Issue 25 (2020) – Rosetta

The twelfth-century AD in Byzantium was characterised by a literary renaissance, part of which was the creation of new literary genres and the further growth of already existing ones. This article examines one of the most important representatives of this renaissance, Constantine Manasses, and his world chronicle Synopsis Chronike, the first extensive historical text that was written in fifteen-syllable verse. In addition, by analysing its characteristics, it aims to offer a detailed picture of the narratological devices used in the chronicle and to compare them with those found in the three most famous Byzantine novels from the Komnenian period. It also attempts to investigate the reason why Manasses decided to write his chronicle in the way he did. This examination reveals that the Synopsis Chronike contains various novelistic features that make it closely resemble a Byzantine novel, while it shows that it was an entertaining historical text which was written by an author who wished to entertain his readers and his patroness with carefully selected popular stories.