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Digenis Akritas: The Two-Blood Border Lord
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.
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.
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1050
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 18, 2017
Again, the star rating is not exactly for this kind of reading.
This is a very readable blank verse translation of a medieval epic apparently well-known in Greece, but little heard of elsewhere. It might most profitably be compared to The Song of Roland, both for its era and the exaggeration of its exploits -- whenever either hero single-handedly bests a group of his adversaries, you need to move the decimal of the body count leftward about three places for anything like realism. Tales of a time when men were men, and proved it by bashing each others' heads in with unalloyed enthusiasm.
Literally in our hero's case, as his favorite weapon was the mace, though he uses a sword now and then to cut horses in half, when he isn't ripping lions apart with his bare hands. I suspect one of Digenis Akritis's literary ancestors is Hercules, and a descendant, Superman; it's that kind of physical power-fantasy. No Wily Odysseus here. This being drawn from a cycle of tales that had their origin in popular oral recitation, this points interestingly to desires, longings, and anxieties on the parts of those early audiences.
The translator talks about assorted efforts to connect Digenis with various real people, with about as much luck as doing the same for Robin Hood or the Knights of the Round Table. The stories take place somewhere in the 800s, on the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire (Anatolia, etc.), but weren't first written down till the 1100s or so; only copies of copies survive to try to piece together the whole.
The tale starts when our hero is no more than a gleam in his father's eye; the first two chapters are about the cross-cultural romance of his parents, apparently a Syrian lord and a Cappadocian lady, hence the moniker Digenis meaning "two-blood" for their offspring. "Border lord" might well be equated to "marcher lord", for a lot of the same reasons. The later parts also spend a lot of time on our hero's main romance, including an exciting abduction, and wedding (with two other short episodes devoted to later adulteries, just in case anyone might fear his devotion to his lady-love was unmanly.) It continues to the couple's death at a young age, he of something the translator picked, weirdly, to call "lumbago" (!) but which was probably something like tetanus, very likely all things considered, and she, in the same hour, of melodrama. (Much like Padme.)
Just chock full of little bits to make a modern reader blink. Both hero and heroine start their adventures in their very early teens -- like, twelve, a la Romeo and Juliet -- though in balance neither makes it past about twenty-five. We find "Women In Refrigerators" is far from a modern narrative invention, despite a distressing lack of refrigeration, in a scene where the hero's kidnapped mother is sought for by her brothers, among other places, in a scene of a mass murder of other female prisoners because, as their captor casually explains with a sigh, "they would not do as they were told". Or in a long list of glamorous wedding presents, probably as palatable to the original audiences as vicarious news coverage of the lives of the rich & famous is today, where is found, sandwiched between horses, hawks, pearls, hunting leopards, icons, and silks, "His wife's first brother gave him ten young men / Castrated, handsome, and with lovely hair / All clad in Persian garments made of silk / With fine gold sleeves that came up to their necks."
We never do find out what happens to these guys, nor any of the many other nameless companions, soldiers, bandits, servants, and slaves called up and summarily disposed of by the narrative like security personnel on the Enterprise.
Fascinating stuff on so many levels.
Ta, L.
This is a very readable blank verse translation of a medieval epic apparently well-known in Greece, but little heard of elsewhere. It might most profitably be compared to The Song of Roland, both for its era and the exaggeration of its exploits -- whenever either hero single-handedly bests a group of his adversaries, you need to move the decimal of the body count leftward about three places for anything like realism. Tales of a time when men were men, and proved it by bashing each others' heads in with unalloyed enthusiasm.
Literally in our hero's case, as his favorite weapon was the mace, though he uses a sword now and then to cut horses in half, when he isn't ripping lions apart with his bare hands. I suspect one of Digenis Akritis's literary ancestors is Hercules, and a descendant, Superman; it's that kind of physical power-fantasy. No Wily Odysseus here. This being drawn from a cycle of tales that had their origin in popular oral recitation, this points interestingly to desires, longings, and anxieties on the parts of those early audiences.
The translator talks about assorted efforts to connect Digenis with various real people, with about as much luck as doing the same for Robin Hood or the Knights of the Round Table. The stories take place somewhere in the 800s, on the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire (Anatolia, etc.), but weren't first written down till the 1100s or so; only copies of copies survive to try to piece together the whole.
The tale starts when our hero is no more than a gleam in his father's eye; the first two chapters are about the cross-cultural romance of his parents, apparently a Syrian lord and a Cappadocian lady, hence the moniker Digenis meaning "two-blood" for their offspring. "Border lord" might well be equated to "marcher lord", for a lot of the same reasons. The later parts also spend a lot of time on our hero's main romance, including an exciting abduction, and wedding (with two other short episodes devoted to later adulteries, just in case anyone might fear his devotion to his lady-love was unmanly.) It continues to the couple's death at a young age, he of something the translator picked, weirdly, to call "lumbago" (!) but which was probably something like tetanus, very likely all things considered, and she, in the same hour, of melodrama. (Much like Padme.)
