The History of Byzantine Literature: from Justinian to the end of the Eastern Roman Empire (527-1453)

From the Preface:

Karl Krumbacher was born on Sept. 23, 1856 in Kempten, Bavaria and died on Dec.12, 1909 in Munich.  He was educated in the classics at the universities of Leipzig and Munich and in 1897 became Professor of medieval and modern Greek at the University of Munich. Arguably the greatest Byzantinist of his generation, his contributions to the field were profound.

He both founded the discipline’s leading international journal, the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, and authored its standard reference work, Die Geschichte der Byzantinischen Litteratur (1892; 2nd ed., 1897).

Die Geschichte der Byzantinischen Litteratur, The History of Byzantine Literature, is a wealth of general and detailed information.  General introductory chapters on particular genres are followed by shorter chapters on individual authors, and detailed bibliographies enrich its

more than 1100 pages.  It was the most comprehensive achievement of Byzantine scholarship and became a necessary addition to any reference collection.  Its contents and bibliographies have now been updated by Hans Georg Beck’s Kirche und theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich (Munich: Beck, 1959) and by Herbert Hunger’s Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner (Munich: Beck, 1978). 

Die Geschichte der Byzantinischen Litteratur has never been translated into English (there is a modern Greek translation).  We have translated only the introductory chapters and have not included the footnotes or bibliographies.  The bold numbers throughout the text refer to the pagination of its second edition (Munich: Beck, 1897).  We hope that these selections serve as an accessible introduction to both Byzantine literature and to the thought and work of Karl Krumbacher.