Progymnasmata, preliminary exercises in the study of declamation, were the cornerstone of elite education from Hellenistic through Byzantine times. Using material from Greek literary, mythological, and historical traditions, students and writers composed examples ranging from simple fables to complex arguments about fictional laws. In the Byzantine period, the spectrum of source material expanded to include the Bible and Christian hagiography and theology.
The Rhetorical Exercises of Nikephoros Basilakes
Progymnasmata from Twelfth-Century Byzantium
Beneker, Jeffrey and Craig A. Gibson
Volume | 43
Publication | October 2016