Mount Etna as a metaphor (two examples)

2019

Античная древность и средние века, Vol 41, Iss 0, Pp 262-270 (2019)

Mount Etna on the east side of the island of Sicily is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. According to the reported original testimonies, Mount Etna erupted lava about two hundred times thus far. The first known eruption took place in 475 BC, and some very strong eruptions occurred in modern times, as well, during 20th and at the beginning of 21st centuries. Etna is often mentioned in many Greco-Roman legends. Due to the fact that there is constant vapor coming out of its crater and because of the relatively frequent and terrifying eruptions during its long history, Mount Etna could also serve as a suitable figure of speech. This abstract contains two such examples from the rich and diverse Byzantine literature, first from the beginning of the 11th century, and second from the second half of the 12th century. The first example is about the Saint Stephen the Younger who perished in 767 as an avid defender of icons. His hagiography, written by Stephen, deacon of St. Sofia, describes how the Iconoclastic Emperor Leo III (717–741), taking a stand against the cult of icons, was erupting fire and sulfur from his angry heart like Mount Etna. In the second example, the commemorative speech by Eustathius of Thessalonike dedicated to the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180), Roger II of Sicily (1130–1154), great enemy of the Byzantine Empire, was compared to a dragon who threatened to shoot the flame of his anger and rage higher than the crater of Mount Etna. In both examples, the Byzantine men of letters very craftily and effectively used the comparisons of the two monarchs with the volcano in Sicily.

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Ural Federal University, 2019.

византия, византийская литература, императорская власть, иконоборчество., Ancient history, D51-90, Medieval history, D111-203