Just chock full of little bits to make a modern reader blink. Both hero and heroine start their adventures in their very early teens -- like, twelve, a la Romeo and Juliet -- though in balance neither makes it past about twenty-five. We find "Women In Refrigerators" is far from a modern narrative invention, despite a distressing lack of refrigeration, in a scene where the hero's kidnapped mother is sought for by her brothers, among other places, in a scene of a mass murder of other female prisoners because, as their captor casually explains with a sigh, "they would not do as they were told". Or in a long list of glamorous wedding presents, probably as palatable to the original audiences as vicarious news coverage of the lives of the rich & famous is today, where is found, sandwiched between horses, hawks, pearls, hunting leopards, icons, and silks, "His wife's first brother gave him ten young men / Castrated, handsome, and with lovely hair / All clad in Persian garments made of silk / With fine gold sleeves that came up to their necks."
We never do find out what happens to these guys, nor any of the many other nameless companions, soldiers, bandits, servants, and slaves called up and summarily disposed of by the narrative like security personnel on the Enterprise.
Fascinating stuff on so many levels.
Ta, L.
July 8, 2015
I hate quibbling over star ratings, but this one could probably be a 3.5. It gets 4 from me not from any great literary quality, but because it's a treat to see the strange mix of romance, folklore and history in a medieval Byzantine setting.
I don't know exactly what I was expecting from this poem about a half-Syrian, half-Byzantine border lord, but I was definitely surprised. When the title character isn't committing adultery or killing wild animals bare-handed, he's killing hundreds of foes without blinking, and then moralizing about it all. The over-the-top action is matched by over-the-top emotions and coupled with Orthodox Christian morality in a way that, surprisingly, seems to work.
This translation is over 30 years old, and has its share of awkward moments. The introduction and notes are adequate, but could have presented the subject matter more thoroughly, to better prepare or inform the reader. But as the only copy that seems widely available, it does its job of introducing us to this odd bit of literature.
I don't know exactly what I was expecting from this poem about a half-Syrian, half-Byzantine border lord, but I was definitely surprised. When the title character isn't committing adultery or killing wild animals bare-handed, he's killing hundreds of foes without blinking, and then moralizing about it all. The over-the-top action is matched by over-the-top emotions and coupled with Orthodox Christian morality in a way that, surprisingly, seems to work.
This translation is over 30 years old, and has its share of awkward moments. The introduction and notes are adequate, but could have presented the subject matter more thoroughly, to better prepare or inform the reader. But as the only copy that seems widely available, it does its job of introducing us to this odd bit of literature.
August 25, 2020
Una bella scoperta. Finale molto poetico.
January 7, 2023
Durante la lettura di un saggio storico sull'Impero Bizantino, sono venuto a conoscenza di questo poema, il Digenis Akritas, d'autore anonimo.
Se ne faceva cenno in un capitolo in cui, tra le altre cose, si parlava della letteratura bizantina medievale. Questa, secondo l'autore del libro che stavo leggendo, il bizantinista Ralph-Johannes Lilie, non era di particolare pregio, poiché troppo legata ai grandi classici del passato e priva delle spinte innovative della tradizione letteraria occidentale.
In altri ambiti l'arte romana d'oriente ha brillato, come ad esempio in campo pittorico, architettonico e religioso, ma non per quanto riguarda la produzione di "libri profani". La maggioranza degli autori bizantini preferì chiudersi in se stessa, rimirando gli antichi classici in lingua greca con cui non ha osato confrontarsi. E questo se da un lato è un po' sterile, dall'altro ci permesso di far arrivare molte grandi opere dell'età classica fino a noi.
Qualcuno, però, benché criticato dai contemporanei, provò ad apportare qualche novità nel panorama letterario, facendosi suggestionare dalle opere che tra il IX e il XII secolo venivano prodotte in Europa, in particolare per quanto riguarda il genere cavalleresco. E il Digenis Akritas si rifà a questa tradizione e non solo, poiché è un'opera in cui chiari sono gli influssi dell'immaginario biblico e classico.
Purtroppo, però, il valore di questo poema è relativo esclusivamente alla sua rarità. E' una bella testimonianza del fatto che qualcuno scriveva nell'impero bizantino, sì... e basta. Risulta davvero un'opera un po' semplice e dozzinale rispetto a tutto ciò che è stato scritto prima, dopo e durante non solo nell'emisfero culturale greco, ma ovunque.
