Description
Book SynopsisIn The Tale of the Prophet Isaiah. The Destiny and Meanings of an Apocryphal Text Ivan Biliarsky proposes an edition of the original text of the medieval apocryphon, together with images of the single manuscript copy. The author also includes a large commentary on the otherwise quite unclear narrative concerning its origins, its development, a prosopography of the mentioned persons, an interpretation of its meaning and of the stages of its continuous creation. This completely new approach profoundly revises the source with a strong focus on its biblical roots. Ivan Biliarsky abandons the “national” understanding of the apocryphon and introduces evidence about its significance for the enforcement of the Byzantine-Slavic/Bulgarian Commonwealth and solidarity.
Trade Review"...Le lecteur aura deja compris qu'il s'agit d'un livre remarquable a plusieurs titres. I. Biliarsky renouvelle la comprehension d'un texte fondamental de la culture bulgare medievale, montre le poids de la tradition biblique dans la formation de l'ideologie politique au Moyen Age balkanique et, last but not least, restitue une piece essentielle de la litterature apocryphe medievale, un domaine encore trop peu explore. Le livre profitera sans aucun doute a la fois aux philologues et aux historiens et, en general, a tous ceux interesses par l'ideologie du pouvoir, en particulier dans l'orbite culturelle byzantine." Andrei Timotin, Revue des études sud-est européennes, Tome LII 2014 Nos 1–4, Janvier–Décembre
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ... ix Preface ... xi Introduction ... 1 1. The Text of the Literary Work and Its Manuscript Tradition ... 7 The Variable Destiny of the Kichevo Manuscript and the Place of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in It ... 7 The Text of the Tale of the Prophet Isaiah ... 10 2. Tale of the Prophet Isaiah in the Context of Mediaeval Literature and Modern Researches ... 29 Historiography ... 29 Publications of the text of Tale of the Prophet Isaiah ... 30 Character of the Text ... 49 Authorship ... 51 Localisation ... 52 Dating of the Text ... 54 3. The Chosen People and the Promised Land ... 65 The Prophet Isaiah and the New Israel ... 65 Geographical Features of Religious Identity ... 84 Cities and Founding of Cities ... 98 4. The Divinely Chosen King, Humble to God: Tsar Izot, or Davidic Royalty ... 129 Tsar Izot and His Reign ... 132 The Antagonists ... 135 Goliath, the Sea Frank ... 136 Ozia, the King of the East ... 139 The Davidic Paradigm of Power and Tsar Izot: The Bagrationi Dynasty and the Idea of the Davidic Royalty in the Causcasus ... 150 5. The Renovator King: Tsar Ispor and the Mosaic Royalty: Constantine and the Royalty of the Ruler-Converter to Christianity ... 163 The Moses-Constantine Typology in the Mediaeval World ... 165 Moses-Constantine in Bulgaria ... 179 Moses-Constantine in the Tale ... 189 6. Kings and Their Names ... 205 Arev ... 206 Basil ... 210 Cometopouloi ... 213 Constantine ... 218 Nicephorus ... 221 Roman ... 225 Seleukia Simeklit ... 226 Slav ... 232 Symeon ... 234 Theodora and Her Son the Tsar ... 237 Turgius ... 239 Conclusion ... 243 Excursus One: The List of Names of the Bulgar Princes: Between Myth and History ... 249 Excursus Two: The Birth of the Founding Kings ... 261 Excursus Three: The Tabernacle of the Empire or the State-Church ... 269 Bibliography ... 279 Index ... 297
