Michael Italikos’ ethopoeia entitled «What would the protomartyr Stephen, sold by his guardian to the Venetians, say?» is presented here in a new edition accompanied by an Italian translation and commentary (in the appendix). This short rhetorical composition is analysed as evidence of a Byzantine scholar’s perspective on the Venetians at the beginning of the 12th century. Being inspired by a contemporary historical event – the purchase of the relics of Saint Stephen by the Venetians in Constantinople in the first decade of the 12th century – it is an exceptional case in the panorama of late antique and Byzantine ethopoeiai, usually dealing with characters taken from ancient myths or history, or from the Bible. This purchase is attested not only by the ethopoeia, but also by a well-known Latin translatio published by Flaminio Corner from a manuscript now preserved in the State Archives of Venice. This text confirms that the body arrived in Venice, at the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, in 1109-1110. The translatio has several points of contact with the ethopoeia, allowing us to look at the story from two different but complementary perspectives.
Le reliquie di santo Stefano protomartire da Costantinopoli a Venezia: l’Etopea di Michele Italico e la translatio latina
Niccolo' Zorzi
2026
Abstract
Michael Italikos’ ethopoeia entitled «What would the protomartyr Stephen, sold by his guardian to the Venetians, say?» is presented here in a new edition accompanied by an Italian translation and commentary (in the appendix). This short rhetorical composition is analysed as evidence of a Byzantine scholar’s perspective on the Venetians at the beginning of the 12th century. Being inspired by a contemporary historical event – the purchase of the relics of Saint Stephen by the Venetians in Constantinople in the first decade of the 12th century – it is an exceptional case in the panorama of late antique and Byzantine ethopoeiai, usually dealing with characters taken from ancient myths or history, or from the Bible. This purchase is attested not only by the ethopoeia, but also by a well-known Latin translatio published by Flaminio Corner from a manuscript now preserved in the State Archives of Venice. This text confirms that the body arrived in Venice, at the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, in 1109-1110. The translatio has several points of contact with the ethopoeia, allowing us to look at the story from two different but complementary perspectives.
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