(Re)Writing History in Byzantium

<p>Scholars have recently begun to study collections of Byzantine historical excerpts as autonomous pieces of literature. This book focuses on a series of minor collections that have received little or no scholarly attention including the <i>Epitome of the Seventh Century</i> the <i>Excerpta Anonymi </i>(tenth century) the <i>Excerpta Salmasiana </i>(eighth to eleventh centuries) and the <i>Excerpta Planudea </i>(thirteenth century). Three aspects of these texts are analysed in detail: their method of redaction their literary structure and their cultural and political function. Combining codicological literary and political analyses this study contributes to a better understanding of the intertwining of knowledge and power and suggests that these collections of historical excerpts should be seen as a Byzantine way of rewriting history.</p><p>The Open Access version of this book available at https: //www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429351020 has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. </p>