Greco-Arabic Translation, Byzantinization, and Textual Canonization

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies is a part of SFU: The Canadian university that is Engaging the World

SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies

Presenting Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows Joe Glynias

AQ 6229

<p>The <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/hellenic-studies.html" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies</a> at Simon Fraser University is pleased to present Joe Glynias,  a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (2022-2025). </p><p>On Friday, October 14, at 2:30 PM PDT, join us in person for his talk, Greco-Arabic Translation, Byzantinization, and Textual Canonization in 11th-Century Antioch.</p><p>The event will be moderated by the Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, professor Dimitris Krallis. </p><p>Attendance is free. The event is open to the public. Due to the nature of the material, this event will not be recorded or broadcasted online.</p><p>This programming is made possible thanks to the generous support of the<a href="https://www.snf.org/en/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)</a>.</p><h2>Abstract</h2><p>From 969 to 1084, a massive translation movement took place in Byzantine-ruled Antioch through which Melkites, i.e., Arabic-speaking Chalcedonian Christians, meticulously assembled an Arabic version of the Byzantine Patristic heritage. In this talk, Glynias will consider the Antioch translation movement as an outgrowth of two larger processes happening in Middle Byzantium. The first is a phenomenon known as “Byzantine encyclopedism” or the Byzantine “culture of collecting” in which scholars attempted to standardize and canonize textual corpora, in a wide span of genres including law, military manuals, liturgical texts, Metaphrastic hagiography, and ancient history. The second is a process called Liturgical Byzantinization, by which Eastern Christians came to follow the liturgical norms of Constantinople through both direct and indirect imperial influence. Glynias will argue that imperial officials in Antioch, who were active textual standardizers themselves as members of the Metaphrastic movement, inspired Yūḥannā ʿAbd al-Masīḥ to compile an Arabic Menologion. However, Yūḥannā’s Arabic Menologion was no translation of the rather uniform Greek metaphrastic Menologion compiled by Symeon Metaphrastes, but was a distinct collection of saints’ lives deemed relevant to Syrian Melkites and composed in a variety of Arabic styles. The remarkable number of translations required for Yūḥannā’s Arabic Menologion—and the many translators employed in the process—turned Antiochene translation from an ad hoc phenomenon into something much larger. Antiochene translation achieved its massive scope, Glynias will argue, by aiming to systematically replace older liturgical texts in a variety of languages with Byzantinized texts in Arabic and Syriac. Yet, as he will content, even as the Melkites of Antioch made their translations in line with imperial interests, they prioritized the linguistic and cultural interests of their community.</p>

<h2>Speaker bio</h2><p>Joe Glynias is currently a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows (2022-2025). He works at the intersection of Islamic, Byzantine, and Eastern Christian history in the late antique and medieval eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. He examines how texts and ideas crossed cultures by focusing on the agents of cultural transmission and the historical moments in which these actions occurred. He received his Ph.D in History at Princeton (2022) and his A.B. from Harvard in Classics (2014). His dissertation, entitled "Baghdad on the Orontes: Between Greek and Arabic World in Byzantine Antioch," investigated the intellectual output of the multilingual Melkite Christian scholars of Byzantine Antioch, particularly in translation from Greek to Arabic and Arabic to Greek. He is currently working to develop two books out of this project: the first considers the massive translation movement that occurred in 10th-11th century Antioch of Greek Christian texts into Syriac and Arabic. It analyzes how Melkite scholars of Antioch created a Christian Arabic canon in the context of the larger processes of Islamicate Greco-Arabic translation, Byzantine textual standardization, and liturgical Byzantinization. His second book looks at the inverse process of "Arabo-Greek" translation, which entailed the transmission of the Arabic science that had developed out of the Greco-Arabic translation movement of Baghdad back into Greek. This book will begin in 11th-century Antioch but will follow Arabo-Greek translations as they occurred in different intellectual environments through the 15th century. Glynias has been awarded a number of fellowships including a Junior Fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks and a Dodds Fellowship at Princeton. He has published on a wide range of topics including Byzantine monasticism, Greco-Arabic translation, Arabo-Greek astrology, Syriac manuscripts, Byzantine sigillography, and Islamic coinage. </p>

<h2><a target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"></a>Moderator</h2><p>Born and raised in Athens, where he lived until his college years, <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/hellenic-studies/about/people/d-krallis.html" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Dimitris Krallis</a> studied political theory at the University of Athens and Byzantine History at Oxford and at the University of Michigan, where he obtained his doctorate. He teaches Byzantine history at Simon Fraser University’s Department of Humanities and is the Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies. He is the writer of two books, including, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783030045241" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Serving Byzantium's Emperors: The Courtly Life and Career of Michael Attaleiates. New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture Series</a>, which was recently <a href="https://alexandria-publ.gr/shop/vios-ke-politia-enos-vizantinou-mandarinou/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">translated into Greek</a>. He has also written numerous articles and co-translated the work of a major Byzantine historian, Michael Attaleiates. His research explores the social, political, economic and intellectual history of Byzantium, as well as its modern reception.</p><h2>Registration</h2><p>Guests can register for the event through Eventbrite. Alternatively, they can register by sending an email to hscomm@sfu.ca.</p>

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Greco-Arabic Translation, Byzantinization, and Textual Canonization

More events from SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies

Discover more events from SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, from Community to other experiences you might love.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Burnaby and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.

Greco-Arabic Translation, Byzantinization, and Textual Canonization

More events from SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies

Discover more events from SFU Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies, from Community to other experiences you might love.

More Community events

Browse more Community events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.

Still looking for the right event?

Explore all events in Burnaby and filter by date, category, and more to find the perfect fit.