Excerpt from Les Exploits de Digenis Akritas, Epopee Byzantine du Dixieme Siecle: Publiee pour la Premiere Fois d'Apres le Manuscrit Unique de TrebizondeMais a cote de ces savants futiles, il en est de serieux qui travaillent a former les precieuses collections dont nous venons de parler. Ces hommes modestes amassent patiem ment les materiaux avec lesquels le futur architecte elevera l'edifice, au frontispice duquel leurs noms seront graves par la reconnaissance nationale. Nous ne saurions donc trop vivement engager les Grecs a cultiver ces sortes d'e tudes. Qu'ils imitent le louable exemple des autres peuples europeens, qui publient avec tant de soin les monuments de leur langue et de leur histoire! Qu'ils aient sans cesse present a l'esprit ce qui se passe actuellement en Russie.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Les Exploits de Digénis Akritas, Épopée Byzantine du Dixième Siècle: Publiée pour la Première Fois d'Après le Manuscrit Unique de Trébizonde

Celui-là n'est pas un homme qui vient de ce monde-ci : il n'a pas peur des blessures, n'a pas peur des épées! Celui-là est un fauve sauvage, il garde son territoire. L'épopée de Digénis Akritas occupe pour le monde byzantin un peu la même place que les Mille et Une Nuits pour l'Islam classique ou que L'Iliade pour la Grèce antique. On y assiste, le long du fleuve Euphrate, aux exploits d'un héros de stature herculéenne, fils d'un émir arabe de Syrie et d'une noble byzantine. Digénis "celui qui est né de deux races", y affronte fauves, brigands, dragons et amazones auprès de sa belle. Au terme d'une vie de luttes et de cavalcades, il devient L'Akrite, "L'homme de la Frontière", à la fois le gardien et l'incarnation des mondes des confins. Composé en grec sans doute au XIIe siècle, imprégné des souvenirs devenus légendes des combats multiséculaires entre Byzance et l'Islam, le Digénis, chant de l'honneur guerrier, est aussi un poème de la vie fulgurante aux accents tragiques.

L'Akrite - L'épopée byzantine de Digénis Akritas suivies du Chant d'Armouris

Among the epic romances of post–Barbarian Europe, such as Roland and El Cid, Digenis Akritas has been the least known in the West—outside Greece. It is the story of a half–breed prince who guarded the eastern border of the Roman Empire of Byzantium on the Euphrates in the tenth century. His name and cognomen sum up the curious richness of the heritage: Roman by politics, Arab and Cappadocian by birth, Greek in language and orthodox by faith—Basil, the Two–Blood Border Lord.On an incursion into Byzantine territory, an Arab Emir captures a Christian lady. Her relatives, in raiding to rescue her, convert the Emir and his people to Christianity and bring them back to the Empire. Basil is born of this union. A prodigy of valor, his miraculous strength in hunting and in battle win him an Arab bride and the loyalty of her family. He settles in a splendid garden palace by the Euphrates, pacifies the Border, fights dragons and bandits only to die young at the same instant as his wife.The poem in English verse translation is full of humor, fairy–tale, and a moving religious devotion. it recaptures an urbane vanished civilization.The translator has collated all the known texts and supports the translation with commentary, a bibliography, and a map.

Digenis Akritas : le héros des frontières

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Les Exploits de Digénis Akritas

Les Exploits de Digénis Akritas, Épopée Byzantine du Dixième Siècle: Publiée pour la Première Fois d'Après le Manuscrit Unique de Trébizonde (Classic Reprint)

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