An Essay on the Twelve Labours of Herakles by John Pediasimos (ca. 1250-1314) Remnants of the Mythographical Genre in Byzantium.

The present research project wants to gain insight into the radically changed position of the mythographical genre in Byzantium. Although mythography was a fairly popular activity in antiquity, it seems as if the genre completely disappeared off the radar in Byzantine literature, which is, oddly enough, rather conservative by nature. The present project will add to present-day knowledge of the mythographical genre by conducting research outside the known frontiers of the mythographical genre. Apart from a more literary theoretical approach to the position of mythography in Byzantium, this project also wants to establish the first critical edition and French translation of what seem to be the only two conventional exemplars of Byzantine mythography: (1) an essay on the twelve labours of Herakles attributed to John Pediasimos, and (2) an anonymous poem on the same subject. These critical editions will provide the basis for further investigation into the source text(s) of both works (probably Pseudo-Apollodoros Bibliotheca) and their correlation. This study will not only contribute to our knowledge of the status of mythography in Byzantium, but will also make a valuable contribution to the reconstruction of the original text of Pseudo-Apollodoros Bibliotheca.

Keywords:Mythography, Byzantium, Herakles, Pediasimos, Text Criticism, Genre Theory, Literary Theory

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies