Hagiography, Visual and Archaeological sources in the Byzantine lives of the Holy Fools. St Symeon and St Andrew Saloi
Hagiography, Visual and Archaeological sources in the Byzantine lives of the Holy Fools. St Symeon and St Andrew Saloi
PL: Prof. Dr. Paolo Cesaretti - Bergamo University
PI: Prof. Dr. Basema Hamarneh – Vienna University
The research aims to apply an interdisciplinary approach (also in the light of recent researches concerning visuality) to the study of the hagiographical narratives of the lives of the Holy fools Symeon and Andrew through the examination of textual, intra-textual, visual and archaeological sources. The investigation aims to consider the physical and intellectual environments of a paradoxical quality of holiness within a frame of cultural traditions shaped by Christianity in various chronological contexts. The introspection of the Hagiographers is employed as means to reconstruct the material context of the settings (urban and monastic), and socio-religious backgrounds. The project examines how and to which extent the phenomenon of the "holy foolery" has affected the Byzantine society at large and how it reflected the eschatological concerns in historical crucial moments for the Empire.
Bibliography:
Books
2016 - Paolo Cesaretti – Basema Hamarneh, Testo agiografico e orizzonte visivo. Ricontestualizzare le vite dei saloi Simeone e Andrea (BHG 1677, 115z), Foreword by Augusta Acconcia Longo, pp. 207 with 58 ills b/w and col., Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità – «Sapienza», Università di Roma, Roma ("Testi e Studi bizantino-neoellenici" 20).
2014 - Leonzio di Neapoli – Niceforo prete di Santa Sofia, Vite dei saloi Simeone e Andrea, edited and translated by Paolo Cesaretti, Foreword by Augusta Acconcia Longo, pp. 396, Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità – «Sapienza», Università di Roma, Roma ("Testi e Studi bizantino-neoellenici" 19).
1990 - Leonzio di Neapoli - Niceforo prete di Santa Sofia, I santi folli di Bisanzio. Vite di Simeone e Andrea, edited and translated by Paolo Cesaretti, Introduction by Lennart Rydén, Mondadori, Milano ("Uomini e religioni"), pp. 257.
Articles
2016 - Paolo Cesaretti, The Life of St Andrew the Fool by Lennart Rydén: vingt ans après, "Scandinavian Journal of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies" 2, 2016, pp. 31-51.
Conferences:
International Conference From the Human Body to the Universe. Spatialities of Byzantine Culture – 18-21 May 2017 – Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics and Philology. B. Hamarneh and P. Cesaretti: "Spaces Within, Spaces Beyond: Reassessing the Lives of the Holy Fools Symeon and Andrew (BHG 1677, 155z)".