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Digenis Acrites (Greek: Διγενής Ἀκρίτης), known in folksongs as Διγενῆς Ἀκρίτας, is the most famous of the Acritic Songs. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous The acritic songs ( Greek: ακριτικά τραγούδια &mdash frontiersmen songs) are the Heroic or Epic poetry that emerged The epic details the life of its eponymous hero, Digenes, a hero of mixed Roman and Syrian blood. The first part of the epic details the lives of his parents, how they met, and how his father, an Emir, converted to Christianity after abducting and marrying Digenes' mother. The remainder of the epic discusses, often from a first-person point of view, Digenes' acts of heroism on the Byzantine border.

Contents

Manuscript

The Digenis Acrites is an extensive narrative text, although it is not in a pure epic-heroic style. It survives in many manuscripts and versions, the oldest two being the Escorial (=E, 1867 lines) and Grottaferrata versions (=G, 3749 lines), from the names of the libraries in which the respective manuscripts are held. El Escorial is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery royal palace museum and school Grottaferrata is a small town and Comune in the Province of Rome, situated on the lower slopes of the Alban Hills, 20 km south east of While it should be noted that the form (or forms) in which it has survived is not the product of oral composition, it has nevertheless retained a considerable number of features of its oral origins. The common core of the two versions preserved in the E and G manuscripts goes back to the twelfth century. The text of E appears to be closer to the original composition while G represents a version that is heavily marked by learned reworking. Both texts give enchanting descriptions of the life of the martial societies of the border regions of the empire, while in the figure of Digenis are concentrated the legends that had accumulated around local heroes. The Escorial version is the superior of the two in respect of the power and immediacy of the battle scenes and austerity of style. The epic descriptions of the mounted knights and battles are marked by drama, a swift pace and lively visual detail.

Storyline

The Byzantine - Arab conflicts that lasted from the 7th century to the early 11th century provide the context for Byzantine heroic poetry written in the vernacular Greek language. The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The acrites of the Byzantine Empire of this period were a military class responsible for safeguarding the frontier regions of the imperial territory from external enemies and freebooting adventurers who operated on the fringes of the empire. The work comprises two parts.

In the first, the "Lay of the Emir", which bears more obviously the characteristics of epic poetry, an Arab emir invades Cappadocia and carries off the daughter of a Byzantine general. The araB gene Promoter is a bacterial promoter activated by e L-arabinose binding Cappadocia (or Capadocia, Turkish Kapadokya, from Greek: Καππαδοκία / Kappadokía which in turn is from the Persian: The emir agrees to convert to Christianity for the sake of the daughter and resettle in Romania (Ρωμανία, the lands of the Ρωμηοί or mediaeval and early modern Greeks) together with his people. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Since the time of Homer, some Greeks have called themselves Hellenes ( in Homer "Hellas" (Eλλάς and "Hellenes" were names of The issue of their union is a son, Digenis Acrites.

The second part of the work relates the development of the young hero and his superhuman feats of bravery and strength: like his father, he carries off the daughter of another Byzantine general and then marries her; he kills a dragon; he takes on the so-called apelates (ἀπελάται), a group of bandits, and then defeats their three leaders in single combat. European dragons are Legendary creatures in Folklore and Mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe. No one, not even the amazingly strong female warrior Maximu, with whom he commits the sin of adultery, can match him. Adultery is the voluntary Sexual intercourse between a married person and another person who is not his or her Spouse, though in many places it is Having defeated all his enemies Digenis builds a luxurious palace by the Euphrates, where he ends his days peacefully. The Euphrates ( ( Arabic: ar نهر الفرات; Turkish: tr Fırat Syriac: syr ܦܪܬ; Hebrew: he פרת Cypriot legend has it that he grabbed hold of the Pentadaktylos (Five Fingers) mountain range in Arab-occupied Cyprus in order to leap to Asia Minor (Present day Turkey), the mountain range, as the name suggests, resembles five knuckles sprouting from the ground. Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches

The Digenis continued to be read and enjoyed in later centuries, as the text survives in various versions dating to as late as the 17th century. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar The epic tale of Digenis Acrites corresponds in many ways to a cycle of much shorter Acritic songs, from especially Asia Minor, Cyprus and Crete, some of which survived till today. The acritic songs ( Greek: ακριτικά τραγούδια &mdash frontiersmen songs) are the Heroic or Epic poetry that emerged Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the In the later tradition Digenis is eventually defeated only by Death, in the figure of Thanatos/Charos, after fierce single combat on "the marble threshing floors". In English Death is often given the name the " Grim Reaper " and shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large Scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown robe In Greek mythology, Thanatos (in Ancient Greek, θάνατος &ndash " Death " was the Daemon personification Thanatos had reportedly already wrestled with Heracles. In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera " or

