Pejorative Connotations of the Ethnonym “Syrian” in Some 9th Century Byzantine Literary Works

Pejorative Connotations of the Ethnonym “Syrian” in Some 9th Century Byzantine Literary WorksИндоевропейское языкознание и классическая филологияSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/E2H4ESI4/tei

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

2025-05-20-05:00

Born digital.

CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Dmitry E.AfinogenovPejorative Connotations of the Ethnonym “Syrian” in Some 9th Century Byzantine Literary Workshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/E2H4ESI4https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/E2H4ESI4https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/E2H4ESI4Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология24:12020724-731The Byzantines never shunned from using ethnic stereotypes against opponents in both political and theological polemics. A convenient occasion for applying stereotypes of this kind was offered by the Iconoclast crisis, initiated by the emperors of the dynasty later known as “Isaurian”. The founder of that dynasty, emperor Leo III, hailed from Germanikeia and was ethnic Syrian. However, the Orthodox opponents of the “Isaurians” did not recur to the cliché of a “cunning (πανοῦργος) Syrian”, known from the Antiquity. Instead, they opted for revitalizing the association of Syrians with Monophysite heretics (Jacobites, Theopaschites). This was facilitated by the measures taken by Leo’s son and successor Constantine V, who had resettled large groups of Syrian Monophysites from Theodosiopolis and Melitene to Thrace. When the main anti-Iconoclast historical source on Leo and Constantine was being compiled in early 780s (*Historia Leonis et Constantini, now lost), these people still persisted in their beliefs. However, the chain of reception from Theophanes (soon after 813) to the third version of George the Monk (vulgata, last quarter of the 9th c.) demonstrates that the negative association Syrians/Monophysites was gradually fading, along with the memory of Leo III’s Syrian origin. Photios does reproduce the ancient stereotype of πανουργία in the Lexicon, but otherwise, despite his keen interest in anti-Iconoclast and anti-Monophysite polemics, seems to be quite indifferent or even positive towards Syrians. Afinogenov, Dmitry E. “Pejorative Connotations of the Ethnonym ‘Syrian’ in Some 9th Century Byzantine Literary Works.” Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология 24:1 (2020): 724–31. Dmitry E. Afinogenov, Pejorative Connotations of the Ethnonym ‘Syrian’ in Some 9th Century Byzantine Literary Works, Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология 24:1 (2020): 724–31.