Flavii Cresconii Corippi Iohannidos liber sextus: introduzione, traduzione e saggio di commento

Subject of this thesis is the sixth book of Flavius Cresconius Corippus’ Iohannis. This section is focused on the preparation and the progress of a big battle: the Moorish tribes reassemble and form a new coalition, a fact that comes with a total subversion of the narrative balance. An Italian full translation will be provided as well as the commentary of Coripp. Ioh. 6, 1-126. A rich introduction - divided into two main sections and preceding both the translation and commentary - primarily concerns Corippus’ historical and cultural background (to the extent that it is possible, considering the lack of information available) and the tradition of the Iohannis through the only surviving manuscript, the Trivultianus 686. A brief reference is made to the manuscript tradition of Corippus’ panegyric In laudem Iustini. The complex issue of the literary genre is approached, since the Iohannis contains several elements arising from the epic genre, along with a clear encomiastic purpose torwards John Troglita and the Emperor Justinian himself. The main literary models are addressed as well as the ideological and religious framework, the language, the style and the metre of the Iohannis. After that the sixth book will be examined with regard to: literary composition (between history and literary stereotypes), role within the poem, epic shapes, historical interest (use of the indigenous ethnonyms; Byzantine policy towards the rebel tribes; Moorish value system and shared spirituality).