Ioannes Tzetzes als Auftragsdichter

Despite the fact that Ioannes Tzetzes belongs to the best known authors of Byzantium scholarship on his life, his works, his intellectual background and his interaction with other authors of his time is still rather limited. As poet he was living on commissions, especially on those coming from the imperial family. He was very close to the renowned sebastokratorissa Eirene to whom he dedicated his Theogonia. In his allegories on Homer's Ilias and Odyssee which he wrote for another Eirene, namely Bertha-Eirene of Sulzbach, the emperor Manuel's wife, we encounter Tzetzes as an empathetic teacher. In order to lead Eirene to the important facts he is very often addressing her directly with phrases such as μάθε, μάνθανε and πρόσχες. Both the allegories and the Theogonia are very good examples of the so called genre of the Byzantine Lehrgedicht (didactic poem). In the article several passages of the two works are discussed with the aim to learn more about Tzetzes' personality as Auftragsdichter (professional poet).