ABSTRACT
Much of Byzantine literature appears to the superficial observer to be written in a changeless linguistic form. There are no striking differences between the Greek of Procopius in the sixth century and that of Critobülus in the fifteenth. And where a line of development can be traced. it not infrequently seems to go into reverse. Photius in the late ninth century writes more ‘classical’ Greek than Theophanes at the beginning of the century. Psellus in the eleventh century is more ‘classical’ than Constantine Porphyro-genitus in the tenth, and Anna Comnena and Nicetas Chomates in the twelfth outdo Psellus in certain classical features. 1
