Robins R.H. The Byzantine Grammarians: Their Place in History

Mouton de Gruyter, 1993. — xi, 278 pages. — (Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 70). — ISBN13: 978-3110135749; ISBN10: 3110135744.Robins presents the reader with a concise and clear evaluation of the grammarians of Byzantium and their various contributions to numerous branches of thinking, writing and learning. He does this in 12 chapters, beginning with a historical outline including the political context of this great empire; to chapter 12 – "The Byzantine contribution to the study of Greek grammar in the Renaissance". Throughout, Robins displays a fine sensitivity for the subject matter. He is also a good writer. He is careful to note the earlier contributions to Byzantine grammar generated by the Alexandrine grammarians (notably, Dionysius Thrax) which grammarians produced early STANDARDS for orthography throughout the Byzantine empire. These standards affected scribes in every major scriptorium within the Byzantine Empire. The early contributions of several Latin grammarians are also noted. The Byzantine grammarians preserved and added to these works, often with great skill. After which he delves deeply into the heart and soul of the Byzantine rhetoric, word morphology and syntax. Theodore of Gaza, Planudes, Syncellus, C. Lascaris and Gregory of Corinth receive some special analyses. One nice feature of this work is that Robins often quotes the grammarian in the original Greek, and always follows it with a crisp English translation.Robins' work crystallizes and clarifies the great work done by the Byzantine grammarians – especially in their preservation and copying of ancient Greek manuscripts and treatsies as-well- as methods of writing and orthography. They helped preserve great learning, and to move that learning into a dark Europe. They thus served as vehicles for the cargoes of civilization, the light of experience, knowledge and communication started shining in Europe.This work is really useful for those who work with Byzantine texts and writers. It has a good bibliography, is well laid out, and the Greek font is enjoyable to read. It is also useful for Biblical textual critics who evaluate Biblical manuscripts. Not using this work is like rowing a boat with one oar.Outline of Byzantine history: the political context
The Byzantine auvre: the literary context
Byzantine grammar: the linguistic context
The Techne gramma tike: the foundations
Priscian: the Latin grammarian of Constantinople
The Konones and their commentators: the morphological data-base
Epimerismoi and schedographia: teaching methods
Michael Syncellus: a typical Byzantine syntax book
Gregory of Corinth: the avoidance of errors
John Glykys: the maintenance of standards
Maximus Planudes: a Byzantine theoretician
The Byzantine contribution to the study of Greek grammar in the Renaissance