古希腊文化与拜占庭帝国的塑造——以《荷马史诗》为例

The Hellenism and the Shaping of the Byzantine Empire: Taking Homer’s Epic as An Example

古希腊文化在拜占庭帝国基本特征的形成和发展中发挥了重要作用。在拜占庭帝国,基督教信仰与古希腊文化之间出现了冲突与融合的过程,古希腊文化逐渐得到基督教会的认可与接纳。拜占庭时期的古希腊文化是加强皇帝崇拜、颂扬皇帝完美形象的有效工具,带有浓重的政治色彩和时代特征。古希腊式的教育体系和希腊语的普遍使用,使得拜占庭人在个人成长过程中深受古希腊文化的影响。古希腊文化在教会文化、政治文化和大众文化中发挥着强大的影响力,为拜占庭帝国提供了文化共同体的框架,逐渐塑造了拜占庭人身份认同的标准,成为界定“拜占庭人”的核心特征之一。拜占庭人在延续传统“罗马人”政治身份的同时,逐渐接纳“希腊人”这一文化身份。其他族群也将古希腊文化视为界定拜占庭人身份的重要标准,将拜占庭人称为“希腊人”。

The Hellenism played a significant role in the formation and development of the essential characteristics of the Byzantine Empire.Within the empire,a process of conflicts and fusion appeared between Christianity and Hellenism,and the Christian Church made use of the Hellenic culture after intermingling it with the Christian belief.The Hellenism was an effective instrument for enhancing the cult of the imperial authority and glorifying the perfect image of emperors,reflecting political purposes and characteristics of the times.Through the educational system of the Hellenic style and the widespread use of the Greek language,the Byzantines were greatly influenced by the Hellenic culture in their personal growth.The Hellenism exerted considerable influence on the ecclesiastical,political and popular culture,provided a framework of the cultural community for the Byzantine Empire,gradually shaped the criteria of the Byzantine identity,and became an essential element for identifying‘the Byzantines’.Apart from continuing being‘the Romans’in the traditional political sense,the Byzantines gradually accepted the cultural identity as‘the Hellenes’,which was also an appellation accepted by other ethnic groups.