Greek epigram, by Menander Protector, recounting the story of Isbozetes, Persian convert martyred c. 551 (= *Yazdbozid, S00115). Written in the late 6th c., and preserved in an extract from Menander's lost History, and in the 10th c. Greek Anthology.
E00562
Literary - Poems
Greek Anthology
Greek Anthology, Book 1 (Christian Epigrams), 101
ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΠΡΟΤΙΚΤΟΡΟΣ
εἰς Πέρσην μάγον γενόμενον χριστιανὸν καὶ μαρτυρήσαντα
Ἦν πάρος ἐν Πέρσῃσιν ἐγὼ μάγος Ἰσβοζήτης,
εἰς ὀλοὴν ἀπάτην ἐλπίδας ἐκκρεμάσας.
εὖτε δὲ πυρσὸς ἔδαπτεν ἐμὴν πόλιν, ἦλθον ἀρῆξαι·
ἦλθε δὲ καὶ Χριστοῦ πανσθενέος θεράπων·
κείνῳ δ᾽ ἐσβέσθη δύναμις πυρός, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔμπης
νικηθεὶς νίκην ἤνυσα θειοτέρην.
'Menander Protector
On a Persian magus who became a Christian and was martyred
I, Isbozetes, was formerly a magus among the Persians, hanging my hopes on a pernicious fraud. When fire was devouring my city, I came to help, and a servant of all-powerful Christ came too. He extinguished the force of the fire, but nonetheless, though I was defeated, I gained a more divine victory.'
Text and translation: Paton and Tueller 2014.
The same epigram is also recorded in an extract from Menander's lost History, which is preserved in the work known as the De Sententiis, assembled under Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the mid-tenth century. The epigram is prefaced by the following passage:
Ὅτι ὁ ἱστορικός φησι Μένανδρος περὶ Ἰσαοζίτου τοῦ ἐν Περίδι σταυρωθέντος· ἐγὼ δὲ πυθόμενος καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐσότι ἀγασθεὶς ἐν νῷ ἐβαλόμην ὡς καὶ ἄξιον τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ θεραπευτῇ τῷ βαρβάρῳ ἐν ἑξαμέτρῳ ἐπίγραμμα λέξαι. καὶ δὴ λελεκταί μοι τὸ ἐπίγραμμα ὧδε·
ἦν πάρος ἐν Πέρσῃσιν ἐγὼ μάγος Ἰσαοζήτης,
εἰς ὀλοὴν ἀπάτην ἐλπίδας ἐκκρεμάσας.
εὖτε δὲ πυρσὸς ἔδαπτεν ἐμὴν πόλιν, ἦλθον ἀρῆξαι·
ἦλθε δὲ καὶ Χριστοῦ πανσθενέος θεράπων·
κείνῳ δ᾽ ἐσβέσθη δύναμις φλογός, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔμπης
νικηθεὶς νίκην ἤνυσα θειοτέρην.
'The historian Menander also says about Isaozetes, who was crucified in Persia: When I learned of this and because I admired the man, I decided to write an hexameter epigram worthy of this servant of God, though he was a barbarian. My epigram is as follows:'
The text of the epigram that follows is essentially the same as that given in the Greek Anthology. The only important difference is that the name of the martyr is rendered as 'Isaozetes', not 'Isbozetes'. The latter, which scans correctly within the verse (and is closer to the Persian name of the martyr), is much more likely to be correct.
Text and translation: Blockley 1985, 144-5.
A further preserved fragment of Menander's History (Blockley, 144-7, frag. 13.4) summarises words of Isbozetes on the cross: refusing to return to his old religion; regretting that he only learned of Christianity so late; and celebrating the fact that, through suffering, he would gain eternal life.
