The unknown Latin person, who bought some products, most}

probably of low value, from Peter the Monk, just like the monk himself, seems to be of superficial interest for Choniates, their business serving merely as an à propos for the wordplays the archbishop wanted to show to the unnamed grammatikos.

However, the fact that small exchange copper coins were known as noummi in contemporary Byzantium and that Choniates states that the Italians use the very same name for them, also demonstrates a common point between Byzantine and Latin culture, regarding a peculiar financial aspect of them. It is even possible that the anonym grammatikos (suggesting an educated person) was aware of this circumstance and its historical roots, although it is far from being sure.

265 _{Οἷα ἐπιστέλλειν καὶ γράφειν οἷός τε ὢν ἐλάνθανες, ὦ θαυμάσιε! Ἀλλὰ χάρις τοῖς νούμμοις μὲν κατ’ Ἰταλοὺς,}

κατ’ ἀττικοὺς δὲ ὀβολοῖς In KOLOVOU 2001, p. 163.

266 _{Ὁ γὰρ Λατῖνος τοὺς νούμμους ἀντιστρέψας τῷ μοναχῷ Πέτρῳ, παρ’ αὐτὰ πάλιν ἀναδοῦναί οἱ ἀπῄτησεν. In}

KOLOVOU 2001, p. 164.

267 _{HENDY, Michael F.: Studies in Byzantine Monetary Economy, c. 300–1450. Cambridge, University Press, 1985,}

p. 453. Henceforth HENDY 1985.

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V.2. A Taste Most Questionable? Latin Textiles Worn by Byzantine