IMC 2018: Sessions
Session 1120: Remembering Troy in the Middle Ages, II: Socio-Political Considerations
Wednesday 4 July 2018, 11.15-12.45
Organisers: | Sabine Heidi Walther, Abteilung für Skandinavische Sprachen und Literaturen, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn N Yavuz, Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, Københavns Universitet |
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Moderator/Chair: | Mia Münster-Swendsen, Institut for Kommunikation og Humanistisk Videnskab, Roskilde Universitet |
Paper 1120-a | Dares Phrygius in Context: Text, Textual Apparatus, and the Corpus of Associated Works in Manuscripts of the De excidio Troiae historia (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Latin, Learning (The Classical Inheritance) |
Paper 1120-b | Les traductions de Guido delle Colonne en français, constantes et variantes (Language: Français) Index terms: Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Learning (The Classical Inheritance) |
Paper 1120-c | Describing the City of Troy, or How to Shape 'Good Governement'? (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Middle English, Language and Literature - French or Occitan, Political Thought |
Abstract | For three millennia, the fall of Troy has been a popular topic in European culture. Not only did the classical texts that were the product of Greco-Roman culture continue to circulate in the Middle Ages, but also many 'new' works were composed on different aspects of the story of Troy, not only in Latin and Greek but also in vernacular languages. These texts, old and new, shaped the perception of the Trojan War and enabled the further production and transmission of narratives on Trojan characters and scenes throughout the Middle Ages. Trojan topics also remained popular in visual imagery, from early Greek vases and Roman sculptures to medieval illuminations and tapestry. With every work written, drawn, sculpted, carved, or copied, the past was reconstructed and renarrated yet again in a different context emphasising different values. These four sessions explore the reasons behind the fascination with the Trojan narrative and the ways in which the story of Troy was employed in the Middle Ages. The second session will focus on the different versions and adaptations of the story of Troy and the ways in which these works served contemporary social and political agendas. Louis Faivre d'Arcier will consider the manuscripts of the late antique De excidio Troiae historia attributed to Dares of Phrygia and the different methods and techniques adopted by medieval scribes in order to reconstitute the historical and literary background of the text. Catherine Croizy-Naquet will compare and discuss the French translations of Guido delle Colonne's Historia destructionis Troiae (c. 1287), which, in the first place, is an adaptation of Benoît's Roman de Troie in French verse into Latin prose. Anne Rochebouet will look into the city of Troy as a political model by considering works written or circulating in the 14th and 15th centuries, such as the Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César, Romans de Troie en prose, and the Troy Book by John Lydgate, which is also based on Guido's work. |