Form

The Digenis Acrites is written in early Demotic Greek and is composed in fifteen syllable blank verse. Dimotiki (δημοτική, " of the people" or Demotic is the modern Vernacular form of the Greek language. Blank verse is a type of Poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no Rhyme. Rhyming occurs rarely.

The poem does not diverge from the standard political verse of popular Byzantine literature. Political verse (Greek Politikos stichos, Πολιτικός στίχος also known as Decapentasyllabic verse (from Greek dekapentasyllabos, δεκαπεντασύλλαβος Each line holds its own and every hemistich is carefully balanced. The poem flows, is cadential, with no cacophonies with very scarce sound repetitions.

Below is an excerpt from the translation of the Escorial manuscript, lines 32-54, by E.M. Jeffreys (pp. Elizabeth Jeffreys is the former Bywater and Sotheby Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Literature at the University of Oxford. 241-2):

Line Original Translation
[32] Ευθύς εκαβαλίκευσαν, 'ς τόν κάμπον κατεβαίνουν. They mounted at once and they came to the battlefield.
[33] Ώς δράκοντες εσύριζαν και ως λέοντες εβρύχουντα They hissed like serpents, they roared like lions,
[34] και ώς αετοί επέτουντα και εσμίξαν οι δύο. They soared like eagles, and the two clashed.
[35] Και τότε να ειδής πόλεμον καλών παλληκαρίων And then you could see a fight between fine brave youths.
[36] και από της μάχης της πολλής κρούσιν διασυντόμως In the heat of the battle they struck continuously,
[37] και από τον κρύπον τον πολύν και από το δός και λάβε and from the great clashing and the cut and thrust
[38] οι κάμποι φόβον είχασιν και τα βουνά αηδονούσαν, trees were uprooted and the sun was darkened,
[39] το αίμαν εκατέρεεν εις τα σκαλόλουρά των Blood flowed down over their horse-trappings
[40] και ο ίδρος τους εξέβαινε απάνω απ'τα λουρίκια. and their sweat ran out over their breastplates.
[41] Ήτον γάρ του Κωνσταντή γοργότερος ο μαύρος, Constantine’s black horse was speedier,
[42] και θαυμαστός νεώτερος ήτον ο καβαλάρης. and its rider was a marvellous young man.
[43] κατέβηκε εις τον αμιράν και κρούει του ραβδέα He charged at the emir and struck him a blow with his stick,
[44] και εχέρισεν ο αμιράς να τρέμη και να φεύγη. and then the emir began to tremble and flee.
[45] Σαρακηνός ελάλησεν τον αμιράν της γλώσσης: A Saracen addressed the emir in his own tongue:
[46] "Πιάσε, μούλε, τον άγουρον, ταχέως να τον νικήσης, "Seize the youngster, my lord, and grab a quick victory,
[47] μή εις σύντομόν του γύρισμα πάρτη κεφαλήν σου. so that he doesn’t take your head off with his sudden turn.
[48] Αυτός καλά σ'εσέβηκεν τώρα να σε γκρεμνήση. He has made a fine attack on you and now he might finish you off.
[49] Εγώ ουδέ τον εγνοιάζομαι να τον καταπονέσης, I don’t think, my lord, you are going to do him much harm,
[50] αλλά μή το καυχάσεται ότι έτρεψε φουσάτα. " but don’t let him boast that he routed an army. "
[51] Και ο αμιράς ως το ήκουσεν, μακρέα τον αποξέβην, When the emir heard this, he withdrew some way from the youth,
[52] έριψεν το κοντάριν του και δάκτυλόν του δείχνει he threw away his spear and showed him his finger,
[53] και μετά του δακτύλου του τοιούτον λόγον λέγει: and with this gesture said these words:
[54] "Να ζής, καλέ νεώτερε, εδικόν σου είναι το νίκος. " "May you live and rejoice, young man, for victory is yours. "

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References


External links

Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire - The Macedonian epoch (867-1081) Includes an extensive discussion of the Digenis Acrites

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