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The Medieval Church · c. 970–990
The Poems
John Geometres · c. 935–c. 1000
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What it is
Epigrams and hymns by a soldier turned monk, including verses on the Virgin and a lament for the defeats of the empire.
Why it lasted
Among the best Byzantine verse of its century, and evidence of a secular literary culture in Constantinople alongside the monastic one.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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