Rachel Bryant Davies
The Figure of Mary Mother of God in Christus Patiens: Fragmenting Tragic Myth and Passion Narrative in a Byzantine Appropriation of Euripidean Tragedy
Bryant Davies, Rachel
Authors
Abstract
The Byzantine passion play Christus Patiens (Christ Suffering) is a cento: composed of quotations and borrowings from other sources, it takes Euripides’ tragedies as its main source for reworking the passion narrative. The genre, popular with Christian authors who usually transformed classical epics, enacts cultural exchange between canonical pagan literature and biblical narrative. Traditionally transmitted as the work of Gregory of Nazianzus, this drama showcases the tensions inherent in this reuse of Greek tragedy which threaten to collapse the original texts under the weight of their new meaning – or vice versa. While the afterlives of Classical texts, especially Greek tragedy, have been increasingly well explored, the scant attention afforded Christus Patiens has largely consisted of debating the disputed date and authorship. At the same time, scrutiny lavished on Virgilian centonic technique provides a helpful spring-board. This article focuses on the four tragedies most plundered in Christus Patiens: Rhesus, Medea, Hippolytus and Bacchae. It concentrates on interpreting the protagonist, Mary the Mother of God, through key passages which borrow most heavily from these plays. These stretch centonic conventions by almost exclusively reworking contiguous lines featuring the tragic mothers Medea, Agave and Musa; yet Mary is otherwise created from multiple conflicting voices. Analysis of these passages as frames for the cento author's own compositions and in the context of the prologue's invitation to identify specific Euripidean reworkings suggests that the author playfully flirts with creating a narrative of fragmentation through clashes between centonic form, tragic sources and Christian subject.
Citation
Bryant Davies, R. (2017). The Figure of Mary Mother of God in Christus Patiens: Fragmenting Tragic Myth and Passion Narrative in a Byzantine Appropriation of Euripidean Tragedy. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 137, 188-212. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0075426917000155
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 6, 2017 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 7, 2017 |
Publication Date | Nov 7, 2017 |
Deposit Date | Nov 20, 2017 |
Publicly Available Date | Nov 20, 2017 |
Journal | Journal of Hellenic Studies |
Print ISSN | 0075-4269 |
Electronic ISSN | 2041-4099 |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 137 |
Pages | 188-212 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1017/s0075426917000155 |
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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in The Journal of Hellenic Studies
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426917000155. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2017.
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