Questo, in realtà, a voler ben vedere ci dà informazioni su quella che doveva essere la società bizantina, a Costantinopoli, ma anche al confine con la Siria e la Mesopotamia, nel periodo storico delle invasioni arabe, che tanto hanno scosso le fondamenta dell'Impero d'Oriente, facendogli perdere anche molti territori. Vi si ritrovano, tra i deliri di onnipotenza e di fede dello scrittore (che raccolse in forma scritta motivi tramandati oralmente), gli indizi di una grande fragilità politica e imbarbarimento delle condizioni di vita, se non valoriali, tipici di una società che con ogni mezzo tenta di sfuggire al proprio inevitabile collasso.
Ma si poteva fare di meglio, per quanto riguarda la trama e la caratterizzazione dei personaggi in sé... proprio perché i bizantini avevano a disposizione grandi esempi passati, come Omero o la Bibbia.
Il Digenis Akritas, invece, da poema epico, che celebra la resistenza dei soldati di confine alla frontiera orientale, diviene una specie di romanzo d'amore, con un protagonista da far impallidire Superman, una vera Mary Sue (nel gergo "gggiovane", quel personaggio perfetto che addossa su di sé tutte le qualità e i poteri, moltiplicati per il numero più alto che riuscite ad immaginare), un po' troppo erotomane e autoassolventesi.
Sono contento comunque di averlo letto, poiché è un libro interessante già come testimonianza di un periodo lontano... Ma spero, magari in futuro, di trovare altre opere del medioevo bizantino, opere più profonde, intendo.
Nell'introduzione ho letto che intorno al XII secolo anche i Turchi hanno scritto poemi epici... ecco, il bello della lettura è che una cosa porta ad un'altra! E potete stare sicuri che li cercherò e li leggerò! Ahahahahahahah (rise maleficamente).
Se ne faceva cenno in un capitolo in cui, tra le altre cose, si parlava della letteratura bizantina medievale. Questa, secondo l'autore del libro che stavo leggendo, il bizantinista Ralph-Johannes Lilie, non era di particolare pregio, poiché troppo legata ai grandi classici del passato e priva delle spinte innovative della tradizione letteraria occidentale.
In altri ambiti l'arte romana d'oriente ha brillato, come ad esempio in campo pittorico, architettonico e religioso, ma non per quanto riguarda la produzione di "libri profani". La maggioranza degli autori bizantini preferì chiudersi in se stessa, rimirando gli antichi classici in lingua greca con cui non ha osato confrontarsi. E questo se da un lato è un po' sterile, dall'altro ci permesso di far arrivare molte grandi opere dell'età classica fino a noi.
Qualcuno, però, benché criticato dai contemporanei, provò ad apportare qualche novità nel panorama letterario, facendosi suggestionare dalle opere che tra il IX e il XII secolo venivano prodotte in Europa, in particolare per quanto riguarda il genere cavalleresco. E il Digenis Akritas si rifà a questa tradizione e non solo, poiché è un'opera in cui chiari sono gli influssi dell'immaginario biblico e classico.
Purtroppo, però, il valore di questo poema è relativo esclusivamente alla sua rarità. E' una bella testimonianza del fatto che qualcuno scriveva nell'impero bizantino, sì... e basta. Risulta davvero un'opera un po' semplice e dozzinale rispetto a tutto ciò che è stato scritto prima, dopo e durante non solo nell'emisfero culturale greco, ma ovunque.
Questo, in realtà, a voler ben vedere ci dà informazioni su quella che doveva essere la società bizantina, a Costantinopoli, ma anche al confine con la Siria e la Mesopotamia, nel periodo storico delle invasioni arabe, che tanto hanno scosso le fondamenta dell'Impero d'Oriente, facendogli perdere anche molti territori. Vi si ritrovano, tra i deliri di onnipotenza e di fede dello scrittore (che raccolse in forma scritta motivi tramandati oralmente), gli indizi di una grande fragilità politica e imbarbarimento delle condizioni di vita, se non valoriali, tipici di una società che con ogni mezzo tenta di sfuggire al proprio inevitabile collasso.
Ma si poteva fare di meglio, per quanto riguarda la trama e la caratterizzazione dei personaggi in sé... proprio perché i bizantini avevano a disposizione grandi esempi passati, come Omero o la Bibbia.
Il Digenis Akritas, invece, da poema epico, che celebra la resistenza dei soldati di confine alla frontiera orientale, diviene una specie di romanzo d'amore, con un protagonista da far impallidire Superman, una vera Mary Sue (nel gergo "gggiovane", quel personaggio perfetto che addossa su di sé tutte le qualità e i poteri, moltiplicati per il numero più alto che riuscite ad immaginare), un po' troppo erotomane e autoassolventesi.
Sono contento comunque di averlo letto, poiché è un libro interessante già come testimonianza di un periodo lontano... Ma spero, magari in futuro, di trovare altre opere del medioevo bizantino, opere più profonde, intendo.
