Niketas Choniates. A Historian and a Writer

The volume Niketas Choniates. A Historian and a Writer (eds.) A. Simpson and S. Efthymiadis is the first scholarly volume to be published on the History of Niketas Choniates. Its major aim is to offer new perspectives on how the History of Niketas Choniates should be read and interpreted. As such, it follows an interdisciplinary approach and is concerned with a wide range of aspects of this lengthy, significant, and multi-faceted text.

The ten essays examine various historical, literary, theological, and art historical issues of the text and demonstrate how these should be viewed as an integral part of the narrative. Moreover, alongside more traditional historical analysis and source-criticism, several essays promote the reading of the text as a literary artefact and uncover the rhetorical techniques by which historical reality was represented by a highly educated and intelligent eye-witness of dramatic events. It is expected that the volume will make a major contribution to scholarship on the subject and stimulate interest and discussion on the History and its author.

Due to its interdisciplinary character, it will be of particular value not only for scholars and students of Byzantine literature and culture, but also for those working in related fields, such as art history, medieval history, literary interpretation, and theology.