Millennium transcends boundaries - between epochs and regions, and between disciplines. Like the journal Millennium-Jahrbuch, the Millennium-Studien pursues an international, interdisciplinary approach that cuts across historical eras. The editorial and the advisory board represent a broad spectrum of disciplines.
This is the first systematic study of literary formulae (topoi) in Greek medieval lives of the saints. Thomas Pratsch compiles a comprehensive collection of material, including a systematic catalogue of the topoi. In his evaluation of them he provides new insights into the genesis, transmission and historical development of the genre of Greek saints' vitae. He traces the gradual development of the vitae from various other literary forms and, working from a new perspective, lends support to the thesis that a canon of Greek lives of the saints became established from the end of the 10th century and into the 11th century. This study is a valuable reference work on Byzantine hagiographic literature.
Thomas Pratsch, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften & Freie Universität Berlin.
"To sum up, Byzantinists, Medievalists and other specialists will long benefit from this systematic survey, placing it on the same shelf as the few other pioneering endeavours that set in order the vast world of Byzantine hagiography."
Stephanos Efthymiadis in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift 1/2007
"Eine ausführliche Bibliographie und solide Indices erschließen dieses Nachschlagewerk zu den hagiographischen Motiven, das mit Fug und Recht als ein Handbuch für diesen Bereich der Byzantinistik bezeichnet werden darf."
Robert Volk in: Das Mittelalter 1/2007