Nell'introduzione ho letto che intorno al XII secolo anche i Turchi hanno scritto poemi epici... ecco, il bello della lettura è che una cosa porta ad un'altra! E potete stare sicuri che li cercherò e li leggerò! Ahahahahahahah (rise maleficamente).
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June 28, 2008What I learned? Greco-Syrian epics are for the insane.
September 14, 2020
As a Byzantophile I'd been trying to locate a copy of this Medieval Greek 'epic' for years. It is unusual in that it is based on the eastern borderlands of the empire and not on the centres of civilisation around Constantinople. It is not unusual in its social ethos - border ballads, Dede Korkut, Secret History, for instance have much the same. Fairly constant low level warfare, raids, bride kidnaps are apparently a norm for this sort of society. That said it has far more elements of 'higher', courtly literature. There are extensive descriptions of nature (albeit mostly quotations from written works), the romantic element (in every sense of the word) is very different; so much so that one feels that Basil the Two Blood Border Lord is showing off to his wife (or his 'girl' as this translation rather unfortunately calls her), or rewooing her. Religion, as one would expect in a Byzantine text, matters a great deal too and though Basil has a couple of adulterous lapses he also confesses and repents almost immediately. Touches of Greek mythology are not lacking either - Basil plays Hercules more than once and his strength (dutifully attributed to God) is supernatural. So all in all a fascinating melange of ballad, literary romance and a touch of the sermon.
The translation strikes me as adequate if not high literature. Hull has kept it in verse but there is more than one occasion of tum ti tum. The vocabulary (as in 'girl' above) occasionally jars.
The translation strikes me as adequate if not high literature. Hull has kept it in verse but there is more than one occasion of tum ti tum. The vocabulary (as in 'girl' above) occasionally jars.
February 19, 2023
I mean… like it’s alright? As far as epics go, it’s most definitely on the weaker side. The depiction of Basil’s feats are so outlandish that you’d think a ten year old wrote them. In one story, he wants a girl and he kidnaps her, kills thousands of men, and her father said “Wow, he must be worthy of our daughter.” Even in a time when women were seen as property, this still makes no sense.
Overall, a weak 2/5. Byzantine epics are rare so it’s necessary that this be cherished for its insights into cultural values of the time.
Overall, a weak 2/5. Byzantine epics are rare so it’s necessary that this be cherished for its insights into cultural values of the time.
January 2, 2024
Franchement, c'est une bonne source. Mais c'est tout
Aucun intérêt 1 sa lecture, c'est chiant, rébarbatif et on ne comprends rien aux implications et aux mentalités des personnages si on est pas spécialistes du sujet. Digenis y passe pour quelqu'un de toute simplement détestable et le récit est gavé de redondances et de simples moments incompréhensibles.
Aucun intérêt 1 sa lecture, c'est chiant, rébarbatif et on ne comprends rien aux implications et aux mentalités des personnages si on est pas spécialistes du sujet. Digenis y passe pour quelqu'un de toute simplement détestable et le récit est gavé de redondances et de simples moments incompréhensibles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2020
Menudo mind blowing de épica. Me mola la parte filológica y su forma de escribir, el argumento y las violaciones ya tal. Prefiero Calímaco y Krisorroe, aunque entiendo que esta sea la obra canon de la lite neogriega
March 20, 2024
I love this legend, but again I feel either the translation or the version is too lackluster for it to compete with other epics like Beowulf, Voyage of the Argo, and Homer. The akritis in question is definitely in the mold of Hercules rather than my beloved wily Odysseus. I admit it: the idea of Byzantine pulp fiction appeals to me. I wish it was longer, really.
May 8, 2025
Spoilers I guess-- Egotistical nonsense of men, animal cruelty, misogyny, r*pe, kidnapping, Stockholm syndrome, MISOGYNY... We don't know the name of the women in the story, except for one, and Basil kills her anyway.
This sucks.
This sucks.
May 30, 2022
Although the story is engaging, it's ultimately sad. And yet, there is some hope of reconciling two warring peoples.
August 1, 2023
The story itself is very uninspiring. The introduction was interesting.
January 6, 2024
Read this for class and surprisingly didn’t hate it???
January 27, 2024
Surprisingly easy to read, catchy in its period motives of ancient Byzance and very nice for a mind which likes to widen its spectrum.
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February 20, 2024The translation is very readable with a good intro
March 19, 2024
Includes all extant versions in valuable addition, though I detect a certain lack of wow in the translation and/or the Grottaferrata version itself.
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May 20, 2025Z jednej strony kocham to że Bizancjum wydało z siebie taki epos, ale jednak moja nienawiść do Dijenisa przeważa nad pozytywnymi uczuciami….
November 19, 2010
Kind of super crazy, but entertaining none the less. Not my favorite read from my Classics class. 2 - 2 1/2 stars
September 21, 2011
This was such a different story.
April 4, 2017
Excellent translation of a major but very unknown Greek Byzantine poem.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews