The Ancient Progymnasmata in the Classroom of Sophronios Leichoudes
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St Petersburg State University
Abstract
At the core of this paper is a discussion of unpublished progymnasmata (in Greek & Latin)
elaborated by a number of Sophronius Leichoudes’ first students. These texts are preserved
in three codices from the National Library of Russia. They were dedicated to elaboration of
the whole range of the late antique rhetorical exercises such as ethopoeia, encomium, psogos (invective), chreia, commonplace, refutation and confirmation. No manuscripts have revealed
examples of the exercises in fable, comparison, ecphrasis, thesis, introduction of a law. However,
these progymnasmata, except the latter, were studied in abbreviated form within the
preserved exercises. The topics of the pieces proposed by Sophronios are mostly of Christian
character, such as a lament of Joseph, Judas’ betrayal, praises of Christmas, saints and martyrs,
theological debates and many more. The information preserved on their scholia makes us possible
to identify the authors’ names (Nikolay Semeonov Golovin, Aleksey Kirillov, Feodor Polikarpov
and Feodor Gerasimov, Fedot Ageev, Iosif Afanas’ev, Peotr Postnikov, Paladiy Rogov,
Greeks Anastasios and hierodeacon Dionysios) as well as to specify the essential elements of
each exercise to be performed. Based on these materials, we can conclude that Sophronios
conveyed to his students the best elements of both Byzantine and Jesuit rhetorical training, in
this way the Leichoudian method of instruction corresponds in general to that of contemporary
Greek schools.
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Spyridonova L., Kurbanov A. The Ancient Progymnasmata in the Classroom of Sophronios Leichoudes. Philologia Classica 2022, 17 (1), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2022.111 (In Russian)