ABSTRACT
Since Byzantine studies began in the last century to become a separate discipline, Byzantinists have had to face two things: one reproach and one appreciation. First the reproach. Many, very many, texts of all kinds were written in Byzantium, but there is no Byzantine literature in the modern sense of the term. What exists is a more or less successful, but still tiresome and cadaverous, imitation of ancient literature. This imitation however is combined with a generally exorbitant interest in ancient literature and a scrupulous upkeep of the ancient heritage, so that, and here we arrive at the appreciation, that the primary merit of Byzantium consists in the transmission of ancient literature to the Italian Renaissance, i.e. to us.