Commissioning/producing an image
Verbal images of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Source
The Greek Anthology is a collection of Greek epigrams from dating from the Archaic period to the 9th century AD. It was initially compiled by Meleager of Megara (100-90 BC), whose collection was edited and expanded by Philip of Thessalonica (under Nero), Agathias of Myrina (AD 567/8) and finally by Konstantinos Kephalas (c. AD 900).The word epigram literally means an inscription. Although most Greek inscriptions were in prose, the word came to be specifically connected to those written in verse, and eventually to include poetic texts which were not necessarily inscribed. From the earliest period of Greek literature, epigrams were mostly sepulchral or dedicatory: they either memorialised the dead or marked the dedication of an object to a god.
Book 1 of the Greek Anthology contains Christian epigrams from Late Antiquity to the 9th century. It was compiled c. 880-900, containing a considerable number of poems copied directly from monuments. The scholar responsible for the transcriptions may have been Gregorios Magistros, a colleague of Kephalas. Epigrams 1-17 and possibly others were taken down from inscriptions at Constantinople and two of them, namely No. 1 (inscription from the bema arch of St. Sophia) and No. 10 (inscription from the church of St. Polyeuktos) have been found in situ, thus confirming the accuracy of the entries in the Anthology.
Menander's History, which survives only in fragments, covered the years between 557/8 (when Agathias' work stopped) and at least 582. Menander's interest in, and knowledge of, Persia are an evident feature of his work.
Discussion
This epigram is ascribed to Menander Protector in two tenth-century sources, and can be reliably attributed to him. Menander was one of the most notable historiographers of the 6th century, active in Constantinople under Maurice (582-602). Like his predecessor, Agathias, Menander evidently wrote poetry as well as history, though this is the only poem of his that survives.The epigram is cast in the words of a recent martyr of Persia, Yazdbozid/Isbozetes, whose martyrdom occurred in c.551. The epigram echoes three central features of the martyr's story as told in the Martyrdom of Yazdbozid (E00286, almost certainly written in Syriac, but known only through an Armenian translation): the fact that he was a Zoroastrian magus; that his conversion was aided by witnessing the miraculous extinguishing of a fire by Christians; and that through defeat (i.e. martyrdom) he gained victory.
Menander's epigram echoes the great interest in stories about martyrdoms and conversions in Persia during the reign of Maurice, which was marked by confrontations with the eastern rival empire. In particular, the emperor’s involvement in the civil war of Persia, supporting the restoration to the throne of Khosrau II (589-591), probably excited expectations and hopes that Persia would soon be conquered and Christianised. The same events included the return to the Romans of Martyropolis, a major pilgrimage town in Mesopotamia, hosting the shrine of the *Persian Martyrs (S00041). It is probable that relics of other martyrs from the Sasanian lands, including Isbozetes (martyred in 551, according to his hagiography: cf. E00286), were translated to Roman lands. It is possible that this epigram was composed in order to be inscribed on an image.
Bibliography
Edition and Translation:Paton, W.R., rev. Tueller, M.A., The Greek Anthology, Books 1-5, 2nd ed. (Loeb Classical Library; London, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2014).
Blockley, R.C., The History of Menander the Guardsman: Introductory Essay, Text, Translation and Historiographical Notes, Liverpool 1985.
Other editions:
Beckby, H., Anthologia Graeca (Munich: Ernst Heimeran Verlag, 1957).
Conca, F., Marzi, M., and Zanetto, G., Antologia Palatina. 3 vols. Vol. 1 (Classici Greci; Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 2005).
Rance, P., 'In the Margins of Strabo: Menander Protector on Persian Religion and the Passio S. Isbozetae', Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 73(2023), 125-150.
Waltz, P., Anthologie Grecque (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1928).
Further reading on the Greek Anthology:
Cameron, A., The Greek Anthology: From Meleager to Planudes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).
Efthymios Rizos
17/08/2015, revised 07/03/2024
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00115 | Yazdbozed, Persian martyr, ob. 6th c. | Ἰσβοζήτης | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E00562 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00562