Rediscovering antiquities and reviving the past : Byzantium during the 9th and 10th centuries

The main aim of the present paper is to give an overview on parallel phenomena appearing in Byzantine art and literature in the ninth and tenth centuries. The author argues that both classicising artistic creations and a vast number of literary products originate from and mirror the same intent of rediscovering and conquering their own past on the part of Constantinopolitan court circles. The most compelling force behind the systematizing, redefining, reviving, and restoring activity that characterizes the ninth and tenth centuries was Byzantine intellectuals' vision of their own cultural identity that urged them to create and commission literary and artistic products expressing and bolstering their own self-image as well as their understanding of their own culture.