On the Byzantine Folklore

Abstract

Although the history of Byzantine civilization exists as a discipline scientific and academic for a century, there is until now no study that is explicitly dedicated to folklore, ie the basis of popular culture and in search of material and intellectual foundations of all the manifestations of the people. In vain we look for such an article in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium and the Lexikon of the Mittelalters. They mention, of course, certain sub-disciplines such as medicine popular or popular piety, but we do not find an article of character General. The fundamental work of Phédon Koukoulès on Life and civilization of Byzantines contains a lot of individual documentation in this sector but its purpose is not a history of popular culture across centuries.