Christophoros of

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...

( gr, Χριστόφορος Μυτιληναῖος, Christophoros Mytilenaios; ca. 1000 – after 1050) was a Greek-language poet living in the first half of the 11th century. His works include poems on various subjects and four Christian

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a phy ...

Biography

Christopher was born in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, and lived in the neighbourhood Sphorakiou for most of his lifetime. He was an important official, holding high ranks such as ''

patrikios The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned aft ...

'', ''

protospatharios ''Prōtospatharios'' ( el, πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes. History Th ...

'', and ''

krites Through the 5th century Hellenistic political systems, philosophies and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the eastern Greek-speaking Mediterranean due to the intervention of Important religious figures there such as E ...

'' (judge) of the themes of

Armeniakon The Armeniac Theme ( el, , ''Armeniakoi hema'), more properly the Theme of the Armeniacs (Greek: , ''thema Armeniakōi'') was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in northeastern Asia Minor (modern Turkey). History The Armen ...

and

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; el, Παφλαγονία, Paphlagonía, modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; tr, Paflagonya) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus t ...

. Events described in his poems suggest that he started writing in the reign of

Romanos III Romanos III Argyros ( el, Ρωμανός Αργυρός; Latinized Romanus III Argyrus; 968 – 11 April 1034), or Argyropoulos was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople wh ...

(1028–1034), but most poems can be dated to the reign of

Constantine IX Constantine IX Monomachos ( grc-x-medieval, Κωνσταντῖνος Μονομάχος, translit=Kōnstantinos IX Monomachos; 1004 – 11 January 1055), reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita ...

(1042–1055), an emperor who favoured culture and literature.

Works

Various Verses (στίχοι διάφοροι) is the title of his collection of 145 poems, which covers a wide range of genres and topics. The collection seems to have been arranged chronologically. The text of many poems is severely damaged. The metre of most poems is the

dodecasyllable Dodecasyllable verse ({{Lang-it, dodecasillabo) is a line of verse with twelve syllables. 12 syllable lines are used in a variety of poetic traditions. Jacob of Serugh (c. 451 – 29 November 521), a Miaphysite Bishop of Batnan da-Srugh, also ...

, but for some Christopher uses the

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable ...

. Their language is an artificial

Homeric Greek Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used by Homer in the '' Iliad'', '' Odyssey'', and Homeric Hymns. It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, ...

Elegiac couplet The elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years late ...

s and

anacreontics Anacreontics are verses in a metre used by the Greek poet Anacreon in his poems dealing with love and wine. His later Greek imitators (whose surviving poems are known as the ''Anacreontea'') took up the same themes and used the Anacreontic meter. ...

occur as well. The content of these poems is very heterogeneous. The most remarkable among them are satirical. In these poems Christopher makes fun of unsuccessful chariot drivers, cheated husbands, hypocritical monks, pseudo-intellectuals, etc. Other poems are directed against the mice devouring his books, and an owl that prevents him from sleeping. Many poems are

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...

s with a religious content, touching on Biblical figures or Christian feasts. Some longer poems are funeral orations for his mother and his sister. Some describe historical events, such as the death of Romanos III and the riots of 1042. The longest poem is an

encomium ''Encomium'' is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is ''laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the song sung by the ...

on the spider. The rest of the collection is filled with

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

riddle A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requ ...

s, dedicatory epigrams, and the like. Christopher composed also four

s in four different metres (hexameter, dodecasyllables,

stichera A sticheron (Greek: "set in verses"; plural: stichera; Greek: ) is a hymn of a particular genre sung during the daily evening (Hesperinos/Vespers) and morning ( Orthros) offices, and some other services, of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Cat ...

, and canones), commemorating all the saints and feasts of the Orthodox Christian liturgical year. Christopher's poetry is characterized by a witty tone seldom found in Greek poetry of this period. The mix of Christian and classical elements and the self-asserting intellectual elitism are distinguishing features, which link him to other poets of the period, like

John Mauropous John Mauropous ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Maurópous'', lit. " John Blackfoot") was an Eastern Roman poet, hymnographer, and author of letters and orations, who lived in the 11th century. Life John Mauropous was born in Paphlagonia around 1000. ...

and

Michael Psellos Michael Psellos or Psellus ( grc-gre, Μιχαὴλ Ψελλός, Michaḗl Psellós, ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to ha ...

, who also were responding to the cultural climate under

References

*E. Kurtz, ''Die Gedichte des Christophoros Mytilenaios'' (Leipzig, 1903). *E. Follieri, ''I calendari in metro innografico di Cristoforo Mitileneo, I. Introduzione, testo e traduzione, II. Commentario e indici'' (Bruxelles, 1980). * * Livanos, Christopher, "Justice, Equality, and Dirt in the Poems of Christopher of Mytilene," ''Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik'', 57 (2007). * C. De Stefani, "Notes on Christophoros of Mytilene and Konstantinos Stilbes," ''Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik'', 58 (2008), * M. De Groote, "Christophori Mytilenaii Versuum uariorum Collectio Cryptensis", CCSG 74, (Turnhout, 2012), . {{Authority control 11th-century Byzantine people Byzantine governors Byzantine poets Patricii People from Constantinople Protospatharioi 11th-century Byzantine writers